Taking a deep breath, I force a step into the abandoned corridor. Light flickers over the bloodstains running down the walls. I remember when Neila would taunt us about this hall, he would say if we didn’t behave, he’d leave our door unlocked and see if we really had the guts to escape. Our cell was a safe place, but only because that door was always locked. And now that I’m here alone, I wish I could just return to that safety.

A splash echoes through the hall.

Stumbling back, eyes squeezed shut, I grip the door frame for dear life, waiting for something to happen... Anything. Peeking through one eye, I see nothing but the flickering light and the same empty hall. Looking down, my eyes find a scarlet red puddle under my boot.

The pounding in my chest subsides as I am left feeling like an absolute idiot. All these years they left me believing that people are in these cells at night, just waiting for us to come out. Monsters that thrash around in their cells while Neila walks us through the hall to the dining room, but there’s nothing. They’re empty. What kind of sick joke is this? How can a corridor so often, filled with screaming, be so quiet? I bet this is just Neila’s trick to scare us away from leaving. I’m ashamed to admit that it worked.

To my left, a clipboard is attached to the cell door, hanging gracefully with fresh paper, I squint through the bars, only to find nothing but the emptiness inside. I reach out with newfound confidence, retrieving the clipboard from its hook. A soft echo rang out into the deserted hall. Peering at its contents, I skim through the notes.

‘Patient 48.

The patient has exhibited side effects from Test 19. He talks about someone who follows him, saying things, and instructing him. The patient has sudden bursts of laughter and intense anger which results in him attacking guards and himself. For over a week, he’s peeled off pieces of flesh, occasionally eating it. He expresses no pain at all.

Treatment has stopped working.’

I place the clipboard back on the hook. Looking up, only to be met with a pair of bloodshot eyes with a distorting smile. In a blink of an eye, he bashes his head against the door.

Lurching back, hitting the floor hard as blood splashes up over my clothes, I scramble backwards, skidding on my cheeks until the cold metal door presses against my back. Never once taking my eyes off him, I grab the bar beside me, shaking, as I watch his face slowly disappear into the darkness of his room, never even making a sound. Heart racing, I couldn’t fathom how he had been so quiet or how he could simply disappear, but he did, vanishing silently as he moves deeper into his room. It must be so much bigger than ours, and given that there were three of us crammed in there, I couldn’t help but feel the unfairness of it all.

A sudden whoosh of warm air causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end and it dawns on me that I was pressing myself against the opposite cell and not that of the door I had just come from. Before I could even react, a hand snatches my arm, violently jerking me around. My eyes dart to a mangled figure, stripped of its characteristics, nothing more than tendons that wrap around what wouldve been a face. It pulls me in, dragging my whole body slowly across the floor, closer to it.

I watch in horror as hollow sockets bore into me, as though they could still see me clearly. Claw marks stretch across that haunting face. I could only imagine this thing, that was once human-like, tearing out its own eyes, but despite this, it knew where I was. The sharp nails tore into my skin as its grip tightens, sliding forward to a blood-soaked mouth with jagged teeth just inches away from me. In a blind panic, I began pulling my hand away, but the thing was stronger. It had half my forearm through the bars already.

My feet spring up, bracing against the bars in a desperate attempt to break free. I push with all my might, finally planting the heel of my boot against the solid bar of this cage, propelling myself away. It releases my hand, and I was thrown backwards, rocking. Weightless, I spring forward, swinging my legs out of reach. Rolling to my stomach, I shoot up and clear the length of the hall, gripping the handle of the exit and slam the door behind me.

I feel grateful for the strength I still have, even now as I double over, catching my breath and choking on the pain of it. 

The room was small, a circular midwaypoint between the three sectinos of this block. Once upon a time it was our dinning room, the splintering tables still in place from the last time anyone was here. The blood still remians too, crusted and brown on the tile floor, with leftover food strewn about withering and moulding. After the Hysteria broke out we were no longer allowed to mix.

Shuffling around the room, I make my way over to the door on the right. We used to be able to walk between cells and sit together, it was there that we found a way into the vent system. So if I can just get through here, I should have a good chance at getting around unnoticed.

Kneeling, I begin to pick at the lock with the same metal as before, as I twist it I could just barely see the hairs on my arm rise in the dim light. In the distance I could swear to hear clanking behind me, echoeing softly in the air. 

Stilling my hands I whip my head round, peering through the darkness. Nothing but dust motes flying around the hazy shades of grey. My heart ceases to beat for a moment. I move faster, shoving the pieces of metal further, desperately trying to twist them in place, but then the metal snaps. The noise starts again, louder this time.

At least I thought I heard it. There it was again, I couldnt deney it this time. As another clank echoes through the room, sweat trickles down my face and an overwhelming feeling crawls up my stomache. My hands starts to tremour as the third clank rang out, embeding itself in my mind. They were real.

The door behind me opens, swinging on its hinges. I Search every inch of this room for any sign of movement before looking back at the opening, nothing. It was like it was taunting me, inviting me in, though the feeling was not mutual. I have little choice now the metal pins lay broken in my hands.

I gulp, returning to the door, sweat trickling down my neck as I Jump to my feet. I grip the handle and press my shoulder against the metal, slamming it against the door as hard as I can. Despite my best attempt, it wouldn’t budge. It was like they welded it at the sides.

