Very shortly upon finding my hiding place I heard the door to the observation room slam open. The noise was accompanied by the sound of a chainsaw motor running. I didn’t dare look over the window, but I imagined him looking around for me. After what seemed like an eternity I heard another door slam open and the sound of the chainsaw motor became quieter. He had gone to search the locker room, more than likely.
I stayed where I was because I knew he’d probably hear me if I tried to make a break for it, and considering how close we’d be, I didn’t want to gamble on the hunter’s deftness with a chainsaw. I kept low and found that I’d been holding my breath since the hunter had entered the observation room. I opened my mouth and gulped in new air. Almost as though that were a sign, the door to the operating room smashed open followed by a roaring psychopath. I shot up and dove through the glass window of the observation room. The window had been luckily thin, however my entire body was now covered in cuts and glass filled my hair. I picked myself up and began running again. My right arm was bleeding pretty badly, but I just kept running. Out of nowhere I bumped into Clark while running in the darkness. For once he didn’t look so calm or collected. His eyes were burning red and glass was all over his jacket.
“He’s behind me! We gotta move!” I said as I pulled on his leather jacket so he would follow me.
“He only wants one of us!” Clark shouted furiously as he kicked me hard in the stomach and then punched me hard in the face, “Fuck you! It’s every man for himself!”
I fell onto the glass hard. My face felt smashed. Using my bare hands on the broken glass I helped myself up and found Clark had run off. I could hear the chainsaw blade coming for me. I ran off as best as I could. I rounded another corner and then ducked into a doctor’s office. I left the door open to make it look like I hadn’t run inside. I kept as quiet as I could and hoped that I hadn’t left a blood trail behind. I heard the stalker run past my office. I could hear the noise of running elsewhere. Since he’d run past me, I decided to poke my head out of the office. I could see very little in the inky darkness.
Suddenly I heard another roar come from the madman and I heard running in my direction. Clark appeared out of the darkness again and he was running right at me. I slammed the door closed instinctively. Clark banged on the door with all his might screaming for me to let him in. For a second things went quiet, and then a chainsaw’s blade rammed right through the door! I heard Clark scream in an unearthly form of agony as his blood gushed through the cracks in the flimsy door.
The death bell rang out its solemn song. I stood with my back up against the office wall covered in spurts of Clark’s blood. I watched the chainsaw’s blade chew its way out of what was left of Clark and then heard it switch off. Clark’s body slumped to the ground. Through the hole in the door I saw the hunter take a large metal hook and insert it into Clark’s leg and then drag him away. The sound of grinding glass against Clark’s lifeless corpse was all that followed as he, and the hunter, ventured off into the darkness together.
I stepped out from the office burnt out. We were slowly but surely getting picked off one by one and there was nothing I could do. My feet hurt from bits of glass cutting through my shoes, my arm was still bleeding, my head hurt from when Clark punched me in the face, and my sanity continued to melt away like an ice cube in the beating sun.
The lights suddenly switched back on. I could hear Lee walking around somewhere. I stumbled off in his direction to find that he was slumped in a chair in the waiting room. He had apparently fallen down too at some point as his shoulder had bits of glass stuck in it. I felt so tired. Suddenly a phone rang by the nurse’s station nearby. It felt like it took all my strength, but I got up and walked over to the phone. I picked it up and waited for the raspy voice.
“Good job…” The voice muttered, “Four to go… Get to the third floor… Next time there will be two…”
“What’s at the third floor?” I asked quickly, but to no avail as the phone immediately went dead.
“Third floor?” Lee repeated as he pulled out his map, which I was relieved to see had been heavily updated, “That’s Administration.”
“I guess there’s something there that will help us.” I said as I began to make my way to the stairwell with a new sense of purpose, “Let’s go.”
“Whoa, wait a second.” Lee said with a held up hand.
“What?” I asked turning toward him.
“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Lee asked skeptically, “I mean, we don’t even know who this guy is, but we know he’s been watching us since we first woke up. As far as we know death could be the only thing waiting for us down there.”
“He’s never steered me wrong before.” I replied in the voice’s defense, “Plus death is everywhere in this building, Lee. If we stay here we’ll die, if we hide on another floor those hunters will eventually find us and we’ll still die. Either way we’re fucked, but I want answers. Something brought us here. Maybe we’ll find out why this all happened when we get to Administration. If I die, I want to know why at the very least. I think I’m owed that.”
“I hear ya, pal.” Lee conceded with a tired sigh as he looked over at spot that Clark had been murdered at, “Well let’s get going then.”
Chapter Eight: The Owner of Saint Thomas More’s Grand Hospital
On the down the stairs, I thought about a lot of things. I wondered if I had been wrong to not try to help Clark. He attacked me and left me for dead, but I ended up doing the same thing to him pretty much. I didn’t feel as guilty as I thought I would about his death though. Was that because I was becoming colder? Or was this just how I always was? I thought a lot about Mark too. He shot some type of drug in me and then lured Clark, Lee, and me into a deathtrap. I hated him and I knew deep down that if I had the chance I would kill him before I walked out of here.
