Run & Hide

by Brett Calhoun

  I wanted to say something, but I was speechless. Just as I opened my mouth to respond I heard helicopters off in the distance. Suddenly the entire jungle erupted into chaos! An explosion went off only around twenty feet from where I was standing. I ducked for cover and hid behind a large tree. A group of other camouflaged men wearing U.S. Army uniforms popped out from behind several bushes and began to open fire on Spanish speaking soldiers. Gunshots and screams filled my ears. I fled. I had no idea what was going on, but I had no intention of dying right then and there.

  I found myself sprinting as fast as I could. Plants and vines slapped my face and arms as I bobbed and weaved through the jungle. The sounds of gunfire followed me. There were a few times where I heard a bullet whiz over my head or saw a bullet blast a hole into a tree nearby. Suddenly a rifle butt slapped me hard in the jaw and I was knocked down. Large powerful hands grabbed me and forced me onto my stomach. My hands were zip-tied together tightly and then I felt a knee dig into my back.

  “Alpha, this is Delta, over.” A voice with a southern accent drawled into what I assumed was a radio.

  “This is Alpha,” A voice crackled back on the radio, “What’s your status, over?”

  “We have secured the package, over.” The voice on top of me replied, “We are prepped and ready for evac, over.”

  “Roger that,” the radio responded, “We’ll have a chopper over in five mikes. Out!”

  I was suddenly turned on my back and found myself looking at the chiseled features of some type of Special Forces soldier. His face was painted green and black. Before I could make anything else out I saw him lift his right arm and swing it right at me. I blacked out before I knew I was even hit.

  I felt like I was plunging into a deep abyss. I looked around and saw only nightmares and terrible faces. Screams and crying filled my ears while air escaped my lungs. I flailed my arms to catch my balance but a great weight pressed upon my chest. I was dying. The madness was everywhere and now it had come for me once more. This time I would not escape. Satan was laughing for he knew I was his, and that I always had been. I could hear him whispering my name so elegantly. Just as I thought it was over and that my soul had surrendered my eyes snapped open!

  “Michael, pal, wake the hell up!” Lee shouted into my face as he fought to stop me from convulsing.

  I found Lee on top of me pressing me down with all his weight to stop me from flailing about wildly. I stopped fighting as soon as I realized I was back in the hospital. The dream had ended only so the nightmare could continue.

  “Lee?” I asked in slight disbelief as the man helped me up, “What happened? What’s going on?”

  “You tell us.” Another man said, “We were trying to lay low when you burst through the door and began running around yelling in Spanish. Lee had to knock you out to stop you from giving up our location to the psycho running loose around here.”

  He was the same guy from the beginning that Lee and I had bumped into that had been with Ricky. He was a tall and imposing man. He had a well-trimmed beard and short dark hair. His eyes were sad looking, like that of a basset hound almost. He wore a red shirt with a black leather jacket and cargo pants. Like me, he had on sneakers as well.

  “I’m not sure what happened.” I said as I tried to contemplated whatever it was that I had experienced, “I think I was hallucinating, but I’m not sure. Where are we?”

  “We’re at Radiology,” Lee replied, “Clark and I figured there’d be a lot of machinery and stuff to hide around in once we heard the siren go off. What’ve you been up to? I haven’t seen you since we all ran from that dude with the fire-axe. Did you see what happened to Ricky? He was that loud-mouthed kid that was with Clark when we bumped into them.”

  “Yeah, Ricky’s dead.” I answered solemnly.

  “Damn.” Clark said looking down with a shake of his head, “I figured if we hadn’t seen him by now he’d probably be gone.”

  “To be honest, pal, after we got the phone call telling us a third person had died, I kinda figured you had died too.” Lee said as he sat in a chair next to a large white machine.

  “No, but I was almost killed.” I replied, “I was poisoned with a heavy injection of Botox and my friend Sal was pulled into a vent by some… thing on the thirteenth floor.”

  “Did you say, Sal?” Clark asked with sudden interest.

