Ink Me Insane (Book One)

Seventeen

Stupid vents. Didn't the constructors even watch movies? People needed these things to be big enough to move around in. Rene continued clawing her way through the vents. The metal ripped at her skin leaving red lines up and down her forearms. At the very least, their ragged pattern matched the already red, black, and blue canvas her body had become over the past couple days. If one thing could be said about Rene it was she knew how to take a beating and keep getting back up for more. Pain was nothing but proof that she was still alive and could keep fighting. She pulled and squirmed her entire body. No better way to get one in shape than needing to contort ones body into painful positions and then use muscles you had no idea existed to straighten. Hopefully, her internal compass was correct and she was actually headed for her room. Otherwise, someone would find a dead body in the vent because she collapsed from exhaustion. That is if the scent ever got bad enough to overpower the one the asylum emitted. Yeah, if she died in here the odds were she'd never be found. With that pleasant thought in mind, she renewed her efforts digging deep. She really needed to book it back before the guards. Crap, this was taking far too long.

SCREECH!

Lights flashed in strobe and a loud siren went off echoing through the asylum. It was practically a rave up in the asylum. Excluding the music and ignoring the fact that anything even remotely fun was slim to impossible. The loud, high pitched screech bounced off the vents making it a perfect sound canon. Rene gritted her teeth and covered her ears trying to get her bearings. She felt like her ears were going to start bleeding at any second. What the hell was that? Rene's nose suddenly twitched. She knew that scent. Damn it.

No time to get back to her room, Rene needed to get out now. Rene struggled down the way heading for the nearest light and cover. The sound of feet shuffling reached her ears. There was no mistaking what was going on now. She finally managed to reach a vent cover and peeked out. She was positioned at one of the many hallways. Rene watched cautiously as dazed residents pushed their way down the corridor. There was a lot of them, far more than in a normal circumstance. Of course, today was turning out to be anything but normal for a day in the asylum. No more routine to keep the crazies in check. Despite the large number of residents, Rene didn't see any guards milling about to control the mass. So many of them, this could go very wrong. Plus it didn't help the vent was multiple feet off the ground. Ah, her old enemy stealth they met again. Here's hoping no one cares.

Rene angled herself and kicked once more digging her battered feet into the grate. It popped off flinging across the hall and thankfully not hitting anyone. Oops... should have worried about that first. Rene glanced around eyeing the stream of individuals. None seemed to particularly care about the flying object or where it came from. Relieved for once in her life for the brainwashing effects of pills, Rene let herself drop down to the floor. She remained crouched waiting for guards to come screaming with tasers buzzing at her, but nothing happened. All that could be heard was the insentient siren and steady, rhythm of patients disembarking the asylum in an orderly fashion. Really rather a miracle none were having a breakdown in the midst of the emergency. Then again, that's highly unlikely and probably the reason that Rene had yet to run into guards.

"Time to go." A male voice commanded. Rene was ripped from her position on the floor and forced into the flow.

Rene bit back a shout when she saw the man-handler. Woman-handler maybe? Whatever. It was none other than her knight in shining armor himself. And he was touching her, again. Michael's eyes were focused hard on their surroundings. He had maneuvered the two of them into the middle of the flow. Being surrounded was putting her on edge, but this was logically the best way to move unnoticed. Even so, it bothered her and went against her instincts. It also didn't help that he was still clinging to her.