Entry #95

False Exit
by Andrew Arens


She woke up gasping for air. Something was covering her face, not letting her breathe. The cold sounds of machines filled the room. She clawed at the thing on her face and flung it off.

The room was the size of a high school gymnasium filled with rows of stainless steel tables. Most were empty but some had crumpled sheets lying in the middle of them. The translucent walls were lined by large nondescript machines covered in blinking lights. She looked down and saw the dirty leather straps securing her legs to the table she laid on.

She released her feet and stood, wrapping the sheet around her body. The ice cold floor burned her bare feet. She ran towards a door she spotted on the far wall, crying out when her hip hit one of the sharp metal corners of a table. She searched the door for a handle or a knob with her hands. A shout filtered through beneath the door and she pounded with both hands screaming. Finally she noticed a green button in the wall, slightly behind one of the machines.

As soon as the button pushed in, the room behind the door turned blood red and a hand pressed against the wall. And then another hand could be seen through the wall, and another. The door swung open and she realized in terror as the hands reached out this wasn’t an exit but the entrance to something much worse.