Chapter 3 - ACCURSED
Content Warning
Visceral Violence / Gore
Nikolai got his things and put them in his backpack.
The poor thing was barely holding on, threatening to completely come apart if he wasn’t careful.
“Where are you going, sweety.” his mother asked before coughing into her handkerchief.
He quickly got up and poured some water into a cup for her.
“Here, mama. Drink this.”
She did as he asked and smiled.
“You’re such a sweet boy, Nikolai.” his mother smiled up at him from her sickbed.
Her illness had been getting worse lately and he was out of options. They were far too poor to afford proper medicine. Hell, their house was nothing more than a single room shack that his father had built. It was a shelter but it was slowly falling into disrepair.
“I’m going to the Fellhaven Royal Hospital. They’re calling for volunteers to test out some new kind of medicine. It’s free room and board and if I can get in I can either get you a steady supply of food and hopefully medicine or, best case scenario, get you a place there as well.”
His mother smiled but it was a sad smile. One that seemed to indicate that she was happy he was working so hard to take care of her, but also that she didn’t believe things would go that well for them.
“My dear Nikolai. Be careful not to sell yourself to the nobility.”
“Mama, they’re not nobles. They’re doctors.”
“Only nobles or those sponsored by nobles can afford studying to become doctors.”
Nikolai sighed.
“I don’t have any other options, mama. I’ll be careful and hopefully by the end of the day I’ll be back with some food for you. I’m gonna take care of you, mama.”
His mother’s smile veined. Her gaunt features and sunken eyes made her look more dead than alive. He only wanted to see her return to her former self.
He kissed his mother’s hand, grabbed his backpack and gave his mother one last reassuring smile.
“I’ll be back before you know it. Promise.”
“Which is it?” Nikolai reiterated, tightening his grip on the hooked cleaver.
The weapon seemed to thrum with some sort of eldritch energy, and most strangely of all, the twins could feel it. It pulsed in their heads as well.
“We don’t know what you’re talking about.” Alba answered while cowering behind her sister. “We only just woke up and have been running from monsters ever since.”
The young man took in their details more critically now. He looked at their patients’ gowns, their almost imperceptible surgical scars and their unique crimson eyes.
“You just woke up?” he asked in a way that made it sound like he was fishing for something.
Luna held her crimson dagger up, pointed at the young man, while positioning herself between him and Alba. She wasn’t sure if she could stand up against such a heavy looking weapon but if she could dodge his initial attack she just might be able to get close enough to plunge the dagger into his throat.
“Yes.” said Alba. “I don’t really remember much because I literally just woke up like an hour ago. My twin, Luna, has been awake a little while longer than that. But she doesn’t remember much either.”
Nikolai furrowed his brow as he contemplated his options.
The two girls were clearly not among the staff, but they also seemed to have their wits about them. And then his eyes finally rested upon the crimson dagger in Luna’s hand.
“Where did you get that?” he asked.
Luna seemed confused for a moment, until she realized what he was referring to. Nikolai observed her expression shift from confusion to surprise and finally coming to rest at what he could only assume was worry.
“She made it.” Alba explained.
Luna shushed her.
“I don’t know how but she made it from her own blood.” Alba continued.
“Shut the fuck up, Alba!” Luna commanded.
Nikolai’s stance relaxed a bit from hearing that.
“So you are like me then.” he explained.
Abla dared to step past her sister now, sensing the danger might have passed. “Like you, how?”
Luna didn’t entirely lower her dagger but did become slightly more relaxed.
Nikolai took a deep breath.
“Warlings.” he explained. “That’s what the staff here were trying to create.”
“And what the fuck are warlings?” asked Luna indignantly.
Alba shot her an annoyed look.
“I only know bits and pieces. They’re…witches…half monsters in a way. They’re humans who can cast magic…with their blood.”
A laugh broke free from Luna. “Magic isn’t real.”
“You sure about that?” asked Nikolai while pointing at the dagger in her hand.
Both twins now looked at the dagger and then exchanged worried looks. They both knew the dagger wasn’t the only seemingly supernatural thing they could do.
“Listen, I don’t know how it all works. I don’t even care how they did it. All I know is that I need to get back home to mama. She’s sick and she needs medicine.” Nikolai explained.
“We have a better chance at surviving if we work together, yeah?” Alba proposed, not just to Nikolai but her own sister as well.
Luna and Nikolai shot glances at each other. Clearly there was still some mistrust.
“You seem to have a better idea of what’s going on.” Alba continued. “And you could use the added help. Together we just might make it. Agreed?”
Alba motioned for her sister to agree and after a moment she finally relaxed and got out of her combat stance. Nikolai, in turn, did the same. As he did, his cleaver decreased in size. It’s various metallic components folding back together and coming to rest in their natural, neutral, positions, hiding the fleshy horror within.
“Fine.” he said. “I’m Nikolai. I think you referred to yourselves as Alba and Luna?”
The twins nodded.
“Alright. If we’re gonna work together you might as well help me look for security keys. We’re gonna need them to escape out of here.” Nikolai stated as he began looking.
“What do they look like?” asked Luna begrudgingly, as she put the dagger on the floor next to the sofa.
