Thank you ItsLiz and iznihs for reviewing. :)
The air conditioning in Beacon Mental Hospital was broken, but that was nothing new. What was new was the fact that, instead of not working at all as usual, it was acutally functioning at full potency, making the day, already cold and rainy, seem even gloomier.
Great day to skip my work in Mobius to pick up on the paperwork here… Sofia lamented with a sigh as she typed yet another patient record in her computer. The new software in the hospital was driving everyone nuts with the constant need to update every single hand-written file into the system. At least I'll get to spend at little more time with Leslie once I'm do-
Sofia's train of thought came to a halt and she raised her right hand to her head in pain as a violent screeching sound assaulted her eardrums. Her vision blurred and her stomach did that flip-flop characteristic of when she dreamt of falling down and woke up with a startle.
Then, just as sudden as they started, those unpleasant sensations all halted, leaving Sofia to stare at her computer's screen with confused eyes that quickly settled on the small clock at its bottom right.
16:34. I've been at this for three hours now. I need a break; maybe check up on Leslie again.
Then, her eyes returned to the just started text in the screen. It really bothered her, to leave things unfinished.
As soon as I'm done with this one.
Sofia knew something was wrong when she walked out of her office to find absolute silence. Beacon was never that quiet. Well, maybe late at night and during dawn, but not at that hour in the afternoon.
I have a bad feeling about this.
The doctor felt cold sweat streak down her back and started to march towards the playroom in a hurried and purposeful stride. The sound of the heels of her shoes hitting the floor echoed through the empty corridors in an almost deafening magnitude.
When she reached the playroom and opened the doors, Sofia found her bad feeling was more than justified.
Said bad feeling was soon joined by a powerful urge to vomit that the doctor managed to hold back by sheer force of will as her eyes took in the scene in front of her and her brain tried to make any sense of it. The corpses of two nurses and three patients were sprawled on the floor amidst toys and beanbags; the scarlet of the blood streaking down their slit throats contrasting cruelly with the cheerfully and multi-coloured carpets.
Immediately, the woman's eyes examined each and every face, recognizing and naming them in seconds. She felt the need to hurl again, but once again held it back when her brain clicked with one little piece of information:
Leslie wasn't amongst those corpses.
"Leslie!" Sofia whispered desperately as she softly closed the doors behind her with trembling hands. The killer might've still been out there. "Are you in here, Leslie?"
Her answer was a pained and repetitive whispering of her name coming from behind of one of the window curtains. That small sound, overflowing with fear and need was all that Sofia needed to numb herself against the image and smell of the dead people around her and focus solely on survival - Leslie's and hers. Once they were safe she could break down in tears, but not before.
Lips pursued, the woman ran to the boy and pulled up the curtain, revealing Leslie's crouched and trembling form.
"Leslie, thank god." Sofia breathed out, crouching down in front of him as she reached for the phone inside her white coat pocket and immediately called the police. "Listen to me. I'm calling help but, until they come, we have to be very quiet, alright?"
Leslie immediately stopped saying her name and the only sound reaching the doctor's ears was the soft and feminine voice coming from her phone, stating that it was out its coverage area.
It makes no sense. Beacon has always had great signal.
Fear crawled up her spine. The doctor didn't truly understand what was happening, but she could easily comprehend just how serious the situation was. Her and Leslie's lives were in danger and apparently, they wouldn't be getting help any time soon.
"Leslie, listen to me." Sofia whispered, cradling his face in her hands. "You and me are walking out of here, alright? You remember where the exit is?" The boy nodded weakly. "Very close, right? It'll be easy, but we'll have to be very, very quiet. Do you understand?" Again, the boy nodded. "Wonderful. Now come on. Let's get out of here."
Gently, Sofia pulled Leslie up to his feet and both walked to the door. The doctor opened a thin gap and made sure to check for any signs of the murderer – murderers, most likely - and once she was satisfied, she pushed the door open so they could walk out of the playroom and start to make their way to the door that lead to the entrance hall. Some lights in the corridors were flickering in a foreboding way but thankfully there were no more bodies or blood.
