Legends of the Hidden Cemetery: Chapter fourteen

Chapter 14: The Asylum of Madness

Luckily for the girls, the underground tunnel was free of any monsters, ghouls, ghosts, zombies, and mutant insects. It turned out to be nothing more than a simple dark tunnel of stone floors and walls, littered with a few cobwebs, and lit by torches all the way at the very end, where another set of stone steps awaited to lead them up to the surface. And up that surface was where the girls beheld the front gates of the asylum; the Hollow Hills Asylum & Animal Hospital as it said on a sign in the stone walls. To them, it looked unpleasant from afar, but by being this close, it was indeed terrifying than before. Built on top of a moat, the stone walls and towers made the edifice look as if some kind of legendary serpent was opening its jaws wide enough to swallow up whatever unlucky gamers were at range. Top that off with the many bar-enclosed windows, and it looked like a nightmare personified in stone.

"Are my ears going crazy, or do I hear people screaming from inside?" Grace said, gazing up at the barred windows, seeing nothing. "Someone must be in trouble."

Mrs. Calloway couldn't be sure of that. "Either they're in trouble, or we're the ones who'll be in trouble once we reach that spot. Don't forget what we are dealing with."

"I heard it too Grace," Maggie said, moving closer to the gate. "It sounds like people, and there is no doubt they could be in more than just your average trouble. It could even be another trap set up by Willie. I wonder where he is by now."

The iron gates opened up unexpectedly, allowing the three cows to enter in and close, locking them inside with no way out, as usual. They learned to get used to that and let it go.

Willie appeared at the front doors. "Welcome to Hollow Hills Asylum and Animal Hospital, home to the criminally insane and to untamed, wild critters! By that I mean behind those walls from within, the sanitarium holds no mercy to those inmates beyond all hope, nor have there been records of such escape. Also best known as the mental institution, looney bin, nut house, psychiatric ward, call it whatever name you want. Above it all, this institution has quite a grim and tragic history."

"What tragic history?" Grace asked, hoping for more clues.

Willie threw his hands behind his back, walking slowly around the girls. "First let me start by sayin' only those beyond all insanity, madness, disturbin', or violent are capable o' bein' signed in to the asylum, particularly Hollow Hills Asylum. The history o' this here place dates back many years ago where it's been tarnished by rumors of occult practices and bizarre experiments conducted upon the inmates. The point o' this was findin' different means o' therapy treatment and new cures for all types o' illnesses. On the other hand, there came a downside to these experiments."

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked," Grace whispered, not wanting to hear anymore as she lowered her head with shame.

Ignoring her, Willie continued, "The former wardens of the sanitarium, Doctor Harold Butcher and his staff trainers were accused o' conductin' all sorts o' sinister experiments on those under their care. In his office, they found occult books, medicine books, ritual diagrams, and dismembered organs labeled in jars of all shapes and sizes. These were recovered at the scene o' the crime, along with many other strange surgical instruments none o' them wanted the public to know about."

The girls started to shudder and cringe at the thought all this detail description, but this was their new mission so whatever Willie was telling them might help to understand this institution better. They let him go on.

"After the authorities were called into his office, Doctor Butcher went missin' without a trace. No one and I mean no one knows what happened to the mad man, except maybe the assistant Professor Alder Wood, taking a vow o' silence, leavin' the authorities baffled by the mystery. Soon afterward, Alder Wood was appointed to the position o' Doctor Butcher to take his place and continue his work in the field o' psychiatric research…until the night o' the fire which claimed the lives and mind o' the staff and inmates. How it all happened was another mystery unsolved. To top it all off, the bodies o' Alder Wood and Doctor Butcher were never found, unable to prove whether they died or might've still been out there. Now the asylum stands abandoned and forgotten by time, haunted by the spirits of those that perished in the fire."

Grace asked fearfully. "Is that the end of the story? I hope so."

Willie shook his head in response. "That's the end of the history behind Hollow Hills Asylum, but now it's time to hear your mission."

