Emerson started down the left-hand corridor; the cool, bright, blue-tinged fluorescent lights overhead causing his dry, over-worked eyes to slightly water.

'Electricity bill must be astronomical... is that why they never pay me?' He wondered, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with a forearm as he passed a handful of closed, empty patient rooms.

Actually, now that he thought about it, didn't he once hear from someone or read somewhere that businesses left their lights on because it was somehow cheaper than turning them on and off? It couldn't be the reason- that wasn't intuitive at all considering the cost to keep the average lightbulb powered for twenty four hours was like eighteen cents or something. He couldn't remember where he'd read that either...

If he was ever invited to a swanky cocktail party and someone asked him where he was getting his anecdotes, he'd probably have to make up another anecdote.

Parties.

He swore he could feel his hair greying to match his eyes just by even thinking about socializing.

Crowded rooms, stale air, people shouting over one another and the shitty music, communal chip bowls that were more bacteria than food, and every girl within a mile radius sprinting to the dance floor when Journey's: Don't Stop Believing started playing as they had a competition to see who could make their boyfriend develop tinnitus. He shivered.

Though, if here honest with himself, he was still fond of the days where a friend would randomly call him up and invite him to one. He missed being invited to things.

But his career choice and direction in life placed some fuckin' crippling levels of activation energy to get into the party-mindset, let alone find the time. You also kind of had to know someone who was throwing the party or be a friend to someone who was invited. At least, that was his experience.

And everyone he currently knew well enough to call a friend sat anywhere between ten to twenty feet away from his workstation... Working.

This group of intrepid healthcare workers was too busy bettering peoples' lives to think about something as rudimentary as relaxation and mental health. That one would probably earn him a laugh or two of he mentioned it tomorrow morning. Well, technically today- he was scheduled for 8:00AM.

He passed the general surgery department's nursing station- they'd all left hours ago.

'Probably only Radiology is still puttering around somewhere.' He mused as hooked another left and was soon walking past more patient rooms, all empty. But at the end of this corridor, was his salvation: The vending machine.

He could already taste the pure cholesterol sitting in his stomach after shoveling six small, chocolate-covered donut holes into his mouth. All for only $1.99!

The end of the corridor turned into a T-junction, with a pair of elevators directly in front of him, his objective to the left, and an emergency exit/ employee entrance. Definitely not up to fire-code but no-one had said anything yet so...

His stomach growled again as he walked over to stand in front of the vending machine.

"Shush," he muttered, squinting through the glass partition at the colorful snack packaging.

'Fuck it,' he thought, removing his credit card from his wallet and swiping it through the reader. He jabbed the key pad like it owed him money.

B9

'Like 'benign' neoplasm... I need sleep.' He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as the vending machine whirred.

The plastic crinkle of packaging smacking the bottom of the vending machine's receptacle heralded the beginning of the dawn of no longer being hungry.

Emerson opened his eyes and placed his hydro flask beneath his left armpit before reaching down and pushing back the protective flap with his right hand. After rooting around for a second, he snagged his prize and pulled out the cute, cleverly packaged heart attack.

He tore open the clear packaging and removed the sleeve of miniature chocolate doughnuts before crushing the plastic covering into a ball and walking over to the trash can beside the elevators to toss it out. He then gingerly placed an entire doughnut into his mouth and chewed. He made a face.

"Who eats this garbage? Bleh." He removed another doughnut and stuffed it into his mouth.

A woman's muffled screams drifted through the air.

Emerson froze as he was placing a third doughnut into his mouth, straining his ears as he slowly looked around the area.

'That... was that what I think it was?' He glared around with narrowed eyes.

'It... came from the right...'

Another muffled scream, only this time, it sounded angry. That sealed the deal- A woman screaming bloody murder in the dead-of-night outside of a hospital? He didn't even consider ignoring it. Fuck the dark. Fuck how tired he was- someone sounded like they were in desperate need of help.

He tossed the remaining mini-doughnuts into the garbage and practically jogged to the emergency exit doors, hip-checking the door's crash bar and bursting into the disgustingly frigid, night air.

Snow immediately flew into his eyes, the wind messed up his hair, and the cold carved him up like a Thanksgiving turkey. He wagered that whoever he'd heard was having a worse time of it so he persevered and strained to look anything out in this weather. Maybe it had just been his imagination after all? This wind was definitely screaming right now.

