I am headed to college again! I approach what appears to be a dorm/hotel crossover on campus. People check-in when visiting the university or certain events but students also live in the rooms for on-campus housing. I am with Robert and two Asian girls. I'm annoyed with the girls because we were supposed to get here at 3 P.M. and it's almost 8! They weren't ready on time. The building is tall made with red brick. There is a glass door in the entry way and a blue desk. The interior of the check-in area reminds me of a nurse's station in a hospital.
A man hands us our keys and points to the stairwell. There are no elevators here. The building seems old and institutional. I can tell this is the original foundation since the red brick walls are practically falling apart. The flooring is made up of an off-white tile. The stairs are updated to be more modern: open concept stairs made of a black iron. They are minimalist where you can see all the floors around them.
We're going to floor number 8. Various floors have laboratories and related things. On floor number 6, there is a door with a biohazard symbol on it and a restricted personnel sign. Above the door is a light. It's not on but I understand this to be an alarm of some sort. I'm a little weirded out that there are labs in a dorm but try to rationalize that maybe 1) they ran out of lab space on campus or 2) this was originally a science building that was turned into a dorm and the labs aren't functioning anymore.
A group of people stop Robert in a stairwell. One is a blonde, lanky boy named Matt. There is another red-head named Derrick. There is a girl who looks identical to Kate from Lost but I don't remember her name. I know Matt but I am alarmed because the version I know has dark hair and glasses. I pull him aside and ask why he looks different. He confesses that he's part of an experiment. I met his doppelganger before and this is the real him. This makes me uneasy. I begin to wonder if coming here is a mistake. Robert kisses me and tells me he'll meet up with me in a little bit. He needs to catch up with his friends. The Asian girls and I make it to our floor and the alarm goes off. We are told to evacuate immediately but remain calm since this is just a drill. I tell the Asian girls we have to go NOW! As we run down the staircase, I see the biohazard alarm is going off. I think about all the movies I've seen. Something is definitely wrong here! Things are too orderly, if a weapon got loose. The building evacuates into a fenced-in lot at the back of the building. It's dark aside from a single floodlight by the gate entrance. I can only make out shadows.
There is an elevated loading dock attached to a ramp that extends to the building entrance. The ramp is lined with army men with machine guns. We're on a lower level than them. On our level, I see the outlines of gurneys. There are dozens of them. People are strapped to them. Some are limp but I notice others are thrashing around and making scary grunting noises. A huge tank pulls up to the loading dock. I see the outline of a man approach the tank. A girl next to me whispers that it's Eldridge Palmer (a character from The Strain). Two figures are chained up and shrieking. It takes four army men to escort these creatures. I now understand that we're apart of this experiment!
The gurneys start tipping over and getting closer to us. The army men lift their guns and point them directly at us. I whisper to the people around me that we need to run now. The people tell me that they wouldn't do anything to hurt us. I notice some tractor trailers by the edge of the fence. I slowly back up and try to hide under them in hopes of avoiding gunfire or the bioweapons. The first shot fires.
I hear people screaming and being attacked by what I can only assume are zombies (or maybe strigoi because Eldridge Palmer is here). I manage to hop the fence behind me and begin running for my life. I hear someone yelling my name and turn to see Robert and his friends running towards me. I tell them we have to keep running.
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