THUD
"The great nuclear fission fart! There's a wind that makes the palms stop blowing!"
The rambling is coming from the room next door, Alfred's dorm. The elderly ex-historian, complete with crazed, wiry gray hair and coke-bottle glasses. His acid fueled prophecies have a knack for keeping the ward up at night. A banner statement for project MK Ultra. I rise from my bunk and shamble to my open door.
J.D. is leaned up against the wall. He cups his hands to his mouth in a makeshift megaphone. "Wot's it awl about, Alfie?" He calls in an embellished cockney accent.
THUD
"Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds! Come one, come all! Fat man, little boy! Come and see! Come and see!"
A trio of night shift nurses jostle past us and unlock Alfred's door. Through the aperture, we can see a giant reddish-brown mushroom cloud, plastered to the wall in blood and shit. The old man's bed is torn open, with sharp springs protruding through the top. His bloody wrists mark their service.
THUD
Alfred smears the repulsive mixture, expanding the toroidal cap. It takes all three men to subdue him without getting covered in excrement. This kind of outburst is why they keep his door locked. One nurse holds Alfred in a standing full nelson, while the others quickly bind his open wrists with a smattering of gauze. As they drag him away for chemical treatment, Alfred is still screaming. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" He locks eyes with J.D. and I as he passes us. "South's gonna rise again, boys! Mark my words! Glory, glory, Hallelujah!" The lyrics of The Battle Hymn of the Republic fade out as he's lugged down the hall.
J.D. toes the glossy crimson trail Alfred leaves behind. It stains his state-issued cotton slippers. "I think we missed number two."
"What?"
"I dunno. Fragments. Maybe the meds." J.D. rubs his forehead. He looks tired. "Maybe something worse."
My eyes can't tear away from the crude, all-consuming fireball. I can see the disintegrating hordes of people. Shadows scorched to surfaces. "Whatever it was, I'm kind of glad we missed it."
YOU ARE READING
4 John Does
HorrorFour John Does are found in an alleyway, holding a host of artifacts. Taken to Pinemont Psychiatric Facility for treatment, they cannot recall anything about their pasts. Between them runs a strong feeling that they are misplaced in time. As the med...
