"Yes, but... if it's not Hudson's, then where does all this blood come from? Have you been able to find out where it leads?"
"I can't see shit with this mask... for fuck's sake, it continues to tarnish all the time... enough! I'm fucking sick!" he exclaimed, who with a gesture of constipation, untied his gas mask and removed it from his face, failing to see more than a few inches away from the visors.
When his face was finally discovered, Layton left the mask on the ground and slipped slightly under the bed, crawling with one arm forward.
"Lay! What the fuck are you doing?! Why did you take off your mask?! Put it back quickly, it can be dangerous! You said it yourself that can be infectious!" Faith gasped as she noticed Layton's gas mask rolling on the floor.
"Wait, I'm really close... it just seems that blood leads..."
While speaking, the young janitor discovered that the trail of blood, made visible only by the UV-A flashlight, beyond the bed, continued for a few inches above the wall behind Klein's backrest.
He suddenly stopped talking and for a few seconds, his brain remained silent to process what his eyes were seeing.
"Then? What did you see?! What the fuck, Lay, do you want to tell me or not?!"
"I don't understand... the blood continues over the bed... as if something had crawled to the ground and then risen to the surface... oh, fuck!" he exclaimed again, hurriedly crawling out of his position, standing up and tearing Faith's torch out of her hands.
While the red-haired girl still didn't understand anything, just taking a step back and watching Layton worried, he pointed the light in Klein's face, completely illuminating the other side of the pillow as well and discovering that it was all red, soaked in blood.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell happened, why is there all this blood down here?! Holy shit, why did Dr. Tyler notice and say nothing?!" Layton said, breaking into a cold sweat from the scare.
"Blood… is that all blood?! What?!" Faith asked, contributing to the feeling of amazement that had followed that gruesome discovery.
Having stopped only on one side of the bed, which had the back resting on the wall, the two young janitors had not looked in depth at the other side: the hidden part of Klein's neck was soaked in blood and it reached up to his mouth.
"It looked like his gums were losing blood, but if you say the red trail on the floor is connected to the one on his pillow, that means..."
"It means that that blood is not his... perhaps even not human!" Layton said in a flickering voice, interrupting Faith's words and finishing the sentence.
The girl was caught in a sense of panic and, striving not to start screaming, her body lost control for a few seconds, losing her balance and forcing her to take a few steps back.
Layton, having super attentive ears and eyes, because of the situation, immediately noticed that his young colleague was about to faint and grabbed her arm, dropping the UV-A light torch to the ground.
Luckily, he managed not to drop her, but the girl went to slam into the nightstand next to Klein's bed, placing a hand on it and unwittingly opening its first drawer, clinging to the knob trying to stay in balance.
As Faith managed to get back on her feet and stabilize again, recovering her senses, Layton's gaze almost automatically fell down, framing the open drawer of the bedside table.
Amid so much paperwork, a small gold-colored metal object attracted his attention.
"Lay, my head is spinning... I can't stand on my feet..." Faith whispered with a thread of a voice.
"It's because of this damn mask... wait, I'll help you" he replied, resting the torch on the nightstand and unfastened the mask to the girl, who finally managed to breathe again, resting on her back to the wall and closing her eyes, focusing on her breath and heartbeat.
"Well, now it's much better... the stink that was near the lab seems to be gone, it's just very hot. Breathe, Faith and relax" he continued, grabbing again the flashlight and pointing it back into the drawer, stretching his hand, and gently moving the white sheets and other newspapers that covered the metal object.
To his amazement, Layton discovered that it was a golden key.
"What... what is that...? Is it a key?" asked Faith still confused by her momentary loss of consciousness.
"Yes and I think I know what it opens" Layton replied, looking into the girl's eyes and trying to communicate something to her.
"His desk drawer!" the girl said, opening her eyes and immediately recovering as if someone had just spilled a bucket of cold water on her.
Layton nodded, confirming.
"Aaargh..."
Another lament, much more suffocated and suffering echoed into the room, instantly shutting up the two janitors.
Layton's torch was quickly pointed at Klein, whose body was writhing among the blankets.
Resting a hand on Faith's shoulder, the boy turned her away from the infected subject, holding her near the wall and believing that he felt a possibly dangerous situation.
"Look at the way he writhes... it's like he's trying to get rid of something... but what the hell is it?" Layton said, thinking aloud and examining Dr. Klein's strange behaviors.
"Maybe we should just get out of here and check the contents of his office drawer... right after that, we could..."
"Aaaargh... naargh..."
Klein's laments began again stronger than before as if sudden pain was causing him a lot of suffering.
His hands forcefully grabbed the white t-shirt and they managed to tear it, opening it in half and showing off his chest, so thin that it was possible to see the rib cage, with the sternum protruding.
"Shhh... take a moment's silence" Layton continued, turning to Faith, who didn't understand what triggered that sudden reaction in Klein.