Run & Hide Read online

  RUN & HIDE

  By: Brett Calhoun

  Dedicated to Rita Meshak, who always enjoyed a good story,

  and to Robert Calhoun, who introduced me to the wonderful world of horror.

  Chapter One: Check your pockets

  “Wake up! Can you hear me? I need you to tell me what the hell is going on!”

  My eyes snapped open and all I saw was painful white light. I blinked my eyes several times until I could finally see straight. As I sat up I looked around. I was in a small windowless room that looked like maybe it belonged to a hospital. The walls were a bare egg-shell white and it appeared that I was lying down on a twin sized bed. The white sheets were bleached clean and it appeared that I had been tucked in. I noticed there was a small black video camera with a microphone attached to it set up in the corner of the ceiling.

  “About time, you got up,” said the same voice from before.

  I looked over and saw a chubby guy sitting on the bed across from mine. He was wearing a light blue button down t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of shockingly blue sneakers. He looked like maybe he was in his forties or fifties. He had a full head of silver-gray hair and neatly trimmed beard that matched the same color of his hair. He was looking at me expectantly.

  “Where am I?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes, “Who are you?”

  “Pal, I wish I could tell you where we are, but I have no idea.” The man replied. “The name’s Lee.”

  “How long have I been out?” I asked.

  “Not sure,” Lee answered as he slumped down staring at the floor, “I only woke up around five minutes after you did… So what’s your name?”

  “I’m Michael,” I said as I pulled off the bed covers to get up.

  As I got out of the bed I saw that I was wearing a faded black t-shirt with the colorful words MIAMI VICE imprinted on it. The name felt familiar to me somehow, but I couldn’t figure out what it meant. After thinking about it, I realized I could barely remember anything. Besides the t-shirt, I was wearing a pair of black track pants with white stripes going down on the sides and a pair of white and black sneakers.

  “Lee, let me ask you something.” I said as I got up into a sitting position similar to Lee’s.

  “Sure.” Lee grunted without taking his eyes off the floor.

  “What do you remember before being here?” I asked.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out, pal.” He replied, “All I get are a bunch of jumbled images in my mind, maybe a few flashes here and there of something, but besides that…nothing. What about you? Is there anything you can think of before we got here?”

  I gave it some thought, but nothing came to me. Every time I tried to remember I felt like I was looking through a massively deep fog. For a few seconds I felt that I remembered loud noises like the sound of gunfire and yelling, but when I tried to focus harder on the memory it evaporated.

  “I can’t remember a thing.” I said after a while, “It looks like we’re in a hospital or something, doesn’t it?”

  “That’s what I’m thinking,” Lee nodded and looked up at me, “The door over there has been locked though, so I haven’t gotten a chance to look around much. For all I know we could be in space and I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

  Suddenly a “click” came from the heavy door to the room. The door cracked open a few inches and stood ajar. Lee and I immediately looked at the door. It felt like we were holding our breath to see if someone was about to push the door open. After what felt like an eternity, Lee got up and gripped the steel door handle. He tugged on the door slightly and the door opened up. Lee gave me a look and a shrug inquiring if he should open the door all the way. I nodded and he swung the door open all the way to reveal what looked like a hallway with another door on the other side of ours. I got up and walked up behind him. Lee turned around and looked at me.

  “I swear this door was locked just five minutes ago.” Lee grumbled, “There’s something weird going on here.”

  “Let’s see what’s outside.” I suggested, “If this is a hospital then there might be a nurse or someone that can help us.”

  I poked my head out of the room and saw we were definitely in a hospital of some type. Our room was situated near the middle of the hallway. Immediately I couldn’t help but notice how sweltering hot it was. It felt like it was at least eighty degrees. A little bit to my right I could see a large half crescent shaped work station. A large sign along the exterior of the station read NURSE’S STATION in large bold red letters. Unfortunately there was no one there. I gingerly stepped out of our room and approached the door across from us. It was cracked open. I opened it all the way and found it was the exact same type of room that Lee’s and mine had been, however it was unoccupied.

  “This isn’t right,” Lee whispered with a slight shake of his head, “there should be somebody here, at least a nurse or something. And what’s with the fact that there are no windows?”

  “You’re right, Lee.” I said as turned from the empty room and looked around, “There’s definitely something odd going on.”

  “I say we check out that nurse’s station and use their phone to get the hell out of here.” Lee suggested.

  I nodded and we walked over to the nurse’s station. As we approached the nurse’s station I saw that that part of the hallways opened up and revealed two shiny metallic elevators across from the station. The elevators appeared to be inoperable at the moment though as their indicators, which were supposed to show which floor each elevator was on, were blank. I tried calling both of them anyway, but the elevators refused to respond. As I was checking the elevators, Lee walked behind the nurse’s station.

  “Not much back here, pal.” Lee said as he looked around, “Looks like there’s a phone though.”

  I walked up to the nurse’s station as Lee picked up the phone and dialed for the operator. Lee frowned and put the phone back on its receiver.

  “The line is dead.” Lee explained as I joined him behind the nurse’s station.

  “So are the elevators.” I replied.

