Another beam of electricity soared over Florence.

Lucy yelped, sitting in the corner of the room as she cuddled Sam.

She pressed into the laceration on her shoulders. “I said, do not fight here.”

Aisling crawled under the bed, hiding from the barrages. While Holland leaped over the mattress where one of the patients rested, landing beside Florence with a thud. Holland bleated, pushing the butt of the shotgun into her shoulder pocket. She aimed the barrel at Florence’s head.

“Not again,” Florence said.

“If you want to live, follow my orders,” Holland said. “Or else…”

Aisling crawled out of the bed, sitting next to Florence. Then Aisling closed her eyes, tapping her fingertips on the floor.

“Believe me, you do not want to take me as a hostage,” Florence said.

Holland grunted, furrowing her brow. She bleated, putting her index finger around the trigger.

Aisling grabbed onto the shotgun, pulling it upwards. Bang. Bullets flew through the air, thudding onto the ceiling. Holland rammed her forehead on Aisling’s nose. Aisling yelped, holding onto the firearm and pushing Holland onto the floor.

Holland and Aisling rolled around, wrestling and kicking each other.

The bed frames screeched as Holland thrust Aisling into it.

Another gunshot rang in the room along with the crackling electrical beam.

Florence clapped her hands. “Absolutely no fighting in here.”

“No,” Aisling and Holland said.

A shadow cast over Florence, Aisling, and Holland. They tilted their head up, finding out the pink android plunged towards them. The rifle cracked Holland over her head. She fell lump onto the floor. The pink android gripped Aisling on the neck, squeezing her throat.

Aisling gasped, clawing at the pink android’s fingers.

The barrel of the rifle buzzed with energy.

Florence gripped the muzzle, pulling it with all her strength. But it didn’t budge an inch. She sighed, looking at the pink android in the eye. The pink android swung its rifle, cracking her on the chin. She glided backward, smashing through the glass wall. The shards scattered across the floor.

Aisling kicked the pink android on its crotch.

The pink android groaned, thudding its head on the floor and releasing its grasp on Aisling’s neck. The muzzle of its rifle burned bright.

A beam of electricity zapped over her skin. She gasped as the air escaped her lungs. Her muscles spasmed.

Aisling gasped, crawling away from the pink android. She wrapped her arm around Florence, picking her up.

“What’re you doing, pleb?” Sam asked. “Trying to escape this insane asylum?”

Aisling glanced over her shoulder. “Why?”

“Because… I mean… how should I say this?” Lucy asked.

Aisling wheeled around, breezing towards Sam and Lucy. Then she grabbed onto Lucy, dragging her towards the corridor while carrying Florence.

A crack reverberated.

Aisling fell to her knees with a thud, massaging the back of her hip. Her grasp around Florence and Lucy dropped. Aisling smiled, hitting her forehead against the floor.

“You shall never escape,” the pink android said, covering its pelvis. “This is by the order of the Wellor System.”

“Do you want me to kinda crouch… again?” Aisling asked.

The crackle inside the rifle barrel died down, destroying the blue glow through the muzzle. The pink android buried its face under one of the beds.

Aisling dragged herself out of the room and into the corridor, carrying Florence and Lucy.

A rumble shook the building. Suddenly, the air heated up around them, dancing on their skin. Aisling’s face paled. A trail of sweat ran down from her forehead to her chin. She heaved, raising her chest up and down. Her fingertips trembled on Florence’s skin.

“Look, I am here,” Florence said. “I do not think that—”

Aisling shook her head. “I’m gonna be fine.”

She took one shaky step forward, leading Florence and Lucy down the corridor. After a bunch of twists and turns in this building, they ended up in front of the medical storage room. Inside, rows of wooden shelves were stored with opened boxes that towered over the shattered glass entrance on the floor. Needles, bandages, and pills were scattered across the room. Aisling stepped over the snags and shards, dragging Florence and Lucy in.

