Chapter 26 – The Asylum

Getting to the asylum had been unexpectedly easy. After making a quick stop at the gun store to gather any supplies they might need on this trip, two duffel bags full to be precise, they found a manhole cover leading to the sewers as close to the pharmacy as they could get. Lee figured that if Kieran had been using the sewers to travel back and forth between the pharmacy and the asylum, then that section of the sewers at least had to be clear of walkers. And he was right because in no time at all they had reached their destination without any problems.

Lee climbed out the manhole near the asylum first, hauling one of the duffel bags with him. He kept his eyes peeled for any walkers that could be lingering nearby as he waited for the others to climb out one by one. Then they walked toward the large iron gate that stood in front of the huge stone building that loomed before them. Lee gripped one of bars of the gate tightly as he stared up at the daunting structure. The place was massive, and Clementine, Cassie, and Deacon could be anywhere in there. For a fleeting moment, Lee wasn't sure they would be able to find them in time.

"Are we ready for this?" Luke asked.

"I know I am," Nick said as he hefted his rifle in his hands.

"It's now or never, I guess," Pete replied.

Kenny stepped up next to Lee and looked up at the building with determination in his eyes. "Yeah. Lee?" He looked at his best friend questioningly.

Lee took a deep breath and pushed away any doubts he had. He couldn't afford to be doubtful right now. "Let's go," he said with as much confidence as he could muster as he pushed open the heavy iron gate with a loud creak of its rusty hinges.

They walked into a large foyer with chairs and end tables lining the walls on either side. Of course, most of the chairs and tables were overturned or broken, and there were a couple of large potted plants intermingled in there that had long since withered and died. It looked like this could have been a waiting room of sorts back when the asylum was still in operation.

Lee walked across the checkerboard linoleum floor that was covered with dirt and grime and came upon a large oak desk which was presumably where patients and visitors would check in. It looked like there were still patient files sitting on the desk covered in a layer of dust. He stopped in front of the desk, and the first thing he noticed as he looked around was that the lights were on.

"Huh," Lee said thoughtfully. "Looks like this place has a generator too."

"Well ain't that interesting?" Kenny said sardonically. "Funny how we've run into three places with generators since we got here when we haven't run into a single place that had power since the motor inn."

"Yeah, but when was the last time we were in a major city?" Lee asked.

"Savannah," Kenny stated.

"Savannah was small compared to this city."

"So, what now?" Nick inquired.

"We look for the others, Einstein," Kenny said acerbically and received an angry glare from Nick, which he ignored as he started to turn down the nearest hallway.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute," Kyle objected. "This place is huge. It'll take all day to search a place this big."

"Which is why we shouldn't be wasting time standing here. Now let's go," Kenny urged impatiently.

"Well, hold on a minute," Reggie spoke up. She turned to Kyle. "What do you have in mind?"

"Check it," Kyle said as he pointed up at a camera mounted on the wall nearby. "This place has security cameras. All we have to do is find the security office and check out the security monitors. It'll be easier to find them rather than traipsing around this dusty old hospital."

"We don't even know where the security office is. Like you said, it could take all day to search the place. I'd rather spend that time searching for Cassie and Clementine," Kenny pointed out.

"And Deacon. You seem to keep forgetting about him," Kyle said. Deacon may not be one of Kyle's favorite people, but he was still a part of the group. And no matter what kind of person Deacon was, he didn't deserve to be turned into a monster. No one did.

Kenny rolled his eyes. He couldn't care less about that asshole, but he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. "Fine. And Deacon."

"I don't know. Kyle's plan makes sense to me," Ronan said. "At least we'd know what we were looking for, and there will probably be signs pointing us in the right direction."

"How do you even know the cameras are working?" Kenny asked.

"That one is," Kyle said, indicating the red light on the camera just below the lens.

Kenny looked up at the camera and shook his head, still unwilling to give in. "Take a look around. This place is in shambles. What makes you think the rest of the cameras will be working?"

"It's at least worth a look, don't you think?" Luke said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation.

"No, I don't think," Kenny retorted.

"Alright, everyone just calm down," Lee interjected, stepping in between Kenny and Kyle. In the silence that followed, Lee sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. He really didn't need this shit, but he had to deal with it or they were going to get nowhere. "Now look, Kyle, why don't you and Reggie go look for the security office? The rest of us will start looking for Cassie, Clementine, and Deacon. Fair enough?"