Upon finally reaching the third floor Lee and I discovered a notice pinned up against the door. I didn’t remember seeing the notice before, but this hospital was a madhouse, and at this point very little seemed to surprise me.
NOTICE
Due to recent construction the Administration floor is now only accessible via Stairwell A. All other stairwell entrances/exits have been sealed and will be removed upon the completion of the modifications being made to the third floor. We apologize for any inconvenience this may bring and request that if you have any questions regarding the recent construction to contact our information office.
“Only one way in and one way out…” Lee concluded, “I don’t like the sound of this.”
“Me neither,” I said, “We’ll need to watch each other’s backs. Let’s cross to stairwell A through the fifth floor. Family Practice should be safe for now.”
Lee reluctantly followed me and we made our way through the fifth floor. As we passed one of the doctor’s offices I thought back to when I had first encountered Sal, Selena, and Barabara. I wondered what had happened to Selena. I figured she was probably dead by now since she’d been alone for so long. Then I remembered finding Lee’s picture in Barbara’s pockets.
“Lee did you ever come across a young woman named Barbara?” I asked him.
“Oh… Yeah.” Lee replied with a frown, “Clark and I bumped into her and a Latin woman while running from that dude with the messed up hockey mask. We hid in Radiology for a while, but Barbara mentioned that the Chapel was a safe place on the thirteenth floor. Clark and I didn’t believe her and figured Radiology would be safer. The girl was looking all sorts of terrified so I talked to her and tried to calm her down. For some reason she reminded me of the little girl in my picture. Before she left I gave her the picture as something to remember me by. Did you know her?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, “the thirteenth floor is a kill zone. We found her body in a maintenance closet… I’m sorry, Lee.”
“It’s not your fault,” Lee sighed, “Let’s just get the hell out of here.”
We hurried over to stairwell A and descended to
the third floor. The same notice was on this door as well. I tried the door handle and it opened easily.
“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, pal.” Lee said.
The third floor was unbelievably different than the rest of the hospital. It looked like the interior of a fancy mansion or country club. The walls were made of finely stained oak and the hardwood floors looked to originate from redwood. Chandeliers lit up each room and red gilded carpets made the floors beautiful. Beautiful paintings of various landscapes decorated the walls, while Amadeus Mozart could be heard playing gently and softly from speakers throughout the floor. I honestly thought for a while that I was dreaming or hallucinating again when I entered the third floor. It was so unique and different. The fact that Lee was standing next to me viewing the same thing was the only anchor I had to knowing that what I saw was real. The only similarity to the hospital I could notice right away was that this floor also branched off into several directions making it easy to get lost in. The air was also quite cool, which I knew too well by now to mean that danger lurked among these beautiful corridors.
As soon as Lee closed the door behind him the stairwell door locked with a click. I ran back to the door and attempted to open it but it was securely shut.
“Fuck!” Lee swore angrily, “I knew this was a trap.”
“We’ve got no choice now.” I replied grimly after giving up on the door. “We’ve got to keep going.”
As I looked around I saw I was in a waiting room with comfortable looking black leather sofas. A large television set and VCR were set up in front of the sofas however they were both switched off. I checked to see if there was another tape lying around like Ricky’s but there was nothing. A secretary’s station was nearby though. A hastily scribbled post-it note was pasted neatly onto the center of the desk.
THE LIGHT SWITCH WILL
REVEAL THE TRUTH
“The truth?” Lee repeated with a puzzled expression, “What’s this about?”
I looked around the waiting room and saw an ornate light switch next to the hallway door. I walked over and flicked it on. Everything went dark, but yet there was a faint dark purple glow that illuminated the room.
“Whoa,” Lee from across the room, “Check this out, man.”
I walked over to where Lee was and saw a large whitish stain on the floor. I looked up at the chandelier and suddenly realized that black lights were inserted into some of the light bulb sockets. The stain was massive and, considering all of the past events at the hospital so far, appeared to be a blood stain. The stain was like the shadow of a large puddle. A small trail the width of a paintbrush or finger led from the stain to a bare wall. A child’s drawing appeared to have been made from the blood. It crudely depicted a simple drawing of a small child holding hands with his mother and father next to a quaint little house with a chimney. The people in the drawing were all stick figures so it was difficult to make out what was going on. The child in the picture was smiling along with his mother. The father had a neutral expression.
“You have any idea what this all means?” I asked Lee.
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.” Lee shrugged, “Something tells me whoever drew this wasn’t using watercolors though.”
I gave up on trying to decipher the picture and walked over to flip the regular lights on again, however when I flipped the switch to off nothing happened. I tried the switch a couple more times and nothing happened. The black light was stuck to on.
“It looks like once you turn the regular lights off they don’t come back on.” I surmised, “We should still be fine walking around here, but be careful, it’s going to be harder to see around here with only a black light on.”
