Happy Hallow— What?... Oh, yeah! Happy 'I managed to get a new chapter out before Halloween like I promised, even if it is tied slightly to my guilt over not being able to post a main series chapter for a while'-Mus? :) Time to check in with the injury prone former loft-dweller again at long last, I suppose?

 

“Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance?... where’d the red line go?!”

Along the hallway ahead of me was a crossroads.
All the nicely marked out floor lines seem to just STOP suddenly there, the floor patterns change too for some reason and I honestly have no idea where to go next because the last sign I saw just pointed this way in general with no further guidelines.

I reached the crossroads itself and carefully peeked both ways, finding nothing but empty dark hallways full of open doors and flickering lights.

A heavy breath of frustration left my lips almost silently as my eyes scanned everything I could for some kind of hint on what direction to take from here.
The obvious option would be to go straight on but the hallway ahead looks really long and if possible even darker than the other two options which isn’t exactly filling me with optimism at the moment.

From the hallway to my left there came a slight ‘ding’ and the unmistakable sound of heavy old elevator doors opening slowly.
A flash of terror went down my spine at the sound which seemed to echo in the empty halls around me with deafening clarity.

I can’t take a risk with it!

Elevators go to the ground floor, who knows what could have hitched a ride inside on the way up to here at this point!
My side protested as I leaned slightly to get a better look and make sure the coast was still clear but I ignored it in favor of shooting straight across the hallway ahead and breaking into a sprint to put some distance between us.

No signs made themselves known to me as I ran, no helpful guide lines either and as the lights flickered above me casting everything into terrifying shadow at random I honestly thought this would be the point that something jumped out from a doorway to get me at last.

I’ve been incredibly lucky so far; aside from a few odd noises and the occasional scream from the floors below I’ve not really come in contact with anyone or anything that could be a danger to me.

That can’t last... one thing I’ve learnt in my time of window-mounted zombie watching is that they are ALWAYS there, somewhere. If you can’t see them then it just means you’re not looking close enough and you’re going to die soon!

I slowed my run to a slightly pained jog and came to a stop at the first in a set of doors blocking my progress down the hallway with glass panels on either side of them.
A quick peek inside showed no immediate danger yet again so with a quick fearful glance back towards the still empty crossroads behind me I eased the door open and stepped through as quietly as possible.

A whole ward and waiting area came next as the hallway expanded outwards, but yet again no-one was in sight and the place was a mess.
After a few seconds to make sure nothing was going to leap out at me I moved quickly over to the reception desk on my right and went behind it, my eyes flying around for anything useful inside.

At first there was nothing of interest but paper and useless electronics but when I checked the draws I hit the jackpot, finding what I can only assume were some of the staff’s lunches, along with some bottled water and sweets tucked away in the bottom.

Even better, as I checked the last few higher draws I found a knife!
It wasn’t a very big knife, it took me a few seconds to work out how it worked and I accidentally almost stabbed my hand with it when the blade popped out suddenly but a tiny pop-up knife is better than nothing at the moment.

A quick dive under the desk provided the one other thing I’d needed to go along with this perfect haul of food, some ladies big leather handbag.

As quietly as possible I turned it over and emptied it out onto the floor, finding and discarding some weird little perfume bottle called ‘Pepper Spray’ but managing to get a set of keys in the process which could be useful somehow eventually.
You can never have too many keys!

With the bag empty I wasted no time in filling it up with the wrapped food and water before slinging the big strap over my good shoulder.
It took a few awkward steps at first but I managed to get my balance eventually and started making my way back around the desk, tiny little knife at the ready in my hand, just in case.

The big bag slowed me down considerably, of course. Despite that though, I moved down the hallway again towards the next set of doors with it because the loft taught me that food and water are VERY important at this point, so I’m not giving them up if I can help it now that I have them!

A peek through the glass side showed the next hallway to be almost completely black, aside from a slither of light coming from a bend at the far end and the few glimpses lighter shadow offered by the dim lighting behind me.

I almost decided to leave it and continue searching the ward to my right some more instead at first because the darkness inside was giving me shivers just on general principle.

I’d almost managed to convince myself that maybe there would be a better lit path somewhere if I kept looking... but that’s when the light at the bend ahead flared slightly and a big string of signs on the wall at the end of the hallway came briefly into sight making me freeze with a gulp.

