The hallway was just as, if not, more grimy-looking than the room they just left. The hallways of the building had peeling paint, rotting wood finishes, and holes in the ceiling left by fallen drop-ceiling tiles. Finnick pointed his camera in all directions, capturing the new environment around him. He shone his light down the hallway to get a better look at it. About fifty metres down the hall, an old hospital bed stood placed next to the wall. The bed structure was covered in rust, and layers of dust and paint from the walls covered it. He looked back into the room he exited. Darkness poured in from the open window, signalling that the sun had set. He turned back around to face Nick and Judy. They were also looking around, taking in their surroundings. Nick looked down at Finnick and Judy. Using his arm, he motioned for them to follow him. The trio walked about ten metres down the hallway until they reached a large open space. Large wooden doors, which were barricaded with multiple chairs and small tables, were at the front of the room. Near the rear, what looked a reception desk. The desk istelf and the floor around it were littered with yellowing papers. Directly in front of them, a dark opening to another hallway, which continued down for a good hundred metres.
"This must be the lobby." Judy said.
"Yes. If either of us get lost, try to make your way back here. However, to avoid that, we should just stick together" Nick replied
Nick walked over to the desk. He picked up a paper off the ground and read over it. He repeated this action five times. He then walked behind the desk, repeating the action another five times.
"Find anything?" Finnick asked, shining his light at the desk.
Nick suddenly popped his head up from behind the desk. He cried out quietly, and shielded his eyes from the bright light with his arms.
"Jeez, Finn. Don't point that at someones eyes, and no, nothing useful, just patient info."
Nick walked back to the other two, still rubbing his eyes. He shone his light down the unexplored hallway, pointing at it.
"We should start with this hallway. From my observations, this building is four storeys tall. We search this hallway, then we check the second floor hallways, and so on until we reach the top floor. Then we come back down to search the basement. Sound like a plan?" Nick said.
Finnick and Judy nodded in agreement.
"Good." Nick said, reaching for his pocket.
Nick pulled out a small radio. He held it to his face and pushed a small button on the top.
"HQ, this is Wilde. We have entered the building containing the two victims. I have created a search route of the whole facility. No clues so far, stand by for further transmissions, over" He said, into the radio.
A few second passed before a reply came through. Although a little garbled, Judy was able to recognize the voice as Chief Bogo.
"Excellent, good work. Standing by, over." he said.
Nick shoved the device back into his pocket, and picked up his camera once again. Nick motioned with his arm for the two to follow him. They began walking across the lobby, toward the darkened hallway in front of them. All three of them turned faced their lights to the hallway, to brighten it up so they could safely walk through it. They reached the first few doors in the hallway, all open, before stopping.
"So here's what's going down. We're going to check every single room in this place to find the two missing officers. Be sure to search extremely thoroughly. If you find anything helpful, bring it to me. Got it?" Nick said, facing the two.
"Got it!" Judy replied quickly.
"Yup." Finnick said, soon after.
Nick nodded. He assigned each of them a room to search, pointing at the room while calling their name. Nick disappeared into the room to his right, while Judy disappeared into the room on his left.
Finnick was told to search the room next to Nick's. Finnick entered the room, shining his light around the room. To Finnick, the room looked just the same as the other one he was just in. It was another office, complete with collapsing bookshelves, paper strewn about, and a rotting wooden desk. He knew in his mind that there was nowhere in this room for a cop to hide, and, there was nowhere in this room for a crook to hide the corpse of a dead cop in this room. Finnick pushed the grizzly thought away, and continued his search. He picked up a red-ringed binder off of one of the shelves. He observed the the binder, which was barely being held together by the rusted metal rings. On the first page of the binder, there was a name. 'Kevin.' The last name was missing, as the page had been torn.
"Kevin..." Finnick repeated.
He re-placed the binder on the shelf, and turned to the desk. The desktop was completely empty. Behind it, desk supplies such as a desk lamp and multiple pencils and pens were scattered on the floor. Someone, or something, had thrown everything onto the floor. Finnick then searched the drawers of the desk. There were only two drawers on the desk. Finnick opened the first drawer. Inside, there was nothing, only a few soggy-looking wooden pencils, that Finnick refused to touch. Next was the second drawer. This drawer looked like it was in a much better state than the other one. Inside, there was a single piece of folded note paper. Finnick reached for the paper, but hesitated. He noticed that this paper looked like it was in much better condition than the papers strewn across the floor. It clicked in his mind that this paper must be newer than those other ones. He reached for the paper once more, and picked it up. He unfolded the paper, and saw the hastily scrawled note on the paper. He began to read it.
