They left the horrific scene behind them as they passed through the door to their next challenge. Aaron’s ears were still ringing from the gunshot. Only a few inches over and it could’ve been his own head, he cringed, those bastards.
At first, rage clouded his judgment when he took in his new surroundings. It was definitely an old-school styled hospital. They were in another lobby, this one was a lot bigger, and was covered with blood.
Along the floor looked like someone took a large paintbrush and dragged red paint from the front desk all the way through one of the swinging hospital doorways. Splatters decorated the white tiled walls, along with several hand prints. Aaron sighed.
“Oh my…. no! This place screams ‘nope’! What is the point of scaring the crap out of us like this?” Matt said, “Like honestly, why not just kill us already…”
“Don’t give them any more ideas,” Blake grunted.
It smelled like a normal doctor's office, which was scary enough, but with a heavy mixture of copper and rust. Half of the lights were working, and the other few flickered on and off.
“So what’re our new objectives?” Aaron’s voice was cold.
Alaire walked towards the front desk, with Blake close behind. She started sifting through some of the files looking for clues, clearly ready to get this over with.
WELCOME TO THANATO’S ASYLUM.
YOUR TASK IS SIMPLE. MAKE IT TO THE EXIT. ONE OF THESE DOORS WILL GET YOU THERE, THE OTHERS WILL NOT.
“I hope they mean the exit to Thanato Project for good this time…” Alaire said, “I’m getting sick of being toyed with.”
“Agreed,” Blake said.
Matt sounds frustrated, “Is no one else bothered by the odd amounts of blood and obvious warning signs everywhere?”
Nobody seemed to have a comment. Aaron located the map of the hospital framed on one of the walls.
“Tsk, there’s several exits. Of course, they’re going to make this as vague and cryptic as usual.”
“They also didn't say who or what would be in our way,” Alaire added.
Jacob finally stepped in, “Here’s a fatal question, should we split up into groups to cover more exits, or stick together to avoid pulling a basic horror movie fail?”
“I want to know how to get to the other side of the room we were in. Are we just gonna leave those two girls in there to prune to death?” Blake asked.
He’s right, Aaron pondered, Jane and Taylor were both still alive and trapped in there. What for? Leverage?
“We can look for them too,” Alaire said, “Hey… Aaron.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have any idea why they thought you cheated? I can’t imagine there are many rules in The Thanato Project…”
Aaron leaned against the desk, his brow furrowed. He would have to relive watching Andrew and Katie die for something he did for the rest of his life, if he made it out alive that is.
“Honestly…” Aaron said, “The only thing I can think of, at least what keeps coming to mind, is this symbol I found.”
“Symbol?”
Aaron nodded, “Yeah kinda odd… but as soon as I erased some of it, everything changed. The monsters were stopped and everything seemed to become normal… I can’t really explain it.”
“Sounds like voodoo,” Matt frowned.
“Could be,” Aaron shrugged, “We escaped easily after that… Did any of you find symbols?”
Everyone shook their heads, “Doesn’t mean they weren't there in hiding, though,” Alaire suggested, “If they need the witchy symbols to keep it scary in here maybe we can find one here?”
“Worked out so well for me,” Aaron warned.
“Sorry,” Alaire said, “That was insensitive…”
“So,” Blake interrupted, “What do we want to do?”
“Well, there’s four directions we can go, none of which look particularly inviting…” Jacob said.
Aaron noted the blood stain trail that led through one of the doorways. Yikes.
“If we do split into groups, how will we let each other know we found the exit?” Matt asked.
“We don’t have our phones and I don't see walkie talkies lying around,” Alaire said, “Let’s stick together for now?”
“Fine with me,” Blake said, “Let’s go right first.”
Alaire cocked her head, “Why? I mean, you just seem pretty certain.”
“I have a hunch it could lead us to the room with the bathtubs.”
Above the swinging doors was a sign labeling what lay ahead, “hydrotherapy”.
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