“They should be on a very thick key ring with numerous keys and a little metallic plaque or plate with a number on it. That’s how they kept track of who had which key ring.” Nikolai explained.
“And they’re gonna open a way out of here?” asked Alba as she looked under the sofa, finding only more blood stains.
“Basically.” Nikolai replied while searching the kitchen. “They open most of the regular doors and all the security doors. We’re currently in the South Wing, which is where all the patients were kept. But in order for us to access the other wings we need those keys. Without them we’re screwed.”
“So once we get them, where do we go from there?” asked Luna, probingly.
Nikolai looked back to make eye contact with her for a moment.
“In the interest of trust? We need to get to the North Wing.”
“The North Wing?” asked Alba, hoping for a little more clarification.
“Oh right.” Nikolai suddenly realized. “You just woke up. The Fellhave Royal Hospital is made of four wings. North, West, East and South. North is Administration, that’s where most of the staff and supervisors live and work. East Wing is Therapy and Experimentation, that’s where they tested out some of the things they did to us…I think. West Wing is Surgery and Autopsy, that’s where they sent patients when they died. And finally the South Wing is Patients and Infirmary, that’s where our cells are. All of these wings are built around the central courtyard.”
“And we’re planning to go out the front door in Administration?” asked Luna.
“Yeah, if we can.” said Nikolai, returning to his search.
“And if we can’t?” Luna asked pointedly.
“If we can’t then we’ll have to go to the West Wing. I’ve heard they dispose of corpses through a body chute that we should be able to use to escape.”
Sensing the hesitancy in his voice Abla decided to ask further. “But you don’t want to go there?”
“No. That’s where the outbreak started, apparently.” said Nikolai as he started looking in various cupboards.
Luna had searched through most of her part of the rec room, so she shrugged and started searching the bodies. “What do you mean? What outbreak?”
Nikolai leaned over and pointed at the orderly he had decapitated. “I mean that. That’s not normal.”
Alba stopped searching and looked at the orderly’s twisted face and their yellow eyes. “What happened to them?”
“Don’t know.” said Nikolai, resuming his search. “I don’t know how it started or what’s causing it but I do know it started with madness. And not the normal kind of mental illness. People started going violently insane. First staff members and then patients. And as the madness got worse and as they got more violent they soon started turning into monsters. I don’t know if it also affects warlings like us but I’ve seen our kind go mad too, but for different reasons.”
Alba and Luna exchanged a look before returning their gaze towards Nikolai again.
“How do we know you’re a warling too?” asked Luna.
Nikolai finished looking through the cupboards and paused for a moment.
“Well, only warlings can use these.” he said as he tapped the cleaver.
“And where did you get that?” asked Luna with a coy grin, clearly interested in the weaponry.
“Found it in a room, I think they were running experiments on it.” Nikolai explained. “I found papers with it that referred to it as a ‘carrion weapon’. Probably due to its…you know…its core.”
He then approached them and pushed apart the lids of his left eye to give them a better look. “And then there’s also this.”
As the twins leaned in for a better look they suddenly noticed that, although his irises were hazel, there was a red sheen to them and his pupils were slitted, much like theirs.
“Most of the patients I met before everything went to shit, or at least the ones who had successfully been turned, had eyes similar to mine.” he continued.
“How do they turn us?” Alba asked. “How do they make us into…warlings?”
Nikolai shrugged. “Wish I knew. None of us remember. I think it has something to do with the drugs they gave us. Or maybe those were just to make us forget.”
“And how many of us are there?”
“Last I knew there were probably about twenty of us. Most of them are probably dead now.” Nikolai then looked at Luna who had just finished looting the third corpse. “Find anything, angry one?”
Luna looked up at him, furrowing her tiny eyebrows, and held up a handful of silver coins with one gold resting on top of the small pile. “I found a few slivers and one crown. No keys.”
“Oh shit. A crown? I guess dinner is on you when we get out of here.” Nikolai joked.
Luna didn’t even smile.
Alba made her way into the reading room where she found, along with new splatters of blood, the familiar drawing on the wall. Looking at it still hurt her head.
“Hey, what do you guys make of this?” she asked out into the other room.
Luna and Nikolai joined her to see what she was talking about. Luna seemed pretty clueless but Nikolai had a look of recognition.
“I’ve seen similar drawings. Some of the patients, the ones who were too far gone and were completely unresponsive, would draw things like this any time they got. But it looks like a staff member drew this.”
“Do you think it has anything to do with the madness?” asked Alba.
Nikolai just shrugged.
Luna looked at the drawings and then looked at them.
“I don’t think there are any security keys here. What now?”
Nikolai sighed. “I was afraid of that. We might have to try and find a guard somewhere but there are none on this floor. And the staircase is locked behind a security door.”
The twins looked at one another.
“We found a dead security guard on the floor above.” said Luna.
“We got down here by squeezing down with the pipes in the maintenance room.” Alba continued.
“While being chased by Mama Brutus.” Luna finished.
There was a look of worry in Nikolai’s eyes. “We’re gonna have to go back up there.”
“I’ll do it.” said Luna.