  “Yeah,” I nodded innocently, “We went into the basement and found some weapons. We were supposed to link up with two others on the thirteenth floor. We found one of them, Barbara, dead in a maintenance closet. We were attacked before we could find Selena, the other person.”

  “I got something that might interest you then.” Clark said as he pulled out a voice recorder similar to the one Sal and I had found in the basement. “We found this in a trash can in one of the x-ray rooms while we were searching around here for supplies.”

  I took the recorder from Clark and saw a short message taped to the back of the recorder. It read “Salvatore Carollo Trial: Evidence Item A” in black permanent marker. I played the tape and listened. Apparently it was a conversation between what sounded exactly like Sal and another person. After spending so much time with Sal I could definitely tell it was him, but he sounded different. It was as if he was a different person.

  Unknown Person:‘ey, there he is, the prince of Ocean City! How ya doin’ Sal? Whaddya hear, whaddya say?

  Sal:Ya know it goes, Bobby. Good to see ya. What’s goin’ on?

  Bobby:Well, you know how these things go. You been readin’ the papers lately? We’re gettin’ fuckin’ hammered out there onna street!

  Sal:Yeah, word’s out all the way out in Ocean City that you guys are getting’ killed. What the fuck happened?

  Bobby:Aw man, everything’s been goin’ to pieces. The blacks started makin’ moves downtown, the Viper flipped and is turnin’ state’s evidence, and just now the fuckin’ Colombians have showed up tryin’ to cut into our action. It’s fuckin’ chaos on the streets right now.

  Sal:Yeah, yeah, I can’t believe Angie turned. Fuckin’ rat… I’m glad I never got too close to him. How bad is it lookin’?

  Bobby:Well some o’ our people are goin’ down, that’s for sure. They ain’t handed out the indictments yet, so we don’t know how much it’s gonna hurt. Dino knows he’s fucked so he’s fleeing to Rome, Sonny is already inna wind, and I’m probably gonna start closin’ up shop too for a little while.

  Sal:Shit… So what can I do for this Thing?

  Bobby:Well now that’s why I called ya down here. Angie is in federal protection so we ain’t touchin’ him, but we got a guy down on the docks who thinks he can tell us “fuck you” and get away wit’ it.

  Sal:How do ya want it done?

  Bobby:The cocksucker runs that club Lemon & Lime over by the waterfront. We’re not lookin’ for anything…messy, but we want people to know that we’re still around.

  Sal:Yeah, yeah. I’ll handle this piece o’ work. I can take care o’ this next week, unless you need it done sooner?

  Bobby:Ha, ha, ha, you know that’s why we all love ya out here, Sal! You fuckin’ walk off the boat and every dead-beat starts shakin’ in their fuckin’ loafers cuz they know what’s comin’! Next week is fine.

  Sal:Hey, I’m a punctual kinda guy ya know? So what else is up, Bobby?

  The tape halted with an abrupt click. It all sounded like something out of a mob movie. Despite my confusion as to why the recording was in this hospital, just like Ricky’s interrogation tape, I wondered if the fact that it was trial evidence was really true.

  “Sounds like your friend was a contract killer, to say the least.” Clark surmised, as I handed him back the recording device.

  “I didn’t know,” I said with the shake of my head, “and honestly, I don’t think he even knew before he died. This means two of the people that arrived here with us were criminals of some sort.”

  “What do you mean?” Clark asked with an arched eyebrow.

  “Sal and
I found a video tape of an interview of Ricky after he raped and murdered a girl.” I answered.

  “This is weird,” Lee said, “I’m not sure what to make of this? Does that mean we’re all killers too?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, “this whole situation makes absolutely no sense.”

  “I guess we’ll just have to keep moving for now.” Clark shrugged.

  “Yeah,” Lee nodded and then looked at me, “What’s our next move?”

  “The freaks from the first floor carry sets of keys to the front entrance.” I explained, “I had a shotgun before I got attacked by that creature on the thirteenth floor. It only has one shell left, but if we can take one of those guys down on the first floor we’ll be able to escape.”

  “So where is it?” Clark questioned.

