Life After Death

Chapter 1

The first things I feel are my fingers. Completely nothing until my fingers twitch against the ground. It's like I am waking up from a dream, one muscle at a time. Next come my eyes. They flutter open, looking at the sky, which is mostly obscured by trees. It takes a minute for my vision to focus. I noticed a layer of mist surrounding me. It's not a normal mist... it's blue.

Then comes pain. Agonizing and indescribable pain shoots through every fiber of my being. Everything wakes up at the same time, shooting my body upwards as my screams shake the forest. Tears stream down my face as I sob through the pain.

The pain doesn't stop, everything still hurts. But my mind stops caring. Because the next thing I feel is fear. It shakes my entire body, and only one thing is on my mind: run.

I couldn't have disobeyed if I had wanted to, my body is practically moving on its own. I try to stand, just to fall forward onto my face. I can't feel my legs, but I can certainly see them. It seems to be the most inconvenient part of me that hasn't woken up from whatever deep sleep I had been doing in the forest, but I can't think too much about that. Using my arms, I use rocks and clumps of dirt as grips as I pull myself forward as fast as I can. I can't run, but I can crawl.

Everything in me is screaming. My body from pain, my brain from fear. It's hard to think. The blue mist surrounding me makes it hard to see as well. I nearly slip into a hole to my side, rolling over to avoid falling in. Something doesn't feel right. Ignoring the warnings my brain is giving me, I peer into the hole. It keeps everything inside me stopping me from screaming.

What the fuck was that? I think as my crawling becomes faster. I curse my useless legs. When I peered into the hole, dozens of what I could only describe as monsters stared back. Sickly yellow eyes sunken into their pale, almost gray, faces, skin rotting from their bones, and they had been clawing the sides of the hole, trying to get out. Trying to get to me.

I hear a twig snap behind me, and as much as I don't want to turn and look, curiosity gets the better of me. Sure enough, there are more monsters. Even one would be an overwhelming amount, but I count at least fifteen slowly coming after me, hobbling and moaning. I'm positive they aren't the ones from the hole. That means there are more coming. I thank my luck they are slower than my crawling, but I can't stop if I don't want to be ripped apart by the humanoid beasts.

It feels like I've been crawling for hours, but I know it hasn't even been one when I see light peering in from just outside the forest. Dirt and grime fill my fingernails and I'm covered in cuts and bruises, but I had already been in pain. It's hard to feel worse pain than what I am currently experiencing.

I see a humanoid figure moving toward me. For a moment I flinch, thinking it's another monster until I see them properly. They are covered in a thick yellow suit with a bit of glass covering their face, but I can definitely see a human's face behind it. The figure scoops me up into their arms and walks me out of the forest. I figured that considering the hoard of monsters behind me, the person would be walking a little bit faster, but they keep their pace.

The sun hits my face as I'm carried out of the forest. I hold a hand over my eyes and let them adjust to the sudden brightness. The figure brings me into a nearby building and sits me down. I feel another wave of pain shoot through my body as I vomit all over the floor and the figure's boots.

"Ssssss... sorry," I say, trying to force the word from my mouth. My voice is quiet, and my throat is feeling sore. I assume it's from the screaming.

"It's fine. It's a hazmat suit, pretty sure a little vomit won't melt through it!" They say, taking a seat next to me, removing their helmet and revealing a head of platinum blonde hair that isn't much longer than their ears. "Now I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I need to ask a few of my own first, is that alright?"