Apocalypse- the Plan

by Gary M. Chesla

  Joe, Al and Bud ran into the bunker and closed the door.

  “It’s almost here,” Joe said. “Now what?”

  “Just sit tight and keep your eyes open for anything unusual,” I replied.

  We watched as the heat pocket moved over the bunker, then it slowly settled down over us.

  The stars grew dim and soon we found ourselves, except for the low glow coming from the monitors, surrounded by total darkness.

  I was about to ask Wilson to check his monitor again when I was distracted by a fine mist that started coming into the bunker under the door.

  I then began to feel light-headed.

  I noticed Joe falling to the floor. Al fell against the monitors then slid to the floor.

  I saw Wilson run towards the door, then everything went black as I felt myself hitting the floor and my thoughts faded out completely.

  Chapter 9

  I remembered starting to wake up and then realizing that I couldn’t move, my arms and legs seemed to be tied down or glued to my sides.

  I opened my eyes, but I couldn’t see anything.

  Well, I could see light coming through something that was covering my face and eyes, but all I could make out were shadows that seemed to be floating around in front of me.

  I felt warm, the air around me felt warm and dry, and whatever I was laying on felt soft and warm.

  I then felt a sharp pain in my head, and I could hear sounds. The sounds seemed like voices, but I couldn’t understand what the voices were saying. At least I thought the sounds were voices, the sound was rhythmic and pleasant sounding. Each sound seemed to receive an answer in that same rhythmic sound.

  Something touched my arm, then quickly moved away. Then something touched my head, then other areas on my body, but quickly stopped.

  I wasn’t sure what was touching me, and some of the touches felt uncomfortable and I wondered who or what was touching me and why were they touching me.

  I tried to speak, but something in my mouth and down my throat stopped me from speaking, so I just laid there and tried to determine where I was and who was touching me.

  The last I remembered, I was in the bunker and a heat pocket was coming towards us.

  No, now I remember, it wasn’t coming towards us, it had already made it, it had surrounded the bunker and I remembered a mist.

  I grew tired trying to remember things and trying to understand why I couldn’t move. I grew more and more tired, then I felt myself falling asleep.

  I again felt myself regaining consciousness, I didn’t know if I had been out for a few minutes or a few days.

  I can’t remember how many times this has happened, but I’m trying to remain as motionless as possible because I’ve noticed that if I try to move my arms or legs, or I move my head too much, I hear those rhythmic sounds again, then something starts to touch me and then I lose consciousness again.

  It makes me wonder where I am and what is happening to me. I wish whoever is touching me would stop it, it is starting to become annoying, but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it.

  I just felt a sharp pain in my leg and now everything seems to be fading.

  What the hell is going on?

  I can feel myself waking again, someone or something is touching me and I am really getting annoyed at where they are touching me. Why do they have to touch me there?

  Then my mind wanders and I start to think about Wilson and Joe. I couldn’t quite remember where I had been, but something in the back of my mind kept shouting at me and telling me not to tell anyone anything.

  Tell anyone what? I can’t remember.

  I then started to get paranoid, am I being held prisoner?

  Is that why I’m here?

  What do they want to know? I can’t seem to remember much of anything that anyone would want to know.

  What is going to happen to me if I can’t remember what they want to know?

  What is going to happen to me if I can remember what they want to know?

  Suddenly the material that was covering my face and eyes was lifted off my face, the bright light hanging above my face blinded me and I quickly shut my eyes tightly to ease the pain.

  I then heard a shriek, and whatever had been over my face quickly covered my face once again.

  I then heard a flurry of rhythmic sounds coming from all around me, then I felt a pinch on my arm and the darkness once again closed in around me.

  I was awakened once again, this time by a sharp pain in my head.

  My God, I’m going to go mad.

  How long have I been here, a few minutes, a few days, a year? Why am I here? Why the hell doesn’t someone tell me what I’m doing here?

  I have the feeling that they want something from me, but I don’t know what it is. I can’t make sense out of anything I hear. I wish I could see something and why the hell does someone keep touching me like that?

  I felt my heart rate go up and could feel the pounding in my chest.

  Then came that familiar pinch on my arm and everything faded.

  Chapter 10

  Once again, I felt myself regaining consciousness.

  How many times have I gone through this? How many more times do I have to go through this?

  I was feeling frustrated, but my mind felt clearer and I was cold. The air around me felt much cooler than I remember it being, the last few dozen times I’d awakened.

  Has it only been a few dozen times, I had lost track? I had tried to count the number of times I had awakened feeling frustrated and confused, but I kept forgetting what number I had counted up to the last time I was awake.

  I wish someone would tell me what the hell they want and what I can do to get out of here.

  I could feel the anger deep down inside of me and I finally felt myself calling out, “Where the hell am I?”

  Not only could I feel myself calling out, I heard myself.