“Why’re we here?” Florence asked. “I know this sounds ironic… but we really should get out of here.”

Aisling shrugged, breezing down one of the aisles. “What do you think we’re looking for?”

A rattle echoed behind one of the wooden shelves. Florence, Aisling, and Lucy wheeled around, facing it. Sam hissed, climbing out of Lucy’s hug and up to her head.

Aisling hushed, placing her index fingers on her lips. She kneeled down, grabbing a needle.

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Florence shook her head and pushed her knuckle down on Aisling’s shoulder. Then Florence pointed at the exit that leads into the corridor, waving her index finger at it.

A click rang behind Aisling.

Florence, Aisling, Sam, and Lucy turned their head towards the sound source.

An eerie silence floated through the air. In front of them, Chloe adjusted her collar, covering her face’s bottom half. She squeezed a metal box with two locks under her armpit. The pistol in her hand aimed at Aisling’s forehead. Chloe’s index finger tapped against the trigger.

“Chloe… is that you?” Florence asked.

Chloe’s eyes widened. “How did you know my name? Are you working for the Wellor System?”

“Chloe… I thought… I thought… you were…” Lucy sniffed, cupping her mouth as she gasped. Her shoulders slumped. She cried quietly, letting the tears roll down her cheeks.

“Hold up… how did all of you kinda know her?” Aisling asked.

“Duck,” Chloe said.

Florence raised her eyebrow. “Pardon me, what—”

Aisling pushed Florence and Lucy to the floor, squishing Sam underneath them. Sam hissed, clawing his way out and gasping for air.

A bang rang. A bullet whizzed over Florence’s head, thudding onto something solid. She glanced over her shoulder, finding a gray pawn with a gunshot wound in her forehead. The sword slipped out of her grasp, clattering on the floor. Cracks spread across her skin. Her body collapsed into a heap of rubble.

“Thanks… I guess,” Lucy said.

“If that doesn’t ring the bell, we probably should get out of here?” Florence pushed her forehead against the wooden shelves with her palms pressuring the gash on her shoulder. But her muscles strained, unable to stand back up.

Chloe clicked the two locks on the metal box, swinging the lid open. She slipped her hand in, taking out a syringe filled with a transparent fluid. She stabbed its needle into Florence’s arm, pushing the plunger. Florence bit her lips, muffling her scream. But the wound on her shoulder and back-stitched itself back together, leaving behind a scar on her skin.

“We’re done here… I think?” Aisling scratched her chin, tilting her head. “Yup, definitely done. By the way, could you give us some of those healing serums?”

Chloe closed the metal box, locked it, and pushed it to her chest. She huffed, turning around so as not to face Aisling.

Aisling sighed. “Fine… whatever. Do whatever you want…?”

A rattle chimed behind one of the wooden shelves.

Florence, Aisling, Lucy, and Chloe turned towards it.

“Pardon me, was it not you a moment ago?” Florence asked. Her palms slipped away from her shoulder as she glanced over to Chloe.

Chloe shook her head, widening her eyes.

A knuckle cracked through the back panel, punching Chloe in the face. She fell as her head slammed against the shelf. Her grasp on the gun loosened, letting it clatter to Florence’s foot. Chloe groaned, massaging her temple.

“What’s wrong with you?” someone asked on the other side of the shelf. “Why are you so soft, stupid gray… wait, what’s your name again?”

Aisling coughed, cupping her mouth. “Yup, I’m kinda—”

A rattle on a tail zoomed over the shelf, wrapping around Aisling’s neck. She gasped, clawing at the snake scale encased around her throat. Her legs swung back and forth as her feet dangled in the air. She crashed through the storage, scattering needles, boxes, bandages, and splinters across the aisle.

“Hey, you’re not one of those idiots?” A gal NPC with a rattlesnake head and tail asked. She peeped through the gaping hole, flickering her forked tongue. Her fingers paled around the straps of a bag filled with healing serum slung over her shoulder.