Soon, both were standing in front of the door, allowing Sofia to reach for its doorknob and turn it, intending on opening just a small gap and check the situation of the hall before actually stepping into the room when-
"HE'S HERE!"
With a strength that could only come from an adrenalin rush, Leslie pushed the woman to the side and stormed into the entrance hall in a clumsy way, holding his head with both hands, as if in sudden pain.
"Leslie, wait!"
Sofia took one purposeful stride in the boy's direction, ready to break into a run, when the door slammed shut in front of her, almost hitting her on the face. She tried to open the door again, but it didn't bulge.
"Leslie!" The woman yelled, hitting the door with her fists and feeling panic bubble in her chest. "Leslie, open this door! Leslie!"
Before the woman could yell another word, she heard something coming from behind her. A horrifying sound of a heavy chain dragging on the floor that made the muscles of her shoulders and back tense in fear. Slowly and trembling, Sofia took in a deep breath and turned around.
A man was standing at the end of the narrow corridor, unbearably imposing, and staring at Sofia with the most frightening pair of eyes she had ever seen; the left was grey, the right was blue, and both held promises of pain and death within them. He had messy platinum blonde hair that seemed to be completely white in some areas, and sharp, aristocratic features that strongly contrasted with his soft and full lips. His frame was lean - skinny even – and his height was slightly shorter than that of the average male. His feet were bare; his black dress pants were covered in what seemed to be white chalk powder and blood; his white dress shirt was untucked and completely unbuttoned, revealing a blood-covered, once-white shirt with the red logo of Beacon Mental Hospital in it. In his right hand, he held a thick and long chain with a broken collar at its end, both covered in brown, dried blood; in his left, a large red rose full of thorns that dug into his flesh, drawing a soft but continuous flow of fresh, crimson blood.
That was something scarily familiar about that man and it made Sofia's blood run cold. Swallowing her fear and ignoring the questions of how it was possible for such a creature to exist, the doctor pursued her lips and took a step back, pressing herself against the door and reaching for the doorknob behind her, trying once again to turn it and open the door.
As if sensing her futile attempts at regaining freedom, the man smiled cruelly to her, revealing a chipped right incisor.
And then he started walking to her with the calm gait of a born predator.
Immediately, Sofia's attempts at opening the door grew frantic and she even dared to turn her back to the approaching man so she could slam her body on the door to try and force it open. Her heart started to pound painfully in her chest as the blood-curling sound of that chain dragging across the floor grew closer and closer.
Then she could feel him right behind her, his chain rattling as he raised it above his head, ready to slam it down on her skull.
Teary eyes tightly shut, the doctor tried the doorknob one more time, moving to slam her shoulder with all her strength against the wood one final time. The chain was ready to make its way down now.
However, the door was opened from the outside just before the doctor's shoulder collided with the wood, so it was Sofia who went down, plummeting to the ground.
Startled, the woman opened her eyes just in time to raise her hands to brace herself against the rapidly approaching floor. The sound of the door slamming back shut behind her was the closest thing to ecstasy she had felt in a long time.
"Doctor Sofia Prieto?" A feminine voice called from above her. "I'm Junior Detec-"
"Behind you!" Sofia alerted, jumping to her feet as she turned around to face the door with wide and scared eyes. To her surprise and confusion, it remained shut; that… creature wasn't trying to open it. "We need to get away from here. The murderer is behind that door."
The unknown woman's eyes narrowed and she quickly pulled out the gun from her holster, readying it for use and then reaching for the doorknob. She knew there was no murderer behind that door, but that didn't mean there wasn't something even more dangerous there. Without a word, she motioned with her head for Sofia to get back, which she promptly did, and with one quick motion pulled the door open and raised her weapon as she had been taught to do once in the field.
"Freeze! KCPD!"
But the corridor was completely empty, and silent. No mismatched eyes were staring at them, and no chain was dragging on the floor.
