Secrets of Night

Chapter 10

Focusing on the origin of the scream, I take off down the polished hallway, my footsteps light and making no sound on the slick tile. Another scream blasts my ear drums, louder and more terrified than the last time. Startled, I flinch and rub my ears- definitely going the right way.

Pushing myself hard, I continue to run, bringing my pace up to a dead sprint, fear for the human suddenly coursing through my veins, blood pounding in my ears. My ears strain, listening for another sign of the scream, but silence is the only thing that my ears can find. Following the flow of the walls, I keep an eye out for any surveillance or any signs of life, but it's as if the building is deserted. A random white door like every other door I've seen catches my eye, the inferno pulling me towards the inconspicuous door, heat pulsing through my body as I approach. My heart in my throat from anxiety, I hold my breath and try the knob to find much to my surprise, it's unlocked. Cautiously, I push the door open and feel my eyes widen in surprise and horror as I take in the scene before me.

The cold hand of death rests like a cloud over the body of a girl strapped into a medical chair, blood dripping from her body and splattering softly onto the floor. My stomach burns, surging towards the girl and compelling me to approach the rapidly cooling body. As if in a trance, I step forward into the red ocean surrounding the chair, unable to do anything else than approach. Her blonde hair is stained red with her own blood, her crystal blue eyes open, staring blankly at the ceiling. Two large gashes in her abdomen form a V on her ivory skin, but her body is covered in so many cuts, it's impossible to tell which injury is the one that killed her. Bruises decorate her body and needles hang from her limp arms, blood slowly trickling down her arm and joining the ever growing red puddle on the floor.

My hand reaches out, feeling pulled to her body, and rests on the cooling skin, coating my hand in a sticky bloody residue and sending a shiver through my body. Tubes jut out from her skin, machines and syringes litter the otherwise empty room, whatever monster who did this to her already gone. She can't be very old, I'd say mid-twenties at the latest and I don't even know why she's dead nor if I was fated to be the same as her.

A blaring siren sounds, lights flashing all around me, tearing my gaze from the dead girl and startling me back to reality. Clenching my jaw in irritation, I reluctantly step away from her corpse and run out the door, bloody footprints staining the ground after me. Running until the blood stops showing, I quickly change course, darting the opposite way once there are no more tracks to lead whoever these creeps are back to me. Sucking in my breath, I press myself into a tight corner, hiding in the opposite direction of the bloody footprints to hopefully draw them away from me. Frustrated, I curse beneath my breath, disgruntled they forced me to leave her there, I still might have been able to do something even if it was just get her out of this hell to lie in peace.

"Test subject 37H has escaped. These tracks are most likely caused by her and I don't have to tell you guys what that could mean. Follow them, find her, she's proven her intelligence and we need to retain her before she gets away. Remember, she is considered dangerous and if necessary, use live rounds if you life is in danger, but our goal is to bring her back unharmed. If we lose her, she may go back and we lose this chance to get ahead of Union; we already blew it once with the other specimen, don't make the same mistake again. Get going!"

Footsteps take off running away from my hiding place, reassuring me the footprint plan worked, but the mention of live ammo has me on edge. Letting some of my breath out, I cautiously peak my head out from around the corner to see what state the hallway is in and if it's possible to help that girl in anyway. Much to my dismay, I note that two young guards with guns are standing outside of the room with the corpse, blocking any safe way of getting to her. Swearing to myself, I bite my tongue to keep from putting a hole in the wall, not daring to risk getting shot over a corpse. I don't know why I want to help her so badly, but I know there is nothing I can do to save her and dismiss the thought with a shake of my head. One of you can make it out, Tori, go now! Launching myself from my hiding spot, I take off down the hallway in the direction away from the guards, blindly running to hopefully find some sort of escape in this maze of white.