Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 70: The Exit

Chapter 70: The Exit

Figuring out my next course of action, I continued to crawl through the ceiling.

I could see the end of my journey. The wall in front of me seemed so close I could practically touch it, but it was still a ways away.

My ears were still peeled to my surroundings. I needed to know what was going on under me so I knew what was waiting for me when I dropped down, and I would have to drop down.

Unlike the movies, there was no way for me to make my way to the roof, using only the vents. First of all, the metal was millimeters thick and would support even less weight than the ceiling tiles. Even then, I would have to get through the fans, which, while no longer working, would require a lot more work than I was prepared for.

And even if I managed to get all the way to the roof, only stupid people went up. It’s true.

When a human was scared, so something was chasing them, normally went up. It’s well documented in horror movies, but think about it... when you are being chased through the woods, the first thing someone thinks to do was climb up a tree.

We aren’t fucking squirrels; we can’t just jump from tree to tree to get rid of the predator. Instead, what we managed to do was to trap ourselves.

Even if I managed to make my way to the roof, ten stories above me right now, I would still need to find my way down the side of the building... without being seen.

Yeah, I was a firm subscriber to the philosophy ’work smarter, not harder’. So, while I would be in a vulnerable position when I dropped down, I would have the element of surprise, be right in front of the doors, and close to my car.

Finally reaching the end of my tunnel, I quietly lifted the tile under me and waited.

There were no roars or screams.

So, no one saw what I just did. Or if they did, they didn’t care about it.

I could live with that.

Slowly, I stuck my head out of the hole and looked around. Everything was dark, the lights never coming back on while I was in the ceiling, but there was enough light coming from the windows to let me see what was going on.

There must have been hundreds of... things... on the floor, covering the bodies of their victims as they ripped apart limbs.

One creature, right under me, lifted its head up and sniffed, tracking my scent.

My eyes met his... hers... its... and I looked away.

Satisfied that I wasn’t issuing a challenge, the creature went back to eating.

I should feel disgusted. A normal reaction might be to puke with the overwhelming smell of feces, urine, and blood. But I was a doctor.

I was somewhat used to it, even if it did make me wrinkle my nose.

I would fall apart when I was in a safe place to do so, but until then, I would keep my stomach contents firmly where they belonged... inside me.

I moved two tiles over and did the same thing.

I wouldn’t be directly in front of the double doors, but it was better than landing on one of the creatures.

Something told me I wouldn’t survive that.

Once again, I stuck my head out and looked around.

There was a pool of blood and intestines under me, but as long as I was careful, I shouldn’t slip on it.

Satisfied that this was my best course of action. I pulled my go bag off of my back and opened one of the smaller pockets on the side.

Pulling out two eye hooks, I started screwing them into the 2x4 next to the tile I removed.

When the hooks were in, I pulled them a bit just to make sure that they weren’t going to rip right out. Satisfied that they were in the stud firmly, I snapped the rope ladder from my office into them and let the ladder fall to the floor.

I was way too short to simply drop out of the ceiling and not injure myself.

Cursing the fact that I was not a 6-foot-tall Amazon, I started to climb down the ladder, one foot at a time.

If my hypothesis was correct and these creatures were more animal than human, sudden movement would be perceived as a threat.

Keeping my eyes diverted, I placed my foot as quietly as I could in the pile of blood.

Someone else’s blood was the least of my worries.

The creature that was under the first tile I had removed looked up at me from its kill. It clenched its teeth together, the flesh that was stuck between its teeth a brutal contrast to the whiteness of its teeth. It pulled back its lips in a silent snarl, and I quickly froze and diverted my eyes.

Standing there for a second, I waited until I could hear it going back to the body under it before taking a tentative step toward the door.

Then a second one.

By my third one, I realized that they were much too into their kills to care about me. Thank God for small mercies.

Sprinting toward the door, I ripped one open and slammed it shut behind me.

My back to the door, I panted as if I had just run a marathon.

Still no sound. No creature attempted to open the door behind me, nothing.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the blood currently covering my body, I would think that I had dreamed the whole thing.

I went to the side of my pack and pulled up a bar.

My hands shook as I pulled it apart, revealing one of those wheel locks that were all the rage in Canada when I was growing up. I was surprised to see them here in this world, but I figured they would be useful for something.

And I was right. They were very useful for locking creatures inside hospitals.

Quickly, I maneuvered the bar between the handles and then compressed it so that the two handles on either side would slide into place, preventing anyone from opening the doors from the inside.

To make sure, I locked the bar into place and put the small keys back into my go bag. I was going to throw them in the bushes on either side of the door, but I didn’t want anyone to find them and unlock the door.

Did I feel bad?

Not even a little.

The hospital had countless exits that could be used if any human was still alive in there.

They could use one of them.