"What?" Sofia let out, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "This doesn't make sense…"
"Nothing does at the moment." The woman responded, putting away her gun and turning to the doctor. "I'm Junior Detective Juli Kidman. I'm here to help you."
"You did help, thank you very much." The doctor spoke honestly, feeling her shoulders relax for an instant before tensing up again. "My patient, Leslie Withers, have you seen him? He's an albino, relatively short and thin and-"
"Don't worry. He's safe." Kidman interrupted and Sofia immediately relaxed. "He's with Dr Jimenez and another officer in an ambulance just outside the hospital. I came back here because he was very agitated and kept calling your name, so I thought it would be best to see if I could come and find you."
Sofia nodded and gave the woman a small and thankful smile. "Again, thank you for that. And for taking care of him. Should we go find them?"
"Yes-"
Sofia made to turn but Kidman's hands reached out to grab her shoulders, stopping her movement and keeping the doctor facing her. The Junior Detective had a very intense glint in her eyes as she spoke.
"Doctor, I want you to prepare yourself. What you're about to see will be gruesome, even for someone as lived as you. Just remember that Leslie is just outside, waiting for us. Stay calm and keep close to me. I'll do everything I can to keep you both alive."
That strong feeling of dread started to crawl back up Sofia's spine and the doctor had to take some deep breaths to keep herself from trembling on the spot. Mustering every ounce of self-control she had, Sofia willed herself to go numb and ignore her emotions for the time being… just like she did when experimenting with the STEM.
"I'll be fine." The doctor spoke firmly. "Let's go."
As soon as Kidman's hands fell from her shoulders, Sofia turned to face the entrance hall, ready for whatever she would find.
"Oh, god…"
Or so she thought.
No matter how much she had tried to disassociate herself from her emotions, Sofia could never be fully prepared to the scene that lay before her. Doctors, nurses, cleaning staff and patients – her patients – lay dead all around the wide room, covering the floor and benches and walls with an obscene amount of blood.
It was impossible for a human being – even a group of them – to accomplish something like that without raising any sort of alarm. This was no killing spree, but the work of a monster; this was impossible. This was a nightmare. This was-
Oh god. It can't be… But there's no other explanation. We're inside STEM. But how?
The doctor had no idea how it was possible but they all had been pulled inside the machine. It was the only acceptable explanation.
It made her vomit.
"Doctor!"
Sofia felt hands reach from behind and pull back her hair as she emptied the contents of her stomach on the floor.
"I'm sorry…" The sickened woman spoke. "I'll be fine. Just give me a moment."
Then, the ground started to shake.
"It seems we don't have a moment." The junior detective spoke, grabbing Sofia by the arm and pulling her fast across the room. "We need to go. Now."
In the blurs of her vision, Sofia saw the face of her patients and co-workers, all staring back at her with accusing eyes.
You did this to us.
Tears finally forced their way out of Sofia's eyes as Kidman opened the hospital's double doors.
I did. And I'm so sorry.
"Fuck, Doc! Snap out of it!"
It wasn't the loud volume as much as the timbre of desperation in Juli's voice that pulled Sofia from her guilt. How many times had she heard the same tone coming from her patients? She hadn't been able to ignore it then, and she wasn't able to do it now. Sofia still wasn't alone; she still had to be strong for someone else.
Eyes focused once again, the doctor found herself standing right outside the hospital, staring at the patio as if it was the first time she had ever seen it. The sun, she noticed, was struggling to grant them some of its warm light through the thick clouds in the sky. Kidman was at her right, pulling at her wrist to take her to the ambulance that was honking to get their attention. Sofia's gaze trailed up the junior detective's arm until it reached her face.
For a moment, both women stared into each other's eyes with the same intense determination of ensuring another's survival. No words were exchanged, but Kidman let go of the doctor's wrist and both ran to the ambulance, jumping in just as another tremor ran through the ground bellow them.
"Sofia!" Jimenez exclaimed in relief at seeing the doctor's form enter the vehicle. "Thank god, you're alright!"
