Room 303

Chapter 29

                                   Stella

  "Rachel? Rachel? Wake up!"
  Rachel was lying down on the floor covered in black dust from the explosion. All of the other patients on this side of the floor had become burnt flesh. The Flooring of the third floor had fallen down and barred the way to the other half of the second floor.

  "Come on Rachel," Stella tapped Rachel on the cheek hoping she would wake up.
  "Ste...lla?"
  "Yes Rachel, it is me. You have to get up. We need to get out of here before it is too late." Stella helped Rachel to sit up and rested her back on the wall.
  "What happened?" Asked Rachel.
  "I don't know. Someone might have blown up the place. There are highly flammable substances on this floor. Never mind now, we need to get out of here. That is what matters."
  Rachel leaned on Stella to support herself.
  "Stella?"
  "Yes Rachel?"

  "Isn't that..." Rachel pointed at a chopped off arm dangling from one side of a fallen wall.
  "That.... is Maria's arm. That is the watch she wore daily."
  "Oh my God! She must have died in the blast."
  "Many people have died in the blast. Come on now. We can't stay here any longer."
  Both of them went down the fire exit and into the first floor. The floor was calm. No one was seen roaming around.

  "Where is everybody?" Asked Rachel.
  "I have no idea," replied Stella. "This way."
  They made it to the other side of the building and down onto the ground floor.
  "Our chances out of this place are stronger from here," said Stella.
  "What of Patrick? Have you seen him?"
  "He will join us soon. Let us wait for him near the front gate."
  "Did you...plan this?"

  "We will talk about this later. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."
  "I need to know now. How did you manage to cause a black out?" Asked Rachel.
  "It doesn't take a genius to cut off some wires in the main power box."
  Rachel remembered when she saw the janitor coming out of the electricity room, and wished she could have caused this back then.
  "Why?"
  "We had to help you and free the others. You were going to be his final ticket to success, and we weren't going to let him have it."
  "We?"

  "Yes, Patrick and I. We had to stop doctor Steven before it was too late. You were his last subject. His chances to succeed this time were really high, and we couldn't risk it. He was coming for you sooner than you would expect Rachel, so we had to do something quickly. Patrick came up with the plan to cut off the circuit and unlock all doors and I helped him. We had no idea things were going to end up this way. I suppose we didn't think it through properly. We only wanted to free everyone. It was impulsive. We expected the patients to be on the loose, but didn't see this coming. We wanted to help you and the remaining patients." She looked down at her fingers with regret. She was hurt, that was obvious. "There is no going back now. There should be no regrets. Doctor Steven had caused a lot of harm to people I care about deeply, and he had to be stopped. Enough with the talking. Let us go."
  Stella inspected their surrounding. The coast was clear.

  "Okay, you should run first. Go and hide behind that tree. I'll look out for you," said Stella.
  "What about you?"
  "I will be right behind you. I just need to check something out."
  Rachel ran quickly towards the tree and sat behind it. She looked for Stella, who had gone back inside the building, then came back out and ran towards Rachel.
  Bang, Bang, Bang!
  Stella froze in place. Rachel clasped her mouth and shut her eyes stopping herself from screaming.