"Alright. I can get behind that," Kenny agreed.

"Yeah. Sounds good to me," Kyle said with a nod.

"Ok. You find the security office first, let us know what you see," Lee said.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Reggie asked.

"No sweat," Kyle said nonchalantly, giving her a gentle swat on the arm. He indicated with a nod of his head toward the speaker on the wall above the desk. "This place has an intercom system as well." He looked back at Lee. "We'll let you know what we find."

"You sure you can get that to work?" Lee inquired.

"Hey, I'm a computer genius. All I have to do is hack into the system. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Be careful," Lee said.

"Yeah, you too." With a confident smirk, Kyle hefted one of the two duffel bags of supplies they brought in one hand, and he and Reggie turned and headed down one hallway while the rest of the group walked down the hall on the opposite side.

As they were walking, Nick quickened his pace to catch up with Luke. "Hey Luke. Think we'll find them?" he asked with a touch of concern.

Luke sighed despondently. "I don't know. I hope so. They wouldn't have been put in this situation if we hadn't kicked them out."

"Actually, if you think about it, they would have come here anyway," Pete said from behind them. "They just would have been with us. Remember, we came here just after they did because Carver found us. Them staying with us wouldn't have changed that. We probably still would have met up with those folks at the hotel too. I don't know much about how they got into this situation, but something tells me we all would have been involved regardless. This ain't your fault, son. None of us are to blame."

"Well, it sure feels like it," Nick said and Luke nodded in agreement.

"Pete's right," Lee commented from the front of the group, having overheard the conversation. "It's not your fault. And anyway, you're here with us now trying to get them back. That's what matters."

"Thanks, Lee," Luke said sincerely.

The moved swiftly down the hallway, checking every door they came across, but every door seemed to be locked which was making Kenny very frustrated. If every door in this damn place was locked, they were never going to find Cassie and Clementine. Fearing that the girls might be in one of the rooms they had already passed, Kenny decided that he would check one more door and then backtrack and start kicking in doors. They didn't look that solid. So, he reached for the doorknob of the very next door and turned, expecting it to be locked just like all others before. So, he was surprised when the doorknob turned easily in his hand.

"I'll be damned. It's fucking open," Kenny stated.

"It's about damn time. Now we can actually get somewhere," Nick said.

Lee wasn't so sure about this however. He was wondering why this one door was open when all the doors before it were locked. But then again there were plenty of other doors they hadn't gotten to yet. Maybe there were more unlocked doors and this was just the first one they found. Maybe he was just overthinking things. Nevertheless, he took out his gun just in case and saw everyone else do the same. They weren't taking any chances.

They entered the room beyond, which seemed to be a short, wide hallway. There were several doors that lined both sides of the hall, all evenly spaced out and all had a small square window in the top, and there was one door at the end of the hall. Lee walked up to one of the doors and peered through the window. The room beyond was a small padded cell. The once pristine white walls were now a dingy yellow. Lee turned back to the others, shook his head, and indicated that they should keep moving.

As they neared the door at the end of the hall, one of the cell doors on the left side nearest to where Lee and Ronan were suddenly opened with a metallic click. Immediately the sound of a woman crying could be heard from inside. They all stopped and stared at the door with varying degrees of confusion and suspicion.

"What the hell?" Kenny said.

"Stay here," Lee said and then motioned for Ronan to follow him.

The two men slowly approached the partially open door. With his gun raised, Lee gently nudged the door all the way open. Inside a woman sat on the floor with her back to them rocking slightly back and forth. Lee and Ronan looked at each other. Ronan stepped forward.

"Hello? Miss?" he said gently, but she continued to cry as if they weren't even there.

Lee hung back and took a closer look at the woman. She had long, straight brown hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a tattered black coat and torn blue jeans. Lee's eyes widened. Wait a minute. That looks like… "Lilly?" he said aloud.

"What?" Ronan cried, looking back at Lee. "What would she be doing here?"

At Ronan's surprised shout, the woman began to make these very agitated grunting noises that increased in intensity. They sounded so inhuman that Lee feared that even if this was Lilly, she wouldn't be the same person she was. Hell, she probably wasn't even a person at all anymore if she was here in this place.

"Ronan, get away from her," Lee said cautiously, but it was too late.

