Chapter 11 - Mayhem in the Hospital
Author's note: Wow, has it really been over three years since this story was last updated? *checks the status of this story* By golly, it has been that long! I'm terribly sorry for making you guys wait, but I hope this chapter will more than make up for it. It's easily the longest chapter in the story by far. Now, I'll respond to your reviews!
Gs33022, come to think of it, A'pocolate does sound a lot like apocalypse! That's what MysteriousMaker1185 and I were going for when we came up with his name.
Sonny April, thanks for the compliments regarding my improved writing skills! I know you were also impressed with "The Skeleton Key" (my other stab at the horror genre), so thanks again! It serves as a motivator for me to further polish my craft. Also, remember that I started writing the story after playing Dead Space, so that kind of explains the video game-like plot. I'm trying to steer it away from that, though.
JOHNHAMMOND1993, it would be cool if the story could split off into multiple paths, but according to FanFiction dot net's guidelines, "choose-your-own-adventure" stories are not allowed.
Avimo, I already addressed your reviews in our PM conversation a few days ago. :)
Also, kudos to Gs33022 and Avimo for their guesses! You'll find out whether or not your guesses were right as the story continues. Now, on with the story!
(WARNING: there are a few scenes in this chapter that may be disturbing to some readers. If something triggers you, you may stop reading at any time.)
"Now entering Hospital," an automated voice announced as the door behind Mike sealed itself shut. He looked over his shoulder at the stainless steel door, which featured a large Employees Only sign, slightly below eye level. The electronic display above it read "CHOCOLATE RIVER MAINTENANCE ACCESS PORT R". Stainless steel walls and sleek, polished floors adorned the hospital hallway that stretched hundreds of feet ahead of him. Every fifty feet or so, there were double doors made of stainless steel branching off both sides of the corridor. Above each one was an electronic sign that displayed the departments they led to, such as the Intensive Care Units, Operating Rooms, Radiology/Imaging, Oncology, Pediatrics, Nursery, Gynecology, etc. Considering the state of most of the other corridors that Mike had traversed thus far, this one was almost too shiny, too clean, too sterile. Even the air smelled artificially pure. Soft music played throughout the corridor to lift the mood for both the patients and staff; that is, back when they were still alive.
A series of beeps were heard from his watch, and Stella's holographic face appeared in front of him.
"Hello, Mike," she said with a smile.
Mike sighed upon seeing his original guide. "What do you want, Stella?"
"Just checking in," she replied. "Like I said, the Hospital can be confusing to navigate."
"Hang on, hang on," Mike interrupted. "I need more answers. How do you know so much about the layout of the factory?"
"I downloaded the floor plans from the government's database before you were woken up from cryogenic stasis," she answered. "The database was also where I found out about the existence of the Oompa-Loompas."
"Well, you must know how the Oompa-Loompas became the way they were, right?" Mike probed. "Somehow I'm having doubts that innocent candies were the cause of this mess. And you said before that the candies have 'hallucinogenic properties'? I'm not exactly buying into that either."
Stella cleared her throat and said, "Actually, it was the nuclear fallout that played a huge part in—" Suddenly, a loud burst of static interrupted her, drowning out her voice and distorting the image of her face. "Shit! My signal is…"
Stella disappeared. Mike hated being abandoned like this, especially when he needed any kind of help, any kind of human-to-human interaction. If it weren't for the calm music being piped in via the Hospital's PA system, the silence, and the dread that literally anything could be around the corner, would likely have driven him to total insanity. Getting back to the task at hand, he consulted his locator, and the blue line that was projected onto the floor led him towards the Radiology/Imaging Department.
