Sonic Hill 2: DX

Chapter 8: Brook Haven Mental Hospital

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Miles closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath and exhaling. He hated hospitals; a lot. A whole building full of the sick, dying, injured, and impaired. Just the thought of those places, and how little they had done to help Sonic, had made him want to…he didn't even know. Bad memories seemed to be manufactured in places like this. This particular hospital was, obviously, different from the usual ones, but that was no exception.

"You okay?"

Miles noticed the concerned look in Shadows eyes, and nodded. "I just hate places like this. That's all."

Shadow nodded back, dropping the subject before it could even begin to grow. Miles had no problem with that at the moment. He pulled the flashlight out of his side pack and clipped it back onto his chest fur—it seemed to hold pretty well. Turning the brightness up, the two noticed there was a sign at the front desk of the entrance corridor.

'Brook Haven Hospi-al offers first class care, j-st in case you happen to get into trouble here, with an old fashioned to--h. The relaxing atmospher- and quiet surroundings make for a great place to r-cover from ailme--s of all sorts. Long term c--- is offered for lo—d ones ha--ng t----le fitt--- i-to re-----r -------.'

A few words were too hard to read, but Miles got the picture. "What a nice way of candy coating it."

The front hallway itself was rather confusing in the dark, but they figured it out. It went around a medium-sized square set of rooms in the middle of the place, and branched off into various different hallways too. There was a map on the desk, right next to the sign. Shadow picked it up and the two stared at the hospital's layout.

"Great." Miles groaned in frustration. The place was huge, filled with hallways and doors and more rooms than they could count. Finding Amy was going to be harder than they thought.

Got to start somewhere. The fox and the hedgehog walked around the counter and to the door behind it—which was for the square room in the middle of the place. They opened it, illuminating the small room with Miles's flashlight. Looks like the square area was more than one room. Looking down at the map, Miles read 'Document Room' in the spot that they should be standing in right now. And boy, there were plenty of documents there. Tons of filing cabinets and papers filled the small claustrophobic space, each a report or something concerning the mental patients or the hospital itself. Miles began to worry how many patients there must have been here before all hell broke loose.

There was an open book on the desk, separate from the others, which caught their attention. It was typed up, but it looked like someone had spilled coffee or something over the paper. Many of the letters were smeared and the whole thing had a dark stain on it.

'The p-tential for t-is illness exists -n all p--ple and, un-er the right ci-----ances, a lif--orm woul- be dr--en, l-ke him, to "t-e o-her -ide." The "ot--- --de" perhaps may not be the best way to phrase it. After all, there -- no w-ll betw--- h-re a-d the-e. I- li-s on t-e bord-rs where reality and --n-asy int-rsect. It -s a place b-th close and dist-nt. Some say it is-'- even an i-lness. I can-ot agree wi-h them. I'm a d-ctor, not – philosop-er or ev-n a p-ychiatrist. But sometimes I have -- --- ------ thi- question. It's tr-- th-t -- us h-s ima---ings are n--hing but the in--nti--s o- a busy -ind. But to him, there si-ply is no o--er r--lity. Furthe-more he is happy there. So w-y, I as- my--lf, why -n the na-e of h-aling h-m must -e drag him pain-ully into t-e wor-d of our o-- real-ty?'

There was a notice handwritten at the very bottom of the paper too.

'I g-- -he k-y --om E-pio. It'- pro-a--- --- key -- --- box.'

Miles didn't understand much of it, but from what he had been able to understand, it seemed to be a doctor's journal. "Interesting…"

"Miles, look." Shadow walked over to him—Miles hasn't even noticed the hedgehog was searching the room while he was reading the journal entry. In his hand was a purple key.

"Just what we need, more keys." Miles sighed. "Thanks."

In the corner of the room was a hook, holding a decently large sized carrying bag. Just what they needed. Shadow grabbed onto it and put it around his arm. Now he too at least had something more than his small pockets to carry stuff in. The steel pipe was too large to fit in the bag, so he still had to lug it around in his hand, but at least they felt more confident about carrying stuff around with them.

