Tormented

by Lee Mountford

  This brought Templeton out of whatever trance he was in, but he just shook his head. ‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘These things must not be allowed to go free.’

  ‘What?’ Reid asked, incredulous. ‘Are you insane? This place is lost, we’ll die.’

  ‘No!’ Templeton yelled. ‘We will not abandon our posts.’ He turned to his head orderly. ‘Mr. Jones, if we cannot retake control of the situation, then we must make our way down below and draw things here to a close.’

  Jones nodded and took half a step forward. The horrors he held at bay responded in kind, evidently fearful of what his weapon could do, as some of their brethren lay crumpled, burning, and unmoving on the floor. The smell of cooked meat had already begun to fill the air.

  He ignited the nozzle again and sprayed flame forward. ‘I’ll get things under control,’ he vowed, his voice determined.

  But he was wrong.

  As he bore down on one creature in particular, setting the multi-armed abomination ablaze, other fast-moving beasts circled on either side. They were quick, scarily so, and pounced on Jones, who had no chance to re-aim his cumbersome weapon.

  They pulled him down, though not without a struggle as the large man fearlessly fought back, punching at the things that surrounded and overwhelmed him. Even as they bit down on him and ripped at his flesh, he continued to resist. Jones’ face soon become a mangled mess as skin was torn free; even when the fight finally left him and he lay motionless, he still did not scream.

  But instead of finishing the mortally wounded man off, something curious happened. All but one of the creatures backed away.

  The one that remained, a crawling thing with a wide mouth that pulled itself along on needle-thin arms, moved over Jones. With long, spindly hands it tore open the man’s mouth, wide enough for Reid to hear a snap as it dislocated. This, eventually, brought a grunt of pain from Jones.

  The creature then moved its head down and opened its mouth. Reid expected it to bite down and feast.

  Instead, it began to heave. A stream of black fluid erupted from the maw and splashed down into Jones’ own. He coughed and gagged, but the constant flow of foul liquid continued to pour, splashing and coating his face, and he could do nothing but swallow and drown in it.

  The vile purging went on, and Reid was sure Jones should have choked to death by now. Certainly the man was no longer moving.

  Eventually, the creature ceased its vomiting and moved back, and Reid now expected the other monsters to continue their attack on the rest of them.

  But they all held off.

  They watched the body of Jones… which soon began to twitch. Small, sudden movements that quickly turned into full-on convulsions. A gurgled sound came from his mouth, one that sounded… wrong. Not human, and it grew louder as Jones began to thrash about.

  Then the changes began.

  Jones’ muscles swelled to inhuman proportions, threatening to burst through his skin. In some areas his skin even split, and red sinew pushed through. The man’s form grew in length as well—the straps holding the tank to his back snapping and letting the metal object drop heavily to the floor—and his head was pulled down closer into his massive torso. The mouth on his skinless face widened to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth.

  This new nightmare then stood to its feet, easily over nine feet tall, a hulking mass of muscle and strength. It let out a bellowing roar and started to attack the other creatures around it indiscriminately. One was crushed underfoot as the raging beast took a step, pushing down with trunk-like legs. Another was scooped up and torn in two as it squealed in protest.

  This walking nightmare that Jones had become let out another deafening bellow.

  ‘We need to go,’ a voice said. Again, it was Adrian James. Reid took out his keys and ran to Ward B, heeding the advice. Patients and orderlies alike all ran with him, even Templeton. ‘Quickly,’ the director yelled in a panicked voice.

  Reid fought with his keys as the monsters behind, led by this new behemoth, made their way forward. Eventually, he pulled free the correct one and managed to unlock and heave open the door. He was forced forward by a mass of bodies behind him and pushed to the floor as the keys spilled from his hands, skidding off ahead.

  ‘No,’ he yelled. ‘We need to lock it.’

  He rolled to his back as more bodies ran over him, fearing for their lives. Through the doorway, he saw it—the mass of creatures growing closer and, beyond them, Director Templeton, who had fallen to the floor and was swarmed by a group of monsters. At the same time, he could see the door to Ward A give way on the opposite side of the Main Hall, allowing even more of these terrifying creatures to spill through.

