Emergency sirens howled slowly, from afar. Eve slightly opened the door of her ward and dived into the midnight darkness of hospital corridor, where silence mixed with disturbing sound of the fire alarm.
- Miss, miss, you gotta go back to your ward, - a nurse who was running by hissed at Eve, skanning the corridor anxiously.
- What happened? - Eve asked, as the nurse pushed her back into her room.
- It's a false alarm, miss, don't you worry, – just try to sleep.
Eve heard the sound of turning key in the keyhole – she was locked from outside.
She remembered what her fiance, Gilbert, used to brag about: that it's better not to underestimate the power of authorities in "Atlantis".
After he found that his personal cabinet was equipped with listening bugs, he decided to quit his job.
But they never let him. They took him before he could even tell them that he wants to quit.
Or, at least, Eve thought so in her hallucinating mind.
Right now, she thought, the only power she shouldn't underestimate is her own. The siren signaled that someone from the guarded section ran away.
Again.
It was probably her only chance to escape, to slip out unnoticed in the reigned chaos.
Eve fixed her long blonde hair in a ponytail.
She stretched her fragile-looking shoulders, trying to remember her skills of a former air acrobat. Then she madea a salto and jumped at the large, 3-metres windowsill, designed so that patients would not be able to think about escape.
Eve was slim, so she easily slipped between the metal sticks of window grid. She cut a piece of curtain with a pen that professor Sydney left after the last electrotherapy session and wrapped it around her fist. She held her breath, swang and hit the glass. The sirens from outside grew louder, swallowing the sound of broken window.
As Eve landed on the fresh august grass of the hospital ward, she tried to stick to the trees. A few guards with german shepherds ran past her.
As Eve reached the exit gates of the hospital mansion, she noticed a black shadow appearing out of the corner - it was a car, approaching.
Eve has hidden behind the trees.
The car stopped at the exit, and a tall female figure in the white robe of a doctor jumped out of the backdoor. A man in a hospital pijama followed her – probably, it was one of the patients, Eve thought.
Their silhouettes merged, as they were talking. A piece of moonlight fell on the face of the woman in white robe and Eve recognized Victoria – Gilbert's sister.
- Hey! - she waved at her, stepping out at light.
-Here! Get her!! - she heard a familiar voice of the old madman – however, no guards were approaching her. Eve realized, that her hallucination was coming back.
- Oh my godness, Eve, - Victoria exclaimed,rushing to her. - Pierrot, you have to take her with you.
The man in pijamas had deep-set blue eyes, which scanned Eve rather displeased.
Victoria helped Eve to stand up - her brother's missing gifrlfriend almost lost her consioussness, as the hallucination shook her.
- Come one, come on, hurry, - Victoria was half-whispering, - you need to go with Pierrot. Now. He will take you out of here, Eve. We will talk later.
Victoria was talking quickly, helping Eve to get into the car, as the sirens of the guard cars were growing louder. The driver with deep-set blue eyes waved at Victoria, as she slammed the door.
As Eve looked out of the tinted window, she saw that the gates of "Atlantis" closed behind them. Victoria stood there, shouting and gesticulating to the arriving guards: "Here! Come here, they are leaving!!". The sirens became almost deafening, but the two escaped patients were already on their way to Wyse.