"Elfie? Can you hear me?" You open your eyes to a strange voice. It almost sounded like…growling. Your head

is throbbing a little bit, and you try to remember where you are. The last thing you remember is being in the

hospital in Savanna, Georgia. You'd had some kind of sickness, and your mother kept crying and your dad kept

saying that it was his fault. Something about an attack on the street. You didn't understand anything of what

they were talking about, but thought you'd go crazy if they didn't stop yelling at each other about whose fault it

was. You remember a doctor coming into the room and examining you. He opened your eye a little wider with

his thumb and forefinger and shined a light into it. Then, you'd lost control. The light was so painful, it seemed

to sear like a hot dagger straight to your brain. You remember screaming, and lashing out at the doctor, then at

your parents when they tried to get you off him. The entire ordeal was fuzzy in your mind now. You were on the

floor in your hospital room, you realized as you looked at the floor tiles. It was dark, almost pitch black. Your

pale blond hair was in your face a little bit, and as you raised your hand to brush it out of the way, what you

see scares you half to death. Long, red daggers are what your fingers have become. You gasp, and look

around. You see the dead bodies of your parents and the doctor on the other side of the room. Their blood

stains the floor in pools of dark liquid. Suddenly, sobs rise into your throat and you began to cry helplessly.

"What have I done…?" you think. You then feel a hand on your shoulder and you look up, to see a figure, a boy,

in a hoodie. His hood is up, so you can't see his eyes, but you know, somehow, that you are making eye

contact. "It's going to be okay, Elfie. I promise." he says. Again, his voice sounds more like a growl than a voice,

but you sense no hostility in his tone. "W-who are you, exactly? And how do you know my name?" you ask. He

sits beside you on the cold hospital floor, and you see that he's wearing dark sweatpants, too, with duct tape

wrapped around his elbows and thighs. He gives you a soft smile and replies, "My name is Archer. And I know

your name because of your chart." He holds up a medical chart off your hospital bed. "Aelfin Cassina McGliffin.

Diagnosed with Green Flu." He glances up at you from the clipboard. "That's you, is it not?" You nod, and then

ask, "Why are you here?" He smiles at your troubled expression. "I'm here to protect you, Elfie. I'm here to

teach you how to live in this cruel world. I'm here so you won't have to hurt yourself anymore." The last eleven

words came out as a whisper, as he'd leaned over to you as he'd said them. You'd been slouching over, but

now you sit erect, your eyes wide with guilt and surprise. "How do you know abo—" you begin to ask. But he

just shakes his head and gently takes one of your arms in his hands. You both look down as he gently rubs the

concealer makeup off your wrists and forearms. "You can't fool me with makeup." He whispers. You feel a sob

catch in your throat as he slowly and gently traces the scars with his finger. "It's more of a claw, actually." you

think idly to yourself. Not knowing what else to say, you choke out, "I'm sorry…" He looks up at you with a

mixed expression of surprise and concern at your apology. "You don't have to be apologize to me…I'd be a

hypocrite If I were angry with you." He wraps his arms around your thin body and holds you close to him.

"Geez…you're like ice…" he whispers and holds you tighter. You hadn't realized how cold you were until his

embrace surrounded you with warmth. "I'm sorry." You say, again. He chuckles and says, "Don't be. It's not

your fault." After a few minutes of silence, you gently pull away and stand up, your muscles having surprising

strength for being so thin. You walk to the window and gaze outside. You see countless infected people,

stumbling around, fighting amongst themselves, and retching on the sidewalk. You gasp, and go to draw your

hand to your mouth in shock, but when you see your hand again, you flinch away from it. You hold it to the pale

shimmer of moonlight coming in from the window and examine it. "What's happened to me?" you ask. Archer

walks up behind you and gently holds your hand in his own. "You were infected with the Green Flu. But…a

mutation occurred in your body, causing you to become what others call 'Special Infected.'" You glace at your

hands, then at his, seeing that his were gnarled and had claws like yours, but your fingers were like knives

compared to his. "Does this happen to everyone?" you ask. He shakes his head. "No. We're the rare cases of

the disease. The common infected- I mean, our lesser brothers and sisters, are the ones out there. They look to

us for guidance, for they obviously cannot watch over themselves." You observe the infected outside, watching

them stumble and fight, like dogs over a scrap of meat. The thought of meat made your stomach growl. You

glace at your tummy and think at it, "Shut up." "They're like children…" You say, referring to the ones outside.

Archer shrugs. "I guess so. They certainly act like it sometimes. The other day, two of them were fighting over

who got to stand next to me when we attacked the survivors. I had to separate them just to get them to shut

up." he says, exasperated. You giggle at his expression, and he looks down to smile at you. "Why don't we go

outside? All you've seen for the past few weeks has been the inside of this room." he suggests. You nod, eager

to please. "Okay."

