[ WP ] You were the last human on earth after the zombie apocalypse destroyed civilization . One day , you finally get infected by a zombie , but after turning , you realize what you 've been missing out on .

*'' What kind of coffin has a latch made for the* ***inside? ***'' 
 
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 That was my only thought before I jumped in and used that latch to seal myself in, barely avoiding a dozen walkers right behind me. I had actually thanked the Lord when I found the coffin. When I determined it was of a kind of sturdy design and material fabrication which would hold against that initial onslaught coming through the mortuary behind me. 
 
 I was in such a heightened state of terror, and there was nowhere safe. No matter where I went, it was never good enough. Then I'd found this last room, my last chance to hope for survival. And I'd assessed the coffin I found stored in it in half a second and realized it might be my only chance for survival. 
 
 They were about 10-15 seconds behind me, I'd at least managed to gain a little ground on them. I flipped the lid open with gritted teeth, afraid there might already be a body inside. I felt so lucky to find it empty I could barely contemplate what I was actually about to do. Climb inside a coffin, a small, dark, tight space, and seal myself inside it, **alive**. I did n't have time. I just did it. I was thinking about those hellish claws and teeth, and how my guts were going to be pulled out and chewed through like Twizzlers while I was still alive to feel it. No way, man. No fucking way! 
 
 But then the lid slammed down over me with a kind of mortal boom that was visceral, it hurt my head. I barely turned that suspect latch in time, that latch, the one on the inside. For God knows what reason! Did someone fear their loved one might come back from the dead? So they intended to seal them inside, preventing escape? Perhaps that's why the coffin was so well made, so sturdy, so fortified? I tried to think... but there was all this dull-cow-eyed moaning in the air all around my coffin... and the frenzy of bony fingers scraping and fist beating on the outside of the coffin where I'd just managed to escape them. And for a moment, I praised myself. I felt grateful that I'd managed to avoid certain death, avoid being eaten alive. I actually smiled for a moment. Can you believe that? In all the shit of this world, having managed to survive a moment later, what was the big deal? And yet, I was happy I'd outsmarted them. 
 
 But that was three days ago. And they had not left. And there had never been a chance for me to escape, to jump out of this nightmare, and be done with it. I was going hungry, and then thirsty, and then hungrier still. And then my lips started to crack. And with every hunger pang, every cry of my body for a drip of water, I felt my mind going deeper into insanity. I was trapped. Trapped bad. This was a constant torture of the worst kind. 
 
 Trapped, locked motionless, unable to stretch my muscles, feeling the cramps come and go in every part of my body, the sores on my ass, these strange pains in my side and back, the film coming and going over my eyes. The hunger was gnawing at my insides almost as bad as I'd imagined the walkers doing which had initially forced me into the coffin in the first place. The thirst was worst, I felt voices singing in my head behind my ears, and they sounded like water angels. Their was an ethereal quality to the hallucinations, they seemed to be torturing me, defying me, taunting me to leave the coffin. 
 
 I tried it, briefly, a few times on day two, that's how I know it was day two. The first time I saw the room was dark, the only window ( thankfully on the side where the lid opened ) was dark and full of stars. I had only cracked the coffin a crack, ever so slowly. It was then I saw a dozen walkers still milling about in the room, almost having gone totally silent. As if to fool me into coming out. I was shaking as I contemplated how bad I wanted to get out of this coffin, whether it was worth it to try and escape in the dark. Maybe they would n't see me? Maybe I could... NO! 
 
 `` Do n't be a fool! It ca n't work!'' I told myself internally at the last moment before I started to open the coffin and try my plan. 
 
 It was n't a sound, though, or any visual stimulus on my part that roused them, I think it was the smell of my flesh, the open sores, wafting out of the crack in the coffin lid, that betrayed me. They could smell me getting closer, and they all turned at once and ran toward me, clawing and growling with feral animosity. 
 
 The lid was down and the latch turned as they yanked on it. I felt the door trying to burst open, but the latch held. I was shaking and on the verge of tears, so terrifying was this entrapment, so loud were their screams, so dark was this night in which I had only time to lie there, aching in every way, contemplating the vast ocean of my foolishness. 
 
