Night 57: Medical Wing Hall

[purpletaint]

[from here]He glanced idly at the doorways as they passed them, and yet still none read infirmary. "It's only a waste of time," he replied. "If you can't find them. Which would be a bit pathetic in a small building like this

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[zack_fair]

Recovery rooms. There were certainly a lot of them, and as far as Zack knew, they were meant for people to rest up in after getting heavy-duty surgery. The operating rooms they'd seen earlier came to mind, and he glanced from door to door as he wondered how often these were actually used. Were they just for show, or had patients actually been operated on without their knowledge? Maybe that was what happened to patients after they disappeared but before they were put out in the "real world."

Zack hated to think that Aerith might have been here without him even knowing, but he also realized that he was only making guesses and probably imagining things that were even worse than the reality. He hoped that was the case, at least.

It wasn't as if he could go anywhere without Rose opening a door and so he waited as patiently as he could for her to decide on what to do next. However, it was at that point that she started speaking of blood. As he gave a testing sniff of the air, his senses were overwhelmed with a coppery smell and he realized that she was right. But how had she smelled it before him when he was the canine?

Either way, the smell obviously wasn't agreeing with Rose if the way that she grabbed for her mouth and staggered away was any indication. Before Zack realized it, a whining noise -- one that was meant to display concern -- came out of him as he followed after her. He still kept his distance but trailed her nonetheless, wanting to make sure that she was all right.

Granted, he probably smelled worse than whatever was coming from that room, but at least Rose had been kind enough to not comment on that. He didn't need to be told that he reeked of death.

[loyalrose]

She was back in the hall, standing beside the infirmary door once more, trying to get herself back under control. The skin around her eyes still felt heated and tight, and she kept her back to Zack, knowing that if he caught sight of her now, he'd know something was up. She took deep breaths, willing the hunger to abate, doing her best to focus on something else.

She heard the whine come from behind her and took one more deep breath before turning around, offering him a shaky smile. "Sorry about that," she apologized, lifting her hands in a slight shrug, feeling a little embarrassed. Although she was going to have to be careful the rest of the night. Especially if they bumped into any more blood.

Her hands lowered to her side again, glancing down the hall to suggest going another direction instead. The words never made it out, however, because as the flashlight lowered, it flickered once, twice.

Then it went out completely.

Rose blinked at the absolute blackness for a moment, waiting for the light to come back on. It didn't. "Shit," she hissed out, smacking the thing against her palm. It flared, flickered and died again, leaving her vision dancing with spots from where she'd accidentally blinded herself in her haste to restore it. Shadows swam in her vision and the hair on the back of her neck stood up as suddenly every sound around her seemed amplified a hundredfold, her other senses struggling to compensate for her sudden lack of sight.

"Oh no. No no no no," she whimpered, feeling that unreasonable panic rising up again as she fiddled with the flashlight, trying to get it to turn back on. Had she damaged it when she'd dropped it earlier? "Come on, dammit!"

[zack_fair]

While Zack wished there was something he could do, it wasn't like he could place a hand on Rose's shoulder or even ask her if she was okay. He could have drawn closer, but in his state he was sure that that would only make things worse. Instead he simply sat there on his haunches, waiting for Rose to regain her composure.

He shook his head when she apologized and then got to his feet again, glancing around to make sure that they were relatively alone. No monsters to be seen and any other patients were off in the distance. That was for the best.

And then, suddenly, there was relief. It took Zack a moment to figure out why, but eventually he realized that Rose's flashlight had turned off. She was fighting to get it to work again, but he really preferred it dark like this. He could see just fine without the light, although he realized that Rose's human eyes wouldn't be nearly as proficient in the darkness.

In fact, Rose seemed pretty freaked out by what had happened. Zack wasn't sure if it was just her nerves or if she had a legitimate fear of the dark, but the panic in her voice set him on edge as well. Had the thing just run out of batteries? In that case -- wait, where were his things? He'd been so busy adapting to his new form that he'd completely forgotten about his flashlight and short sword.

They had to still be in the infirmary somewhere. Letting out another whine, he raced over to the infirmary door and scratched at it, hoping that Rose would understand what he was getting at.

[loyalrose]

Her eyes were focusing a little, enough to make outlines. And movement. Why was there movement? She was thankful for enhanced senses beyond what normal humans had, even though it still seemed a little stifled here. Darkness had never been an issue for her before waking up here. She didn't even know why it was an issue now, only that being in the dark, right here and right now, was a Very Bad Thing. And she could still see things moving where there shouldn't be anything.

A whisper of air brushed against her cheek and she moved, spinning faster than human eyes should be able to follow, her back pressed against the wall by the infirmary door. "Shit," she hissed out again, barely paying attention to Zack's whine this time, her focus completely shot in the rush of fear-driven adrenaline. "I have to get out of here. There's... there's things..."

Another shadow moved, off to her right, and that was enough to spur her in the opposite direction, backing away down the hallway in the direction they'd originally come from, her useless flashlight gripped in her right hand like a weapon.

[zack_fair]

It was clear that he was no longer getting through to her. Zack didn't know if he could blame himself for that, though -- if Rose had actually been paying attention, she probably would have figured it out. But she couldn't exactly do that when she seemed to be having a mild panic attack, and Zack was still trying to figure out why. They had come down this way to get to the infirmary originally and she'd been completely fine, so why was she acting so scared now? Did it all have to do with that blood that she'd smelled?

But then, suddenly, it hit him. They'd thought she was immune at first because it hadn't been so obvious, but in reality Rose had also suffered some sort of side effect from the drug that she'd taken. She had a crippling of fear of... well, of something.

All she said was that there were "things," so it was possible she was hallucinating. Zack felt for her, since even if he was currently not himself, at least his mind wasn't having tricks played on it. A physical change versus a mental one -- it almost seemed like this had been planned. But he couldn't think too much on it now since Rose was racing back down the hall, and Zack didn't hesitate to follow. She didn't seem scared of him, strangely enough, and so he was going to stick with her no matter what. He doubted she would do well if she was left alone.

[loyalrose]

She could hear the click of Zack's nails on the tile behind her, following her. Despite the fact that Rose knew it was him, the sound still sent cold chills down her spine, her breath coming in panicky gasps. Something loomed in front of her and a shriek left her lips before she realized it was a wall. Another hallway. Completely disoriented now, her fingers reached out, guiding herself down in a new direction, stopping when she found a door. Another room.

Her hands were scrabbling for the handle an instant later. It was locked or jammed or something, but in the dark, she couldn't tell, and in a moment of extreme frustration, she slammed the handle of the flashlight against the knob with a strained curse.

Miracle of miracles. The lock snapped, the door bouncing inwards from the force of her blow. And what was better, the flashlight flared back on, dimmer than before, but welcome all the same.

"Oh, thank all the gods," she whispered fervently, clutching it in a rush of relief that made her knees week as she staggered into the room.

[ Going here.]