The Last Winter

Saturday: Containment Area (34)

Michal
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Once everyone makes it inside, I slam the door shut and ram a small bookshelf against the exit. Oriana proceeds to lean against a wall, and Veronica staggers into her side weakly. Both are knocked off balance, but Veronica is the one who slides down to the floor.

I cough, and my lungs squeeze tight, and all of a sudden I can't breathe. It's like there's something down in my throat--something thick and sticky and cold.

I gasp for breath. My leg is killing me. It burns like fire.

"Veronica," I choke out, finding the wall next to her. "Veronica--"

"Ouch!" I hear Nelia hiss as she knocks into something in the dark.

That something makes a clicking sound, and a blast of blinding light explodes from an old film projector, painting the far wall of the room in a grainy screen of light. Chairs are scattered across the room, some have been tipped over, and the projector sits on a table that faces the far wall. It's some sort of meeting room.

Everyone falls silent as we all turn our eyes on the far wall.

Click click click click click click click!

An old black-and-white scene unfolds: a short woman dressed in a cheesy nurse outfit is talking with someone in a large official-looking doctor's coat, but their lips make no sound. The woman glances at the camera, then the two walk somewhere off screen to the left, revealing someone strapped to a chair against the wall.  The actions are swift and glitchy, obviously not in real-time.

It's a man in the chair, slouched over with his head down. He doesn't have much hair on his head. He's so still that I think he might be unconscious.

Or dead.

Then he starts violently convulsing. His head twists from side to side, and the chair shakes from his strong movements. With a powerful jerk, the leather strap that binds his right wrist snaps, and the man manages to tear himself from his constraints. His mouth is open wide in a silent scream of agony, and I can faintly see the veins in his neck popping through the skin.

Then he whips his head to look somewhere to the left, where the nurse and doctor had disappeared. And with a bolt, he springs to the wall and starts crawling up on all fours.

A moment later, the camera is knocked sideways and the feed cuts out. We are plunged into darkness once more.

"What the heck?" Nolan whispers quietly.

Veronica starts coughing, wet, gargling coughs. Blood spills from her lips and drips down her chin. Her small, frail body shakes with the effort to breathe as she twitches on the floor.

"Oh my God," Nelia says quickly, kneeling down next to the girl. "Veronica, it's going to be okay. Sit up--you need to sit up."

I look up and see Oriana staggering toward the other exit, her eyes wide. A quick glance to the left, and I lock my gaze with Nolan, who looks equally ashen. We all know the inevitable.

She's not going to make it.

I take a deep breath and lay a gentle hand on Nelia's shoulder, who looks up at me desperately.

"We have to do something--" she starts to say, and Veronica reaches out with her bloodied hand and grips Nelia's wrist tightly.

When she looks back down at Veronica, the girl slides her eyes to mine. They're not wide with terror or pain anymore. Her eyelids relax a little, and her mouth opens a bit more before her death grip on Nelia loosens and her hand falls to the floor.