Hannah tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in time with the beat of the music on the radio, but kept her eyes on the road. The husky wasn't used to driving a van, but Anna, sitting in the passenger seat, had just finished her turn, while Chloe said she felt too tired to drive. So, it fell to Hannah to do the last leg of the trip on the way back home, but with the roads being so empty so late at night she didn't need to worry about it too much until they got near the city limits.

She was going to miss these outings with her friends once September rolled around. Anna and Chloe would be heading off to university along with Makayla, Hannah's best friend. Kaitlyn and Sydney were playing cards in the back seat to pass the time; Sydney would be heading to community college. Only Hannah and Kaitlyn were staying as they were, both with full-time jobs, unglamorous as they were. Everyone would still be able to visit and get together, sure, but it wouldn't be able to happen nearly as often – it would have to become special occasions, planned in advance, rather than the spontaneous group-ups they'd had before.

Some road signs approached, lit up by the headlights of the rental van. Thanks to Kaitlyn's staff discount at Carport, they'd been able to get it for a decent rate so they could all take a trip to the next town over to see a traveling comedian while he was in the area. It had been a blast, but now they had to drive back well after dark.

Hannah glanced up, confirming she needed to keep going straight. Their turn-off wouldn't be for a while yet...

"West River Asylum?" Anna read aloud off a sign beside the road. "How long has that been there?"

"It's abandoned," Hannah informed her. "The place is probably all overgrown by now."

"Sounds spooky," Chloe piped up from behind Anna. "Do you think it's haunted?"

"Think? No, I know it's haunted," Hannah said, nodding, trying to hide a mischievous smirk with a brief sideways glance. "Have you two really not heard the stories about that place?"

Anna shook her head, barely visible out of the corner of Hannah's eye. "No."

"Nope!" Chloe added.

"You don't know why it got shut down? Oh, it was a real horror story," Hannah told them, overdramatizing it while she tried to come up with something in her head. Skipping past the exact reason for a moment, she went on, "Guess they tried to cover it up later on so fewer people would find out about it. When word got out, they closed the whole place down and moved everyone out and left it abandoned."

"Is that really what happened?" Makayla asked incredulously from behind Hannah.

If she could have winked at Makayla without giving herself away or taking her eyes off the road, she would have, so Hannah just nodded instead. "Oh yeah. Hey, Anna, want to go check it out? It'd be an adventure!"

"Um..." Anna faltered.

"Don't tell me you're afraid," Hannah teased provocatively. "Those stories are probably made up, right? What's a few dozen witnesses?"

It was Chloe who took the bait. "I'm not afraid! If it was that bad, we would have heard about it."

"Uh, yeah!" Anna agreed. "I'm sure it's just empty."

"Wait," Sydney piped up from the back of the van, "What are you two getting us roped into this time?"

"Just a little spooky adventure," Hannah teased.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. "Hannah, it's not even close to Halloween."

"So? Adventures can happen any time! Besides, I want to get out and stretch my legs a bit, we didn't get much of a break at the last stop."

"You all can go do whatever you want, but I'm staying in the van," Sydney insisted.

Hannah chuckled and pulled over into the right lane, slowing a little bit as they approached the turnoff. "It'll be fine, we'll walk around a bit and then head back. We can borrow Sydney's salt just in case."

"Salt?" Anna asked curiously.

"Yeah, for warding off ghosts! Don't you know anything about ghost hunting?"

"Maybe we should bring the garlic too," Chloe suggested.

"That's vampires, not ghosts!" Sydney called out, "I don't have my seasonings with me anyway, and even if I did, they're not for throwing around!"

"What do you think the chili pepper flakes would ward against?" Kaitlyn joked.

"Huskies," Anna teased, and Hannah rolled her eyes as she flicked the turn signal and headed onto the offramp.

--------------------

It was a short but winding trip through dark woods that set the mood perfectly, even before they got to the asylum grounds proper, driving in through a big iron gate that had fallen off its hinges. Not a single light was on in the whole building or its grounds, and if not for the clear sky it would have been pitch black. Hannah drove along the gravel path and parked outside of one of the bigger buildings in the now-overgrown parking lot. Three floors high, it was all solid brick with some sliding windows, and ivy creeping up vast swathes of the front. The grass was very high and the trees certainly seemed to be flourishing, in sharp contrast to the dilapidated state of the building itself.

"Wow, this place is gigantic," Kaitlyn observed as she peered out the rear window.

"I thought it would just be one building, it's more like the university campus!" Anna said, looking back and forth out the front.

"Oh yeah, there were a couple thousand people here at one time, if you count the staff," Hannah remarked as she shifted the van into park. "It's not even the biggest one in the country."

"So, what got it shut down?" Chloe asked.

