The Haunted Orphanage

Chapter 49

Dan's POV

Alex quickly sat up on the table and attempted to pry Nate's hand off her mouth. She didn't have enough strength to do anything about it and seemed to be wincing in pain.

"Calm down, we're going to get you out of here," I whispered.

Her eyes frantically roamed around the room before stopping on Nate. Nate loosened his grip around her mouth and Alex took in a shaking breath. "Who–"

"Would you please stop freaking out so we can help you?" Nate asked.

Alex nodded her head slowly. She glanced at the pool of blood beneath her, then looked back up to Nate and me. "Are you two here to kill me?"

"What–" I paused. "Look, we aren't going to hurt you. We want to get you out of here, along with another friend of Nate's."

"And we really need you to work with us on this," Nate added.

"Okay, what's the plan?" she asked as she slowly moved her legs over the side of the table.

I exchanged glances with Nate before I commented, "You seem really excited for someone who didn't trust us ten seconds ago."

"I don't exactly have much of a choice, do I?"

Before I could respond, Nate instructed, "Dan, we need to help her down. If anyone asks what we're doing, tell them that Alex needs exercise. Don't use her name, though. Call her by her table number, thirty-eight. We need to go find Jason and Phil."

I nodded my head uneasily as we unhooked Alex from a machine and helped her down from the table. Once she was on the ground, we noticed that she couldn't stand straight. "Wait, can you walk?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I haven't tried since I was brought here."

I thought for a moment. "We'll just have to work around it. Nate, put her arm around your shoulders and help her walk. If we get into a situation where we have to run, I'll carry her."

Nate nodded and carefully placed Alex's left arm over his shoulders. She winced as he lifted her arm, but was back to a straight face a few seconds after. I peered around the laboratory for table forty-two, searching for Phil and Jason.

I saw them a few tables further into the laboratory. Jason had his hand over his mouth while Phil was doing something to his patient.

I pointed them out to Nate, and he and Alex began walking toward them. I followed behind, pretending to take notes on Alex.

As we walked, I noticed a few scientists staring at us and whispering. However, for some reason, I didn't think they were talking about me and Nate. I got the feeling they were talking about Alex, which only made me more curious as to what had been happening to her. She simply didn't seem to be in her right state of mind.

I pushed away the thought. It was possible that she had been tortured, so it made sense that she wasn't in the right frame of mind. I couldn't shake the thought that the other scientists were whispering about her, though. It might've been because she was walking around, but it felt like there was something else going on.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Nate whispered, "Dan, you okay? We're almost to Phil and Jason."

I nodded my head. "I'm fine. How's Alex holding up?"

Nate looked at her for a second. "She seems to be doing okay. She isn't leaning on me much, so I guess she must be feeling a little bit better."

Alex coughed, causing Nate to jump a bit. "You alright?" I asked Alex.