The other man seemed to consider the words as the nightmarish noises outside increased in volume. ‘Fine,’ he finally said; then he turned to Adrian. ‘What about him?’
‘Forget him,’ the other man said. ‘Leave him here.’
The first orderly nodded. ‘Let's go,’ he said, and the two of them ran out of the door, leaving it ajar and Adrian alone.
Adrian took the time he had available to him to try to compose himself. Slowly his spasming body began to calm, and the pain, though still throbbing, started to ease and become somewhat bearable. He could now concentrate fully on the noises outside.
Something was indeed happening out there. Something serious.
Screams, cries, and monstrous bellowing sounded out. Some noises closer than others.
Then he heard panting and approaching footsteps, the slapping of bare skin on the tiled floor coming closer and closer.
Adrian held his breath. He knew that whoever—or whatever—was approaching would not be friendly, and to make matters worse, he was completely immobile.
Then he saw the shadow on the floor of the hallway outside, one that approached with uneven movements. The silhouette looked human, but swayed on unsteady legs. Eventually, the form appeared in the open doorway and looked inside.
Adrian breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a patient. Not one Adrian knew, but he looked terrible. His skin was grey and covered with welts and lumps.
‘Hey!’ Adrian called, alerting the man to his presence.
‘What… happened?’ the man replied, but his voice was strained, and he was clearly in pain.
‘I don’t know. What’s going on out there?’ Adrian asked him in return, as the man staggered into the room.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘They tortured me and put that… stuff into me. Lots of it. Then… something happened. Everybody ran. And now people are changing. Everything is changing.’
The lights in the room, and in the corridor beyond, began to flicker.
‘Okay, listen,’ Adrian said, ‘I need you to free me. Understand? I need you to get me out of these restraints.’ The patient didn’t seem to be listening, instead lost in a faraway gaze. ‘Hey!’ Adrian yelled, startling the man back into focus. ‘Let me out of here!’
Eventually, the man gave a slow nod, and he began to undo the straps on Adrian’s arms. When those were free, he started work on Adrian’s legs, but stopped as he began to cough. It was light at first, but quickly rose in intensity until the patient could barely control himself.
‘Are you okay?’ Adrian asked, but the man stumbled to the floor, hacking up spit and bile. He began to convulse, and a stream of blood erupted from his mouth, even running from his nose and seeping from his eyes.
‘Help… me,’ the man croaked, reaching up from the floor.
His skin began to change. It twisted and melted, pulling itself into a different form as he started to scream.
Adrian quickly began to undo the rest of his bonds, all the while keeping his eyes on the transforming patient. The lights continued to flicker, leaving Adrian with flashes of the painful change that the man was now going through.
His sores grew more substantial and opened at their heads, taking on a more distinctive form: small, puckering mouths. Tiny, needle-like lengths of pink flesh wriggled free from these mouths, and rolled around their edges, licking the skin, before disappearing back inside.
Tongues.
The patient’s skin turned a sickly yellow, and his limbs began to stretch out as he continued to scream—elongating as his fingers melted together. Eventually, his arms and legs extended to form long, sharp appendages.
‘Help!’ the patient screamed, looking desperately to Adrian as his eyes expanded, pooling wider like the yolk of a cracked egg.
Adrian knew that he could do nothing for the man, and he had seen enough in that ward-from-hell underground to know that the patient was becoming something else: an ungodly creature that would act in only one way.
Adrian finally freed himself and jumped down from the chair. His legs were still unsteady, and strength evaded him, nearly causing him to fall into whatever the struggling man was now becoming; but he managed to grab the chair and steady himself. He then moved as quickly as he could and ambled from the room, leaving the screams of his fellow patient behind as the transformation continued.
Once out in the hallway, Adrian pulled the door shut and secured it with the thick deadbolt that was fixed to its outside face. He allowed himself a moment to lean against the wall and gather what little strength he could.
Then he looked up and saw how everything had changed. It was no longer the same asylum.
It was hell.
35
Things had been quiet for a while. The body of his former colleague still lay outside of Jonathan Stevens’ cell, and it didn’t look like anyone was going to be coming down anytime soon to clean it up.
Which meant that this was as good a time as any.
He knew had to act before he lost his mind entirely to whatever was taking over his body and soul.
Jonathan drew out the keys that he had taken and approached the door. He pushed his arm through the space in the iron grating and carefully angled the keys in his hand back on themselves, working to find the lock. It was difficult, but eventually he was successful and he heard the click that signalled his release. He pushed the door and it swung open.
Jonathan was free.
But he did not intend to free only himself. He walked to another cell and peered at the creature inside. It looked back with insect eyes, studying him. Curious, but in no way aggressive.
Perhaps it knew what Jonathan was—or what he would soon become.
And so, Jonathan walked to the cell and released the unholy abomination. Then another. And another.
None that walked from their cages attacked him, though a few did turn on each other, and once all the cells doors were open, the dungeon quickly turned into a pit of chaos and violence. Many of the smaller, weaker monsters were torn limb from limb.
Which would not do at all.
Jonathan quickly ran to the exit from this level—the smaller, single door next to the elevator. He opened it and turned to look back.