Unfortunately, the purple key didn't seem to work on any of the doors on the first floor. Which was a problem, because literally every door on that floor other than the one to the document room and the one to the stairway was locked. Thus, they had no other choice but to go to the second floor. Thankfully, no part of the stairwell was blocked off like in the apartments, and they made it to the second floor quickly enough.

It all seemed easy, until they opened the door and walked into the 2nd floor main hallway. The radio went off, and Miles almost jumped. He looked to his left, trying to see what was causing the static to spark.

"Miles!" He had looked the wrong way though. He realized that when Shadow grabbed his shoulder, trembling slightly. Miles turned to him and his eyes widened in shock and horror when he saw what the hedgehog was looking at.

Like the straightjacket monsters, the creature had no face. Unlike the straightjacket monster though, it walked upright, only limping a bit every few steps it took. Its arm and leg muscles seemed to bend in any direction it pleased, which became very apparent as it lurched closer to them, its thin fleshy legs bending back and forth as it attempted not to fall over. It wore a tattered nurses outfit, hat included, along with an extremely small miniskirt that only barely managed to cover up its bloodstained crotch. In its right hand it held a two-foot long steel pipe.

Shadow seemed to be too horrified to move, but Miles was far from it. He reached into his side-pack and drew out the handgun, aiming it at the nurses inflated chest. For a second he considered telling it to stay away, but he knew that'd be useless. It was pretty obvious it wasn't any mortally living employee. He squeezed the trigger.

-Click!

Miles's blood ran cold. "…shit."

"Run!" Shadow exclaimed as he came back to his senses. Grabbing onto the fox's hand, he ran to the left, just managing to dodge a swing from the nurse's pipe. The two ran down the hall and screeched to a halt when they realized it was a dead end.

They both turned around and looked at where they ran from. The nurse continued walking towards them, much faster than the straightjacket monsters moved but slower than the two furries. To their horror, they saw a second nurse come from around the corner and stumble right after the first one.

"What do we do!?" Shadow cried. Miles turned and looked at the door next to the hallways' dead end. He grabbed onto the handle and was extremely relieved to feel it open. Grabbing the hedgehog's arm, he pulled him into the room and slammed the door closed behind him.

"Oh man…not good." Miles said, his voice echoing throughout the room. "More monsters, no ammo. How the hell are we going to get out of this one?"

Shadow didn't seem to know how to reply, so Miles decided to survey the room. It seemed to be a very small Women's Locker Room. There were only a few lockers (obviously), along with a sink, a broken mirror, and a few benches in there with them.

"Seems safe in here, for now." He said to Shadow. "You sit down, are you hurt?"

"Nah, they didn't hit me. I'm alright." Shadow said as he walked over to one of the benches and sat down on it.

"Good." Miles began opening, checking, and closing all of the lockers. It seemed hopeless, but he needed to find something to defend them with. Maybe some pepper spray or something…Shadow could use the pipe, he could use something else…it seemed a lot better than trying to defend each other with one weapon.

"Jeez…" Shadow said. "That thing used to work here."

"I know." Miles opened up another locker, checked it, found nothing useful, and closed it.

"Do you think it was a virus or something?"

"What?" Miles looked over at the hedgehog.

"Ya know, that caused people to end up like this."

Shrugging, Miles opened another locker. "That sounds like something in a cliché horror story."

"Yeah, I know. But that's the only explanation I can think of…"

"Ouch!"

Shadow bolted up, quickly running up to his ally's aid, who had put his right index finger in his mouth. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Miles took his finger out of his mouth, showing the tiny droplet of blood forming around the tip and staining his glove. He looked at the teddy bear in the locker in front of him. "Stupid teddy bear stabbed me with something."

Raising an eyebrow, Shadow picked up the stuffed animal and held it close to his face, examining it for anything sharp. There was a small opened safety pin jabbed into the bear's side, pointing outwards with a smaller trace of blood on the tip of it.

"Ugh." Miles began to search the rest of the lockers while Shadow pulled the safety pin out and put it in his bag. A raised eyebrow was the fox's response. "Why are you keeping that?"