“Help.” The words creep through the darkness and into my ears. Stupid hearing is playing tricks on me. But I turn to the door anyway, it flaps open somwhow, on a breeze that comes from nowhere. There aren’t windows in this main hall and I should know, I’ve been looking for a way out for far too long.

With shaky breaths and small steps across the room. I make my way over, chills running down my entire body. Stepping into the dark hall inside, similar to the others, except this corridor had no light, my steps a soft patter on the floor. The lantern that should have been hung on the ceiling was on the floor... Smashed. I had never been inside here before, but it was lit by a glow that came from further in.

A gush of bone-chilling air rushes past me as the inner door falls open with a screech that could have made a corpse get goosebumps. It barely hung to its frame, swinging loose, only being held by a few remaining screws. 

I remember the screams from when they broke out, but seeing the aftermath is... something else.

The room holds multiple cells on both sides, stretching out for what seems like half a mile. The light flickers, illuminating the walls that are stained with a clotted substance. It’s everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling, clumps of crusting flesh and intestines just hang from everywhere, like a carefully decorated painting.

I step deeper into its darkened hall, undisturbed until now. Its eeriness wraps around me like a second skin. It attacks my senses as my boots sink into the sludge-like puddle on the floor, stirring up an unimaginable smell of copper and meat on the turn.

Squelching through pools of coagulated blood and clumps of flesh, I make my way down the hall, pushing past discarded limbs and pieces of bone. The musky scent invades my nose, though judging by the smell, not all was blood, causing my gag reflex to kick in as the rising vomit burns at the back of my throat.

I don’t want to be here anymore.

I reluctantly press on, to the open vent shaft where the Hysteria escaped to, unable to look away from the torn bodies strewn up on the broken bars like kebabs. 

My stomach lurches as gravity takes hold, sending me crashing into a pool of bloody water. I could feel the drops splash on my face and a damp patch absorbing into my shirt, leaving me with an uncomfortable cold feeling. Groaning, I flip over onto my side. looking back I see the face of a guard, his dull blue eyes flicker in the light staring back at me.

This is it, isn’t it? I failed. He’s going to throw me back into my cell, increase the tests, up the dosages, leaving me senile in a cage... My breath comes short and fast, heart beating like a drum, but then, in an instant, my fist collides with the man’s face, sending him reeling backwards. I scramble to my feet, heading towards the vent.

“Please.” The security guard cries out in a horce groan. 

His voice echoes off the walls so loudly this time it stops me in my tracks. My breath, uneven, despite only going a few meters. Standing with my back to him, as the sound begins to fade, I turn. His arm reaches out to me, pleading for me to come back.

‘Yeah, right,’ I thought, ‘as if I’d fall for that.’

I can feel the tension in my jaw as my teeth lock together and my hands begin to clench at my sides. This is the same man who delivers our food. He thinks he can ask for my help after keeping us locked up and eating half of our meals. The gall of this man.

‘We do what we can to survive.’ His voice, clear in my mind.

Just then, I saw the glare of a key card poking out the breast pocket of his broken body. I feel something stir in me, something that possesses me to march over to him like a lamb to the slaughter. He just barely manages a smile of victory before my foot kicks him over, wiping that smirk off his face. His torso reveals deep uneven gashes along his stomach, they weren't sharp  like claw marks though, more like finger marks that had torn through his shirt, giving a clear view of his organs, the fresh blood spilling out over his body. The only thing on my mind is him breaking each one of our fingers, his voice still playing out in my mind.

“Progress must be checked. The only way to do that is through a test.”

The light from his torch goes out and with it, my mind, leaving us in the darkness. At that moment, I can only hear snapping, barely registering my own actions. With each flash of light that bursts out of his torch, still attached to his hand, I see my own boot smash into his face. Over and over again till my foot connects to the concrete.

The guard slumps over, and the rage fades away as I stare mindlessly at him. The memory of picking up the card was lost on me, yet there it was in my hand, soaked.

I sit there knelt over his silent body, panting wildly. Before I could even process what had happened, a sound of clanking metal echoes from within the vent behind me. 

Hysteria. 

My mind screams at me, heart pounding as my feet pound against the floor, clambering past the broken door and slamming the outer one shut, I seal away the block. The rush of adrenaline was just too much. Hands on knees, I double over, gasping as the contents of my stomach finally give way. I erupt like a volcano all over the dining hall floor. 

Taking a few deep breaths, I make my way over to the main door, wiping the blood off the key card and scanning it on the sensor, watching as the green light flashes over the picture of the guard.

I ask myself; why? Why was I so angry? It’s not like he did anything massively bad, right? The door clunks as the lock releases. I slip inside, making sure the security door closes behind me. My hands shaking as I begin to ascend the stairs, and the weight of my actions begining to sink in with each step. What had I done? He was dying anyway, right? Those wounds were definitely from The Hysteria. The acid in my stomach fizzles, suddenly made aware of it's warmth along the lining.

Am I… Just as bad as them?

My knees buckle halfway up the stairs at the thought. I sit down for a moment, taking a shaky breath. He chose to try and capture them, but if he hadn’t, The Hysteria may have broken into our cell or others. No, I shook the notion aside. This is not my fault, and he does not deserve my sympathy. He’s not a martyr. He chose this. They all did.

I ascend the last few steps and press through the door.