Status: Redo of my old story

Silence Falls

Chapter 23: Tagging Along

“Wait a minute, what about the plan to escape this place? Has that changed at all since all that shit went down last night?” Natasha asked in a whisper, breaking everyone out of their current theories over the more updated blueprints that left out an old secret room downstairs to focus on a direr topic.

“No, the plan is still consistent even though Connor is now in Confinement and an unidentified patient is locked up on that abandoned floor. The plan is still solid for every one of you…just not for me.” Bert shrugged with a jaded sigh before going into detail on what that part of the plan entailed. “What changes is that now I’m going to have to get Connor out of confinement first before I do anything else. If we’re lucky, he’ll hopefully be in great enough shape to help me free that crucified patient from that room downstairs…afterwards we confirm whether he’s too dangerous to bring along with us. If that’s the case we leave him behind, if not he can join if he chooses too. Next, we’ll travel back up to this floor again and pick you girls up along the way so we can all get the fuck out of here once and for all.”

“Hey, um random question here…” Alexis spoke up in a small voice, lifting a single finger to interject. “Does anyone ever go into that chapel? I mean, have you seen anyone near that particular room at all during your time here?”

Bert immediately shook his head, rejecting the idea. “No, never. I’ve monitored every room for a long time in order to get the full knowledge of this place, as well as the staff’s schedule, and habits. From what I’ve seen not a single living soul has ever entered that room, not even to pray.”

Alexis bit her bottom lips as she nodded, taking that information. “But if that’s the case, then how is it that you found that patient down there still alive? There’s no way in hell he could have survived this log on his own unless he had somehow been brought in recently like a few days ago and snuck down there, am I right?” She glanced around at everyone else around, watching that mystery dawn over them in surprise too. “I mean, from what you told us about that place there wasn’t any food, no water, no staff members, and absolutely no other signs that anyone else has been down there before you guys were. It doesn’t make any since because that would mean he would have been down there without any of us knowing he even existed in the first place. Everyone in this damn place knows about all the new boys and girls that come and go in this place no matter how insane they may be, there aren’t no hidden away special patients here. You can’t escape notice from nobody even if you tried.”

Before anyone could speak the bell rung, signaling breakfast to be over. As expected, every patient in that cafeteria stood up, threw their trash out, and placed their tray away before making off to their rooms. As much as the group wanted to continue on with that conversation, it was against the rules to lingered and would have attracted unwanted attention and possible punishment. Still, Alexis’s words were on everyone’s minds as they carried on throughout the day.

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After breakfast, everyone was taken to the gym for exercise time. Anyone willing to be a little more active were split into teams and played various sports games as properly as their mentally broken minds would allow them to. The others that were too lazy were forced to work out with old rickety gym equipment. Bam, Bert, Otep and Nicki chose to work out while Cris, Demi, Natasha and Alexis played sports with the other mental kids. Afterwards, the females were sent to the showers while the males were ordered to hang around for a while until the showers were ready. When the girls were all finished, they were escorted to their dorm area to sit around, while the boys shower and then returned to their own room. Around this time, the staff were more lenient on allowing the patients out of their room to roam the dorm areas just so long as they behaved themselves. It was during this time, everyone regrouped again to hang for the rest of the afternoon. They all sat in Cris and Bam’s room just filling up their free time with talking about different things that came to mind which wasn’t much.

“Hey Bert, can I ask you something?” Alexis spoke up nervously while lying across Cris’s bed on her stomach in silence, lost in her own thoughts. Onika lied next to her in the same manner except that she was interacting with the others.

“Yeah, sure, go ahead.” Bert yawned, sitting on Bam’s bed with his back against the cold concrete wall.

“Can I please come with you guys tonight when you go into that chapel room?” Alexis begged with her beautiful brown eyes, her hands laced together. It was random decision she had made out of blue, and it was nothing she’d never asked to do before because she had never wanted to venture out at night outside her room in fear of being in trouble. But now all of sudden it was all she could think about, especially after hearing about this mysterious patient down there. She wanted to them badly, and yet she couldn’t fathom why. It was just this strong foreign need that wasn’t even her own but had to be fulfilled. And Alexis needed to make sure it was.

“Fuck. No.” Bert answered without hesitation or emotion.

“Oh, come on, please! I won’t get in the way, I swear on my life. Just give me a chance, I won’t disappoint you.” Alexis implored as she got off the bed and walked over to Bam’s bed so she could sit in front of him and lay her chin on one of his drawn up knees.

Bert stared down at her big puppy dog brown eyes defiantly, not planning on budging even an inch on his decision. And yet, her adorable face easily broke through all of his defenses. It was a shock to him that he had been defeat before he could hold his ground. Perhaps it had been last night’s adventure that left him weak. “It’s dangerous out there, Alexis. If you’re even spotted, you’re as good as dead.”

“I won’t get spotted. I’ll be safe with you.” Alexis quickly assured him, her eyes shining as she continued to plead her case. “Please, please please please!”

Otep smiled at Alexis’s cute face from where she sat next to Bert before turning her head to inform him of her tagging along too. “I’m coming too.”

“What? No you’re not!” Bert retorted, shooting her a steely look.

“Yes, I am. Remember the last time you left me alone?” Otep raised an eyebrow at him, forcing him to recall her being stuck in Solitary Confinement as she picked at the loose strings at the hem of her pants.

“Fucking fine, you can come!” Bert grumbled out in defeat once again, crossing his arms.

“Can I join again too, Bert?” Cris asked from his spot on the floor, his head turned to glance over his shoulder at them both. Despite the scare of last night’s adventure, Cris found himself strangely filled with excitement and confidence at the idea of venturing out past curfew again. It was completely unlike him.

“Are you guys fucking kidding me!?” Bert cried out, looking at everyone in the room like they all lost their minds. “Does everyone want to fucking go now!?”

“I do.” Bam spoke up, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He, too, found it odd that there was even the idea, no the want, to go back down into that dangerous terrifying place again. Last night, Bam had wished he had never left this room to go through all that and now that he had an opportunity to make that choice, he was choosing not to. He didn’t need to go with them, he wasn’t a necessary member…and yet he couldn’t get that patient out of his mind. He wanted to see them for some reason more than he wanted to stay safe and out of harm’s way in this room.

Bert groaned out loud, leaning his head against the wall behind him with a small thud. Since when did everyone want to tag along all of a sudden, he wondered to himself. “Look this isn’t a fucking game, you guys. I can’t babysit every damn body once we’ve left our rooms, there’s too many of us!”

“You’re going to have to when the time comes, Bert.” Otep informed Bert, who groaned again. “If we are going to escape this hellhole, you’re going to have to lead us all to the surface when the time comes.” Otep gave him a shrug, and then smiled. “Besides, this could be good practice for you in the meantime.”

“Shit, fine then! Bert exclaimed dramticaslly, throwing his hands up before getting serious again and throwing out his demands. “Bam, Cris, Otep and Alexis, all you guys are coming with me tonight. No one else, are we clear?”

Everyone nodded in agreement just as the bell rung for bedtime. With a sigh, everyone began to stand up for bed, yet no one left the room. Everyone turned to stare at their leader Bert, who wasn’t finished with that he had to say.

“Well, I’m glad we’ve all agreed on that. Now everyone shut up and you four get ready, I’ll be by shortly tonight.” With that said, Bert got up from the bed and strode out of the room without another word and with Otep close behind him.