Dead Serious {The Walking Dead}

Loss is Common

I bolted down the stairs, bursting out of the front doors. My breathing was shaky and my knees felt like they could give out at any moment, but I needed to get to my mom. I needed to make sure she was okay.

I held my phone up to my ear, trying to dial my mother without falling face first.

"Mom? Is everything okay? I'm on my way to the hospital now," I breathed out, listening to my mother's shaky breaths on the other line.

"A-Arizona. Get in quick. Just come. You may not like it, but there are many injured people who just got transported over here. I need extra hands."

I hung up and stopped when I saw the familiar entrance doors to the hospital. Pushing lightly against the glass, I waited as the door opened on its own.

"Maria? Have you seen my mom anywhere?" I asked, getting my mom's nurse friend's attention.
Maria turned to face me, her makeup slightly smudged and her eyes watery, "Arizona! Oh honey, your mother is dealing with one of the burn victims."

I nodded, "what's wrong? Maria?"

Maria wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and tried to stop her bottom lip from wobbling, "I just got a call. My husband was in a terrible crash. It's happening all over! I'm so worried."

I gave a small smile and placed a hand on her back, "I'm sorry, Maria. I hope he's okay."

She smiled and waved me off. I walked toward the direction my mom was in, our eyes making contact as soon as I stepped foot into the trauma room.

"Ari! Come here! I need some help with these bandages," She yelled, motioning me over.

I ran over and grabbed some gauze, stuffing it into the wounds that oozed blood, and pressing down to stop it. "Why can't any of the other nurses do this?"

My mom gave me a glare, tending to the man's cut up leg. "We're all backed up and you're my daughter."

Suddenly, a shrill scream erupted from the silence. A paramedic wheeled in two bodies, covered by thin sheets. My mother's eyes widened, and her hands began to shake. "Lisa! What is it?"

The paramedic looked up at my mom, shaking her head. "They don't look so good, Sharon. Male and female, both unidentified. Both got into a pretty bad fight. Guy attacked the poor woman and took a good chunk out of her arm. Luckily for her, the guy got shot."

My mom grabbed the woman's stretcher and wheeled her over behind a curtain, "Arizona, grab me some towels. Quick!"

I snatched up some towels from the drawer and handed them to my mother, watching as she pressed against the woman's wound to stop the bleeding.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked, looking down at her face. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted, leaving her looking dead. All of the colour seemed to be flushed from her face, and there was a large gash across her cheek.

My mother sighed and shook her head, "We can't tell yet. She seems fine, but who knows how long she's been like this. Infection could have already set in, and we don't have any doctors on call."

I backed away as the machine beside her bed started to beep furiously, my mother fumbled with the towels and started to pound against the woman's chest with her hands, she did that for awhile until the machine let out one long beep.

My mother screamed in frustration and pressed a blue button, crying into the crook of her arm.

"Mom?" I whispered, reaching out for her.

She pushed my arm away and rubbed her face, "dammit! are there are no doctors in this hospital?"

I looked down at the woman again as my mother paced around the room, glancing at her white lips and grey tinted skin. Is this how you look when you die? I wondered, trying to distract myself from the slow trickle of blood that ran down the woman's neck and out of her ear.

"Mom?" I whispered, my breathing shaky and my eyes wide as I watched the woman's eyes open.

Her hands twitched, and her eyes darted around the room.

"Mom!" I screamed, as the woman slowly reached an arm toward me.

My mother gasped as she took it all in. She slowly walked to the bed, her arms in the air. "Ma'am? Are you-- can you hear me?"

The woman gurgled something awful, blood dribbling down her chin. Her eyes landed on my mother.

My mom placed a hand on the woman's arm, smiling. "Its truly a miracle you're alive, you could have--"

The woman grabbed my mother's arm, everything happening so quickly before my eyes it was already too late to react. She sat up and sank her teeth into my mom's flesh, tearing it off and pulling her closer, closing her teeth around her neck.

"Mom! Mom! Oh my god, mommy!" I screamed, tears flooding down my cheeks.

My mother screamed, blood spurting from her neck. I ran over, grabbing a syringe and stabbing it into the woman's eye. "Mommy!"

She mumbled, blood trickling down the sides of her mouth. "A-A-Ari--"

I shook my head and grabbed her shoulders, sitting her down in my lap. "It's okay, mommy. It's okay. There are doctors here. They're going to fix you."

She looked up at me, her bright blue eyes watery and scared. I closed my eyes and stood up, walking down the hall.

"Help! I need a doctor! Please!"

A woman in a white coat and blur scrubs looked at me, running over. "Who's blood is that?"

I pointed toward the curtain my mother lay behind. Following the doctor to where she sit, in a pool of her own blood, holding on to her last good memories.

The doctor swore, paging for someone named Dr. Spraine. I watched as she pressed her hands to my mom's neck, and then I ran.