chapter 3: Trapped
As michael began down the hallway toward the elevator, he stopped and remembered the emergency switch has been flipped, so the elevators are not going to be an option for him, so he is going to have to begin his descent out of this nightmare through the stairwell. As michael reaches the door to the stairwell, standing in a dim lit light of the red exit sign above the door. He hears a loud thud behind him, frightened; michael turns to see that one of the bodies hanging from a noose on the light fixtures has fallen. Relieved, michael turns back and begins heading down, and as he does, michael hears a groaning sound, coming from the man that has just fallen from the fixture. Michael looks back to see the man rising too his feet, and as the man is rising; multiples of the deceased patients throughout the corridor, begin getting to their feet. In a panic; michael slams the door to the stairwell behind him, and notices a fire hose raveled up in a wheel, michael unravels the hose, and quickly wraps it around the handle of the door and the wheel, twisting it into a secure knot, hoping it will hold long enough for him to escape, and get ahead of them. Michael rushes down the stairs; to find that the stairs leading to the 14th floor have been completely barricaded, with desks, chairs, filing cabinets and splintered pieces of broken wood. Having no way down, michael realizes that, he is going to have to try the stairway on the other side of the building, hoping that it is clear of debris and patients, so that he can get out of this madness. As michael approaches the door to 15th floor, he hears crying that sounds, like a woman on the other side of the door. Not wanting to frighten her; michael slowly opens the door, but as he does, it squeaks with a high pitch; qriiiick, michael sees a nurse; in a panic, the nurse looks up at michael, terrified realizing he is a patient, and thinking he is one of them, she runs around the corner, then michael hears a door slam. Looking down the extremely long, dark hallway at the other set of stairs at the end. The entire floor looks deserted; and right as michael approaches to turn the corner to follow the nurse; the stairway door at the end of the hall flies open, slamming against the wall, piles of bloody patients, come filing through the door. Right then, michael also hears loud footsteps coming from the stairway, which he had just come down; the patients on the floor above had finally broken through his, poor attempt at slowing them down. Petrified, michael shakes off the terror, pulls himself together, and rushes to the door, where the nurse had barricaded herself. Michael tries opening the door, to find that it is locked; he then hears a muffled crying on the other side of the door. Repeating, "i don't want to die”; “i don't want to die”. Michael rushes to a large information window attached to the room. Peering into an empty darkened room, that looks empty, in a frightened scared voice, michael begins trying to convince the nurse to let him in, and that he is not one of them. Asking the nurse; if she, had heard any of them talking, instead of just groaning, and tells the nurse, that packs of them are coming down the hall after me right now, and that their going to get me. Panicking, saying “please let me in” “please let me in” (repeating), pleading with the nurse to let me him the room. Michael then hears a (click), the nurse has unlocked the door, michael opens to find a dark security guard room, full of patient files and patient information, lit only by a small flashlight in the corner, belonging to a decapitated guard, that is slumped over beside it, and with the nurse curled up under the desk. Michael grabs the nurse out, from under the desk, she screams; he asks her to help him push the desk against the door, they get the door secured, michael asks the nurse her name, and to tell him what in the hell is going on here, exactly. Crying hysterically, the nurse tells him, that her name is samantha price, and that she attends to the patients that are sick, or harm them selves, in the building, and that today is her first day on the job. Samantha then lets michael know that she has no idea, what is happening here, so michael hands her the note that he had found on the dead guard upstairs, to clear some things up for her. Samantha reads it; and says, "oh my god i had no idea that they were doing this to the patients” ”; i would've never applied to work here if i knew this was going on”. Samantha asks michael, “who are you” ”, why are you a patient here” “, and what are we going to do to get out of here”? Michael tells her his name, and then begins telling the story about his wife and daughter, and what they say, he has done. As michael is telling samantha, he begins to see samantha is growing more and more, frightened and unsecure about being alone in this room with him. Michael tries