Chapter 4: The Enemy
Kim's eyes slowly flickered open, she felt disorientated. She lay across two seats in a large waiting area, with a reception directly across from her. Various plants were scattered around both the reception and waiting area to brighten the place up. A dull light filtered through the frosted glass windows of double-doors, looking around Kim instantly recognised her surroundings as a hospital.
"Ron?" she called out into the empty hallways, only an echo replied. The teen got to her feet and slowly walked over to the reception desk, she leaned over the wooden desktop. "Hello" she called but was once again confronted with nothing but silence. 'What the hell is going on? Hospitals don't close, ever. How did I get here?' Kim pondered, unable to get rid of the nagging feeling that she was somehow being watched. Starting to become a little unsettled with the empty halls she turned and tugged at the main doors, they began to move inwards then stubbornly jerked to a stop. Kim tried again, pulling harder but with no success.
Kim let a sigh escape her lips, she was here to stay for a while. The slim, athletic figure moved almost silently down a corridor on the first floor, checking in the various rooms to her left and right as she went. There was nothing special, a directors room, a kitchen, toilets, a figure flashed by behind Kim, she quickly turned around. "Hello!" she shouted, as desperation began to creep into her voice. There was a sudden crash that came from behind a wooden door right at the end of the corridor. Kim jumped slightly as her eyes become transfixed on the door as she slowly approached.
Her emerald eyes grew wide as she slowly opened the door to be greeted by darkness, although the light coming from behind her filtered down the hall with revealed some steps going down to the basement level. With no light switch, or light, Kim left the door open and slowly descended the steps one by one, edging ever closer to the door at the bottom. Kim stopped, now standing on the bottom step, she reached for the door handle with her delicate hand and turned is slowly. She let go as the door slowly opened outwards with a loud creak, the lights were off down here too. More noises could be heard beyond the pale light, moans, shuffling feet. Suddenly there was a loud ear-piercing scream, that tore right through Kim. This was a bad idea.
Kim turned sharply and leaped up the steps as quickly as she could, slamming the door behind her as she reached the top. But the screaming continued, the door began to rattle as Kim jumped back defensively. Then Kim looked on in horror as the light at the opposite end of the corridor began to short out, it flickered then went off completely. However when the light went off, the daylight streaming in from the doors also went out. Now the end of the hall was in total darkness. The following light began to flicker wildly, Kim began to slowly back off looking to the window next to her. It was no use, it had a tightly joined metal grate over the windows, Kim looked around desperately for a way out as the second light exploded.
Kim could hear more strange noises getting closer and louder, there was an evil cackle as the third light began to fail, there were only five in the hallway. Kim turned and desperately hammered her fist on the button for the elevator behind her, but it wouldn't work. Kim looked around frantically for any way out as the third light fell into darkness, and the fourth light began to buzz and struggle. In a last ditch attempt, Kim picked up a chair and hurled it with all her strength at the window, praying it would crack or bend the metal protection. But it merely cracked the glass and bounced back at Kim. The light went off.
Kim stood under the only light, shaking with fear. She could hear voices now, and as she looked at the blackness she caught the odd figure, the light she was seeking refuge under began to flicker. Kim backed up against the wall, and fear overwhelmed her as she began to break down and cry, sliding to the floor and bringing her knees to her chest. Finally the light gave way to the dark.
Kim awoke in exactly the same place she had fell to the floor, but she couldn't see a thing. She pulled out the Kimmunicator and used it as a torch as light beamed from the screen. Far from the clean hallway she was once in, Kim was now in a very different place. The once-tiled floor was now black and rotting, as were the walls. In some places it had totally rotted away leaving some sort of metal-grated fencing behind it, the stench of blood wafted through the hallway. The smell of it made Kim feel physically ill. She got to her feet and slowly approached the elevator again, she cautiously pressed the call button and to her surprise the decrepit door opened.
Kim peered inside, it sure as hell didn't look safe but it was a better option than facing god knows what down here. She stepped inside and glanced at the floors, deciding to go to the third floor to get to the roof. Upon pressing the button the doors slammed shut and Kim stumbled as the lift suddenly jerked upwards, moments later a bell rang indicating she had reached the third floor. As the doors opened Kim heard a woman's scream for help, the voice seemed somewhat familiar. She charged down the hallway, having to make sure to stay on the metal flooring, as on this floor some for the metal plating had fallen away completely, leaving just the pipes which ran throughout the building.
Kim got to the door where she could hear something going on inside. The same woman's voice could be heard.
