Page 24 of Lunatic
That fucking psychopath is crazier than both Alexsander and myself. He does experiments on patients in the basement, including lobotomies. There’s a reason the medical community hasn’t performed certain procedures since the mid-twentieth centuries. Like Dr. Martin, I don’t think he has any interest in helping anyone. It’s more about satisfying a sick urge to hurt people. I’m not different, I guess, but at least I’m honest about it. I never pretended to be interested in anyone’s healing.
I jab Sheila in the throat as she tries to scream. Her mouth opens, but nothing comes out, and then she’s dead.
“We still don’t know anything,” Heather says, with a frustrated expression on her face.
Turning to her, I grin, and shake my head in disagreement.
“I have a suspicion. Let’s go,” I say, as I step back from Sheila’s dead body.
She didn’t tell us in words, but she did give me a clue. I think it’s in the basement, on Halstead’s side. There are tunnels down there, and I’ve never taken the time to investigate where they lead to. I’ve always assumed they led to the outside, but now I’m not so sure. I guess we’re about to fucking find out.
As we walk through the hallway, the other patients stare at me with a mixture of curiosity, and fear, when they spot my hands and arms covered with blood. Nobody says a word, because they don’t want to be part of it. Darren looks the longest, but when he notices my expression, he quickly averts his gaze.
I walk over to Mike, and tilt my head as I speak to him.
“The elevators are to stay open. We’re going to the basement. I assume I don’t need to explain what happens if you disobey me.”
“Is this about the girl? Dr. Martin and I have a deal, so I can’t help you.”
I slam my fist into his chest, knocking him into the wall behind him.
“What’s the deal?”
He alternates between coughing and groaning, but finally answers my question.
“I get to fuck her.”
Pressing my shank to his throat, I stare directly into his eyes.
“Nobody fucks her but me.”
He arches an eyebrow, but is careful not to move.
“Since when? Alexsander has been fucking her constantly. He said she’s his fuck doll to pass around.”
I swallow hard at the memory of him saying the same thing to me, as an unfamiliar feeling of guilt washes over me. I’m not opposed to sharing under normal circumstances, but I won’t shareher. Not anymore.
“The thing that sucks for you, Mike, is I don’t actually need you to fuck with the elevators for me. I’ll just take your pass after I kill you.”
I plunge my shank into his throat like the others, before he has a chance to respond. Heather stares at me, taking in every kill. If she thinks I’m a monster like most people do, she doesn’t say so. Mike’s body slides down the wall and hits the floor. I lean over him, yanking his badge for the elevator off his belt, grabbing his stun gun and baton, just in case I need them. I don’t honestly know what I’m going to find, once we get to the basement. It’s entirely possible that Bianca is already dead. I don’t know why that bothers me so fucking much, why the thought alone causes my chest to tighten, and I don’t have time to unpack it right now.
“We’re going into the tunnels,” I say to Heather as we step into the elevator.
“I don’t know what’s in there. Probably rats, and filth. If you want to stay behind, now is the time. Once I get in there, I’m not leaving until I find her. I won’t escort you back to safety.”
She places her hands on her hips, and stares up at me with a scowl.
“You call this place safe? I’m tougher than I look, Raven. My life hasn’t been unicorns and rainbows, okay? I can handle whatever it takes to get out of here, with Bianca.”
I hit the button for the basement, and grit out the words I really don’t want to say.
“She might not be alive.”
Heather responds as we walk through the open doors.
“Yes, she is. I told her we’d find a way out of here, but until then, she had to survive. She promised me. So don’t tell me she might not be alive. I refuse to believe that.”
I walk to the end of the basement where Halstead works. I know where the tunnels are. I’ve just never had a need to go in there. It’s a small closed space. I was never curious enough to investigate. It would take someone like Bianca to make me even consider it.