My name is Kevin Graham, I was a doctor at this sanitarium from the years 1943-1962. I composed this note to warn you that you are in grave danger. To give you some context, I'll start at the beginning of the whole ordeal. During my years here , I worked with my partner, Rentschler. He was a firm believer that there was no limit on mammal testing. He performed everything, lobotomies, you name it. If you can think it, he did it to someone. One fateful day, he was experimenting with radiation therapy, and he had accidentally locked himself in the room with the unfortunate test subject. Upon exiting the room, all seemed fine, and he continued his testing. Days later, I began to notice him change.
Finnick folded the note back up and put in in his pocket. He exited the room to see Nick and Judy standing outside, waiting for him. Nick had his arms crossed, while Judy was pointing her light further down the darkened hallway.
"Find anyting?" Finnick asked.
"Nope, nothing." Judy said, a twinge of disappointment in her voice.
"I didn't find anything either. Remember, there are plenty more rooms to check, it was highly unlikely that we'd find anything in here." Nick said.
Nick began walking down the hall toward the next set of doors.
"C'mon, we have work to do."
The three continued on to check every room in that hallway, each of them reported no clues in any of them. They approached the end of the hallway, where the flight of stairs to the second floor was located. They stopped at the staircase, Nick turned around to face them.
"Alright, one down, three to go, plus the basement. You guys ready?" He asked.
Finnick and Judy nodded.
Nick began walking up the first flight of stairs. As soon as he reached the first landing, Finnick's ears perked up.
"What was that?" Finnick asked out loud.
"What was what?" Nick replied, turning around to face Finnick.
"That noise." Finnick said.
Nick sighed.
"It was probably these old, rickety stairs, Finn, or it could have been the wind rustling some paper, or peeled paint. Whatever it was, don't worry about it." Nick said, crossing his arms.
At that moment, a loud cry of fear could be heard echoing through the building. Everyone stopped in their tracks, trying to find the source. Nick ran back down the staircase to meet up with the other two.
'Did ya hear that one, Nick?" Finnick asked, slightly frustrated.
"Yes, Finn, I heard it. It's coming from the basement, let's go!" Nick said, running past both Finnick and Judy.
Finnick and Judy looked at each other, before running down the darkened stairs that lead to the basement.
"Hey, Nick, wait up!" Judy called.
Finnick and Judy found Nick standing at the base of the staircase. He was shining his light toward the ground. Some of the light reflected off of the ground, casting patterns on the walls and ceiling.
"Basement's flooded. I'd say there's about one inch of water." Nick stated.
Judy stepped into the water, and turned to face the other two.
"A little water isn't gonna stop this investigation." Judy said.
Nick and Finnick looked at each other. They both stepped into the water. It was an uncomfortable temperature, somewhere between cool and lukewarm. It made Finnick's fur stand on end.
The three continued down the flooded concrete hallway, searching for the source of the cry. They shone their light in every room, until they reached one where the door was only left open a crack. The three exchanged looks. Nick crept slowly to the door, reaching for the knob. Finnick mentally prepared himself for what could possible be behind the door. Nick slowly opened the door to reveal what was inside. Nick's eyes were the size of saucers, and Judy gasped. For Finnick, it was like nothing imagined. It was worse, much, much worse.
In the room, a tiger, lay face up in the water. His clothes, as well as the water around him, were dyed a deep crimson colour. There were lacerations all up his arms, legs, and across his chest. Clumps of fur and even some flesh was floating in the water. Possibly the most disturbing, one of his eyes were missing, and blood ran down his face from where it used to be. Judy looked away, crying. Nick ran over to try and assist the officer, Finnick simply stared, frozen in fear at what he had seen. Nick kneeled next to the officer, and held his head up. The officer groaned in pain.
"Aw, hell naw." Finnick said quietly.
"What happened to you?" Nick asked frantically.
"I-it got us... he c-creature..." he replied quietly.
"W-we were searching t-the third floor, we h-heard an unworldly cry, a sound I've n-never heard in my life. Next t-thing we knew, it attacked. It assaulted us, c-cut us with it's blade-like claws. It dragged us down t-the stairs, and it left me in t-this room."
The officer coughed.