Thumpthumpthump was all that Mike could hear, his heart pounding like a jackhammer as the doors automatically opened in front of him. He cautiously entered the lobby, his right index finger ready to squeeze the trigger of his trusty plasma cutter at any moment. In front of Mike was a U-shaped desk with two old computer monitors perched on top of it. Two blue armchairs, one overturned and the other in its normal upright position, were just behind the counter. Looking past the front desk, Mike found a large poster on the wall that displayed a female Oompa-Loompa wearing a thick, white lab coat and lead apron, meant for protection from high levels of radiation. Beside that picture, there was a back and front view of the inside of the human body. The lighting was a soft and pleasant shade of orange, warming up the otherwise cold, metallic lobby. Beyond the lobby was a short hallway with a few doors that led to the imaging rooms, and off to his right was a waiting room with several blue chairs and a large television mounted to the wall.
A television? Mike thought. Haven't seen a proper TV in a while...wait! Didn't I think that Wonka was a funny surname earlier? And now I see a TV, which sounds the same as...Teavee...my surname! TV, Teavee; TV, Teavee; Teavee, TV...huh. What a strange coincidence! The world sure can be funny sometimes. Hehe.
Mike used his locator again, following the holographic blue line towards the leftmost imaging room as if it were an enticing trail of breadcrumbs. The door automatically opened once he reached it, revealing a large room with an old MRI scanner positioned right in the center. It was a white cylinder that measured several feet in length, and the tube in the center was very narrow, enough to trigger claustrophobia in a fair amount of the population. A moveable bed on rails was positioned halfway into the machine, so that the pillow and headrest were inside the tube, and the other end was sticking out.
The wall on the far side featured a large window with a door right next to it, that led into the MRI machine's control room. An armchair was positioned in front of a desk, and there were multiple computer monitors right next to each other, likely to view all of the incoming images and data while the MRI scanner was running.
"Mike," a familiar male voice spoke, "your locator seems to be acting up. This is not where you're supposed to be going."
"Well, then what the hell's going on?" Mike spluttered as A'pocolate's holographic face appeared in front of him.
"I don't know," the Oompa-Loompa chief replied, "but I'm not liking it. Why would you want to run an MRI machine anyway? There are no patients to scan, and the electromagnetic field would be so strong that you'd smash right into the machine and be unable to move a single muscle with that metal suit of yours."
"Well, can't you take control of my locator?" Mike pleaded.
"Unfortunately, no," A'pocolate responded. "At least not at this time. But I do trust you to keep your intentions as compassionate and kind-hearted, for the greater good of us over at New Loompaland. That will be your ultimate goal, Mike. Kill those undead bastards, or at least try putting them into quarantine, so that they won't have a chance to reach the entrance to our sanctuary. You can do this, Mike Teavee. I know you can!" He gave Mike a smile and a thumbs-up before the call was disconnected.
"Well, maybe my locator will detect the moment when the MRI powers up, before updating itself to lead me to the next objective," Mike said, confidence building in his voice. "And if it does update by then, I can power the MRI off so that my safety isn't jeopardized!"
He closed the door to the room that housed the MRI scanner, and then he sat down in front of the monitors. Like with the other old computers, he pressed the power button on the back of one of the monitors. The LED on the bottom right hand corner of the monitor began to glow yellow, and it became green two seconds later. A few white dots quickly appeared on the screen, followed by a flurry of code that rapidly scrolled by as the computer booted up. Several seconds later, the code disappeared from the screen, and a whirring noise was heard as the MRI scanner began to power itself on. Instead of a terminal window on the computer screen, he was greeted with a graphical user interface, with program icons and background wallpaper that displayed an image of the factory in its former grandeur. The central smokestack was far taller than what Mike could have ever imagined, and white smoke was erupting from it, like a billowing cloud against the bright-blue sky. Mike tried using the locator again, and this time, the blue line was leading out of the room, just as he hoped. Now that the locator had been updated, Mike opened a menu with a click of the mouse and selected "Shut Down". A spinning dot appeared on the screen, rotating clockwise as the computer went through the shutdown process, and the MRI powered off just seconds before the computer did as well.
Just as Mike safely left the imaging room, his watch beeped and Stella's holographic face appeared once again.
"Very smart of you, Mike," Stella said with a slight grin. "You made it out unharmed."
"Well, no shit," Mike replied with a glare of annoyance. "Anything to avoid becoming dead meat in the event it's powered on while I'm literally wearing a metal suit from head to toe."
