A/N: Not much to say except that this is pretty short. Sorry! I promise to update very soon!
Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Walking Dead' or any of its related characters. Those are all property of Frank Darabont, Robert Kirkman, AMC and all others who hold copyright to this franchise. However, all original characters made up in this story are mine.
"So, Rick, what were you in for?" Audrey joked, chortling.
Rick did not immediately answer her, as his attention was drawn to a pair of doors with windows. He walked up and looked through. The sight on the other side caused his stomach to lurch with a terrible mixture of horror and disgust. Audrey came up next to him and looked through the other window, then gasped and retreated.
"Oh God, that is-that is n-not good. N-not good at all." she was shaking now, wrapping her arms around herself for comfort.
The policeman, just as unsettled as the woman, backed up and turned away from the doors. The two wandered the hospital's halls for a long while more, their hearts racing with each new, creepy scene that transpired before them. Lights were hanging from the ceiling, faulty electricity illuminating bullet holes along the walls and blood splatters everywhere. It was like a fludging nightmare. Finally, when turning yet another corner, they came upon a corridor that led straight to another set of doors, except these had no windows. The swing doors were chained, padlocked and secured with a plank of wood through the handles, a message written across them. The two cautiously approached the sinister doors, halting some feet in front of them.
Audrey rubbed her chin thoughtfully, reading the message aloud.
"'Don't dead, open inside'? What the heck is that supposed to mean?!"
"It's 'don't open, dead inside'." Rick corrected her.
"Oh, yeah, I knew that..." Audrey crossed her arms, her cheeks burning.
"Sure you did."
"Hey, no need to-"
But before she could complete her sentence, the doors jolted forward suddenly, making both of them spring backwards in surprise.
"Holy shizzlebiscuit!" Audrey cried, clinging to Rick, her eyes gigantic.
There was a moment and then out from the slim parting of the doors emerged fingers. They weren't ordinary fingers either. These were bony, gray, decaying fingers, like that of a corpse. Rick and Audrey watched with gaping mouths and wide eyes as more like these slid out, gripping and clawing at the doors. Beyond the doors could be heard low moaning and it chilled them to the marrow of their bones.
"I think we better go now, Rick." Audrey whispered in his ear, her nails digging into his upper arms.
"I-I think you're right." he returned, breathing hard.
They found a door to the emergency stairs a few minutes later and plunged into the darkness on the other side, hoping to escape the hellhole hospital.
"Ugh, I can't see a thing! I hope those things aren't in here." Audrey breathed, still clutching Rick's left arm like a vice.
"Don't say that!" was his anxious retort.
"Sorry… What do you think they were anyway?"
"Hell if I know," Rick lit one of the matches he'd found earlier. "Well, this don't help us much, does it?"
"Nope!" the woman answered him cheerfully.
"I was speaking hypothetically." he said dully.
"Oh, sorry."
"It's okay."
He started down the first flight of steps carefully with her attached firmly to his side. The arm she had in her iron grip was beginning to go numb, which sort of scared Rick.
"Um, could you ease up on me a bit, please?" he requested as politely as possible.
"Oh, yeah!" she instantly released him, laughing nervously. "Sorry about that."
"No need to apologize-" he stopped on a dime as the match flickered out, leaving them in a black hole.
"Crud. I hate the dark." came Audrey's dismayed whisper.
"Hold on-" Rick fiddled with the matches, sweeping the tip of one across the pad, producing their miniature torch once more. "There we go. Back in business."
"My hero."
The sheriff snorted at her dry comment and led the rest of the way down the stairs, pausing a couple of more times to light a new match when the original burned out. This took them a good ten minutes until finally they reached level one where the exit was. Rick looked over at Audrey by the light of the match and gave her a faint smile.
"Ready to breathe some fresh air?"
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