My whole body felt heavy. My mouth opened before my eyes. I took in a few deep breaths. I'm dead. Well, that's a shame. I wonder if I'll run into Chris Evans in the afterlife. Hope they have some nice music though, that would be cool. I slowly blinked open my eyes and I was met with a blindingly bright light. "Oh, crap, I am dead." I muttered. It took a while for my eyes to actually adjust to the light. I managed to turn my head to the side with a groan. My whole body was stiff. I looked down to see some tubes in my arms. I pulled them out without thinking about it. It hurt to move my arm though because of just how achy I felt. I slowly pushed myself to sit up. I began stretching my neck and arms as I looked around the room. It was a hospital room. Like an actual hospital room. Nothing like the infirmary at Alexandria, or at Hilltop. I pushed myself to the end of the bed and my legs instantly buckled beneath me. I fell to the ground. "Seems like unnecessary punishment if I'm already in Hell." I said aloud.

I managed to push myself up using the bed. I stretched my legs and managed to get myself to stand. The room was modern and bright. Full of medical equipment. I noticed Teddy on the bed, flowers in most of the room and a polaroid photo of me, Sophia, Carl, mama, mum, dad and RJ. I took the photo, furrowing my eyebrows before placing it with Teddy on the bed. I realised I was in white, cotton pyjamas. I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked to the white fluffy socks on my feet. Slowly, I walked over to the door and pulled it open. The blinds on the windows that would've showed me what was outside my room were shut, so I hadn't seen before what I was seeing now.

Everything looked destroyed. Rotten. Abandoned. I looked back to my hospital room, it no longer looked like a shiny, modern room... It looked destroyed as well. Like it hadn't been touched for years. The flowers were all pretty much ashes, Teddy seemed ripped to shreds. I furrowed my eyebrows before walking out into the hallway. I felt the need to watch my step in the abandoned hospital. "Ellie! Ellie!" I heard my name being called. It sounded like Carl's voice.

I spun around, looking for him. "Carl!" I shouted out, trying to locate my brother. "Carl, where are you?"

That's when I saw something moving in the corner of my eye. I turned and saw... Beta. That's where the sounds of my name had been coming from. It wasn't Carl though. It was the man who actually beat me in a fight. If you could even call someone of his size a man. I wasn't stupid enough to fight him again. I started running. I wasn't very fast as you can imagine, but he followed me. His long strides were practically double the pace of my attempt at a run.

I didn't bother trying with the lift as I went straight to the stairwell. I ran down as far as I could... I wasn't going to hide, I was going to leave the building. I went down at least six flights. Towards the bottom was a single walker, I simply pushed it so it landed on its back on the ground. The stairwell was just as bad as the floor I'd shown up on. I found the lobby and pushed the door open. Just like before, everything seemed to be leaking, falling apart, vines were everywhere. I didn't stop to look at the sight. I didn't care how dirty my pyjamas were. I had to escape Beta.

My speed was picking up as it seemed my body was waking up again. I could see outside the building. Clear streets, but in the same state. However, after I blinked... They were suddenly filled with walkers. They all banged on the closed windows and doors, attempting to get in. My breath caught in my throat. I heard groaning behind me, I turned and saw a walker. I kicked out its feet before going onto my knees next to it. I smashed its head into the ground once before its juices flowed everywhere.

I managed to pick up a conveniently placed shard of glass before tearing the walker in two down the middle. I didn't hesitate to grab handfuls of its guts and smear it all over my body. I was well aware that Beta was still coming, and I'd rather take my chances with the thousands of walkers. When I deemed myself soaked in blood enough, and could hear Beta in the stairwell I ran over to the doors. I did keep the shard of glass in hand though. Somehow... The doors weren't locked or barricaded in anyway... But the walkers didn't get through until I opened them.

I didn't care to stand there and think about the logistics as I weaved my way through the crowd of dead. I held my breath and kept my eyes shut as my shoulders brushed with theirs. Their feet standing on mine, their growls in my ears, their hands scraping my arms. They could kill me right now if they wanted, I couldn't take them all out with just a shard of glass... But they didn't recognise me while I was covered in their scent.