Florence knocked the pistol sliding away from her, lunging at the gal NPC’s rattlesnake tail. Then Florence tackled it, pulling at its tight wrap around Aisling’s neck.

“What’re you thinking?” the gal with rattlesnake head and tail asked. She smacked Florence and Aisling into the ceiling. “Trying to be heroic?”

Florence’s hold slipped away from the gal’s rattlesnake tail, crashing into the floor.

Chloe launched herself towards the gun, snatching it off the floor. Her body slid across the aisle until it slammed into Lucy’s feet. Lucy squealed, squeezing Sam around his neck. Then Chloe aligned the front and rear sight, aiming the muzzle at the gal with rattlesnake head and tail.

A bang rang, vibrating Florence’s eardrums.

The gal with rattlesnake head and tail collapsed onto the floor. Her grasp on Aisling loosened, dropping her on top of Florence.

Florence groaned, closing her eyes. She clenched her fist, punching the bottom shelf.

The gal with rattlesnake head and tail hissed. “Why—”

Gunshots shook the air.

Florence’s eyes flew open as she turned her head. A chill ran down her spine. Her stomach twisted. In front of her, the gal with a rattlesnake head and tail riddled with gun wounds lay in a pool of blood.

“Is anyone here going to say a word about what happened here?” Chloe asked. She stood back onto her feet.

“Pardon me, why did you do that?” Florence asked. “Why did you bump off her?”

“What’re you talking about?”

“You know what—”

A scream reverberated from the corridor.

Aising groaned, rolling off Florence.

Florence’s eyelids flew open. She pressed her palm on the floor, pushing herself into a sitting position. A group of NPCs ran past her, going through the corridor. Beams of electricity chased after them, crackling through the air. A bright blue glow zapped past some of the NPCs. But a few of them collapsed on the floor with the ray of power pierced through their chest. Their screams slowly died away.

Chloe scrambled onto her feet. Her fingers whitened around the handle of her pistol. She leaped toward Lucy, grabbing her on the wrist. Lucy yelped, jumping up to the ceiling. Then Chloe pulled Lucy away from the corridor, dragging her from Aisling’s grasp.

The stomping of metal boots rang louder and louder with every passing second.

Aisling tilted her head. “What’re you doing?”

“What else do you think that I’m doing?” Chloe asked. “Do you have a better plan than me?”

Florence raised her hands with her palms open. “Pardon me, both of you should stop it right there?”

“Shut it,” Aisling and Chloe said, glaring at Florence.

Florence took a step back away. “Absolutely.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. She ducked, pushing Chloe down.

Florence raised her eyebrows. “Pardon me, what—”

The eerie silence grew as the metal boots stomped across the floor and stopped within the corridor.

A push from behind knocked her over. Her chin smashed on the floor. She groaned, gritting her teeth. A crackle tickled up her spine, tingling her skin. A gasp rang throughout the room. Then, a thud sounded on her right.

She turned her head towards it. Her eyes widened. Her stomach twisted, causing the bile to rise up her throat. In front of her, Aisling’s pupils were dilated. Blood leaked out of her mouth, forming a pool. A muffled sizzle rose from a hole through her chest.

Chloe crawled across the floor. The items within the metal box rattled. She unlocked it, reaching her hand inside and taking out a syringe. Then she stabbed the needle into Aisling’s neck, pushing the plunger.

The frizzle died down. The cavity in Aisling’s chest closed, mending itself back together. She gasped, digging her nails into her palm.

Chloe snapped her fingers. She clenched onto Florence and Aisling, dragging them down the aisle.

A crackle rang behind them.

Immediately, Florence glanced over her shoulder.

The muzzle of a rifle aimed at her. Within the barrel, the blue glow burned larger. Her heart jumped out of her chest as her own weight dropped to the floor.

In the blink of an eye, a beam of electricity zapped towards her forehead…