Shadow shrugged. "We could use it as a lockpick."

"Do you know how to pick locks?"

"…No."

Rolling his eyes, Miles opened the last locker. His jaw dropped at what was within it, and he suddenly felt a lot safer than he did before.

"Sweet!" he shouted with a shadow of glee in his voice, looking at the hedgehog. "There's a friggin shotgun in here!"

"What?" Shadow leaned sideways and looked into the locker. Indeed, there was a small fully loaded pump shotgun jammed into the locker, as if someone knew they'd need it and left it there for them. They couldn't believe the luck. "This should take down those nurses!"

"Yeah. Now only if we could find more ammo." Miles pulled the shotgun out of the locker. More ammo would be needed soon, but for now just having the weapon was good enough. "Come on, let's check more of this place out."

Nodding, they both exited the women's locker room and reentered the hallway. The nurse demon was hunched over at the end of the hall, where it was last time they saw it. It let out a moan and stumbled towards them. This time though, they were armed and ready. Miles raised the shotgun, aiming at the monster's torso, and squeezed the trigger. With a bang louder than that of the handgun, the nurses body was filled with led and it fell to the floor, twitching. Meanwhile, Miles dropped the gun to the floor and cried out, not expected the recoil to be as forceful as it was.

"Ooouch!" he cried, rubbing his shoulder.

The second nurse turned around the corner, not even seeming to be aware of what happened to the first one. Before Miles could pick the gun up and shoot the other one down, Shadow grabbed it and looked to the door on the opposite end of the women's locker room. He used it and ran into a second locker room, pulling Miles in right after him.

"Heeey, what was that for?"

"Might was well check the other rooms too." Shadow said, handing him the shotgun again. "Besides, no need to waste any more ammo than we need to. I get the feeling there's more than two nurses here."

Miles knew he had a point and took the gun, immediately checking the lockers in this room like in the other one. This one seemed to be the men's locker room, judging from all the pornographic photos and cut outs of women taped inside a few of the lockers. There didn't seem to be anything that could help their situation though…

"Hey Miles."

He turned back to Shadow, who was holding out a long leather belt. "Why would we need that?"

"Found this on one of the hangers over there." He pointed to where there were a few hooks on the wall, most with a jacket or something on them. "You can use this to hold the shotgun."

Looking at it, Miles noticed that might actually work if he did it right. Whoever owned the belt beforehand probably had a usual build for a human, but it was long enough to fit around his whole torso and more, since he was a bit shorter. Taking the belt, he tied it tight from his right shoulder to his left hip, sliding the shotgun in between his back and the thin leather. It worked as a sash, pinning the shotgun to his back. As long as it didn't come too loose, it should hold.

Shadow did the same with another belt and the steel pipe, looking—and feeling—rather ridiculous. At least now his hands were free, though. Miles went back to checking the lockers, while Shadow started searching the pockets of all the jackets, pants, ect. hung on the hooks on the wall. Miles came up with nothing, but Shadow once again found a key.

"What's this?" he asked. Miles looked over his shoulder and read the label on it.

'Examination Room'

"Isn't that downstairs?" Miles asked, pulling out the map. Indeed, it was.

"Let's go." Shadow said. They both ran out of the room, back into the infamous hallway. The second nurse was easier to evade than they thought. On their way out of the hallway and back down the stairway, Miles took note of the door across from the stairs they hadn't seen before labeled 'M'.

The first floor was still void of nurses—and Amy, unfortunately—so the duo walked back to the examination room, which was right next to the document room, using the key and opening the door. There didn't seem to be anything of use in there, but there was another door at the end of the room. They took that door into the Doctor's Lounge.

There was a number written on the whiteboard, along with a note. Miles shined his flashlight on it and squinted, trying to read what it said.

'Third Floor S Corridor: 72182'

Miles realized they hadn't even checked that floor yet. He figured it might be a code or something. "Shadow, could you write that number down?"

