Nothing is more disturbing than a place of healing and sanctuary perverted into an abandoned prison from a nightmare. The overly optimistic colours of the building faded by neglect and abandon only served to perpetuate the horror stereotypes of abandoned asylums. If it’s this creepy in the day, I don’t want to imagine what it’s like at night. Marianne shuddered, walking through the overly welcoming gates of Sector 162 South Asylum.
“‘No zombies’ my ass; they’re all just dormant inside the asylum,” William said, opening his eyes and putting down his outstretched hands. He took his crossbow and cocked its handle to load it.
Marianne squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force out memories of the last time she was trapped for a whole night while exploring an abandoned hospital on a dare. William took off an imaginary hat and bowed mockingly. “Ladies first.”
“Or not.” His grin quickly slipped away after seeing the murderous look on Marianne’s face.
Marianne’s hair stood on its end the moment she entered the asylum; every fibre of her being screaming for her to get out. The asylum was eerily quiet, with not even a single cobweb to decorate the place. Worst of all, there were no windows.
“What’s the point of exploring this place in the daytime when no light can come in?” William muttered to himself, turning on the torchlight attached to his head as the doors slammed shut behind him.
“I- I’m just gonna use your light. I wanna- uhm… save my battery,” Marianne stuttered as they walked along the deserted hall corridor. She focused her eyes on the lit path ahead, pretending not to look at the strange drawings on the walls.
“What? Afraid you’re gonna get jump-scared by something you don’t wanna see?” William teased her. “I’ve got a crucifix here, if you- OH SHIT!” William suddenly jumped backwards, aiming his crossbow into an open cell.
The pair stared at the humanoid figure repeatedly banging its head against the wall.
“That’s… not a zombie, is it?” Marianne asked, her voice trembling slightly.
“It… is; the blood in its body has already stagnated. I wonder why it’s not attacking us though?” William whispered, slowly lowering his weapon. “Well if it’s dormant, let’s just leave it be-”
Thwap!
The zombie collapsed onto the ground quietly as an arrow pierced the side of its head.
“Better be safe than sorry,” Marianne said, still pointing her crossbow at the corpse. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Footsteps continued to echo loudly along the almost identical hallway of the second floor. Marianne tried her best to tread lightly, mentally cursing herself for not having the foresight to wear anything other than her usual hard-soled boots.
“According to Victor, the device should be in the visitor’s office where the sector official was just before the wave happened,” William said. “Which is… just another floor up.”
Marianne kept her silence, as though she had not heard him.
“Man, why are you so tense?” he simpered. “You’re not afraid of people actively trying to kill you but you’re afraid of the dark?”
“Oh shut up.” Marianne tried to step on his foot but only succeeded in creating a loud stomp on the floor, sending more echoes down the hallway. “Shouldn’t you be afraid of things you can’t see?”
“Actually, I’m more afraid of things I can see. Like knives. And guns.”
“How about fire? You- Wait, do you hear that?”
William narrowed his eyes. “Hear what? C’mon, that was a lame attempt.” He smirked.
“No, I’m serious. There’s some kind of humming sound coming from above us.”
William paused, tilting his head to the source of the sound. “Oh wait, I hear it too. I don’t recall our transmitter making any noise though. But whatever, let’s get it and quickly leave- Oh no.”
His torchlight flickered.
“No, no, no… this is so cliché. We’re so close to the third floor too. Damn that Victor, he should’ve charged the battery fully before giving it to us,” William groaned.
Marianne grinned naughtily. “Heh heh. Aren’t you glad I decided to save my torch battery?” The light went out just as she completed her sentence. Marianne quickly fiddled in the dark to turn on her torchlight. She heaved a sigh of relief as the darkness fled at the illumination.
And she froze.
Is this a prank? No, it can’t be. The light was out for barely a second…
A million thoughts raced through Marianne’s mind as the light from her head darted back and forth at the empty area where William was standing.
“H- hey! W- where did you go?” She ran up the stairs frantically, her voice increasing in both pitch and decibels.
Marianne’s breathing grew louder as she reached the highest floor. She ran blindly along the corridor, the light from her forehead revealing nothing else but more ground to cover. The humming sound was getting louder.
The increasingly hysterical women finally spotted a figure at the end of the light’s path. She broke into a smile as she ran faster towards it, relieved that she was no longer alone in this dark place.
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“Oh thank god William, where did you go? I was- No…”
Marianne stopped dead in her tracks as the figure turned around. She slowly stepped back, her body quaking in fear.
“No, no, no… This is a nightmare… H-help… help me…” she whimpered as she collapsed to the ground, her legs turning to jelly. The torchlight fell off her head, crashing onto the floor and turning off the light.
“Hello sister, I missed you.” A strange glow emanated from the figure as it slowly approached the trembling lady. “Don’t be afraid. Come with me, I’ll show you a better place.”
Tears rolled down Marianne’s shut eyes as she held her head in her hands in a kneeling position, sobbing silently. “No, this can’t be… It’s not real… It’s not real…”
Her head was filled with the now deafening humming sound.
A peaceful feeling engulfed her as she felt a warm embrace around her waist, pulling her ever so gently forward. Marianne opened her eyes slowly and came face to face with her ‘sister’. A voice deep within her mind cried out in primal fear for her to run, but her body no longer wanted to move.
