Chapter 6

( The Fall )

Desi’s Point of View

Crash!

I grabbed ahold of the railing in front of me as the whole place shook from the impact of a truck breaking through the glass wall. I watched in horror, resisting the urge to cover my ears as they rang with the sound. Glass shards sprayed everywhere, and zombie parts flew as the black vehicle slammed into a group of runners. Some of the zombies disappeared beneath the tires, and others bounced off of the front bumper and tumbled back into the masses, their broken and bent bodies acting as roadblocks.

The truck skidded across the tiles, sending plastic tables and chairs flying across the room. Most of them barreled into the horde of zombies and scattered them, crushing some in their momentum.

The zombies paused in confusion to stare at the truck, not bothering to move as their companions got flattened. It was like everything was in slow motion. I could see the truck heading closer and closer to me, but I couldn’t move. Before I could even register what was happening, the truck slammed into base of the play place.

The metal frame shuddered beneath me, and the joints and bolts screamed in protest as they’re torn apart with the force. The platform jolts under my feet and I shriek as I’m thrown to my knees. It was all I could do to stay on top of it. It was collapsing beneath me, and I can’t do anything to stop it.

I began to panic. My side of the play place was folding in on itself. The shriek and groan of bending metal is deafening, drowning out even the gunshots from Taehyung and Hoseok. The platform jolted again and I gripped the railing tighter. It was like watching a row of dominoes fall over; a chain reaction that I couldn’t have stopped if I wanted to. I held on for dear life. If I let go, I would fall, and it was a ways down. The floor may be covered in rubber, but beneath that was a layer of concrete-- hard enough to crush my bones if I landed wrong. My eyes darted around the room to try to find a way to escape.

They landed on Taehyung and Hoseok. They both stared in horror as the play place started to break apart. Hoseok shouted something and waved his arms at me, trying to tell me to run. His eyes were wide with horror. I gritted my teeth. I had to get off of this thing. I pull myself to my feet with the railing. Just as I loosened my grip to get ready to jump to the next platform, the play place frame buckled, and I lost my balance.

Before I could grab onto something, I fell.

I remember watching the ceiling move farther away, and the feeling of a cold gust of wind rushing past my face. My stomach flew into my throat. It was like one of those rides at an amusement park, that brings you up high and drops you. Except this time, I didn’t have anything to catch me. I was free falling. Weightless. Then it hit me. Well, more like I hit it.

I landed on my side, and it felt like I was hit by a train. It may not have been a long fall, but it was long enough. Searing pain shot up my side, and my head cracked against the ground so hard I saw stars. I could barely open my eyes from the pain. I rolled onto my back, gasping.

Before I could even register what had happened, another force slammed into the left side of my body, pinning me to the ground beneath its weight. I was in shock for a few seconds. I could hardly feel the pain, but I knew it would be coming. All I knew was that my whole side felt like it was on fire, and my head felt like an anvil had been dropped on it.

A few heartbeats passed. For a moment, I had almost deluded myself into thinking that the pain would never come. Maybe I was fine, and I just had the wind knocked out of me. But as soon as the thought entered my head, the pain hit me all at once.

A wave of nausea rolled over me and if I had the breath, I would have screamed. It felt like I was dying. I nearly passed out then, but I fought it. I had to stay awake. I was struggling to organize my thoughts, but they had scattered when I hit the floor. I could hardly draw a full breath for the pain, and I was sure I was going to die.

I laid there in pain as I tried to open my eyes. It only barely registered in my mind that my left side was completely pinned by a metal beam from the play place. It must have missed crushing my skull by mere inches.

Tilting my head ever so slightly and peering up through slitted eyes, I saw that only my half of the play place was destroyed. The other half where Hoseok and Taehyung were still seemed to be standing. The room started to spin, and another wave of nausea rolled over me. I tried to move my head up to see if they were okay, but searing pain shot up my neck and I instantly brought it back down.

I don’t have time to deal with this, I thought. There is still a horde of zombies out there and my friends need me.

Even after thinking this, I still couldn’t muster up the energy to lift the beam that was crushing my left side. I just wanted to sleep. Maybe if I closed my eyes for a second I would regain my energy. I could spare a few seconds.Then I could go make sure everyone was okay.

I heard gunshots and someone yelling my name faintly. It was muffled, and I couldn’t make out what they were saying. It all sounded like it was miles away from me. I closed my eyes, and allowed a small smile to cross my lips.

Taehyung and Hoseok were alive at least. They could make it out of here in that truck, with whoever was in it. They had their chance to escape now. Most of the zombies would have been crushed like the debris, like I was. They could go find their friends. They had to survive. They just had to.

My head started feeling heavier, and darkness began creeping into the edges of my vision. The pain began to fade as my body went numb. Is this what dying felt like? On the edge of passing out, I’m hit with a horrible, funny thought: Never in a million years would I have guessed that I would die at a McDonald’s. Maybe from like food poisoning, or over-eating those 1,000 calorie chicken nuggets, but not from a collapsing play place.

The yells and gunshots soon became so muffled that I could no longer hear them. My ears rang instead, blocking out any other sound. The darkness consumed my vision, and it seemed to be swallowing my whole existence. I could feel myself slowly slipping, and it was a peaceful fall. It almost felt like I was floating. The feeling of peacefulness surrounded me and started to drag me down, pulling me into the warm embrace of sleep. It wasn’t so bad to die like this, I guess.

All of a sudden I felt myself being jolted out of the darkness and back into the light. I was thrown back into a word of sound-- gunshots and shouts, echoing through my pounding skull. My pain flared again, making me wince, and I took a deep breath, trying to keep a handle on it. Upon regaining consciousness, I felt someone cradling my body. A pair of strong hands shook me once, as if to wake me up, before moving to support my head. One hand lifted my head up and the other cupped my cheek.

“Wake up angel. I know you want to sleep, but now is not the time.” Someone whispered into my ear as they my cheek. I didn’t recognize the voice. Who the hell was this guy? “C’mon angel, wake up,” they urged again.

I slipped back into reality at the voice. My pain began to fade to something more manageable, but I still couldn’t bring myself to open