Lee and I exited the waiting room and entered a long hallway. We figured to go as far as we could in one direction before trying another angle. Once again, I had no idea what I was looking for, but I figured I would know when I finally found it. As we walked along the hall the lights to the hallway suddenly went out as well and were replaced by black lights. There was no great pool of forgotten blood in this room however another patch of wall had been vandalized with childish drawings. The drawing was similar to the last one however in this one the child and mother were holding hands smiling while the father was standing off by himself with an angry look on his face.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, pal.” Lee said as he shook his head at the drawing.
We continued making our way through the third floor from the hall. The next room contained a set of cubicles made of the same wood as the walls were made of. Each desk was tidy and neatly organized. In one of the cubicles I saw a handwritten letter on a stained blank sheet of paper.
September 10, 1985
My family has been a well-respected member of the community for over five generations now. The founding of this hospital was to be our greatest achievement. My grandfather originally found it. I remember the long days of construction that went into building it. He was a true genius, unlike my dullard of a father. My grandfather understood that great things require great effort. I knew that one day this building and its prestige would be mine. The day of its grand opening was a truly joyous day. Grandfather let me cut the ribbon. My father was against the creation of this place, but he had no vision for the future. He preferred his board meetings and so-called work over this. Even back then I knew it would be up to me to save this place from him.
It is with my deepest regret that the hospital has suffered several scandals during its lifespan. My grandfather would be ashamed of how the media portrays our humble landmark these days. Once again it is my father’s fault. He was left in charge of managing the place but instead left the work in the hands of a simple peasant. My mother knew he was wrong too. Oh how I miss her. She would’ve been able to stop him, but she had to go away.
My father intends to close the hospital down soon and destroy my inheritance. I MUST not allow him to succeed. Under my care and supervision I will take this hospital to new heights that not even my grandfather could’ve imagined. Nothing will get in my way.
~Patrick Meshakowski
“This might explain why this hospital is still standing.” I explained to Lee.
“What do you mean?” Lee asked.
“In 1985 the owner of this hospital planned to close the hospital and sell off all the assets here.” I elaborated, “The newspaper clipping I read didn’t go into detail that he had a son. I’m guessing instead of selling off the hospital his son found a way to take control.”
“What did he mean when he wrote ‘take this hospital to new heights’?” Lee asked as he re-read the letter.
“I wish I knew.” I replied with a slight shake of the head, “All I’ve seen so far of Patrick’s “vision” is a new level of hell on Earth.”
The lights suddenly went out again and were replaced by the glow of black lights. Another drawing was found along the wall of a cubicle. The picture was once again similar however. In this picture the mother had a sad face and was moving away from the house and child. The child remained in the middle of the drawing with a sad face now too. The father drawing showed an angry stick figure pointing in the direction of the mother figure.
“Come on, we don’t have time to be sight-seeing.” Lee said as he tugged at my shirt.
The pictures were telling a story of some kind, but what did it all mean? Was it even important to understand? I wish I had more time to contemplate things, but we had to press on. We entered another hallway however this one was longer and led only to one room. Portraits of people lined both sides of the wall. From what I could tell I didn’t recognize any of the people in the portraits to the left.
“Good god!” I exclaimed as I looked at the portraits to my right, “it’s us!”
Eight portraits lined the wall to my right. Each one was masterfully drawn and depicted myself and the seven other people I had met here. Some of the portraits had been severely vandalized. I saw that the top half of the portrait of Barbara ha
d been crudely ripped off. Sal’s eyes had been torn out and big hypodermic needles had been poorly drawn going into him everywhere in his portrait. Red tears had been drawn on Clark’s face in his portrait along with a large hole being punched straight through his painting. Ricky’s portrait showed a large chunk of his chest painted over with what I hoped was red paint. The other portraits were fine, but the sight of how crudely vandalized the other portraits were made me feel nauseous.
As we made our way to the end of the hallway the ceiling arched upward to make room for a massive painting showing a stony faced man standing next to a gray haired woman sitting down while a young somber faced boy with brown hair sat on her lap. The lights went out again and a new drawing could be found on the door in front of us. This one was quite different than the ones we’d seen before. The house in the background appeared to be on fire and the small boy was smiling again. Nearby the stick figure of the father was drawn lying down with a triangular shaped object sticking out of his back. I looked up and saw words had been smeared on the painting of the family.
IT’S MINE, ALL MINE
IT’S MINE, IT’S ALL MINE
MINE, MINE, MINE
“I think we’re about to find what we came looking for.” Lee whispered to me.
“Be careful.” I replied as I continued to look up at the graffiti, “We’re going to get out of here together.”
As we approached the door from the hallway I thought I could hear mumbling coming from inside. I pressed my ear to the door but couldn’t make out any actual words. I wished I had my shotgun with me. I wished I had anything at that point. I tried the door handle and it opened easily enough. I opened the door slowly but it made a terrible creak sound. Lee and I walked through and found ourselves in a large circular office. A large ebony wooden desk was in the center of the room. Large black and white TV screens covered the majority of the back wall. It looked as though the cameras throughout the hospital all led to this office. A phone with what looked like a switchboard took up the majority of the wall to my left. Behind the desk was a man hunched in his chair turned away from us.
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