The corridor outside Alexei's cell had been loud for hours in the way he hadn't heard in a really long time. Not since the time he annulated the 'class' under him at the State Run Orpanage for taking the last peice of stale bread before he could get it.
Ah… good times.
Metal doors slammed shut with enough force to echo through the walls. Boots pounded outside of the corridor that they were locked in. Speakers barked orders that nobody seemed to be able to obey fast enough.
Every sound came with the same sterile echo, as if the whole facility had been built to amplify panic.
Then a different noise started bleeding through the vents.
It wasn't the siren. It wasn't shouting. It was a wet, collapsing sound, like something alive being turned into something else one breath at a time.
Alexei listened to it without moving, because listening was safer than guessing or assuming that he knew what was going on.
Then, the smell reached him next.