  My throat hurt like hell after the effort, but I was amazed that I had finally been able to make a sound. The tubes that had been down my throat were now gone.

  “You’re in the hospital,” a voice said.

  I was shocked, I had finally heard someone say something that I could understand.

  “Hello, is someone there?” I asked softly. I had to ask softly, after shouting, even when I wasn’t trying to speak my throat was sore and throbbing.

  “I see you are finally awake,” the voice said. “How are you feeling?”

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I’m your nurse,” the voice replied, then it struck me for the first time that the voice was a woman’s voice.

  “I’m in the hospital?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Why?” I asked. “Why am I here?”

  “It seems you had a bad accident,” she replied.

  “I did?” I asked. “What kind of accident?”

  “I believe there was an explosion and you are lucky to be alive,” she replied.

  “I don’t remember any explosion,” I said.

  “Temporary amnesia is common when one has been involved in the type of accident you had,” she replied. “Can you tell me your name?”

  “Of course I can tell you my name,” I replied, then I got suspicious. “But why do you want to know my name? You say I’m in the hospital and that you are my nurse, but how do I know that is true? I could be being held prisoner and you are just trying to find out who I am.”

  “So, you think I’m trying to trick you?” the voice replied with a hint of humor clearly sounding in her voice.

  “Could be,” I replied.

  “How about if I tell you my name?” she asked.

  “You could be giving me a fake name and I would have no way of knowing,” I replied. “Besides, if you were my nurse, you should already know my name.”

  “I do know your name, it’s right here on your chart,” she replied.

  “Then why do I need to tell you my name?” I asked.

  “In c
ase you forgot,” she replied. “We were talking about you possibly having temporary amnesia. I was just trying to determine if you could remember who you are. It would help me determine how serious your situation might be.”

  “Oh,” I laughed. “Well, how about we do this. If you are really telling me the truth, if I give you five names and you can tell me which one is mine on the first try, I just might believe you.”

  “OK, if that will make you feel better,” she replied.

  “OK, here are the five names, George, Tom, Albert, Ralph or Timothy,” I said.

  “Now you’re trying to trick me,” she replied, “because none of those are your name.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” she replied.

  “Well then, how about Mike, Bud, Mickey, Joe or Bob?’ I asked.

  “That’s better Mike,” she replied then asked. “Will you just tell me your last name without us having to play fifty questions. Your mind is obviously better than you are letting on.”

  “Hodges,” I replied.

  “Mike, your mind appears to be working fine and I would think that your memory should return in a few days,” she replied. “I’ve been involved with a few cases where the patient wasn’t able to remember their own name for two weeks.”

  “So, what is your name?” I asked.

  “Susan,” she replied.

  “So, Susan, are you going to remove whatever this is on my face so I can see you?” I asked.

  “Not today, maybe tomorrow if the doctor says it is OK,” Susan replied.

  “What is this on my face?” I asked.

  “Just a gauze bandage to protect your eyes from the light,” Susan replied. “The explosion bruised your eyeballs and the doctor felt that your eyes should be covered to give your eyes a chance to heal before being exposed to any bright light.”

  “I can’t move my arms or legs,” I said. “Is there a reason why I can’t do that? I didn’t lose any limbs or anything in the explosion, did I?”

  “No, we had to restrain your arms and legs so you wouldn’t pull out any of your tubes or monitors,” Susan replied. “You wouldn’t be still so for your own safety we had to restrain you.”

  After another minute I asked.

  “Susan, are you still there?” I asked.

  “I’m still here.” She replied.

  “You say I’ve been here for a month?” I asked.

  “A little over a month,” she replied.

  “I kept hearing strange soft sounds when I would come to,” I said. “I thought it was someone talking but it sounded so strange, like birds singing or imitating a human voice, but I couldn’t make out what the voices were saying. Do you know what that was?”

  “I’m not sure,” she replied. “Your head has been bandaged and the bandages covered your ears, maybe what you heard was the doctors and nurses talking when they were treating you, but the bandages muffled and changed the sounds.”

  “I guess you could be right,” I replied. “I also felt some one touching me a lot, who was that?”

  “That was probably me,” Susan replied. “I had to take your temperature every day, replace the IVs and bandages, check for bed sores, give you injections and change your catheter.”

  “Catheter,” I said. “Did you have to replace it every day?”

  “No, I only had to replace it once each week,” Susan replied.

  “It seemed like every time I woke up someone was down there,” I replied. “I was beginning to wonder why someone was spending so much time down there.”

  Susan chuckled, “Sorry if my cold hands disturbed you.”

  “When am I going to get out of here?” I asked after another few minutes.

  “The doctor will give us a better idea about that after he examines you tomorrow morning,” Susan replied. “Right now, I’m going to give you another shot to make you sleep. You need to rest.”

  “I think that’s all I’ve been doing,” I replied. “I want to get out of here and go back to work. I don’t know how much more of this laying around I can take.”