Stella chuckled, slightly turning her face away from Mike.
"Don't worry, Mike," she said in a reassuring tone of voice. "I want you to survive. At least until—" Once again, Stella's voice and image were drowned out by static, and the transmission was taken offline.
Mike brought up the locator, and the blue line led out of the Radiology/Imaging Department, across the hallway towards...an air vent?
Isn't this some kind of trope or whatever? Mike wondered as he fired the plasma cutter in short bursts to blast away the screws holding the ventilation grille in place. He grabbed the loose grille and threw it to the side, where it landed on the floor with a loud, metallic clang. Much to his chagrin, he had to get down on all fours to enter this opening, and attempting that while wearing a metal suit was a lot easier said than done. He groaned upon entering the darkness of the ventilation duct, the sound of his hands and knees echoing loudly as he crawled onward. The passage turned 90 degrees to the left, and Mike had such a hard time rotating his outstretched body that his feet kept kicking the walls of the duct, metallic clanging noises continuing to endanger his ability to hear. The ability to detect sound was more important than ever, considering that some of the mutated Oompa-Loompas were using the ventilation ducts to get around.
Not long afterward, the passage turned 90 degrees once more, this time to the right, and again Mike was terrible at being silent as he navigated the corner. He was certain that if there were monsters nearby, they could hear him crawling through the goddamn duct from miles around.
A shaft of light shone upwards, and Mike realized that he had reached a ventilation grille in the ceiling, looking downwards into a large cafeteria. Mike was about to crawl closer to it, but a thought suddenly came to his mind.
Those monsters were using the ducts, and what happened to me every time they appeared? The room went into lockdown! But then again, I'm a human, not one of those creatures, so maybe I'll be spared.
"Mike, are you alright in there?" Stella asked him, her holographic face showing a definite look of concern.
"Stella, why are you trying to help me right now?" Mike asked. "Can't you tell that I'm literally stuck inside an air vent at the moment?"
"Just keep following my route," Stella told him.
"You know, I don't like this at all," Mike said with a glare.
"You don't have to like it," Stella responded. "Just hurry before you get locked in!"
After Stella disappeared, Mike heard the faint sound of footsteps from the cafeteria below. His ears perked as he tried to determine what, or who, might be down there. He didn't want to know, but at the same time, there was no other way he could possibly go, other than crawling backwards through the duct. But what if, what if, this might be someone who's not a monster, someone who's not dead-set on killing him or anyone else? He was about to get his answer very soon, since the vent dropped out from under him and he crashed down to the ground. Immediately, lights began to flash, alarms began to ring, and security bulkheads began to close, but that was the least of Mike's worries.
What followed next was a scream. A human scream.
"Someone! Please help me!"
Mike couldn't believe his eyes. A helpless, living Oompa-Loompa was cowering in fear behind a table, barely visible since he was at the far end of the cafeteria. Something was also growling nearby...
Mike gasped. "Hey, I'm coming! I'll help you!"
Mike struggled to get up off the floor. He watched in horror as a dog-like creature began to chase after the terrified Oompa-Loompa, its jaws snapping viciously as it did so. Its skeleton was mostly exposed, and whatever little amount of flesh it had was hanging off of its body like a tattered rag. The Oompa-Loompa, overcome by adrenaline and fear, decided to run towards the closest exit. The problem was only compounded by the closing bulkhead, and it brought back horrible memories from when Mike barely managed to escape from the Security Room. Mike's heart was beating rapidly as he watched the Oompa-Loompa throw himself to the ground, somersaulting underneath the ever-narrowing escape route. The undead dog, however, wasn't so lucky. It almost made its way through before the bulkhead fully closed, and the horrible crunching sounds of bones being squashed were heard as the bulkhead was sealed shut.
"Stella, your fucking route didn't work!" Mike snapped into his watch just as her face appeared. "The whole room went into lockdown!"
"Mike, I told you to hurry before you'd get locked in!" Stella replied in an equally short tone.