All of the walkers seemed to vanish into the hospital, so I started running away. I just ran and didn't turn back. I kept running, and running, and running... Until, something grabbed me from the side. I tried to stab them with the shard of glass, but somebody else restrained my arms. My head was being held into the first person's chest as they wrapped their arms around me. "Oh my god, you're finally awake." Eugene's voice stated.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I pulled my head back to look up to him. Eugene. My lips parted, but I noticed something behind him. I looked around and saw where I was... It wasn't destroyed anymore. Wasn't rotted. The place wasn't actively falling apart. It was better than normal. It was nice. Littered with tidy looking people who all watched me with concerned but judging eyes. I looked to the person behind me and saw some lady with a pink jacket and pink strips of dye in her hair, she was short and Latina. "It's so good to finally meet you." She smiled.

I pulled outta both their grips and took a couple steps back. "What the hell is going on?"

"Ellie, oh my god!" Carl's voice said from behind me.

I turned to see him. "Carl, what's going on? Where are we?"

The street was silent as everyone watched us. "It's okay. You're safe. Please, just let me hold you." Carl then pulled me in for a tight hug. "I missed you so much, Ellie. You have no idea how guilty I've felt."

I pushed him away and looked around. "How do I know this is real?"

"What are you talking about?" Eugene asked.

I backed away even further before my back hit something solid. I turned around and saw something. "And why the hell are there people dressed like storm troopers?"

"Hand over the glass." The man in the suit told me.

I held onto the glass tighter before I heard more commotion. "There she is! That's the girl who pushed me down the stairs!" I heard an old man's voice yell. I turned and saw this man had to be like a hundred... And... Apparently I pushed him down the stairs?

"And attacked my son's teddy!" An angry looking woman said as she held a teddy in the air that had been cut open down the torso.

"Ma'am, put the glass down!" One of the storm troopers with the two people yelled at me.

"No, no!" I heard a man yell. He ran and stood between me and the angry people that I'd attacked. He wore a white lab coat and a suit under them. "She's my patient! It's the medication she was given after the surgery!"

"Who the hell are you!" I yelled at him.

"Princess, go find Daryl." I heard Eugene tell the strange woman. With one more glance at me, she nodded before running off.

"Ellie, it's okay." The man who claimed to be my doctor said. I saw him pass something to Carl, before he got his attention back on me. Carl began to move to come behind me. "Nobody here wants to hurt you."

I raised the glass in his direction. "Where am I?"

That's when I felt a pinch in my neck. I saw that Carl had injected something into me. "It'll be better when you wake up, Ellie." Carl whispered. I turned around and swung at him with the glass. Carl barely ducked before guards were restraining my arms. 

"You're not real!" I screamed at him.

"Ellie, it's okay." Eugene tried insisted.

"Screw-... Screw you..." I tried, but my body started to feel heavy again. I felt myself fighting to stay awake, before I couldn't fight it anymore.

I felt cold metal around my wrists. I tugged on them before I did anything else. "Baby?" I heard my dad's voice and a dip in the bed next to me. "Come on, angel. Open your eyes for me." He brushed his hand through my hair. Slowly, I blinked open my eyes and looked up to him. Dad instantly threw his body down at me to hug me tightly. I felt him crying into my shoulder. "I missed you so much." He pulled back, putting his hands on my cheeks as he looked at me lovingly.

I just stared at him confused. "What the hell is going on?"

Dad instantly started unlocking the cuffs that were tying me to the bed. "They made us lock you down because you were violent. Apparently you attacked an old man and a teddy bear."

"What's going on?" I demanded, pushing myself up on the bed. Pulling Teddy into my lap.

"It's... It's kinda a long story." Dad said.

"I got time. How long have I been out?" I questioned.

Dad bit his bottom lip. "It was your birthday last week."

"Over a month? I turned seventeen already? Oh my god." I ran a hand through my hair.

"Actually... Darling, you're eighteen."