  “I don’t know about you, pal, but this mess just keeps getting weirder and weirder every second…” Lee said.

  I nodded and noticed a drawer under where the phone was set. Lee followed my gaze and pulled it open. Inside the drawer was a small red leather-bound journal with a large white map sticking out of it along with a couple of neatly sharpened number 2 pencils.

  “What kinda map is this?” Lee asked in an annoyed tone as he opened up the map.

  I looked over Lee’s shoulder and saw that it was apparently a map of the facility we were in. The annoying thing about the map was that it was almost completely unlabeled. The twelfth floor had the wordsPSYCHIATRIC WARD scrawled in red ink on it.

  “I’m assuming we’re on the twelfth floor.” I said after scanning the rest of the map, “Can I see that journal?”

  “Oh yeah, sure.” Lee answered absent-mindedly, handing over the journal as he continued to study the map, “Here you go.”

  The journal looked fairly new. It hadMY SWEET LITTLE THOUGHTS embossed in gold lettering on the front of it. Upon opening it to the first page I was able to see that it belonged to a Nurse Rita McSweeney. About twenty pages were written over all. I glanced through it and found most of it was typical things a woman in her young twenties or thirties may write about while on a long and boring shift; getting along with co-workers, taking in a new pet, and even some discussion about a new man in her life. The final two entries however were slightly different from the others though. The final entries read:

  Date June 23 1981,

  Work was going totally great today. I didn’t have much to do at all except watch over the nut-jobs as usual. I got a chance to read over some magazines and talk wi
th Dorris about that awful repairman Dr. Sawyer found urinating in the boiler room. Just when my shift was nearly over Dr. Wayne asked me to get him more medication for patient #7. Usually that would be no issue, as a simple trip to the Pharmacy downstairs is easy enough to handle, but then the pharmacist told me they were out of the anti-depressants and that I would need to go into the basement level and see Mr. Stenseth about getting more. I HATE GOING IN THAT BASEMENT! Mr. Stenseth is nice and all, but I always feel like I’m being watched when I’m down there, especially when I’m passing by the vacant storage rooms. I could’ve sworn I heard heavy breathing coming from one of the rooms the last time I was down there. I told Mr. Stenseth about it while he was fixing the generators down there, but he told me not to worry about it. Whatever though, I’m totally done with it. Thank God it’s Friday!

  Date June 26 1981,

  Mr. Stenseth is dead! When I came to work earlier I found that the police were here taping off the basement! THERE WAS A PSYCHO LIVING IN THE BASEMENT!!! I can’t believe they made me go down there! The police said that they didn’t even catch the guy! There’s no way I’m staying here! I’ve already got that job opportunity in Boston, there’s no reason for me to stay here. Mr. Stenseth was so nice to me… I can’t believe he’s gone! I’m just going to wait for Dr. Wayne to come in and then I’m turning in my papers! Fuck this place!

  “Anything good in there?” Lee asked me with a nod to the journal as he folded up the map.

  “It looks like a murder took place down in the basement of this hospital.” I explained as I closed up the journal, “Apparently someone was living in one of the vacant storage rooms and they murdered the storage clerk.”

  “Geez…” Lee grimaced at the thought. “What should we do now?”

  Just as I was about to answer his question the phone, which was dead, suddenly began to ring loudly. Lee and I both jumped in surprise. For a second we looked at each other while the phone rang, and then I walked over and picked up the phone.

  “Hello?” I said into the phone.

  For several seconds all I could hear was heavy breathing and then suddenly I heard a raspy voice say, “Check your pockets…”

  The phone immediately went dead again with an abrupt click. I spoke into the phone again, hoping beyond hope that maybe someone would respond or say something else.

  “Who was it?” Lee asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said as I put the phone back on its receiver and looked at Lee, “he said to check our pockets though.”

  “Huh,” Lee lifted an eyebrow, “Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”

  Lee and I both plunged our hands in our pockets. At first I didn’t think there was anything in mine, but then I felt a small square piece of paper in my right palm. I pulled it out and saw that it was a neatly folded one dollar bill. Lee pulled out a similarly folded white piece of paper from his jean’s pocket. Lee unfolded his paper and revealed it to be a photograph.

  The photograph was old and worn and severely frayed on the edges. Lee was in the picture smiling next to an attractive red headed woman with two children standing in front of them smiling big innocent smiles. One child was a boy in suspenders that looked to be around nine years old, while the other child was a small girl with a long pony-tail that looked around five years old. Apparently the picture was taken from some type of camping trip or something of the like. I could see a tent pitched in the background and trees all around. The little girl had grass stains on her plaid shirt and the boy had some pine needles sticking out of his brown hair.

  “Is that your family, Lee?” I asked.

  “I have no idea, pal.” Lee said with a scared look as he placed his palm on his forehead, “I can’t even remember my damn birthday! Man this is fucked up!”

  “Everything’s going to be okay.” I assured him soothingly, “We’ll figure this out.”

  “This isn’t right, man.” Lee said, “If this is my family, how can I not remember them?”

  “Look, I don’t know,” I said, “I say we get out of here and make our way from there. One step at a time.”

