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Shadows Asylum

"Wake up!"
"Oh, please wake up"
"Before it's too late!"
"Oh, who am I kidding, it's already too late..."
"Just WAKE UP!"
Ash shot out of her bed, the sound of a gunshot ringing in her ear. For a moment, the world was cold, black as a starless sky, but the world eventually focused itself. The power had shut down, and the only light around was from a flashlight searching the white medical room and an unusual source, her shadow and the shadow of the person up and moving around. Funny, Ash thought, the thing that got you thrown in this place was now saving you from the darkness.
"Ash?" The person asked, feeling her way to the bed you were sleeping in moments ago. "Ash? Is that you?" The soft voice asked again.  Ash recognized the girl, a friend, well, family friend really, named Lizard, but goes by Liz. She had long, wavy blond hair, and big green eyes that generally gave Ash the creeps when Liz stared at her for too long. You know Liz because her father had gotten Ash's dad out of some legal trouble a while back, and now Liz was going through law school (Which Ash does now know how. Calling the girl as dumb as a sack of bricks would be insulting the bricks).
"Yea, it's me," Ash eventually replies, deciding not to evoke anymore unneeded questions. "Oh, jeez, Ash, you hairs a mess "Liz sat on the bed and started straightening Ash's dark amber hair."Its fine, Liz" Ash groaned at her friends' nitpickiness, then looked around the room. There were three beds, one were Liz obviously slept, Ash's bed, and another with a dark mass, still sleeping away.
"Who's that?" Ash asked, pulling her hair away from Liz. "Oh, I don't know, some guy I guess. I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't get up." Liz took her pocket flash light, which she only carried around because it went with her outfit, and scooted to the other side of the room where the boy slept. Liz poked at the boy's face. The boy stirred, but didn't wake. "See," Liz frowned, then waited for Ash to come and inspect.
Ash covered her ears as another gunshot rang loudly outside the door. The boy shot up, much like Ash had, and looked around in a frenzy, as if he had a nightmare. Liz was now hiding behind the boy. "What in the," The boy began the freak out. "Good m-morning!" Liz smiled for the boy. He looked down a Liz, who was cowering behind his mattress. "H-Hi?" The boy gave a worried look to the door. "We don't know either," Ash muttered "We just woke up too." Ash stood up, her shadow laid brightly against the wall (it reminded her of the bottom of a pool, or the shadow of a clear jar or white crystal). "What do you mean 'woke up'?" The boy ran a hand through his rust colored hair, then searched for his glasses. "I mean," Ash started, "A lot of people freaked out when people started popping up with 'crystal' shadows, which eventually began to talk, like mine, so they threw us in an Asylum, so they didn't have to deal with us." Ash sighed, glancing back to her shadow, which she named Has (pronounced 'Haus'). "When the put us in the asylum," Ash continued, " They put us in these rooms that made us go to sleep and kind of freeze us, alive, until they found a cure, or so they told me as the dragged me from my house at two in the morning." Ash had a little twinge of anger. "Maybe they found a cure!" Liz exclaimed loudly.
Another shot went off, this time, splintering the door. Everyone looked away as they felt the pieces of door pelt them. Ash shadow leapt up, angry, then a voice seemed to come from the wall. "That was UNNESSISARRY!" The shadow screamed. "Yea, yea, shadow, inside voices," A deep voice stepped into the room, beaming around a big, bright flash light. "Finally," The man sighed, dropping something on the ground as he looked over at the boy and Liz. "Whose shadow was that?" The man walked to the wall, and pulled a switch, bringing on an old florescent light. He wore a torn up security uniform, had a month's worth of stubble, and had lugged around a heavy looking duffle bag.
  "Hers," the boy pointed toward Ash. "Okay then. Since you're the only ones in the entire asylum still technically alive, I need you all to come with me," The man waved his flashlight with authority. "Technically?" Ash questioned the man, whose attitude she didn't like. "Let's just say, the asylum hurt more people than helped in its current history," The man sighed. "Well, were going to be together for a while hopefully, my name's Richard" The man dropped down and started digging through his duffle bag. "I'm Blake," The ginger boy spoke up. "Mine's Liz, and that's Ash," Liz bounced up and looked over his shoulder. "That is a lot of guns." Liz gasped. Ash stood up at the word. "Guns? In an asylum?" Ash mocked Richard. "Yea, well, I go through them pretty quick, but there's something down here that we're going to need them for," Richard glanced at Ash, then held out a shot gun that held six shots ",I only have three shots left for this gun, and you seam most capable out of everyone here, then than myself. "
Ash took the gun, then followed Richard out the room, Liz and Blake close behind. "I love how vague you are when we're in danger of dying." Ash muttered as she followed Richard down the hall. "Ah, Sarcasm. Haven't heard that in a while." Richard grinned then became serious, "Listen up, the scientists that we're trying to 'find a cure' just ended up experimenting with a lot of human's life. Most died, some didn't and were able to escape. Long story short, the world's gone to shit and one of its contributors now stalks around the asylum. If it bites you, all the minerals in your body seize up and become solid in your body, resulting in a lot of pain and deaths. That's what happened to most humans that came in contact with Monsters."