“Come on Riley, don’t be a wuss...”
My feet jogged slightly on the floor with nerves as I tried to build myself up to face the darkness inside despite everything in my head screaming at me that it was a bad idea.
“...It’s still early... zombies are slow, even if they take the stairs and specifically came only for me I doubt they’ve got this high yet so as long as I don’t take too long standing here it should be... it should be—”

Before I could even finish the sentence my body was moving, the door yanked open quickly as if that would help make this any less of a stupid idea and my new bag hitched slightly higher on my already aching shoulder.

With one more hitched breath I pushed off and started jogging into the darkness, my eyes tight but focused on that light at the end rather than thinking about all the open doors around me and what they could possibly hold inside them.

It took almost half a minute for me to reach the end of the hall and when I came to a stop at the signs my bag slid to the floor as I leaned down slightly to catch my breath.
I hadn’t been running or anything but through the darkened run it felt like I couldn’t breathe the whole way, my lungs apparently deciding that they didn’t want to come along for the ride and trying to convince me not to go in their own way, I suppose.

After a few more deep breaths I shot my head up to stare at the signs above me, only to squint hard due to the low light level.

Eventually I brought my good hand up and ran it across the slightly raised lettering to try and feel what they were saying which surprisingly seemed to work judging by how quickly I managed to work out the first line read ‘Radiology’, whatever that is.

A few more useless lines later I finally found one that started with the letters ‘M-A-I-N’ and quickly skimmed over to the arrow symbol to see which way it was pointing as tension seemed to slowly build, pressing down on me like the darkness, worse than anything I suffered through in the loft by a long stroke.

I’m not really sure what it was, possibly a sound or a flicker of light perhaps, but whatever it was had my body moving on its own.

I snapped to attention and spun to look up the hallway to my left where most of the light I’d been using was coming from with a growing sense of dread forming in my stomach.

From pretty far down the hallway there was one door open which spewed out surprisingly bright light.
It took me a few seconds to recognise the shape of it and a heartbeat more for me to put a name to it, not helped by the heavy ‘thud’ my heart chose to do at that moment considering how important that beat was.

It wasn’t a doorway... it was an elevator.

An elevator being held open by a dark, but still recognisable mass which can only be a human body, mostly overshadowed by a crouched form that hovered over it, of course.
My lungs decided to leave me again and I’m pretty sure my heart made an attempt to flee too from how painfully it bounced around in my chest for a few seconds.

A zombie

I can’t tell if it’s sleeping, eating or just dormant like some of the ones in my house used to get when they couldn’t see or hear any new prey, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to find out either way!

The fact it hasn’t heard me yet is a miracle in itself, helped most likely by the minor sounds from the elevator as its doors try to close slightly on the dead bodies legs lying in their path, but this is NOT the time for me to look a gift horse in the mouth!

With all the care I could manage, I reached down for my bag and lifted it gently off the floor before easing myself backwards down the right-hallway behind me.

The utter darkness that had so terrified me before seemed practically childish compared to the very real death in front of me instead.
Just like back in the alleyway, I couldn’t seem to force myself to look away from it.

With each gentle step backwards I made into the dark hallway my head was screaming at me to turn around instead but I ignored it in favor of keeping eyes on the monstrous thing in front of me because I honestly couldn’t look away anymore.

It was slow progress but each painfully gentle step I made took me further and further away from it while also helping me blend into my surroundings better if it ever decided to look up from its apparent ‘meal’ at last.

My free hand, the one not carrying my bag at this point, came out to my side as much as my shoulder would allow and I spread my fingers to hopefully find a wall to guide myself with.
Just as I made contact with the wall the zombies head perked up.

I’m not sure what it was doing, I could barely see anything as it is but it was doing something and that’s VERY bad in my book!

Silently, but with almost frantic speed, my fingers ghosted along the wall until they reached an opening.
The zombie stood up to its full intimidating height and seemed to take one shambling step away from the body it had been so focused on up until now.

Without a second thought I practically threw myself into the dark abyss inside the open doorway, my bag flying in front of me as I swung out my arms to grasp the door and slam it shut behind me.

I knew what was coming, I knew just how loud that slam would sound in the seemingly empty hallways of the hospital around us but it was all I could think to do at the time.

