Institution Hospital
As told by #7:
I awaken alone on cold concrete as a buzzing sounds from a corner and a sliver of light appears through a door that creaks open. I recoil, expecting pain or unpleasantness, but nothing happens. I carefully push the door open and peak out. I find a blank hallawy painted a bright white with 5 other doors in them, numbered 65, 92, 102, 687 and 1007 (mine is 7). A man emerges from 65, and women from 92 and 1007. 102 and 687 remain cracked. The man goes into the two unopened rooms and closes 687 when he comes back out. At the far end of the hall there is a door that's been partially forced open with a crowbar, the other end is blank except for a camera up in a corner. The woman from 1007 goes to that door and forces it the rest of the way open with a crowbar and then walks into the area beyond. The other woman follows here in. The man goes back into 102 and starts talking to someone about witches and guilty and then comes back out, closes the door, and then leaves the hall into the area beyond.
I follow and peak around the corner, seeing an empty room with doors leading out ahead, showing an enclosed office area with shattered windows and an elevator. To the left and right are sliding glass doors showing similar halls. The rooms one the left show 2, 32, 78, 103, 2006, 3303, and the right holds a group of people all huddled together. The people from my hall rummage around in the office space and the man appears to find some gum and begins chewing it, complaining about being unable to tell what brand it is. [An image flashes through my head of watching a drug deal go down from a darkened street corner. But no, that's crazy. I've never been around things like that.] Woman 1007 pushes a button to open the door to the hall with people in it and the man goes into it and starts talking to the group in there, eventually leading them out to where the office is. The elevator dings and the door opens to show a man in it, who waves and invites people in. Woman 1007, the man and half of the group gets on and leaves. Woman 92 and the other half of the group stay behind, and the PA crackles to life and says, "Dr. Unger. Paging Dr. Unger. Please come to the front desk."
I creep up to the door leading to the office/elevator. There's a smear of red against the left wall and an overturned chair on the ground. I take off my shirt and wrap it around my fist. Woman 92 goes to the office and begins looking around, while the group breaks up, with one staying to push the elevator button in a mechanical manner. One goes to bug Woman 92, the other sees me and starts harassing me about being one of them. I try to threaten her [Remembering having to defend myself against bullys on the playground, but no, I never got in fights], but she ignores me and advances on me. I retreat back into their hall and hide in one of the cells. She follows me in and I push her further in and then dart out, shutting the door behind me and trapping her inside. [I remember a teacher catching me with a notecard I had written the answers to a test to and talking her out of what she actually saw. But that's only half true. I did sneak that card into the test, but I didn't talk my way out of it.] I note the numbers on the doors in this hall: 01, 23, 67, 76, 632, 802, then go back to the door into the office/elevator room. As I check around the corner, Woman 92 sees me and tries to wave me in. I consider, then glare at the other two freaks and shake my head, "No", and go back around the corner.
We wait for a while, and the elevator finally comes back (crazy valet included). The two freaks get on and the doors close again and it whirs away. Woman 92 goes up to the elevator and pushes the button. I decide she's trustworthy, so I walk in, inspect the office, then upright the chair and sit on it. I tell the woman I think she's trustworthy. After a short wait, the elevator comes back with 65 and 1007, along with one of the freaks and the valet. The freak is covered in blood and some kind of slime and looks to have got some of it on 65. I exchange a look with 92 and say, "Ah hell, no!" I ask 1007 what floor they went to and she say, "D". I tell them I'll take the next elevator and won't go to floor D. 92 decides to wait as well but looks exasperated. She pushes the elevator button again.
We wait again, but not for very long before the elevator comes back, sans everyone but the valet, but there's a new splash of fresh blood up against the back wall. I question the valet, but he doesn't remember what floor it was on and says he stays on the elevator because it's safer. After inspecting it some, I get in. Woman 92 pushes the button for floor G and off we go. But to floor B. Which was up, and apparently we had all been on floor E. As the door opens, I flatten up against the side and suck in my chest as best I can. I hear someone address Woman 92 and ask her to help them get into the Doctor's office or to talk the Doctor out of it. I wait until I hear her going through a door and then get close to the ground and scuttle inside, dodging into a bathroom that's next to the elevator. [I played "Assassination" at college, trying to be sneaky while hunting my target. But no, I never did actually join that game.] I find a man inside washing his hands. He doesn't turn around, but says something about being dirty and unable to get clean; can't get clean once you're dirty. I cautiously edge around him, trying to stay out of sight of the mirror and get into one of the stalls and finally relieve myself. I stay as quiet about it as possible. Once I'm done, I flush and step out. I see a first aid kit on the wall and sneak back around the man (who's still washing his hands) and empty the first aid kit into my shirt (which I've unwrapped from my hand and tied off the bottom to make a sack). I crack open the bathroom door and peek into the office area and see Woman 92 charging back towards me with a shotgun in her hand, and a group of men trashing an office, screaming about a "Dr. Fuchs." I freeze for a moment, then decide to stick it out and dodge back into the elevator. Woman 92 jumps back in and I hit the button for floor A and the doors close again. I stay flattened against the wall and try not to eye or provoke Woman 92. I wonder where we'll end up this time.
