"Oh, my God, it's worked!" Faith said, studying me with wide eyes.
"I know!" It's so weird," I said, turning back to the mirror.
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering came from the back supply closet.
"What the…" Faith began.
"I'm going to check it out," I started for the back of the lab, "Something's not right."
"Okay. I'll be right there. I'm going to go get a flash light," Faith said, starting for the crash room.
I opened the door, trying to ignore the voice in the back of my head that was screaming at me to turn and run.
The small room was dark, except for the glow from the street light coming in through the broken window.
I made my way to the back.
Danger! Get out! NOW!
There was no denying my instincts this time.
I turned to run but stopped short. There was a dark figure blocking my only escape route.
Exley.
And he had a pipe.
He swung at me with full force, but I ducked, the pipe smashing into a cardboard bow, shattering its contents.
All of a sudden, I heard the sound of something cutting through the air. In an instant, there was an unbearable pressure on the right side of my head. Shadows began gathering around the edges of my vision.
I lost all control, my whole body going numb. The room began to spin and I fell into a pile of boxes as everything went black.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
I opened my eyes a tiny bit, the pressure in my head still present. I winced and shut them again.
"Guys?" I said as loud as I could, but my voice only came out as a raspy whisper.
"Oh, thank God!" I heard Faith say next to me, "You're awake!"
It was then that I felt that I was lying in some kind of bed.
"GUYS! Mercedes is awake!" She called at the top of her lungs. I whimpered, clutching my head, every word slicing through it like a dagger.
"Hey," I heard Matt say, "How're you doing?"
I cleared my throat. "Okay, I guess." I remembered my run-in with Exley in the supply room. "Did you guys find Exley?"
"What? He was here?" Mark asked, alert.
"He hit my on the head," I said, my voice normal again. I opened my eyes all the way, getting them used to the bright lights. I was in the crash room, lying on the bottom bunk. I sat up. "You mean you didn't even know he was here?"
"No, we just heard the crash and found you passed out," Faith explained.
"Did you see where he went?" Mark asked.
"Nope. While I was in the supply room, I turned around, saw him, and then it was lights-out," I said.
"But guys," Matt said, "that means he's probably still here."