'Fucking hell.' He raised his right forearm over his head to try and shield his eyes from the snow as he squinted to the point of closing them to even be able to safely look in any direction.

'Can't see shit... wait-' And when he least expected it, he actually saw a silhouette behind the roiling blanket of snow.

'Yeah, okay, definitely a person- I think... but what... why are they just... there?' Emerson was confused. He could have sworn that with that kind of screaming, if that's what it was, meant someone was getting mugged, or worse.

It was incredibly difficult to tell what exactly was going on considering it was nearly pitch-black outside, fiercely snowing, and the only illumination came from the parking lot floodlights.

He was still holding the emergency door open with his right foot and snow was just absolutely flooding into the T-junction. He wasn't paying attention, completely focused on trying to process what he was seeing. He was about to call out when the shape moved.

'!' Emerson's eyes narrowed as he watched the shape draw closer. So they saw the light behind him! That's great, he'd get them inside and out of this terrible weather- what were they even doing out here to begin with?

He relaxed. "Hey!" He called out, "Come on over, the water's fine!" He cheekily smiled and waved around his right arm. The shape stopped.

'Hm? Can they not see me?'

It started forward once more. The shape was becoming distinctly more humanoid, but...

'Huh?' Emerson's brow furrowed.

'Are they... hurt?!' After years of working in a hospital and occasionally floating around the nursing stations, he'd naturally scribed and helped around the physical therapy rehabilitation area. He could immediately tell this person was hobbling- somewhat favoring their left side.

'What happened- I don't see anyone else?...' He almost facepalmed. Why did that matter? He needed to get out there and help!

And just as he was about to step beyond the emergency doors, the figure stepped into one of the columns of light.

One of perhaps the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes was drunkenly swaying at the edges of the floodlight.

Then his brain caught up with his dick.

Emerson's eyes proportionally grew wider in time with his heart beat- the woman's clothes were more bloodied and torn rags than not, her once vibrant-auburn hair was tangled and matted with dry, crusted blood. He felt his heart jump into his throat, and then his throat tightened for good measure.

"Ma'am...?" he tentatively asked, reaching out with a hand.

The woman's swaying unnaturally stilled, her head cocked at an angle.

Every hair on Emerson's body stood on end as a chill that had nothing to do with the cold weather shot down his spine.

The woman's head twitched up- her disheveled hair parting to reveal a single, glowing-red eye staring into his own.

'What-'

The woman threw her head back and screamed.

The sound was so sudden and piercing that Emerson reflexively jerked backwards, slipping on the snow that had accumulate at the emergency door's threshold, and falling onto his ass into the T-junction. It saved his life.

The woman moved- hacking out at the place where he'd just been standing. Emerson watched, slack-jawed, as he saw the sharp, taloned nails of her right hand cleave the air fast enough to create a whoosh.

At this point, Emerson was no longer thinking about anything but his own safety- he madly crab-walked backwards, almost crushing his own fingers beneath his hydro flask.

'The hydro flask!'

He slipped and scrambled across the wet, slushy floor on all fours and managed to get to his feet, clutching the flask to his chest as he ran back up the hall. And promptly lunged sideways into the wall as his instincts screamed at him. He heard another whoosh, and this time, a line of searing fire spread down from his left shoulder to his lower back.

Emerson ignored the pain, bouncing off the wall with his right shoulder like a glorified bumper car before spinning around with the hydro flask securely held by the strap.

Clang!

The edge caught the woman in the jaw, snapping her head to the side and further messing up her hair.

Emerson didn't wait around, he would take every chance he got- this bitch was on cocaine or something because this hydro flask was thick. He heard some kind of wet cracking behind him.

'Nope! nope-to-the-nope-to-the-nope-nope-nope!' He sprinted down the corridor and saw a beige-colored door further down to his right.

'Supply room!'

He skidded to a halt and yanked open the door, thank god it wasn't following horror movie rules, dashing inside and slamming the door shut behind him.

The entire door shook in its frame the next second as the woman slammed into it from the other side. Then it dented inwards.

Emerson edged away in horrified disbelief- he couldn't process what was happening.

The door slammed open, two of the hinges blasting off with loud, metallic snapping sounds. She fell into the room onto her hands and knees, heaving. She looked up. Her bloodshot eyes vacant, her mouth partially open- bloody drool in the corners.

'Fuck.'