Beyond

(Chapter 1) Waking

You ever have that feeling your somewhere you don't belong? That's how this morning felt. I woke up with my eyes still closed having that unsettling feeling of a light swinging back and forth that just hurts after being in the dark for so long. When I woke up it was strange I wasn't at home or laying on my couch I was in a hospital bed. The light I was seeing was dangling from the ceiling and swaying back in forth. The only weird thing there was no wind in my room and someone made sure no light was getting in. The room was quite dark and had an uneasy feeling in the room. I don't remember much of why I was here or if I was taken here and just forgot.

I started to get up and noticed that my right leg had a strange pain to it I haven't felt before. I lifted the blanket from across my legs to see stiches from just above my knee to right below my knee on the right side. It must have been surgery or something. Behind me was one of those light objects they use to show your x-rays through but as I press the button from my bed to turn it on the light flickered and went off. It was too little of an image to make out what it was. I turned my legs off the edge of the bed now realizing I couldn't hold my own weight with my two legs. I fell to the ground and could only really lift myself up with my arms. I pulled myself to the edge of my bed and unplugged the I-V's that were still plugged into my arm.

It must have been sheer luck that a wheelchair was left in my room. I got in to it so I could move around just a little bit easier and began to notice some odd things you wouldn't see in a hospital room. Another bed was wedged up against the door blocking It. The windows didn't have a typical amount of window coverings to block the sun. It was if some person tried to drown out all light and make it seem as if no one was in this room. I rolled over to the end of the bed where they had my chart with information on why I was here. What I read was a bit confusing but what the date was startled me.

Lucas Wolfe Age:22

Date Checked In July 11th

Reason of Stay: Surgery on Right Knee to

fix damaged MCL,

Current Condition: Induced Comatose as of July 12th

Last method of treatment: H9CV will be issued to patient for immunization on November 23rd

That was about all I could make out. Why would I have my MCL repaired and be forced into a coma? None of this was making sense. It just hard to remember why I was checked in to a hospital in the first place. The last thing I remember doing was being with Mia in Sedona and now I'm here. This must be a joke that somebody is playing on me. I rolled myself over to the windows to only discover what was behind the numerous amounts of coverings. Down below my hospital room was the parking lot to this hospital. There were thousands of vehicles packed into it making it impossible for anyone to get out. As my eyes followed how the cars and trucks were getting in I could see it led right out into the main street and then all the way down to a crossroads. There was no one in any of them though. Dust has become they only thing to touch those vehicles it looks like in months.

I had to get out of this room I went and moved the hospital bed blocking the doorway to discover yet again a vacant hallway. There were empty hospital beds as far as the eyes can see. They were used but never put away. Some had I-V's hanging near them and some had been moved around as if a huge disagreement took place. At this point I felt like my eyes were lying to me I continued to close them rub my eyes and re-open them but the image ahead still remained the same. I rolled past each one seeing only the patient charts but none of them had names on them. They all had numbers and the same reading I saw before "H9CV immunization for patient #1067" the numbers of the patients were scattered but it didn't describe it was a female or male human being. I finally reached the nurses station in the middle of the hallway. It looked as if a bomb went off and everyone left in a hurry. There was nothing left besides keyboards for the computers but the screens were gone. Papers were gone and there was nothing left that looked as if it had been in use at all.

I rolled past to the other side of the nurse's station to only further get that uncomforting light hit my face again from down the hallway. This hall way was clear but at the end of the hallway I could only see a Beige Dust and light scattered around the end of the hallway to here. Each moment I got closer to the end of the hallway the smell continued to get worse. It smelt as if someone a broke into a sewage line of the building at left it open but as I passed each room there was no damage. Except for at the end of the hall way. The windows were broken out and had a complete opening to the outside. At this point I decided to get out of my wheelchair and began to slowly walk past that remaining rooms trying to regain strength in my legs. Each step felt as if a million needles were going into my feet. I couldn't move quickly as I once did as a soccer player.

I was one room away from the end of the hallway at this point and the dust became smoke like as well. There was no fire that I could see from where I was standing but I still saw that illusion as if whatever was causing the smoke was extremely hot. The stench from this hallway became so bad I started to gag as I got closer to the broken out windows. I coughed and closed my eyes trying to not get the dust in my eyes nor the smoke. Covering my eyes as I edge what was left of the window I found a place to balance myself to make sure I didn't fall out. I was about 4 or 5 stories off the ground floor. I felt the heat from the smoke on my face as if you would when you're standing to close to a grill. Once I looked down my eyes widened and I moved myself back. It was nightmare for sure I know it.

Below was an image out of a horror flick. Through the smoke you could see mass amount of bodies on top of bodies. They were brunt together making this not even close to being a major tragedy of some sort. This was planned and taken care of by someone. I began to gag as the stench became too unbearable to handle. I felt like I was going to throw up but nothing was coming out. I fell to my hands and knees trying to recover from the excessive dry heaving. I pulled myself together and continued to try and regain the strength in my legs. I got down to where the elevators were to discover the doors had been pried open. There was no elevator to be seen straight ahead and no cords holding it in place either. As I looked down I saw the nothing but darkness and a slowly blinking light as if something was rocking back in forth blocking it out. There was no way down from here I had to take the stairs.

Each floor I went down the hallways remained the same, but the stairway was empty. I couldn't find a single trace of life anywhere in the building. I couldn't even find the uncomfortable feeling you get when you're in a hospital. It felt lifeless here. Each floor I saw something that would make any human feel agony of the images left here in this hospital. Dying roses near one room or an abandoned teddy bear left on a bed stranded in a hallway. What is weird I didn't feel saddened by these images only guilt as if there was something I could've done to prevent it. When I reached the last two floors of the hospital the stench came back but this was different it was rotten. I opened the door to the 2nd floor and looked down the hallway. Bodies were on every bed down this hallway that could be added together to be the length of two football fields together. The temperature was so cold on these floors and the windows were blocked off with cardboard and duct tape. It was a cemetery only without the graves and headstones. Nothing to identify a loved one you might have cared about.

I got to the lobby to only be surprised to see what looked like the placed was ransacked. It had been cleared of all sorts of materials and furniture and had open air running right through this massive hallway. Loose paper was all that was left and one or two of those single office chairs scattered around. A banner was on the ground as if it was torn down from its placement. They person responsible spray painted across the Message "The Cure" and wrote underneath it simply "No Cure". Here I stood in the middle of the lobby confused of what stood before me.

I walked outside still trying to remember why I was admitted into a hospital in the first place. My first few steps outside seemed completely different. Mother Nature had taken over and covered every vehicle I see in dust and dirt. There was no way for me to see if I even had my truck in the sea of cars that have taken over the parking lot and entrances to this hospital and further. I pass by this SUV that had the keys just sitting on the seat as well as a hoody laying on the back seat. There wasn't anyone around but I still feel guilty if I break into someone else's vehicle. I tried the door handle in with some luck it was already unlocked. I tried the ignition but it wouldn't turn over. I took the hoody and continued to walk towards the main roads. Not a single person in sight and what seemed to be the unkown awaited me.