He takes your hand and gently leads you out of the hospital, and helps you down the numerous flights of stairs

since the elevators are broken. You look around at the infected around you. Some are dressed as nurses, and

some as surgeons in scrubs, with their white gloves still on their hands. You pass by hospital rooms, and crash

carts, but most of the defibrillators were taken from them. You walk by overturned biohazard bags that have

been torn, and paperwork is spread all over the floor. Somewhere at the nurses' station, the phone on the

counter rings. As you're walking down the hallway, suddenly you see a tall figure walk out of one of the rooms

ahead of you. He's wearing skinny jeans and a purple v-neck shirt, and converse shoes on his feet. But his

tongue is hanging out of his mouth, and it's long enough to make even Gene Simmons jealous. Half of his face

is obscured by bubbly-looking flesh, but the other half is slightly covered by black hair that's a little shaggy. He's

coughing horribly, as if one of his lungs is about to dislodge itself from his innards and come flying out his

mouth. He walks closer, and Archer shows no sign of alarm at his presence. However, as he comes closer, you

feel the tears well up in your eyes in fear. Silent sobs break free as the tears spill over, and yet he keeps

coming closer. Finally, you can't take it anymore, and an earth-shattering scream erupts from inside you, and

you rip your hand free of Archer's, and take off running in the opposite direction, away from the strange,

long-tongued thing. Blinded by tears, you can't see where you're running, but you just keep going as fast as

you can. You trip over an overturned plastic trash can, and you skid across the floor as you fall, screaming in

terror. Your arm scrapes against the sharp edge of a glass door, shattering it with a crash, and blood seeps

into your hospital gown and down your arm. You try to scoot away, but you only succeed in getting shards of

glass lodged in your arms and stomach. Whimpering with the sudden pain, blood begins to soak your

paper-thin gown. You don't move after that; you stay there, face down on the floor, and you just keep sobbing,

the salt water sliding through the dirt on your cheeks. A few of the common infected become aware of you, and

surround you protectively. You soon hear footsteps, the footsteps of a running individual. They're coming closer

to you, but you've lost all will to move. "As long as it isn't thing horrible tongue thing…I'll be just fine…Please don't

let it be the tongue thing…Please…" you plead silently. You hear the common infected around you give growls of

warning; something is approaching. All is silent for a moment, and you wonder if you were mistaken as to

someone's approach. Just as that thought passes through your head, a racking cough explodes from only a few

feet away. Your blood freezes in your veins and your heart seems to stop, then begin to pound as if you'd run a

marathon. You squeeze your eyes shut, tears still streaming from their corners. You sense the common infected

around you give way, and stumble along elsewhere as someone pushes them aside. You dare not open your

eyes, but instead await your doom. You tremble with fear and uncertainty, and the tears refuse to stop falling.

You hear a strange, new voice call to someone on the other side of the room. Not a low growl like Archer's

voice, but a throaty, dry sound. "Archer, I found her! She's over here…and she's bleeding." He kneels beside

you, and you open your eyes to stare at the boy. He gives you a smile, and gently picks you up, out of the

broken glass you were lying on. He puts you on a nearby stretcher, just as Archer pounces and lands next to

him, a worried expression on his features. "Is she okay?" he asks the tongue guy. "She's gotten herself into

quite a mess, but nothing a few stitches, gauze, and time can't fix." replies the tongue guy. Archer exhales in

relief, and then he turns to look at you. "Why did you run away?" he asks. You frown as the tongue guy pulls

glass out of your arms with a pair of forceps. You gasp and shudder, trying to form words. "H-he scares me…a

lot…" you manage to choke out. Archer's worried expression turns to one of surprise. "You mean Smokey? He

couldn't hurt a fly!" The tongue guy turned to glare at Archer. "That's not true! You're forgetting about that

horsefly I killed the other day!" he retorts. Archer grins. "I was only kidding, Smokey." The tongue guy shakes

his head, clearly exasperated, and resumes working on your injuries. "…Smokey?" you ask uncertainly. He looks

up and smiles. "That's not my real name, you know. My real name is Harvey. But you can call me Smokey if you'd

like." You find yourself smiling. "Okay, Smokey. I'm Aelfin, but you can call me Elfie. And…can I ask you a

question?" Smokey looks up from tying the gauze gently around your stomach to smile and say, "I think you

just did." You smile again briefly, but then ask, "Why do they call you Smokey?" He raises his eyebrows in

surprise. "Because I'm a Smoker." You blink. "You know, that's really bad for your health." He chuckles, and

then when he sees your incomprehension, gets a confused expression. "You really don't know?" You shake

your head, confused. "I don't know anything about what's happened here…except that I'm part of something

called the Special Infected." He turns to Archer. "You haven't told her what she is yet?" he exclaims. Archer

clenches his teeth for a second, and replies, "No, I haven't. I was going to tell her when we got outside and she

could see what's happened to this place." Smokey blinks, about to argue further, and then considered his point.

"I suppose it wouldn't make much sense until she's seen everything for herself." he says. You prop yourself up

onto your elbows and ask, "Seen what for myself?" They both look at each other, then at you. "Elfie…what's

happened in Savanna…isn't just in Savanna."

-More Chapters Coming Soon! I Promise. Same for my End Of The World As We Know It Story.-

-Please Review! :D I want to know what you think of this so far.-