Life Of The Dead

I Feel Fine

Melissa pulled against her restraints and screamed.  Like she had a thousand times before.  Screaming and trying to fight her way to freedom was all that her life had become.
She had no idea how long she had been chained to the bed she was now on.  They told her that it had only been a few months, but it felt like years to her.
She couldn't bring herself to trust a word they said to her.  They hooked her up with some tubes in her arm because she refused to eat any of the food they brought her.
They said that all of this was for her own good and that all she needed to do was trust them, but she knew that they were lying to her.  How could they expect her to believe anything they said to her, when they had killed her friends and took her captive.
She knew the truth.  It took her a while, but she had put it all together for herself.  They were Zombies, and they had some nefarious plan for her, and that was the only reason she was still alive.
The young man that said he was her doctor entered her room like he had a thousand times before carrying another needle for her.  Unlike the other times however he looked like he was ready to cry.  It was some kind of new trick, she was sure of it.
"How are you today?"  He asked.  His voice was tumbling a little.
"Let me go!"  She screamed at him.
"You know I can't do that.  In your current state of mind you would pose a threat to yourself and others."
Tears fell from Melissa's eyes.  This is what they always said to her.  She thought about her friends and wished that she had died with them, instead of having to endure this horror day after day.
It had been such a nice night out with her friends when this all started.  How could it have gone so wrong?
Melissa's friend Sarah had just broken up with her scumbag of a boyfriend.  Everyone had told her that he was not a good person, that he was just using her.  But she thought she was in love with him and just could not bring herself to see his flaws, that is until she caught him sleeping around on her.
Sarah did not take it well.  She was always kind of a drama queen, but then things took a dark turn and Sarah had starting cutting herself.
So Melissa had gotten together with some of her other friends to try and show Sarah that she was loved and didn't need that jerk in her life.
They had gone out for a girls night out.  First off they had gone to the movies to see a romantic comedy.  It was a good movie, but Sarah had been a little too over dramatic about the romantic part.
So after the movie, they had gone to the mall to get something to eat as they planned out their next move for the night.  And that is where it had all gone so horrifyingly wrong.
As they were eating, a commotion had broken out at the far end of the commissary.  A large group of people had started to attack anyone they could get their hands on.  As Melissa and her friends watched it became clear that they were not just attacking people, they were killing them with their bare hands.
The curiosity that everyone around her had had for the commotion quickly turned to panic as the wave of violence came rushing at them.  Panic even more quickly turned into a stampede as everyone started to run for their lives.
Melissa lost track of all of her friends except for Samantha.  She managed to grab Samantha's hand as they simultaneously ran with and were pushed on by the rest of the panicked mob.
Samantha lost her footing and fell.  Her hand slipped from Melissa's, and Melissa was pushed on.
Melissa managed to see Samantha's crushed and broken body as she was trampled by everyone else.  Then Melissa was smashed against a wall.  The press of bodies held her firmly in place for a few moments as the crazies that were killing everyone edged closer to her.
She tried to start moving again but it was no use.  But then the press of panicked bodies shifted and she started to slid her way along the wall to the door that led out of the mall.
Slowly she moved closer to the door and the outside world beyond.  But too slowly.  She knew that she would not get to the door before the killers got to her.
Then she heard a smashing sound as people started going through the Windows around the doors when the doors were just not letting enough people through.  This was a ray of hope for Melissa, for now she didn't have as far to go to get out of the mall.
As she slipped through the broken window she could almost feel the hands of death on her back.  It was some kind of miracle that she didn't cut herself on any of the broken glass that still remained attached to the window frames.
Once outside the mall the press of bodies thinned out and she was able to start running for all she was worth, dodging anyone that got in her way.
She had no idea where she should run to, and had made it half way across the malls parking lot before the thought of Sarah's car came to mind.  So she turned to head back towards the mall and Sarah's car.
When she turned she stopped for a brief moment when she saw the state of the rest of the parking lot.  There were people all over the place.  Both killing and running in terror.  They were running both around and over the parked cars.
Melissa was almost too scared to head back that way but she didn't know what else to do.  She was at her wits end and couldn't quite think straight.  So with no other idea of what to do, she ran for Sarah's car.
As she got close enough to see the car, she saw some people pounding on it with their fists.  She also saw Sarah in the driver's seat.
She slowed down a little not sure of what to do about the growing number of crazies around the car.  Then the car started and backed up.  It hit an older woman that had been running from the carnage of the mall.
Melissa stopped now as she watched Sarah's car, and her only hope of escape drive away.
