The New World

Dead Meat

                                It was early in the morning as the doctor went inside the clinic to check up on Charlie.  He was the only patient, as all the others were infected and turned. So, they had to put them down. The doctor's name was Harper Bennett. She was in her late twenties, she had orange hair in a ponytail and tanned skin with brown eyes. The room was very calm. After checking on Charlie, she took out a book and started reading. It was one of her favorite horror novels.

               Charlie opened his eyes. After ten seconds, he started coming back to his senses. The pain was so much less now and he felt better, a whole lot better. He lifted his head slowly and looked around. He knew where he was right now. He looked at the doctor a few feet away from him.

''That's a really good book you got there,'' he said.

''Oh, you're awake,'' the doctor said. ''How are you feeling ?''

''Better, so much better,'' Charlie replied. ''There's a really good part in that book by the way where...''

''Please. No spoilers,'' Dr. Bennett chuckled. ''It was really stupid of you to remove the branch. That caused you to bleed more. But, lucky for you a person came by and helped.''

''Who?''

''Jack came.''

              Charlie felt happy that he helped him out, but then he wondered, why? Why did he help him? But, he wanted to thank him. ''When can I leave?'' he asked.

''Well, you did heal well. But, since you weren't awake for the past two weeks, I advise you to rest a bit before you go,'' she replied.

''TWO WEEKS?!'' Charlie was surprised and he felt like his heart almost stopped. What felt like night's sleep was actually two weeks. Then, some more questions started to come up in his mind like what happened in the last two weeks. But, Charlie ignored what she said and got off the bed and fell on the ground. Dr. Bennett helped him up and sat him at the bed.

''Yeah, you're body must be a little numb, but you'll get better,'' she said.

''What about this?'', Charlie pointed at the bandage around his head.

''Oh, you're lucky to also be alive with this one. You almost died twice. One wrong move and you would've got shot in the head. But, don't worry about it as much as the other wound, it only needed a few stitches and it will heal in no time,'' she replied.

Charlie looked out the window beside him.  He saw the neighborhood's fence. Outside, there was one of the infected just walking and snarling. It made eye contact with Charlie, and started growling and coming towards the fence. He saw the blood on its mouth and his face, expressionless, dead, all what he saw inside the man's eyes was hunger.  He suddenly remembered what was going on the world. He forgot about what Jack told him. But, Charlie expected some kind of improvement, or that the situation was solved. But, given the fact that he was still in the clinic for the past two weeks and wasn't moved, there weren't any improvements. Charlie, hoping for the best, went and asked the doctor.

''Are there any updates from the city or about the disease thing?''

The doctor didn't talk, and just stared at him. She knew what was happening with the world right now. She knew what happened in the last two weeks. But, she was silent. Then, she spoke. Charlie had the right to know.

''Right now, the city is a mystery to us. A group went there last week, but they didn't come back. They had walkie-talkies, but the last thing we heard from them was screams, and they were shouting that we shouldn't go after them,'' the doctor replied. ''But, a group is going out there soon to find them and find out about what happened in the city.''