My fingers fumbled with the clip on my useless hospital gown but I managed to get it off eventually and with a jerk I managed to slap Nurse Josie’s key-card against the door.
The lock above my head shut tight with reassuring ‘thunk’ only seconds before something big, heavy and very angry sounding slammed into it from the other side.

With my back against the door where I’d practically fallen after shutting it, I could feel every hit as the zombie on the other side tried to get in, but it was no use.

My mind was spinning with possibilities.
Where there’s one zombie there’s more!

The hallways aren’t safe anymore, neither are any of the unlocked rooms in this maze of a hospital!
The room I’m in right now isn’t safe!

I can’t see anything, only the fact that I just made a very loud noise and I’ve yet to be attacked is keeping me from screaming in fear as the dark encloses around me completely.
My eyes are useless now.

If I scream then it will just draw more zombies and while the hospital doors can hold up well against one I don’t want to find out how many it would take to get past them in the end!

Slowly, a sense of dread still present in my every movement thanks to the constant ‘thud’ behind me from the zombie-stopping door, I slid my way up the wall next to the doorway until I was standing once more.

When I’d almost reached full standing height, my arm knocked into something that at once filled me with hope and fear.
Carefully I reached up and with a few seconds hesitation as I took in a sharp breath I flipped the light switch at my shoulder on before squeezing my eyes shut tight in abject fear.

The zombie at the door seemed to become slightly heavier in his attacks, probably due to the dull light now coming out from under the door to my right but it took almost a full ten seconds for me to finally muster up enough bravery to open my eyes again.

My eyes snapped open and in one breath I took in the whole room before slumping against the wall in relief... I’m in a cupboard.

It’s a pretty big cupboard, more of a storage room then anything with shelves of supplies both medical and normal boxes stacked everywhere to go along with them all, but still a cupboard.
My shoulders lost some of their tension as I kept scanning the room and finding nothing threatening at all, much to my growing relief.

A heavier ‘thud’ from the door made my eyes instinctively snap over to it.
I couldn’t help but let off a frightened scream as the horrible, torn and blood covered face of the zombie from before stared back at me from such close range through the reinforced glass panel that so many of the doors here seem to have!

I practically skidded across the floor to get away from it in my panic but my movement seemed to only encourage it into even more of a frenzy.
Eventually my back hit something and I came to a stop, shivering and shaking from fear but otherwise unhurt, just outright terrified honestly.

A quick glance around me made me surge to my feet again.
Self-preservation instincts working with hard-earned zombie knowledge as my body almost automatically started grabbing the lighter boxes from the stacks of practically empty ones in the corner to my left as I moved them to their new home in front of the door instead.

About six or seven trips later I’d managed to get a tower high enough that it blocked the glass panel from view at last.

I didn’t stop there, of course. Moving box after box over to make sure that there was no chance of that ‘tower’ falling over and exposing me again, however.
Practically seconds after I’d managed to cover the glass, the zombie seemed to calm down to some degree.
It was still striking the door from the sound of it but the strikes were slower, almost lazy and had a lot less force to them as well if the sounds anything to go by.

When I’d finally reached a point where my now corner-wide tower of boxes was so big I couldn’t even see the door anymore I stopped, collapsing to my knees with some heavy breaths and a wince or two thanks to my now protesting injuries.

“Great, another loft... and this one doesn’t even have any windows...”
I’m not staying here.
“Wake up Riley, Nurse Josie and the others are waiting for you.”

The question is... what exactly can I do at this point?
I’m boxed in!
I’ve got nothing, no weapons aside from the tiny little knife in my—

I dropped the knife
I DROPPED the KNIFE!

When did I drop the—it must have been when I got to the sign and—

That really is the final straw.
With a great heaving breath that easily bled into a sob I sunk my head down to my knees and cried as the last few minutes finally caught up with me.

I lost track of everything, the door, the zombie, my bag and even that stupid knife as I wrapped myself down into a ball on the floor and cried as silently as I could... the same way I learnt to do in the loft, seemingly so long ago...

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Silence

When I finally came back to reality and managed to stop myself shaking, partly from the cold which my hospital gown really didn’t help against but mostly from my emotions getting the better of me, all I could hear was silence.