“You’re limping. You couldn’t outrun Mama Brutus even if you tried.” Nikolai explained.
“We’ll you can’t squeeze up there, you’re too big!” Luna retorted back, defiantly.
“I’ll go.” said Alba.
“No! There’s no way I’m sending you up there alone.” Luna exclaimed. “You’re too…”
“What?” Alba asked, anger bubbling up inside her. “Too weak? I’m small enough to fit and I can be quiet.”
“But if you get in a fight you’re fucked.” said Luna.
“Then I’ll run.”
“And what if you get hurt?!”
Nikolai reached into a small bag he had slinked over his shoulder and pulled out a strange gun-like contraction. “If you get hurt you can use this.”
“What is it?” Alba asked as she examined it.
There was a handle and a small trigger but where the barrel was there was just a small opening with a needle hidden inside. On the side of it was a small pill shaped glass window that showcased a dark liquid that swirled within it. It was blood.
“The doctors called it a Bloodshot. If you inject it into your body it’ll heal faster. It’ll also help replenish any blood you’ve already used for…you know.”
He motioned towards where Luna had left her dagger which was now just a small puddle of blood.
“Uh, no thank you.” said Alba as she handed it back to Nikolai. “I’d rather not inject other people’s blood into me.”
“It might save your life.” Nikolai reiterated.
“It’ll just slow me down.” Alba explained.
“We’re acting like it’s been decided that you’re going.” her sister said.
“I’m going, Luna. It’s the only way. You’re still healing and Nikolai is too big. It has to be me. Unless you wanna inject that thing into you.”
Alba motioned towards the bloodshot but Luna seemed squeamish at the thought.
“See, it has to be me.”
The worry on Luna’s face was clear to see. Her eyes darted back and forth while she tried to figure out a different solution and when she failed to come up with anything she just wrapped her arms around her sister.
“I can’t lose you.” she said softly.
“You won’t. I’ll be right back.” Alba said reassuringly, even if she didn’t entirely believe it herself.
Alba slowly raised her head to peek up through the opening in the maintenance rooms. Below her Nikolai and Luna tried to lift her as quietly as possible.
The fourth floor maintenance room of the South Wing was quite similar to how they had left it. The door was still ajar after Mama Brutus had forced her way into the room and many of the tools and toolboxes had been kicked over and thrown about in the process. But, luckily, no sign of Mama Brutus or her whistling.
Alba looked down and nodded and her two companions pushed her higher up. She had refrained from taking the bloodshot with her. She wanted both her hands to be free.
Gingerly climbing up, Alba began skulking her way to peek out the door. The corridor was devoid of any humans or any monsters, but it painted a vivid picture of past atrocities that had occurred there.
She needed to move south and turn the bend. Just past the fourth floor rec room was where the dead security guard was…or at least, where they had left him.
And so she stepped gingerly past gurneys and wheelchairs while keeping an ear and an eye out for anything hostile. It was frighteningly quiet at the moment. So quiet she felt like she could hear own heartbeat.
Badoom…badoom…badoom…
She reached the corner, peeked past and was relieved to find it just as empty as the corridor behind her. However, just then she heard something clattering to the floor. But as it echoed throughout the corridor it was hard to pinpoint whether it was coming from up ahead or behind..
Sweat trickled down her brow and she wanted nothing more than to run back to the maintenance room and slide down to safety. But they needed that key and peeking past the corner she could see the dead security guard. He was only about two-hundred feet away. She could make it. She had to make it.
Alba slowly stealthed her way forward, inching closer and closer to her prize. But with her eyes fixed on the corpse she was unable to see the shadowed shape looming in the doorway to the rec room.
Finally she reached the security guard. The smell of blood was extremely palpable, so much that it stung her nose. Her nimble hands searched his pockets and belt but, at first she found nothing. Panic began to set in. What if there were no keys here? What if she had put herself in danger for nothing?!
But then it occurred to her. The keys must be under him! So she grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled as hard as she could, trying her hardest not to make any sounds or groans as she did.
She pulled and she pulled and, ever so slightly, heard the faint sound of something metallic scraping against the linoleum tiles. She pulled and then reached under the torso, feeling her hands touching the pool of blood that he lay in. But then, finally, her fingers touched something cold and hard.
She gripped it and pulled her hand back, ever so gently. It was just as Nikolai had described it. A thick key ring, with several keys and a metal plate with the number seventeen on it.
As she held up the keys to look at them she felt the smell of blood almost overcome her. It was everywhere. On her hands, on the keys, on the corpse. It was…intoxicating. Smelling it made neurons fire in her brain that she had never used before. Like a predator stirring awake. Taking the form of a singular, sickening thought.
Taste it…lick it…
And before she knew it she was sticking out her tongue and bringing up her hand to do just that, but when she suddenly realized what she was doing and pulled her hand away.
It was then that she had the startling realization that she was not alone.
There had been no sound. Nothing that alerted or alarmed her. It was just a presence.
Crouched down behind her was Mama Brutus’ hulking form, observing her every move with malicious glee.
Alba froze in place, daring not to move a muscle.
“Go on…taste it…Mama knows it’ll be good for you…”