Hannah thought fast. "There had been plenty of stories floating around about the place, but one winter, there was a gas leak in one of the buildings. Everyone inside died in their sleep. When that was being investigated, they started to find out what had really been going on here..." she let that hang in the air for a moment, then cheerfully said, "Let's go take a look inside!" and turned off the engine, tugging the keys out.

The area was plunged into darkness. "H-Hannah!" Sydney protested. "Leave the lights on for me!"

"I don't want to drain the battery," Hannah said calmly, opening her door. "You wouldn't want to get stuck here, would you?" She pulled out her phone as she got out, activating the flashlight on it. "Anyway, you can wait here, we won't be gone long."

Anna and Chloe shared a look at each other, then nodded. "We're not afraid!" Chloe proclaimed, and started getting out as well.

"Yeah! It's nothing we can't handle," Anna agreed.

"This'll be great to tell my stream about," Kaitlyn mused, waiting for Chloe to get out before clambering out from back seats.

As Makayla exited too, Sydney fretted, "W-wait, you're not going to leave me here alone, are you?"

Hannah shrugged. "You wanted to stay in the van, didn't you?"

"Not alone and in the dark!" Sydney whined, climbing out after Kaitlyn.

Makayla chuckled and slid the side door closed that was closest to her. "They're all just stories, Sydney. We'll be fine."

"But what if they're not...? What if this is like that movie where- oh my gosh, we're a bunch of girls alone in an abandoned place, we're gonna get eaten by something!"

"You'll be fine," Kaitlyn told her, "It's the ones who don't believe in the monster that get eaten first."

"What if-"

Unable to resist, Hannah tapped her phone screen and turned off the flashlight. Sydney let out a scream and Hannah turned the light back on. "Sorry, I hit the wrong icon," she apologized, her free hand reaching behind herself to grab her tail and stop it from wagging.

"Hanaaaaaah!" Sydney moaned, slowly realizing that she was clutching hold of Kaitlyn's arm, releasing it and rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment as Kaitlyn chuckled.

"You'll all be fine, I'll be your guide, just stay behind me," Hannah told them, holding her phone up to illuminate the front doors. Walking up to them, she pushed them open, a little surprised herself that they weren't locked. The doors were heavy but she was able to push them open, and they creaked loudly as they opened to reveal the entryway: a reception area with a wide desk facing the door.

Time had not been kind to the place, though. Chunks of the ceiling hung downwards, darkened by mildew. Large sections of paint were missing from parts of the walls, and the floor was covered by a layer of detritus. They were clearly not the first visitors, as graffiti had been sprayed in a few places. What little furniture there was had been subjected to dampness and mold.

"Eww," Kaitlyn grumbled as she saw the state the place was in. "Yuck. Don't touch anything."

"Wasn't planning on it," Makayla muttered with distaste.

"This was the reception," Hannah told the others, giving a wave with her free hand as she swept the flashlight over their surroundings, but Sydney already had her phone out and the others were fumbling for theirs for more lights – or to take pictures, in Kaitlyn's case. "You'd come here if you wanted to visit someone. But a lot of the people sent here never came back... there's a graveyard on the grounds, but there aren't nearly as many graves as there should be. Some people just... went missing." She didn't know if there actually was a graveyard or not, but it would take days to fully explore a place this size, so there was little chance of her deception being discovered.

"What happened to them...?" Anna asked quietly.

"We may never know," Hannah answered, taking a step forward, dust and bits of plaster crunching underfoot. "But while most of the staff simply got sent home when the place was closed down, the mortician was arrested... people said he'd been eating some of the patients who died here."

Makayla snorted. "No way."

"Oh, yes," Hannah told them, turning around and holding her phone under her muzzle. It didn't have quite the same effect as a flashlight, but it was close enough. "They say that when he was dragged off by the police, he still had blood around his mouth, and a crazed look in his eyes. They had to put a muzzle on him after he bit one of the officers... who died a few days later from it."

Sydney shivered and hid herself partly behind Kaitlyn. "O-Okay, we saw the inside, can we go now?" she whimpered.

Hannah gave a little laugh. "We're like three feet inside, come on. Let's go take a look further in." She turned around and headed off, giving the others no choice but to follow her. Kaitlyn and Makayla were closest, with Anna and Chloe whispering to one another behind them, and Sydney at the back, torn between retreating or sticking with the others and electing to do the latter.

The corridor itself was mostly featureless, painted a flaking white with more mildew spots on the lower parts of the walls. Exposed pipes and wires ran along the ceiling, thickly decorated with spider webs bearing the husks of unfortunate insects. Partway down the corridor, Hannah peered through an open door. There wasn't much left in it, just piles of old cardboard boxes, with massive sections of paint missing from the walls, or hanging off in bits and strips. Further along was another room that had what looked like old bed frames, most lined up against a wall but with a few lying on the floor, having fallen over at some point.

