Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2016 15:15:31 GMT -5
The MUSC Institute of Psychiatry in Charleston, SC was secluded on a sort of peninsula, surrounded on most sides by the Cooper and Ashley river, both letting out to the ocean. As if mental illness was some sort of infectious 'disease' and they wanted to keep their patients quarantined away from the rest of society. But who could blame them, really? With the state of the world before the outbreak, it was just as well that most of the human race be wiped out from existence...they were already making such progress on killing themselves that it didn't make much of a difference how it happened...just happened faster than anyone expected.
Or at least, that's how Amy saw it.
Funny that she'd leave a psych ward, just to end up back at another.
Even now, as she stared at the cold, quiet building for a moment with bodies shambling back and forth between the windows, she thought how sad it must be that even in death...they were still confined to that place. Not that she felt bad for the creatures, of course. Just for the people they once were and the potential they had to get better. Now their only saving grace would be a mercy shot between the eyes to give them back their dignity.
Most days at her own psych ward she spent either in the Recreational Room painting, or sitting in her room, looking at the window to the outside world. Save for the occasions in which the orderlies forced her to 'socialize' with the other, much less composed, patients of the ward. At those times, she tried to tuck herself away into the very back corner of the room, with her notebook and pen in hand, hoping to avoid the nonsensical ramblings of Joey the schizo, or Debbie the conspiracy theorist...you could only follow Joey half of the time, and Debbie thought there were cameras in the mashed potatoes. And they were probably the most 'levelheaded' of the bunch.
She often thought about those days as she trudged along, kicking up sand here and there with the tips of her boots. The wet, salty air clung to her, creating a glistening layer on top of her skin. It would be peaceful...if it weren't for the bloodthirsty creatures stuck in the sand that gnashed their teeth when you walked by.
It took some time to get across the city, and over the bridge, onto the mainland from the Charleston peninsula...and her only game plan was to make her way to the ocean and follow the coastline up. For the most part, the creatures stayed in the cities...there were only stragglers here and there on the beach, and most had been pummeled by the hellish storms that slammed them against the dunes, burying them waist deep in the wet sand.
Here and there, Amy had to move inland, as the coast broke up here and there for several water inlets/outlets, but she tried her best to stay on the outskirts of any sort of city. She rummaged through small shacks in dilapidated fishing towns, gathering what supplies she could carry as far as food...trying to stretch everything to make it last, and barricading herself in them at night to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she'd be out here.
She wasn't even sure there were any other living souls left, anymore. Ironic, she thought, that the last person left alive is one that had wanted to die the most...
She walked for what felt like an eternity, listening to the ocean waves roar and crash against each other, when she saw lights. Even in the distance, she heard.... noise. Not just any noise, and not the raspy, clamoring crowd of walkers kind of noise...but what sounded like whooping, and hollering, and people sort of noise.
"Could it really be?
Could there be people after all? And why do they sound all joyous, as if they're having the time of their lives when the world is in such disrepair?
These were questions that Amy couldn't answer by wondering alone, so she picked up her pace and kept ahead...it was dusk, the sun was sinking. Normally, she didn't walk at night...but the moon was bright enough on the beachfront that she could see...and she couldn't wait until morning to quell her curiosity.
Out of breath, Amy dug her black boots into the sand and climbed up the dunes, wiping off her hands onto her grey cargo pants as she stood, her long, raven hair falling down around her shoulders and her white tank top. She rose her hand over her eyes, the sudden burst of light blinding her for just a moment, before revealing what looked to be a bar, a junkyard, scrap houses and people everywhere behind high fences. There was electricity, music.....
There were people.
She sighed in disbelief, had insanity found her so quickly and made her hallucinate? Or was this really happening?
She dismounted the dunes and began walking towards the noisy establishment, albeit cautiously, with her machete in hand. She gripped the handle so tight that her knuckles began to turn white the closer she got and adjusted her backpack and violin case firmly on her shoulder.
Heart pounding, cold sweat on her porcelain skin, Amy approached the wire gate...taking in sights she hadn't seen for years.
People drinking, laughing, flirting, fighting, and carrying on as if the world around them hadn't been sent to hell in a hand-basket. Or maybe they knew, and just didn't care.
A sudden burst of violence erupted as she saw what seemed to be a one-on-one fight, in the most brutal of ways. One older, greasy, rat-faced looking man being beaten to a bloody pulp by another who maniacally laughed and smiled while the blood splattered everywhere.
The bright lights illuminated her pale skin, as if glowing beneath the black hair framing her delicate features. She clenched her jaw and took in a deep breath, trying not to make a sound, contemplating turning around and continuing on as if she hadn't seen anything...wondering if it would be better if she did.
Until someone noticed her presence, and began speaking to her as they walked towards the fence....her chest heaved in and out, drawing in heavy breaths, as her heart beat wildly and erratically with their approach.