Grace couldn't help but swallow, frightened of everything she heard. Still she had to do her best to resist what was inside that building for them and not let fear overcome her in the end.

Willie cleared his throat and straightened his black jacket. "Within these dark halls, the inmates run loose, freed from their cells and consumed by madness. The doctor sits and waits in his office on the top floor, awaiting his next patients. Without his glasses, he is helpless. Bring them to me…if you survive."

Snapping his fingers, Willie vanished before the doors to the asylum opened up with an unpleasant creak.

Mrs. Calloway stepped up before the other two. "Come on you two, it looks like we have a mad Doctor Frankenstein copycat to encounter at the top floor. So we must stick together and not lose one another. There is a reason someone once told me not to underestimate the power of the enemy, no matter how much courage and determination you have. If you're afraid, don't let it stop you. We're all in this together, so we must believe in ourselves."

Maggie and Grace looked at each other for a moment, and then back at Mrs. C, nodding in response to this. Not even Maggie was too proud at this time to admit she was afraid of what was inside the asylum, but this had to be done or else they'd never leave. She couldn't give up, not when they've managed to come this far. There was no time to reconsider.

"You're right Calloway," she noted. "Even if we are scared, we can't give up, not anytime. We're a team, so let's go kick some undead ghoulish behinds all the way."

"Remember Maggie, control your temper," Mrs. C reminded firmly.

Entering through the doors together, they felt something give way under their hooves. Looking down, they saw darkness where a floor should be.

"…oh no!" Was all Maggie could mutter before they fell into the hole, sliding down some kind of chute, screaming all the way down.

..........

The sliding didn't last too long once the girls landed on something soft, on top of one another. It turned out to be a dusty old mattress, just lying on the black and white checkered floor.

"Well thank the heavens we did not land on something sharp and slimy," Mrs. Calloway muttered, keeping her hat in place.

"But where are we now?" Grace implied, looking at their surroundings.

Maggie shrugged. "I have no clue what this room is, maybe it's a gathering group or whatever doctors best describe it as." The ceilings were littered with cobwebs and tiny spiders crawling around, making Maggie's skin crawl. "Let's hope it is not the room of doom."

From what they could tell of the stone works and wooden frameworks all around, this had to at least be the lower floors of the asylum, having a few chairs littered around and broken and two small tables.

"It sure is cold down here," Grace shivered. "But maybe we can ask someone behind that window over there." She pointed out to a glass frame, what is to be the desk where patients check in.

With no other options, the girls went up to the glass window, as Maggie knocked on it repeatedly with her hoof.

"Oh well, guess it's not another room in there as we thought there was," she hesitated, hating the idea of who or what was in there, thinking of turning around before she got a look at it.

"I think you're supposed to ring the bell here," Grace pointed out to a small round device sitting outside the window, and used her hoof to ring it several times. That did the trick alright, and with a gasp of surprise, a skeletal hand shot out of the opening window, snatching her hoof. "Something's got me!" She cried out in terror.

"Hang on Grace!" Mrs. Calloway cried out as she and Maggie grabbed onto Grace and managed to pull her back, freeing her hoof from the mysterious hand.

The owner of the skeletal hand turned out to be a nurse, a blue skinned nurse with green eyes, red lips, long indigo hair, wearing a simple light green outfit with a white jacket, and a white hat on top her head.

"If you wish to be checked in, must you create such noise?" The nurse spat.

The girls were left puzzled and stared at the nurse dumbfounded for a moment, until Maggie stood up and bravely walked toward the nurse.

"Listen Miss, we're in a bit of a rush here," she asserted. "Any chance you can tell us how to get into the halls. Those bars are blocking our path."

"First you must check in with me according to the rules," the nurse responded, holding up a clip board and a pen. "Now give me your names and I'll open the door for you."

"We don't have an appointment, but…"

"Just give me your names!" The nurse interrupted, using an eerie tone. "Those are the rules!"