The next room had more interesting contents. "Hey, look at these," Hannah said, stepping inside and pointing to a wood and metal cabinet with casters on the bottom. Inside of it were racks with wire dividers running along them, and some big circular discs on the top rack, as well as what looked like some sort of wheels on the bottom.

"What are these?" Kaitlyn asked curiously, leaning in to take a picture.

"Plates?" Chloe guessed.

"Bicycle wheels?" Anna suggested.

"Frisbees?"

"Some kind of torture device?" Anna said more quietly, backing up and bumping into Makayla.

"Are they, like, sawblades?" Chloe worried aloud.

Makayla gave a sigh. "They're movie reels," she told them, pointing to one. "Old-timey ones, from when your grandparents went to the movies."

"Oh," Chloe said, clearing her throat. "I knew that."

Hannah gave a chuckle. "Remember how old this place is. They didn't have smartphones or video games back then. They had movie nights, though! But one night..." She lowered her voice as she came up with another story. "...they were showing a scary movie here, and even back then they still used jump scares. There was a scream in the audience, and nobody thought anything of it at the time, but when the movie ended and everyone else got up... they found one of the patients was dead!"

"Probably just had a weak heart or something," Makayla mumbled.

"...and all his fur had turned white!" Hannah quickly added.

Makayla rolled her eyes, but Sydney was holding her own arms and looking around nervously, while Anna and Chloe were taken in. "Oh my gosh!" Chloe blurted out.

Hannah chuckled as they poked around a little bit. There were video and cassette tapes lying around too, which Kaitlyn refused to get her hands anywhere near, but she did reach over to take pictures of them with her phone. While Chloe and Anna were looking around near the door, Hannah turned towards them, then sharply turned her head, as if she had seen something.

"Huh?" Anna turned her head too to look out the door. There had been nothing there, of course, but Hannah crept forward cautiously.

"I thought I saw something..." the husky murmured.

Chloe turned and peeked out through the door, looking down the corridors. "I don't see anything."

"I definitely saw it." She waited until both foxes were looking at her again. "It was really pale, and I think I could see through it. I couldn't quite make out the shape that- CHLOE, LOOK OUT!" Hannah suddenly yelled, pointing with her free hand.

With a yelp, Chloe spun around and looked behind her, as did Anna. Hannah hurried over and pushed past both of them, looking down the corridor both ways, then sighed. "It fled when I yelled," she sighed, and stepped back.

"No, no, no, I'm getting out of here," Sydney whined. "I'm leaving before I get eaten!" She tugged on Kaitlyn's arm and headed for the exit.

"All right, all right," Kaitlyn conceded, heading along with the ferret. "I got some great pictures anyway, I'll make sure to show them off when..."

Her voice got quieter as they went down the corridor. Chloe was holding her chest and breathing deeply. "Don't scare me like that," Chloe insisted.

Hannah held up a hand with a "Ssh." Pricking up her ears, she tilted her head, as though listening out for something. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Makayla asked quietly, folding her arms.

Hannah turned her head about, swiveling her ears, making the two vixens do the same. When they were both looking away, she shifted one foot back and pressed it down on a bit of plaster that had fallen off the ceiling. It broke in two with a 'crunch' that was easily audible in the otherwise silent room, and both Anna and Chloe froze up, their tails going stiff and standing up straight.

"Wh-what was that?" Chloe whispered.

"I-I dunno," Anna replied, looking towards the door.

Hannah glanced at Makayla, but she seemed very well aware of the ruse. With a smirk, Hannah nodded to her, then pointed to the foxes before winking. While both Anna and Chloe were looking away, Hannah slipped into the darkness of the room, turning off the flashlight on her phone as she did. There was plenty to hide behind, but she went even further and dipped into the next room over through a door that had a large crack in its frame. Hannah slipped just around the door frame and then stopped, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness rather than risk wandering around in the dark room.

"I think Sydney was right, we should get out of here," Chloe said after a few moments.

"Yeah, let's go back to the van," Anna agreed. "Let's go, Hannah. ...Hannah?"

Hannah smirked as she heard Makayla's voice. "Where did she go? She was right here a minute ago."

"I thought you were watching her!" Chloe said fearfully.

"I was keeping an eye on you two."

"Oh no... the monster got her!" Anna cried out. Hannah saw the light from someone's flashlight illuminate the area just beyond the doorway she was hiding around, revealing a bunch of old filing cabinets stuffed into the room for just a moment before the light swept away.

"It was the mortician!" Chloe shrieked.

"She's gonna be eaten!"

"Do you think he cooks them first?"

"Hannah? Hannah!"

