The Infected

The Awakening

Leilani wakes up in an empty hospital room, dressed in a thick stiff hospital gown and immediately begins to panic. She jerks her body to the left in an attempt to move her legs to the floor. Immediately a searing pain sends shockwave throughout her entire arm as a dripping IV line is pulled from her skin leaving a small trail of blood down her arm. Her hands are shaky as she wipes the blood on her bed sheets and then on her gown, continuing her momentum forward. Her mind reels until it focuses on one thing; she has to get out of here. As her eyes begin to focus she takes in the hospital room she has found herself in. The room is very sterile and serine yet the IV liquid drips purple onto her bed and no other monitors connect her to the room. She has no memory of being in the hospital nor does she remember when she was taken. Her body moves forward and walks into the hallway.
       It's empty. There's nothing, yet looking around the room, signs of chaos were everywhere. Trash littered the floor, leaving the floor coated in soda cans and crumpled papers. The nurses station was hidden behind mass amounts of papers piling up one on top of the other. Leilani shivered, and kept walking until she heard a soft murmur of humzan life. Anxiety swelled in her chest as she took in a deep breath before yanking the heavy metal door open. The breath she had taken just moments before was exhaled and she gasped audibly causing several heads to swivel in her direction.
       They were dying that much was obvious to her. Leilani eyes watered with tears as she looked at the red angry marks across their skin, black around the edges and their hair slowly falling out. She went to scream, claw at the door her back was resting against but her body was stuck staring at these pathetically sick people who were starting to stir in their fruitless rest. A man began walking towards her, his hair dark and his features attractive yet marred by his sickness. She shrinks against the door trying to pull the handle to escape but it doesn't give. She's trapped. “Please, let me go I don't belong here. I don't belong with you.” her voice is timid and her body heavy.
         The man shakes his head. He doesn't look her in the eyes yet she knows he can see her. “I see you've been asleep far longer than you were supposed to. Welcome to the land of the dying Leilani. We've been watching you, waiting for you.” his hand grips her arm, leaning into her. He looks up and Leilani notices the dark red almost black color to the whites of his eyes. He is so close his nose is almost touching her  nose. She wants to push him away, leave this cursed hospital and go home. She can feel his breath on her face, forced and scented with unknown medication. “We all have it in here. We are all infected.” he declares and latches onto her arm.
          She tries to struggle him but as she moves waves of exhaustion pour over her. It's then she remembers the mark of blood streaming down her arm. It hasn't stopped. The man moves with purpose, dragging her to the closest mirror before spinning their bodies so he is behind her with his hands on her shoulders. “Look in the mirror. See what has happened to you. To all of us.” his voice is sweet as honey and coaxed her into looking up. The reflection looking back at her wasn't hers. This reflection had clumps of hair sticking to a pale, sweaty scalp and no white in the frightened eyes. Patches of red stuck out of their face. The reflection looking at her wasn't hers. But it was. This man was right. They are all infected here.