Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 85: Cashmere

That boy gave me the creeps. I was so glad he hadn't come with us or anything. Aqua told us later how he had grabbed her wrist and all, and that just made me dislike him even more.

Anyway. We explored the never ending hallways until Crystal accidentally walked into a nurse. I thought I heard her mutter something like, "Smooth" but it might have been my imagination. Wilt grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, but then she said, "Wait." we all stopped.
        "Crystal, there's not exactly time for you to apologize." Wilt told her. Crystal glared at her.
        "You want to find the key, don't you?" she asked.
        "Yes, but-"
        "Then trust me." She ducked behind a desk and we reluctantly did the same.
        "Listen, I saw something that nurse was holding."
        "Aaaaaand?" Aqua urged her on.
        "And I took it." Crystal said.
        "You did what!" I shrieked, "She'll be after us in minutes!" I silently cursed the day Crystal got bright ideas.
        "Nah, she didn't notice." she said. "She was too busy fixing her shoe I 'accidently' stepped on." she explained doing quote motions in the air. Wilt smiled.
        "That's why we keep Crystal around." she said. Crystal smacked her arm lightly.
        "So what did you see?" Mac asked Crystal. Crystal pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it.
        "A map?" I asked. She nodded.
        "Maybe the generator could be on it?" she suggested. I frowned. Didn't seem likely, but none of us really wanted to venture into the basement. We scanned over the wrinkled paper multiple times but didn't see anything about a generator on it. Mostly just patients, office and more patients written on the map. Oh, also confidential lab. Wait a minute...
        "I have a question." I said. "Why would a hospital need a confidential lab?" I pointed out. Wilt looked over at me.
        "They wouldn't..." she said slowly. I grinned.
        "Exactly." I chuckled. "Let's go check it out."
        "Wait, but we're obviously going to need a key." Wilt told us.
        "Oh I know!" said Mac. "I could go outside, climb the gutters, slip inside an open window, grab tools and create a stick and hook it onto the keys on a nurse's key chain and escape through the vent."
I looked over at her.
        "Uh, let's not and say we did?" Wilt said. "Just leave this to the professionals." Wilt said with a cocky voice. Wilt strides over to a passing nurse and bumped into her shoulder.
        "Oh, I'm so sorry. Clumsy me." said wilt. "No it's alright." said the nurse. Wilt cut her off by falling into the nurse's arms.
        "Oh, woe is me!" Wilt cried, putting her hand on her forehead dramatically.
        "Let me call a doctor!" said the nurse. Suddenly Wilt stood up, perfectly fine.
        "I'm good." Wilt said. The nurse frowned. "Are you sure you're...okay?" The nurse asked. Wilt nodded quickly. She slowly walked away with a very confused look on her face. Wilt strode over to us, the nurse's key chain swinging on her finger. Our jaws dropped.
        "No way." Crystal muttered. Mac rolled her eyes. Wilt bowed. "Thank you, thank you." she said. I flicked her arm and she flashed me a devious smile. After praising Wilt with sarcastic comments about how wonderful she is, we turned to the map, trying to be serious. Key word, trying. We started to follow the map which led to the elevator. I mean, you'd think they'd put a sign up that said: ELEVATOR. But this hospital did not.