A week ago I hated silence, I was maddening!
I’d heard it for too long, could feel it closing in around me with every muted beat of my heart, but now it was so welcome and reassuring after what I’ve just faced.

Silence means that the zombie isn’t hitting the door anymore.
Silence means that I have time to breathe.
Silence means... silence means safety, for now...

“Okay Riley, jump or die time!”
It took more effort than I’d like to admit for me to stand up again.
When I finally got my feet underneath me ideas were already forming in my head, priorities being sorted.

I can’t go out that door again.
Even if I could somehow get through it and the zombie wasn’t waiting on the other side like I KNOW it will be, I just... I just can’t go out there again...

That means I need to find another route out!
The others are counting on me, all those little girls who got left behind and Nurse Josie.

I can’t just give up and stay in here like I did with the loft.
I’ve got food and I’m safe but THEY aren’t!

“She said the air vents have a crawl space...”

My original plan was to go through the proper paths and find a maintenance access door but that’s not an option anymore, what IS an option though is finding a way into that crawl space from this room itself.

There are two vents in this room alone, probably more all over the hospital, that’s why it sounded like such a good idea in the first place.

With the shelving and some creative work I should be able to find a way to get up high enough to reach the ceiling; then it’s just a case of trying to find a way to bust through into the space somehow...

I need tools.
I need a ladder or something.
I need... I...

I’m an idiot!

“Wake up Riley. It’s the loft all over again!”
Boxes and shelves full of stuff, who knows what and how much of it judging by just how packed in everything is!

This is just like when I sorted everything in the loft, exactly the same.
Then I found clothes, knifes, stuff, junk and more...

I wonder what I’ll find in here that’s useful.

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“Useless, useless, useless... why does a hospital even have a box full of bath-plugs?”

The first row of shelves nearest to the door has been less than helpful, obviously.
There were a few bits and pieces I put to the side, some scrubs that are far too big for me but I might be able to sort something out of if I can’t find anything better to use and some bandages that I’m honestly considering as an option for making some last-resort body armor out of somehow at this point.

No reason to panic yet, there’s plenty more shelves in the cupboard!

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“Is that a swo—oh... no, it’s just another pipe...”

Three shelve rows down, nothing specifically ‘useful’ yet either but it’s not the end of the world, I found some more water at least... I think its water at least?
The sealed plastic bags LOOK like they have water in them, it’s kind of hard to read but I think the label says ‘Saline’ or something, while that’s not outright the word ‘water’ it sounds kind of science-y and maybe science people call water ‘Saline’.

The few bendy plastic pipes I’ve found might be useful somehow, I’ve added them to the pile at least, although I keep seeing the ends of them and assuming their some kind of sword-handle for some reason.

Still... no need to panic yet, there’s got to be something worth raiding in here!

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“A Screwdriver! That’s... that’s... something? Right?”

No-one answered that stupid question which I’m kind of thankful for because the only person who could answer at this point is the zombie probably still waiting for me outside and I honestly don’t want to know what it has to say!

A big screwdriver’s SOMETHING though!
It’s better than everything else I’ve found on this shelf, and the one before it too when it comes to finding a way to escape at least, even if I did have to get on my hands and knees to find the screwdriver under the shelves themselves.

Put that with the bendy plastic pipes I’ve got with the duct tape I found in one of the boxes against the wall and I’ve got a... a something?...
Like a spear but kind of bendy?
...I’ll keep looking

The last few shelves, then it’s the boxes or nothing!
What’s that thing Mum always does?... Touch wood for luck!

I don’t have any wood though...

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“Scrubs, scrubs, scrubs, more scrubs!”
That’s it! That’s all of it?!

There must have been something I missed?
This was so much easier in the loft.
I don’t... I don’t know what I can make from all this junk?...

Okay, don’t panic Riley.
Focus on one task at a time.

Clothes first, that’s the easy one, how hard can it be to make clothes out of adult clothes?

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After much trial and error, I eventually worked out that a screwdriver isn’t designed to cut cloth.
It took a bit more work from there but luckily the shelves around me are really cheap and old judging by the amount of dust on them.

The top of one of them is a bit bent and damaged which has left it with a sharp edge to it, not much, but enough that if I hooked the scrubs over it then pulled hard with my good arm it would tear them pretty good.

