Night 55: East Wing, Hall A

[tsunagari]

[from here]There was always a chance, no matter how small, that the doorways on either side of the hall would open and something unpleasant would crawl out toward them. Keeping this in mind, Sai sped up the pace even further as they moved through it. Pure paranoia didn't spur him forward as much as experience did

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[scarefaux]

[From here.]

It had been a few nights since the Scarecrow had ventured into the hallway with the doctors' offices, but he wasn't there for a stop by Dr. Venkman's room this time around. Thinking of that night reminded him of Scar- he hadn't seen the former lion around for a few days, and his note on the bulletin board had gone unanswered. Perhaps he'd been stricken blind again and had missed it completely. The Scarecrow resolved to leave another note for him in the morning, hoping his friend hadn't been wandering around without a flashlight.

With the topic of Scar and his sleep-study-induced blindness on his mind, the Scarecrow thought he ought to explain his situation to Carter. It probably did seem odd for someone to not be feeling something they should have. "About my arm," he started, moving it under the beam of his flashlight. "See, I was taken for one of those sleep studies, and they put this clever little thing into my brain, so sometimes, I- "

Oh, the clever little thing had a way with timing! He nearly bit off his tongue as his teeth clamped together mid-sentence, his arm suddenly in more pain than he could handle. His flashlight fell to the ground as he let out a yelp, reflexively grabbing his injured arm with his other hand, only to let go of it with a second cry. As usual, touching the wound had been a bad idea.

The Scarecrow panicked and took the opposite approach, stepping back until he was against the wall, holding his arm away from him as though it were still on fire. This explained the shaking, didn't it? His mind had finally been let in on what his body already knew: his arm was in agony.

[stlg13bomber]

Now that was about what Carter had expected from a burn that bad. If it had been on his own arm he'd be screaming for cold water, or possibly an ambulance. "Can you make it turn back on again?" he asked, trying to avoid panicking. "They can fix it in the morning when they pick us up, but not tonight. We need to get ice on it...or snow! Yeah, we can go outside in the snow." That would do the job, wouldn't it? And they could keep it on while they went into town, and one of the shops had to have some first aid kits in it.

Carter took Frank by the free arm and tried to keep him walking. He was Responsible, now, he had to take care of civilians and be the big strong protector. That was what Unsung Heroes did. Carter really hoped he was good at it.

[scarefaux]

His arm may have still been attached, but now that he was feeling every bit of the burn that covered it, the Scarecrow was starting to think it'd be less of a hassle if it had fallen off. He'd have turned the clever little thing back on if he could- he knew thinking too much usually seemed to set it off- but all he could think about now was every aching sensation coming from his wounded limb.

Luckily, Carter had a plan. Sure he wasn't coming up with any bright ideas anytime soon, the Scarecrow let himself be led outside.

[To here.]