She now looked at the woman that Sarah had hit.  She was trying to get back to her feet when two people ran up to her and grabbed her.  At first Melissa thought that they were going to help the poor woman, but they slammed her violently down to the ground and started ripping handfuls of her flesh away from her body and shoved those handfuls of flesh into their mouths as the woman screamed.
As Melissa watched the woman die, she backed up until she bumped into a parked car and stopped moving.  'This is it.'  Her mind screamed at her.  'This is how I die.'
Someone grabbed her hand at this point.  Melissa screamed as she looked at her attacker.  But it wasn't an attacker at all.  It was her friend Jenny.
Both girls looked at each other for only a second.  Then they looked to where the woman had been attacked.  Her attackers had heard Melissa's scream and were now coming after the girls.
"Come on!"  Jenny yelled at her as she pulled her along.
After leaving the malls parking lot behind, they found that the rest of the city was in a similar state of carnage.  Smashed and burning cars blocked many of the streets they ran down.  In some cases they even blocked the sidewalks.  Badly mangled bodies were everywhere, and the killers were running around everywhere they turned.
Finally Jenny came to a stop and pointed.  When Melissa looked to where she was pointing she saw a police officer crouched at the corner of a building with his back to them.
"Come on."  Jenny said as she pulled Melissa along.  "He should be able to help us."
As they got close to the officer Jenny called out to him.  "Excuse me..."
The officer turned and fired his gun.  Melissa felt something warm and wet splatter the side of her face.
"Oh my God!"  The officer said as he lowered his gun.
Some other officers came back from around the corner.
"What's going on?"  One of them asked.
"It's just a couple of girls."  The officer that had fired at them said.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't know.  I was just so scared.  I'm sorry."
"Get a hold of yourself."  The other officer ordered.
Melissa wiped at her face with her free hand and looked at it.  The wetness on her face was blood.  She looked at Jenny who now had a hole in her forehead where the officer had shot her.
Jenny's knees now buckled and she fell to the ground.  Her hand slipped from Melissa's as she fell.
Melissa could not take anymore.  She started screaming at the death of yet another friend.
"Somebody shut her up!"  One of the officers said.  "She's going to lead them all straight to us!"
Another officer ran up to Melissa and grabbed her by the upper arms.  "Shhhhh...  Please be quiet."
But Melissa was not listening to him.  She struggled to try and pull away from him and kept on screaming.
One of the officer's hands let go of her and she heard him say under his breath, "I'm sorry."  Then she felt something solid hit the side of her head and everything went black.
When she woke up, she was resting on a couch in a poorly lit room.  As soon as she lifted her head to look around the room, someone stood up from where they were sitting in the corner.
Melissa had no idea who they were.  So she jumped to her feet and started screaming, as she ran for the door.
The person from the corner came after her and grabbed her by the arm before she could make it out the door.  "Hold on now."  They said as they tried to calm her down.  "You are safe here.  We are trying to help you."
Melissa didn't believe him.  They had killed Jenny and probably the rest of her friends as well, she couldn't quite remember at the moment, she was far too scared and confused.  So she fought back against her attacker.
At this point more people came into the room and grabbed at her.  They held her down while she kept screaming at them.  Finally one of them pulled out a syringe and injected its contents into her arm.
Shortly after that everything went black again.
This time when Melissa woke up, she was tied down.  And this is how she stayed from then on.
Most of what had happened to her from then till now was a blur to her.  The mistrust she felt for them, the not eating any of their food, only to get tubes stuck in her, the daily visits from the young "Doctor," who was standing by her bed right now still trying to get her to believe their lies.
"Please."  He said.  "You really don't know what it's like out there.  We are only trying to help you.  Please tell me that you understand this."
It almost seemed like more than all the other days, he was begging her.  "I will not believe your lies!"  She spat at him.
"Please."  He begged.  "They have told me that we cannot waste anymore time or resources on those that will not let us help them.  Please tell me that you understand that I am here to help."
"Let me go!"  She screamed at him.
A tear rolled down the doctors cheek.  "I'm sorry."  He whispered to her.
"Please let me go."  She almost sounded calm when she spoke.
"I will let you go."  He said almost too softly for her to hear him.  Then he injected her with the contents of the needle that he had brought with him.
The doctor held her hand as he watched her face and cried.
'He's such a good liar.'  Melissa thought as the world grew fuzzy around her.  'One day...'  She thought as everything started to go dark once more.  '... I will be free.'  Then the darkness claimed her for good.