  And they would soon make their way in here and kill him.

  Reid closed his eyes, certain this was the end.

  A metallic slam rang out.

  He opened his eyes again and saw that Adrian James had slammed the door shut and was now locking it with the very keys he himself had dropped, moments before violent bangs and crashes reverberated through the metal. The heavy door shook and rattled in its hinges as the denizens of hell on the other side fought to get through.

  But for now, it held.

  Adrian James then backed up.

  ‘It won’t hold for long,’ he said, and Reid tended to agree.

  38

  ‘We need to get farther back,’ Adrian said to the large group squeezed into the hallway. All eyes were on him now, looking for guidance. ‘They’ll be through soon, so our best bet is to lock ourselves in the Communal Area for now.’

  ‘All we are doing is boxing ourselves in,’ Seymour said.

  ‘I agree,’ Adrian said, ‘but we don’t have much of a choice, do we?’

  He looked to the doctor, who was now getting to his feet, and the other orderlies, who looked as scared and lost as he felt. One stocky orderly, with dark, messy hair, stepped forward—apparently unwilling to let a mere patient give the orders.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘We do not follow you. We follow Brother Templeton.’

  Brother? He’d heard that term uttered recently and had a suspicion that the people who worked at the asylum were not as they first appeared.

  ‘Then go and ask him for instructions,’ Adrian said. ‘Last I saw of him, he was being hauled away by those things. Monsters that you people created and set free.’

  He was well aware that there were only three patients—himself, Seymour, and the sick-looking Sean—against the large gathering of orderlies, so they could be quite easily overwhelmed. But then again, what exactly would the orderlies do to him? Isolation seemed a little unfeasible, right now.

  An idea formed that he hoped could even things out if he could just keep these orderlies at bay for long enough. Fortunately, help came from an unlikely source.

  ‘He’s right,’ Doctor Reid said. ‘In case you all missed it, we have lost control of this facility. If we stand around here much longer, those things are going to get in here and rip us apart. So can we stop the grandstanding and make a move?’ The orderlies looked to each other, unsure of what to do. ‘Now!’ Dr. Reid snapped.

  It seemed to work. Whether he had any real authority, Adrian wasn’t sure, but Reid had at least appealed to their survival instinct enough for them to retreat through the short, connecting corridor they were in to the main ward beyond. As the crowd of people moved, Adrian, Seymour, and Sean kept pace, with Sean struggling but pushing himself to keep up. His skin had taken on a horrible shade of yellow, and he was sweating profusely.

  Adrian felt uneasy running beside the men who had once acted as guards and bullies to them, but right now he had no choice. They filtered through the next secured door, and Adrian locked it behind him as the vile creatures from the Main Hall continued their barrage.

  As they set off again, Adrian heard a voice.

  ‘What’s going on?’

  It came from behind one of the closed cell doors, and Adrian recognised it immediately. His first instinct was to set the man fre
e, but then he stopped himself. Could they really take a chance of letting him free right now? Adrian walked to the door and dropped the viewing hatch, seeing Trevor’s scared face appear from the other side.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Trevor asked.

  ‘It’s hard to explain,’ Adrian said, ‘but we are all in a bit of trouble.’

  ‘With the orderlies?’ he asked, then peered past Adrian, seeing patients and orderlies standing together. A frown formed on his face.

  ‘Not exactly,’ Adrian said. ‘There are… things here that are loose. And they are attacking and killing people.’

  Trevor’s frown deepened. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Me either, Trevor, but that’s what’s happening. Now, I’m going to let you out, as long as you are feeling like yourself. Because, to be honest, right now we can ill afford for Mother to show up.’

  ‘I… think I’m fine,’ Trevor said in a soft voice. Adrian took this meekness as a sign that he was telling the truth, and that Mother was not in control right now. How long that would last, of course, was another matter entirely. Still, it didn’t seem right to leave him locked in his cell—trapped, with no way to even attempt an escape. He deserved the same chance as the rest of them, slim though it was.

