Technomancer (Unspeakable Things: Book One)

over the desk—there was Meng, sprawled on the floor. There was blood on Meng’s chair, on the floor, and a growing circle of it stained her white lab coat. It looked like wine spilled upon a tablecloth.
    “You shot her,” I said.
    “Yeah,” she said in a hollow voice. “We have to get out of here.”
    I picked up the .32 auto’s magazine from the floor, staring at it. “There must have been a round in the chamber.”
    The bizarre sounds coming from the hallway behind me increased in volume. As my mind grew clearer, I realized Jenna had released everyone in this place who was under Meng’s control. The doctor had a bullet in her chest, and as a result, we were all off the leash. Jenna had cut the strings of every puppet at once.
    I took the gun from Jenna’s rubbery fingers. I reloaded the weapon and pulled back the slider to chamber another round. We went to the office door, and after a momentary hesitation, I threw open the door and leaned out into the hallway.
    In the hallway, the noise was a hundred times worse. People howled, cackled, and sang at the tops of their lungs. I had no doubt some of them had been brought here for good reasons originally, their mental health far from stable, but none of that could explain the madness I heard roaring from dozens of combined throats.
    I was at a loss to understand it, but I imagined they’d been imprisoned here, silent and motionless in their cells for years. Countless quiet hours had been imposed upon unbalanced minds. Now that they’d finally been released, they had gone completely mad.
    Doors shook with powerful blows. Wired windows cracked, spitting flecks of glass. Door handles rattled under furious hands. From somewhere, wisps of smoke had crept into the hallway. I wondered if one of the upper floors was ablaze.
    A pair of people rounded the corner at the nurse’s station, heading our way. Nurse Miranda was in the lead and right behind her was the orderly I’d beaten down to escape this hellhole a week ago.
    “You!” Miranda screamed.
    There was a light in her eyes I didn’t like. I was glad I had her pistol, because right then I was sure she would have emptied the gun in our direction. I lifted the gun and found that I either had no compulsion against harming her, or Dr. Meng’s state had freed me. The two slowed as they saw the gun in my steady hand.
    “Put it down, Draith,” Miranda said.
    “No,” I said. “I’m free. Just like the rest of them.”
    They both advanced, their hands up with open palms. They wore expressions akin to people approaching a strange growling dog in their living room.
There’s a good doggie.
    I took a step back, but my gun didn’t waver. Miranda turned toward the orderly, her eyes were wide. “He must have killed her,” she said.
    “No, I did it,” Jenna said. “She told me what she did to my Robert, so I shot her.”
    I glanced at Jenna, recalling the fierce, determined rage I’d seen in her the night I’d met her in the casino. I reminded myself never to get onto this woman’s bad side. She looked cute and sounded innocent, but she was a killer.
    “You don’t understand what you’ve done,” Miranda said. She walked closer, peering into the office. “Where is the doctor?”
    “On the floor behind her desk,” I said.
    “Will you allow me to help her?” she asked.
    I nodded and backed up two more steps.
    “Go get the emergency cart,” the nurse told the orderly.
    He hastened to obey, disappearing for a moment. He came back at a run, wheeling a white-clothed cart full of medical supplies. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. If they succeeded in reviving the good doctor, would that mean shewould again hold sway over me and all the others in this building?
    The howling had subsided. We could still hear the noise coming from the upper floors, but the nearest inmates were watching us. In a dozen dimly lit little windows, faces and staring eyes were pressed hard, straining to see. They fogged the windows with their panting breaths and their cheeks left residues of sweat and blood. Why were they quiet now? What were they thinking, this audience of crazies? I had no idea, but their scrutiny was unnerving.
    “Let’s get out of here,” Jenna whispered to me, tugging on my arm. “This is her place. If she awakens, she might be able to turn us against each other.”
    I thought about her words, and I also thought of giving her the gun to shoot Dr. Meng again—just to make sure. If I left now and