Many of the creatures were watching him… and following.
He hoped they would continue to do so as he made his ascent.
And thankfully, they did.
He allowed himself a smile as he continued up, bringing hell with him.
36
The sight of the hallway before Adrian shocked him. The lights above still flickered, threatening to cut out at any time. The corridor itself, however—the materials and construction—seemed to have changed somewhat. Organic matter and flesh had begun to seep through the cracks of the tiling, streaking out in vein-like patterns. The floor beneath his bare feet felt slippery and squishy to walk on, and there was a rancid smell that permeated the air.
Then there were the nightmarish sounds—wails and roars, coupled with terrified and pained screaming.
Through the screens and windows that punctuated the walls, Adrian could again see acts of cruelty and torture being committed, though now they were much worse—and things had reversed as the orderlies were no longer the tormentors.
In one room he saw an orderly stripped naked and secured to a bed—a horrific monstrosity with an exposed brain and hanging mouth stood over him. The creature had already torn off the skin from the orderly’s head and face and was now stripping lengths of flesh from his body with long, thin fingers, revealing the red, glistening muscle beneath. Adrian ducked down below the window and crept farther down the hallway that was, so far, thankfully clear.
In the next cell, Adrian saw another role that had been reversed; an orderly now sat in the upside-down chair, and he was being rotated by a tall, gangly thing with no face, though it did have a long, slit-like mouth along the length of its boney chest. The unfortunate man’s intestines had been pulled free from his gut, and the
thing held a length of it in one hand as it operated a wheel to rotate the orderly with the other. With each and every turn, more of his insides spilled free and wrapped around him as he screamed and screamed.
Adrian kept going as quickly as he could, trying desperately to stay out of sight of these horrific creatures—not that he didn’t find some justice in the acts of depravity they were acting out on the staff of the asylum.
In the larger room where Adrian had seen multiple malnourished patients, he caught sight of the monstrosities within actually feeding on each other, two unfortunates chosen as prey as the others violently ripped and tore at their bodies. An orderly had also been caught up in the chaos, but was long since dead, and there was very little left of his body save for a fleshy husk.
Adrian continued to the ward exit, moving as quickly and quietly as he could until he heard a loud banging sound coming from one of the rooms behind.
Turning around and looking down the corridor, he could see that the noise was coming from the room he had just escaped.
The door was forced open as the savage creature he had left locked inside fought its way out and into the hall. It walked on needle-like arms and legs, scuttling like a spider, and even from this distance Adrian could see that the man’s head was now at the rear of the insect-like thing, and a new face, complete with mandibles and multiple eyes, had formed where his groin used to be. The once human face at the back seemed to be locked in an eternal scream, the mouth opening and closing with no sound emitting from it. From the other end, however, a terrible screech sounded out as the thing laid its many eyes on Adrian.
It scuttled forward with scary speed, and Adrian was forced to forgo stealth and just get the hell out of there. He leapt up and ran as the monster crawled after him, making a hissing sound as it did. He sprinted around an upcoming corner and spotted the exit to the ward up ahead. The other monstrosities in the ward became aware of his presence, alerted by the noise he was making as he ran, and fierce growls rose all around as Adrian pushed and gave an extra burst of speed.
Then two people stepped out from one of the rooms up ahead, close to the exit. However, they were not one like the other demonic things in this ward; they were people Adrian recognised. The large, round man in the lead looked panicked and appeared to be running for his life, escaping from… something.
Another man, this one more slender, ran behind him—also terrified and looking very, very ill.
Seymour and Sean.
Seymour’s hands and arms were coated in blood, and in his right hand he held a set of keys.
Adrian had no idea where Seymour had gotten them, but he didn’t care—he was just thankful that he now had a chance to get out of here.
Seymour and Sean reached the exit from the ward and freed themselves, stepping over the threshold. Adrian then pushed himself harder, running for the door. Seymour turned to close it, and as he did, he locked eyes on Adrian, who was sprinting for all he was worth.
‘Seymour,’ Adrian screamed, now agonisingly close, ‘let me through.’
Seymour paused, then a snarl formed on his face.
He started to close the door.
‘No!’ Adrian cried out. He was so close and could feel the scuttling creature behind him gaining ground. If Seymour trapped him in here, then Adrian was doomed to a violent, agonising death. In desperation, he launched himself forward into the door, just as it was about to slam shut. He thrust his arm through the gap, and the heavy door pressed into it, trapping the appendage. He let out a cry of pain, but knew he had to ignore it. He pushed as hard as he could against Seymour, who was keeping him from entering.
Normally Seymour, with his weight advantage, may have been the stronger man, but Adrian had adrenaline and desperation on his side. With that horrible, crawling nightmare almost upon him, he found additional reserves and managed to force the door open—overpowering Seymour and creating a large enough gap for him to squeeze through.
Adrian fell to the floor on the other side and spun his head to see Seymour slam the door shut, just as the creature leapt towards it. Before it closed completely, he saw that other abominations were pouring out from the various rooms off the main corridor. Adrian then heard great bangs against the door that Seymour was fighting to keep shut.
