Page 16 of Damaged
The cafeteria is on the opposite side of the ward, and we have several if not most staff members supervising all the patients. Glancing around, just as I thought, Christina isn’t here. She's acharge nurse, so she will be back in the main area of the ward. That’s where we need to be while everyone is still here.
I’m sitting at one of the long tables with Jackson. We took the closest seats to the primary set of doors leading back to our ward. A low murmur of talking buzzes around us, loud enough to muffle our words within the cacophony of voices.
During lunch, we convinced several of the lucid patients that it would be fun to play a prank on the orderlies and nurses by starting a giant food fight. But I played a different tactic as well, by getting one of the big guys to let a little of his fury out and start a fight. That will pull these two acting as security standing by the doors away just long enough to let Jackson and me through.
Jackson and I sit across from one another, as we usually do, to keep an eye on each other’s backs. Shifting my eyes, I see the giant brute of a man that I know is looking forward to a bit of violence, giving me a subtle nod of his head with a wicked smirk on his face. Nodding back, I lift a bread roll from my tray to cover my mouth as if I were taking a bite to appear normal.
“Ready?” I ask Jackson. His eyes quickly move to mine and sparkle with excitement, knowing exactly what is coming next. He gives one quick head nod in acceptance. Nerves tingle all over my body with the eagerness of spilling blood again.
All of this…this is just the beginning.
Every single person who has wronged me will be eliminated.
“Did you fucking take my piece of cake?” I hear shouted across the cafeteria. Jackson and I quickly look toward the source of the loud voice.
“Wha— no! What are you?—“
“Give it back! NOW!” The large man stands, banging his hands on the table, making everyone’s cups and plates rattle. He leans across getting into the other guy's face as he reaches over grabbing his shirt collar, pulling him out of his seat toward him.
“Hey! Sit the fuck down Dalton,” the orderly standing next to us yells. “Let him go!”
Dalton. That’s his name. Gotcha. I’m going to store that for later so I can send him a gift basket. Some fruits, a few magazines, maybe some candy, and protein bars.
The guy he’s holding is scared to death. I can visibly see him shaking and his eyes are as wide as saucers. Dalton ignores the staff and growls into the innocent guy's face as he grabs the piece of cake from his tray and shoves it into his mouth. I’m kinda feeling bad for the kid. Well sorta. Okay…not really.
Whoever needs to bleed or die for me and Jackson to get out of this hellhole…Well, that’s the breaks. It’s just how the cookie crumbles…or cake. Whatever.
“No…he took my cake, so I’m gonna take his teeth!” Dalton reels his beefy arm back and hits the guy hard in his mouth stuffed with the cake. His head jolts backward as blood and cake sprays from his busted mouth all over the people sitting anywhere near them.
People jump up from their seats, and in true insane asylum fashion, they all begin throwing food, utensils, trays, and chairs. Yelling in a discordance of words and sounds coming from everyone.
I cover my mouth to stifle the laugh that is working to burst out, because fucking hell, this chaos and uproar is way more than I intended or expected. Both guards standing watch at the door break into a run, working through what could be described as a possible metalhead mosh pit.
Jackson and I look back at one another with grins and stand up simultaneously, pushing our chairs out when we do. We move at once, turning to the unguarded double doors.
“This worked better than I thought it would, Toots.” His words make me smile proudly at my well laid out plan.
Quickly pushing open the door to the hallway, several other orderlies and staff are running toward us. I guess someone called it in, or they heard the commotion. Jackson and I hold the double doors open, as if expecting them, and when they get a glimpse of the all-out war going on in the cafeteria, they completely ignore us.
As soon as the last one passes us, we close the doors. Jackson slips inside a janitor's closet just outside the cafeteria. When he steps back out, he heads my way with a few brooms and a thin white sheet.
He stuffs the brooms through the door handles, going in each direction making an X through them. Then he begins wrapping the sheet intricately around the broomsticks and the door handles, making sure whenever they get things calmed down inside the room…they won’t be able to come out right away.
“Let’s go,” Jackson says as he leads the way back to the main ward.
Jackson holds his arm out, stopping me from stepping further out of the hallway, as he checks around the corner for any staff. We have to do this quickly. The staff in the cafeteria will get everything under control soon enough and figure out we’re gone.
Glancing over his shoulder, he gives me a stiff nod. Just as soon as we move to step into the open space, there is movement by the nurses’ statio,n making us duck down by the corner.
“Who is it?” I whisper. Jackson lifts his index finger to his lips, looking down at me. Holding it up in front of me, telling me to wait, as he moves stealthily around the corner to get a better look. I shift, crouching down closer to the wall as I peek around it to keep my eyes on him.
Hearing a door in the distance, my eyes swiftly find Jackson’s and he motions for me to move forward as he stands up.
“Stay quiet,” Jackson whispers. “The bitch just went into her office. That’s where we will finish this.” His eyes are set in a determined harshness and savagery, and I can’t wait to see what he is capable of.
Moving behind what is usually seen as an off-limit place, where the nurses can feel safe and secure. Jackson squats down under the desk, and I hear quiet shuffling around. When he comes back out, he has a couple of power cords that it seems he pulled out from the computers set up for them to record their notes.
The smile that lights up my face has pure viciousness written all across it. This man is a fucking genius. I quickly move to the other side of the L-shaped desk, doing the same. My heart is beating erratically with the promise of retribution.