As Ronan turned back toward her, she suddenly whipped her head around towards him. Now, seeing her face, Lee could tell it was Lilly, or it used to be. Now her skin was gray like that of a corpse. Her eyes were so red they almost glowed, and strands of her straggly, unkempt hair hung in her face. She let out an ear-piercing scream and slashed at Ronan with elongated, talon-like fingers. With lightning reflexes, Ronan scrambled backwards out of her reach. The tips of her nails tore through his shirt but didn't draw blood. Managing to retain his footing, Ronan turned and ran out into the hallway with Lilly right on his heels.

"What the fuck?" Luke cried in surprise as Ronan ran past him.

"What the hell is that thing?" Nick asked.

"Who the fuck cares? Just shook it!" Kenny yelled as he pulled out his gun and started shooting.

The others followed suit and soon they were all firing at the thing, but all the bullets hitting her didn't even slow her down as she continued to focus on Ronan and chased him around the room. Even a bullet to the head only caused her to stagger a bit, but it didn't stop her. They lowered their weapons in shocked disbelief. They had never come across a zombie that didn't go down when it was shot in the head before.

"Fuck," Kenny said, at a loss.

"Well, what the hell are we going to do now?" Pete asked.

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" Ronan cried desperately as he continued to run around the room in a big circle. Whatever that thing was, it didn't seem to be interested in anyone else in the room.

"Maybe if we shoot it enough times in the head, it'll go down," Luke suggested. He stepped forward. "Ronan, get your gun ready and lead her past me."

Ronan glanced at him and nodded.

Luke stood in the middle of the room and waited anxiously for Ronan to pass him. Then, timing it just right, he raised his gun and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight into the thing's temple and causing it to stagger sideways. At that point, Ronan stopped, spun around with his gun raised, and fired three times, hitting it right in the face. It collapsed to the ground like a ton of bricks. Breathing heavily, Ronan stood over the crumpled form on the ground, waiting to see if it would get back up.

"Is it dead?" Nick asked.

"Technically speaking, it was dead to begin with," Ronan commented. "But to answer your question, I'm not sure." He took a step closer to get a better look but stepped back again when its hand started to twitch. He couldn't believe his eyes when it slowly started to sit up.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! How the fuck do we kill this thing?" Kenny cried.

"There has to be a way," Lee said.

They all watched as the thing that used to be Lilly slowly pulled herself up and turned toward Luke. Luke took a step back, horrified at the blood-caked and horribly mangled visage staring back at him. Her face was so disfigured he could hardly discern any facial features at all except for the blood red eyes that almost blended in completely with the blood congealing on her face. For a moment, he was afraid she was going to come after him next, but she just turned away from him and looked right at Ronan.

"Oh, come on. Why is it only coming after me?" he griped as he took a few steps back. She screeched and sprinted towards him once again. "Fuck this," he said quietly, choosing to stand his ground rather than keep running. He swept her legs out from under her, knocking her on her back. He then stomped on her neck and pumped two more bullets into her forehead. Her body stilled, but he kept up the pressure on her neck with his foot. He looked up at the others, and he could already feel her starting to move again. "You have to go."

"What?" Lee said in disbelief, taking a step forward.

"You have to keep on going. You have to find the others before something like this happens to the them. I'll lead her away," Ronan said as he returned his gaze to the witch under his foot who was starting to reach up toward him. Not wanting to give her a chance to slash at him again, he removed his foot and stepped away, allowing her to get up.

"Wait a minute. We can't leave you like this," Luke said.

"I can take care of myself. Now go!" Ronan yelled as he turned and ran back the way they had come with the witch hot on his heels.

Luke started to go after him but stopped and turned back toward the others, looking unsure. "What do we do?"

"He told us to go on ahead, and I think that's what we should do," Pete said.

"I agree," Lee said. As much as it pained him to admit it, they had to go on, even if it meant leaving Ronan to deal with that thing that seemed impossible to kill by himself. "We have to get to Cassie, Clementine, and Deacon before they become something like that or worse. We don't have much time. We have to keep going."

"What about Ronan?" Luke asked.

"Like he said, he can take care of himself, and we have to trust that. He wanted us to go on, so that's what we're going to do."

Luke sighed and finally nodded. It didn't feel right not going to help Ronan, but they needed to get the others back. That was more important at the moment. They just had to trust that Ronan really could look after himself for the time being.