Reluctantly, each of them gave their names one at a time, listening to the nurse scratch on the clipboard with her pen. Waiting for an answer, she responded to them with a smile of satisfaction. "You have now been committed, so best be on your way." She pressed down on a red button, which opened up the barred door for entrance. "Welcome to Hollow Hills Asylum. To find the doctor and his assistant, take the elevators to the top floor. I'll be sure to send him a message about your arrival."

"Thanks, I guess," was all Grace could mutter as they all went inside.

As usual the door closed behind them, leaving them to guess that the nurse wanted to prevent them from escaping, just like all the other inmates that have been here. Now they were inside a long hallway with a dozen locked doors on each side, hearing the faint sounds of screaming and maniacal laughter.

Maggie could feel her pulse quicken and her blood run cold. "Now is a good time to turn back."

"And where is that Maggie?" Mrs. Calloway tested. "We're locked inside with no escape. Have you forgotten we all agreed that we're in this together?"

Maggie grinned with embarrassment. "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that."

"Attention all staff!" The same nurse spoke from a hidden intercom. "We have three new members to welcome into the asylum. Now I trust all of you to remember how it was on your first day of being checked in, so don't forget to give a best introduction!"

"Three new members?" Maggie was stunned from hearing this, hoping it wasn't what she thought. "What is that deluded nurse babbling on about? We're the only ones that are in this empty hallway…with a piece of paper on the wall. What does it say?"

There was indeed a sign on a wall, covered in glass which read: Hollow Hills Asylum & Animal Hospital have committed the following inmates that have ventured beyond the threshold of insanity, unable to resolve the mystery surrounding the fire from long ago: Arbuckle, Flower Petal, George Harrison, William Shatner, Patty Parkinson, Anthony Jones, Jeffrey Crumb, Harry Henderson, Jeremy Wilder, Gregory Pratt, Wild Wilcock, Thunder Stone, Michelle Myers, Whispering Wind, Chung Li, Edward Millers, Adam Slate, Buster, Rover Harris, Gretchen Glaze, Lydia Lane, Nellie Rogers, Cassidy Ingalls, Megan and Annie, Tootsie, Fur Ball, Tiger, Sandy, Augustus, Codi, Bluebell, Eliza, Marigold, Orion, Clarabelle, Casey G, Caroline, Neil Vargo, Rosie Ratchet, Olive, Woodrow, Wilson, Harriet.

The list kept going on and on with the number of names, common and unusual for humans, assuming they were the names of animals. Down at the bottom, the girls were stepping back in horror and disbelief at the last three names on the list…their names, Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway.

"But…but…we're not even dead yet," Maggie stuttered, struggling to control her shivering. "How can our names be on here so soon? You don't suppose..."

Suddenly, it was about to get worst once their silence was answered; as the message board slid down to reveal the same deranged nurse from the front desk burst out of the open hole from the wall. The girls recoiled in fear and toppled backwards onto the floor, seeing that she was trying to reach out to them.

"All who sign their names into the Asylum are never heard from again!" she started cackling, giggling and chortling. "You will never leave here alive!"

The girls scrambled backwards, still frightened of her sudden appearance.

"Lady, you are one heck of an ugly apparition!" Maggie exclaimed widely, her tail closed around the flashlight she still held all this time, and the nurse reached both arms out, which were stretching longer and longer. She shined the light in the nurse's face, and she threw her arms over her face, retreating back into the wall with the message board back in place. "There, now let us hope she can stay in there and shut up for a while!"

"I don't think I like being in the asylum at all," Grace moaned, uncomfortable with being near the walls of the corridor. "How can anyone or anything be so…so…crazy?"

Mrs. Calloway shook her head sadly. "That's why Grace…they call it the mad house. Now I understand it clearly."

..........

It was time to move on from that horrifying encounter and move down the next corridor, reading a sign on the wall pointing to where the Orthopedic room, Cafeteria, Morgue, Laboratory, Library, Basement, and Art Therapy room were pointed out.

"Which room should we explore first?" Grace glanced at the sign, almost reluctant to move forward. "All of them sound unreasonable."

