Room 303

Chapter 27

                                   Rachel

  Lights went off and silence filled the asylum. The night was young and the only visible light was the one reflected by the moon. She rubbed her hands together trying to warm herself up. The room was becoming cold. What was taking the light so long? She rolled herself up into a ball, and clutched on to her legs making herself as small as possible. The light never went off for more than thirty seconds, it had been almost five minutes already.

  Click
  The electronic door to Rachel's room had opened, but no one came in. Rachel swallowed hard. She sat up and stared even harder at the door expecting someone to come in, but there was no one. She heard more clicks coming from other rooms. She heard banging on doors and patients roar. She swallowed hard. She was scared. What was going on? she moved slowly to the door and just managed to peek out through it. She couldn't believe what she saw. All the rooms' doors were opened, and the patients were freed. The security system had gone off after the blackout causing all the electronic doors to be automatically unlocked. This meant that all the patients on all the floors were on the loose. She retreated back into her room resting her back on the wall adjacent to the door. Her blood rushed through her vessels at the speed of light. She was terrified. Her forehead was sweating and her body was trembling. With the mental patients on the loose, her chances might be low. They might not be able to differentiate between her and the others. They are barely able to recognise themselves. She had to catch her breathe. She needed to get out of the asylum. This could either be her chance to break free, or her ticket to death.

  She moved slowly towards the open door and peeked out to find the patients roaming around in confusion. Sounds of screams could be heard from the floors below. The second floor was the one that witnessed the most disturbing cases in the history of the asylum. Patients with extreme cases were kept on the second floor. Staff members could be heard screaming every now and then. Bangs and booms were heard and felt on the walls of the asylum. The stairway was not too far from her room. She had to cross a couple of rooms to her right before she can reach it. The patients were busy roaming around searching for an exit next to the elevator and through each other's rooms. This is it. She walked out of her room slowly and made it safely to the stairway then down to the second floor. She was about to descend to the first floor when she saw Maria running up the stairs. Rachel disappeared into the second floor through the emergency door way that connected the second floor to the stairway. She was now in the danger zone and had to blend in.

  She used her hands to ruffle her hair, and hid one of her arms inside her shirt leaving the other to hang out. She walked down the corridor with her head tilted to one side and her feet wobbling. To her left, was a room occupied by a patient who was scratching the wall trying to find a way out through the inner walls of the room. To her right, a patient was pulling her hair off her scalp with one hand, and scratching the bloody bald patches with the other. Another patient was chewing off his nails, and painting on the wall with his blood. Staff members were struggling to get away from the loose patients. Blood was everywhere. Some patients had got the best of some staff members. Rachel's breathing grew deeper and faster. It was difficult to keep her composure in such a chaotic scenario. Tears rushed down her cheeks. She kept on moving at a steady pace avoiding the eyes of the patients. One patient eyed her for a couple of seconds as he passed her by. She could feel the cold breath of another on her neck, his nose close to her hair, sniffing her waft. She panicked and ran pushing her way through the patients and staff. The patient ran after her and was so close to catching her when he was hit by a staff member and dropped to the floor. She kept on running forward.

  Boom!
  She flew and hit the wall on her right, her head making strong contact with the wall. Her body banged on the floor, and her vision blurred as a loud ring echoed in the hallway. Patients' body parts had flown and smeared blood all over the walls. Bright red and yellow colours filled the hallway. There had been an explosion. There was fire everywhere on the floor. Her head felt heavy as she closed her eyes and blacked out.