Chapter 10

Chapter 10

            Abby was sobbing uncontrollably. Brock picked the child up and before they were able to fully see the creature, they were dashing down the hallway, away from the thing. Whatever it was, it wasn’t moving fast. They were losing it.

            Brock felt safe to take a quick look. Running, he looked over his shoulder. Behind them was a hulking brute, nearly as tall as the ceiling, at least 9 feet tall. It towered over them. Its skin was tight, and a tainted, fleshy color. Beneath the tight skin, muscles bulged, making the skin look as if it was about to tear. Sharp teeth lined its massive jaw. The eyes of the creature looked cloudy, or maybe glazed over. Off of the top of its head flowed long, blonde hair.

            Filled with shock and awe, Brock couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from the monster. He tripped. Still holding Abby, he went crashing to the floor, with a solid impact. Abby hit her head and began crying even harder than she already was.

            The monster was only steps away. Brock scrambled to his feet, picking up Abby with him. Just as he was about up, his ankle surged with pain. Damn! I must have twisted it when I fell. He fell back to the floor. “Abby, get up and run!” he shouted. Marshall hadn’t even realized that Brock and Abby weren’t with him anymore. He turned when he heard Brock shouting at Abby. Brock yelled to him, “Just go! I’ll manage. Take Abby!”

            Marshall stopped long enough for the girl to catch up with him, then swept her off of her feet and began running again.

            Brock rolled over and saw the monster approach, then stop, right over top of him. It slowly turned its head, sniffing the air. Its eyes… She must be blind!

            As she sniffed the air, Brock crawled beneath her legs, unable to walk on his ankle. As soon as he was under, he scrambled to his feet, using the wall for support. The creature was unaware of him. Down at the other end of the hall, Marshall and Abby were still running. They turned a corner and were out of Brock’s sight. Brock continued stumbling along, hand on the wall, holding up his weight. The monster was slowly moving down the hall, away from Brock. Finally the thing was around the corner. Hopefully they’ve made it far away from the thing.

            Just after that thought had crossed his mind, a tremendous crash came from the direction of the monster. Brock froze for a minute, but then pushed on. Being in a medical center, he thought to look for a supply room .He needed to take care of his ankle.

            Wandering the halls of the ward, Brock searched room after room ,until finally, he came upon a room full of medical supplies; exactly what he was looking for.

            Quickly and swiftly as he could, he went in, grabbed a roll of bandages, rolled it around his ankle, hoping it would give him some support and was about to leave.

            Just as he pushed open the door a crack, there came a voice from outside. It sounded like it was on a radio. “What’s your status?”

            Another voice responded, in person this time, “The halls are all clear.”

            Then there was silence except for the sound of footsteps in the hall. Just as the foot steps were outside the door, Brock flung it open, crashing it into whoever was out there. Rushing out, Brock saw a government agent, flat on his back on the floor. Before he could make it to his feet, Brock got on top of him, grabbed his head, and slammed it into the ground, time after time, until the man was solidly unconscious.           

            Brock aimlessly wandered the ward for hours looking for a way out. Finally, he came upon an electric door, but it was open due to the power failure in the place. Running outside, he remembered Marshall and Abby still inside. He had to go back in and find them. He couldn’t leave them in there. Especially not with that monster. With that thought, he turned and headed straight back into the place he had so long been trying to escape. He made a mental note of where he was and how to get back there as he walked in the direction that Abby and Marshall had last been.

            I wonder where they are now. It’s been hours. They could be anywhere by now…

            Brock finally came to the hall where he had last seen the two, and so followed it down, looking for any sign of which ways they had taken. Where did that creature go? He had heard a crash before, when he had left the girl and man. Maybe he should look for something that was destroyed. He ran down a hallway some ways, looking down every one that branched off of it. Eventually he found one that looked as if the creature could have been there.

            There were holes in the wall, crumbled dry wall on the floor, and giant sized footsteps, where the thing had crushed the tile floor in. He followed these foot prints as long as he could. The thing must have been angered into a stomp, but the prints stopped abruptly, right in the middle of a hallway. And just like that, he had nothing to follow again. Keeping his eyes and ears open, he continued in the direction that the foot prints pointed. The hall ended in a T. Brock looked both ways, hoping for some sign of which path they had taken. Down the right side was an almost endless stretch of doors. Brock couldn’t even see the end of them. It offered no hints or guidance. Looking to the left, the hall was short and came to a dead end quickly, with windows in the wall. Pink curtains draped over and one fluttered as if the window was open. Brock ran down the left to see if that was true.

            Approaching the window, he saw that the screen had been busted out. The screen was pushed out from the window and laid outside on the ground. Perhaps they went out the window. Through the broken window was an ungated yard. There were no doors on this side of the building. It was not an intended exit. Seeing as how the window had been broken and shattered, his guess was that Abby and Marshall had gone out of it. There was no sign of them. Where was the monster though? It had seemingly disappeared. He really didn’t care though. Now that he was almost certain that Abby and Marshall were safe, he could leave with peace of mind. Climbing through the window, then running as fast as his legs would allow, Brock crossed the lush, green grass, relieved to finally be out of this hell.

            As he crossed, something bit into his back; a sharp pain. And suddenly, he crashed to the ground. With another bite the world went black. Any secrets of the ward would be covered up, just as had been the plan. Nobody would listen to an old man and little girl such as Marshall and Abby. The secrets would be lost forever; an unsolved mystery.