Chapter 2 Strange

"Hold on, Lizzy. I see it! We're gonna make it!" Walker's voice wavered, but he forced confidence into it. His legs trembled beneath Elizabeth's weight, his breath ragged.

The light ahead belonged to an old hospital-if it could still be called that. The building loomed in the darkness, its walls cracked and worn, windows shattered like forgotten memories. Peeling paint curled from the surface like dead skin.

But Walker didn't care.

Help was inside. It had to be.

He stumbled forward, nearly collapsing against the rusted barbed wire fence surrounding the hospital. His strength was gone, his arms numb, but he held on-held onto her.

"Help! Somebody, please!" he screamed, his voice raw.

Silence.

Rain dripped from the eaves, the only sound in the empty night.

Then-

A faint groan.

Walker's heart lurched. He almost dropped Elizabeth in shock. It was the first sound she'd made in over an hour.

"Lizzy?" His grip tightened. "Did you hear me? We're here, baby! Stay with me!"

No response.

He gritted his teeth, forced his legs to keep moving. Step after agonizing step, he reached the hospital doors. His knees buckled as he lowered Elizabeth onto the cracked concrete, his own body threatening to give out.

She was cold. Too cold.

"Stay awake, Lizzy," he whispered, his hands brushing her clammy cheek. "You're not going anywhere. You hear me?"

Summoning the last of his strength, he dragged himself up and banged on the heavy wooden doors.

"Open up! Please!" His fists pounded against the rotting wood. "She's dying!"

The sound echoed into the abyss.

For a moment, nothing. Then-

Shuffling. Slow, deliberate.

Walker held his breath.

The door creaked open just a sliver. A pair of wary eyes stared out.

"What's going on here?" a gruff voice demanded.

Walker didn't wait. "She's hurt! Please, help her!"

The door opened wider, revealing an elderly man in a white coat. His face was lined with exhaustion, his eyes sharp despite his age.

One look at Elizabeth and his expression changed.

"Bring her inside. Now!"

Walker didn't hesitate. With a final burst of strength, he lifted Elizabeth into his arms and staggered over the threshold.

The moment the doors shut behind him, something in the air shifted.

The dim light buzzed overhead, casting long shadows across the peeling walls. Walker barely had the strength to take it all in. He collapsed onto a nearby chair, his chest heaving.

But then-something caught his eye.

Beyond the counter, past the flickering bulbs and stained floors, the treatment rooms were... wrong.

Through the glass doors, he saw machines-machines that did not belong here.

A CT scanner, sleek and modern, its bright screen displaying an image of a human skull.

An ECG machine, blinking softly, reading the heartbeat of someone unseen.

A surgical robot, its mechanical arms moving with eerie precision.

And a ventilator, humming rhythmically, as if breathing for a patient who wasn't supposed to be here.

Walker's blood turned cold.

How?

He turned to the nurse at the counter, his voice tight. "How does this hospital have... that?" He gestured toward the high-tech equipment.

The nurse hesitated. Just for a second. Then her smile returned-too quickly. Too forced.

"We get donations from... wealthy benefactors," she said, too rehearsed.

Walker's stomach clenched.

"Donations?" he echoed. "For machines worth millions?"

She shrugged. Didn't meet his eyes. "We're lucky, I guess."

Lucky.

Walker glanced back at Elizabeth, lying pale and motionless on the stretcher.

Something was wrong here.

And they were already inside.