Nightshift 28: Bus 2

[misterprince]

Sanji was blinking furiously, trying to figure out why he still felt awake though everything was dark. The sedatives, just recently injected into his system, were working full force and he was having difficulty figuring out which way was up and down. All the sounds were reminiscent of something out of a nightmare. Was that what this was

Comments

[unmocked_lawr]

Night had fallen, but Javert had always had excellent night vision. Now, he was starting to wish he didn't. If he weren't so busy being shocked speechless, he would have been ironically impressed with the creativity the Head Doctor displayed. Every time he thought he'd seen the worst this place could do, Landel came up with something new.

There were patients heading toward both ends of the bus, a few of them brandishing what looked like makeshift weapons - probably, noted a small voice at the back of his mind, stolen from the stores in Doyleton this afternoon. Getting innocent townspeople involved in this was hardly necessary. Still, there would be time enough to be disapproving about it later. Right now, lives were at stake.

"Everyone!" a woman was shouting nearby. "Try to break the windows if you can! If you have weapons, hold them off! Move injured out of the way!"

At least someone was thinking on their feet tonight. Javert turned the window by his seat, running a hand over the frame thoughtfully and pushing experimentally at the center of the pane. It was surprisingly sturdy - most likely it would take some time to break - but he supposed it was worth a try.

Oh, if his colleagues back at the prefecture could see him now. Javert permitted himself a brief smirk before he hurled himself at the window.

[janus_006]

Instead of chatting as the bus made its way back, Alec had been watching the sun nervously as it sank lower and lower. We're not going to make it. He wondered if the town and surrounding woods would come alive with all sorts of interesting beasts if they were caught in the dark, or if they could avoid the night's 'fun' altogether.

They pulled into the parking lot, and he sighed. Okay, they had arrived. And then the sun dipped below the horizon.

Alec Trevelyan really, really, really wished he hadn't been right. He knew the dangers of small spaces with many people and enemies let loose, having dealt with a similar situation on a commercial airliner once. That wasn't fun. This looked to be about the same degree of fun.

"What is this new devilry?" he murmured, more to himself than to anyone else, as he watched the nurses transform from perky caregivers to horrible flesh-rending beasts. He wasted no more time - he was up in a flash, vaulting over suddenly-vacated seats to make his way to his favorite ally.

"Having fun on your day off?" he quipped to Javert after the former Inspector had come back from his first run. "Here. Let me give you a hand."

This was an option he had not had on the plane, to break open a new exit and escape via defenestration. And right now, Alec wanted out.

[unmocked_lawr]

"Lovely of you to show up," said Javert dryly, but he meant it, in his own peculiar way. If nothing else, the two of them should be more than capable of breaking the window together.

Shouting behind him confirmed that someone had already torn a hole near the back of the bus (that was fast, he thought with some surprise), but it was possible that exit might become inaccessible in the chaos.

He jerked his head at the window. "On the count of three, then?"

[janus_006]

"Three sounds nice," Alec said, looking at the window. It wouldn't take half so long now as it would have if Javert had been trying to break the thing all on his own.

There was a sound that Alec knew too well - rending metal - and he flinched ever so slightly. That sound had almost killed him before, and in any case it had put him here. Time enough for neuroses later. They had to get the fuck out of the bus first.

"One..."

[unmocked_lawr]

" - two - three!"

They struck the window together, rattling the panes of glass in their frames. There was a definite cracking noise, and Javert grunted in satisfaction.

"Once more should do it," he said. His shoulder twinged insistently; grimacing slightly, he ignored it.

[janus_006]

"Great," Alec said, rolling his shoulder. Ouch. That kind of hurt, but it was the pain that let you know that you were still alive. He could deal with that kind of pain.

"Right, then. Once more, with feeling. One - two -"

[unmocked_lawr]

" - three," finished Javert.

He bit back an oath as they crashed through the window, trying to focus on something other than the sensation of glass shards biting into his shoulder and the better part of his upper arm. Extricating himself gingerly from the mess, he kicked sharply at the glass still remaining in the frame, hoping to enlarge the hole.

Most of the other side of the bus was gone by now, and Javert couldn't help but gape slightly. Clearly someone still had a good amount of their powers, whoever they were.

He turned to Trevelyan; it was obvious there was no more to be done here. "I saw Nadine up ahead," he said briefly. "I'm going to get her - you can leave if you like. I'll meet you outside the men's bathroom as usual."

[unmocked_lawr]

[heading up to here]

[janus_006]

The shards of glass sliced through Alec's tartan overshirt and t-shirt, and he gritted his teeth as his shoulder was not left unscathed. He'd have to pick out the tiny razorlike pieces later, though. The escape may have been created, but it was rough and likely to cut anyone who tried to use it to ribbons. He joined Javert in kicking at what remained in the frame.

"Are you insane? No, wait, never mind, I seem to be asking that of someone who decided that a dip in the Seine would be a good time," he muttered as Javert went down the aisle of the bus to Nadine. "Wait up, you crazy bastard, I can't let you go and get yourself killed all alone!"

[janus_006]

[to here]