"I'm not gonna ask you again. Let me go before I rip your damn throat out!" came a venomous voice. Kim's eyes went wide with shock when she realised just who it was, she kicked the door open to see a very familiar person strung up against the wall, hanging a foot off the floor. A doctor examined the woman's curvy body with a gleam in his eye as he wielded a large knife and began to press it to her stomach. Suddenly a foot struck the doc straight in the temple, knocking him to the floor. He was almost as white as his lab coat, as well has blood pouring from his mouth. In fact, Kim could safely conclude that this guy wasn't human.
He or it, wasn't dead, or even unconscious from the blow to the head. The doctor began to get to his feet as Kim narrowed her eyes on her target, as the thing stumbled to it's feet, Kim launched a vicious kick to his torso followed by a powerful uppercut to his nose. The force was so great that the doctors nose snapped and also was drilled straight up into the brain. Blood poured from the nose as it collapsed to the floor. Kim turned back to see the green and black clad raven-haired women who she had just saved.
- - -
Ron slowly opened his eyes, he sat up slowly rubbing them, feeling weary. Ron could barely see anything it was so dark, thankfully he still had that spare Kimmunicator that Wade had sent him by mail in case of emergencies. He used it as a torch to look around the room, there was a coffee table right in front of him with a sofa on the other side. It was identical to the one he was sitting on, except for that the room was rather unremarkable. The blond got to his feet and walked casually over to the door and opened it.
Ron was a little surprised to see a small reception when he walked out, from the small room he woke up in he was under the impression he was in a house of some kind. Maybe someone had rescued him from those things. 'Oh my God! Kim!' the thought suddenly struck him that his best friend could be badly hurt…or worse. He quickly spotted a telephone behind the reception desk and picked up the receiver, but there was no dial tone. Ron slammed the phone down in anger. "Great" he muttered to himself, he turned and walked into the spacious empty corridor "Hey, anyone here!" he shouted.
Nothing but silence, his footsteps echoed through the varnished wooden hall. Overhead lights were switched off, Ron tried flicking a switch on the wall, but nothing happened. "Power must be out" he stated to himself as he came to two sets of wooded double doors either side of him. He turned and opened the doors to his left, he was instantly greeted with a blast of cold air and snow. Ron slowly edged outside and down two steps into what seemed to be a courtyard, a path lead into the darkness. Ron's ears pricked at a low grunting noise coming from up ahead, it got louder and closer as Ron froze on the spot.
Out of the snow and fog a creature emerged, identical to the ones that attacked Kim, himself and Harry earlier. It's long claws hung down by it's side as it began to approach the heroic teenager, never one to wait around Ron turned and ran back through the double doors and leaned against them to stop whatever it was getting in. The door rattled for a few moments and then stopped, Ron suspiciously began to back away from the door when suddenly a claw smashed into the door, causing the wood to splinter outwards towards Ron.
Seeing no other options, Ron turned and went though the doors behind him and into a large passageway. Various photos and posters hung on the walls, most of the posters had been made here and were rather messy. Ron concluded that his had to be a school, probably an elementary school. There were a pair of doors leading outside, Ron peered through the glass windows in the doors to see if there were any more monsters lurking. Satisfied that the coast was clear he slowly opened the door, outside there was an eerie calm about the place. The whole town was in total darkness, no streetlamps were on, and there wasn't a breath of wind as the snow floated down in increasing density.
From nowhere a dog launched out of the darkness at Ron, had it been anyone else, they would have had their throat ripped out. But years of taking on super villains had quickened Ron's reflexes as he instinctively moved his body to the side as the dog smashed off the window. He turned and locked the door, the dog went berserk in it's desperate attempts to gain entry and kill the teenage boy. Ron could see the glass wouldn't hold, it was either fight the dog or take his chances with those zombie-like creatures.
Ron chose the latter, just in time as the dog burst through the glass and charged at Ron, just as it had his ankle in striking distance a heavy wooden door slammed shut into the creatures face. From beyond the door Ron heard a yelp, the only sign of the dog's previous identity. He didn't have time to rest as two creatures were instantly on his case. Thankfully the zombie creatures were very slow and Ron nimbly dodged their attacks, just now did Ron notice the ears on top of their heads and how much these creatures resembled the general childhood 'teddy bear' toy. He finally found refuge in the next room, he instantly locked the door and sat on what looked like a hospital bed. A quick look around the room and he saw bandages, alcohol and other medicine equipment.
For now, Ron was trapped, he began to take in all that he'd seen so far, wondered if Harry and Kim were still alive, and how he was going to escape and find them both.
NOTE: Originally this was intended to be a two-part chapter, but since the other chapters are so short I decided to put them together.