  So, Adrian acted. He marched up to Dr. Reid, who cowed away slightly, and relieved him of his keys. He then walked back to Trevor and opened his door.

  ‘I’m not sure I want to be out,’ Trevor said, surprising Adrian, but still took a tentative step from his room. ‘I told Seymour earlier that trying to get out would end in trouble.’

  ‘Trouble is already here,’ Adrian told him as chaotic noises still reverberated from the Main Hall. ‘Things have changed.’

  Even now, Adrian could see tendril-like strings of flesh forming on the walls, floor and ceiling. They were thinner and less noticeable here than in Ward A, but he knew they would soon grow larger and envelop more of the surrounding space.

  ‘So what do we do?’ Seymour asked, angrily. ‘You’ve brought us down a dead end.’

  Adrian ignored him, partly because he didn’t want to listen to Seymour right now, and partly because he had no way to answer the question—he had absolutely no idea what they were going to do. Running back into the ward hadn’t exactly been a choice—it was an instinctual act of survival.

  In truth, the only real outcome to this that he could see, for any of them, was death. They would either be ripped apart by those ungodly monsters or, even worse, become one of them. But that didn’t mean that the patients trapped in the building had to sit in their cells and wait for death to come calling. He could at least give them all a fighting chance.

  Adrian walked to Jack’s cell next and pulled open the door. Jack was sitting on his bed, looking terrified.

  ‘Stop,’ the dark-haired orderly shouted. ‘You can’t just start letting inmates free.’

  Adrian ignored him. ‘Come on, Jack,’ he said to the giant, who had his arms wrapped tightly around himself and was rocking back-and-forth, obviously disturbed at what he had been hearing. ‘It’s okay.’

  That was a lie, it was not okay, but he knew he had to try to coax the man out gently.

  ‘I know you’re scared, big man,’ Adrian said, ‘but I need you to come with me. It isn’t safe here.’

  Jack shook his head, so Adrian stepped inside. He sat down next to Jack, feeling dwarfed by the giant’s frame, and rubbed a hand on his back in an attempt to comfort him. ‘I’m not gonna lie,’ Adrian said. ‘Things aren’t looking good. I know you can hear what’s going on out there, and I hear it too. I’ve seen it. But staying in here isn’t safe. I can’t guarantee that anywhere is safe, but the more of us that stick together, the better chance we have.’

  Jack shook his head again and continued his rocking. Adrian went on. ‘I’m not leaving you behind. I want us to at least try to make it through this. So please, will you come with me?’

  Adrian felt for Jack. As big and strong as he was, the man was positively childlike, and right now he looked terrified. ‘Please,’ Adrian coaxed again, ‘be brave and come with us. You can do it, Jack.’

  After what seemed like an eternity, Jack seemed to make up his mind. He stood to his feet, his body rising up and up, making Adrian feel tiny. The large man still looked scared, but he nodded.

  Adrian got to his feet as well and patted Jack on the arm. ‘Thank you, Jack,’ he said. ‘Now let’s go.’

  They both left the room, and Adrian quickly moved to the next door, unlocked it, and pulled open. Then he did the same with the two opposite and started working his way along the hallway, releasing confused and scared patients as he went.

  ‘Stop,’ the same orderly said again. ‘I’m ordering you to—’

  He was cut off, again by Dr. Reid. ‘Be quiet, you fool,’ he said. ‘The more of us there are, the better. Now just shut up.’

  The orderly clenched his fists and curled his lip, apparently unhappy with the way he had been spoken to. However, as instructed, he said no more.

  And so, Adrian kept going, releasing more patients. The hallway started to fill up and become crowded, and Adrian noticed that, even though he didn’t fully understand what was going on, Jack was helping as well, beckoning people from their rooms after Adrian had unlocked them.

  Then they were stopped by a short, sharp yell from beyond them in the hallway.

  ‘Hey!’