"I'm on it." Shadow said, pulling out the hospital map. Over the door to the S Corridor he wrote 72182 down with the red pen he'd gotten from the pelican's corpse. Meanwhile, Miles was examining more of the room, trying to find out if there was anything worth taking.

He found some already. In the sink—a place he had least expected to find something like it—was a box of shotgun shells. "Yes!" he grabbed the box and opened it, seeing seven shells resting within it. He turned to Shadow, who was still writing on the map. "What are you doing?"

"This place is pretty big. We should cross out the doors that are locked and the doors that aren't so we won't get lost." Shadow said matter-of-factly.

"Good thinking." Miles said, feeling even gladder Shadow was with him by the minute. This hedgehog was a bit weird, but he sure as hell wasn't stupid. Miles liked people like that.

Since every door in the first floor main hall other than the ones they'd already gone through was still locked, Miles and Shadow decided to check out more of the second floor. And they did just that, taking the door across from the stairway that lead into the M Corridor. A few nurses were in the hall, but Miles quickly tore them down with a few scattered shells from the shotgun. The hall ended at a door labeled 'N' about fifty yards away, with about six doors along the left wall. There were four doors on the right, two of which lead into some random room while the third lead to the corridor stairway, and next to that was the elevator door. All of the right doors were locked, except for the one nearest to the corridor entrance: Exam Room #3. Shadow opened that door and they stepped in.

It looked pretty much the same as the other exam room, except there wasn't any door in the back. Also notable was a single typewriter on the desk in the corner, and what looked like a briefcase right next to it. Miles and Shadow came closer to it, realizing the briefcase had a red cross on it – it was really a first aid kit. None of them were particularly wounded, but it could come in handy if they were. Shadow picked up the first aid kid and put it in his bag while Miles checked out the typewriter.

"Whoa…"

"What?" Shadow asked as he walked up to the fox and looked over his shoulder at the typewriter, which Miles was staring at.

'i know it i know the number of the lock 8 5 12 16 it cant help him anymoree the button key doest scare me so nobody can stop who i am is i am is who i am i dont know who i am is who i am is who i am who am i is who iam i am who i am is'

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Riiiight…"

"What lock?" Miles asked.

Shrugging, Shadow replied. "Maybe we'll find out soon. Better take it with us."

Nodding, Miles ripped the paper out of the typewriter, folded it, and put it in his bulging side-pack. Better safe than sorry.

As they walked out, Shadow crossed out Exam Room #3 on the map, so they wouldn't end up going back in there without any need to. Miles tried the nearest door to the Exam Room #3's door, M1, only to find it was locked. He walked down the hall, shotgun ready to shoot if anything decided to come near. The second left door was unlocked, and he pushed into M2, Shadow following close behind.

All the furniture in the room was covered in white sheets, as if the place had been closed off to the rest of the building or something. If there was anything remotely useful in there, it was underneath the clean white sheets. And neither Miles nor Shadow felt like checking it out, so they just walked back out of the room and into the M Corridor again. They continued moving farther and farther North ('Or is it South?' Miles wondered. He'd lost his sense of direction somewhere along the way), coming up with no unlocked doors until they got to the final one before the N Door: M6. The handle turned easily, and Miles and Shadow pushed into the room.

The radio static reacted to the nurses in the room two seconds too late. The nurse to Shadow's immediate left raised the pipe and smacked the poor hedgehog over the head with it.

"Shadow!" Miles cried, looking at the nurse in shock that he hadn't reacted fast enough. Before he could raise the shotgun to shoot the monster down, the nurse behind him hit him over the back of the head with another pipe, causing him to fall to the floor, joining Shadow. "Ahhh!!"

Shaking his head, Shadow looked up to see the nurse standing over him—and right up its short skirt to see something that he could of lived without noticing. The nurse raised the pipe to bring it down on his head again, but he pulled his steel pipe out just in time to block her attack with it. He stumbled up, only to be hit over the head by another attack once again. He fell back to the floor, crying out in pain.

