CHAPTER 5 :THE NIGHT THE HOSPITAL TURNED RED
1726 Words
“Open the door, Elena.”
Victor’s voice slid through the darkness like a knife.
Soft.
Calm.
Terrifying.
My entire body froze.
The emergency lights above us flickered red across the hospital walls, turning everything into something unreal. The alarms kept screaming in the distance while footsteps echoed somewhere down the hallway.
Closer.
Closer.
Damian stood in front of me without moving, the g*n steady in his hand.
“You stay behind me,” he said quietly.
The door handle twisted again.
Victor laughed softly from outside.
“You know,” he said through the door, “this is starting to feel repetitive.”
Another gunshot exploded somewhere nearby.
I flinched hard.
Damian didn’t.
His eyes stayed locked on the door.
“What does he want from me?” I whispered.
A long silence.
Then—
“You.”
That single word made my stomach twist painfully.
The lights flickered again.
For one second, the room went completely dark.
Then red light returned.
And the door suddenly slammed open.
A masked man rushed inside holding a g*n—
Damian fired first.
The sound exploded through the room.
The masked man crashed backward instantly.
I screamed.
Blood splattered across the wall beside the door.
For a second I couldn’t breathe.
I had never seen someone die before.
At least… I didn’t think I had.
Damian grabbed my wrist immediately.
“We’re leaving.”
My legs barely worked as he pulled me into the hallway.
Chaos.
Nurses running.
Patients screaming.
Security guards shouting into radios.
Smoke drifting from somewhere downstairs.
The hospital no longer looked like a hospital.
It looked like a war zone.
Another masked man appeared at the far end of the hallway.
Damian fired again without hesitation.
The man dropped instantly.
My heart slammed painfully against my ribs.
“Who ARE these people?!”
“Keep moving.”
That wasn’t an answer.
We turned sharply down another hallway.
The emergency lights painted Damian’s face red as we ran.
Cold.
Focused.
Deadly.
And suddenly a terrifying realization hit me.
He had done this before.
Not once.
Many times.
Gunfire echoed behind us again.
Someone shouted:
“Third floor east side!”
“They’re here!”
My breathing turned uneven.
“This is because of me, isn’t it?”
Damian didn’t respond.
Which meant yes.
We reached a stairwell door.
Damian shoved it open quickly and pulled me inside.
The second the door closed behind us, the noise became slightly muffled.
But not enough.
I could still hear screaming downstairs.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
Damian checked the g*n quickly before answering.
“Victor found you too early.”
Too early?
“What does that mean?”
He looked up the stairwell.
Listening.
Calculating.
Then finally—
“You were supposed to remember slowly.”
The words sent chills through me.
“You keep talking like my memories are dangerous.”
“They are.”
“For who?”
His eyes met mine.
“For everyone.”
Before I could respond, footsteps thundered below us.
Coming upstairs.
Fast.
Damian instantly grabbed my hand and pulled me upward.
We ran.
My body hurt with every step, but adrenaline pushed me forward.
Fourth floor.
Fifth.
Somewhere below, men shouted orders.
Then—
“Elena!”
Victor’s voice echoed through the stairwell.
Close.
Too close.
My pulse spiked instantly.
Damian cursed softly under his breath.
We reached the rooftop exit.
Locked.
Damian pulled a keycard from his pocket and slammed it against the scanner.
Red light.
Denied.
Footsteps were getting closer below us.
“Damian—”
“Move back.”
He raised the g*n and shot the lock.
The door burst open instantly.
Cold night air slammed into us.
Rain had started again.
Harder this time.
The rooftop was empty except for the sound of helicopters somewhere far away in the city.
Damian pulled me outside quickly and shut the door behind us.
For one second, neither of us moved.
Rain soaked through my hospital clothes immediately.
My breathing shook.
“So what now?”
Damian looked around the rooftop carefully.
Like he expected snipers.
Or worse.
“We wait.”
“For what?”
Before he could answer—
The rooftop door exploded open.
Victor stepped out slowly.
Alone.
No mask.
No g*n visible.
Just that same calm smile that made my skin crawl.
“Well,” he said softly, “this feels familiar.”
Damian immediately stepped in front of me again.
Victor sighed dramatically.
“You always do that.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Damian replied coldly.
“And yet here I am.”
Rain dripped from Victor’s dark coat as he looked at me.
His eyes softened slightly.
Almost sadly.
“You really don’t remember, do you?”
I swallowed hard but said nothing.
Victor looked genuinely disappointed.
“That’s unfortunate.”
Damian’s grip tightened slightly on the g*n.
“Leave.”
Victor ignored him completely.
“Elena,” he said quietly, “do you remember the lake house?”
The second he said those words—
Pain exploded through my head.
A lake.
Fog.