"Then let's get going. What the fuck are we standing around for?" Kenny said.

They continued on, hoping this would lead them to their lost friends.

Kyle and Reggie came upon an office door with the name Dr. Sanford Ellicott printed on it. Out sheer curiosity, Reggie pushed open the door. There was a large oak desk in the middle of the room, a bookshelf along the right wall filled with dusty old books and broken knick knacks, and metal file cabinets against the left wall with some of its drawers standing open. The drawers were filled with empty file folders as all of the files were strewn across the floor and the desktop. It was as if someone had gone through the file cabinets and just threw all the files around the room carelessly.

"Whoa, looks like a tornado blew through here," Reggie remarked.

"Yeah, looks like. Come on, let's go," Kyle urged.

"Oh c'mon. Aren't you the least bit curious?" Reggie inquired.

"We don't have time for this," Kyle replied and disappeared from the doorway, continuing down the hall.

Reggie frowned and shook her head, bending down to pick up a patient file. She started flipping through it curiously. Kyle, meanwhile, was walking down the hall in long strides. He stopped and smiled triumphantly when he came upon a door marked security.

"Yes, finally," he said.

Reggie poked her head out the door of Dr. Ellicott's office. "You found it?"

"Yeah, come on," Kyle replied and entered the security office. Reggie hurried after him, the patient file still clutched in her hand.

The security office was pretty small, consisting of only a bank of monitors, presumably for the cameras, and a computer with a small workspace. Kyle walked over to the bank of monitors and was dismayed to see that they were all blank.

"Well, it was a good idea in theory," Reggie said with a sigh.

"No, this can't be right," Kyle said with a shake of his head. "I saw several cameras on the way here, and they all had that red light on. Some of these monitors should be showing something."

"Maybe the monitors aren't working."

Kyle sighed in frustration and glanced at the computer. He grabbed the arm of the desk chair, plopped himself into it, and rolled himself up to the computer. He pressed a button on the keyboard, and the monitor came to life.

"Yes, the computer's working. Maybe I can get into the system and figure out what's wrong," Kyle said as his fingers flew over the keyboard.

Reggie leaned against the wall with a mental sigh. She knew this might take a while, but she also knew that Kyle would get it done. She had confidence in that. She's known him a long time, ever since college. In fact, they used to be college sweethearts, and one thing she had learned about Kyle was that once he set his mind on something there was no stopping him. He was like a dog with a bone. He would not let up until he completed what he set out to do. It used to dry her crazy whenever he got started on a new computer program because then he would work on it day and night, which hardly left any time for her. That was actually the main reason why it never worked out between the two of them, but they both decided that they would remain friends.

Reggie looked at the man in question and saw the determined look on his face. Oh yeah, he would get it done. It was just a question of how long. And what was she going to do in the meantime? She looked down at the file she still held in her hand. She hadn't even realized she still had it until now. She shrugged and flipped it open. It seemed to be the best way to pass the time.

"Let's see. Patient name," she started to read aloud. She knew that it wouldn't bother Kyle one bit. He always zoned out when he was working with computers. Nothing could distract him, and she just wanted to fill the room with something other than the clickety-clack of the keys on the keyboard. "Paul Hurlbutt. Now there's a name," she said with a laugh and kept reading. "'Patient diagnosed with schizophrenia, suffering from paranoid delusions leading to violent tendencies. Patient was reported to have brutally murdered his wife and two children, believing that they were demons out to get him.' Wow. This guy definitely had a screw loose. Guess that's why he was here, huh."

"Yes! I'm in!" Kyle said triumphantly. He turned toward Reggie. "Did you say something?"

"No," Reggie said with a shake of her head. "Just reading to myself. That was fast. So, what's going on?" She joined Kyle at the computer and looked at the screen. Of course, she had no idea what she was looking at. She wasn't really a computer person.

Kyle worked his way through the computer system and frowned. "It looks like everything has been rerouted to another part of the building, the camera feeds, the security system, the intercom, everything."

"Where is it being routed to?" Reggie asked.

"Looks like the med lab on the first floor."

"That's got to be where Kieran is. If he has control of the building from where he is, it could be a real problem for the others. Can you redirect everything back here?"

"I think so, but it's going to take some time," Kyle replied as he got to work.

"Great," Reggie said unenthusiastically. Maybe she would go back to Dr. Ellicott's office and grab another file.