  “Yeah… You’re right.” Lee nodded as he began to fold up the picture.

  “Wait a second!” I said suddenly. “Look at this!”

  Just as Lee had begun to fold up his picture I noticed small hand-writing in the bottom right corner of the picture. In a bold black scribble were the wordsAVOID COLD PLACES!!!

  “What do you suppose that means?” I asked with a puzzled expression. “Does that mean anything to you?”

  “Nah,” Lee said, shaking his head, “Let’s take a look at that dollar bill. Maybe there’s something written on that too.”

  I unfolded the dollar bill. The note was even more worn that Lee’s picture. I could tell that it had been crumpled up many times. The picture of George Washington had been vandalized with a mustache, pointy beard, and large glasses, but besides that I couldn’t see any type of message or clue.

  “Flip it over.” Lee suggested.

  I turned the bill around and saw something. The part of the note that said IN GOD WE TRUST had been crossed out countless times in black ink. Directly under the crossed out words were new words scribbled in the same black ink:GET TO THE BASEMENT!

  “Well I guess that makes more sense.” Lee said. “But why would we want to go to the basement? Any of this ringing a bell for you, pal?”

  “No.” I replied with certainty, “This writing may not even apply to us. It could just be a joke. And in any case, I want to get out of this creepy place.”

  “So we take the stairs and make for the main entrance?” Lee asked.

  “Yeah,” I answered as I put away the dollar bill and pocketed the two pencils, “Where’s the nearest stairwell?”

  “Apparently each floor is set up to go in one large square-shaped circle.” Lee explained, “According to the map there are stairwells located at each corner of every floor. Right now we’re between staircases C and D. We could go either left or right, doesn’t matter.”

  “Let’s go left.” I said.

  As we walked down the halls I noticed that all of the doors were securely closed. Lee and I made no attempt to open any more of the doors. We were both deeply driven to get out there. I felt like I was being watched. The security cameras posted along the walls didn’t help me shake that thought either. Not only that, but the heat of the hallway felt unbearable. Lee and I were already sweating a little bit and we hadn’t even been there that long.

  “Aw shit…” Lee grumbled as he came to a halt.

  Just as we had reached the turn in the hallway, I saw what Lee was talking about. There was a massive blood stain spattered up against a door to one of the vacant rooms. The stain looked somewhat old, but this only made it look nastier as it was a deep and nasty black color. Next to the stain was a crudely drawn message in the stain’s owner’s blood:RUN AND HIDE.

  “We need to get the fuck out of here.” I said to Lee as we stared at the writing.

  “I’m no doctor, well at least I don’t think I am,” Lee replied, “but by the looks of that stain I don’t think whoever made it survived.”

  “I don’t plan on joining them, let’s go.” I said as I began to walk to the stairwell door. Lee was still frozen in place though so I walked back to him and put my hand on his shoulder, “Let’s go, Lee.”

  Lee nodded and followed me to the stairs. As soon as we opened the doors to stairwell C I felt cooler. The air was still hot, but it didn’t seem as bad as in the hallway. A black and white plastic sign confirmed our earlier thoughts that we were on the twelfth floor. Lee and I quickly made our way down the stairs. There were too many unknowns in this situation and, considering the bloodstain, Lee and I decided to keep as quiet as possible on our way down. The first floor stairwell door had a small window in it. I peeked through it and looked to see what kind of state the first floor was in. I couldn’t see much besides the wall opposite the stairwell door however. Lee and I exchanged looks and I slowly turned t
he door handle and pushed.

  The door opened quietly. Lee and I stepped over the threshold and looked around. The first floor seemed more decorative but hardly any more cheerful than the twelfth floor. The walls were teal colored and there were pictures decorating them. It didn’t take long for me to see that whatever had befallen this hospital had not spared the first floor in the slightest. Many of the pictures were smashed and some were even encrusted with small amounts of blood. Strangely enough there were also no windows on this floor either, just like the twelfth, and once again there were security cameras posted everywhere.

  The first floor was a lot more confusing than the twelfth as well. The hallway from the stairwell branched off many times. As Lee and I made our way along the hall old bloodstains were popping up more and more often.

  “Damn, it’s freezing down here…” Lee said as he rubbed his arms to stay warm.

  I hadn’t noticed it right away, but it was extremely cold I was able to see my breath. The bloodstains should’ve made me nervous, and they definitely did, but the cold made me even more nervous. I remembered the writing on Lee’s picture. It said to avoid cold places and I couldn’t help but feel that it was important somehow. I could write off the message on my dollar bill as graffiti of some sort, but the writing on the picture made me feel that it was important. What could I do though? In order to get out of this god-forsaken building I had to go to the first floor. There was no other way.

  Lee and I encountered very little along the way to the elevators. I knew that the elevators would be near the front entrance so I figured if we went in the direction of the elevators we would find the front entrance. After a few minutes of walking in silence we found the elevators.

  “Pal, this is not a good sign…” Lee whispered as he took a few steps back.

  There were large trails of blood leading from the elevators toward what I assumed was the direction of the main entrance. I wasn’t sure, but I could definitely see that more than one carcass of something had been dragged either to or from both of the elevators.