Woman 92 holds out the shotgun to me. I'm pretty sure she's offering it to me, but after some consideration, I don't think it's a good idea to have it. So I shake my head, and she props it up in the corner next to me and indicates I should keep an eye on it. As she steps back, the doors ding open, and believe it or not, we're at the floor we wanted. I flatten myself up to the side again, and I hear someone tell Woman 92 to, "Come on in", in what seems to be a friendly voice. I also hear what seems to be like children singing and playing. Woman 92 goes out and the someone asks her if she brought it. Then clarifies that she was supposed to bring food from "upstairs". There's a pause, and then I hear the man say, "OK, I'm going to need to to lie down on the floor." Another pause, then, "I'm going to please need you to get on the ground." I stay hidden in the elevator and hear a smack of flesh against something hard followed by a pained grunt, then another smack and the elevators doors begin to close. I sneak a hand out to keep it open, and Woman 92 gets back onto the elevator carrying two pistols. I goggle a little at her and ask "What is it with her and the guns?" She shrugs and mumbles that, "Better her then them." I ask her if she knows who "They" are, but she doesn't. Despite having pushed the G button, we go down to floor C.
The doors open and I hear who I think is Woman 1007 say, "Oh hey, you guys finally got off the floor." Then gunfire starts echoing from somewhere further away on the floor. Woman 1007 starts asking someone else something, has a short conversation, and then she and Man 65 get on the elevator. Floor G is pushed again and we finally make it there.
The doors open and suddenly there's shouting, Woman 1007 shoots someone which brings on screaming and Man 65 rushes out and starts demanding peoples' pants. Woman 1007 starts talking to someone and demands to know where we are (apparently a hospital). Someone named Alan got shot and someone else named Frank is trying to convince Woman 1007 that she needs help. Woman 1007 raves about how it's terrible here and the Verbs and Adjectives are shooting each other and there are mouths on walls. Woman 92 talks with Frank and refuses to hand over the gun, and eventually Frank offers to let her tie him up and stay out of the way. Woman 1007 is talking with him when there's suddenly a fleshy smack and then silence. Woman 1007 yells out why did he kill Frank, and an unknown man's voice starts ranting about how the doctors are just here to cause pain and hurt us, and how he's going to cause pain to them. Woman 1007 tells him there's more doctors downstairs and he should get in the elevator and go down to them. I grab my first aid sack and bolt out of the elevator and dive behind a row of lockers I see to my right. I hear a what sounds like someone getting punched followed by gunfire, a screech of metal on metal, more gunfire, then a thud and lightly scraping of metal on something. Probably concrete.
There's a rush of feet, then silence. I quietly go through the lockers nearby. {I remember the one time I lost my car keys and ended up having to turn the whole apartment upside down. I couldn't believe they ended up being in the bottom of a box in my other closet.} I found some shoes, jeans & t-shirts that fit me, and a backpack that I stuff my first aid sack into. I also find cell phones, but all of them are like listening onto a conversation. Conversations that make no sense. One is set onto a map at street-level view centered on a place in Tacoma, WA. None of them can be interacted with to actually make a phone call. I look around the corner and see a body on the ground dressed in a white uniform surrounded by a pool of blood. As I slowly inch my way forward I see another body on the ground between the rows of lockers with an ax (is it in his hand or is that his hand!?!?) and the side of his head splattered around him. He doesn't have much blood around him. There's noise of general activity coming through the door next to me, and I peek inside it.
I see Woman 1007 pulling a fleshy softball off of the wall trailing a goopy rope (oh my god is that an eye!?!?!) and a kitchenette/breakroom. I steer clear of her and inspect the fridge. I pillage a selection of meals and drinks from it after sniffing them for freshness, then turn to go check the door to the right of where I came in, then change my mind and go check out the door to the left. It turns out to be a shower room, and after inspecting my appearance in the mirror I decide I need a bath, several large meals and a week of sleep. As I head towards the showers I hear one come on. I stop, then creep forward and peek around the corner to see a naked man standing under a stream of water that is emitting a large amount of steam. He looks at me and says, "I don't judge. I don't judge. I don't judge" and continues to repeat it as I slowly back away. I hear the shower turn off as I reach the door, and I head out the other door to find yet two more doors, one for an elevator and one labeled "Stairs". I push the elevator button and see that it's more of a proper elevator, with labels and the like, going to floors G, 1 and 2. I get in and go to 2 and find a long hallway with a door to the stairs next to me, a line of cells on the left (but with names on them) and a secured window on the right showing a snowy cityscape.
I walk down the hall to the other door at the end and go through. I find myself on a mezzanine over a reception area and see 65 and 92 walking towards the exits. "HOSPITAL" is emblazoned on the wall behind the receptionist. I see another set of stairs on the far side and head over down them and go to the receptionist. I tell her that my nephew is being treated by Dr. Unger and ask if he's in. {That bush was totally growing in front of the Stop sign and you couldn't see it as you made the sharp left. And the policeman was decent enough to agree to it.} She tells me that he is and that I can find him in the Metaphysics department. As I'm inspecting the map on the wall, an alarm goes off stating "False Alarm! False Alarm! This is a False Alarm!" Everyone is startled and starts rushing for the exits, so I decide to follow and end up standing with the crowd in the parking lot. It doesn't seem all that cold out here. I listen in to the crowd and find them to be talking rather strange. {I like to listen to the breakroom chatter at work when I eat lunch. Just getting a feeling for what's going on.} Nothing with any feeling or spark behind it. Just chatter with completely generic statements. I start noticing snowballs being thrown our way and see Woman 1007 throwing snowballs at us. But some of the crowd doesn't react normally. It's like they don't even notice. Eventually the alarm cuts off and everything starts to go white. First the world outside disappears, then the people and hospital grounds, and finally the other numbers I'd escaped with.
I just woke up in my own bed, shaking a little from a very strange dream. A dream of a bizarre mental hospital and 3 people who seemed to be the same as me. I don't think this is a normal dream, and I think I need to find these people, whoever they really are.
