S.C.H.O.O.L. -26-

Souls Capturing Hospitality Over Objective Liberty
Day ?????

I, Soci, opened my eyes to a gray light. I’m sure more colour could be exposed to this room, had the shutters actually been open. But they were closed, and served more as a trophy case for dust rather than their real purpose. That’s the first thing I noticed – the second being the tacky wallpaper. The third was the monitor beside my bed beeping softly. I wasn’t expecting that. Where the hell – Why the hell … What?

Trying to ignore the machines buzzing and beeping and fluid-ing around my head (if ‘friend-zone’ can be in Oxford’s dictionary, so can ‘fluid-ing’) I tried to avoid looking at my arm, feeling that there was a series of tubes and needles helping me stay alive. It was then that it dawned on me that there was something attached to my nose, and it took another second for my brain to realize it wasn’t doing the breathing. I flailed and smacked my face, effectively removing whatever apparatus was leeched to me, and sat up.

Oh yes. Something definitely just shifted inside my arm.

I was sporting a hideous hospital gown and, in that instant, I finally realized where I was. Why? No idea. How? When? What happened? All a giant dark blur. Perhaps I was mauled by a bat. Perhaps I was hit with a black semi truck. I did a thorough mental check up; I had both legs, both arms, and as far as I knew, I had both eyes and lungs. That is - inhales - yes I have both lungs. Toes? All ten. FINGE- nope, they’re there too.

“Oh, thank the stars you’re awake!” came a soft voice on the other side of the curtain. I looked wildly in her direction before I realized it was coming from the other side of the curtain, and most definitely not directed to me. I lay back down on the bed quickly, wincing when it made an awful creaking noise. There was shuffling and creaking coming from the other side of the curtain, making the thin and tacky fabric flap gently.

“I’ve been up for awhile,” grunted a voice. It almost sounded familiar, but for the life of me I couldn’t put a finger on it. “I need more pain killers, please.”

“Right away! Don’t worry; you’ll be out like a light in just a few moments,” floated the nurse’s voice, followed by the sound of retreating footsteps.

After a moment of silence, I decided to break the ice. “Isn’t it funny she said ‘out like a light’ when a light kind of invites brightness and clarity into a room rather than a comatose state?” If I wasn’t so conscious about the various mechanisms jutting out of my arm, I probably could have come up with a better sentence to say. Even a cautious ‘Hello?’ would have sounded better than that, or ‘my name is Soci’ or ‘how are you doing’. No, I just decided to ace the first impressions and make myself sound like a walking Oxford text book.

“Soci? Is that you?” the voice grunted, slurring words together. It was masculine, but it was raw and scratchy as if he had just woken up. Which he obviously must have, seeing how the nurse exclaimed that he was awake. I’m extremely stupid sometimes and oft find myself repeating things, making these story-diary-journal-things redundant and almost useless. Hopefully, they’re entertaining nonetheless.

I swallowed, unused to using my voice. Unused to hearing my voice. Was it always so low? Or maybe I, too, just haven’t used it in such a long time. “Yeah, it’s me,” I said with a cough. Something was caught in my throat. “Who are you?”

There came an overdramatic gasp from the other side of the curtain, followed by a heavy thwump back on the bed, which creaked in protest. “I can’t believe you don’t remember me, you’re best friend of all time, wow. I’m so hurt. You bitch.”

Right. Right. This guy.

I had met Trains in my sophomore year of highschool. He came into our lives and really… well… he’s made it entertaining, to say the least. Within the first fifteen minutes of contact, he’s managed to piss off both Tho and Phan with, well, you’ll see.

“You bitch. I’m gonna fuck you right up. You wanna go? I’ll have you know I have my navy certificate-”

“Yeah yeah I remember you, now shut up.”

“YOU SHUT UP.”

“Where are we?” I asked, wanting to change the conversation before he was severely hurt or sad or any sort of combination of the two. Before he could answer, though, the nurse walked back into the room rattling. Rattling, in the sense that she was literally making rattling noises of what I assumed were the painkillers Trains had asked for. Not ‘rattling’ in that derogatory sense that you are surprised or shocked. Not rattled. You are caught off guard, taken aback, not rattled. Learn your English, kids.

