Virulence Immune

~ Chapter Thirty-One ~

Perri wasn't going to wait for Doctor Holloway to return. That was not even an option. No way in Hell. And this place was indeed, Hell.

She began to thrash against her restraints, figuring something had to give.

As she did, she noticed that one of her hands shifted in the strap around her wrist. The straps that were in contact with her skin were padded, the rest were just a thin string of chain links that were secured around the metal side-bars of the bedframe.

Perri pulled and pulled, scrunching up her face as she bit back against the pain in her hand as she tried to slip it free from the strap.

After what seemed like forever, she felt her hand slide into the part of the strap that was originally around her wrist. Her face lit up.

With just a little more effort, her hand was free.

She gasped with relief and she could have cried with joy had she not regained her composure. Perri remained focused on the task before her.

With her hand free, she pulled the strap (across her chest) over her head and sat up.

She quickly freed her remaining limbs and nearly leapt off the bed—she couldn't get off it fast enough.

The floor was cold on her bare feet.

Her feet...

Where the fuck are my shoes? She thought.

When she looked down in disgust she also noticed that she wasn't wearing her clothes either, but a dully decorated hospital gown.

Her eyes then scanned the little room in which she stood. Other than the uncomfortable bed, and countertop—that was littered with science garbage that Perri felt the burning desire to destroy—there were two doors.

One had a window that covered the top half of the door; that was the one Holloway had used when he left.

The other door was wide open and Perri could see a washbasin on the wall of the skinny room inside.

Something on the floor in the skinny room caught her eye, so she went in. To one side was the sink and to the other was a shoddy shower cubicle that was covered in the remnants of blood.

When she moved in front of the washbasin, she was distracted by the mirrored cabinet above it.

Perri could scarcely believe that the reflection peering back at her, through emerald eyes, was her own.

Out the corner of her eye she saw her dirty, blood-crisped clothes on the floor, but returned her gaze to the thing in the mirror.

She winced as she removed her gown and let it fall to the ground.

Though clean, her naked body was flecked with different coloured bruises, to accompany her bloodshot eye, and all manners of cuts and scratches. Only the more serious injuries had stitches and bandages.

The corner of her mouth twitched at a thought that came to mind. She looked wild. Her wavy, dark-brown, shoulder-length hair that she normally wore in a pony-tail had been cut to about three-inches long and was in one heck of a mess.

Perri inhaled and exhaled deeply before looking to her clothes.

They'd been carelessly left on the floor.

She took them up in her arms.

Thankfully they were dry, though also a tad crispy and sticky from being covered in blood.

Perri didn't care. She put her clothes on despite the foul state of them. These days, there were worse things.

She moved back into the first room and over to the other door to peek out the window.

Not a single person in sight, and not a sound to be heard.

Next, she tried the door handle and sighed with relief.

It was unlocked.

Slowly and quietly, Perri exited the room. She stepped into a thin, grey hallway—that was probably once white—and grimaced at the dim lighting before making her way along.

Passing more doors on both sides of the hallway, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what was inside the other rooms.

But, her curiosity got the best of her.

She pressed her face against her cupped hands on the window of a door to peer inside.

Whatever was on the bed in that first room looked to have exploded, leaving blood and chunks tainting every inch of the room—from the floor to the ceiling.

Perri backed away and checked another room.

In the next one, it looked like someone had gone into a rage and decided to do some redecorating. Everything had been damaged. Even the light that hung above the overturned bed was smashed and flickering. And the window Perri was looking through was severely cracked and had blood on it—as if someone had repeatedly hit their head against it.

Perri leaned on the glass for a better view and sure enough, just inside the door was a body. A corpse covered in blood with a caved in face.

Perri's brows drew together and she clenched her jaw.

She stepped away from the door and shook her head.

What is this 'outpost' really for? She couldn't help but wonder.