System, are you messing with me? - Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Shu Ning forcefully calmed down his turmultuous emotions, after he made sure that Alpha really was no where to be found. The System's whereabouts was a problem, that he had to deal with some other time, as this health facility was a way bigger dilemma at the moment. Not just because of the treatement he was receiving, but also because this place felt off in some way. As if something horrible and dangerous was lurking in every shadowy corner, just waiting to sink it's claws into the hearts of unassuming humans. It was a frightening feeling to be completely helpless as his wrists were still bound tightly to the bed.
"Hey. Hey, Nurse. Hello. Can someone hear me? HEY!"
Shu Ning yelled out as loud as he could to attract the attention of whoever passed by his room, but even after his throat turned sore and itchy there was still no one coming to check on him. He was already almost giving up his quest in talking with someone, when finally the door to his room swung open with a loud bang and the face of an irritated nurse appeared. It was the same woman that had visited not too long ago.
"SHUT UP! Or else I will inject you with some tranquilizers."
"I wouldn't need to shout so loud if you would have just come faster."
The nurse snorted in response and when Shu Ning's eyes narroved in a poisonous glare, the woman even roled her eyes at him. For a short while after that the two of them were caught in a staring match, with no one wanting to back down.
"I want you to take off those restraints."
"Hmmmm.... No."
"What? Why? I have calmed down already, so there is no need to keep them on any longer."
"That may be so, but you have the tendency to lash out in aggression every other day and it would be way too troublesome to place new bounds on you ever time that happens. It is also too dangerous for us to have you move freely as we have learned the hard way that you can make a weapon out of practically anything."
At that the woman pulled the corners of her lips into a crooked grin that showed way too many teeth. Seeing the sharp edges of them, Shu Ning felt the hairs on his arms stand up in nervousness , but he quickly squashed down the irrational agitation. In a way, these strange reactions that he showed in the companny of the nurse only spurred on his descision to get out of this place as fast as possible.
"I see. And what if I need to go to the bathroom?"
"We could place a catheter or make you wear a diaper. You can pick."
"No thanks. I suppose I can still keep it in. Can you help me change my position then? It's getting a bit uncomfortable like this."
Shu Ning lifted his upper body slightly and made a show out of flattening the creases of the mattress with his back and shoulder, almost dislocated his wrist in the process. Heavily panting, he settled back into the bedding and pleadingly looked at the obviously amused nurse.
Luckily the woman didn't seem to be completely indifferent to her patients needs yet and carefully came closer to rearange his hospital dress and stroke over the covering of the matress. After everything was done, she hurriedly stepped back again and after no more words were exchanged, the woman stalked out of the room and shut the door behind her.
Shu Ning sighed in relief when the nurse dissapeared behind the door at last and with an evil twinkle growing in his eyes, he flipped an identification card from his hand in to between two of his fingers. The same face that had moments before vanished through the door now stubornly stared out of the rectangular card.
With a few flicks of his hand, the tight bound around his right wrist got cut deep enough that Shu Ning only needed to exhert some of his remaining strength to tear appart the rest of the binds. As the right arm was now capable of moving around freeing the left side was even easier to cut and so it did not take much longer for the other arm to come free as well. A dark red mark became visible on the pale skin of both of the wrists and with a few clenches of his hands the blood finally properly flowed into the tips of his fingers.
Shu Ning slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed and carefully placed his bare feet on the freezing ground. His arms shakily moved to either side of his legs and stabilized his weak body when he tried to find his balance when standing up. It took a few tries, before the body worked as it was supposed to and finally stood on it's own to legs without tipping over.
However, It was still necessary to make a few trial steps with the bed close by to hold on to if needed, before Shu Ning descided that the body was capable of carying his weight. He slowly moved across the room and cracked open the door to peer out into the hall. There were only two nurses and someone that looked like an office worker walking along the hall and after they all rounded the corner at the end of it, the coast was completely clear.
Shu Ning stuck his head further through the gap of the door to look in every direction before silently running to the right and then ducking behind the corner when he checked that it was safe. Only after calming down his elevated heart and the rushing of blood inside of his ears subsided did he strain his ears to catch any noises in his close vicinity.
Instead of hearing the expected voises of nurses or the footfalls of moving staff though, the first sound that reached Shu Ning's ears was a muffled banging coming from the direction he was headed to. After the banging came the growling of wild animals that got accompanied with more banging and even scratching noises. Other then that there was an eery silence hanging over the entire institude and only the sudden painfull scream of a female ripped through the ominous veil.