“Here you are!” she chimed, the bottle giving a final rattle as pills started spilling out. Trains thanked her and inhaled deeply. How many, I wasn’t sure. Maybe they weren’t even painkillers. No – focus. Why the hell are we in a hospital?

“My friend is awake,” he slurred, his speech becoming slow and groggy. I heard a blanket getting pulled over and a series of beeps.

“Is that so?” the nurse asked, murmuring schematics to herself. I caught ‘blood pressure’ and ‘heart rate’ amongst the other medical jargon. “We’ll just have to see to her then, won’t we!”

The series of ticks on the ugly floor suggested a nurse. Her voice suggested a nurse. Her actions and attitude towards Trains all screamed nurse, however, what came around that corner was far from a nurse.

It was hideous. There wasn’t even a half-ass attempt of playing off being a nurse – she was covered in fur. The best I could describe it would have been a spider, cobra half-breed, creature. As if Victor Frankenstein got a hold of a spiders facial features and legs, and the cobra’s head and put it all together on some large furry ball. The ticking I had presumed to be heels was actually pincers, and … yes. I’m sure at least two of those eight eyes were human.

Where the hell were we? Why?

The nurse… creature… abomination monster… tilted it’s large head. “I see you are awake,” it said, through its pincers. Behind them I could see rows of tiny teeth and a fairly long snake-like tongue. “Can I get you anything? Water? Medication? We have the most powerful stuff in the entire continent. It’s all been medically proven to work in seconds.”

“Yeah! I don’t even feel anything anymore!” Trains called abruptly from behind the curtain. Wasn’t he asleep?

“I’ll just… Uhm… Where am I?” I asked, stuttering. I was scared. I was really really scared because I’m a severe arachnophobic and the bigger the spider the more light headed I feel. And at the same time, I was trying desperately to hide that fear, because if this thing was capable of feeling it could take it the wrong way. And then eat me. Really, I was dead either way. So I started wondering whether being devoured or drugged until death was a better way to pass. I couldn’t decide.

“You are at St. Gabriel’s Home, the world’s best hospital,” she replied robotically. I nodded as if to acknowledge I knew where, or what, that meant. Sensing my confusion (if she could sense my confusion she could easily sense my fear and insecurity and overall horror at this thing) she spoke up again “it is a testing facility to see whether or not you’ve got the virus.”

“The virus?” I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. The last thing I remembered was…

“The virus that was unleashed roughly three years ago. We have yet to find a cure, though it has mutated into a less-lethal sickness… That is to say… Re-animation may occur and you could find yourself suddenly craving human flesh-”

“Are you talking cannibals?” I interrupted.

“No. I think you young folk call them ‘zombies’ for whatever reason. They are walking corpses. They’re hearts no longer beat and, from what our studies have found, they’re brains are completely contaminated by this virus and work as one.”

“…Zombies,” I said slowly, and that’s when it all came back to me. The school. The running. The death of so many stupid people… my classmates. Sir Akay and all the instruments… making a dash to the little convenience store and then Costco. My friends – the survivors. Freezing. No – that was a dream. It was all a stupid dream. It had to have all been a dream. I remember waking up and – headache…

“I’ll get some pain killers too, maybe,” I said, closing my eyes tight enough to see spots dance in front of them. “Certainly,” replied the nurse, clicking away.

I let my muscles relax and tried to ignore the various needles and fluids flowing in and out of my body. There were wires coming away from my stomach. I hoped that they were some sort of xray mechanisms and not another injection.

“Pssst Trains – you awake?”

No response. He must have been asleep… The painkillers must contain drowsy medication. At least, I hoped he was just asleep. Two years? Three? How many years ago did she say the virus broke out? Had it really been that long? We survived three years in this infested world…

I felt my mind begin to float off my head as a rattling filled the room. I don’t remember anything being swallowed, certainly no little pills of painkillers. I do remember the feeling of liquid rushing into my veins and flowing to my head, and that’s the last thing I remember before the darkness again.