A comatose nightmare

 We were sitting at a friend's birthday party once. Most of the guests had already left, and my old friend and I were sitting in the kitchen, smoking and chatting about all sorts of things. My friend, by the way, spent two weeks in a coma as a result of the accident. When it came to the mystical, I jokingly asked him if he had seen a light at the end of the tunnel or something like that. He somehow changed his face and became gloomy, but the alcohol he drank loosened his tongue, and he told me this story. Next, I tell you from his words.

"I woke up in a room unknown to me. My head ached unbearably and I was terribly thirsty. At first I thought it was a hangover, and I began to remember where I had managed to get so drunk. I remembered waking up in the morning and having breakfast, and then my father asked me to help move my old things to the cottage. I got in the car and drove around Leningradka. An old Zemfira song was playing on the radio. But I couldn't remember what happened after that. I didn't know where I was or how I got here.

The room looked like a hospital ward, but the devastation, dirt, and stench were such that the thought of it being a hospital made one feel sick. In the hallway and lobby of the hospital (and I managed to make sure that it was a hospital — the reception desk, the nurse on duty, scattered syringes and broken hospital equipment left no doubt here and there), the same devastation reigned. I went outside, and it was night. Despite the light of the few lanterns, it was possible to see everything quite well. I recognized the street and the hospital—my house was two blocks away. There was not a single living soul nearby, no sounds, just the wind. The whole city looked as if all the people had disappeared somewhere twenty years ago.

I didn't understand at all what was going on, and the suspense was frightening. I decided to go home, hoping for something. I was halfway there when I suddenly felt someone's presence. At that moment, I was glad that there was someone else here. When I felt his gaze on my back, I turned around...

There was a huge creature standing about seventy meters away from me. Her head reached the level of the second floor. Most of all, she looked like a monkey. Her skin was brownish-red and shiny (now I think that maybe she didn't have any skin at all). There were huge claws on her paws. The muzzle looked like a dog's—I saw a lot of sharp fangs in its mouth. The creature looked at me and sniffed, saliva dripped from its mouth; it smelled of rotten meat. I couldn't move, animal terror held me down. He probably would have stood there, but then this creature raised its muzzle to the sky and howled. This terrifying howl, tearing my ears, brought me out of my trance, and I rushed like a bullet into the entrance of the nearest house. The creature did not accept attempts to enter my shelter, which surprised me. I went up to the fifth floor and looked out the window. She stood in front of the entrance and waited patiently for me to come out.

I realized that I couldn't get out of this entrance. There were no doors to the basement or roof, the apartment doors were securely locked, and I checked them all. Exhausted, I huddled in a corner and cried. I was hysterical—I was crying like a little kid, at the top of my voice. I don't know how long I sat there like that, but eventually I fell asleep.

I woke up in the hospital, in a normal hospital. His mother was there. I can't describe how happy I was at that moment."

A friend told me this story. It's a little scary for me to die now if "on the other side" we are not waiting for a friendly corridor with a light at the end, but an empty city with a terrible creature...