  “Mark was helping me to the fifth floor when he said it fell down the staircase inside Stairwell D.” I replied, “It should still be somewhere in that stairwell, unless someone grabbed it.”

  “We should grab that as soon as possible then.” Clark said with finality, “The longer we stay here the more likely we’ll end up joining Sal and Ricky.”

  “Hey, that works for me.” I replied.

  Chapter Seven: Glass maze

  Clark edged the door open from the office we’d been hiding in and peered out. Sensing the area was safe for the time being, he waved me and Lee to follow him. It was nice not being the one in front for a change. I crept behind Clark, while Lee was behind me. I could tell that whatever Lee and Clark had faced since we’d separated had rubbed off on Lee. Lee paid close attention to his rear whenever he could while Clark seemed like a natural leader.

  We quickly made our way down Staircase D with no issues. I was curious where the killer was currently in the hospital. Was he stalking us right now without us knowing about it? Where was Selena? Was she safe, and what about Mark? There was something about Mark that I felt was strange. Obviously his behavior was more than strange, but something about him in general was off.

  “I don’t see it.” Clark said flatly upon reaching the bottom of the stairs.

  “Wait a sec.” Lee said with as he crouched to peer under the stairs, “I see something down here.”

  Lee got on his hands and knees and crawled under the stairs and re-emerged holding a large white envelope and handed it to me. I opened it up. A small metal key and a hand-written note were inside. The key had the letter C and number ten inscribed into its base on both sides. I wasn’t sure to make of it at first so I read the note next.

  Michael,

  After leaving you I came across your shotgun down here. You weren’t looking too good at the time so I decided to keep it in a safer place. It can be found in a changing locker on the tenth floor. Please note that the reason I chose this floor is because all of the stairwell doors to it are securely locked. I discovered this key while hiding earlier and discovered it will open stairwell C’s door. It should be safe from greedy hands for now, but we both know that the beasts from the first floor carry keys to everything, so don’t take too long in your search. I will try to rendezvous with you at a later time. Stay alive, Michael, and trust no one!

  -Mark

  “Damn it,” I growled.

  “What’s up?” Lee asked as he kept an eye out on the floors above us.

  “Mark moved the shotgun to the tenth floor,” I replied as I handed the note to Clark and then Lee.

  “We’ve got no choice.” Clark explained simply, “We have to get that weapon so we can get out of here.”

  Without further discussion we made our way back up to the ninth floor and then crossed over to Stairwell C. We decided to go to the ninth floor to make the crossing as it would be safer than going through the first floor. There was still no sign of any other life, or lack thereof, in the hospital which I found to be disconcerting to say the least. I almost wanted to catch a glimpse of our hunter just so that I would know what he looks like and where he is. I felt as though I was being watched, albeit more than I usually did while roaming the halls of the hospital.

  The key to the tenth floor door was securely locked upon arrival. I slid the key, from the envelope, into the lock and turned the door handle. It opened easily. Upon stepping through we found ourselves by a large waiting room for cosmetic surgery. There were pictures all along the walls that showed before and after pictures of people. It looked like the decorators of the floor had really searched hard for some of the biggest cases of cosmetic surgery. Most of the pictures contained people that were abnormally fat or ugly “transforming” into ridiculously fake, yet attractive people.

  I had no memory of my past self really, but I felt as though I never understood the desire or attraction to plastic surgery. I felt it strange to graft something onto you or mold a part of your face into something else, but then again, I was trapped in a hospital filled with freaks and monsters so plastic surgery was very low on my totem pole for strangeness at the time.

  As I stepped forward I heard a crunch noise resound from under my shoes. I looked down and couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. The ground was completely covered in broken pieces of glass! With every step the same loud crunch followed. Right away I knew that this was bad. If one of those hunter killers showed up on this floor it would be difficult to hide from them since they’d be able to hear our every foot step.

  “Watch your step.” Clark pointed out, “You’ve probably figured out that this glass will be noisy to walk on, but it will also really hurt if you fall down on it.”

  “Let’s just get to that changing locker and get the heck outta here.” Lee replied.