Marianne’s eyes glazed over in a trance as her ‘sister’ whose eyes were now obsidian black, slowly broke into a wide smile. So wide in fact, that her jaw hyper extended and detached itself from her face.
The figure’s head snapped sharply ninety degrees as Marianne was slowly dragged closer to it. She opened her mouth to scream, but she had completely lost control of her body. Only a faint whisper parted from her near-paralysed lips. “Somebody… help…”
“ARGHHH!”
A flash of blue cut through the darkness. A loud hiss resounded as the ghostly figure disappeared instantly. Severed pale tentacles fell onto the ground from Marianne’s waist as a figure stood in front of her, shielding her from the hypnotic gaze of the abomination.
William gripped the handle of his plasma cutter firmly and pointed it towards the giant snake-like creature. Tentacles resembling that of a giant cuttlefish rushed out from the side of its wide open mouth towards William.
He dodged them with ease, slicing the tentacles like a hot knife through butter. The monstrosity spread its hood like a cobra, revealing the glowing patterns that decorated it. A loud humming sound filled the air as it rattled its tongue at a blinding speed.
The man immediately threw the plasma cutter at the creature. It reeled back in pain as the tool lodged itself in its body, revealing the rest of its grotesque body.
“Geez, you’re huge!” William exclaimed as he quickly took out his automatic crossbow and squeezed the trigger hard, following the illuminated motion of its squirming body. A loud thud echoed as the abomination finally collapsed to the floor with dozens of arrows sticking out of its body.
William walked warily to its carcass and bent down, inspecting its translucent skin. Its texture reminded him of a cuttlefish but its body was long and slender, resembling a cobra. What the hell is this thing? He plucked out his plasma cutter from the carcass of the strange creature and rushed to Marianne’s side.
“Hey, hey. Wake up!” William tried to pat Marianne awake, whose eyes were still glazed over. He picked up the torchlight from the floor and shone it in her face, but she had no reaction.
“Shit… C’mon buddy, snap out of it. We gotta go, I got the transmitter-”
Loud footsteps echoed from the floor below and William closed his eyes in frustration. “Oh of all the times… Dammit!”
He quickly ignited his plasma cutter and sliced at the concrete wall, forming a large ‘X’. Taking a few steps back, William charged towards the wall and kicked it as hard as he could. A large section of the brick wall broke off, finally shining the strong afternoon light into the asylum.
William whipped his head at a loud shriek from behind him as a zombie crashed into a wall with its uncontrolled momentum. More zombies, suddenly awakened from their dormant state, also crashed into the wall and started piling up at the edge of the stairs.
He quickly picked up Marianne and slung her arms over his shoulder. The zombies had finally found their footing and were sprinting towards him. William peered at the long fall down and closed his eyes.
“Please let this work.”
He jumped off the edge, seconds away from a zombie’s outstretched fingers.
“Aha… HAHAHA YES!” William cackled in glee as he soared through the sky with Marianne on his back. He hovered safely away from the zombies pouring out of the hole in the wall and falling to the ground below in an attempt to reach him. Willian giggled uncontrollably at the ease in which he could control the water weaved into his new clothes.
A cool breeze whipped through his hair as he levitated his clothes, carrying them at a high speed back.
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Meanwhile back at the settlement…
“What do you mean he killed himself?! How did he even do that? Both his arms were broken!”
“He bit his tongue before we reached.”
“Oh my god, are you kidding me?!” Victor slammed his fist onto a steel table, denting it slightly. “Why didn’t anyone- Ugh never mind. Did he at least leave behind some clues as to where he came from?”
“Not to my knowledge, but why are you so concerned? He’s just a common bandit, isn’t he?”
“C’mon Alexei, it’s pretty obvious he was sent here by someone. A zombie attack at the same time as a heist attempt?” Victor rolled his eyes. “Yeah right.”
“Also, have you ever seen zombies move like that before? They’re obviously being controlled by someone or something. And the ‘bandits’, Red Clover, the missing transmitter… It’s all too much of a coincidence.”
Alexei tilted his head. “You may be very right. But if it’s all coordinated, wouldn’t that mean whoever’s behind this is very powerful?”
“Powerful enough to even control zombies apparently. Might be another enhanced like me.”
“Well, three enhanced people did arrive coincidentally with these events…”
Victor raised his eyebrow, glancing sideways at Alexei. His eyes widened and gestured wildly. “I- I don’t mean to doubt your judgement! I’m just thinking out loud.”
“We’ve known each other for years, Alexei. You know I don’t take offence so easily.” Victor chuckled, but a dark expression crossed his face. “Come to think of it, William is obviously an enhanced as well, but I still don’t know what his ability is.”
“Why don’t we just kick them out to be safe?”
“And risk them turning on us? What if William is the one who can control zombies? And lest you forget, the pretty one can quite literally breathe fire. Besides, the useful one is probably at the base by now. If she succeeds, we’ll get a lot more weapons to defend ourselves with. I don’t want to risk losing these resources just because of a mere suspicion.”
Alexei shifted uncomfortably. “They’re all just tools to you, huh? You ever thought you might be sending her to her death?”
“Everyone is a tool until they prove themselves an asset. Bad tools break where good tools become seasoned. For her own sake, let’s hope Masako doesn’t break.”