Drifting

A/N: '<- that indicates thoughts. EX: 'Did I lock the door?'

Erin drifted in and out of his memories. Laughter. Disappointment. All of the good and bad memories.

He felt little hands on his chest, shaking him. He slowly opened his eyes. A teary little face slowly came into focus.

"Erin! You're awake!" Lisa cried out in relief.

Erin slowly came to, confused.

"What? Why aren't you at Charlie's?"

"Why would I be at Charlie's? Did you have a dream? You were hit by a car on the way home. You were knocked out, and brought to the hospital."

Erin sat up slowly, his siblings assisting. He looked at his chest that should have been mauled by a zombie.

So it was all just a dream?

But everything was so vivid. And he could feel pain. Dreams weren't like that.

JJ's voice snapped him out of his thought process. "Hey, Erin. Mom is going to come back from New York, and Dad is going to take some time off of work at the company. They were so worried."

"Really?" Erin questioned in disbelief.

His mom was always abroad, working for celebrities and tycoons as a private chef, and his father was almost never home until it was late, but he still left early. He was a busy COO at a company. Sometimes, he even slept in the office because his schedule was so hectic.

"Yeah!" Lisa nodded her head enthusiastically, excited.

Everything seemed too good to be true. Well, except for the car accident.

Suddenly, Erin's head pounded. His brain seemed to be throbbing. Suddenly, his vision went black and then he could see a ruined window. His vision went back to normal quickly, and he was back in the hotel room.

He looked quietly at the twins. "You aren't real, are you."

"What?"

"This is all a dream."

"But do I really want to leave this place? Go back to the land filled with monsters? I could just stay here. After all, who says this isn't heaven? My heart was torn out. There's no point in going back if I'm dead. If I stay. If I stay."

Erin realized something. "The real twins are still there! I need to go back! Even as a ghost!"

He struggled to get out of the hospital bed.

"Erin? What are you talking about? We are real! Don't get out of bed! You are still injured!" Lisa said as she gently pushed Erin back into the hospital bed.

"I just... Can I go to the window? For some fresh air?"

"I... guess. Short distances should be fine," said JJ as he looked at Lisa who nodded in affirmation.

The twins helped Erin out of bed and supported him as he shuffled to the window.

He slid the window open. It wasn't big, but it was big enough for him to jump out of. He leaned forward, his fingers gripping the cold steel of the window frame.

Was this the right decision?

There was no time for hesitation.

He threw his body forward, out of the window.

Erin hurtled to the ground.

Just before impact, he closed his eyes. He expected to feel pain or something, but he didn't. He hesitantly opened his eyes, back to his wrecked home. Screams and pained groans came through the broken porch window.

He was back to reality. How did he know it was all a dream? One. His mother and father would never take time off work to visit him. Especially over a small car accident. Maybe they would send a message or two, but personally visit? They were too busy. Two. JJ was out of character. He wasn't that mature. Three. The biggest reason. Hospital windows didn't open. But that was weird. Erin knew that, so the windows should not have been able to open in the dream since he was the one that made the dream, right? Maybe his brain was just giving him a way out of the dream.

Erin pushed those thoughts away and refocused on his current situation.

He tried to move his hand, but couldn't. Then he felt an itch all over his body. He was reanimating. The first thing that came back was his sense of touch. The itching became stronger and stronger until it just turned into pain. Relentless pain. His muscles began to twitch and spasm as they came back to life. The pain got stronger. His bones started to ache, they creaked and groaned as his body began to mutate. Then they all collectively broke at once. His body tensed from the sharp agonizing pain, making it worse as the bone shards irritated his flesh. His body was bloody and deformed at this point. The bones snapped back together. Then they broke again. And came back together. He slowly became bigger. Centimeter by centimeter. The cycle of pain and torture went on and on. Erin tried to do something. Anything to ease the pain, even if it was just a little bit, but he couldn't move. Erin wanted to faint, he wanted to get away from the relentless pain. His body was immobile, but his consciousness was present.

It was like he had anesthesia awareness. Patients went under but were still conscious. They could still feel. Still hear. Still smell. The scalpels cutting. The doctors talking. The flesh burning as it was cauterized. Stuck on the operating table. Unable to signal that they were not completely put under.

The pain went on. For an hour. Erin nearly went crazy from it. When it finally stopped, he regained control of his body and immediately curled on his side from the memories of pain. He laid on his side for a while, recovering from the shock.

After a couple of minutes, he slowly got up.

Why did everything seem smaller? He took a step forward and immediately fell, unaccustomed to his new enlarged body.

He once again lumbered back to his feet.

He tried to exclaim his shock, but couldn't. His hands awkwardly felt his neck. Only he didn't. Part of his throat was missing. Erin looked down at his body immediately.

What the fuck.

Where his heart should have been was a large gaping hole. Broken ribs and the bits of flesh were put on full display.

This fact hit him hard.

He really was a zombie.