Alliance

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Exit.

I needed an exit.

Stepping out of the room, I jogged down the hallway to the staircase. I hadn't seen any windows other than the one in the Day Room and I wasn't about to jump out of the window from the fifth floor. Maybe the second floor, but not the fifth.

The stairwell wasn't far from the room that I came from. I slipped into the stairwell and booked it to the first floor as silently as I could.

Each time I reached a landing, I quietly stepped around the door with the little window. I remembered the city simulation when I spotted the Alliance officer pacing the hall. I didn't want Wilson to spot me as I crept by the door so I took it slow and listened carefully.

Reaching the first floor, I ran to the door. It was locked.

My heart sank like a stone. There were other ways I could get out of the hospital, I didn't have to walk out the front door, but I would rather go out the front door than falling out of a window on the second floor.

Beside me, the stairs continued down to a basement. Maybe...

Maybe, there was an outside door from the basement.

Only one way to know.

I went down the last flight of stairs and opened the door to the basement.

The hall was dark and eerily quiet. Every other light on the ceiling was on but dim. Extremely dim that it gave off a blue light. The ceiling itself gave me chills because I could see all the exposed pipes. It reminded me strangely of an old asylum. It sure did feel like one.

I didn't know what I was looking for. As far as I could tell, there was no one or nothing down here. I walked to the closest door and tried the handle. It was locked. So was the next door and the next.

It became apparent that Wilson or someone came down here at some point. There was no reason I could think of to why keep these doors locked. I crept to the end of the hallway. Down the adjacent hall, a light flickered on the floor from a room. It looked like a firelight.

Warnings were going off all over my body. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. The pit of my stomach was knotting itself, and my lungs had grown tight; it was hard to breathe. But my feet continued to that light.

Small whimpering came from the room.

When my toes reached the firelight on the floor, I looked in.

He believes that men are his to consume and women are to be his disciples.

That is what Peter said. At the time I did not know what he meant, but now I knew. In the room was a large black pot, big enough to fit a human in it. A fire roared underneath it, heating whatever was inside. Laying on the table that was pushed against the wall was a man.

He had no left leg, just a bloody stump. I connected the dots fast enough to know I was in the wrong place. And I really should not be here.

I backed up, away from the light. I turned to run, but I slammed into a large body.

I pushed myself away to see Wilson before me. His face was grim, eyes narrow. With his wild hair and beard and the look in his eyes, he looked crazed.

Panic took full hold of me as I backed away. "Please," I begged breathlessly.

"You aren't supposed to be here," he said it so gently.

This had to be it. I had to get out now. Plan: run up to the second level and jump out a window. I launched myself to the other side of the hallway to get past Wilson. But despite how big he was, he was fast.