A week passed without any other incident, although she actively avoided going near Drake again. After a particularly long afternoon of squabbling between patients Suzanne resigned to her room early. As she began to change out of her uniform a small giggle echoed through the room. Her back stiffened and she glanced around the room. She brushed it off as her imagination, her mind had been playing tricks on her all week. She laid down and pulled her cover over her head. A good night’s sleep was all she needed.

Her eyes shot open. It was dark, the middle of the night. She tried to move back onto her side, but she couldn’t move. Her eyes were darting around the room as she struggled within herself. She couldn’t even blink. Her eyes froze on the door as it began to creak open. A man cloaked in shadow entered, his height changing with each step. She followed him as he stalked over to her. He smiled as he leaned over her, a putrid smell filled the room as he began to speak. What he said was broken, it changed voices with each word. Maybe even languages as well. Lightning flashed and she caught a glimpse of him. Pure white hair, grotesque swollen horns, and glowing red eyes. She screamed as he sank his teeth into her neck.

She woke screaming and thrashing at the long gone apparition. She paused when she realized she was awake, taking in a ragged breath between sobs. Anger began to flow as the panic subsided. The longer she sat there the more her rage and anxiety began to simmer. Had he done something to her? Did he break out of his cell to drug her or was it only a nightmare? Her mind fluttered to the knife that she had stolen from the kitchen after the first incident and she began to get dressed. She strapped the knife tightly to her leg with a bit of cloth from her underskirt.

She grabbed a metal pole from the nurse’s station and went up to the men’s wing, ignoring the hoots and hollering that followed her arrival. She went straight to the end of the hall, making sure she was out of arm’s length from Drake’s cell.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY HEAD?!” Suzanne commanded, half screaming as she held the metal pole in the same way Joan had.

Drake had been sleeping when she had come. He rolled over lazily, his expression more amused than of a man that had just been awoken. He swaggered over to her, his chains scraping against the ground. He smiled widely at her.

“I’ve done nothing, my dear.” he giggled, “But, you’re just in time for the show.”

He pulled at his shackles, the metal snapping away with such ease they could have been mistaken for twigs. He produced a long, grey key from the pocket of his baggy pants, slipping his arm through the grates of his cell. She was frozen in place as the gears of the door turned. He stepped out, laughing wildly. An explosion shook the building, sending Suzanne flying into the wall behind her. Her head hit the wall hard, blood poured from where a chunk of hair had been. Animalistic laughter and ringing filled her ears. Adrenaline was the only thing driving her. She had to get up. Now. She swung the pole blindly, trying to get the sounds away from her. Drake ripped it from her hands, proving it to be useless with one swift bend. He lifted her to her feet by the throat and pressed her into the wall.

“Run.” He whispered. His lips were the only thing in between his teeth and her skin.