Til Death Do Us Part [10kxOC]

9.8. Just Hours Ago

In the not so distant past

                            ~Hailey's POV~
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At first, everything was quiet, calm. My eyes only saw black, a light humming sound floating through the air. But I couldn't figure out if the sound was close to me or far apart. I stayed like that, only seeing a comforting blackness everywhere I looked.

It had been a while since I had felt calm, feeling as if everything was for once, okay. I wasn't being threatened by death anymore. I wasn't being bombarded with guilt of others. It was peaceful. For the first time in almost forever, it was peaceful.

But obviously it had to be ruined when immense pain and discomfort surrounded my body, making my whole body cringe. Feeling as if I was being stabbing over and over with a rusted knife. It was as if my body was on fire, flames pricking at my skin. I wanted it to stop. The darkness  of my head was now suffocating. Making it almost hard to breath at the point. I felt like my world was about to collapse around me, locking me away from the world.

My eyes jolted open, the bright light quickly blinding me, causing me to immediately close them again. Waiting for my eyes to adjust to the harsh sunlight, the side of my stomach started to burn, bad. The firey pain returning to my body as I was hunched over, gripping my stomach hard, hopping that if I pushed hard enough that the pain would just disappear. But it didn't.

My eyes finally opened fully, the room focusing around me as the pain continued. I looked down, my eyebrows creasing in confusion. I wondered why my stomach hurt so much, why it felt like it was on fire for so long.

Lifting up my dirtied, bloodied shirt, it shot out at me like a bright firework. The reds, the purples, the yellows and the blues were loud and bright, letting me know that what I wasn't dreaming. Letting me know that no matter what, it was always going to be there with me.

Flashes of images appeared in my mind, clear and completely real. These images were not just dreams I had come up with in my head. They had actually happened.
Warren. Garrnet. Jacob and his flock. 10k. A gunshot. And finally, the crystal blue sky looking back at me before darkness surrounded me. I remembered everything that happened. But what I didn't know was how long ago everything took place.

Sighing deeply, I pushed my hands against the hard bed, my face scrunching in pain. My body moved up, my bones popped and my muscles tightened, causing my legs to buckle beneath me, falling back down onto the bed with a loud creak. I sat there for a while, trying to get the courage to move again.

As I sat there, I looked around the small room. At the metal door that had a thin wooden board on the small window. The tiny dresser that had a cracked, dirtied mirror, which had me staring back at myself. The dirt, blood, and sweat caked my clothes and skin. Light—almost translucent—purple showed underneath my eyes. I was tired, exhausted. I hadn't had a good sleep for months, probably even years. Even though my make-shift camp was safe, but the entire time I couldn't help but hear zombie groans from every direction, some up close, while others were far away. Some nights, it felt as though I was being watched.

My hands gripped the bed again, my knuckles turning white. I pushed up, my knees straining under the pressure, feeling as if a ton of bricks were on my back. I stood up, my body tripping over nothing as I feel over on the dresser. My hands grabbed onto the the peeling wood, my body screaming out, my chest rising and falling fast. Everything went blurry for a moment, my reflection in the mirror becoming a haze of colors.

I stood there for a while, trying to gain my strength back. My bones and muscles ached horribly. It almost felt like I slept on a boulder for hours, though, feeling the bed I woke up on, you could say that's exactly what i did.