"Well we have to pick something, don't we?" Maggie insisted. "Let's see what's in the orthopedic room down the hall. I wonder what they do there."

There was only one way for them to find out as the girls followed what the signs said, not even expecting someone to be pushing a metal table on four wheels, white sheet covering someone on top, with a nurse behind carrying a tray of medicines…and a small glittering green ball into the Operation Room!

"Follow that nurse!" Mrs. Calloway ordered, following the nurse and table into the room they had entered.

The girls stopped in their tracks when the same nurse from the front desk spoke through the intercom: "SHH, please no screaming in the hallways. Doctors and staff are on duty."

"Thanks for the pep talk," Maggie replied sarcastically. "Not that we even asked for it."

The girls pushed through the doors of the Operation Room, finding other metal tables carrying what they guessed to be sleeping patients covered by white sheets. There were electrical devices making strange sort of beeping sounds they had never seen or heard of before.

They found the nurse at the far end, whispering something to the other staff member, both of them wearing white clothing, and clothes over their mouths. Whenever the nurse whispered something, the other member would hand her bizarre tools set on the small metal table. Neither of them bothered to take notice of the girls who were slowly approaching them nervously, unsure of how to react. On another small table close to the body, Maggie looked down to find a long rectangular box, its lid open, displaying it's frightening contents: three long surgical knives lay in the fitted case, the light above sparkling on their razor sharp blades. She stared at them, almost hypnotized.

The nurse still paid no attention to them, continuing her work on the body.

"Maggie, snap out of it," Mrs. Calloway whispered sharply in her ear. "We got to get that stone out of here."

Coming to her senses, Maggie saw with relief that the green colored stone was sitting on the other side of the table next to those bizarre tools. Only problem was if it was possible to just snatch it off there and just assume the nurse and staff member would let them take it without alerting anyone. Eventually pushing the thought aside, Maggie managed to squeeze herself in between the stretchers, gazing over at the two staffers to make sure their back would stay turned all this time as she got closer to where the green stone still sat. Picking it up with her teeth, Maggie glanced over her shoulder; their backs remained turned as she had hoped; now walking backwards toward where her friends waited.

"Walk slowly toward the doors," Mrs. Calloway whispered with caution, "And don't step on anything."

Slowly the girls made it back out in the halls, undetected and giving them a chance to relax from the whole experience in order for Maggie to whisper Miriam's name twice and throw the green colored stone in the air, vanishing.

(You have rescued the soul of Rover Harris, long deceased Confederate soldier. The asylum may hold other trapped souls in different rooms, underground, or in medical boxes. You won't get passed the cells that are frozen shut, unless one of them requires cell keys to enter. The phantom staff members will pay you no mind. You were lucky in that operating room.)

"What a relief," Grace sighed, taking a deep breath. "So far, we have rescued four souls, only a few more to go."

Continuing onward, it appeared that Miriam was right once the girls passed by several more ghostly nurses and staff members carrying all sorts of medical equipment from one room to another, not paying the least bit attention to them. Of course, the girls were smart enough to avoid accidentally knocking over whatever equipment they were holding, not wanting to deal with the deadly wrath of dead hospital staff. The rooms of inmates down this lower floor hall remained locked, except for the nurses that entered. There was nothing of importance for the girls to recover in any of them.

"Where to now, should we try the cafeteria?" Grace suggested. "Looks like we won't be entering those locked rooms where only the nurses are allowed in."

"If it will help us find something, we might as well take a look," Mrs. Calloway responded. "Not that I have an interest in eating what's in there."

"How bad can hospital food be do you think?" Maggie said, once they found the Cafeteria room and pushed open its doors to find the whole area deserted with not a single staff member in sight. "Was lunch time over a while ago here?"

"Maggie, this is neither the time nor the place to be thinking about food," Mrs. Calloway asserted. "We need to find out how to reach the top floor."