"Monsters? Do they have a name?" Liz asked, sticking particularly close to Blake. "Monsters." Richard walked quickly around the corner, hallway after hallway, while the others struggled to keep at his pace. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, making everyone else, who was pretty much running, tumble all over each other. He held up a single finger, telling them to stay quiet, then pointed around the corner and mouthed the word 'Monster'.
A look of shock and horror appeared on the three's faces, the Liz whispered "Can we go back!?" No sooner than those words left her lips, a low, sickly growl came screaming around the corner. Richard immediately pressed himself against the wall, and sunk down, as if defeated. Ash stepped over him, deciding to put a face to everyone's fears.
A horrid mass of flesh and protruding bones, a creature twice the size of a normal human, stalked down the hallway on all fours. With every step, the skin of the creature clung to the bones, showing every little movement, making new rips and tears in its scared, jagged skin. Its legs were deformed and bent back, like a dogs, and the skin between the bones were so thin, it was clear. Its back feet, now claws, were torn, yellow, and stained dark brown, from what looked like blood. The monsters front arms were still mostly human, but with long, overgrown nails that left marks in the concrete floor.  Its face was the worst part. It's were it mostly resembled a human face. Its skull was deformed, the bottom jaw jutting out over four inches from the top part of the jaw. Its teeth were sharp and animal-like. Its eyes were human, but small compared to the rest of the head. The creature seamed to sniff the air instead of relying on its sight.
Ash quickly swung back, hoping the hell beast hadn't noticed her. She sank back as Richard had, then motioned for the others to do the same. "But why?" Liz whispered again. Ash flew over both Richard and Blake to cover Liz's mouth, but she was too late. The creature had heard her, and let out a growl that was more like a battle cry than anything.
Ash urged her two unarmed friends up and away, as she dragged Richard to his feet, but everyone froze as the monster stood before them, watching, waiting for something to move. Liz pulled Blake with her and made a run for the nearest open door. Immediately, the monster sprung after them, bolting past Richard and Ash. Richard, finally over his hopeless phase, jumped onto the monsters back, making it come to a complete stop. It whipped around, trying to throw Richard off, but Richard hung on, even though the skin of the creature was so cold, it burned his skin. Ash, amazed by what Richard just did for two strangers, moved around front, shotgun in hand. She tried to aim, the monster still thrashing about, then shot of two rounds, which ricocheted of the monsters face, missing what she was aiming for.
Finally, the monster threw Richard off, slamming him against the wall, knocking him unconscious, then focused on Ash. The two seamed to stalk each other in a circle, waiting for the other to make a move. The monster lunged forward, tired of waiting. Ash threw herself out of the way, just barely missing it, then watched as the monster crashed into the wall, right next to Richard. The monster shook of the crash as if it were nothing, then noticed Richard, silently sleeping. Ash threw herself in front, latching onto two of its front teeth, where it couldn't bite her, since it had a huge under bite. The impact of the monster throwing Ash against the wall woke Richard, who looked up in horror and Ash hung on, bloodied and bruised.
"Shoot-it!" Ash struggled to speak while she hung on. "What?" Richard looked up dumbstruck. "EYE! SHOOT IT IN THE EYE! NOW!" Ash screamed, struggling even more now. Richard scrambled to his feet, grabbed the shot guy and aimed.
Ash and Richard looked at the monster, limp on the ground. Blake looked around the corner, Liz hiding behind him. "Is it dead?" He asked, unsure of the situation. "Y-yea. I think it is." Richard kicked the creature, its skin now longer a burning cold, but a lukewarm. Blake ran to the two. "That was amazing!" He exclaimed. "Thanks..."Ash said, as she felt Richard lean up against her. She turned to look at him as he fell. Ash, stunned, caught him by reflex. As his body became even more limp and heavy, he revealed a large gash, a few days old, healed over. Ash, now scared for him, set him in her lap. "The monster," Richard started, breathing heavier by the passing moment, "Got me a few days ago." He grinned. A tear came to Ash's eye. She knew he was dying, and if there was a cure, it was probably too late. "What?" Liz came and sat by his side. "The monster got him, that's what" Blake said coldly. "It was nice seeing you again, Ash," Richard grinned, then died in her arms.
Ash bubbled over with tears. "Ash, are you okay? Ash!" Liz asked, concerned. "I remember him. I remember, Liz." Ash looked up, flushed with tears. "You knew him? How? He's so much older than us." Liz said, sure of herself. Ash didn't bother with hiding her tears. "Those rooms froze us, remember? We could have been in there for ten days or ten years." Blake pulled Liz away, letting Ash have a moment with her friend. "Richard Dockly. That's his name." Ask cried, "He only got along with me, I only got along with him. We used to joke that it was us verses the world" She gave a tearful smile. "He's the only person I had ever loved, and he spent his final moments protecting us. Me." Ash cried.
Liz brought Blake back away from Ash. "I remember him now, too." Liz said, sadly. "Really?" Blake said surprised. "Yea. They did everything together. They ate, slept, and spent almost every waking moment together," Liz said, sadly. She went up to Ash. Ash, were going to go ahead. You can join us later, or not." Liz stood for a moment, hoping for an answer, but eventually left, Blake by her side. Ash looked on as the ran down away, then stared at the monster, tears streaming down her face, until she saw the defeated monster making slight movements, as if it hadn't been defeated at all.