"Ahh—"
Screams echoed through the mental hospital, rising and falling like a chaotic symphony.
As the initiation test progressed, the eight new recruits who ventured out from the lobby to explore had all encountered the actors arranged for the event. They made fools of themselves, much to the delight of the students watching the live stream, who were having a blast.
Of course, the three students who stayed behind in the lobby didn't escape unscathed either. In fact, they were the ones who got the worst of it. Too scared to even step over the threshold, their cowardice made them easy targets for Harry's pranks. One of them was so terrified they wet themselves, hands-down the highlight of the night's entertainment.
But Harry's unease was growing. The camera at the nurses' station was back online, but the three female students playing ghost nurses had vanished.
Earlier, Harry had sent Brandy to check on the situation at the nurses' station. The person sent reported back via walkie-talkie, saying no one was around—just a powered-off walkie-talkie lying on the floor.
"Damn it! Does anyone have their phone numbers?" Harry barked.
No one answered. After a long pause, a timid female voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.
"I called, but no one picked up!"
"If this is a prank, it's gone too far! Attention all mental hospital staff: if you see three women in nurse uniforms, report to me immediately!"
Harry was furious. What was supposed to be a flawless initiation event had been tainted by this mess, like finding a dead fly in an otherwise delicious meal.
"Damn it! I'm never working with those three girls again. I'll make sure the president blacklists them! Wait—where's the president?"
Harry remembered the president had been watching the initiation from the back just moments ago. Brandy chimed in.
"The president left about ten minutes ago, probably when you sent me to look for that girl. Maybe they went back to campus?"
Harry shook his head, forcing himself to refocus on the screens.
That's when he noticed Roy and Shodi had ventured deep into the mental hospital, almost as if they were following something. But the cameras ahead of them kept malfunctioning, which struck Harry as odd.
Roy and Shodi pressed deeper, reaching Area C.
Suddenly, a sharp ringtone startled Shodi.
"Where's that phone coming from?"
The new recruits' phones had been confiscated, except for Roy's satellite phone. So, the ringing had to belong to one of Harry's actors.
"Probably one of the actors' phones nearby," Roy reasoned.
Spooked by the sound, the "mental patient ghost" they'd been following vanished in the blink of an eye.
The phone kept ringing, its sound eerie in the vast, empty hospital. Shodi, clearly irritated, was one of those people who couldn't stand persistent ringtones.
"Damn it! Why isn't that idiot answering their phone?"
Roy found it strange too. Logically, an actor would answer immediately to avoid giving away their position.
"Let's go check it out," Roy said.
Following the sound, Roy and Shodi found a phone on the floor in the corridor between Areas A and C. Its pink case suggested it belonged to a woman.
"Why's a phone just lying here?" Roy wondered aloud.
He reached for it, but Shodi stopped him.
"Wait! What if this is a trap set by the Ouroboros Society? We pick it up, and someone jumps out to scare us!"
For once, Shodi was thinking smart. Sure, a ghost in a mental hospital wouldn't realistically be messing with a phone, but this was a scripted event. Who knew what tricks the Ouroboros Society had up their sleeves?
Roy nodded. He wasn't keen on leaving an embarrassing moment on the live stream either.
"You're right. We should be careful. Shodi, you pick it up and answer the call."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah, I'll keep watch. If anyone tries to scare us, I'll deck them."
Shodi swallowed hard, scanning the area for hidden figures. The corridor was straight, with nowhere to hide, though there could be some sneaky mechanism.
"Alright, I'm picking it up!" Shodi said, moving toward the phone at a snail's pace, like he was in slow motion.
Roy rolled his eyes and gave him a swift kick in the rear.
"Ow!"
"Stop dragging your feet! Hurry up!"
Rubbing his backside, Shodi grudgingly picked up the phone.
"Huh, nothing happened?"
"Then answer it," Roy urged.
Shodi hesitated for three seconds before following through. As soon as he did, a pleasant female voice came through.
"Thank God! Cindy, you finally picked up! Where are you three right now? Harry's pissed because he can't find you!"
So, it sounded like three female actors had gone missing?
Roy snatched the phone from Shodi.
"This is Roy Black, a new recruit for the Ouroboros Society initiation. I found this phone on the corridor between Areas A and C."
The girl on the other end sounded panicked.
"What? Cindy's phone is on the ground? Where are they? Black, if this is a prank, it's not funny!"
She clearly thought Roy was joking, like a cliché horror movie plot.
"Listen, if I were you, I'd tell Harry to stop this initiation before something worse happens!"
A single girl couldn't make that call, so Roy hung up and switched to the walkie-talkie.
"Harry, are three of your actresses missing?"
"How do you know that? Wait, don't say that on the public channel!"
"I found one of their phones on the corridor between Areas A and C."
