The Death Agreement Read Free Page B

strolls, picking out which of the old,
abandoned buildings we wanted to break into, but there was one
place in particular that seemed like the best starting
point.
    I closed the book I had been
reading. For weeks, I had dug into the history of the campus.
Through my research I had discovered the hospital was originally
been built in the early 1900s, the location chosen because
President Lincoln had used the land as a field hospital during the
Civil War. Gravely wounded Union soldiers were sent to that camp,
most of whom had required amputations.
    A few historians said that some of
the original buildings still existed. They had been incorporated
into the design of the main hospital building. Fascinated by each
new fact uncovered, I wanted to go there. The more I learned, the
more excited I became. I couldn't wait.
    Taylor tapped his fingers on the
refrigerator. "What the hell is taking so long?"
    "Okay," I said, writing the down
an interesting fact into a three-ring spiral notebook.
    We left and began our first real
exploration.
    His motives were different from
mine. He had believed the rumors that Walter Reed was haunted by
the soldiers who died on the grounds. I couldn't tell if it was a
joke or not. Prior to the helicopter crash, I didn't subscribe to
ghosts or anything paranormal. To be honest, I didn't much care to
listen to him go on and on about the nonsense that some people had
supposedly witnessed.
    Did we see and hear things? Yes,
I'll admit that. Was I scared? Goddamn right I was scared. But
ghosts? Sorry, I wasn't buying it.
    Out of all of the things we had
seen on our expeditions, I was most shocked by what we discovered
in the closed-off wing of an unnamed ward. Before getting into
specifics, it's important to know how difficult it had been to
access.
    From ground level we couldn't find
any way into that part of the building. All the doorways and
windows had been filled in with bricks and painted over.
    Taylor figured a basement hallway
from the adjacent building connected them, so we looked all over,
but still couldn't find a way.
    "If there was ever a path, it was
sealed off long ago," I said.
    Taylor shook his head. "Uh-uh.
There's a way in. I know it."
    Undeterred, he led me up the
levels, searched each floor in turn, and only found more bricked up
doorways. On the top floor, we discovered something odd. It wasn't
a door, but a nailed-shut window that led to the roof. On the other
side, a small door above the closed-off section called to
us.
    We pried the frame loose and
stepped into the cold wind.
     

     
    I could tell that no one had been
in there for decades. Lead paint peeled off the walls. Crude
medical devices lay broken and scattered across the rooms. Instead
of electric lighting, kerosene lamps lined the hallways.
    We explored each floor of the dark
abandoned ward, finding stranger and stranger things as we went.
Though the atmosphere was ominous, and the old, torturous looking
equipment sent chills down my back, none of it compared to what we
discovered on the basement level.
    Something seemed off as soon as we
entered the large, open room. A rotted wooden wall caught Taylor's
attention. It should have been against the foundation, but it
seemed as if something lay beyond.
    I tore away the wood, revealing a
tunnel. Though my heart thudded against my ribs, it wasn't that
strange—many government offices are connected below ground—and yet
every part of my being told me to run.
    I cautiously followed Taylor
through the winding hallway. He stopped, and said, "Whoa. Did you
feel that?"
    It seemed if the room had suddenly
grown cold for a moment. "No," I lied. "Feel what?"
    "Come on. I think we're near the
other side."
    We kept going, and a few minutes
later we reached the end. Instead of linking to another building,
the path abruptly stopped at a small sub-basement room, completely
empty except for an old, rusted surgical saw hanging by a string
tied to a peg in ceiling.
    I stared at the strange