Read Psychosis (Wildfire Chronicles Vol. 3) for Free Online

covered in blood, clawing at the space between the door and the floor. As she watched, the fingers gripped the edge of the sturdy door, and pulled, ripping away a fingernail. Then she moved, leaping up and snatching a small key from her desk.
    They hurrie d to the window and looked down. The ground beneath Dr Jackson’s office looked empty. It was a fair drop, but Alex figured as long as they landed correctly, bending their knees at just the right time, they stood a good chance of making it without injury.
    Alex waited impatiently as Deborah fumbled with the lock. When she finally got the window to swing open, a muffled chorus of screams drifted in on the biting morning air.
    “Okay , we’re going to go,” he said, “Lower yourself from the window, hang from the sill and drop. Make sure you bend those knees when you land, or your thighbone will be having a party in your belly. Okay?”
    She nodded, whimpered. He saw her eyes tearing up.
    “Listen,” he said, grabbing her narrow shoulders and putting his eyes directly in front of hers, “You can do this. We both can. Fifty yards to the car park and we’re out of here, and the police can deal with whatever the hell is happening here, okay? You’ll be fine.”
    Another thump on the door. Heavier. It sounded like there was more than one of them out there now, trying to break through.
    Deborah nodded, and brushed the tears away, and then to Alex’s surprise, she hauled herself up and out the window without another word, and dropped. He was impressed, had expected persuading her to take a good deal more effort. The yelp as she hit the ground below might have been a problem, but he didn’t waste any time thinking about who – or what – she might have drawn the attention of, or even if her bones had made the journey in one piece. Instead, he swung a leg over the sill, let his weight drop down onto his hands, and gravity did the rest.
    He fell facing the building, and time seemed to freeze for a moment as he moved past one of the ground-level windows and saw the bloodbath in the main hall. He had time to think that no one at Moorcroft was that crazy and then the ground met his feet, knocking all the air from his lungs.
    The pain in his knees was excruciating; white-hot. He hadn’t listened to his own advice, had forgotten to bend. Gritting his teeth to stifle the curse that begged to be screamed aloud, he tested his joints and a powerful rush of relief surged through him. Nothing vital seemed to have broken in the fall, and he hauled himself up and set off after the doctor as fast as his protesting knees allowed, praying that she hadn’t reached the car and decided to flee without him.
    When he rounded the corner into the car park he almost yelled out in relief: she was in t he car, turning over the engine and flicking open the passenger door for him.
    I owe you one, Doc.
    He leapt into the car alongside her as the engine roared into life.
    “Did you see…?” She started to ask, but he just nodded at the road ahead.
    “Drive.”
    Deborah floored the accelerator and the car lurched forward, swerving wildly, shooting toward the exit. Alex jammed in his seatbelt and grabbed the dashboard.
    “Hey, slow, slow . We’re clear. ”
    Deborah gasped out a terrified breath that appeared to have been held in for some time, and lifted the accelerator a little. When he was certain she wasn’t going to crash into the first object she happened across, Alex focused on the wing mirror. Several of the lunatics had left the asylum, smashing through windows, tearing after the car through the grounds. He watched them recede until he could see them no more.
    “Oh my god, what am I going to do?”
    Deborah sounded a little hysterical. Alex aimed for a reassuring tone.
    “It’s ok ay, you’re safe.”
    “Safe?” She flashed a wide-eyed look at him.
    “Ah,” he said as understanding dawned on him. “You’re fine, Doc, I’ve never hurt anybody remember?”
    She