The End of the Road: Broken Toe by Jack Townsend

Jack wakes up disoriented in a hospital bed he doesn't recognize, wearing a sweat-drenched gown, with an IV in his hand and no memory of how he got there. He's in the psych ward of a hospital in Broken Toe, Arizona. Across the room sits Skeeter, a gaunt, grey-haired man who looks like he could be anywhere from thirteen to sixty years old, who informs Jack he's been unconscious for three days. Skeeter's first piece of information: the demons have already gotten everyone else.

The room is sweltering. When Jack asks why, Skeeter explains that the air conditioner stopped working hours ago, and that the temperature outside is worse — triple digits for days. "The air outside is literally hotter than jacuzzi water," he says. But more importantly, Skeeter claims that demons have been taking over the town, that they've replaced the hospital staff, and that they're using the heat to exterminate everyone. "We're not supposed to eat," Skeeter tells him. "We're just supposed to cook."

Jack is skeptical but can't afford to dismiss the possibility entirely. He's in a locked psychiatric ward with no windows, no television, and no way out. His prosthetic leg is still there, but his clothes are gone. Under his pillow, he finds a walkie-talkie he apparently swiped from an orderly while being brought in — but the batteries are dead.