Monster (Ryeji)

That thing is a killing machine pt.3

Yeji was thankful Ryujin had always had a natural talent for stealth and so didn't have to worry about telling her when to stop, or be quiet. In fact, despite having, until a few minutes ago, been asleep post-surgery, Ryujin was probably still better at this than her and would have been a better candidate for leading them around had she known the way.

Fortunately, they made it to the door with no mishaps and the card, to her relief, worked without a hitch. The door clicked open and they were back in the long winding corridors.

It was obvious the sun had set now, as there was hardly any light coming through the windows. And with no lights to guide them, perhaps in order not to waste electricity, it made it far more difficult than Yeji was expecting to find her way back to the lifts. Yeji was about to press the button, to take them down to the ground floor this time, when Ryujin caught her arm and stopped her. Yeji looked back at her puzzled.

"If there's someone in it we won't know until they find us. We should take the stairs." She said, letting go of Yeji's arm and pointing. Yeji noticed she had refused to use her right arm at all and had left it dangling by her side, but decided not to comment on it. Instead she simply nodded and headed in the direction of the doors with the staircase icon next to it.

"Lucky thing you're here." Yeji whispered, smiling as they quietly made their way down the concrete stairs in the dim light of dusk.

Ryujin glanced at her and gave her a small smile back. "I am an expert at sneaking." She mumbled, but Yeji heard, rolling her eyes playfully.

Finally once they had made it down to the very bottom they paused to get their heads in gear.

"I don't know where we go now." Yeji shrugged, trying to play off her worry that they were, in reality, trapped here forever.

"Did you not break in here?" Ryujin asked, confused.

"No, I woke up here same as you, just in a different ward." She explained.

"Oh... did they..." Her eyes roamed Yeji's body.

"I don't know." Yeji finished her thought. "But that doesn't matter now. Let's just hope there's an obvious exit sign. Everything up till this point has been fairly well labelled."

Ryujin nodded and together they shoved open the door leading out from the stairwell into the main part of the hospital. They were suddenly greeted by the sight of dozens of people bustling about in a large auditorium. Some carrying papers, some wheeling beds with injured patients. Some rushing from one side of the room to the other, clearly in a desperate hurry to get somewhere, an emergency room most likely. Some were dressed in long white doctor's coats and some in nurses outfits similar to the one the nurse in the ward was wearing. However, a lot were in military uniforms, guns in holsters and blood stains spread across the khaki colouring, and all with an assortment of blue and silver metal body replacements.

"Look there!" Ryujin leant next to her ear to whisper, subtly signalling to Yeji's left. And sure enough there was a sign with the words 'WAY OUT' printed on it with an arrow next to it.

"Ok." Yeji took a couple of deep breaths. "Just, act like you're supposed to be here." She said as calmly as possible. "Don't look at anyone directly and just keep moving. Everyone will be too busy. They won't notice us."

"Are you sure?" The younger girl whimpered. Yeji could feel Ryujin's hands clutching at her shirt as they hid in the wardrobe like her mother had instructed them to do. Neither of them was quite sure of what was going on but they could hear distant shrieks and gunshots outside as well as loud voices.

"Shhh, we can't let them hear us." She couldn't find it in herself to answer the question.

Yeji could feel something uncomfortable poking into her back, a hanger probably, but she didn't dare try and move to sort it out. Her knees were shaking slightly and her heart was hammering, but still she refused to move even an inch. She could feel Ryujin's warm breath in her neck and that at least provided some comfort knowing she wasn't alone. But having seen the panicked expression adorning her mother's face as she rushed them into her room and slammed the wardrobe door shut, a deep set fear fizzled in her veins.