Chapter 21：CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE THE LABORATORY

We passed through empty corridors, the square paving losing up with many holes along the path as the eerie silent extended further into the place.

The atmosphere made us have a silent agreement of not talking or wasting time there as the place reeked of death and decay, the remains of living arrangements giving it a stronger impact as we could image how life would have being for those people; locked underground, aware of the predators surrounding the place more and more, with no escape in a claustrophobic environment, every day having less food then the other, one day closer to starvation, the tension build up and stronger.

I wonder if it had been the cause of its fall, uhm.

Going further down, passing by dead escalators, we finally arrived were the trains passed through, one of them locked in place as the other side stood empty, an eerie howling wind making his way through the gaping hole, the darkness hiding what stood beyond.

At first look the back door into the lab looked like a simple hole on the wall, crumbled up, with barely any space for one adult to pass, but if one looked closer you could see the reminiscent pieces of what used to be a metal door, so well camouflaged that looked like it was part of the wall.

If it wasn't enough, however, the entrance was located over the rails, so no one would pass by by mistake, unless you were trying to be hit by the train, that is.

"How would they use a door in such place?" Richard asks, as always on point with the important questions.

"It was an emergency exit, a back door per say, one of many actually, so it wasn't supposed to be used very often."

"Where does it lead to? Inside the laboratory? Actually, care to explain how that works even? Just saying the laboratory doesn't give us much info at all."

"Uhm… were to begin? What do you know about the place?" I said as we passed through the railings and climbed up the hole, only to ascent more dusty stairs, the air stiff and stale for being this locked up.

"That it was a place that was trying to find the cure, even after the zombies started, though how long and how much they found is beyond me." Said Dylan, covering his mouth with the collar of his shirt, leaving his bellybutton exposed.

I lick the back of my incisors, turning to look up before my brain gave me any fun and far more enjoyable ideas to be doing over these stairs.

"As far as I know this place started to work when the nuclear weapons were used. It isn't the only laboratory they opened but the only one that I heard were working in the apocalypse."

"For how long?"

"Two years from the zombies." I can almost hear the gears turning in Richard's brain as he tries to make sense of it all.

"…Wait wait wait, you said you cleaned up the subway of zombies… and that they survived for at least two years… so that means you came from here?" Asks Richard, making me tense as I try to ignore him when no excuse came to mind. Damn you and your sharp mind Richard.

Dylan grabs my wrist and turns my body towards him as he caught me by surprise, and shocking me even more by bringing me into a tight hug.

What's up with Dylan and his hugs these days? Not… not complaining though, but I scowl nonetheless.

"What are you doing?"

"Is just… is just that whatever you are going to say next doesn't seem like happy things. I-I'm just… I'm just sorry."

"For what? You did nothing wrong."

"For making you revive that, to come back here, to-to have to talk about it again… but if you don't want to I understand…"

Oh boy, look at him, he is sadder then I and I haven't even started talking; though it doesn't take a genius to know that a vampire in a laboratory wouldn't be living cozily.

When I thought that I wouldn't be surprised anymore Richard comes closer and joins in the hug, our big bodies trapping Dylan in the middle, their warm touch covering any feelings that words could not convene in that silent hall.

"Hey, you brutes, let me out!" Dylan says, trying to squish out of our embrace, making me and Richard chuckle at his attempts and harder our hold.

"Did you hear anything Richard? I thought I heard something… But I don't see anyone here beyond us."

"True true, I thought as well, but is only us here, I must be imagining things…"

"Oi! You two!" Dylan says, starting to punch Richard on the gut, earning laughs and grunts from him.

We let go after a while, that simple contact making me feel less… troubled, as silly as it sounds, bringing a stupid smile on my face as we start walking up again. This time, as I start talking, a weight seemed to be lifted off my shoulders:

"This place was a normal hospital… at first, but when the nuclear radiation started to make its victims, they turned it into a research lab, though at the outside they label it as a Containing Zone Area, where they would keep the sick people in confinement as well as the ones with contagious diseases.

It was a practical way to keep the appearances up as they brought in subjects, even more as they had a morgue in the back, the black bags being an easy way to bring unconscious unwilling subjects in. The confinement would explain why they had such high security too, the walls, bars, the isolation, the control over who could enter and who could not, stuff like that."

"You said it started working as a lab when the nuclear war started. What for?"

"You know the problems that rouse with the nuclear infestation; mutations, the toxic air and permanent clouds, the inhabitable areas and such." They nod. "Well, they were trying to find how to adapt the human body to those conditions, plants as well with the lack of light in some places, and what best subject to use if not the ones immunes to it?

Yes, there was a kind that was immune to it all, the supernatural. Not only vampires though, but werewolves, ghouls, some demons as well. And they messed with it too much for what I could tell, desperate as they were that somewhat the zombies came to be, after all… Mixing the DNA of undead such as me or ghouls wouldn't have been a good idea in any plane of existence, but humans tend to do stupid things when left without limits in a desperate situation. And…well, yeah, that is as far as I know, or rather, I heard from them."

