Locked in.

Michaels POV

i flutter my eyes open only to realize i am in a hospital bed. Not to mention i am wearing a dress, or a hospital gown, whatever. What im really wondering is why am i in a hospital? I sit it and begin rubbing my eyes. What is going on? As i am about to stand up and go ask around i feel a thump on my bed, soon followed by another thump, then a pair of arms around my neck? I embrace this gross smelling creature. When i finally cant smell its odor anymore i pull away only to see the face of the girl i love. She may be smelly, and she may look horrific, but all i see is beaty. I grab her face in my hands and kiss her for a good couple seconds until i hear another voice in the room.

"Eww" the tiny voice says.

I pull away from Ellie only to look over at a disgusted looking Ben.

Me and Ellie both giggle. But now its time to get down to business.

"Why are we all in a hospital? What happened yesterday that i dont remember? Like i remember waking up in a parking lot and you telling me that we made it out but what happened after that?" I ask Ellie.

"Honestly i wish i could tell you, but i dont remember either. One of the nurses told me that weve been in a coma for over a month but that was just before you guys woke up. Its funny that we all woke up at the same time. Almost too funny" ellie says with suspicion in her voice. "I dont even remember being in a parking lot. My memory is sweeped. I dont remember getting out even. I remember being in the ladies room in the store, ben screaming, then you passing out but nothing after that, i must've passed out too." She adds.

"Why was i screaming?" Ben asks.

Ellie puts her arm around the poor boy, but doesn't answer his question.

"How 'bout we go get us some icecream?" She winks to ben. Ben jumps for joy. We all hop out of my bed. I feel a breeze on my backside. 'Great' i think to myself. Im wearing a dress that has a slit in the back. I grab the two unattached back parts of my dress and scrunch them together in my hand to hide as much as possible. We are walking through the hospital halls in silence. Its not like we had anything to talk about, were all just as confused as the other. I glance over at ben who is wearing 'Toy Story' pajamas. How come he gets clothes? I, then look over to Ellie and notice she is also wearing one of these hospital gowns.

'DING' i hear the elevator sound, breaking me from my thoughts. Ben goes in first, then ellie, then me. As Ellie is walking in, i notice how ratty her hair is. I trail my eyes down from her hair, to her lower body just as a breeze brushes her gown to the side, and i get a perfect view. Damn. She turns around and i bring my eyes back up to her face as i step into the elevator. Her eyes are filled with confusement as she sees my smirk. I position myself next to her as the elevator doors close. I notice ben playing with the elevator buttons. I look over at Ellie who is still glaring at me looking for an explination.

"Nice ass" i whisper heavily into her ear, hoping that ben wouldn't hear. She shivers, much to my ammusement.

Now i know one of her weaknesses is when i whisper in her ear.

I look up to her face and see her blushing. Hard. And now clutching the back of her gown. Just as the elevator door opens. "First floor" the elevator read.

We all step out when we pass the front doors of the hospital. Im walking with my head down looking at my feet, when i bump into someone. There Ellie stands, as if she didn't even feel me run into her. Her jaw is dropped open, her eyes wide with fear as she looks out the window. I follow her eyes to where she is looking. The window. The outside world. What is happenening? Is this a joke or something? This is the kind of scene that you see in zombie apocalypse movies or videogames. Grayish-yellow sky. Buildings turned to ruins. The very few people walking outside, have gas masks on. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and jerk back, only to see a face of a pretty young nurse who looks around in her late twenties.

"Its terrible isn't it?" She says softy.

"W...whats is g..going on?" Ellie asks shakily. I grab her hand to comfort her.

"Well... Wait before i begin, may i know your names?" She asks looking at the three of us.

"Ben" ben states.

"Im ellie" Ellie says with a quick squeeze of my hand, as if to say 'your turn'.

"Im michael" i smile. I see Ellie look at me questioningly, out of the corner of my eye. I ignore her glare.

"Ahh, so you 3 are the survivors from the grocery store incidint. Im Susan, but i go by sue . Well morning guys, glad you woke up. How was your months sleep?" She teases "well so you obviously have no idea what is going on in the world today. There is a disease going around. Around two months ago, approximately the night you two went to the store, there was a large storm. Well see, one thing after the next, there was rain, that turned into lightening, that turned into a tornado. The town was destroyed. A local scientific experimental lab was destroyed, releasing various dangerous chemicals into the air. These chemicals cause a sickness, known as the "zen". Zen stands for some really long virus name that no one bothers remembering. Luckily zen isn't contagious, but when you get it, there is no getting rid of it. It eats away at your body. Its kind of like an aging drug. Once you have the disease, within hours, your hair turns grey and begins falling out, your skin wrinkles and sags until finally your heart just gives out. After catching Zen, you have a few hours to say your goodbyes to your loved ones. Thats why you see people outside wearing gas masks." She explains to us.

"Where is our families?" Ellie asks worriedly.

"Oh yeah about that. So since most houses and buildings have been destroyed, and no one really wants to be outside. We are using this large hospital to house families, so your parents would be on umm.." Sue stops to look through a book of residints. "On the 9th floor." She says

We nod and turn back towards the elevator, when she calls back out to us.

"Wait!" She says.

We turn to look at her.

"You should probably know that your two families are living together." She says motioning to me and michael. Then looks down to ben,"hi little boy, what is your last name, and i can show you to your room." She says with a smile. Ben smiles back and begins talking when Ellie clears her throat then whispers to Sue. Probably something about bens mother. That poor kid probably forgot. The nurse nods her head understandingly and looks back towards ben.

"Yay ben! Guess what! You get to have sleepovers with Ellie and michael!

Yay!" Ben was at first confused but then smiled and jumped for joy.

"Yay!" He yelled. "For how long!?"

"FOREVER!" She says, hinting that ben will now be living with us.

She then turns back towards me and ellie.

"You should also probably know that there are only 3 beds in your little curtained restrained room. 3 small hospital beds. We understand the inconvenience but were fitting the whole t...well whats left of the town...into this hospital so were trying to make as much room as possibal. About 40% of our population has passed away, and that percentage is increasing rapidly." She sighs.

This is so much informations its hard to take in. I almost dont even believe a word she is saying. She must've noticed my confusion because she started talking. Again.

"This must be alot for you guys. Why dont you guys just go see your families for the first time in months."

And we listen. We turn towards the elevator and walk in in silence.

Here we go.

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Hey guys. We have like -3 votes on this book. It would really mean a lot to us if you would vote. Thankss readerss. ;*

~melina