Ward SIX

Halle stared at the imposing doors leading to the hospital. She had just graduated college a few months ago. Fortunately, thanks to her professor, he wrote a letter of recommendation and landed a job at the hospital. She wasn't one to take handouts, but she desperately needed a break. Her student loans weren't going to pay themselves. The hospital wasn't well known, and her online search yielded unsatisfactory results, but she would take what she could get. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Halle expected the sterile feel and look of the hospital, but something chilling swept down her spine that screamed wrong. She shrugged the feeling away and chalked it up to being in an unfamiliar place. The lone receptionist watched her the entire time. No greeting, no movement, Halle wasn't even sure she breathed.

Halle cleared her throat awkwardly, "Hi, I'm the new hire." Her statement sounded more like a question. The staring unnerved her.

One slow blink later. "Yes, we are expecting you. You're right on time. Dr. Munroe is waiting. Please, proceed to the door on your left, then take an immediate left. The door will be on your right."

The hospital wasn't the only thing that gave Halle the heebie-jeebies. The receptionist needed to work on her customer service. As Halle approached the door leading further into the hospital, she heard the telltale buzz allowing her entry. Even after passing the threshold, it was eerily quiet. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Halle had no trouble finding the right door. After knocking politely, a raspy voice called to enter followed.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Munroe. I'm Halle Gibbins, the new hire," she said as she approached the desk.

A middle age man hurriedly stood and shook her hand. "Ah, yes, Professor Novel recommended you. I've heard great things. Please, take a seat."

"Thank you, sir."

"I won't keep you long. I'll have you shadow our Head Nurse, Claire, for the first week so that you get acclimated. If by the end of the week you have any questions or concerns, you can visit me anytime at my office."

Halle felt relaxed for the first time since walking into the building. "I appreciate it sir, I doubt there'll be anything, but I'll keep it mind."

Dr. Munroe called Claire, who arrived as soon as he hung up the phone. Halle suspected she had been waiting on the call.

Claire had a no-nonsense attitude, her face set in a perpetual frown as if she had a stomach ache and a severe bun that stretched the skin of her face thin. Respectfully, Claire listened to her careful instructions and realized quickly not to interrupt her spiels. Outside of Claire's demeanor, Halle felt she wouldn't have any problems taking on her assigned duties and avoiding stepping on Claire's toes in the process. By the end of her first day, Halle was confident her employment would be enjoyable.

Throughout her first week, everything ran smoothly, but what was odd, the patients were unnaturally subdued. The staff operated like clockwork. The hospital and staff were like the universe, and Halle a meteorite that knocked them out of alignment. She had never seen anything like it, not when she interned at another hospital, and as silly as it sounds, on tv. Nonetheless, she kept her head down and did what she was assigned. But on one of her rotations alongside Trish, another recent hire who'd been there a few months. They were passing a corridor that branched from the main hallway. Halle couldn't be sure, but the door at the end looked heavily reinforced with a keypad or card swipe machine. The single light barely illuminated its surroundings. Halle would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't dying of curiosity.

"Hey, Trish," Halle called. "What's down there? Do you know?"

Trish glanced back to Halle, who'd stopped at the entrance to the hallway. Trish joined Halle after a moment of hesitation. "I'm not sure. But I do know it's off limits."

"But why?"

"Honestly, I don't know. The only thing I can tell you is it's Ward SIX. I've never seen a patient enter or exit. I'll be happy stationed anywhere but there."

Just as Halle went to respond, Claire's voice cracked like a whip in the quiet. "What are you girls doing standing around? There a patients that need tending."

"Apologies, Claire. I was curious about Ward SIX." Halle could hear Trish groan quietly behind her.

Claire's body went rigid. Her usual scowl twisted into something menacing. It was at that moment Halle knew she had messed up. "Ms. Gibbons, I would advise you to do your job than stand around gossiping about something that doesn't concern you."

"Yes, ma'am," Halle said, feeling chastised.

Halle and Trish ducked away before turning the corner. Halle looked back and saw Claire gazing at the shrouded hallway. When she turned to watch them go, their eyes held each other until Halle was out of sight. As she made her rounds, Halle couldn't ignore the strange reaction from Claire, something was happening, and she was determined to find out.

Halle figured only someone in authority would have access. She got confirmation of her suspicions when she spied Dr. Munroe exiting the hallway from her position. Halle's opportunity to swipe his identification card came when she got summoned to his office for her quarterly review. He had to step out of the office when one of the nurses requested confirmation for a medication change.

