** A young woman sees a walking dead in the open streets of Whitby. A train full of corpses crashes into Kings Cross. In an Asylum, a gruesome nightmare becomes horrible reality.
All this should have been a warning to Kyle and his partner Benjamin...
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Kaylee's heart was still beating wildly, like a panicking bird in a too-small cage. This was still the case even when the door was shut again, and the manic laughter was muffled.
"Are you all right?" Benjamin's worried voice immediately followed. His eyes were wide with shock, and a vein on his forehead pulsated with suppressed anger.
"Please forgive this, Mr. Eltingham. I'm terribly sorry! Normally, Mr. Hadley is harmless," stammered Nurse Enid, her eyes fixed on the closed door behind which the poor lunatic could still be heard laughing. She was stunned, distraught, and worried. "He's never shown this kind of behavior towards strangers before."
"Everything's fine," Kaylee replied, trying to appear calm. Her gaze also lingered on the door, behind which the insane screaming—no doubt due to the influence of strong sedatives—slowly became quieter and finally fell silent. Kaylee's fingers fumbled at the tie around her neck, which she moved back and forth a little with her thumb and forefinger to make sure it was still in perfect place.
Her stomach was queasy. Not directly because of the assault, not at all. Instead, it was the maniac's insane, stammered words that planted stones in her stomach. Kaylee had seen fear in the wide, bloodshot eyes and sheer panic. Was it pure coincidence that the insane but otherwise compliant Mr. Hadley was so aggressively addressing cryptic warnings directly to someone who investigated and confronted curiosities every day?
"Perhaps we should go on, gentlemen. Miss Clarence's room is right back here." The nun stepped forward. Benjamin was already following her but kept glancing back at his companion. Kaylee remained in place for a moment.
Kaylee knew better than to listen to the babbling of a lunatic. The human psyche was unstable, easily bent, and crushed. She herself knew a handful of spells that shattered a person's mind as if it were a porcelain bowl. But the words of her attacker echoed in her ears.
'They're coming,' he had said. Who were 'they'?
"Mr. Eltingham?"
"Excuse me, I'm on my way." Kaylee tore her distracted gaze from the door, but her body felt strangely numb and tense. It was almost as if her limbs suspected something and wanted to stop her from going further.
"I hope this little incident won't be mentioned negatively in your report, Doctor?" Nurse Enid asked, outwardly concerned but with a resolute, almost imperious voice.
Benjamin Archer shook his head. "I beg you. If we made a fuss every time a mentally unstable person got violent, we wouldn't be able to get away from our tables. This wasn't the first time Mr. Eltingham has been assaulted - and it certainly won't be the last. We are aware of the risks of investigating a mental health facility." He sold this comment with such ease and smugness that Kaylee almost missed the worried look in his eyes. 'Take better care of yourself.'
"Have there been any other seizures or incidents since Ms. Clarence has been under treatment here?" Benjamin quickly inquired instead, and now Nurse Enid shook her head slightly.