"Calm down, I'm sure she's fine," Makayla told them before things got out of hand. "Let's go look for her."

"But what if she turns into a zombie?"

"Or a ghost?"

"Or a vampire?"

Makayla's sigh was audible even to Hannah. "This way, let's go," she said, shepherding the other foxes away.

Hannah waited until she couldn't hear them any longer, then turned her flashlight back on. She wouldn't make them wait long, but while she'd been hiding, she'd grown cognizant of a pressure in her lower belly. She could probably hold it the rest of the way home, but why wait? She was already here, and it wasn't like the place wasn't already horrendously water-damaged...

In front of her, one of the filing cabinets had its bottom drawer open. Inside were a number of files and folders already caked with dust and mildew. It would be better than going on the floor, and less likely to splash onto her feet or legs.

Undoing the buttons and zipper on her shorts, Hannah pushed them and her panties down all the way to her knees, then squatted down over the open drawer of the cabinet, facing away from it and taking care not to let her tail brush against it. Even though the place was abandoned, she glanced around anyway; nothing but filing cabinets on one side, and the storage room on the other. Satisfied, she relaxed and exhaled, feeling a tingle run through her as she started to empty her bladder, a stream of fluid gushing from her slit and splashing onto the folders below. The liquid pattered on the manila folders and rustled the papers, but as she had hoped, it didn't splash back against her.

Turning off her flashlight again, but leaving the backlight on, she caught up on some messages she had missed while she was driving. Her heavy stream was hissing loudly as it gushed from her pussy and struck the drenched documents, splashing with greater volume on the now-soaked paper. The excess urine was now also dripping onto the floor through the bottom of the cabinet, only adding to the racket she was making. Another little tingle ran through her, and she became aware that she was breathing quicker and her heart was beating faster; she hadn't planned on doing this, but now that she was, she had to admit there was a certain thrill to what she was doing. She'd never be able to get away with something like this normally, but no-one would ever find what she'd done. Or rather, the mess she made would remain in some form – crumpled paper and soaked folders. Some other daring explorer would perhaps stumble on it. The damage from her stream would be quite permanent, and even after it dried out the sign she had v
isited this spot would be there forever... it was exciting, in a way.

She gave a little sigh as she felt herself starting to run dry, shifting forward just a little bit, spraying a previously-dry part of the row of papers and folders with her weakening stream of urine. "Do I have a tissue...?" Hannah wondered aloud, and as she clenched her muscles to force out the last few squirts of her piss, she reached down with her free hand and fumbled in her right pocket on her shorts. No, they'd be in the left one, she-

Something landed on her phone, too thin to block the light. Hannah saw it was a tissue and blinked in surprise. Was Makayla back already? "Thanks," she said aloud, reaching between her legs and wiping at the last droplets of pee.

Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen. It was a text message from Makayla, and it simply read: 'Waiting outside with the others. Where are you?'

Hannah froze, her eyes widening, the wet tissue slipping from her grasp and landing in the filing cabinet. If they were all outside, then...

"...hello?" Hannah warily asked, looking towards the door. She quickly turned on the flashlight and aimed it out the door, but there was nobody there. The urge to flee rose in her, but she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She couldn't run with her shorts around her ankles anyway, so she stood up, tugging her shorts and panties back up as she did, holding her shorts rather than trying to fasten them. "Is someone there?"

Only silence answered her, and Hannah's breath quickened. "This place is haunted after all," she said under her breath, taking a cautious step back into the storage room and sweeping her flashlight around. "I have to get out of here!"

But just as she was about to make a break for it, she heard a noise from somewhere off to her side that sounded like a low rumbling. Unsure whether to run for it or check it out, Hannah swallowed nervously, taking a few more breaths, her eyes fixed in the direction of the sound while she took a moment to pull up her zipper and button up her shorts to free up her hand. Once her clothes weren't at risk of falling down, she advanced, moving around a big pile of boxes...

There, she found Makayla crouched down low, the jaguar holding both hands to her mouth as she tried her hardest not to laugh. Hannah let out a relieved sigh and relaxed, and now that she was busted, Makayla began to laugh aloud. "Gotcha!" she teased Hannah, standing up straight.

"Makayla!" Hannah chided, but she began to laugh as well, shaking her head.

"Serves you right for messing with the others," Makayla insisted, grinning at her friend. "I told them I'd go find you, they're waiting outside."

"Yeah, thanks, we should get going," Hannah agreed. "And thanks for the tissue."

"What tissue?" Makayla asked. Hannah blinked and stared, but Makayla only made it a few seconds before snorting and bursting into more laughter.

Hannah nearly facepalmed, but just shook her head. "All right, you got me good," she admitted, waving for Makayla to follow, and heading back out to rejoin the others at the van.