the second Monster, bearing him to the ground as my hands wrapped around his throat.
I squeezed with all the strength I could muster and was rewarded by the crackle of breaking glass. I realized in alarm it had come from the Monster I held. His very features seemed to crack. I just squeezed all the harder, watching him shatter beneath my fingers. Features cracking, cracking, fractures running up and down his entire body. Then in an instant he shattered, collapsing into nothing more than a pile of glass. Mirror glass. It cut my hands but I hardly noticed. I was already rising up to attack the other Monster, who was wildly banging his hand against the wall trying to knock Mousy off.
Charging him at the knees, we both went to the ground, an oomph escaping from him as his head rapped against the hard floor. I knelt on top of him, grabbing him around the sides of the head with both hands and repeatedly bashing it into the floor. Two strikes and he cracked, and I was smart enough this time to leap backwards before he shattered completely.
I glanced briefly at the third warden, but he was still unconscious and still human. Now I only had to deal with the dozen monsters that were pounding the door down. Aren’t I the lucky one?
Figuring I might as well at least destroy the camera system before giving things up as hopeless, I looked around for a suitable bludgeon with which to destroy it. A small brief case sat innocently in one corner. How it got there, who knows, but it seemed solid enough. I took it up in both hands and turned to the control console beneath the monitors.
It was sturdy and made to be durable. A few whacks made that clear soon enough. So I just broke the screens above it instead. Even if the controls were in perfect working condition, the screens would be at least too wrecked for anyone to see what I was up to.
The pounding on the door increased in fury and I figured either more Monsters had joined the group, or they had found some better, more effective battering ram.
"No one’s home," I muttered, turning back to survey the monitors. With a shrug, I started bashing them in, one by one. It was as I neared the completion of my task that I hesitated, for I had reached the screen that showed this very room.
It showed two piles of glass from the slain monsters, the third unconscious and human. That was as it should be. But what made me hesitate was the fact that neither I, nor Mousy, appeared to be on the screen.
Confused, I looked around until I spotted the nearby camera, tucked into a corner of the room. I waved my arms around and stuck out my tongue, making certain I was directly beneath the camera. Still, the monitor did not show me. Neither did it show Mousy or even my Snoopy Cap. Now I knew why the Tormentors hadn’t caught up to me. I wasn’t visible on the cameras!
Intrigued and more than slightly disturbed, I bashed the last two screens just in case and then started to search for some kind of exit. The door shook again, but they didn’t seem to be having much luck.
Mousy joined me in the search and it was only moments before I heard a rustle from him. I stepped over to where he stood and followed his gaze upwards to a small vent in the ceiling. Probably an air-conditioning vent, but it was just my size.
I leapt up and caught the edge of it on the second try, holding on though it put a sharp strain on my already injured shoulder. Mousy rustled, jumped, latched onto my leg, and climbed it up to the edge of the hand I dangled from. He then grabbed one of the screws in his mouth and started to twist it. They were only loosely attached.
In moments I had shoved the vent cover back and crawled up and inside. It was a tight fit, but I managed, starting to make my way forward. I wouldn’t be able to turn around, which would prove a serious problem if I encountered anything, but I figured most of them were too big to fit in the vent anyways.
With a grim smile on my face I crawled, having no clue where I was headed, simply that it was away. I’m not sure when, but I passed out at some point from the combination of injury and exhaustion. Guess it was time for some much needed sleep.
Physically I’m a mess, but at least I’m still mobile.
Nil, Out (hopefully right out of this vent to freedom)
Day 65
I woke up in pain, but once again, not nearly as much as I should have been in. Glancing down at my hands, I noticed that sure enough, they were mostly healed. Just like before. All my injuries from yesterday’s beating felt like they were weeks old. Whether Siegfried’s doing or someone else, I neither cared nor bothered to wonder about. All that mattered was I was healed and free to find and destroy the Director. That monstrous being behind this Hell that was my life.
