The goat face kept laughing, but the other head,drawn and human, with wide, leaking eyes,spoke.
"I'm in pain again. Where is the doctor?"
No one answered. Kyle, Lexie, and Tyler stood frozen, breath caught in their throats. Every part of their bodies screamed to run, but nothing moved.
Then something else came through the busted wall.
It was taller,grotesquely thin. Arms and legs stretched twice the normal length, skin pale and waxy. It moved slow, but its body,fat, wet, dragging like a slug,left a slimy trail behind it. Its face was that of a rat, nose twitching, black eyes empty.
It turned to the first creature and spoke in a flat voice. "This is not your room. There is already a patient here."
The goat-face monster cackled once more and then lumbered off into the dark.
Kyle's knees buckled. "W-What the hell is this?"
The rat-faced thing tilted its head. "I am the doctor. Lay on the bed, please."
Kyle shook his head violently. "No. No, I'm not—"
"Yes," the doctor-monster said, its voice still flat. "You are the patient."
Kyle bolted.
He didn't get far.
The arm snaked out, impossibly fast, wrapping around his waist. It slammed him onto the rusted gurney with a clang.
"No improvement in patient's mental state," the creature muttered.
Then it produced a long, rusted knife and calmly began to open Kyle's skull.
Kyle's screams split the air.
Lexie and Tyler ran.
---
In the hallway, monsters roamed,some crawling on the ceiling, some dragging chains, others whispering prayers to invisible gods,but none of them looked twice at the pair. They ignored Lexie and Tyler like they didn't exist.
They reached the entrance again. Still sealed. Still fog outside.
Evan found them there, breathless.
"You heard it too, right?" he said, gripping his clipboard. "The message. On the screen."
Lexie was crying, eyes wide, shaking.
Tyler was half-collapsed against the wall.
"You have to act," Evan said. "It's the only way they won't touch you. That's what I told them I was on break. And they let me walk right past."
Lexie whispered, "How am I supposed to act like a ghost?"
Evan leaned in close. "Don't speak. Don't breathe loud. Just… exist like you're already dead."
A shriek came from the hallway.
Something slithered closer.
It was massive,only the head visible. A snake's head the size of a desk, but the body was a bear's, thick with muscle, and its back end slid and pulsed like a snail.
It stared directly at Tyler.
"Janitor," it hissed. "Go clean that mess."
Tyler's mouth opened and closed. "I-I… I need my equipment, sir—"
Before he could finish, the snake lunged.
There was a wet snap, and half of Tyler's head disappeared between its jaws.
It said "Liar, you have been running around doing nothing."
It slithered away, leaving Tyler's twitching body behind.
Lexie fell to her knees, hand clamped over her mouth. She sobbed silently, urine spreading around her legs.
Meanwhile, Rhea had split from the others.
She wandered the dark hallways alone, her doctor's coat flapping behind her, trying to "act" as best she could,checking empty rooms, adjusting broken IV stands, scribbling nonsense on a clipboard she found.
She didn't know if it was working.
Then she heard footsteps.
Not human ones.
She turned a corner and found herself surrounded.
Five monsters watched her, each more warped than the last.
One of them,the one with a jaw that stretched too wide,spoke.
"You're going out again?"
Rhea said. "yes"
Another monster, smaller, leaned forward. "We trusted you, Director. We played our roles. Why are you leaving your post? Please help us."
Rhea staggered back. "you know i can't everyone need to play their role."
A memory. A costume party. She'd once dressed as the mad doctor who ran this place. Just a joke. Just a Halloween dare.
And now, in this place,she was the Director.
"You have work to do," another monster came and said. "There are always more patients. More doctors. More guards."
Another creature grinned. "Start collecting."
Rhea sighed matt i respect you that is why I gave the security costume i really hope when I come back you would still be alive.