Night 28, Beginning of Nightshift
The buses pulled into the open gates of the Landel’s Institute. They closed behind, locking the patients once more within those walls. There was no activity visible outside or inside the large buildings, and the lights from within seemed muted.
It was dark, only the barest hint of the sinking sun visible above the mountains. A few stars could be seen already in the black sky overhead. Night was rapidly approaching.
The engines of the buses died with a painful screech. Everything was oddly still as the noise cut out, leaving the darkened front area silent. It was an eerie sensation, to see the institute in the waning light. It seemed a great lurking beast, hulking against the night sky.
There was a strange feeling in the air. A tight anticipation, like a coiled spring. The nurses began moving to the front of the buses, in preparation for unloading the patients. Whatever was wrong, they seemed not to notice. They took a place at the head of the aisles, standing as though they were going to address the patients.
The tight tension in the air snapped. Full darkness fell as the last bit of light winked out, the sun gone at last. The silence grew until it was oppressive, and almost tangible thing. And then the night was split by a piercing scream from within the institute.
The world seemed to ripple and shift and fold, blurring in a manner that denied physics. At the front of the bus, the nurses fell to their knees, bodies twisting and rippling as they changed. Their skin bubbled and their limbs stretched as they underwent the painful transformation, uniforms ripping as needles and scalpels broke through their flesh. They screamed and writhed as the humanity faded from their eyes, leaving them the grotesque monsters that roamed the halls at night. They twitched and spasmed in the aisles of the buses, trying to rise.
From the roof of the institute came screeching calls like those of predatory birds. The monsters had come out already. The nurses, now deformed caricatures of their dayshift forms, lurched to their feet, screaming for blood.
The patients were trapped on the buses in near blackness, separated from their weapons and equipment, and Nightshift had come.
It was dark, only the barest hint of the sinking sun visible above the mountains. A few stars could be seen already in the black sky overhead. Night was rapidly approaching.
The engines of the buses died with a painful screech. Everything was oddly still as the noise cut out, leaving the darkened front area silent. It was an eerie sensation, to see the institute in the waning light. It seemed a great lurking beast, hulking against the night sky.
There was a strange feeling in the air. A tight anticipation, like a coiled spring. The nurses began moving to the front of the buses, in preparation for unloading the patients. Whatever was wrong, they seemed not to notice. They took a place at the head of the aisles, standing as though they were going to address the patients.
The tight tension in the air snapped. Full darkness fell as the last bit of light winked out, the sun gone at last. The silence grew until it was oppressive, and almost tangible thing. And then the night was split by a piercing scream from within the institute.
The world seemed to ripple and shift and fold, blurring in a manner that denied physics. At the front of the bus, the nurses fell to their knees, bodies twisting and rippling as they changed. Their skin bubbled and their limbs stretched as they underwent the painful transformation, uniforms ripping as needles and scalpels broke through their flesh. They screamed and writhed as the humanity faded from their eyes, leaving them the grotesque monsters that roamed the halls at night. They twitched and spasmed in the aisles of the buses, trying to rise.
From the roof of the institute came screeching calls like those of predatory birds. The monsters had come out already. The nurses, now deformed caricatures of their dayshift forms, lurched to their feet, screaming for blood.
The patients were trapped on the buses in near blackness, separated from their weapons and equipment, and Nightshift had come.