With a quick look at their new surroundings, the stone and wood walls of the cafeteria were more elaborately built. There were even a few decorations here and there, depicting snakes, rats, bats, and skulls. Built into the walls were a small iron door and a large cell. But above one of the tables, there was a peculiar device shaped like a gun, only it was labeled fire bullets. Maggie was the first to inspect the thing, taking it off the table.

To their surprise, an alarm sounded with a sudden, urgent announcement blaring out over the paging system. "Code blue, cafeteria. We have a Code Blue in the cafeteria! The inmates from the second floor have broken loose!"

"A break out happening?" Grace cried with horror. "Oh no!"

She turned out to be right, seeing that the large cell opened up and five hideous looking inmates shambled in a single file line, all of them wearing blue, blood stained outfits.

"Not good indeed!" Mrs. Calloway responded in a panic. "We got uninvited company."

For a while, the girls ran for their lives around the cafeteria, all openings being blocked by an invisible barrier. It wasn't as bad though, Maggie made a quick turn to see how the fire gun would work, and the assailants were incinerated by one shot. But it wasn't over yet, when six more deranged inmates jumped out of the cell.

"Get behind me!" Maggie called out to Grace and Mrs. C. "This could get uglier!"

Spurred on by anger, the deformed inmates rushed them, but Maggie knew how to stop them once firing the new weapon straight at them. Normally killing wasn't in their blood, but these creatures were nowhere near human or innocent in their book. The sounds of gunshots, moans fading reigned until the last inmate was slain, with all bodies vanishing from the floor. The iron door finally creaked open.

"Is that all of them?" Grace whispered, still frightened by the image of those inmates. "Should we let the staff know we took care of them?"

Maggie shook her head. "I don't think the staff pays that much attention to inmates running amuck and attacking visitors like us. Someone outta fire them for pure negligence."

In case they might have overlooked anything, the girls searched around every corner of the cafeteria. Grace decided to see if there was anything in the kitchen, being more concerned about getting out of here than about what's for lunch or dinner. So far this level made her lose an appetite for anything, just like Maggie. Inside the kitchen, dirty dishes and spilled rotten food covered the corner of the counters where chefs originally place customers' meals. She could only imagine what was inside the huge box known as the fridge. Still, that didn't stop Grace from searching through the drawers and shelves, before she decided to open up the big fridge. Instead of finding rotten food as she had predicted, Grace found a bronze key with a note written basement key.

Snatching it up, Grace closed the fridge door and turned to leave the kitchen to let her friends know what she found that could be important, not even caring who would leave it there like that.

A faint noise then sounded behind her from a dark corner. She wheeled around and stepped back fearfully. Standing there was an obese male chef with blood stains all over his outfit, holding up a bloody butcher knife in his right hand.

"What would you be doing in my kitchen?" He threatened, in a non-human voice.

"Just on my way out Sir!" Grace cried running back to her friends. "Run for it, there's a mad cook coming our way!"

One quick look at that grotesque cook and the girls were out of the cafeteria, swerving to avoid a harmless young patient strolling down the hall in a bathrobe. They skidded around the first corner, out of sight, but could still hear the crazy cook's footsteps after them.

DEAD END!

The girls came to a full stop to what was known by all hospital staff as the service elevator, often used to transport all types of medical equipment and patients on gurneys. No other traffic was allowed, except in this case. Not knowing how it's supposed to work, Maggie punched on the arrow button pointing down.

"It's a dead end, what do we do now?" Grace panicked, trying not to look back.

The elevator door slid open, and the girls rushed inside, just as the cook rounded the corner.

"Come back here!" He called.

The door slid shut in time, and the elevator began to move slowly downward. The girls sighed with relief, taking a step back-and Grace bumped into a gurney. She wheeled around and looked down in horror.

Lying on the rolling table was a waxen-faced little girl, her eyes closed. Monitoring machines whirred and beeped nervously at her feet. Intravenous bottles hung from poles over the gurney, with tubes leading somewhere into the child's body somewhere beneath the blanket. The bottles had started jiggling and clicking when Grace hit the table.

