NIGHT 54: MAIN HALLWAY, 1-EAST

[corvus_veritas]

[ From here.]

And here, Byrne paused along the left-hand wall, made sure Rei was still beside him, and then took careful note of his surroundings.

The silence was the most painfully obvious detail here. And another obvious detail was that, unlike every other one he had visited, this hallway was practically deserted. Hadn't anyone else come this way

Comments

[hasnomeaning]

The silence spoke of efficiency, and the man moved with purpose, without hesitation or delays. Rei respected that, preferred that to small talk and unsure murmurings. They moved to the edges of her knowledge and approached the small hall she mentioned. It was dark, empty like this dark, and it reeked of foreboding. She moved as if unfazed.

He nodded to her and she did the same in return, moving carefully around the corner into the next hall.

[to here]

[selfnighted]

[from here]

There was one-no, there were a few things that were curious. "Why is brainwashing going on in the first place? Surely he call in those soldiers." Or if not, there were the supposed monsters. In that line of reasoning, why unleash brainwashed patients and monsters when the doors were unlocked at night and flashlights were provided under pillows?

Something to do with the soldiers, and Landel's subsequent removal, Maya suspected. Oh dear, how did she become embroiled in something like this?

[windstwilight]

Uh. Easier question first. If any of those could be called easy. Maya was seriously an investigator, wasn't she? No chatting or small talk and straight to the point. Senna didn't mind, hell, it was a good distraction at this point, but it made her wonder about her roommate. "Well," she started slowly. "I don't think the soldiers are his to command. They're under that other guy, and they don't seem to like Landel very much. As for the why...."

She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it's a different kind of experiment. It's better than the other ones, from what I've heard." She frowned. "Not that many are talking."

[to here]

[swornandbroken]

[from here]

Mello glanced back at Matt as he walked, to see if he was still upright. Smoking could only be a good sign. "We'll get out," he said, quietly, but he was beginning to fear he was making a promise he couldn't keep. No. They had to get out. No other option was acceptable.

"Other than the monsters," he told Javert, "there's what I call the boomerang effect. You wake up back in your bed every morning. I don't know how far it extends." He scowled at having to admit this, but if they were following him, they deserved to know. "Presumably, at least to the town. What's past that is anyone's guess. The Head Arsehole-- Landel," he clarified, since Javert wouldn't have been familiar with the unaffectionate nickname now, "said something about the altverse. That implies none of us are where we started out."

[for_a_song]

"I'm not too keen on staying either. I really doubt the new management is going to be any better than the old one was," he replied, a hint of bitterness and stress he'd been feeling all day leaking into his voice. He wanted out. He'd had enough of being imprisoned, enough of taking hits to his hard won sanity, and enough of everyone being used as someone's glorified science experiment. He'd do his best to help get this group out, at least, and hope that they could somehow beat whatever it was that kept dragging them back here every morning.

He didn't know how Mello knew where they should and shouldn't be heading, but he wasn't going to argue. Mason was injured, Javert was confused, and it was going to be hard enough getting everyone where they needed to go without running into any more fight. Sixth sense, gut instinct, it didn't matter as long as they could minimize the fighting.

[gamingsostfu]

He was injured, but he wasn't dead, and Matt was determined that tonight was the night they needed to get out or

[unmocked_lawr]

Every morning. So that was the reason he was still here. Frustrating, and altogether too straightforward an explanation for Javert's liking, but it didn't seem as if he had much choice but to believe Mello for the time being. The young man didn't seem as if he had much reason to lie, though Javert hadn't precisely had time to tell for sure.

It still didn't explain why Mello was currently trying to escape, unless the aforementioned coup d'etat had shaken up the infrastructure of this place so badly that whatever power was keeping them here was no longer in effect. Presumably that was Mello's theory. If they could reach civilization tonight, then they might have a chance at remaining there in the morning.

"What's the new management like?" This directed abruptly to Gren; if anything, he might as well spread the questions out amongst the group. Better chances of catching a contradiction, if it turned out they weren't to be trusted after all.