  “If you behave yourself and do what the doctor tells you, he might release you to light duty in a few days,” Susan said, “as long as your eyes pass the doctors inspection tomorrow. Are you feeling a little tired now after playing fifty questions with me?”

  “A little,” I admitted.

  I heard the sound of Susan’s footsteps as she moved closer to my bed.

  “You are going to feel a little pinch, just relax,” she said. “Then you are going to go to sleep. I’ll see you again in the morning.”

  “It was nice talking to you,” I said. “I feel better knowing that I’m not being held prisoner somewhere, I was beginning to worry about that possibility. Of course, until I get the bandages off my eyes, I still can’t be sure I’m not being held prisoner. Even so, it was finally nice being able to talk to someone again.”

  “Go to sleep Mike,” Susan laughed, then I felt another pinch and fell into another deep sleep.

  Chapter 11

  I started to wake up when I felt someone touching my face.

  “Susan, is that you?” I asked.

  “No, this is Doctor Stanley,” a man’s voice said.

  “Susan said a doctor would be stopping by to remove my bandages and check my eyes in the morning,” I said. “Is it morning now?”

  “Yes, it’s morning,” the doctor replied.

  “So if my eyes pass your inspection does that mean I can get out of here?” I asked.

  “He asks a lot of questions,” I heard Susan’s voice say to the doctor. “I had to play fifty questions with him yesterday to get him to tell me his name. He also thinks we’re holding him prisoner and our goal is to force secret information out of him.”

  “Is that what you think?” the doctor laughed.

  “Until you remove the bandages so I can see, I’m not ruling anything out,” I replied.

  “You do know that to get information I wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble of trying to interrogate you?” the doctor asked. “I could just give you a shot that would make you tell me anything I wanted to know.”

  “I think I remember hearing about those kind of shots,” I replied. “I also remember being jabbed by a needle an awful lot since I’ve been here. I hope you got whatever information you were looking for.”

  The doctor laughed again.

  “Susan, please turn the lights down,” the doctor said. “Now in a moment, I’m going to remove the bandages covering your eyes. Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them, then I want you to open your eyes slowly to give your eyes a chance to adjust to the light.”

  “OK,” I replied.

  I could feel the doctor slowly unwrapping the gauze, then pulling tape or something sticky from around my eyes.

  Finally he said, “Open your eyes very slowly.”

  I slowly started to open my eyes, but quickly closed them again as a pain shot through my eyes.

  I tried to move my hands up to cover my eyes, but I still couldn’t move my hands.

  “Would it be possible to take the restraints off my arms so I can use my hands?” I asked.

  “Susan,” the doctor said. “I think we can do that, most of the tubes and wires have been removed and Mr. Hodges seems to be aware now of what he is doing.”

  “Promise you won’t try to escape?” Susan asked.

  “Maybe,” I replied and laughed.

  I could feel Susan pulling at the restraints on my wrists then finally I was able to move my hands.

  I moved them up to my face and began to feel my face and head.

  “It seems that everything is still here,” I said as I finally held my hands over my eyes, then I slow reopened my eyes and looked through the spaces between my fingers. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust before I slowly removed my hands.

  I could then see the doctor, a man in his mid-fifties, dark thinning hair, a little gray around the sides, wearing white scr
ubs over a green military uniform. He was watching me carefully, studying my face.

  “How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked then held up three fingers.

  “Three and a half,” I replied.

  “His eyes are fine, but I’m starting to worry about his mental state of mind,” Susan said.

  I turned to see a small blonde girl in a green army uniform, holding a clipboard, standing to my left.

  When I saw the ornery grin on her face I couldn’t help myself. “I must have died and gone to heaven,” I smiled.

  “I see what you mean about his mental state,” the doctor grinned.

  “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that line from a man that just came out of a coma, I could retire,” Susan laughed. “Mike, I had expected a better line than that from you.”

  “Sorry, but I’m not exactly at my best,” I replied. “I’ll try to do better tomorrow.”

  I turned my attention back to the doctor.

  “Well Doc, what do you think?” I asked. “When can I get out of here?”

  “I don’t think we should be in too much of a hurry,” the doctor replied. “You have suffered a severe concussion and your body has been immobilized for over a month. Your muscles are weak and it will take a few days for you to get your feet back under you. I also want you to rest your eyes as much as possible the next few days. I want to observe your retinas to be sure that they won’t suffer any tears as your eye muscles begin to work again. If after three days all appears to be progressing normally, we’ll talk about a possible discharge.”

  “Will I have to stay in this bed the entire time,” I asked.

  “Susan will get you a walker and you can try to walk around your bed a little,” the doctor replied. “Don’t over do it, a few steps this morning, a few more this afternoon. When Susan feels you are making progress, then maybe you can try to walk down the hall.”

  “Thank You,” I said.