You think she'd be relieved to see another living, breathing human being...but Amy found herself oddly...
terrified.
After all, people were capable of so much evil with laws in place before the outbreak...who knows what they were capable of now without them.
Or at least, that's how Amy saw it.
Funny that she'd leave a psych ward, just to end up back at another.
Even now, as she stared at the cold, quiet building for a moment with bodies shambling back and forth between the windows, she thought how sad it must be that even in death...they were still confined to that place. Not that she felt bad for the creatures, of course. Just for the people they once were and the potential they had to get better. Now their only saving grace would be a mercy shot between the eyes to give them back their dignity.
Most days at her own psych ward she spent either in the Recreational Room painting, or sitting in her room, looking at the window to the outside world. Save for the occasions in which the orderlies forced her to 'socialize' with the other, much less composed, patients of the ward. At those times, she tried to tuck herself away into the very back corner of the room, with her notebook and pen in hand, hoping to avoid the nonsensical ramblings of Joey the schizo, or Debbie the conspiracy theorist...you could only follow Joey half of the time, and Debbie thought there were cameras in the mashed potatoes. And they were probably the most 'levelheaded' of the bunch.
She often thought about those days as she trudged along, kicking up sand here and there with the tips of her boots. The wet, salty air clung to her, creating a glistening layer on top of her skin. It would be peaceful...if it weren't for the bloodthirsty creatures stuck in the sand that gnashed their teeth when you walked by.
It took some time to get across the city, and over the bridge, onto the mainland from the Charleston peninsula...and her only game plan was to make her way to the ocean and follow the coastline up. For the most part, the creatures stayed in the cities...there were only stragglers here and there on the beach, and most had been pummeled by the hellish storms that slammed them against the dunes, burying them waist deep in the wet sand.
Here and there, Amy had to move inland, as the coast broke up here and there for several water inlets/outlets, but she tried her best to stay on the outskirts of any sort of city. She rummaged through small shacks in dilapidated fishing towns, gathering what supplies she could carry as far as food...trying to stretch everything to make it last, and barricading herself in them at night to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she'd be out here.
She wasn't even sure there were any other living souls left, anymore. Ironic, she thought, that the last person left alive is one that had wanted to die the most...
She walked for what felt like an eternity, listening to the ocean waves roar and crash against each other, when she saw lights. Even in the distance, she heard.... noise. Not just any noise, and not the raspy, clamoring crowd of walkers kind of noise...but what sounded like whooping, and hollering, and people sort of noise.
"Could it really be?
Could there be people after all? And why do they sound all joyous, as if they're having the time of their lives when the world is in such disrepair?
These were questions that Amy couldn't answer by wondering alone, so she picked up her pace and kept ahead...it was dusk, the sun was sinking. Normally, she didn't walk at night...but the moon was bright enough on the beachfront that she could see...and she couldn't wait until morning to quell her curiosity.
Out of breath, Amy dug her black boots into the sand and climbed up the dunes, wiping off her hands onto her grey cargo pants as she stood, her long, raven hair falling down around her shoulders and her white tank top. She rose her hand over her eyes, the sudden burst of light blinding her for just a moment, before revealing what looked to be a bar, a junkyard, scrap houses and people everywhere behind high fences. There was electricity, music.....
There were people.
She sighed in disbelief, had insanity found her so quickly and made her hallucinate? Or was this really happening?
She dismounted the dunes and began walking towards the noisy establishment, albeit cautiously, with her machete in hand. She gripped the handle so tight that her knuckles began to turn white the closer she got and adjusted her backpack and violin case firmly on her shoulder.
Heart pounding, cold sweat on her porcelain skin, Amy approached the wire gate...taking in sights she hadn't seen for years.
People drinking, laughing, flirting, fighting, and carrying on as if the world around them hadn't been sent to hell in a hand-basket. Or maybe they knew, and just didn't care.
A sudden burst of violence erupted as she saw what seemed to be a one-on-one fight, in the most brutal of ways. One older, greasy, rat-faced looking man being beaten to a bloody pulp by another who maniacally laughed and smiled while the blood splattered everywhere.
The bright lights illuminated her pale skin, as if glowing beneath the black hair framing her delicate features. She clenched her jaw and took in a deep breath, trying not to make a sound, contemplating turning around and continuing on as if she hadn't seen anything...wondering if it would be better if she did.
Until someone noticed her presence, and began speaking to her as they walked towards the fence....her chest heaved in and out, drawing in heavy breaths, as her heart beat wildly and erratically with their approach.
You think she'd be relieved to see another living, breathing human being...but Amy found herself oddly...
terrified.
After all, people were capable of so much evil with laws in place before the outbreak...who knows what they were capable of now without them.