128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Fourteen: The Ward | Part 2

It was morning. Hummingbirds were chirping joyously just outside the building as if they had not been affected by the violent anarchy in the hospital. Well, of course, they hadn't been. The livelihood and mirthful atmosphere outside made a distinct contrast to Matthew's mood.

Matthew and Megan were able to make sure that they didn't fall asleep, thanks to fear of being endangered by an unknown stalker that Megan had spotted the previous night. This was unlike everyone else in the room, who didn't see anything because they had already fallen asleep.

"Good morning," Daniel greeted brightly as he got up and stretched. The atmosphere around him was contradictory to the dullness that Matthew and Megan possessed. "Is there something wrong?" he asked as he watched Matthew and Megan stare into space blankly.

Matthew turned over and looked at him while Megan continued to look out of the glass panel on the door. "Oh, you're up," he noticed as he snapped out his thoughtless spell. He pulled himself up from the cushy armchair, stretching his stiff limbs.

"Yeah, actually, we were up ten minutes ago," Daniel corrected before glancing over at the frosted shower glass. "Jean's freshening up right now."

"Well, I guess we should all get clean, shouldn't we," Matthew said as he began moving around the room to get himself active.

Meanwhile, Megan still lay motionless on her uncomfortable wooden chair. Unlike Matthew, she wasn't in a spell of mindlessness. She was in an episode of thought. Every second she stared out of the window, a thought ran through her mind.

The sight of the figure wavered before her eyes again. Peering through the glass pane and watching that eerie smile. Penetrating through the windows, the sunlight distorted Megan's memory a little, but every aspect of replaying her vision frightened the life out of her.

"Megan? Are you all right?" Daniel asked as he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Oh," Megan responded, breaking out of her spell after realising she was just recollecting. The vision faded away a little, with a monotonous cackle replaying in her mind, but the traumatising memory didn't vanish from her brain completely. "I was just... um... recalling something I saw yesterday, or at least I thought I saw."

"What did you see?" Daniel questioned.

Megan looked over at Matthew for a moment. She seemed hesitant to say a word about the incident, fearing that she might provide incorrect information. However, Matthew nodded his head, gesturing to her to tell Daniel despite the fact that she might be wrong. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry. And so, she turned back to face Daniel and began explaining.

"I thought I was seeing things since it was so dark," she started, her voice wavering slightly. She cleared her throat, gaining a little more confidence, before continuing. "But then the lights flickered on, and I could see short, combed blonde hair and a strange, menacing kind of smile on his face. It was as if he was... stalking us."

Daniel scratched his chin, attempting to process the information. "Well... if someone is tracking us down, we've got to find and confront them," he commented.

Matthew sat back down on his armchair after realising that walking around the room wasn't going to help him conserve any more energy. He finally contributed to the conversation, expressing his opinion and feelings about their situation.

"You know, I have this underlying feeling that there's something about this hospital that is abnormal," he spoke. "I'm beginning to feel that the hospital is linked to Yael. After all, the creatures seemed to have originated from here."

Daniel shook his head in dismay before dissenting. "But this hospital is owned and managed by Palmer East Corporation. Are you suggesting that they are in cahoots with Yael Technologies?"