Chpt. 10

Madeline awoke, suddenly, from her coma and looked around the room she was in.

Where am I? She wondered. Then her memories came flooding back to her. She was attacked by a couple of men in dark after finding a piece of evidence that was connected with Kayla.
　 　 　 　 　After lying around gathering her thoughts Madeline realized that she didn’t hear anything. Normally, hospitals were noisy with the sounds of the many people bustling around. She pressed the call button on her bed and waited for a nurse or a doctor to come. After a couple minutes she pressed the button again when no one came.
Madeline finally decided to get herself up and check what was going on herself. She found swinging her legs over the bed to be very difficult. It felt like there were fifty pound weights attached to each of Madeline’s ankles and then noticed several small tubes were protruding from her body that she hadn’t noticed before. Pulling out the tubes was surprisingly painful and she felt exhausted after the last one come out of her arm. The woman sat still to gather up her strength and the pushed herself out of the bed. When her legs hit the floor they instantly gave out. Madeline hit the floor with a grunt. Her legs felt like there were millions of tiny needles prickling her skin. The feeling slowly went away and she gained feeling back in her legs.

Madeline steadily raised herself again and took slow, small, steps towards the door. She poked her head out the door and looked down both ends of the hallway. There were no signs of life. Madeline suspected that the power was out because there were no signs of any televisions, computers, or any type of machinery to be working. The lights were out as well making the hospital’s only source of light the sun coming through the few windows in each patient’s room.
“Hello!” Madeline called out. “Is anybody here?” Only silence answered her. She stepped out the door and proceeded down the hall. There were papers strewn throughout the long hall. As Madeline slowly stepped down the hall she spotted an elevator and then realized she would have to be taking the stairs because the power was out. Before proceeding down the stairs Madeline found the garment she wore to be uncomfortable and went behind on of the desks in search of anything to wear. After search for a couple of minutes she found a nurse’s uniform. After changing she felt like she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed if someone saw her.

If anyone sees me. This place is a ghost town.
At the end of the hall was a door that led to the stairway. Since the stairs only led to the floors below that meant Madeline was on the top floor. She groaned at the thought of descending countless floors before reaching the bottom level. Her feet slowly shuffled towards the first step. The descending of the stairs was going to be a slow process because Madeline’s legs were still weak. She used the railing to support herself with each step and to keep her from falling down. It felt like hours before Madeline reached the final step of her descent. She leaned against the door, leading out of the stairway, to rest briefly and wiped her long dark hair away from her face. When she stepped out into the first floor hall it was just as silent as the other floors. Not a living thing could be seen nor heard.

“Hello!” Madeline called out once again. There was still no answer.

Where did everyone go? And why was I the only one left here? She pondered to herself. Her eye caught the waiting area and saw a soda machine next to a snack vender. She realized that was the reason why her body was so weak. Who knows how long it has been since the hospital had been emptied out and who knows how long it had been since Madeline has had any source of energy in her system. She didn’t have any money so she couldn’t buy anything from the vending machines but then an idea came to her mind. Madeline took one of the chairs from the floor and, with all of the strength she currently had, thrust the leg into the front of the soda machine. She had only punctured a hole but after tearing the plastic pieces away made the hole large enough to put her hand through. She grabbed a beverage and drank it greedily, completely ignoring the fizz burning her throat. She tossed the empty can aside and reached in to grab another one. She drained the next three beverages equally as fast as the first and with them felt her strength return to her body.

Madeline turned and grabbed the chair again. She then threw it against the snack machine, shattering the display glass. She reached for whatever snack, she felt was highest in sugar and ate it quickly. After she ate a few more bags of chips and cookies Madeline eventually turned to more of her favorite foods. Madeline rushed behind the front desk to search for something and emerged with two small plastic bags. She put one bag into the other to make it more durable. Madeline then headed back to the vending machines and stuffed as much snacks and beverages into the bag as it would carry.

As she exited the hospital she looked at the name.

“Angel’s Hospital,” She whispered to herself. “I remember this place. But where is everyone?” Madeline looked around at the area around her. It felt as if someone had stopped time. There were vehicles abandoned in the middle of the street signifying that the people had to leave, quite, suddenly. “What happened here?” As if to answer her question Madeline noticed a News paper drifting towards her and she quickly picked it up. The headlines read, “VIRUS EPIDEMIC FORCES IMMEDIATE EVACUATION!”