  The tenth floor split off in two different directions from the waiting room. There were no signs of where the changing lockers were, but I assumed they’d be near where ever the surgeries were conducted.

  “Michael,” Clark looked at me as we figured on which path to take, “Lee and I will take the left hall. You can take the right hall. If you find the shotgun or anything else come meet us back here in the waiting room. If you don’t find anything come back in around fifteen minutes. I know none of us have watches, but if it feels like fifteen minutes have passed then head back. Lee and I will wait for you for as long as we feel that it’s safe. If you don’t make it back in time we’re probably going to move on.”

  I looked at Lee and saw he didn’t seem to share Clark’s cut-throat ideology, but he remained silent. I didn’t like the way Clark was talking to me, but given the circumstances I didn’t blame him. If I had to split up, I would probably come up with the same idea. I simply nodded and began to make my way down the hall. I could hear Clark’s and Lee’s shoes crunching on the glass for some time before they faded off. For a while all I could find were what I assumed to be simple doctors’ offices where patients would discuss what types of surgery they wanted and be examined.

  Near the back of the hall was a fancy operating room with an observation room so other doctors could watch a procedure happened. I noticed a long white string hanging from the ceiling of the operating room’s ceiling. The string ended in a loop as though it may have held something at some point. It didn’t really match the rest of operating room so I found it rather peculiar that it was there. I would’ve investigated it further; however I didn’t have time to waste. I searched for a locker room near-by and soon found one connected to the operating room.

  The locker room was a glorified changing booth. There were three cubby-hole sized lockers with red metal doors. Each of them was unlocked. The first two were empty; however the last one contained a document in a familiar set of hand-writing.

  ALCON,

  If you’re reading this you’ll probably be dead soon. The shotgun is not on this floor. In fact it is with me, along with the revolver I found in the operating room nearby. I told you to trust no one. You don’t understand what this is at all, but it’s okay, you don’t need to. Your sacrifice will grant me life.

  -Mark

  I didn’t know what to think of the letter f
rom Mark. I could understand why he wanted the shotgun, but why save me only to try to kill me later? In either case, I knew I needed to get out of Cosmetic Surgery as soon as possible. I hurried back to the waiting room where I found Clark and Lee waiting. Clark looked annoyed that I had taken so long and I’m sure he was just about to say something to me about it when suddenly all of the lights went out.

  “What the hell?” Clark said looking up at the lights.

  “It’s a trap,” I warned, “Mark set us up! We have to get out of here now!”

  We ran to the stairwell door. Just as I was reaching for the door handle the door was swung open by a large red scabby arm. A face covered by a dirty surgeon’s mask and night vision goggles peered in and giggled at the sight of us. The stalker walked in cackling in a high pitched screeching voice. He must’ve been almost seven feet tall because he had to actually stoop to fit in through the door. He wore large brown hiking boots and light blue cargo pants. His shirt was a denim jacket with the sleeves torn off. His skin was covered in nasty red bumps and bloated yellowish pustules. In his hands was a large chainsaw.

  “Run!” I shouted as I turned to run.

  The scabby hunter roared and started his chainsaw. Everyone scattered. I had no idea where Clark or Lee went, but I knew that I was not ready to die. I could barely see where I was going because it was so dark, but I managed to make it back into the hall that I had come from. I could hear the crunch of glass everywhere. I rounded a corner and crouched down. I peered around to see if I was being followed. I couldn’t see much, but there was some type of shape making its way in my direction. I quickly jerked my head back when I heard the motor of a chainsaw getting closer. I stood up and just when I ran the chainsaw’s blade hacked into the wall I had been hiding behind.

  The hunter roared at me and began to run after me. I ran down another hall and turned a corner to find that I was once again by the operation observation room near where I had found the note from Mark. I ran through the observation room and ducked inside the operating room. While hiding in the operation room I knew that the hunter would be able to see me through the glass window of the observation room so I got low and hid along the wall under the window. With any luck the hunter would walk right past me. My knees and hands had gotten cut slightly during my sprint through the halls and I was pretty certain some of the glass was cutting through my shoes now too. I was so scared I wanted to scream.