FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Bike lanes are supposed to be safe. That is why they exist! A safe travel lane in the street for people on bicycles so they do not interrupt foot traffic on the sidewalks. Sure you have to watch for the occasional person to cut ahead of you to make a turn or swing a bit too close for comfort because they're texting or on the phone, but generally there is no issues. Unless you encounter a person drunk and high on PCP running from the cops. That particular happenstance was a deadly mix for anyone in the bike lane. The guy was using the bike lane to pass people driving and ran over a few people biking! They were getting ready to set up a blockade but they hadn't gotten that far yet since he kept changing directions. I was stopped at a light waiting with the traffic to go when he careened on the side and knocked me out into the opposing traffic. I'm very glad I do not remember this bit but I am told it was not pretty and quite traumatizing to those who witnessed it.

The next thing I remembered was floating, yeah floating, outside of my body in the hospital as they fought to keep me alive. It wasn't working and my heart wasn't pumping. I had lost a lot of blood, bones were broken, and I just generally looked like a tractor trailer had run me over. I did not want to leave though. I still felt a pull to my life. That pull weakened as the hospital staff gave up on trying to revive my body, though.

"Call it."

"Time of death, 13:41."

"Is he an organ donor?"

"I believe so. Unplug him and let's wheel him down for harvesting. There are some people who could really use his organs."

Well that wasn't good! I needed to act fast before they tried to butcher me. I latched onto that pull and focused on it as best I could. The heart monitor jumped before they could shut it off.

"Doctor? The heart monitor just pulsed."

"It might have just been a glitch. Shut it down."

I focused harder and felt the pull dragging me closer to my body. The heart monitor beeped a couple more times, each time I moved closer to my body.

"Doctor? I don't think that is a glitch any more. His heart is trying to beat!"

The doctor finally looked up at the monitor and saw the couple ticks from beats. I focused as hard as I could and felt the pull again as the monitor pinged a few more times.

"Holy shit! He's trying to come back! You! Compressions. Restart forced oxygen! Let's see if he can come back from this!"

With the compressions and oxygen restarted the pull strengthened again and I could feel myself going back into my body! Hallelujah! I was almost there when I heard a voice behind me: "you should have stayed." I didn't have time to think about it though as I was assaulted by all of the sensations of suddenly experiencing chest compressions and having the breathing mask on. It was strange, painful, and frightening all at the same time, but I did it. I came back to life!

Everything was a blur as they stabilized me and had me once again amongst the living and in the ICU to recover. Before I knew it, night had descended and the hospital had hushed to a slow hum of machines and beeps. That was when the voices started. Unending and blending together.

"You should have stayed--how dare you--no one leaves--you betrayed the laws--I should have lived--this isn't right--death is final--where are my kids!"

Covering my ears did nothing for the voices. If anything it was getting louder. I tried shaking my head, plugging my ears, putting a pillow over my head to no avail. Finally I could take it no more and shouted, "shut up!"

The voices stopped but a nurse looked up at me and saw my distress. I saw something standing behind her that definitely didn't look like it should have been there. It's mouth moved when I heard the voices ringing in a single phrase once again, "we're coming for you."

The nurse heard my heart monitor going off the charts and after my shout came in to investigate, "are you alright sir?"

"I--I heard voices. They wouldn't stop. They were shouting at me, angry with me. They wouldn't stop! Then I saw someone behind you. They said they were coming for me. Oh god, did I see a ghost? Are they coming for me because I lived?"

"Calm down sir. It may have just been a side effect of some of the medications we have you on. I will call the doctor down and have them look to see if we can switch any of them up."

"Side effect my ass! That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. If that was a hallucination, I'd love to get it cleared up as fast as possible."

"I will call the night doctor. He should be up in an hour or two."

I laid back down as she walked off and tried to relax. I was finally getting comfortable again when the voices started up again. Mostly as whispers this time, though, so I opened my eyes. I wish I hadn't. Walking past my room was ghastly figures with stringy hair, pale complexion, and sunken eye sockets instead of eyes. They stared at me as they walked past, whispering as they did. The voices were still the same. They still hated me, berated me. Now I could see them though. See their black holes for mouths moving as they whispered their disdain for my existence through the halls.

One walked into the room and I got a closer look at their features. I felt like I was in a horror movie now and it was reaching its crescendo, "what do you want with me?"

"You weren't supposed to live." The chorus of voices behind it echoed out "join us" as it moved closer. It crawled onto the foot of my bed and stood there on its knees for a moment as the chorus behind it got louder. Finally the chorus stopped and it spoke, "join us."

My scream as the creature lunged at me could be heard through the halls.