Things could change horrifically in an instant. Nobody could truly survive this long without learning that lesson, but at Sing Sing, there were high walls and guards keeping that reality at bay. Life had taken on a sense of normalcy. Horror was a bit further off than it used to be.
But that wasn't true, not really. Rory liked to think as much, that delusion was sometimes all a person had to get them out of bed in the morning. But life was still horrifyingly fickle. Things could change without any warning.
She wasn't confident. Not really. What Rory was was prepared. She had a gun tucked in a drawer, but this wasn't their first test subject. It wasn't their first experiment. They had been learning. And there were high walls and guards. Sing Sing was safe.
In an instant, that all changed.
Everyone would say it happened quickly, but it felt so slow, like every second was dragging by endlessly, and she was powerless to stop any of it. Rory was stunned for all of a moment, watching this first hour-long second tick by, watching the chaos erupt in slow-motion, in surround sound.
Adam wasn't on the floor anymore. Another technician -- Tom? Rory couldn't remember his name -- had the forethought to run to the speaker system. Rory didn't know if he got a message for help out. Adam wasn't on the floor anymore. His blood was, but he wasn't, and then Tom was on the ground instead. Gun, Rory remembered. She needed to get the gun.
She had pulled it from the drawer when Elliot ran to Ellie, effectively drawing Rory's attention to the pair of them. She didn't see anything after that. Drawing her attention there had drawn it away from Adam. Or the thing that had been Adam. He had changed so fast, and his weight crashed into her hard. Rory felt a sharp pain radiate suddenly from her temple, but she hit the ground before she could process why, and the gun fell from her hands, and the zombie technician was on the ground too, crawling quickly towards her.
One sharp inhale was all she was allowed before she was pushing herself backwards, scrambling towards the gun. She felt it, grabbed hold blindly and her hands were shaking violently but she managed to remove the safety and aim sloppily and fire.
Blood splattered and Rory was suddenly aware that the corpse that had just tried to kill her wasn't the only one bleeding. She felt warmth trickling down from her hairline, blood from where she'd cracked her head as she was tackled.
Stunned, Rory hesitated, almost let the gun drop. She knew she needed to get up, to help, but her head was throbbing, and she couldn't quite make her body move in that moment.