They’re almost through the door now.

I think they might actually be savouring this, which makes sense. They’re tired after killing all the others. And I’m the only one left alive.

The drugs were only meant to cause temporary effects: heightening the reflexes and strength of the participants. But the drugs also sped up their metabolism and caused a horrible form of pica: participants ate anything nearby. One choked to death on their own pillow stuffing. Another chewed their own limbs down to stumps. The strongest ones ate everything that moved slower than themselves.

I was moved to my room and strapped to the bed after the first “reactions”. I think most of us participants were. Which made the sounds of the other doors being broken much more horrifying.

The last person I saw alive was a nurse. She locked my door hurriedly, fumbling with the keys. I saw the panic on her face as the door closed, and then heard her start running down the hall. I didn’t cry to her for help. I heard her cry for it only seconds later.

There was a lot of screaming after that. And crashing. And running. And horrible wet noises.

It eventually quietened down, and I think they formed a hunting group. I could hear the doors down the hall being broken into, one by one.

The worst ones were the locked doors. When they’re unlocked, it’s over quickly. The locked doors aren’t impenetrable, but they hold for long enough to hear the… participants… getting louder and more enraged as food draws closer to them.

The last one was my next-door neighbour. I heard the door splinter, the inhuman screams increase. I heard the sound of something hard striking flesh, splintering bone, crushing tissue, and then hitting floorboards.

They’re almost through the door now.

I wish I could talk to them, make them understand me. I wish I’d never participated in this madness. But after my “reaction” I chewed off my own tongue and lips. I really wish I could tell them that they were right: the effects are temporary.