The ward

The Child and The Woman

Continuing the halls of the nightmarish hospital, killing monsters, as well as obtaining maps, as they were his best hope for getting around the hospital and seeing its layout, William kept his eye open for the woman and the girl, as he wanted to get a better look at them, although, some part of him didn't want to. He felt a strange vibe that the dream he had was connected to this. Not sure where in the hospital he was, William shined his flashlight around, and turned behind him. Up ahead, past the blockade was a short figure in the elevator, however their head was down. William slowly approached closer, trying to get a better look, but the flashlight flickered and went off. He felt a feeling of dread go down his spine slowly, and his expression turned to disturbance,  as he had a torn feeling of wanting to see who was in there, and not wanting to see at all. Finally, the figure seemed to lifted their head and starred at William. He looked at his flashlights and began shaking it and hitting it, trying to get it to come back on. Finally it did, and he aimed it at the elevator ahead. He saw it was the same little girl who raised her arm and pointed at William, then the elevator's doors closed.

William tilted his head, 'What exactly did i do? Is she the one who keeps blaming me?' he thought. Still, she looked familiar. He knew she did, but recalling was hard. Everything in his head was mixed up.

"Me...? Don't tell me she was the one drawing on the walls, calling me a murderer. She can't be. She looks to be about 8. Kids that age wouldn't understand murder. Unless that kid has parents as disturbed as me. A possible scenario." 

He thought long and hard about what he saw trying  to gasp the clues, but nothing was coming to him. Nothing but mixed, vague memories. Finally, he began having a headache.

"I need to stop thinking about all of this. I can't figure it out, no matter how much thinking I do. There has got to be someone here who knows what's going on, OTHER than the kid." he gave the elevator a quick glance, then walked away, continuing his way. 

Finally, he came across and saw another gun cage, also with a code lock. He looked at the paper that had some kind of riddle, something to do with the dead bodies (which William nearly gagged at the smell and bodies up close). But he didn't want to go back and count them all again, so he began guessing numbers that seemed close, but many of the guesses were incorrect.

William sighed with impatience, glaring at the padlock. "What could it be?! Why do doctors and security have to put riddle down and make others guess the code by looking through the morgue, at dead people's eyes? This is a morbid hospital, that's for sure..." Finally, he thought maybe he was overthinking the combination, and he decided to put in the most simple one: 012.

Upon putting it in, it was correct, and the cage opened. His lips pursed into a thin line, showing his disappointment at himself, and at the hospital's code-making skills, as well as the ridiculous riddle they had. 

"That's ridiculous. Well, i suppose it's to fool intruders. No one would guess it would be 0 1 2. Simple, yet ridiculous. Instead of a morbid riddle, couldn't they put down along the lines 'don't overthink this' ? No, of course not, what am i thinking?" he rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

He quickly took the shotgun, examined it for a while, happy that he now has a better weapon in his possession, and put it on his back, knowing he'll need it. He quickly left the room, and continued on with caution. Finding more guns was making him feel that the monsters ahead were going to get much harder.

And sure enough, he was proven right.

He went through large double doors, and found himself in a very large room, and that cleaver monster he first saw was before him, chopping someone up. William's eyes widened, not at all wanting to fight that monster, but he had no choice. The cleaver monster turned to William and roared. William put his flashlight away and pulled out the shotgun, readying it. He finally ran towards it, and fired at it's head, which stunned it. William ran to the right, giving himself distance. He fired again, at the body, but it didn't stun the creature and it continued at him. He hastily reloaded the shotgun, and fired one more time, again at the body. He hoped it would stun the demon, but sadly didn't again. When he was too close to the monster, he tried running past it. However, the demon was one step ahead of him and it hit him with its cleaver, knocking William down upon the ground, severely wounding him. He heard the monster laugh disgustedly and went away in another direction. William slowly stood, groaning in pain. He readied his shotgun, fired at the back of the cleaver's head, finally stunning it,  and also surprising it. That gave William an advantage, also a clue on how to kill it easier.

Reloading the gun again, firing at the demon's head, stunning the monster... The pattern continued, as that was his only plan, it was also easier on him as well. He also gave himself distance between him and the monster, also dodging the sprays of poison that the monster shot out from its giant syringe. After when he felt like he wasn't going to make it, the cleaver felt over and died. William sighted heavily, lowering the shotgun, then put it on his back. He switched over to his flashlight and nightstick, and left the large, bloody room, continuing his search for the woman and the kid, since she wasn't in there and wasn't the one being chopped up, which made William sighed with relief.

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He went down the same elevator the girl did, and finally went out. He saw he was in a courtyard of some sort. He climbed down the steps and continued, but ahead, he saw the same woman behind a fence ahead.

She looked around, then at William, and held out something to him, a key, from what it looked like to him. William stared at the desperate woman, then rushed to her, but when he got close, he saw someone tall and in black behind her. The lighting flashed, and for a quick second that tall figure looked like a black doctor, the same doctor he saw in his dream, and William saw the woman clearly during the brief flash, she looked familiar and a feeling of nervousness welled in him. She was the same woman in his dream. But who she was exactly wasn't clear.  No amount of thinking and recalling could help him figure it out.

The doctor, who was in all black, wearing a dark green torn apron and a dark brown belt across his stomach. The thick belt adorned various blades and tools hanging by strings from it. He seemed to be wearing a black facial covering, or perhaps blue bandages, and no parts of his face showed. He wore goggles, and the lenses were tinted dark blue. William couldn't see the surgeon's eyes, and the briefly wondered if that surgeon could even see through those goggles.

The black-cloaked doctor took hold of her, and dragged her away in the darkness, both were no longer to be seen.

William ran up, standing in front of the fence, and looked ahead then around.

"She was giving me a key... I've seen them both in my dream. Hold on. Don't tell me this IS my dream, continuing without ever stopping... Can't I have a break...? I just woke up, I have no idea what is going on." I sighed out, not at all acknowledging the values of that woman's life. 

This was all indeed linked to his dream. The monsters, the girl, the woman, and that black doctor. He had seen them all in his nightmare, but he dismissed it before, thinking it was but a dream. But now, this was just a nightmare continuing, but no way to stop it, like waking up. The girl fled from William whenever he got close, the cleaver dragged her away, and now, when he got close again, she was dragged away by that black doctor. This was absolutely horrifying, and William felt himself getting a bit sick, trying to grasp the concept of everything. Trying to get close and see things clearly only triggered them to go away or to disappear. 

He picked up the key and looked ahead, gripping it tightly.

"Thanks... Were it not for you giving me this key, i may not be able to continue. Maybe we will cross paths again, in a better situation..."

He continued on, using the key on the gate, He saw the door at the distance and went through, going up the flights of stairs. He saw he was on a roof, and a piece of paper was in front of him.  He went over to it, and saw it was a torn piece of a photograph. It had a woman on the front, and she looked familiar. However, the picture was rather blurry, due to raindrops clouding his vision and the picture. But he saw the numbers: 31 under it, appearing to be scratched onto the photo. He put it away, perhaps completing the photograph will help him know what it's of.

Leaving the rooftop, he now entered what seemed to be a cathedral. He looked around, and finally stood in front of the podium in the front. He saw it was a photo album. He skimmed through it. There were three people in all the photos, but they were blurry, and fading, due to being so old and sitting out for so long, and also because he was badly hurt. He saw one picture was missing. He took the photo piece he found and placed it into the middle, seeing if it does belong there, and it did, so seemed to.

"I need to find the other two, and also get healed. Completing the photo will give me some sort of code."