"What? Is that for real?"
"Of course it's real! You need to stop this initiation before things get worse!"
In the broadcast van, Harry hesitated. This event was crucial for the Ouroboros Society's reputation at UCLA. Canceling it over three girls could tank their standing, and Harry wasn't ready to shoulder that blame.
But he also couldn't be sure if the girls were truly missing. What if the Phoenix Society had bribed them to sabotage things? It wouldn't be the first time—Harry knew the Phoenix Society's president had pulled similar stunts before.
After some back-and-forth, Harry decided to pass the buck.
"I'll contact the president and let you know."
The public channel meant other recruits could hear, but most didn't believe Roy, thinking it was another Ouroboros Society trick. Some even suspected Roy and Shodi were plants, especially since they'd started the event unscathed.
Before Harry could reach the president, another incident erupted.
"Ahh! Sarilang! Help!"
A distorted scream burst through the walkie-talkie, raw with panic.
Roy grabbed his walkie-talkie. "What's going on?"
"Murder! A woman in a nurse outfit smashed someone with a hammer! There's so much blood!"
"Where are you?"
"I—I don't know! This place is so dark, and all the rooms look the same…"
Without a map of the mental hospital, it was easy to get lost.
"Keep moving and wave your hands so Harry can spot you! Harry, find this guy's location!"
Harry, still trying to reach the president with no answer, snapped to attention.
"I'm looking! He's in Area B, where you came from. Head back!"
"I'm on my way!" Roy said. "Harry, end this initiation now!"
"But I haven't reached the president!"
"Forget that idiot president! If something goes wrong, you're the one taking the fall!"
That hit Harry hard. If things went south, he'd be the scapegoat, while the president could dodge blame for not answering.
Cursing the president's cunning, Harry made a decision.
"All initiation participants, head to the lobby immediately. Someone will escort you out!"
He grabbed another walkie-talkie. "All actors, return to the lobby. The event is over!"
After repeating the order, Harry and Brandy headed to the hospital's entrance to open the door.
But the door wouldn't budge.
"What the hell? Did someone lock it from the inside? Damn it, this isn't the time for jokes!"
Brandy, however, sensed something off. He kicked the door hard, but it didn't give.
"Harry, something's wrong. This is a solid wooden door, but it feels like it's fused to the wall!"
Brandy was stronger than Harry, so his words gave Harry pause.
Harry radioed the staff inside. "What's going on? Why's the door blocked?"
A response came quickly. "Blocked? We're waiting for you to open it! Why would we block it?"
Even if the recruits wanted revenge, the actors would stop them—they were eager to clock out and get paid. And there were far more actors than recruits.
"Brandy, let's check the broadcast van."
But when they got there, every screen was black. UCLA students watching the stream were flooding the BBS, demanding to know why it cut off.
"What the hell is happening?" Harry muttered, panic setting in.
Brandy stayed calm. "Harry, we need to call the police."
"Right, right, call the police! Brandy, you do it. I'll keep trying to contact the people inside."
Harry grabbed the walkie-talkie, but it was drowned in static, making communication impossible.
Roy faced the same issue. He was using his satellite phone to call Sultana while searching for the screaming recruit. At first, the call was clear, but after giving the address, the line turned to static.
This was no ordinary phone—General Hammer had given Roy a military-grade satellite phone, immune to most interference. Only something like the military-grade jammer from the cabin incident could disrupt it.
Fortunately, Sultana knew Roy's location and would likely bring the FEA to the hospital soon.
"Roy, is something going down?" Shodi asked, voice trembling.
"Not sure yet, but probably," Roy replied.
He noticed fog creeping along the corridor's edges, as if some force was altering the hospital's environment.
If his hunch was right, there was at least one malevolent spirit lord in the building.
The Ouroboros Society had really picked a hell of a place for their initiation.
Finally, near Room 13 in Area B, Roy found the panicked recruit, who looked utterly broken.
"Where's the killer you saw?" Roy asked.
"Over there—no, maybe there!" The recruit pointed in multiple directions, frantic.
Roy frowned. "Take us there."
"What? There's a psycho killer, and you want me to lead you to them?"
Roy shot the terrified recruit a look. "It's just a woman with a hammer. There's three of us—grown men. What's there to fear?"
The logic shut the recruit up. "You're right. Why should three guys be scared of one woman?"
The recruit stood, leading Roy and Shodi toward his friend.
He'd fled in such a hurry that he struggled to retrace his steps, but eventually, they found the spot.
"Here! Look at all this blood!"
A long trail of blood stretched down the corridor from Area B to A, then into Area D, which Roy hadn't explored. The sheer volume suggested the victim might already be dead from blood loss.
"The blood stops here," Roy said.
Image of the nurse (inspired by the obscure horror film Nurse 3D)
(End of Chapter)