"Where's your partner? Nick asked, reaching for his pocket.
"I saw the c-creature drag him off, I'm not s-sure where to." he replied.
Nick pulled out his radio from his pocket, and began yelling into it.
"I've got one of them with me here! He's in critical condition, send a medic team out here at once!"
Nick waited impatiently for a reply. When it did come, it was a garbled, undecipherable mess of sounds.
"Can you repeat that, over" Nick yelled.
The radio spat out nothing but white noise, before it shut off completely. Nick pushed the tiny button on the top of the device, but it was pointless. The device had mysteriously stopped working.
"Damn it what's with this thing? Nick asked, smacking the radio in frustration.
"Maybe it's because we're in a basement." Finnick said.
Nick scowled at him.
"Now's really not the time for sarcasm, Finn!"
Finnick was in shock at his friend's reply.
"What are you talking about? I was being serious! The concrete could be interfering with the signal!" Finnick yelled back.
An unearthly cry bellowed from down the hallway, shutting everyone up. The wounded officer inhaled sharply.
"That's the creature! That's the s-sound it made before it got us! R-run, before it g-gets you too!"
Loud splashing could be heard approaching the room.
"We are not leaving you behind." Nick said, voice breaking.
The officer yelled in pain as he grabbed Nick by the collar of his shirt.
"Just go! Before it's too late!" he said, shoving Nick away from him.
The trio ran out of the room, and made a mad dash for the stairs. Finnick turned around to see what was chasing them when he reached the base of the stairs.
The creature ran on all fours, and could not be recognized as any species of mammal. Its body looked like it had been burnt, with some orange glowing off of some places of the body. The face had multiple slits for eyes, which glowed the same ghostly orange as other places on the creature. Its mouth glowed the same orange, with many rows of charcoal-black teeth. It's claws were as sharp as knives, and could be heard scraping the concrete floor, even under the water. The creature stopped for a moment, then leapt a good twenty metres to attack Finnick.
"Oh, shit!" Finnick yelled, jumping backward, narrowly avoiding the creature's swipes.
Finnick ran back up the stairs to catch up with Nick and Judy. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, a loud cry of pain could be heard from the basement again. Judy began to cry.
"Oh my god..." she said weakly.
The creature bellowed from the basement, and scratching could be heard coming from the stairs. The creature ran unexpectedly fast, and it charged the group, teeth and claws bared. As it charged, Nick drew his weapon, and fired three shots into the creatures head. The creature fell flat on the floor, and the corpse disintegrated as the shells hit the floor. A loud, demonic voice could be heard coming from the dust pile.
"You're trapped here, just like me..."
The dust pile evaporated into the air, leaving no trace of the creature's existence. Nick walked up to where the creature once was.
"What was that thing?" Judy asked through heavy breaths.
"I'm not sure, Judy. But I'm pretty sure if it's defeated that easily, there's no way that's the last we'll see of him." Nick said.
"What? You want to stay and try to find out what that thing is? I think we should just get the hell outta here, and leave that thing alone." Finnick said.
Finnick sprinted down the hallway to the room where they came in from. As he was about to pass through the doorway, he was knocked back, seemingly by an invisible wall. Finnick scratched his head as he stood back up. Nick and Judy ran over to meet him.
"Finnick, are you alright?" Judy asked, helping him up
"Man, what the hell is this voodoo shit?" He said.
Nick thought back for a moment.
"The creature said 'you're trapped here, just like me.' If I'm right, that must mean in order to escape, we have to free the creature as well." He said.
Finnick was dumbfounded.
"What? You wanna help that thing, the one who just slaughtered two cops and then went for us? Are you outta your mind?" Finnick yelled.
"Well, would you rather just sit here and wait for death? If you have a better idea, please speak up now." Nick replied, throwing his arms up in frustration.
Finnick thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"That's what I thought. I was never one to believe in the paranormal, but after what went down today, I'm pretty sure there's no evidence against it. What we need to do is, somehow, find a way to help this damned soul escape this place. Start looking for anything that might be of use guys." Nick said, heading down the hallway.
"So... are we like the Ghostbusters now?" Finnick asked.
Nick turned around, accidentally shining his light in Finnick's eyes.
"No! We are nothing like the fucking Ghostbusters! Now let's go!" Nick yelled.
Finnick shut his eyes tightly.
"God dammit, man! Watch where you aim that thing!"
"Yeah, hurts, doesn't it. Now move it."