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“The police should also be here shortly to talk to you,” the nurse said, ignoring my questions.

Where are the guys? Did they make it out okay?

I didn’t dare voice these questions aloud. I feared what the answer would be.

“Where are my parents?” I asked instead. Her expression darkened, eyes glimmering with sympathy.

“Unfortunately, they weren’t able to stay. You’ve been unconscious for a while.”

I hesitated, biting my bottom lip, before I blurted out what I really wanted to know. “Is there anyone waiting for me?”

Like six handsome young men?

Again, the nurse flashed me a kind smile.

“I’m sorry, hon, but with everything that has been happening...”

“It’s okay,” I said quickly, ignoring the bitter taste in my mouth. “I understand.”

What I understood was that I was alone, again. What had I expected? For the boys to continue talking with me after they left the resort? I was a freak, a murderer, and it was no wonder they wanted nothing to do with me. Despite knowing the reasons, my stomach clenched with the loneliness that threatened to bury me alive.

I, once again, had nobody.

But hey, on the bright side, that was my longest friendship since Ducky. A solid three days, give or take.

The doctor came in right after the nurse left and reiterated what the nurse had already told me.

Lucky blah blah blah leg blah blah blah infection.

I barely paid him any mind.

After he left, I fiddled with the remote connected to the bed by a wire.

I flipped through channels absently, though most of the stations featured the same story: mysterious virus and unpredictable weather.

I focused on a news story about this.

Virus continued to baffle scientists.

No cure found.

Tsunami hits the east coast, killing hundreds.

Death count in Kansas City reaches 1,000.

Paris reporting erratic behavior by citizens.

My mind swirled with the onslaught of information. Unable to handle it all, I switched the TV off and dropped the remote.

This couldn’t be happening. This type of thing just didn’t happen in real life. In books, maybe. In movies, sure.

But here?

Now?

I squeezed my eyelids shut in an attempt to rid myself of the images from both the resort and television. I felt nauseous. The amount of death and violence...

I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Anything to escape the horrors of this world. It was hell. This world was hell.