‘Help,’ Seymour yelled, desperately. Sean was frozen with fear, and part of Adrian wanted to run and leave Seymour to it—to let him meet his fate. But if he did that, then the creatures would swarm out and no doubt finish him off as well. So Adrian jumped up, his arm screaming in pain, and heaved the strong metal bolt across into its latch. Angry, frantic pounding could be heard from beyond the door, growing stronger as more bodies joined in the attempt to force it open. And as sturdy as the door looked, he knew it wouldn’t hold forever.
Seymour took a few steps back and turned to say something, but Adrian didn’t want to hear it, instead unleashing a furious punch with his good arm, connecting with Seymour's chin. The fat man stumbled backwards, and Adrian kept up his assault, hitting him again and again, forcing him to the floor. Seymour tried to bring his hands up to protect his face, so Adrian unleashed a flurry of kicks to his stomach.
‘You tried to leave me for dead!’ Adrian shouted. Seymour pulled his knees up and tucked his head down, arms around himself in a protective foetal position.
‘Stop!’ he shouted, but Adrian was in no mood to listen—he was in a mood to fight. So he continued, feeding his anger.
‘I’ll kill you,’ he said, truly believing every word. The selfish, fat bastard had it coming.
‘We need to go,’ Seymour managed to get out between blows. ‘The exit. It’s right there.’
Adrian paused his attacks and looked down the length of the Main Hall. There, beyond the reception area, was the exit, precisely as Seymour had said.
However, it made little difference, as neither of them had a key.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ Adrian said, preparing to attack again, ‘we can’t get out.’
And then the room was swarmed.
Not by creatures, but by orderlies, led by Jones, who was armed with a fire-spewing weapon. They poured in from other wards that connected to the Main Hall.
Even Director Templeton and Dr. Reid appeared as well, and everyone looked concerned.
‘What happened?’ the director demanded.
‘Not sure,’ Jones said. ‘Ward A seems to be compromised.’
‘Not compromised,’ another argued. ‘Lost.’
Adrian looked around, frantic, trying to figure out his next move. But he did not get far.
‘Grab them,’ Templeton said, pointing over to Adrian and the others. Knowing it was useless, Adrian did not fight back. ‘Everyone calm down,’ Templeton ordered, trying to quash the growing sense of panic in the room, made even worse by the sounds coming from Ward A.
But then Adrian heard it. Similar sounds as those monstrous nightmares, but not those from Ward A.
These were coming from somewhere else.
He turned to look at the back of the hall, towards the door to the spiral staircase. Inhuman shrieks sounded beyond.
And they were getting closer.
‘What the hell is that?’ one of the orderlies asked.
Then the door slowly creaked open and out stepped an orderly. But he looked… different, somehow. Riddled with sores, and his body had swollen with tumour-like growths.
‘Brother Stevens,’ Templeton said. ‘How did you get free?’
But Brother Stevens did not answer.
He just smiled.
And from behind him, a legion of those nightmarish creatures poured into the room.
37
Reid’s heart was in his mouth as he saw those things burst through the doorway—a variety of monstrosities and nightmarish visions that had once been imprisoned down below, were now free and here to cause destruction.
The men that were gathered, armed as they were, stood no chance.
It was a slaughter.
The clo
sest orderly to the advancing creatures was quickly attacked and pulled to the ground by that ape-like thing with no lower half. As the orderly screamed and flailed, it started to thrust its monstrous arms down onto him, one after the other. The orderly’s body crumpled beneath the heavy blows as red, glistening insides burst free. Adrian could hear his bones snapping, cracking, and crumbling. The rapid, vicious assault did not let up, and soon the body became unrecognisable, a disgusting mash of red meat and pink skin.
Limbs were torn free from another screaming victim who was caught by a group of those horrors, until a jet of fire was spewed towards them in an attempt to push them back. Jones stepped forward, spraying a stream of flame, arcing it left and right. Some of the creatures, and even the dying orderly, were set alight. They all screamed and screeched as the flames stripped them of skin and flesh. The other nightmares were wary and moved back as a brief standoff took place.
‘Director, I need you to get out of here,’ Jones said.
Reid thought that was a good idea, and he noted the director moving away from the conflict, backpedaling. Obviously, he was a coward when it came down to it, but Reid did not want to die either, so he joined Templeton and headed the same direction. The thunderous crashing and banging sounds still emitted from Ward A as a horde within fought to get through.
‘I think it may be time for those measures you mentioned, Director,’ Reid whispered to him, but Templeton did not answer—he simply stared at the prowling monsters that were temporarily held back by Jones.
‘Get into Ward B,’ someone yelled. Reid turned to see the three patients that had been apprehended. It was Adrian James who had spoken. ‘It’s safer in there,’ he went on. That made sense to Reid, not that there was anywhere particularly safe here anymore—but it seemed as good a place as any to retreat to.
But then a more obvious solution came to Reid, and he kicked himself for not realising it sooner.
‘No,’ he said. ‘We get out of here. Out of the asylum.’ Reid then grabbed Templeton and shook him. ‘Open the main door,’ he said. ‘Then we can escape.’
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