A quiet rustle echoed in the vent around me and I noticed Mousy a little ways off, fast asleep. He’d crawled over to the nearest turn in the vent to keep guard against any incoming foes. Poor little guy probably tried to stay up all night! It touched my heart and I thought about letting him sleep a while longer. But we had to get going.
"Come on, Mousy," I said gently, nudging him with a hand once I’d crawled over to him. His ever-blue eyes cracked open and peered blearily up at me. He looked tired but got to his feet, ready to continue.
Through the vents we went. Although partially healed, my body still felt worn out. I had to stop several times to rest, much more often than I would have liked. Every now and then we would come across a grate that looked down into a room below. I’d always stop to peer out of the grating, hoping for some clue as to where we were and where we were headed.
More than once I saw Monsters beneath, shuffling about like zombies. It seemed the Director was using his every resource to search for me, transforming every warden and doctor in the building into just another mindless minion. Twice, through grates that looked down into hallways, I caught a glimpse of the Twisted Puppet.
He seemed to be a general of sorts, marshalling his troops in their search. It was only a matter of time until somebody thought to check the air vents. I tried desperately to be silent, but I know I made noise sometimes. Maybe they’d already heard me.
Knowing I couldn’t keep this up much longer, and with no real clue where I was, I decided to drop into the next empty room that I found. I needed to know where the Director’s office was. Either by getting directions from a Monster somehow or by finding a directory posted to the wall. Directory. For the Director. Ha ha ha.
The next grate that I came to overlooked one of the doctor’s offices. Deciding it was the best I’d get, I gently shoved it outwards, holding onto it so it wouldn’t clatter to the ground. Thankfully, it wasn’t even screwed in and just took a push to knock it loose.
I sucked the grate into the vent, placing it carefully beside me. I then dropped quietly to the floor below, followed seconds later by Mousy. Padding over to the door on silent feet, I locked it so that I'd have no unexpected intruders. Then I turned to survey the room and see if there was anything that might help us.
A nice desk, a swivel chair, and some weird painting of clocks by a guy named Salvador Dali. That was about all the room consisted of. I grinned as I read the medical degrees that hung from the wall. The name said Lucius R. Higgins. I was in dear Dr. H’s office...
I glanced once at the door, paranoid that a Tormentor or Monster would sneak up on me even though it was locked. Shaking my head to clear that ugly thought, I took a seat in Higgins chair. It was tempting to log onto his computer first thing, but there were also several desk drawers to investigate. And even better, a fat file cabinet. I opened it.
Riffling through the carefully organized files, I reached the section categorized by the letter 'N' and found the file named Nillium Neems. I pulled out my own patient file and spread it on the desk in front of me, Mousy leaping onto my shoulder so he could read it too.
Name: Nillium Amelia Neems. I now knew my middle name. Yay. Height: 5’ 1". Already knew that one. Weight: 113 pounds. Probably less by now. More physical details that were already self-evident. Random details about my problems. Numerous, but mainly dealing with hallucinations. The name of the doctor who first admitte
d me, some dude named Dr. Ahriman. I didn’t remember him, but I made a mental note to pay him a visit someday.
Then followed details about my parents, how they disowned me and I was a ward of the state, my patient history, various transfers to different facilities before Atrium. As I continued reading, I frowned, and my frown only deepened. Mousy rustled questioningly.
"I don’t remember this, Mousy..."
He rustled out another question mark.
"I’m serious, Mousy. I don’t remember any of this. I don’t remember any Dr. Ahriman. I don’t remember all of these places, these other mental wards that are listed. I mean, I know I was disowned by my parents and have spent my life growing up in the system. But... as I think about it, I can’t recall any of the details. I can’t remember what my parents looked like. I can’t remember these other wards. I can’t remember anything!"
The last word I said nearly in a wail, starting to get a bit freaked out. Was my memory that badly damaged? Could I have lost everything like that? Mousy brought me back to the here and now as he let out a rustle that was more like a hiss than anything else.
He’d dragged a manila folder from one of the desk drawers, and spread it out in front of me. The title said ‘Black List’. It contained several