Meanwhile, Miles rolled out of the way of his own respective enemy's attack, in a similar way to how he had dodged Pyramid Head before. Except the nurses moved a lot more controllably and faster than that monster could. It kicked him in the ribs, causing him to cry out again. The nurse raised the pipe over its head and was about to jab him in the stomach with the metal—surely knocking the wind out of him if not cutting a hole into his body—until he quickly grabbed the shotgun he dropped, pointed upwards, and pulled the trigger. The recoil sent another sharp pain into his arm, but the result of the blast pleased him enough. The nurse's chest exploded, sending sprinkles of blood everywhere, and it fell to the floor, spazming out before dying like the monsters before it.

"Gaaaah!" he heard Shadow cry out and looked to see the second nurse hit the hedgehog in the back as he was trying to get up, knocking him back down.

"No!" Miles aimed the shotgun and squeezed the trigger, hearing only the click of the empty chamber. "Damnit!"

As if it finally heard him, the nurse spun around and jabbed him in the left arm. Miles clutched his arm and shrieked, dropping the shotgun to the floor again and almost stumbling over. The nurse demon was about to attack again when suddenly its skull caved in, the top of its head being replaced by a long steel pipe. It fell to the floor, spazming like they all did, and died. Shadow stood in the nurses place, pipe in hand.

"Jesus." Miles rubbed his arm, which was throbbing in sync with the back of his head.

"You said it—" Shadow wasn't able to finish, falling over in a world of pain.

"Shadow! Are you alright?" Miles kneeled down and looked down at the beaten hedgehog, seeing some blood forming at the back of his spiky head.

"Ugnn…" Shadow moaned.

"Please tell me you're okay…" Miles placed Shadow's head in his lap, rubbing the back and ignoring how the hedgehog's spikes were slightly cutting into his thigh.

"Miles…" Shadow moaned once again, blinking slightly.

"I'm sorry; I should have done better in protecting you…"

Reaching for Shadow's carrying bag, Miles pulled out the first aid kit they had gotten earlier and opened it, viewing the contents inside. He didn't know what the hell to do and with what, but at least he had something. "Don't worry. You'll be okay."

As the fox was trying to figure out what to do with the stuff he had—he knew he'd need to get one of the bandages and wrap it around that wound—Shadow muttered something.

"What?" Miles asked.

"This place has gotta be hell." Shadow said.

Miles nodded. "When Sonic and I came here before…it was so different from it was now…sunny, quiet…everyone was so nice."

"Why were you here anyway?" the hedgehog mumbled, clutching his bruised arm. It hurt a lot, but having a conversation might help a little, if anything.

"We came here for a vacation." Miles said, a distant look on his face. "Stayed for a few weeks…it was great. Sonic especially loved this place. We rented a room in that hotel…"

"Sound like you and Sonic had a nice time here in this town." Shadow said, smiling weakly. "I wish I could remember what it was like before all this."

There was a long pause, the only sound being that of Miles fumbling through the first aid kit. Eventually he found what he needed and began to patch up the back of Shadow's head. That was when he asked "If you lived here in the past and have amnesia or something, then you'd get your memory back eventually, right?"

"I hope so."

A short while later, Miles was finished working on the wound and helped Shadow up. He almost seemed to stumble up, but managed to keep his balance. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Shadow said, clutching his arm. "It doesn't hurt much anymore."

From the look on his face, Miles instantly knew he was lying. But that was okay, Shadow was obviously trying to make him stop worrying. It was probably best to just do what he wanted. "Alright."

Picking up the shotgun, Miles reloaded it with the shells he had found in the doctors lounge. Only seven shells left – they'd need to find Amy fast if they hoped to make it out in one piece. He picked up Shadow's bag—best not to make the weakened hedgehog carry too much—and gestured for the hedgehog to grab the pipe. Shadow did just that, and nodded. It was time to check the third floor.

"You ready?" Miles asked.

"Yes." Shadow smiled. Miles felt a strange but strong comfort in that smile, and that feeling of gladness hit him once again. Had Shadow not been with him, he surely wouldn't have been in as much of a good state of mind as he was in right now.

Smiling back, Miles turned and walked out of the room and back into the M Corridor.