Ryan stepped out into the hall. Maybe it was his imagination, or maybe it wasn’t. Still, the whole area around him seemed smaller than he expected, as if the walls and ceiling were closing in on him. His heart pounded against his chest. The silence lingered, the atmosphere intense, but he couldn’t understand why. He cautiously watched every step as he made his way down the hall. The smell grew intoxicating as he covered his nose.

  Cracked floorboards and tiles, blood smeared on the walls, lightbulbs sparked and fizzled out from the ceiling. The white paint now peeled off to reveal an ugly yellow shade. There were no windows, no way of checking how everything looked outside. Nobody else was out in the halls. Soft groans came from behind some doors. Ryan couldn’t tell who or what was making those sounds. Patients? Workers? Was it safe to open the doors and check? Wasn’t everyone sick? Or was it something else entirely? Something much worse?

  Bam! Hands slammed on the door window, startling Ryan and causing him to jump back. Puddles formed beneath his feet, and he slipped and fell on the floor when he tried to move again. The substance was on his hands now. Ryan looked down at them, only to find blood staining his skin. In a panic, he wiped the still-wet blood on his hospital gown. His body froze, now processing the fact that he wore the gown all this time, as he marked it with someone else’s blood. The hand on the door slowly slipped its way down, making blood trails along the way.

  Ryan winced and wrinkled his nose, but got up and continued to walk slightly faster this time. He desperately wanted to leave, but didn’t want to overdo it and strain himself again.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I don’t see any injuries on my body, so why do I still feel drained and weak? How badly was I injured that I feel like this, in so much pain?

  The noises didn’t help. The groans coming from the doors, the buzzing from the barely functioning lights, and the water dripping from the faucets. It rang in his head until they meshed together as one giant muffled sound. It made it hard to concentrate, focus, and even think properly. He just wanted to cover his ears and block them all out, but he needed all the muscles in his body to keep pushing forward, and so he did. Soon, it blended like white noise until it became a fuzzy blur in the background.

  As expected, nobody was present in the lobby or checkout area. A ceiling light fell and crashed onto the floor panels, cracking them. That jolted his brain, but it didn’t change his posture much. Ryan gave up on that at this point. His gut told him not to check the other rooms, as they screamed ‘dangerous.’ If anyone was still inside, would they even be able to explain it to him?

  Then again, he technically wasn’t supposed to be out of the hospital, anyway. If he got caught, would they put him back in that stuffy room with the unpleasant smell? Who sent him here, anyway? Ryan didn’t want to take that risk, thinking it’d be better to check outside for some answers. If he recalled correctly, something terrible must’ve happened out there a while ago. Maybe things have died down?

  Ryan took off his hospital gown and tossed it aside as he retrieved his clothes from the bin.

  To his surprise, they were still in good condition, no worse for wear.

  The door was just out of reach, almost there, and he didn’t need to expend his energy on it either. Ryan took one last sharp inhale before pushing the doors open and walking outside.