Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
No. I have not lost my mind.
I might have just found it.
The reality she thought she’d been living might actually be part dream. Or deception. But she couldn’t think too much about that just now. She needed at least a few answers first, and this was her chance to get some.
She threw her leg gingerly over the top of the fence and started her descent. Grip, release, find a foothold, only much, much faster this time.
When her feet hit the soft earth, she allowed herself a small shimmy of victory before turning, ducking, and moving behind the foliage that lined the chain-link obstruction between the old and new buildings.
She moved down the slight incline to the edge of what looked like a power station or generator or who knew, a tall fenced-in area containing enclosed boxes and heavy corded wires twisting from one row to the next. There were stickers on the gate and the boxes warning of electrocution. As she walked to the edge, she could see there was a path beyond. She hesitated. Should I follow it?
Yes. Autumn tiptoed slowly down the path toward the large windowless building. She squinted at it, and from this close distance, she could see several doors along the side, all with what looked like keypads. The portion of Mercy where she lived didn’t have any such thing. Of course, they had some basic security, but not like this.
Maybe there’s just very expensive equipment here that requires a different level of protection.
When she was almost at the place where the path broke off in either direction, she heard voices and what sounded like wheels on pavement. With a sharp intake of breath, she pressed her body against a nearby tree, clenching her eyes shut as the voices approached. The squeak of the wheels grew louder, covering what she now thought was a…pained groan.
Autumn’s breath stalled, her heart rate increasing as she pressed her lips together, attempting to become as small as possible. There were two voices. Women. Serious tones. The squeak of the wheels pierced her ears, echoing inside. They passed by the place where she stood, their conversation continuing. She caught a few words of medical jargon but not enough to interpret or understand.
When they had moved a short distance away, Autumn peeled herself from the tree, moving around its side. The nurses’ backs were to her now, one pushing the gurney, the other walking beside her coworker. Autumn leaned out as far as she dared, her eyes widening as they turned along the path, the white sheet covering the person on the gurney shifting slightly to expose half of a human face, purple and swollen grotesquely, one eye staring directly at her.
Autumn clamped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming, her heart slamming in her chest. The flash of a tiny red light under the eaves of the building across from her caught her eye, causing her panic to ratchet higher. A camera? Was it a security camera? Oh God.
The second the nurses turned out of sight, Autumn booked it back the way she’d come, scurrying up the incline, tripping and cursing herself for her clumsiness. She ducked, running along the short row of bushes to the place where she’d climbed the fence and ascended rapidly as though someone—or something—might reach up, grab her leg, and pull her back down.
Chapter Eight
“You look good, Autumn, and your vital signs are wonderful.”
Autumn’s nerves fluttered. They’d run tests on her heart and her lungs a few days before. They’d done an ultrasound and a CAT scan. All the diagnostics were performed by machines. Today, they were going to take her blood. Test her urine. Would they know? Would they realize she’d been off her medication for a month now? Of course they would. They were medical professionals. How would they not? The machines might not show it, but her bodily fluids most definitely would.
She couldn’t be put back on the medicine yet. Not yet. I need time. Just a little more time where I have the strength to figure out what’s going on here. To determine what to do.
To find out what in the hell is going on at the fenced-in building next to this one where I saw a very real human monster.
“That’s nice to hear, Dr. Murphy. I feel good.” She feigned a small cough. “Not great but…I don’t expect to with my condition.” She’d limped in and taken a seat gingerly, wincing when she made contact with the chair, even though cushioned for their frail bones. But she couldn’t do much to hide the weight she’d put on nor to diminish the glow of her skin or the clarity that had taken over her eyes. She cast her gaze to the side. “I was wondering though if I might put off any more tests for another few weeks. The needle is always the worst for me.” Which wasn’t a lie. Often because of her collapsed veins, it took even the most experienced nurse poke after poke after poke to find a vein. She wrapped her sweater around her. Surely they’d notice how plump her veins were now. “I’d like to…enjoy this…reprieve while it lasts.”