Madeline remembered something about a virus on the News. She really hadn’t considered it being much of a threat taking into account that she was focusing on the Kayla case so intently. This was obviously a big threat too, if it forced cities to evacuate.

But why was I left behind? The question hung heavily over her. She wondered if anyone else had been left behind and was also lost somewhere. She decided to start by her house first to prepare herself and then look for any other people still in the city that may have been left behind like her.

Her house wasn’t too far from the hospital only about several blocks away. When Madeline finally reached her house she didn’t even bother with the front door. She picked up a nearby rock and flung it through one of the front windows.

I can’t believe I’m breaking into my own house. Madeline thought to herself as she climbed through the broken window into her bedroom. She lived alone in a pretty decent house she rented when she moved to the area to join Section Thirteen. Most of her boxes still remained unpacked because the case took much of her attention and the fact that she really didn’t spend time here much. So Madeline spent less time scavenging through her house to find what she needed.

“Transportation…” Madeline thought aloud. She was pretty sure her car had been totaled in the collision and it wasn’t likely that someone fixed it up and placed the vehicle in her garage but she checked anyway. The car wasn’t there but a motored scooter was sitting off in the corner. She hadn’t ridden it in a while but Madeline hoped it still worked. She raced to her kitchen and opened the refrigerator. A fetid smell came from the foods inside and overwhelmed her. She slammed the door closed. Madeline didn’t have any canned food because she had just moved in.

Thunk!

A noise from a room farther in the house sounded. Fear started to rise in Madeline’s throat at the thought of a stranger in her house. She stood in place, frozen, until she saw a black figure turn the corner from the hallway. Madeline turned to run but slammed into another figure similar to the first. She looked up and saw that the figure was a person covered in black clothes except for the red lenses from his or her gas mask. Madeline felt herself get weak again and then all went black.

　

Madeline was abruptly awakened by a splash of water thrown at her face.

“Wake up.” A low demanding voice could be heard as Madeline tried to open her eyes. She awoke to find herself in a darkly lit room with a single dangling lamp light overhead and her hands were bound to the chair she sat in.

“Where am I?” Madeline asked confused.

“That doesn’t matter at the moment. I’m sure you remember September 6^th.” Madeline stayed quiet knowing that this person was only confirming a fact he already knew. “It was the day you took up the assignment that you’ve been working so diligently on.”

Is he talking about the Kayla case?

“You mean was working so diligently on. I’ve been removed from that assignment.”

“Oh, really? Then what were you doing with this?” The man held up the bag with the crow in it.

“That’s from a different investigation.”

“I probably would believe you otherwise but we found your escort. His kind of death is only something that can be done from Kayla. So that leaves me to believe that you did something to provoke her like digging up this dead crow. There’s dirt all over it and it’s soaked which meant that it was probably buried outside.”

“What do you want?”

“We are conducting an important experiment. Your investigation is hindering that. We tried giving you a warning but you only killed our men.” Madeline could hear the man load a handgun, pulling the hammer back. “We won’t tolerate any delays.”

“Wait! I just have to know one thing.” The man’s silence let Madeline know that he was allowing her to speak. “Is there another one?”

“Another what?”

“A person just like Kayla? Are there two of them?”

“Don’t be absurd. There’s only--” Suddenly the man’s head was severed from his body. Madeline could only make out a dark shadow in the doorway that led into the room and then it faded away. She quickly tried getting herself free but found that she was handcuffed. A pair of keys glinted from the single lamp and Madeline reached out with her foot to slide them towards herself. After pulling on the keys she saw that they were attached to the man’s belt loop.

Oh, God this is insane. Madeline mentally whispered to herself and then tipped the chair over. She hit the ground with a loud clang but Madeline could feel the keys at her finger tips. She pulled at them and started fumbling with the keys until she unlocked the handcuffs. Madeline quickly jumped to her feet and grabbed the man’s handgun.

The damp hall outside of the room was just as dark. Madeline swung out with her gun pointed in down the longest hall and she saw the shadow at the end.