Though most I learned on my own once I escaped this place.

"But… But how did you ended up in here?" That question brought a bitter taste to my mouth and a frown to my face.

"I would rather not talk about it." I deadpan as we reach a metal door at the end of the hall, making me turn to look at them with a serious expression, for once. "From now on it is dangerous territory, I don't know what could still roam these halls, and the zombies weren't totally clear up, so watch out, stay close, and don't make a sound, understood?"

They nod, Richard taking off an ax from his hips, leaving the rifle on his back; He had packed quite the amount of supplies I may add, making him look even bigger.

The idea that I had him under me at my disposal, twice already, made blood flow to my lower head.

Goddamnit permanent hornyness, calm down will ya?

I open the metal door only to make a horror movie scenario appear before us; I could almost see many of those being filmed in this place.

The hospital hasn't been well maintain after 8 years without a soul inside, the dust making it even greyer, settling down over the row of green chairs, the counters and computers, the paint peeled off the walls and the halls filled with hospital beds trashed around, some covered by an oozy goop dried long ago as well as handprints made with the substance here and there, mostly at doorknobs.

The most troublesome, however, is the patients that still roamed these halls, some bodies still strapped down over the beds, some turned, some not, stinking all the same, others smashing their heads over the doors that locked them inside their rooms, and a few free being partially illuminated by Richard's flashlight.

As we stood there, taking the place in, some broken windows let a warm breeze in, making the remaining of clothes flustered as living things, as well as making the hanging lights swing dangerously.

The name of the hospital was posted all over the place, fading with time; Westview Hospital. Taking a deep breath; which I quickly regretted with the foul smell of decay covering my senses; I try to focus down on the moment, and not on my memories of the place.

As we entered the normal part of the building, the public happy side, we still needed to walk into yet another building identical to this, only that it was locked up tighter and was connected to this with a bridge.

I start walking ahead through the empty halls, grabbing a knife over my katana and approaching quickly and silently any zombie in our way, mostly dressed as nurses or doctors, few dressed as outside people, grabbing them by the hair and quickly severing the back of the neck were the spine connected.

Works as good as severing the head, though more practical and quick.

Avoiding two big groups that were munching down some carcass, we finally reach the part where we could enter the other building, not before I glare daggers at Dylan from bumping on a wheelchair that squeaked like an old granny over the dead silent place.

We pass two metal gridded areas over the connecting bridge, where the doors were already busted open and bend like cable wires, impossible to be used again or closed behind us.

That, for me, brought relief, even though my humans would be safer behind locked doors.

Once in the other building, you cannot tell the difference right away from one hospital to the other, beyond the wall up close to the gridded windows, until you reached the inmate's areas, double green metal doors that held hell for many inside this place.

I stop in front of one of them, my mind fuzzy as a static sound resonated through my ears, my mouth suddenly dry and my eyes foggy.

"Samael?" Dylan asks, and I simply turn towards him, saying:

"Well, were do you want to visit first?

~~~~

Author: Piss, it started, remember the script! *Cough cough* Oh, oh Samael! I have a question!

Samael: Oh really, what is it? *faking surprise but not the sarcasm*

Author: What is your favorite drink? I bet that the readers are curious as we-

Samael: Blood.

Author:… *flips pages* That's not wha-

Samael: I'm a vampire, what did you expect?

Author: *sweating cold, thinking that it makes sense* What about you Dylan? *getting hopes up, holding the scrip and the line right up her face*

Dylan: Uhm… Hot chocolate with a lot of marshmallows! *Hopes crumble, but he is too cute so that's ok*

Author: What about you Richard?… Richard? Richard!

Richard: Uhm?

Author: What is your favorite drink? *points at the line on the script again, puppy eyes at the last hope*

Richard: *looks uninterested and says the first thing that came to mind* … Coffee.

Author: Yes! That's right! *happy that he read the script, but he only said it because he really likes coffee*

Author: I really do like coffee as well Richard, and you know what? Now our dear readers can buy one for me! Is a form of donation/investment on the stories they like, such as this!

All:…

Richard: Did you made all this talk only to promote yourself?

Author: *shameless* Yes!

Samael:…

Samael:… That's my author! *thumbs up*

No, but, seriously, if you would like to invest/donate it would be really appreciated, since unlike youtubers/streamers writers do not earn anything from the platform they post their books in!

Plus I already received 2 proposes to make my books payable content and I declined in hopes that I could maintain it being free by earning enough on future sales and donations. So… here it goes:

Ta-da~~ ۹(ÒہÓ)۶

https://ko-fi.com/E1E2WH13

Or you could always wait for the book to go on sale, as it will have extra chapters ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

See ya next Friday~~