"Watch it; I got a sick child here!" The orderly escorting the child growled. "You know the rules, no outside visitors allowed in the service elevators." His black gloved hand gripped Grace's shoulder and she gasped at his sudden, tight grip. He pushed a button on the elevator panel and ordered them, "Out! Once we get off at the basement, find your own way out of there!"

"With pleasure your grouchiness!" Maggie retorted. "Just watch how you're treating that poor child." She had gotten a punch in the chest from Mrs. Calloway, giving her a warning glance to watch that temper of hers. It didn't even help that the orderly was starting to growl the moment he took offense to this. Suddenly the little girl's eyes snapped open, fixing Grace with a terrible stare and moaned softly.

Grace could only press herself against the elevator wall. When the elevator crawled to a stop, the girls were pushed out forcefully through the open door. It appeared that they were in a darker hallway, with no hall lights. But they didn't care as long as they still had the flashlight. Then they saw the sign opposite the elevator door: BASEMENT DOOR RESTRICTED. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. The elevator doors closed, leaving the girls on their own.

"Maggie, how often must I remind you to…?" Mrs. Calloway was about to scold her again.

Maggie interrupted, "Well he was being rude first."

"I would have thought you would reconsider at the presence of a child."

Maggie sighed, thinking maybe Mrs. C had a good point there, "Alright maybe I did get overheated, but come on. Would a simple PLEASE done any harm?"

With the flashlight on in Maggie's tail, the girls were given a much better view of where they were at, now standing before a larger black door with a keyhole. Luckily Grace managed to keep a good hold on the basement key all this time they were running away from the insane cook from above. She used her tail to place it inside and turn, hearing a click before the doors opened up for them. Inside it was quite dark, but it wasn't hard for them to step down the stone stairs.

"I sense another lost soul somewhere in this basement," Miriam murmured with caution. "Stay together and whatever you do, don't turn off the flashlight. You'll need it to find the way out."

The rumbling and clanking of the elevator's gears startled the girls, and they looked up at the floor indicator. It had stopped at number four, whatever that meant for them, being new to this whole city technology.

"We must get a move on," Mrs. Calloway insisted. "If that insane cook has not given up by now, we have to get as far away from the door as possible."

The other two took her advice on this, and started down the dark hall, desperately trying each door and box as they passed. They were all locked and empty, not sure of how close they were to the next lost soul.

"Which way now?" Maggie moaned in disappointment. "All these doors are locked and I don't know why they bother with these boxes with nothing in them."

"Maybe it's down over there," Grace pointed her head down the next area where she spied something crouched at the end of the corridor. The flashlight revealed that it was nothing but a cleaning bucket and mop next to another door. Just as long as it was not another inmate or the mad cook, it was a relief to the girls as they continued with their search. "There's another door here."

"I don't know Grace," Mrs. Calloway said doubtfully. "It doesn't look promising."

Grace responded, "It might be the last room to search down here. Someone still needs our help."

The blond cow tried the doorknob with her tail, and saw that it was open. Grace ducked inside to find the room to be very cold.

"If you insist on searching in there," Mrs. Calloway estimated, "I'm going in with you. Maggie will stay out and hold the door so we're not trapped in without a key."

Maggie did not have the heart to argue about that as she did as she was told, not wanting to lose her friends to a cold room where she could feel her shoulders freezing. She would stay out here and stand watch in case she heard something coming.

Grace shivered as a strange sort of smell stung her nostrils; an overpowering chemical filling the air. The dark was almost as suffocating as the odor. Gradually she and Calloway could make out several banks of high metal tables, starting to feel their way around the room, touching one of the cold metal tables as Grace kept the flashlight up and ready. By now she spotted something glowing underneath a white sheet.

"Mrs. C, I found something here," she whispered, not wanting to talk too loud.

She was preparing to pull the sheet off when an unexpected puddle of water made her slip, and she reached out to steady herself against falling. Her hoof grasped the end of the white sheet, pulling it off to reveal what was another colored stone in aquamarine. Bad news was it being held by something with two hands…the skeletal hands of a rotting corpse.