My heart felt like it was pumping ice. I dropped the journal on the floor and ran out the room. I couldn't do this, I couldn't be in love with someone who was a murderer. I needed to get away, I needed to run away! I couldn't stay in this fortress a second longer.
I ran up the stairs and ransacked the closet for clothes and items that I'd be able to take with me. Grabbing a coat and scarf, I wrapped myself up and fled the apartment. I stumbled blindly through the labyrinth of corridors, unable to think or see for the overwhelming despair inside me. Tears were pouring down my face, making it difficult to see, but I kept going because I knew I needed to get out of this place.
I ran round a corner and suddenly slammed into something or somebody. I bounced off them and hit the floor, before I could even look up I smelt something... something deeply unpleasant, like dead meat. I covered my nose and looked up and saw a woman standing over me, a woman who had a great big gaping hole in her neck.
"Nurse Poison," I whispered.
She was deathly white and had a strange vacant look on her face. She moved towards me with jerky and unnatural movement that reminded me of a Hollywood 1950s sci-fi horror monster. Stranger yet, there was no expression on her face or animation in her eyes, she just seemed to look past me as she lumbered forward. For a moment I sat and wondered if she was a ghost who'd returned to haunt me, but this didn't make sense. I had just ran into her which meant she had a physical form, so she had to be alive, even if she appeared so dead.
A gurgling sound emitted from the hole in her throat. Blood and salvia began to froth at her mouth, gathering in the corners before dribbling down her chin to the floor. My stomach rolled at the sight, and I felt compelled to push myself away from her. Pushing myself backwards, the nurse unexpectedly stopped moving and become very still. She still wasn't looking at me, but somehow I felt that she was watching me.
Her whole body began to convulse as she suddenly dropped down on to her hands and knees. Her jaw hung open with pink bloody foam continuing to pour out of it. I stared at her repugnance, unable to look away from the grotesque and ugly creature she'd become.
"What are you?" I whispered in horror.
She suddenly exhaled in reply. A coldness washed over me, almost like a terrible foreboding that some awful was about to happen. I glanced behind me to see if the way was clear, and thought about making a run for it. When I looked back I could see the nurse shaking again. She was still on her knees and hands, but there was something different about her, something more predatory.
Her knees lifted off the ground and straighten, so that she looked like she was doing a weird yoga position. Then suddenly there was ear splitting crack as her knees unnaturally inverted themselves, so they resembled hind legs of an animal. Another crack followed when her gaping jaw dislocated itself to accommodate a pair of vicious elongated fangs.
"What the - "
My sentence was cut short when she lunged at me. I let out a scream and rolled out her way. She skidded past me across the stone floor, and I quickly rose to my feet, ready to run. She let out a low threatening growl, and once again I smelt the overpowering stench of dead meat. I staggered backwards away from her, covering my nose. I still wasn't entirely sure what the hell was happening, but I didn't want to hang around to find out.
I needed to get back to the apartment, she wouldn't be able to get inside the apartment once I crossed the threshold - but I had no idea where the apartment was. I'd been so devastated by the old queen's journal, I hadn't been thinking straight when I started running away apartment. Shit, shit, shit.
The nurse shuffled about the floor like a demonic animal, waiting for me to make the first move. The way I'd came, was now blocked by her which meant I'd only two options. Firstly, try and get round her, or secondly continuing running forward and pray that I'd eventually find help before she caught me. I started to weight up the options in my head, but was soon interrupted by the terrible sound of the nurse snapping her jaws.
She moved towards me, almost stalking me like a big cat. I inched back, figuring I'd had no choice but to run forward. The nurse watched me and crouched down low, preparing to pounce. I continued to back away slowly then suddenly I heard something from behind me. Before I could turn my head to see what or who it was, someone slammed into, and suddenly my ears filled with the sound of gunshots.
"Mia, keep still," an angry voiced snapped.
My heart breathed a sigh of relief. It was Nico. He pulled me tightly against his chest with one arm, and with the other emptied an entire clip of bullets into the nurse. He then pushed me behind him as the nurse slumped over. He quickly reloaded his gun and focused back on the lifeless body in front of us.
Both of us stood and watched the dead body for a few seconds.
Then Nico suddenly put his gun away with an irritable sigh and grabbed my arm. Without a single word of concern or comfort he snapped, "What the hell do you think you're doing out of the apartment?"
"I needed to get out," I said shakily.
He didn't pick up the distress in my voice and continued to pull me up the corridor. I nearly stumble over the body of the nurse as we pass her, but he impatiently yanks me up straight before soldiering on.
"That apartment was designed for your protection, why the hell did you leave it?" He demanded.
"I had to," I repeated, "I just had to."
"That's not a valid answer, Mia," he replied.
"Well, I don't have a valid answer," I said numbly.
"That's not good enough, do you have - "
A low rumbling growl behind us stopped Nico dead in his sentence. Both of us came to a stand still and turned slowly to see what was behind us. Nico shook his head in disbelief and whispered, "It's impossible."
I just stood there in wonderment as the nurse who'd been killed twice, was once again crawling towards us.