"It said right, Wilt." Crystal hissed. Wilt huffed hot air from her mouth looking irritated.
        "It's a left, look, it says left!" Wilt jabbed her finger into the map. Crystal flipped the map upside down and squinted.
        "Now it looks left." Crystal said sarcastically. "Oh wait, nope, still says to turn right!" Crystal snapped. Wilt bit her lip, hard.
        "A-are you sure? I think we should turn around, maybe we can ask a nurse?" Aqua said in a tiny voice.
        "Really? I think we should head straight." I added. I didn't really, but I just wanted to have my share of the confusion.
        "Can I help you?" A nurse asked, pausing as she walked down the hall.
        "Yea, we're looking for the elevator." Aqua said.
        "Oh I'm sorry, did I say can I help you? I meant, I'm going to kill you." the nurse hissed. I froze, staring at the woman. I recognized her, she was the nurse we took the keys from.
        "Run?" I suggested. Aqua was nodding, shoving me backwards behind her. We started to run but the nurse was a lot faster than I expected, I guess the virus was giving her an extreme amount of power. The nurse lunged and gabbed my ankle, causing me to crash to the ground. The ar was knocked from my lungs momentarily.
        "Mac!" I croaked ut. Mac kicked the lady in the face. She stumbled backwards giving Mac enough time to help me up. We caught up to the others and continued to run but the nurse was already on our heels.
        "Faster!" Aqua screamed.
        "Wait, look!" I pointed down a hall on our right. At the end of the hall was an elevator.
        "Ha! I was right! It was to the right!" Crystal said. I rolled my eyes as we turned and ran to it, but it was too far. We'd never make it.
        "Y-you guys go, I'll distract her." I said, regretting my words quickly. What a stupid idea, Cashmere. I watched as the others sprinted towards the elevator. "Hey! Pig face, over here!" I shouted and waved my arms to get her attention. She snarled, which I did not expect and she lunged. i sidestepped easily and put my food on her back to hold her on the floor. I glanced behind me and saw them scrambling to the elevator. The women the bent down and bit my leg. I howled in pain and had to let her go. Blood dripped down my ankle as I stumbled back.
        "You thought it would be t-that easy?" the nurse asked. I noticed blotches of red appearing on her face and small stitch like marks on her neck, crawling up to her chin. She scratched at the marks. I have come to the realization that the virus effects everyone differently, some people go zombie like, others go insane, some stay slightly normal until the virus shuts down their body and they just collapse, dead. Some people turn to raging monsters, unaware of the state they're in. It was weird and I didn't like it. I was knocked off of my feet as the nurse pushed me to the floor, hard. I whacked my chin on the tiled for a for a few seconds I saw stars. There was a slight ringing in my ears until I forced myself to turn over, to face the new danger. 
        "Wilt, the key!" I groaned.
        "How am I supposed to know which key it is? There's hundreds!" Wilt cried. The woman yanked me up roughly and pinned me against the wall, blood ripping from her nose, eyes turning a milky white.
        "Any time now!" I shouted in desperation.
        "One second." Wilt said in an irritated tone. The nurse bared her teeth, hissing.
        "The key!"
        "I don't know which one!" Wilt snapped as she tried to jam thekey into the lock which would take us to the basement. 
        "Just insert the FREAKING KEY!" I heard Mac shout. The nurse bent her head down and her jaw locked onto my neck. I screamed and found the strength to push the infected off of me. I put my hand to my neck to try to stop the blood. I brought my hand away and used it to shoot fire at the nurse. It blasted her in the face and I took off.
        "Hurry!" I shouted. I knew the nurse was right behind me but I had to focus on running. I sprinted for all I was worth. I ran right through the elevators just as they closed behind me, cutting the nurse off. I ran into the wall and Wilt caught me. Looking down at me she said,
        "I found the key."

As the elevator lowered (very slowly), I stood in the back corner. My body had adrenaline coursing through my veins and I found it hard to slow my breathing. I spotted Wilt in the opposite corner. I nudged her shoulder and she looked over at me.
        "You okay?" I asked. She nodded but her mind seemed elsewhere.
        "I just-the vision I had with the operation and my grandma...I can't believe she'd do that to me." Wilt whispered. I looked down at my own palm.
        "I wonder if the same thing happened to us." I said slowly. Wilt shrugged.
        "I just can't believe I have a sister and a dead sister and that my freaking dad kicked my mom out." Wilt said bitterly. I frowned and tried to read her expression. That last comment seemed more then a sentence, it seemed to hold some sort of death wish. "I have to go, Cashmere. Straighten some things up with Frank." Wilt said. "It shouldn't take more than an hour, I'll be back, I swear." I shook my head.
        "You can't leave, Wilt. We have to stop the generator, we're so close." I pleaded with her to stay.
        "You don't understand. I can't let him get away with this and I can't let him die from the generator or anything, he has to die by my own terms." Wilt said, hatred dripping from her words. "I just have to go. I'll come back, I'll meet you here." Wilt said.

And then she vanished into black smoke.