"Look, Stella," Mike growled as a pair of mutated Oompa-Loompas crashed to the ground from other ventilation ducts, "I don't need your help!"
"Fine!" Stella huffed before quickly terminating the call, leaving Mike to face his foes by himself. One of the enemies picked up the fallen ventilation grill and threw it in Mike's direction. He ducked, but the corner of the vent managed to graze his helmet, causing him to stumble backwards a few paces. Had he not been wearing the helmet, he would certainly have had a deep gash in his forehead. With two blasts from his Stasis Ring, the monsters' speed and agility were greatly reduced, giving Mike more than enough time to use the Diamond Saw to slice off their arms, and then their legs afterward. Just for good measure, he even used his Kinesis Ring to lift one of the tables off the ground. He guided it through the air at high speed, and it slammed into both of the mutated Oompa-Loompas. They fell to the ground, making horrible gurgling sounds before their undead lives faded away.
"Quarantine lockdown lifted," a voice spoke, much to Mike's immense relief. He guided the table back towards its original location, and he gently lowered it onto the floor where it belonged. The cafeteria alarms stopped blaring, and with a click and a whirring sound, the bulkhead closest to him retracted back into the ceiling, revealing another long hallway that branched off the cafeteria. Suddenly, A'pocolate's holographic face appeared in front of him, and he was smiling radiantly.
"Good work, Mike!" A'pocolate congratulated him. "Tyson will forever be grateful that you saved his life! Now, you must reach the fire exit at the end of the hallway, and take the stairs down to the Elevator Maintenance Bay just below. Got it?"
"Yessiree," Mike said with a grin. Too bad Mike's preferred mentor couldn't see the grin from beneath his helmet.
"We're counting on you, Mike," A'pocolate said in an urgent yet upbeat tone. "Go, go, go!" And with that, the Oompa-Loompa chief disappeared.
Just as Mike began to walk down the corridor, his head began to hurt without any warning, and the corridor suddenly darkened. The floor was tainted with blood, and several deceased Oompa-Loompas of all ages, including children and infants, were hanging upside down, suspended from the ceiling by their ankles. Nearly as quickly as it began, the pain subsided, the floor was completely sterile, and there were no Oompa-Loompas; living, dead, or undead, anywhere. Still, he was haunted by the image, especially that of the dead children. His stomach did a full turn, and he started to feel very sick. He retched and doubled over, and he yanked his helmet off just in time for a surge of bile to rush up his esophagus and out his mouth, where it spilled onto the floor. Before this mission, Mike had a large breakfast to make sure he had lots of energy, but now all that was gone. He quickly located a water fountain, and much to his relief, crystal-clear water shot out of the spout in an arc before swirling down the drain. He held down the button, using the water to rinse off the residual vomit from the corner of his mouth, spit out the remainder of it, and then he took a big, long drink from the fountain to re-hydrate himself.
"Another goddamn hallucination..." Mike shook his head as he put his helmet back on. His stomach was aching after throwing up, but he didn't let it consume him. He tapped his watch a few times in an attempt to reach A'pocolate, and after a few seconds, the wise Oompa-Loompa's face appeared in front of him. "Can you please...help me? I've experienced a terrifying image, a hallucination, where dead bodies hung from the ceiling of this very corridor. It caused me to vomit all over the floor."
"I'm sorry to hear that," A'pocolate said, frowning. "This is not the first case, Mike. Far from it. When this crisis first began, my fellow Oompa-Loompas were hallucinating left and right. I thought that it was dementia at first, and that it was a coincidence that multiple people were experiencing it at the same time, but dementia doesn't spread from person to person. Out of fear that it may have been either a virus or a weird side effect of nuclear fallout, I quickly escorted as many as I possibly could over to New Loompaland, but unfortunately, some didn't make it—" A'pocolate's voice was drowned out by a burst of static.
"Didn't make it what?" Mike shouted in frustration just before the call was terminated. "Shit!"
"A'pocolate has updated your locator," a voice said. Thank God, Mike thought. Finally, someone at least relatively trustworthy is guiding the way.
