Apollo tossed and turned, head throbbing, legs shuffling underneath the blankets. This damn headache wasn’t going away. Why wasn’t it going away? And why was there a subtle voice whispering in his mind? Where did it come from?

Apollo opened his eyes and looked through the darkness of the room. The blinds to the window were closed, the time on the clock struck ten, and the light over the sink was dimmed. Everything around him appeared to be in order, but something … something was off. Something ominous lingered in the air. That doctor and his colleagues must’ve done something to make him feel this way. Who knew what they injected into his body. Apollo still hadn’t a clue of how he arrived here. No matter how deep he dug within the recesses of his memories, he found nothing but blackness.

Apollo gritted his teeth at the prickling ache shooting up to the center of his head, the pain spreading behind his eyes. He gingerly turned his head toward the window. It was closed. Fresh air was needed, and badly. Being cooped up inside a hospital room, surrounded by strangers whom you weren’t sure had your best interests at heart wasn’t comforting. They already did something to make him feel like shit; who knows what other plans they had in store for him. Apollo tried sitting up, but his lack of strength forced him back down. Now the ceiling was spinning. Nausea attacked him in waves and …

ZING.

Searing pains shot up to his head as if someone had poured acid all over his brain. Flashes of ghastly imagery raced through his mind in a sequence of events: pain, panic, blood, corpses spread out and executed like wild animals. Apollo could hear their screams ringing through his ears as if the massacre were taking place right in front of him. Was this some terrible dream? The pinging of his heart monitor accelerated. A pang of angst jolted throughout his body, causing him to shake, twist, kick, and roar thick with pain. The mysterious voice lurking inside of his head created a sense of urgency.

The door swung open. A couple of nurses sprinted in, switching on the lights. “What’s wrong, Apollo?” one of them asked. “Try and relax. Everything will be all right.”

Apollo sealed his eyes and screamed, gripping his head in agony. It felt like his brain was about to explode. Soft hands were felt clinging to his left arm. Apollo viciously swiped the nurse away. He crunched his teeth together, unsure of how much longer he could’ve held on before flying into a rage. Controlling the vibrant sensations drumming throughout his body was like putting a cap over a boiling pot: eventually, the contents inside would begin to spill over.

The bed and medical equipment surrounding him began to shake and rumble, their vibrations echoing across the room. Clinks of glass splintered from the window. An explosion of some sort went off somewhere to the right, both nurses screaming out of fright. Apollo roared as the wires attached to his skin snapped themselves off, the entire room tremoring ferociously under his pain. Sharp pings of medical equipment clattered against the floor, a thunderous boom went off somewhere close by, a tearing and crashing like rocks falling. Apollo opened his eyes, taking deep breaths. It looked like a hurricane had torn through the room.

Pieces of the ceiling were splattered all over the floor. Both nurses laid motionless in the corner, buried beneath thick pieces of broken wood, plaster, and metal. A strong case of wind blew in from the window where glass used to be, its shards scattered against the floor. The frame holding the oil painting was sheared in half.

Apollo rolled himself out of bed and stumbled to his feet, doing his best to avoid any glass shards and broken pieces of medical equipment that were in his path. He clung onto anything he could use for balance, wobbling toward the open path where drywall used to be, staggering into the hallway.

Everything around him danced out of focus like he had a severe case of vertigo. Just a couple of baby steps forward, and his feeble legs gave out from underneath him. Apollo tried crawling his way toward an exit, but the muscles in his body felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. It was damn near impossible to pull his hands and knees forward.

Doctors and nurses from various rooms began piling the hallway, conversations swelling around him. Many of them began to wonder why the entire row of lights flickered in and out of darkness. One female nurse pointed toward the carnage displayed behind Apollo, cautiously making her way toward the room.

A gentleman in blue scrubs approached Apollo, resting a gentle hand over the top of his shoulders. “Are you okay, son?” he asked, peeling away his hospital mask, revealing what seemed to be several shaggy goatees with the way Apollo’s vision twirled. “What happened just now?”

Apollo groaned, fighting with himself to remain calm. He didn’t know much longer he could withhold the energy boiling inside. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before someone seriously got hurt.

“Oh my God!” The female nurse gasped, her breath seemingly caught in her throat. “Call for help, quick!”

Apollo’s heart palpitated, his hands trembling beside him. The man who was tending to him signaled to his colleagues to call for backup and investigate what was going on. “Come on, son, we’re gonna find you some h—”

Apollo lost control and sent the man flying several feet across the hallway, smashing his head against the EXIT sign on the ceiling. He made a fading croak sound as he hit the ground face forward. Gasps of panic echoed around him, and a sea of bodies scurried the hallway in a frenzy, some locking themselves back into their respective rooms.

Apollo gingerly rose back to his feet, hobbling toward the exit and down a flight of stairs leading outside. The jagged surface of concrete appeared cool beneath his bare feet as a calm breeze blew past him, causing the flaps of his hospital garment to billow in the wind.

Something ferocious was about to commence, its presence growing more potent and primal as the seconds ticked away. Apollo wandered into the night, guided solely by his instincts. Deep down, he had a feeling a lot of people were about to die.

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