Shu Ning flinched notable and when shortly after wards a group of footsteps hurried along the hall, he quickly rushed down the corridor he hid himself in and then barged through the next best door he could find. It lead into the cluttered space of a small storage room where Shu Ning perched himself between half filled shelves and boxes while squinting through the grid imbedded into the door.
"Damn. That's another one now. How many does that make? Did the doctor not find a fitting treatment plan yet?"
Two pair of feet stopped at the door opposite of the storage room, but they made no move to enter just yet. They were both dressed in the same nurse attire as the woman that always checked on Shu Ning, but instead of some boring hair colour, one of them had yellow and the other one had red hair.
The female with the blonde hair wore her hair up in a ponytail that alway wipped back and forth when she gestured with her hands. Her dress was a pale blue with white stockings underneath, the same as the other nurse. But what really stood out about those two was the long tear in the outfit of the blonde haired one that traveled from the sholder down to the hip. The flesh below was an angry red and a few dropps of blood slowly oozed out of a cut. The other woman still had her clothes in tackt, but when she lifted one of her arms to place it on her companions shoulder, the fabric of the sleve fell back to revealed an ugly scar that looked like the skin had been ripped off by some kind of agressive beast.
"The doctor doesn't know what to do either. There are too many of them and from how I see it, those people shouldn't fall into our jurisdiction. That's a medical problem not a mental one."
"I think so too. But they seem to be phisical healthy. We checked them all when they arrived here after all."
"That's why all of this is strange. How can it bee that suddenly multiple people start acting agressive, don't eat or drink anymore, lose their memory and go crazy more and more often. That never happenned before. And now look at us. My new patient scratched me as soon as I set foot into his ward. It needed three security officers to tie him up. And you. your last patient actually bit off your skin. That's horrifying. I still get nightmares from all the blood I saw. And then the scream just now. I'm scared to know what happenned to the poor woman. Aren't you?"
"I am. I didn't sign up for this when I applied for the work. I wanted to leave this place when I got this injury but the boss wouldn't allow it. There are not enough nurses left it would seem. I envy those that managed to leave this mental facility on time."
"I wanted to leave too, but my resignation was rejected. They can't force us to do this work though. I'm loosing sleep over this and I also can't seem to bting myself to eat anymore. The food just completely lost it's taste because of this constant stress and fear."
"Maybe we should just not come to work anymore. See how the boss likes that."
"Well, I'm all in."
Shu Ning watched as the two nurses nodded at each other with determination and then turned around and left in the direction they came in. He stayed sitting in the same place for a bit longer to sort through his racing thoughts, but no matter, he could not make sense of what he just heard. In the end all he knew was that the patients in this building were going insane and that it was way too dangerous to stay, so he slowly sneaked his way out of the storage room and after the two nurses that just left. If the women really planned on leaving this place for good then they would lead him right to the exit.
After running through endless corridors, around corner after corner  and down two flights of stairs, Shu Ning had to stopp in one of the hall ways to to gulp in some well needed air. His legs were already feeling like jelly from the strain of runnig so long and his lungs were burning and aching. He was also getting dizzy and had difficulties to coordinate his limbs properly. More then once he almost tripped over his own feet and once even crashed into a corner when he couldn't make the turn fast enough.
Now though, there was finally some time to take a small break and Shu Ning immediately used it to massage his arms and legs to get the blood flowing. He was so concentrated on his work that he didn't even notice the sound of an approaching person untill a dark shadow feel over the corridor.
"Who are you? What are you doing in this section? From the looks of your clothes you must be a patient of the upper vards."
"I.... That is.... I just got released and was searching for my way out. Could you be so nice to point me in the correct direction?"
Shu Ning plastered an appologetic smile on his face and tried to look as innocent as possible but by the looks of the other man it did not really work. Instead, the man varily looked him up and down and then took out a small black phone from the pocket of his black suit. Only now did Shu Ning recognize that guy as the civil servant that he had seen in front of his room before.
"Need reinforcement here. Two will be enough. Escaped patient from the AML departement."
It only took five minutes after the man finished the message that two security guards approached the corridor from both sides, making it impossible for Shu Ning to make his escape. In the end, he had to resign himself to his fate and let the two men forcefully drag him back to his ward and renew the bounds around his wrist. This time the ties felt even tighter and more robust than before.
Shu Ning sighed in defeat as he leaned back into the pillows of his narrow bed. The machine next to his head was beeping away again as it's cables had been reconnected to his temple and the room door had been extra locked by a key to make sure no escape happens again. It seemed to be a forlorn situation and Shu Ning really did not know how to get himself out of this anymore. Now the only thing that could save him was a miracle.