The Age of Despair

Prologue

          Rain pounded against the fragile glass windows as the fierce storm rolled through. I was used to the snowstorms back home in New York, but here in Georgia that snow had been turned into rain, thunder, and lightning. The building creaked as stray leaves streaked across the windows, alerting me that I needed to get to my next patient before the power went out. My colleagues ran through the halls, carrying everything from patients on stretchers to open syringes. One of the generators went out a week ago, and if the power went out, there was only so much time left for the patients on life support. Storms had been rolling through the area ever since I'd arrived for a work trip, and they hadn't let up. This old, beat-up hospital couldn't take much more. I picked up my pace, grabbing the file of a young girl who had recently gone through surgery. There were lots of patients to see and only a few more hours in my shift; no time to waste.

          "Hey, Molly! Are you feeling any better?" I asked, stepping into the room that was lined with cards and flowers. People cared about her --- good. "I'm okay," Molly weakly replied. She was in visible discomfort, and the storm surely wasn't helping her nerves. Suddenly, a particularly volatile strike of thunder resonated through the air. The young girl jumped back, scared. "Hey, it's okay. Just some thunder, it's not going to hurt you." I tried to put on my best smile to hide the fact that I was also on edge. "O-okay, Dr. Lena," Molly quivered, her young face looking to mine for comfort. I squeezed her hand and smiled, grabbing gloves from the counter to examine the scar she got from her abdominal surgery. Using one hand to hold hers, I pressed down gently on the inflamed area near her stomach. It didn't look good, but I wasn't about to tell that to a scared child. Another bout of thunder crashed down, and the girl started to whimper. "Lena... I'm scared."

          "I know, I know. I'm right here, though --- you'll be okay. Promise?" Molly looked up at me with wide eyes and nodded. "Promise." The inspection was almost done, and I got up to throw out the gloves, grabbing her clipboard. She needed a higher dose of painkillers and some new antibiotics; I made a mental note to send in the prescription to one of the nurses. Speaking of nurses, a new one burst through the door, panting profusely. "Lena, shit's going down out there!" He bent over to catch his breath, clutching his head and cursing, before he realized a child was in the room. "What are you talking about?" I asked, extremely confused. The hallway was quiet, the storm was dying down, and the thunder was becoming an occasional occurrence. Molly whimpered, mirroring the distress of the nurse, "I'm scared!"

          "Ben, what the hell are you talking about?" I screamed. He stood up straight, revealing the fresh blood that stained his scrubs. A groaning sound resounded from outside the door, where Ben was standing. He stuttered as he spoke, frantically searching the room; "Dead...they're all dead! People are eating eachoth-'' Everything went quiet for a moment, before the doorknob turned. A slimy hand gripped Ben's shoulder and a rotting jaw bit a chunk out of it. More piled on as Ben fell to the floor, his eyes bursting out of his sockets as he reached for me. Molly was screaming, he was screaming, that thing was screaming, and the blood....the whole room was red. Everything was red, and it glued me to the floor. I couldn't move, no matter how much I dragged my feet to get to Molly's bed as the monsters converged on her. They were coming for me, they should come for me -- those were my patients, my coworkers, my friends. All gone. My head was spinning, my vision was blurry, and my arm twisted as a fleshy hand grabbed it. Adrenaline forced me to move, pushing the rotting things out of my way and running. I let my feet carry me towards the exit, closing my eyes. I could still hear screams on the floor below me, I could imagine their pain. The hospital that was supposed to be sterile and safe had turned into a hellhole, smelling like guts and swarmed with monsters pulled right from a nightmare. I slammed into the doors, not looking back. I couldn't help them anymore; nobody could.