True to A'pocolate's word, the blue line that was projected onto the floor led Mike towards the fire exit at the end. Along the way, he passed the Housekeeping/Laundry room, and he could only hope that another living Oompa-Loompa would be kind enough to wipe up the pile of vomit he left behind. The corridor was eerily silent, enough so that when Mike opened the fire exit door, the quick buzzing that ensued almost made him jump two feet in the air, even with the suit on!
Once Mike regained his composure, he entered the concrete-walled emergency stairwell. The stairs, which were also made of concrete, spiraled above and below him in order to reach the hospital's many floors. He made his way down the stairs, the sound of his footsteps ricocheting everywhere.
Upon reaching the door that led to the Elevator Maintenance Bay, Mike unlatched the handle and pulled it open, only to be greeted by the same loud buzzer that nearly scared the shit out of him, and this time was no different!
"Mike," A'pocolate said as his face appeared once more, "Sorry about the issues with my connection. You're almost there. Keep going."
A short walk down another maintenance corridor was all Mike had to do to get to the Elevator Maintenance Bay. Once he reached the steel door at the end, he pressed a button on the wall and the door slid sideways, pocketing into the wall.
The Elevator Maintenance Bay was massive. Lots and lots of steel tracks were positioned right beside each other, and underneath each pair of tracks, elevator cars made entirely out of glass hung from them, firmly attached by three sets of wheels: one set of wheels ran on top of the tracks, the second set hugged the sides to guide the elevator around turns, and a third set of wheels were situated at the underside of each rail. The same three sets of wheels were also on the other rail, and together, the six sets of wheels locked the elevator car to the tracks, just like the wheels on a roller coaster.
"Welcome to the Elevator Maintenance Bay," an automated voice announced. "This is the area where the cars for the Great Glass Elevator system are serviced."
"Mike," A'pocolate lectured, "you must now go the computer console at the end of the service platform and get it back online. That way, the system will be restored, and you can use the Great Glass Elevator to get around the factory a hell of a lot easier."
"Got it, A'pocolate," Mike replied with a thumbs-up. "Hey, that actually kinda rhymes." A'pocolate chuckled in response before leaving Mike alone.
Mike sat down at the computer, which displayed a terminal screen. He furiously entered lines upon lines of code into the computer via the keyboard, and upon pressing Return, a loud click was heard, and a siren activated.
Please, for God's sake, don't go into quarantine!
Thankfully, that didn't occur. What did occur, however, was the whirring sound of the nearest pair of rails as they inched their way towards the main track. Several seconds later, the rails clicked into position, and with a ding, the doors of the elevator car smoothly parted for Mike to enter. Once inside, the doors softly closed behind him, and he looked around in wonder. All four walls, the ceiling, and even the floor, were made of thick glass. In addition, three of the walls, as well as the ceiling, were covered in transparent push buttons!
"Now, you must make your way to the Rock Candy Mine," A'pocolate said. "Once you're there, I will guide you through. Just locate the button and press it, 'kay?"
"Okie dokie," Mike smiled, and with his thumb, he pressed the button that was labeled "Rock Candy Mine - 10,000 Feet Deep". Immediately, the elevator leaped sideways as if it was stung by a wasp! Mike was thrown to the floor, and with the suit he was wearing, he decided that he would just stay on the ground and try his best to brace himself at each turn. He passed by (and through) several different rooms along the journey. Most of them were in a state of disrepair, though, so there wasn't anything too exciting to see.
Eventually, after several more twists and turns, and a 3,000 foot drop that caused Mike's insides to churn once more, the elevator gracefully slowed down, and after a feather-soft landing, the doors slid open with a ding. He awkwardly got back onto his feet, and right in front of him was a door that was labeled: "ROCK CANDY MINE". With a push of a button, the door slid out of the way, and Mike Teavee marched inside.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this long-overdue chapter! There is another story I'm working on called "Maze Craze", and it was my main project before I decided to switch back to this one. I promise that I won't take as long of a break between uploading chapters from now on. Please feel free to leave a review, and stay tuned for the next chapter! :)