Chapter 28
In the dark, Ashley resisted Tina’s tug. They had been behind the wooden board for just a minute since Ron left. Ashley didn’t want to run into him.
“The janitor wanted to look here,” worried Tina. “I don’t want him to find us. We have to try for an elevator.”
Ashley moved out from behind the board and walked with Tina to the bar of light underneath the storage room's door. “If we find a phone, let’s stop. Jeff gave me his number for emergencies.”
“Good,” she agreed. “Then he can call the police and my dad, and we’ll find out what they were doing to us.”
Images of Jeff, Laura, and Pixie in her bedroom flashed through her mind, and she hoped they hadn’t been hurt as well. The shadows could have attacked them. Perhaps Ashley was the only survivor. This thought made her feel terrible. She prayed with all her heart that they were okay and taking care of little Pixie.
Tina paused by the door, probably listening for movement outside, and then she opened it without making a sound.
The hallway was bright white. The long line of fluorescent lights down the center of the ceiling reflected against the white walls and absorbed into the deep blue floor.
“Let’s hope the staff are on another level,” she whispered, as she motioned with her hand for Ashley to follow.
They walked on their tippy-toes to make the least noise, heading toward a red sign hanging from the ceiling indicating an exit.
Somewhere around one of the bends in the hall, a door snapped shut or open—Ashley couldn’t tell which. Wheels squeaked as though a cart was being pushed. Tina gasped and dove into the nearest room. Ashley was right behind her and closed the door.
This room had two people asleep on the same type of bed arrangement as the others. Someone had left on the lamp on the nightstand. She walked over to turn it off, glancing at the man in the bed to her right before pulling the lamp chain.
His face was familiar. At first she couldn’t or didn’t want to recognize him, but as her shock thinned, awareness hit.
Jeff!
She couldn’t believe it. She had to get Tina to confirm it. But as she turned, she saw Tina already beside her, mouth hanging open.
An IV line—evidently up to no good—dripped clear liquid into his veins.
The word barely escaped her lips, “No.”
This was horrible. He was supposed to be safe in her bedroom taking care of Pixie. She prayed he hadn’t been hurt worse than herself.
“But he couldn’t see the monsters,” Tina said. “They don’t attack people who can’t see them.”
Ashley turned to the other bed and gasped. Laura was lying on her back in deep sleep.
“Did they get bitten too?”
Ashley worried, “They were supposed to be rescuing us.”
Tina said nothing, but kept goggling at Jeff. She reached out and touched his face, as though trying to make sure he was real.
Ashley began to cry. “Where are we? What is this place?”
“It’s going to be okay,” Tina said tenderly, putting a hand on Ashley’s shoulder. “Maybe we’re all sick. Maybe we got bitten, and we’re getting better.”
Everything was wrong. The least of which, Ashley was supposed to be comforting Tina. “What do they want with us?” She felt like screaming, but controlled herself. A loud noise would alert the staff.
Tina pulled on Jeff’s hand, trying to wake him. She slapped his wrist. But he remained asleep. Was he hurt so badly he was in a coma?
She felt to blame. She should have had the courage to rescue Tina by herself rather than risk the lives of good people. “What do we do?” she said meekly.
“Maybe we should pull the IVs out.”
“What if they need them?” She didn’t want anything else bad to happen to Laura and Jeff. She had caused them enough trouble. “We don’t know what’s in the liquid.”
“Yeah,” Tina agreed without conviction, “it could be an antidote or anti-venom.”
Ashley nodded.
“But we pulled them out of our arms and nothing happened.”
“We were awake. Maybe we’re done with the treatment.”
“What if it’s a sleeping drug?”
“What for?”
Tina looked at the foot of the bed. There was a chart hanging on a hook. She slid it off and began reading. Ashley looked over the girl’s shoulder.
Jeff Holloway’s name was typed at the top. Below were handwritten numbers in boxes that didn’t make sense to her. Tina flipped the page over to the next. This one was a typed history of Jeff’s childhood, career, family, and schooling. Tina flipped to the next page, more handwritten numbers that made no sense.
Tina said, “I don’t see any poisons or diseases yet.”