Music playing softly somewhere.
My own voice laughing.
Then—
A body floating in dark water.
I gasped sharply.
Victor noticed instantly.
“There you are,” he whispered.
Damian’s expression darkened dangerously.
“Stop.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“You know she deserves the truth.”
“The truth gets people killed.”
“No,” Victor replied softly. “Secrets do.”
The rain intensified around us.
Neither man moved.
But the tension between them felt alive.
Like one wrong word could turn deadly instantly.
I looked between them shakily.
“What happened at the lake house?”
Silence.
Then Victor answered.
“You killed someone.”
The world stopped.
“What?”
Damian moved instantly.
In less than a second, he had Victor against the rooftop wall with the g*n pressed under his jaw.
“You don’t get to say her name again.”
Victor laughed quietly despite the weapon against his throat.
“She deserves to know what kind of monster she became.”
Monster.
My breathing became uneven.
“That’s not true,” Damian said coldly.
Victor’s eyes shifted toward me.
“Isn’t it?”
Another flash exploded through my head—
Dark water.
A man begging.
My hands shaking violently.
And blood.
So much blood.
I stumbled backward.
“No…”
The memory vanished before I could fully grab it.
But the feeling remained.
Horror.
I looked down at my hands instinctively.
Why did they suddenly feel dirty?
“Elena.”
Damian’s voice softened slightly now.
But I backed away from him too.
Fear spreading through me.
“What did I do?”
“You protected yourself.”
Victor laughed again.
“That’s one way to describe murder.”
Damian punched him hard enough to split his lip.
Victor only smiled wider afterward.
“You think hiding her past will save her?”
Rainwater mixed with blood on Victor’s mouth.
“She already remembers enough.”
Damian went still.
That reaction terrified me more than the words.
Enough for what?
Victor slowly looked back at me again.
“You know what the funniest part is?” he asked softly. “You were the one who begged us to erase your memory.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“No.”
“You were terrified of yourself.”
“That’s enough,” Damian snapped.
Victor ignored him.
“You kept saying the same thing over and over that night.”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“‘If I remember, more people die.’”
Cold fear spread through my entire body.
Because deep down…
That sentence felt familiar.
Too familiar.
The rooftop suddenly felt smaller.
The rain colder.
“What did I remember?” I whispered.
Neither man answered immediately.
Then Victor smiled faintly.
“The truth.”
A helicopter sound thundered suddenly above us.
Bright lights swept across the rooftop.
Victor glanced upward briefly.
“Looks like our time’s up.”
Damian’s g*n stayed aimed at him.
“You’re not leaving.”
Victor looked amused.
“You really think killing me fixes this?”
Then he leaned slightly closer.
And whispered something that made Damian’s face lose all color.
“She knows about Project Lazarus.”
Silence.
Damian’s expression changed instantly.
Shock.
Real shock.
Victor smiled slowly.
“Oh,” he murmured while looking at me, “you didn’t tell her?”
Project Lazarus.
The name triggered something violent inside my head.
A laboratory.
Bright white lights.
Screaming.
Someone holding me down.
A voice saying:
Her memory survived the procedure.
I grabbed my head painfully.
“Stop…”
Damian immediately moved toward me.
“Elena—”
“Don’t touch me!”
My voice cracked loudly across the rooftop.
Everything hurt.
The memories.
The confusion.
The fear.
Project Lazarus.
Why did I know that name?
Victor watched me carefully.
Then quietly—
“You finally understand, don’t you?”
I looked at him shakily.
“What am I?”
The question hung in the rain between us.
Victor’s smile disappeared completely this time.
“You’re the only survivor.”
Thunder cracked loudly overhead.
Damian grabbed my arm immediately.
“We’re leaving.”
But I pulled away from him.
“No.”
His eyes widened slightly.
I stepped backward slowly.
Rain poured around us.
“You lied to me.”
“Elena—”
“You erased my memory.”
“To protect you.”
“You keep saying that!” I shouted. “But from what?!”
His silence answered everything.
Not from something.
From me.
The realization hit so hard I almost stopped breathing.
Victor saw it happen in real time.
And smiled.
“There she is.”
Damian looked at me like he was watching the world fall apart again.
“Elena, listen to me carefully.”
But suddenly—
A gunshot exploded across the rooftop.
For one horrifying second, nobody moved.
Then Damian staggered slightly.
Blood spread slowly across his black coat.
My heartbeat stopped.
Victor’s expression changed instantly.
Not satisfaction.
Shock.
Real shock.
Damian looked down at the blood spreading across his chest.
Then toward the rooftop entrance behind Victor.
Another masked man stood there holding a sniper rifle.
And the second I saw the symbol tattooed on his neck—
Everything came back.
chapter 6 coming soon...........
- Writer
