A Life Internal - A Fable
Part 3
"Hello?" William Blake's flashlight beam danced through the long hallway, searching for a source to the scuffling sound he thought he had just heard. The illumination revealed no more than the dilapidated walls of the seemingly abandoned hospital. He forced himself to remain calm, repeating over and over in his mind that there was nothing here other than a spooky old building and hopefully a little girl carrying a lot of money that she would soon be relieved of.
Most of the doors he passed seemed to have broken latches or were blocked on the other side as no matter how hard he pushed or pulled they remained closed. He had begun to pass the third such door as he heard a creaking sound and it opened slightly. Blake stared at its narrow opening for several moments, almost expecting someone to come out. He was unsure if he should be relieved or unnerved by the lack thereof as he pushed lightly on the previously sealed door with the butt of the flashlight. At the pressure the door creaked open further, revealing the darkened room behind it. He opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside, the beam of the flashlight followed his field of vision as he scanned over the contents of the room. At one point it was probably a common room of sorts. A television, screen blackened with dirt and dust, sat in one corner. The rest of the room was lightly furnished: there was a couch, a few recliners, a bookshelf holding several dust covered volumes, and a wooden cabinet with its doors closed and a rusted lock holding a chain that secured it closed. As he took a second step into the room, he started and dropped his flashlight at a loud metallic clattering sound at his feet. He scrambled for the fallen light and shined it on the spot near where he was standing. The light reflected off of the polished surface of the .38 revolver, its obvious good condition a contradiction to the rest of his surroundings. Cautiously he picked it up, feeling its weight in his right hand as he examined it with the flashlight with his left. The short firearms course he had taken years ago at his local gun club began to slowly come back to him. Though he was by no means an expert, he at least knew some basics. The cylinder was loaded with 5 shells, the sixth was merely a casing and was warm to the touch as was the barrel. William shook his head, dispelling the notion that it was almost as if it had been fired recently. Surely he would have heard gunfire?
The weapon was at least a small comfort to him, some protection was better than none of course. But as he turned from the room another sound from within it brought a lump to his throat. This one, a scraping sound, he could not locate with the flashlight. His trembling hand pointed the revolver around nervously as he listened again. Several moments of silence passed, and then, there it was again. This time he could tell, it was coming from the closed cabinet on the other side of the room. With shaking hands and raspy breath he approached the cabinet cautiously, the sound continued on the other side of its doors, gradually growing louder. The chains clinked and clanked as the doors they bound moved from whatever was scraping against them. He was close now, five steps away, when he heard another sound. He glanced over to see the television in the corner had come on, filling its screen and shoddy speaker with white noise. The sound of static grew louder as did the sounds within the cabinet. The terror swelling within him grew as his shaking hand reached out for the lock securing the cabinet. Its aged, rusted metal broke off in his hand and the cabinet doors opened from the pressure against them. With a sickly thump a corpse fell from the cabinet and onto the floor, at its impact the television again went silent and William's heart leaped to his throat.
Gradually he calmed himself, and let the lightbeam fall onto the nude body that lie before him. It almost didn't look human; its flesh blackened and oily and a large tumor like growth was on its back. He kneeled down to look closer at it, and distantly he could hear the static of the television again. It started very soft, but grew in volume until the sound was nearly deafening, though he ceased to notice the sound as his attention was drawn by a movement on the body. The growth on its back seemed to pulse once, then again, then it began doing so with a rhythm that resembled a heartbeat. William began crawling backwards across the floor away from the body. He raised the gun at it as the rest of it began moving. It pushed itself to its feet, and with a moan of what sounded like agony raised its head and looked directly at him. Or at least that's what it seemed, for all Blake could see, the creature had no face. There was only the twisted, decayed-looking flesh covering its head. It began to shamble towards him with slow movements, its feet moving clumsily one in front of the other. As it grew nearer the large growth on its back seemed to deflate as long bony spikes erupted through its flesh on the front of its torso. Blake could no longer withhold the scream of terror and as it erupted through his lungs, he opened fire. The bullets tore through the creature, red splashes announced each one's entry into its body. It let loose another agonizing cry and collapsed again to the floor. The room went silent again except for the clicking of the empty pistol as William pulled the trigger again and again, staring blankly at the lump on the floor. He stood, still dazed but enough of him returning to realize the gun empty, and began stomping on the beast, his shoes tearing more holes in its wounded body. He fell again to the ground, panting heavily from exhaustion and covered in blood from the corpse in front of him. "What the fuck....what the fuck....what the fuck...." He repeated these words like a mantra to himself as he stared at it. "Jesus...sweet Jesus...what the fuck...."
What seemed like hours passed before he was able to regain enough of his composure to stand and leave the room. He pocketed the empty pistol as he came back out to the hallway anc closed the door behind him without looking back. "What the fuck is this place?" He leaned against the wall for a moment and took a deep breath. He forced himself to put one foot in front of the other and continue further into the hospital, now more frightened than ever of what may await him in the illuminated room he had seen from outside.
To be continued...