TORN FLESH

CHAPTER THREE: LURKERS

HOLDING her breath as if her life depended on it- which it very much did- Margo dared herself to stay silent, to keep the "Lurkers" from heading in their direction. As the shuffling of feet became harder and harder to hear, Violet peeked around the corner to try and locate them, when she determined it was safe she gestured for Margo to slowly come forward.

"We've gotta hurry, they get more active at night." ushering her down the hall the two girls managed to creep along the tile their footsteps near imperceptible as they tiptoed. "We've just gotta make it down the stairs and then we're home free." Violet spoke glancing over her shoulder at Margo. "What about the elevator?"

Violet frowned not even bothered enough to try and answer her, she didn't have to once they passed it, glancing down into the shaft, Margo could see the car resting at the bottom of the elevator, the cables snapped, and the sight of limbs sticking out in odd places being made evident. She looked away a nauseating feeling residing in her stomach as she tried to flush out the image of the elevator.

"Told you."

Margo scowled at the back of the girl's head hoping she could feel it due to the fact she couldn't see it, "near the bottom of the stairs is where a lot of them usually are, now's a good time to get the gun ready."

She raised the gun from her side once again aiming it over the girls head with ease, she could feel the tourniquet beneath her pants loosening with each step her heart rate increasing as she began to worry about it falling off, she took a deep breath holding in the air for a few seconds before releasing it. All they had to do was get out of the hospital, then she could change it.

Violet bumped the door open with her hip glancing inside to make sure it was safe, when she saw that it was she opened the door the slightest bit further to allow Margo enough space to follow her inside. They slowly descended the stairs- Margo having to take her time with her newly acquired limp- with Violet in the front glancing down the set of stairs every few minutes to check for nearby Lurkers down below.

Margo let out a pained cry tumbling down a few stairs before she landed on her bottom, she heaved in for air clutching her leg with a pained expression crossing her features, unaware as to what may have been wrong, Violet turned around quietly sitting in front of her, "is it your leg?" she gave a sharp nod unbuttoning her pants to tug them down just enough so she could assess the damage.

"I need a shirt- something, this one isn't gonna hold up for much longer." she spoke her voice low as she bit her lip trying her best to fend off the pain like she usually did, behind Violet came a creak on the staircase, with a faster reaction time than she'd ever experienced, Margo raised her gun and shot a single bullet from the weapon, the small girl turned to look watching as the man- now dead- fell to the floor with a loud thump.

She met Margo's gaze with wide eyes, "he had a gun." she gestured towards the weapon he'd slowly been raising as he'd approached, Violet shook her head, "they're gonna be all over us." she mumbled, pulling up her pants, Margo gently took the machete from the girls hand crawling over to the man with the blade.

Roughly pulling his jacket from the corpse she set it off to the side- intending to use it later- before she ran the blade along the edge of his shirt satisfied when it cut through the material, setting the blade down- Violet quickly scooped it up- she tore it down the middle pulling his arms loose of the material as she did so.

"We've gotta go, do you think that can wait till we get somewhere safe?" Margo glanced over her shoulder giving a slight nod as she held the balled-up shirt at her side, picking up the jacket she held it out to Violet gesturing towards her bag as she did so, "can you hold onto it till I find something to carry my stuff in?"

She didn't reply, instead taking the article of clothing from her to shove into her bag, within seconds, a loud bang- the door hitting the wall- came from the bottom of the stairwell both of their eyes widening with realization, "he wasn't alone." Violet whispered, she pointed up towards the door they'd come through the two of them quickly rushing for it as the sound of footsteps below them picked up speed.

They slammed the door behind them Margo bracing herself against it to prevent the soldier from coming through when he did reach the door, "I need something to block it so we can run." she stated glancing around the hall, her eyes ran over the I.V. cart a few feet away, the piece of equipment tipped over and lying on its side.

"Grab the pole!" the girl's eyes darted from Margo to the metal rod attached to a set of wheels before she ran towards it almost tripping in the process, she picked it up by the end dragging it over to where the older girl was still blocking the door, a bang could be heard from the other side of the doors prompting Violet to move faster.

Handing off the equipment to Margo, she watched as the girl the door closed with one hand and slid the metal into place with her free hand, quickly stepping back, she watched as the man on the other side yanked on the door unable to open it due to the metal that was currently keeping it closed.

