Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 52: Black Out

At first, Kaila didn't recognize where she was after they exited the department. After traveling through a different series of hallways with no windows, they ended up in a building whose walls were a bright yellow with black stripes going down occasionally. They passed through the building letting Kaila get a look at cells rather than closed rooms. Inside each, there sat one person with their own amenities.

Drastically different from the departments she's been through. The more they explored, the more Kaila realized how different each department was. Here the patients had yellow colored jumpsuits. Some with mud, others with dirt, and some even having dark red stains on them. As they passed through a set of double glass doors they ended up outside.

Kaila hadn't felt the radiating heat of the sun on her skin for so long that she felt like she was burning. The heat took a while to get used to, but during their walkout, Kaila longed the feeling of being free.

She inhaled taking in a large amount of the wind breezing through her hair while feeling the surreal feeling of grass brushing along her exposed ankles. She would've smiled under different circumstances.

After another journey through an open yard with patients in yellow jumpsuits digging and filling in giant holes with a creepily scary number of black bags pushed to the far side of the building, Kaila turned her head not wanting to guess what they were doing. They had finally made it to a separate building. One still within the facility, but not attached to the main building with all the departments.

This one was rather small in comparison but surpassed the main building greatly in security. The Hound behind Kaila grabbed a key card from his vest scanning into a gate before requesting access through a voice box moments after. Soon Kaila found herself inside a dark building filled with hundreds of Hounds. Some with their helmets, others without. Some on break and eating, while others were working diligently on computers.

Walking past them all, their heads turned towards Kaila with menacing grins. She hadn't even noticed that she was led to a back room. Shoving her into the small space the Hound stood with his arms crossed at the door.

Kaila backed up away from him until her back hit the wall. When she felt a soft material meet her back she looked around seeing there was white padding all over the entire room, with the exception of a few gaps near the ceiling where vents could be seen.

Saying nothing the Hound slammed the door leaving Kaila to her thoughts on what was to come.

'Where am I now?' She pondered getting to her feet looking around the empty room. Even the door was solid, she had no way to look outside. The only thing she could hear was inaudible mutters like very soft whispering from outside.

Her mind filled with questions, but overpowering all of them was her dread. Punching her small fist as hard as she could into the padded wall she grunted loudly with more irritation than she ever felt. "I was so close!"

"Just a little further and I could've seen Lain!" She punched the wall harder.

"I could've helped her escape!" And harder.

"I could've saved her from the pain!" And harder.

"But I failed!" Kaila broke down as she hit her fist hard enough that she felt her knuckles pop upon impact.

Sliding down to the floor she pulled her knees to her chest wrapping her arms around them, tucking her head into her arms blinded to the pain throbbing from her hand. 'And now she's going to be there longer...I should've never agreed to stay with them. If I had just said no to all this, who knows where we'd be. I would still be at that apartment. They'd be running their business. And everyone would still be safe.' Emotions hit the girl hard as she began the waterworks. 'But I'd miss out on all their love. Their compassion. They showed me what it meant to be treated as important. I just want them back. I want both of them together. Back home, just the three of us. Like none of this ever happened.'

She cried her heart out. Finally releasing all the built-up pain she refused to give into ever since she woke up in this wretched facility.

But her moment was cut off short as a red light began flashing in the room. She peered up from her arms exposing her flushed face to the rest of the empty space. Wiping the tears off her cheeks and clearing her eyes, Kaila looked around confused at the silent intruder to her moment of solitude.

She knew from earlier warnings that Hounds do things to patients who figure out a way to escape their departments, but she hadn't known what. Being alone for an hour now and nothing happening, Kaila assumed total isolation was their punishment.

However, all it took was a handful of seconds for her thoughts to be proven wrong. Watching as a red blinking light spun around the room she noticed the light was getting harder to see as the air became thicker. Looking closer she noticed that coming out of the vents was gas.

She instantly panicked.

Shooting up from her place on the ground she ran to the door pounding with all her might. But her body was exhausted both mentally and physically. She had no more strength as she screamed and pleaded for a release. The longer she pounded on the door, the more a thick fog filled the room.

She could barely see two feet in front of her face. Letting instincts take control Kaila got low to the ground using her shirt as a mask. She took small breathes not wanting to breathe in the gas in case of poisoning, but after feeling choked she had to cut that plan. Much to her relief, she was able to breathe with ease. The only thing bothering her was the obstruction it did to her vision.

She sighed sitting back and shutting her eyes as the fog continued building. She felt more at ease knowing she could still breathe fine even with the dense air.

But she should've learned her lesson. Nothing was easy. Just as she began calming down from her high of adrenaline, she was disturbed by an irritating itch on her forearm. Even after scratching it, the sensation didn't leave. Over time the feeling became even more intense and spread to more parts of her body.

Eventually, she couldn't even feel her body, just pain. Everywhere was aching with pain, and no matter what she did nothing helped to relieve any of it. She couldn't even move because of how restricting the feeling made her feel.

She felt hopeless and ready to give up as her head became heavy. The small amount of body weight she had was starting to become too challenging for her to keep up with. She slowly began to drop completely to the floor as all her strength left her body. There was nothing left with to even scream with. She just laid helplessly on the padded ground with the dreadful pain surrounding her whole being.

It wasn't long before her head began to hurt so badly she couldn't even think anymore. She hazily looked around the room as her eyelids shut with ease. In a moment's notice, the room was completely filled with this heavy gas leaving Kaila unconscious in the middle of it all.
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Let me know what you think about Kaila's dilemma. Thanks Lexx signing off