The Last Winter

Saturday: Until Dawn (36)

Nelia
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Up ahead, Oriana has already managed to make her way to the end of the narrow hall. It's a short space, with a few rooms with closed doors on either side. No cells this time. A window sits on the far wall at the end, boarded up by rotting planks of wood, but I can distinctly see very faint rays of light glowing through the cracks.

My heart leaps.

"Look--look!" I tell Michal beside me, shaking his arm. "The sun is rising!"

He slowly looks up toward the blocked window, and I see his tear-stricken eyes glint in the dim light.

"Nolan," he says softly, lifting his gun slightly.

I clench my jaw. "Where's my knife? Do you still have it?"

He shakes his head. "I dropped it."

I hear the front door of the office bang against the frame, and I urge Michal forward. "Okay, never mind. We gotta go."

I knock against a large barrel sitting in the middle of the hall, and I almost tip it over. A faded red flammable sign has been stamped on its side. I look up at Michal quickly.

"How many bullets do you have left?"

A cry echoes down the hall, and on the opposite end, a howler crawls into view, fixing us with its poisonous gaze.

"Here!" Oriana shouts weakly, and I quickly glance in her direction. She's opened a heavy door, and just on the other side, I can see a small stairwell.

Stairs!

We'll be on the roof in no time!

"Go on!" I shout, watching as she disappears on the other side of the door. "Come on!" I shout at Michal, although he's standing right beside me.

He's shaking again, and he reaches up to rub his temple with the same hand that's holding the gun. It trembles in his fingers.

"Michal, we gotta go!" I repeat, grabbing his arm.

The howler down the hall gives us a horrible screech, and it starts crawling toward us at alarming speed.

I yank on Michal's arm, and he staggers forward a few steps. "COME ON!" I scream.

There's a loud crash from the office, and the chorus of howls from the cell blocks flood into the hallway.

They're coming!

I lose my grip on Michal, but he's not that far behind me. He can make it. We can make it. We'll make it.

He cries out just as I reach the stairwell door, and I whip around in terror.

"MICHAL!" I scream, but it's too late!

A howler is on top of his back, pinning him to the floor. Its claws dig into his backside as he wrestles to flip over.

Two more howlers enter the hall from the office, and somewhere in the chaos, Michal and I lock eyes for the last time. Even before he lifts the gun toward the barrel, I know exactly what he's going to do.

I shake my head, eyes wide, poised with my hands on the door handle to the stairwell.

"GO!" he shouts.

A fourth howler appears from the opposite end of the hall.

"MICHAL, NO!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

Someone pulls the door open from the other side, and Oriana grabs the front of my coat and jerks me to safety.

A split second later, an explosion rocks the whole sanitarium, and the blast knocks me off my feet. My head slams against the steps, and my vision goes black.