The Silent Room: Part 30

Dr. Adelheide

Somehow, the last door let her through.

She had been twenty feet from the door that lead to her final destination when the security locks slid into place, the sound reverberating in the still air up and down the hall.  Momentum kept her moving forward even with the heavy sound in her ears. Even as she knew what she was going to find- a locked door; no escape; no salvation for herself or the stranger beyond the doors. 

By then she had been in front of the final door. And as she stopped, waiting for an impossible miracle, it happened.  The locks on the door in front of her began to reverse. The cool gray door of Ward 1 began to slide open. It was... but she did not have time to squander on the right or wrong of impossibilities.

Inside, soft shadows darkened the room, punctuated only by the occasional small light and the hum of machines.

Carefully she walked between the tubs, looking for the right one. Faces lost to chemically induced slumber glinted back at her like small half moons in the dimness. She closed her mind to the worry about surveillance detectors activating defense protocols or the coming guards or the fact that she would be able to take only one of so many with her if, when she escaped.  Just kept moving, kept focused. Tried not to think about time ticking by too fast, the sand of the hourglass running out. 

First she had to find him. Then, she could worry about the next thing.