Ashley reached over and flipped the page.
Some footsteps began clapping down the hallway.
Tina put the chart back, and they headed for the bathroom.
But the door to their room opened before they could hide. A woman’s head poked in. “Hey!”
The bathroom was a trap now. They needed to go to the door leading to the adjacent room.
The woman, black hair pulled tight into a braided pony tail, dressed in a white lab-coat, white pants, and blue tennis shoes—the same color as the floor—walked to them with the simple order, “Stop.”
Ashley was already trying the knob of the other door. Locked. Key? Where? Scanning the room, she discovered no key lying around. She searched for something, anything. The room seemed to shrink as the woman grabbed Ashley’s arm.
A dark-skinned Hispanic man entered from the hall next, with the same white clothing and blue tennis shoes, but he held a shot full of clear liquid. She didn’t like this. She hadn’t asked for a shot.
She shook her arm loose from the woman.
The Hispanic man called, “Ron, over here.”
The same man from the janitor’s storage room—Ronald Burns, with the acne scarred face, brown janitorial uniform, and short brown hair—appeared in the doorframe with the white-clothed man. Ron held no shot, but scared her more than anyone else. His eyes ran down her body, stealing curves he shouldn’t.
She felt naked in the loose hospital gown which reached to only the tops of her knees, and she tried pulling it down further to conceal more of her legs.
“What are you doing to us?” she demanded from the woman.
“You and Tina are sick. We’re trying to help.”
The janitor’s eyes rose to Ashley’s breasts and stayed there as he licked his lower lip. Although concealed by the gown, she placed one arm around her chest anyways and held Tina’s hand with her other hand. It was all she could do. She was here to save Tina, but was failing. She didn’t know what was happening to them.
Tears stood in Tina’s eyes.
“What do we have?” Ashley asked the woman.
“Let’s just calm down.”
“Tell us.”
“We only want to give you girls medicine to help.”
“What medicine?”
“Medicine to fight your illness. You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re both going to …” and the woman and Hispanic man exchanged glances, "… die if you don’t get your meds.”
The man moved closer with the needle held high. “It won’t hurt but for a second.”
“But how come I feel fine?” Ashley protested. “Tina, do you feel good?”
She replied, “Great.”
“Why was I handcuffed to the bed?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” the woman scolded.
“Try me.”
Without looking away from Ashley, the janitor entered and closed the door to the hall. He stood guard in front of it, leaning toward her, sweat beading his face. His hazel eyes locked onto hers, gleaming with hunger. Who was he? Why was he so interested in her?
The woman shuffled closer and gripped Ashley’s arm. “My name is Corinne. I’m here to help.”
She didn’t understand the reason for guarding the exit if she and Tina were voluntary patients. She pulled her arm away and backed up with Tina, all the way to the corner of the room by the window. “Did the shadows bite us? Are we … infected?”
“Shadows? Ummm … I think you need to calm down, Ashley. Let us help you.”
“This isn’t right.”
“We don’t want your help,” Tina added. “We want to get our friends and leave.”
Corinne looked at Tina. “That would be a big mistake, little girl. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
“Don’t call her little girl,” Ashley defended, holding Tina’s hand tighter.
Anger lit Corinne’s ears red. Two arteries in her neck throbbed.
Ashley tried opening the window, but there were no handles. She banged on the glass with her free fist, trying to break it. Her hand numbed from the effort.
Corinne rushed Ashley, grabbing both of her arms. Ashley tried to fight and pull free, but the woman was stronger. The man moved closer with the needle posed, ready to inject whatever was in it. Why would they be doing this if they were only trying to help? It didn’t make sense.
She twisted and tried to use all her 105 pounds to shake loose of Corinne, while Tina kicked the woman in the shins. Ashley finally got one arm free and punched Corinne in the gut and twisted completely out of her grasp, but then the man grabbed Ashley and drove her against the wall, sticking the needle into her left arm.
A burning sensation filled the area around the puncture while the man pushed in the plunger. A small drop of blood squeezed out around the needle.
The room brightened as she heard Tina crying. Then everything turned blurry, dark, and disappeared.