 It was now a battle between how long I could last in the coffin, and how long they could last in waiting for me to come out. I lie there all day the third day wishing some noise would distract them, draw them out, away from me, so I could get out. My legs were screaming, my arms were two snakes writhing in the dark, poised to gouge my own eyes out. I heard whispers in the coffin, like rats squealing, trying to get in and eat my eyes. I felt little teeth on my neck, or chewing on my hair. But when I put my hands on those spots, there was nothing there. There'd never been. But there was no stopping these hallucinations. Their only goal seemed to be to drive me mad enough to lift the coffin lid and make my escape. But I was n't crazy enough yet to believe I could actually make it. 
 
 Time would turn against me, turn me against myself. It only needed just a little more time, and I would surrender to the real, visceral destruction waiting for me rather than continue to submit to the false reality of my senses turning against me. The descent into madness was something I could literally feel myself falling into with every breath I took. 
 
 Soon, those lungs began to turn against me too, becoming shallow. I could n't get a full breath. I realized the coffin was made too well, it probably did n't have enough vents for air, and why should it? The occupant was already supposed to be dead. So I had to crack the lid more and more often. And each time, I could feel the noose ( hypothetical noose ) cinching down around me. Because one of these times, I was not going to be able to force myself to close that lid again. Because being trapped in a small space, confined, unable to move, was ticking on me like Chinese water torture. 
 
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 ***Tap tap tap! *** 
 
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 Was that real, or had I just imagined it again? Then it came again, louder. And I realized maybe it was a real person. The zombies were gone! I was okay! I was saved! Oh God. Yes, oh my God, thank you thank you... 
 
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 I cried out `` Hello! Is someone there!?'' 
 I heard back in a muffled voice as though the coffin was blocking the sound.... `` Is there someone inside the coffin? Are you still alive?'' 
 
 `` Oh yes, yes, I am still alive. What happened to the walkers? There were almost a dozen of them out there, waiting for me to come out.'' 
 Still muffled through the thick, nearly impenetrable coffin, I could barely make out the sound of `` No, they're gone now, you're safe to come out.'' 
 
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 Not able to believe my luck, I cracked the door to full day light. The walkers, at least through the small crack, were gone! It was true! I was saved! I ca n't believe my good fortune! 
 
 I got the latch undone and threw open the coffin door. It was a miracle! Hahahaa! I crawled out. Amazed over and over again. When my foot stepped on the body of a sleeping walker, in a crowd of other sleeping walkers, my mind refused to believe it. I continued to push my weight forward, unable to comprehend what I was feeling. I looked around the room, the voices of the woman I'd heard were gone. No one was there at all. But beneath me, on the floor, the walkers all began to writhe around and stand up, returning to motion. They had fallen asleep in the confined room waiting for me to try and escape. But my foot had awakened them! 
 
 The walkers! Holy shit! They're still here! What the hell!? NOOOO! 
 But they were n't in any hurry to get me suddenly. They just moaned and waddled about, and seemed perplexed, as if I had escaped them somehow. I did n't want to question this good turn of events, so I ambled down the hall and prepared to make my escape. I was laughing on the inside. So freaking happy that my plan had worked, that I'd outsmarted them. It was in that moment of total amusement that I happened to catch my face in a mirror on the wall. The sight was horrifying beyond belief. 
 
 I literally paused mid step to turn back and examine myself. I got closer and closer and could not believe it. This ca n't be real. I began begging for a way out from this nightmare. I brought my hands up to stroke my face, by bulging white eyes, and trace the blue lines under my gaunt white skin. I saw my hair had turned white and reminded me of ( the information is n't there ) that actor.... that on that show about ( again, all gone ).... time... about the future.... the doctor... the... no, my brain has soured, I ca n't THINK!! 
 
 It was then the truth dawned on me. I had not survived my time in the coffin. At some point in the night, having fallen into a deep sleep, my body went over. I died. That's why the zombies had stopped waiting and had gone into this low-energy state. That's why they did n't care when I came out of the coffin. That's why they did n't give chase. I was a fucking zombie! 
 
 `` NOOOOOO!'' I tried to say, but all that came out was a ghastly wail, just like one of those horrid monsters. The sound of it drew the other zombies out in a flash frenzy, suddenly the room was full of them, wailing and milling about all around me, avoiding me, I was invisible to them. Just then, as one, we all turned to face a shadow in the hall. 
 
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 A human had wandered in. ***She smelled like roasted BBQ... ***