Margo gently pushed Violet her hands pressing against the girl's shoulders as she urged her down the hall, "is there another exit on this level?" the girl nodded nervously glancing behind them to check for the man, "it's on the other wing though."

She let out a sigh of relief, "alright, let's go then." she continued to walk turning to look behind her when she realized Violet wasn't following anymore, "Violet, come on." she softly smiled, the girl shook her head a look of fear hiding within her eyes, "come on, we don't have time for this." she shook her head again taking a step back.

"Nobody goes in the West Wing." Margo furrowed her eyebrows, "why, what's over there?" she dared to glance behind her again relieved when she saw no one, "it's not safe, we can't go through there."

"Violet, we don't have a choice, if we don't go now we're as good as dead." she felt bad for Violet, she really did, but now was not the time to be letting those freakishly paranormal monsters get in their way of safety, she shook her head again, "we can wait him out, it's only one-"

"Violet by the time he's gone we'll have those things, and more soldiers surrounding us." she interjected, gesturing to the door Margo met her gaze again, "We're going to be dead before the soldiers have a chance to get to us." she didn't speak instead sidling beside Margo with her machete raised, "fine, but you're going first."

The two of them tried their best to ignore the continuous banging against the door as they slowly trailed through the hallways to where Violet told her the West Wing began, it was quiet and slowly, corridor by corridor, the area around them began to get darker.

The small girl's grip on her pant leg intensified as they crept towards a double set of doors up ahead, "it's through there." Violet whispered, looking down at where the girl was hiding behind her she gave a short nod raising her gun in the case that something burst from behind the two white doors.

There was a single light illuminating the West Wing, and from the looks of it, it was a straight cut through to the second staircase, "we just have to move fast." she spoke trying her best to Violet that they would be alright, they just needed to run, although, she wasn't sure how she was going to manage that with her screwed up leg, "you ready?" Violet looked up at her through her watering eyes, she softly nodded turning her attention back to the doors ahead of them.

As they approached, a man- dressed as a soldier, leaving them to believe he was the one who'd been banging against the door- rushed forward thrashing against the doors, "please, please, open the doors!" he wailed frantically glancing behind him, Margo reached her hand up to the door checking to make sure they were locked, the mans gaze followed her hand his eyes meeting her gaze with a pleading look.

"Please, let me in and we can forget about you shooting my partner." he was pleading for his life at this point, just empty shots into the dark from the looks of it, behind him, Margo could see Lurkers heading in their direction, obviously drawn in from the noise the man was making, he rapped his fists against the door once more, "please!" he begged tears running down his pale cheeks.

"Violet back up." she held her hand out forcing the child back a few steps, "what are y-" she paused as Margo raised the gun past the man's head, taking a deep breath, she pulled the trigger shielding her eyes from the flying glass as it shattered from the impact of the bullet. Now, all the Lurkers would come upon the man, and they would be able to escape.

Turning around to try and run, the man's eyes widened with fear as he realized the Lurkers were closing in on him, as he realized his fate was death.

The man darted through the hall trying to brush past the Lurkers, he didn't make it past them. The latched onto his limbs and anything they could grab dragging him down to the ground as he began to scream and squirm beneath them.

"We have to hurry." Margo began unlocking the doors glancing over her shoulder to see Violet once again shaking her head, "Violet, come on, nows our chance." she urged, she let a tear fall down her cheek as she took another step back, the doors were unlocked now, and Margo knew it was now or never, taking a few steps towards the child so she was within poking distance, she smiled at the girl before scooping her up into her arms.

Using her free hand she raised the gun rushing forward as fast as her leg and the added weight of the child would allow her, she ran past the Lurkers only drawing the attention of two of them as she went by, pushing past the door into the stairwell she quickly slammed it shut behind her locking the door from the inside so they had time to flee down the stairs.

Violet had her head rammed into her shoulder tears protruding from her eyes as she silently cried, "hey." she gently shook her leg, "hey, we're in the stairwell." Margo smiled as the girls head rose and she wiped her tears, "we're fine, no bites or scratches." Violet frowned wiggling her legs to show she wanted down.

She set the girl down her feet barely touching the floor before she wiped her cheeks along her sleeve, "you're bleeding again." she pointed at the blood seeping through the pants she was wearing making it evident once again that she needed to change the tourniquet, "let's try finding somewhere safe first, then we can worry about my leg." Violet didn't complain silently beginning the descent down the stairs.

TORN FLESH

CHAPTER THREE: LURKERS