When I had strips of sorta even cloth then it became a lot easier to sort myself some clothes at last.
It took three of the ‘scrubs’ tops over the top of each other before I actually felt any warmer and their a bit bulky, kind of like the outfit I put together when I left the loft really.

I put one more scrubs top over the others, one that I’d managed to tear to shreds while testing the shelves out which I’m hoping will be a good distraction if I come into contact with a zombie again.
Having things they can grab would obviously be a bad idea but having things that are ready to tear off completely loose for them to grab means their less likely to get something important like my hair or my shoulder.

Two strips of cloth finished off my basically ankle-length blue dress made of shirts.
It’s not perfect, honestly I’d feel a bit better with less material around my legs but on the other hand I don’t have any jeans this time so having cloth that the zombies can bite before getting to me is a VERY good idea right now!

With that first problem sorted I settled back on the floor with a sigh to inspect the mess I’d made all around me.
Working on clothes first was a good idea, it gave me time to calm down and think.

Currently I’m thinking I’m hungry but that’s something better then outright panic at least.
Next task in mind, I went over to my ‘borrowed’ handbag and grabbed a kind of battered bundle of foil-wrapped sandwiches from inside.

Snagging a bottle of water to go with it, I made my way back to the slightly comfortable pile of scrubs I made when I got a bit frustrated and tipped them all out in the hopes that someone had hidden a big gun at the bottom of the box or something.

“Think Riley, the others are counting on you.”
I need another good idea like the one about using the damaged metal shelf to tear clo—
Could that actually work?

My unopened sandwich bundle and water bottle were left behind as I quickly moved over to the nearest row of shelves and started looking at it all for joints.

There was one shelf earlier that had fallen out of its slot on one side!
They all seem really strong and stable but I don’t know how if a shelf can come off that easily and-
There! At the bottom, I thought so!

The top and bottom shelves are bolted on to make it all stand up properly.
They used bolts with these weird little shapes on the top of them that felt oddly familiar for the few seconds it took before I recognised it properly and let out a little yelp of joy.

The screwdriver!

“I can undo the shelves...”

I can undo the shelves, right?
That’s a lot of metal, a lot of metal, a lot of bolts, a lot of wood from the shelf parts too!

“Who needs a ladder and a sword when you can make your own!”
I may have yelled that part too loudly judging by the way the zombie outside started half-heartedly banging on the door again in response but that’s not important now because I’ve got an idea.

If I can get these shelves apart then I can rebuild them in a ladder shape using the bolts.
If I can get to the ceiling then I can use one of the smaller, middle section, pieces from the shelves like a knife and poke them into the ceiling to find the crawl space.

“I knew it, there had to be something useful in here.”
The zombie banged in response again but that still doesn’t matter, it’ll get bored eventually and now I’ve got a plan!

Where did I put that screwdriver?

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“Owwchy”

The last bolt came loose, catching my finger slightly in the process before it fell to the floor with an almighty crash, setting the zombie off again which has kind of become a ‘normal’ thing at this point considering how heavy these shelves are and the fact I’ve only got one good arm to rely on at the moment.

I ended up making a kind of mini-ladder, first from boxes then later from shelf parts, so I could reach the tops in the end which was awkward and kind of dangerous, but it worked so no need to complain about it NOW at least.

“Now I’ve just got to make the big ladder, find a good ‘sword’ and maybe make some kind of scrubs-rope so the others can climb up and join me when I get there.”

An accompanying set of bangs and moans thanks to my, still terrifying but much easier to ignore now it’s being kept away from me by a big heavy door, zombie audience of one felt almost normal as I set to work again.
The hard parts hopefully over with now at least.

As I reached for my first ‘ladder’ part, my stomach grumbled loudly reminding me of my forgotten sandwich on the scrubs-pile.

With a glance between the two options available I hesitated but in the end the thought that I’ll be no help to the others if I starve while building things won out with some help from my now rather opinionated stomach.

“Food first, then get out of here...”

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It took a bit of work, things didn’t quite work out the way I’d planned, namely that the ceilings in this place are apparently made out of solid stone or something and I almost bent my ‘sword’ trying to find a way through it.

