The bathroom door swung open easily into a hallway, and Tim thought he felt a bit better. There was a door directly across from him and the smell wasn't as bad in the hallway. [i]No need to panic yet.[/i] Tim tried the door in front of him, but it was locked. This was still a dream, right? 

 [i]Not a dream[/i], whispered some dark corner of his mind. It didn't smell as bad now that he was out of the restroom, but the lighting was still dark and his shock was slowly turning over into panic. A light ache was starting in his head. Tim regularly had migraines at work, mostly from his own negativity, but he suspected this one wasn't work related. He went to pull at his tie, a nervous habit, but found he wasn't wearing one. Odd, but he still had his regular white button-down work shirt and black work pants on.

His wrist still ached, but he didn't bother checking the bandage yet. Instead, he glanced around, trying to feel out his options. 

To his left there was an old dumb waiter, currently closed off by some metal, and to his right was a dark hallway. Tim heard some distant shouting, nothing panicked, but it made him want to travel the dark hallway all the less. Tim glanced back at the bathroom door, but couldn't bring himself to go back to the smell and the...
...the mess. 

Tim remembered the phone. The one that had said [i]Welcome back.[/i]
 He had grabbed it before he left. And, ominous message or not, it would still help him see in the dark hallway. Suddenly, Tim heard footsteps. Light footsteps, not walking too fast, but not all that hesitant either. Someone was walking in his direction! Tim panicked and leapt behind the bathroom door to hide, leaving it open a crack to spy on whomever was coming. Maybe if they looked.. not ominous? Or maybe not dangerous? If they seemed like a normal human being maybe he would talk to them.

Trying to hold his breath against the stench, Tim waited. Whoever it was, they were sticking to the shadows and suddenly moving slowly. Was because of the stench? [i]There is a dead body behind you[/i], the voice in his head reminded him. Or maybe they were here to attack him. 

Tim dared not glance back at the dead body behind him, but he suddenly found himself wondering it he should have grabbed the metal pipe..