explaining to samantha, that he has no memory of what happened, or his life before it, and how it is extremely painful for him to know, that his wife and daughter are now dead. Michael lets samantha know that there is no possible way, that he could have done this, and that he was, set up for some reason. Still unsure samantha hesitates, but decides to put her trust in michael, and work together, to get out of this hell, that we are now trapped in. A somewhat calming feeling overcomes them both, knowing they are not alone in this nightmare anymore, and if they work together, and use their brains, they might just be able to get out of here, alive! Michael quickly scans the room, and beside the officer, he notices a shotgun lying on the floor, michael rushes to grab it, and checks to see if it is loaded. It is, but he notices that they are non-lethal rubber bullets, frustrated and disheartened, michael crumbles to the floor sliding down the wall; banging his head against it. Then michael hears samantha say, "hurry come here", who is now holding the flashlight, shining it at a cabinet “, i think this is an ammunition cabinet”, samantha says. However, it is locked, michael rushes back to the guard, and shuffles through his pockets, finding a key ring, with tons of keys on it. Michael hurries back over to the cabinet, and miraculously, the very first key he tries opens the cabinet. Samantha mumbles "somebody must be on our side", michael opens it, to find, two cases of rubber bullets, and two cases of live ammunition, one of them being shotgun shells, and the other handgun rounds for the hand gun; that he got off the dead guard upstairs. In addition, there is a satchel, which they can now carry useful supplies in. Relieved now feeling like rambo, michael explains that we need to sit tight, and wait for the infected patients on this floor, to clear out, or give up looking for us. As he finishes saying that, a pack of slumbering patients, begin staggering slowly by the large information window. Samantha silently squeals; as she does, michael covers her mouth with his hand, as they both curl under the desk together. Samantha drops the flashlight, it slowly begins rolling across the floor, and then the battery dies, shutting out the light. The patients have noticed the movement, and begin banging on the window, michael draws the shotgun up aiming it at them, but he notices that their struggling to get through the plexiglas window, he lowers it, thinking maybe they'll give up. With the patients now banging on the door and the window, a large, lurking, shadowy figure comes up behind the patients, picks up one of the smaller patients, and hurls him through the window, plopping it out of its frame. As they begin pouring into the room, the patient, which was thrown through the window, starts getting back to his feet, samantha fires the pistol, which michael had just handed to her, shooting the patient in the head; exploding it all over the other patients that are now climbing through the window. Michael notices a tank in the corner that looks, almost like an oxygen tank; he fires the shotgun, exploding the tank, and decimating the patients. With their body parts all over the room, and the only one left, being the big lurking figure outside the window, not being able to fit through, mike and sam remain safely inside the room, and unload all their bullets into the big creature, bringing him to a bloody end. Realizing now, that all they have left is the rubber bullets, and shaking off the extremely gruesome event, samantha and michael slide the desk from the door, and exit the room. Holding samantha’s hand slowly peeking around the corner and down the hall, michael sees that it is clear. Even though it is clear, michael is still frightened, that the explosion might have drawn some unwanted attention to them. Mike and sam run to the stairway, only to find that it is also, inaccessible and completely blocked off. They both head back to the hallway that contains the room they were just hiding in, and notice at the end of the hall, that their is a fire escape outside the window. Mike and sam rush to the window, and notice that it only leads to the floor below, the rest has collapsed and is no longer there. Samantha shaking, and extremely frightened, lets michael know; that she is afraid of heights, michael then tells her, that it will be ok, and that he will go first, and then she can follow him down, and he will cradle her as they both go down together. Samantha overcomes her fear, and they both begin their way down the ladder, reaching the window, michael peers in; and it looks empty, besides a few dead bodies of guards, doctors, and nurses sprawled about. Michael busts out the window and climbs in, turning around; michael reaches for samantha’s hand, and as soon as he grabs her hand, the ladder pops from its hinges and crashes to the ground 14 floors down.