"You too." The doctor spoke with her usual calm voice, sparing the old doctor a reassuring smile that didn't quite reach her tear-filled eyes before settling her gaze on Leslie. The boy was sitting by Jimenez, shaking in fear and murmuring her name. Sofia immediately went to sit by his other side, embracing his shoulders with her arm. "I'm here now, Leslie. It's alright. You saved me."
The boy turned to bury his head on the doctor's chest, continuing his repetitive chanting of her name. Sofia smiled softly and started to run her fingers through his hair.
"You alright, Ma'am?"
Sofia raised her eyes to the officer sitting behind the driver's wheel, who was looking worriedly at her through the small window that connected the two compartments of the ambulance.
"Yes. I'm sorry if I kept you all wai-"
Her words were interrupted by another quake; it was strong enough to shake the vehicle and make the ground across from them start to give in.
"-ting… Maybe we should get out of here before the ground beneath us give in as well. Is there someone else inside?"
"Two other detectives are still there." The officer answered, sparing a worried glance to the hospital's double doors. "Just a few more moments."
A booming sound came from outside and, with the exception of Leslie, all inside the ambulance froze and raised their eyes to the source, only to find the whole upper half of a building start to slid down to the ground.
After that foreboding vision, a tense silence enveloped them, only broken by the soft whimpers coming from Leslie.
That almost complete silence ended by the sweet sound of two double doors slamming on a wall. The detectives – or at least one of them – had left the hospital.
"Hold tight!" The officer behind the wheel warned before backtracking in a fast pace, until the ambulance was standing right in front of Beacon's entrance. "Detective! Get in! Get in!"
Those words seemed to be a starting signal for the city to increase the pace of its self-destruction, starting by the asphalt beneath the ambulance. It gave the officer no choice but to start moving the car.
Sofia felt Leslie's grip on her grow tighter but didn't dare to turn her face from the man jumping in the ambulance through the passenger's window. For one moment, she feared he wouldn't make it.
But, as she would find out later on, if there was someone who could make it through STEM it was that man, Detective Sebastian Castellanos.
Their ride through the decaying city was the most violent experience Sofia had had until that moment and the doctor was left to wonder how they had managed to make to the tunnel with all of their limbs still attached to them.
"Everyone alright back there?"
Startled by the detective's voice, Sofia looked up from Leslie to face him through the small window of the ambulance, for the first time being able to take a good look at the man. He had a rough appearance, but his eyes were warm and held a sort of paternal concern in them, especially when they settled on Leslie. The doctor liked him immediately.
"Just a few bumps." She heard Kidman answer. "We're fine."
Leslie's senseless murmuring turned into repetitive whispers of the words fine.
"We will be once we're far away…" Jimenez put in before turning his eyes to Sofia's.
Both doctors exchanged a meaningful look before returning their stares to Leslie once again.
Suddenly, Sofia felt something cold on her cheek, caressing the skin there gently before moving down to her lips and settling on her throat. Eyes wide, the doctor turned her head from side to side trying to pinpoint where this sensation was coming from, but she saw no one there besides Leslie, Jimenez and Kidman.
Leslie's soft whispers started to grow in volume until they became screams, but the word leaving his lips wasn't fine anymore. It was-
"Fall!"
Suddenly, a hooded figure took shape in front of Sofia's eyes, and he was holding a scalpel to her throat. The woman felt her heart start to pound in her chest once again as the sharp end of the surgical tool dug into her skin, drawing a trick of blood. Slowly, she trailed her eyes up the man's figure, noticing that his skin was covered by a very familiar mosaic of scars.
No. Please, don't let it be him.
Once she reached the man's face, her gaze settled on the most intense pair of silver eyes she had ever seen. Eyes that had plagued both her dreams and nightmares. Eyes that promised a torrid and depraved revenge.
And then, they all fell.
And this is it for now! Hope you all enjoyed this introduction into the game and that I managed to put in some adequate suspense in this. XDXD
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope to hear from you all in 2016. :)
Kisses,
RedVoid
PS: I just finished a game called Undertale and I can't help but say it: go play this game. It is simply amazing! S2