I woke up in a room filled with a blinding white light. I was alone, covered in thin white sheets on a rusted metal hospital bed. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten here, or even why I was here to begin with.

I looked around, not being able to make out anything. Had I not put contacts in? Did I even need contacts? As I looked around, I realized that I could barely even remember my own name. My mind was just . . . blank.

I remained sat up for a few minutes, letting the dizziness slowly start to pass away. I slid off the uncomfy bed slowly, feeling my bare feet touch the freezing cold floor. Cold shivers rippled through my body, and a pang of hunger crept over me. How long had I been asleep?

A small bag of chips sat atop a countertop, and I tore it apart, barely tasting the salty crisps as I swallowed. I didn’t realize that this is how it felt to be starving. It was unbearable. I felt more aware after eating, but I certainly wasn’t done yet. Surely there had to be something else to eat around here, right?

I left the room that I was in, stumbling around. My vision was still somehow blurry, despite both moving around and having a snack. I found a door after a minute, and I grabbed at what I presumed was the doorknob. The door flew open, and I walked in.

Like everything else I’d seen, this room was almost pure white, with a few odd smears every here and there. It seemed as if this room was connected to another through a thin layer of glass, as there was a room exactly like this one on the other side. As I came closer to the glass, I noticed a figure shambling toward me.

Even though I could barely remember anything, images flooded my mind. Images of things that had been described through books and pictured in movies. Rotten skin, a gaping mouth, and finger that ached to grab ahold of something and eat it alive. The thing in front of me looked like . . . a zombie.

I attempted to scream, but my vocal cords barely seemed to work. I tripped over myself and hit the ground as I attempted to run out of the room. I picked myself up, noticing that my vision was finally seeming to unblur. Only when I was running for my life did my eyes decide to work. As I thought that to myself, I ran into a wall, hearing a groaning sound from somewhere way too close.

I ran into the next room, slamming the door as quickly as I could. I was out of breath, and I panted as I looked around my surroundings. I groaned, noticing the similarity between my groan and the noise I had heard just moments ago. I stood back up, noticing another mirror.

It had several huge cracks going along the surface of it, but as I came closer, I noticed something. I was the creature that I had just been running away from.

I was . . . a zombie.

As those thoughts went through my mind, something else came with it: the unbearable need to eat something else. Something . . . alive.