An Infinite Sorrow by R.J. Harker

The whole thing was a like a game now.  Nothing seemed real.  He flipped on all the gas burners on the stove without lighting it, and opened the front door.  "Hey, Stan!  You suck!!  You're fat, too.  Alice and Liz never liked you, no one did.  Come get some!"
      "AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGG!!"
      It charged the front door, howling like some damned thing.  Rich ran back into the kitchen, grabbing a match book off the counter.  He ran out the back door, lit the whole book, and tossed it in.  There was a small popping sound, and then a flash of light.  The house went up, vaporizing Stan, knocking Rich into the middle of the yard.  By the time he managed to sit up, his clothes were smoking. 
      "Awww crap...he'd better be dead." 
      The light and sound had attracted something.  There was a howling sound, followed by the sound of a lot of people moving.  Well, not people, exactly.  Rich was already running.  "How do I get out of here?  Where would you lunatics hide a secret exit?" 
      He ran for a while.  The zombies followed the sound.  The fire had attracted some, but most of them were following him.  Finally, he ran out of breath.  When he looked up, he was by the cemetery.  "Oh yeah, this has to be it." 
      Rich ran past the gate, dodging through gravestones like it was some type of hellish obstacle course.  Hundreds of the dead ripped the gate down, tearing at each other to get one step closer to his flesh.  At the center of the cemetery, was a large mausoleum.  "That's got to be it.  That's got to be, I am not getting eaten." 
      He made it to the center.  The knob turned.  Nothing.  It was like it wasn't even a real door.  Closer they came.  Closer.  CLOSER!!!  THERE WAS NO ESCAPE.  The stench of the dead flooded him, overwhelming his senses.  "No, no, no, no, no…….  Open, open, open, open!!!!.  COME ON!!!" 
      There was a hissing sound.  Liz grabbed him and pulled him through.  "Come on.  There's no more time!"
      When she pulled him through the doorway, they were back in the citadel.  Liz half shoved him down the hall.  "There is an emergency elevator to the main audience chamber about two hundred meters this way, and about fifty of those things between it and us.  Follow my lead."
      Rich could smell what was around that corner before he saw them.  The whole room was full of those things, blocking the path between them and the elevator.  Liz moved very slowly, pulling him along into the middle of them. 
      "They don't bite right now.  Too much action; they're in a stupor for a while.  Just try not to touch any of them."
      Rich tried to control his breathing, concentrate on following her.  That's all he could let himself think about.  If he made eye contact with any of the horrors around him, it would be over. One of the creatures turned and stared at him, making funny, wheezing sounds.  Liz pulled him along faster.  "He smells something on you.  Keep moving." 
      "Stop!  Stop!  This is crazy." 
      "You don't want to get killed, do you?  Or worse?"  They kept going.  They were almost to the elevator.
      "GGGAAAAAAACCCKKKKKK!!!"  The creature puked some kind of slime all over Rich's arm, which started eating through his jacket.  He tore it off, and ran for the elevator door.  He shoved Liz in as the crowd of dead surged.  Rotting arms and faces tried to wedge themselves through the closing metal doors.  The screams and moans were deafening as Rich felt his own screams join those of the damned. 
      "Watch all arms and legs."  A robotic voice chimed as the doors slid shut.  They neatly sliced off everything protruding into them, showering the two trembling figures in decaying gore.  They lay on the floor of the elevator for a moment, frozen in shock.  Liz took his hand.  "What is going on?"
      Rich was finally catching his breath.  "You mean you don't know?" 
      "No.  I woke up in some kind of hospital bed.  I thought I was sick or