  Adrian looked up to see a group of three more orderlies come running from the direction of the Communal Area. They looked angry and confused, all with coshes in hand.

  It was the orderly in the centre who spoke.

  ‘Everyone back in their rooms,’ he demanded. ‘What the hell is going on here?’

  ‘Enough,’ Adrian said, sternly, and loud enough for them to hear. Whatever was going on, these idiots had no control over it, and it was time they knew that. ‘Listen to that noise,’ he said, pointing back towards the Main Hall. ‘Those things, whatever they are, whatever you’ve been trying to bring through here, have taken over. Your colleagues are dead. I saw them get torn apart. Whatever you’ve been trying to do here, it failed.’

  ‘You’re lying,’ the orderly replied.

  ‘Am I?’ Adrian asked, stepping forward. ‘Then go out there and find out for yourself. Or just take a look at your friends here. Why else do you think they would be running alongside us? Because they can’t control what is happening, and they have no way out. So, if you don’t help us, then pretty soon we’ll all be dead.’

  Murmurs of discontent rippled through the gathered crowd.

  ‘What do you mean?’ one patient asked.

  ‘What’s happening?’ questioned another.

  ‘Enough!’ the orderly shouted. ‘I’m warning you all, back in your rooms now, or we’ll throw you in there ourselves.’

  Then a thunderous, crashing sound rang out around them, and the chaos from the Main Hall grew closer. They were through the first door, and something started to pound relentlessly on the ones behind them.

  Adrian knew exactly what was coming. The thought of it terrified him, and his heart began to race. Ultimately, there was nowhere for him to go, but he didn’t want to just stand here and wait; he had an urge to keep going to the last, a survival instinct that he didn’t know he possessed.

  He turned back to the orderlies who were holding them up and saw a look of genuine doubt creep over them. Another two appeared from around the corner behind them, joining their friends.

  ‘What the hell is going on here?’ one asked, a question that had been repeated quite a lot recently.

  The crashing sounds continued.

  ‘You need to make up your minds,’ Adrian said, ‘and quick. Those things back there will break through soon, and when they do, they’ll come for all of us.’

  ‘Where are Templeton and Jones?’ one of the new orderlies asked.

  Adrian shook his head. ‘One of those things is Jones. Or it was. And Templeton is dead. I’m not waiting around for
the same thing to happen to me,’ he said, and proceeded to open more doors. ‘And I’m not leaving these men trapped and helpless here, either.

  ‘Stop,’ the stubborn orderly insisted.

  ‘There are more of us than you,’ Adrian replied, hoping to push some of the patients—normally so placid—to help themselves. ‘So you do what you need to do… and we’ll do the same.’

  ‘You’ll do as you're told,’ the orderly insisted.

  ‘No, we won’t,’ a patient answered. It was an older man that Adrian had seen in the Communal Area from time to time. Someone who always looked miserable and always kept to himself. ‘I never asked to come here, I was taken. Brought against my will. You people are nothing but criminals and degenerates, and I’ve had enough.’

  Others agreed with the older man, and there were some half-hearted shouts of support. Much less enthusiastic than Adrian had hoped, but it seemed at least some were willing to fight back. Enough, he hoped, to overwhelm the orderlies, should they need to.

  Thankfully, he saw this new group of guards physically wilt—not used to having people stand up to them. And, of course, the incessant crashing and banging on the weakening door behind them played a part too.

  One orderly whispered something to the self-assumed leader of the group, but Adrian was just able to make it out. ‘We can’t control them all.’

  ‘For the love of God!’ Dr. Reid screamed. ‘I’m getting tired of this. We are all in trouble here. What this patient is saying is correct. Your friends here have seen it too. We’ve lost control, and if we don’t move, we’ll die. Now either come with us or stand aside. I hold rank, and I’m making that an order.’

  ‘You don’t give the orders, Doctor,’ the defiant orderly said. ‘Not unless Templeton approves it. And he ain’t here to do so.’

  ‘That’s right, because he’s dead.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Adrian said. ‘If you have any sense, you’ll think about standing with us when that door gives.’