When Mike screamed I did too, but at that moment I wasn't exactly sure as to why. It wasn't until I saw the closed bear trap that I truly panicked. We heard overpowering growling in the distance that instantly shut both of us up. Mike grabbed the machete and desperately looked at me. We both knew what he had to do but wanted to avoid it. I quickly looked around for any alternatives, any way we could save his fingers, but there wasn't any time for that.
"Shit. Oh shit, oh shit...oh shit...oh shit...oh shit...oh sh-ARGH!!" Mike sliced the machete just as I turned to look at him after a quick fruitless search.
Running over to him as he threw the machete across the room and clutched his hand for dear life, I grabbed his injured hand and immediately started wrapping it with a bandage I had found. I tried to apply as much pressure and be as gentle as I could at the same time.
"Okay... Okay. You're going to be fine, this should top the bleeding." When I was done he walked over to the machete and the gas lamp, murmuring incoherent things the entire time.
"Eeny... Meeny... miney... moh... catch a tiger by the toe... if he... Let him go... I don't know what the fuck to go... okay..." He put the machete back and grabbed the gas lamp with his good hand, holding the other one up and close to his chest.
Mike seemed like he was in shock, so I took the lamp from him and held his hand, leading us into the morgue. Upon entering the room, we saw a strange skull in a jar, making me visibly cringe.
"This place just gets better and better." Mike said as he glanced at it, turning towards the cold chambers.
Most of the chambers had already been opened and the bodies were missing. Mike walked to one of the only closed ones and slowly opened it. The inside was empty except for the tag of the person who used to be in there. Mike moved on to the next chamber, and I grabbed the tag and read it. It belonged to a Nicolas Bowen who died in 1952 of fatal lacerations to the neck by and inmate. As if it had shocked me, I dropped the tag and quickly walked over to Mike.
He handed me the gas lamp as he opened the cold chamber. The body inside was disgusting, but oddly well preserved (they were probably negative temperature chambers). All of a sudden it's chest started moving, causing Mike and I to nearly have a stroke. A rat then made it's way out slowly from the body's mouth and away from the light of the gas lamp. By now, I could see that Mike was physically and mentally done with all that was happening, and that he really gave it no thought when he reached out to the breast pocket of the body's lab coat to pull out the key card.
I glanced at the body apologetically and we turned towards the door that led to the chapel. Mike used the key card and opened the door, going in first to make sure the coast was clear. Since there was no need to search for anything anymore, we just followed the sign to the chapel and quietly made our way up the wooden half landing stairs. Mike held my hand as he led the way, the bleeding on his injured one had stopped but he needed to change the bandage with a clean one. I was bout to mention this as we went up the stairs, but never got around to it.
As we turned to continue up, following the signs, we heard the little snap of a piece of wood, as if someone had stepped on it. As we turned back to move, a deafening growl and the quick movement of fur made us react on instinct. Mike reacted first, pulling me with him as we both ran up the stairs in a panic, trying to get away from the wolf that was closely following us. My legs ached, my body hurt in every way possible, but I didn't stop. I blindly followed Mike as he led us through dark hallways and twists and turns, the wolf always extremely close behind us.
At some point, Mike reached a door and pushed me forward into the room, making me trip in some of the debris of the building that lay around and fall forward into the cold, roofless room. He followed closely and shut the door violently on the wolf's face. The wolf scratched at the door for a while and suddenly left, leaving Mike pinned up against it. I tried to get on my knees, but gave up when it hurt, thinking that maybe I could just rest here for a bit.