As it turns out, the vent system is almost as old as the shelves in my cupboard though, because the vent cover at the far end was loose enough that I could knock it off.
It’s a bit of a squeeze and I’m honestly not sure how Nurse Josie is going to even try to fit through but I managed to get myself, my ‘sword’ and one end of the super-long rope I made from tied together scrubs into the vent at least.

I had to resort to tying the rope around my ankle in the end but it worked and I’ve stopped questioning things if they work at this point.

“Okay... now I just need to not get lost...”
I’m pretty sure the main corridor should be on my left from here so if I head that way, at least I can follow the rope back if I really do get lost.

My first shuffling crawl was awkward to say the least and the metal underneath me made a pretty loud string of ‘pop’ sounds at first but they stopped pretty quickly and it didn’t break or anything which was the most important part!

“You can do this, zombies can’t get into air vents, it was hard enough for you to manage it, after all”
It wasn’t much but those few words gave me the little boost I needed to push onwards into the dark, cold but zombie-free air vent system at long last.

Every once in a while there seems to be a vent letting in some small amount of light when possible so that’s something at least.
If nothing else, I can always just huddle down and wait until daybreak so I can see better if I really do get lost, I guess?

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“There’s the nurses’ station, which must mean that this is the hallway leading to the room I first woke up in and that means...”
I need to take the next right and I should be at the wall vent of the games room.

About half way across the dark corridor, if my guess is right, I found an access hatch that leads into the actual crawl space at last.

I opened it, to check how useful it was going to be for us all when I first found it and wasn’t disappointed in the least.
I even took a brief moment to enjoy the dim red lighting inside from some bulb I couldn’t even see due to all the wires and pipes filling the area up before closing the hatch up again so I could keep going.

As much as it doesn’t really solve our biggest problems, knowing that the hatch is there and I can actually get somewhere that isn’t these stupid vents is reassuring if nothing else.

With a slight smile on my lips I turned the last corner on the vents and made my way over to the dull light-source that can only be coming from the big windows of the games room at this point.
The closer I got to it though, the more that smile dimed because even from a distance it was pretty obvious that someone been thinking along the same lines as me when it came to escaping.

The vent cover was already missing, allowing far more light in then I could have expected otherwise.
I picked up the pace a little, shuffling as best I could to finally meet up with the others and practically burst out of the vent opening, my head already scanning to find Nurse Josie.

The moment I got a good look inside the room my body locked up completely, a chill went down my spine and it was all I could do to not scream.

They’re gone?
No, they can’t be gone!

I leaned slightly further forward to check the door on my left and overbalanced completely.

With a startled yelp I fell forwards out of the vent, landing heavily on one of the big soft chairs someone obviously moved into place so they could reach the vent in the first place, and rolling to the floor moments later to get off my now aching shoulder once more.

I didn’t have time to be stunned.
It took everything I had but I managed to move again almost the moment I stopped rolling, my head whipping around and finding just what the big ball of dread in my stomach told me I should expect to see, a completely empty room.

A small ‘thump’ noise behind me made me turn away from the moon-lit windows and turn to face the door instead. The damaged beyond belief door...

The door that had obviously been bashed in by something much stronger than a zombie... a zombie like the one who’s standing in the doorway watching me right now...

A surge of something went up my spine and I shot to my feet only to take a step and go flying back to the floor again as the scrubs-rope around my ankle pulled tight, having obviously caught on something in the vents like it did a few times already.

My head swung to stare up at the zombie as it, he judging by the shape of him, took a step into the room properly and didn’t show any sign of stopping.

The world seemed to slow down as I scrabbled my hand around blindly for my sword.
As he went to take one more step and I finally recognised his face, the face of the male Doctor who came in to check on me before his ‘shift’ ended when I first got here.

I could feel my only recently eaten sandwich trying to escape along with my lungs as the gruesome hole in the side of his cheek shifted slightly, flashing bright white teeth and far too much gum at me through the dried blood near it.

He took another step and his arms came up to reach for me when my hands connected with cold metal at last.

In one twisting motion I turned violently to the side, much to my bodies protests, but managed to whip the sharp-tipped metal bar of my ‘sword’ up to meet his bitten and bloody hands in one great desperate swing.

His mouth dropped open in a hungry groan and I matched it easily with a war-cry like scream full of my own primal fear!
Jump or die time!