As the review resumed, Halle's paranoia convinced her he knew she had taken the card. She sat with hands clammy with sweat, a slight sheen of perspiration dotted her forehead, and her stomach felt like it lodged in her throat. The entire time the contents of her stomach threatened to spew all over his mahogany desk. Thankfully that was not the case. As unlikely as it did seem, Halle managed to slip in when her shift was over; the halls tended to be rather bare.

Halle listened at the door for incoming footsteps, then realized she wouldn't be able to. The hospital was deathly quiet, and she'd never heard a sound from this side before. The first set of doors was a testing lab, followed by a small office with an attached control room. The control room had a bank of monitors observing the occupants in their rooms. Halle couldn't readily identify their issue but remained cautious not to disturb anything lest the powers that be suspect something amiss. She ventured further into the ward, and to her extreme discomfort, on either side of the long corridor appeared to be containment cells. Each one had a small viewing window for closer observation, but she'd watched enough movies to know she won't like what she'll see.

That eerie feeling Halle experienced on her first day tripled on seeing those doors. Her body felt poised to run at the instance trouble found her. She continued to glance behind her every few feet as her pulse skyrocketed the closer she got. Halle pressed her back against the wall near the first door and tiptoed to take a peek inside. The next thing she knew, Halle was plastered against the opposite wall. She could still feel the vibrations and dull pain in her shoulders, but her mind was distracted by what she had seen.

Halle took a minute to wrap her mind around it; who could do something like that to another human being? Slowly, she inched forward and still had to hold back the gasp of horror. In the center of the room was a hospital-style bed. The patient's skin appeared to be melting into a puddle, and rivulets of water cascaded from the bed. An attached hose seemed to be breathing for them. The skin of his, maybe her, face sagged horribly, revealing too much white around their iris. She didn't think they were awake due to the vacant stare fixated on the ceiling. Their face set in a permanent grimace.

Halle absently tapped her pockets for her phone, forgetting hospital policy to leave it at the receptionist's table until the end of her shift. She desperately wanted to take a picture. She had to tell someone what was going on. Halle raised her head to peer in for the last time and came eye to eye with the—person. A low watery groan rattled their chest. Before she could ask the questions burning on her tongue, she heard footsteps, probably more than one, headed her way.

Frantically, she tugged on every door she passed until one flew open at her adrenaline-infused strength. Narrowly, she kept the door from bouncing against the wall. Dr. Munroe and Claire came to a stop and the same door she had just vacated.

"How is patient 1503 doing today?"

"It appears he had a spike in heart rate not too long ago," Claire answered. "Other than that, nothing has changed since yesterday."

Dr. Monroe made a non-committable sound in response. "Up the dosage by 1.5ml. Hopefully we'll have better results by this time tomorrow."

"Yes, doctor."

At the subsequent door, they stopped at each to make notes, observations, and possible medications to use. From the bits and pieces of conversation heard, Halle knew the state of the others. A body was in the process of disintegrating. Another turned inside and out, which started at the naval, while another slept endlessly as the body collapsed upon itself. At that point, Halle wasn't sure if these were experimentations or if they genuinely came to the hospital for relief. Whichever was the case, no one outside of the administration was aware of the happenings in Ward SIX. But she knew that needed to change.

She never got the chance. Dr. Munroe accessed the ward though Halle still held on to the access card she'd swiped. It was when she tried to replace the card she got caught. She sat facing the doctor, the same as the first two times; however, now it couldn't feel any more different if she tried. Halle felt an antelope sitting in the presence of a lion, and the exit felt miles away.

"You disappoint me, Ms. Gibbons," Dr. Munroe said. He contorted his face into a sympathetic expression Halle knew he forced. When he viewed those poor souls on the other side of those doors, not a flicker of remorse or any other emotion crossed his face.

If looks could kill, Halle's glare would leave him a smoldering pile of ashes. Halle didn't dignify the comment with a response.

"Professor Novel assured me you wouldn't be a nuisance. You are one of his best students. Kept your head down, followed directions to the letter and obeyed campus rules. Evidently, those traits didn't extend here."

Professor Novel knew? And like a fool, I willingly walked through those doors, Halle thought to herself. Some emotion must have crossed her face because a smile slowly tugged at his lips. She could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ears. Dr. Munroe continued to speak, but no sound penetrated the panic building between her ears. Only the flicker of his eyes to something behind her warned of the incoming threat.

A needle punctured her neck too quickly for her to protect herself, and instantly, the floor rose to meet her. From her prone position and diminishing eyesight, Claire walked into view.

"What—" Halle slurred. As her world went dark, she heard, "She would make a fine addition to the project."