NIGHTSHIFT 28: BUS 3

[hamenleai]

Shana’s head jerked up as the carriages screeched to a halt and an awful, thick tension fell over all of them. Feeling her hair stand on end at the nape of her neck, she glanced around the outside of the bus, searching for whatever had given her the awful feeling of dread but seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the waning light of

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[tartaros_avatar]

Recluse swore angrily as the bus suddenly came to a halt. It wasn’t too difficult to figure out what was about to happen. Still, he didn’t move until the world began to change, making note of the way things distorted. If it was at all similar to anything he’d seen in his home dimension, he could give it some thought later.

For now, the most immediate problem was how to get past the nurse at the front of the bus. Recluse was out of his seat and moving as fast as he possibly could, heading straight for the nearest nurse. He had no weapons or tools of any use against a blade-covered monstrosity. Marcus had damn well better give him some back up on this, because this looked to be the stupidest thing he’d done his entire time here.

It didn’t get any better when some bloody stupid patient made some sort of light. Exactly what his sensitive eyes didn’t need! He swore again, half-blinded by the light but still going for the nurse. It was too late to stop without making things worse.

[zeus_incarnate]

Marcus was up, but he had been a few seats behind Recluse and he was behind the larger man as he ran down the isle. As large and muscular as Recluse was, it would be damn near impossible for anything or anyone to get past him on the isles.

Still, he was right behind Stefan as the other man charged. Marcus couldn't see as well in the dark, but the sudden light caught him by surprise. It couldn't have been pleasant for Stefan, and the swearing only confirmed it. He hoped Recluse could at least partially see what he was doing.

"Right behind you, Stefan." He wanted to make sure Recluse knew where he was, and didn't accidentally hit or bump into him.

[damned_nurses]

The nurses were poised, waiting. They recoiled some from the light, but stood their ground, a deformed orderly lurking behind them. They wanted their prey, they wanted to fight. Their skin shifted, scalpels and blades covering the skin of one, needles the other.

(Fey)

[tartaros_avatar]

Recluse narrowed his eyes against the light, hitting one nurse with a straight, hard punch while leaving his other arm up to guard against any attacks that would be coming his way. What portion of his brain that wasn't focused on keeping himself in one piece was really missing his armor right about now.

[full_score]

Claude knew he should have seen this coming. Even as he'd been left to eat his sandwiches in peace (he always had room to eat), had seen the way the sun was setting, he knew he should have been prepared for the worst. It had occurred to him that maybe...maybe they wouldn't make it back to their rooms before nightfall after all.

But it hadn't occurred to him that they'd be trapped on this bus, that the institute's staff actually turned into monsters.

"Shit," he hissed, though he couldn't even hear himself with the horrible, sickening sounds the monsters were making, the startled cries of the other patients, and whatever it was outside that was making all those noises.

Heart hammering in his chest, he immediately thought of his friends. He'd caught glimpses of Ashton on the bus earlier, and it was a comfort to know he was at least here. But Ashton wasn't at his peak, especially with the trauma his body had gone through the past few days. What if AshtonHe swallowed hard, and he belatedly realized that he'd already stood up in

[part1of3]

After he'd excused himself from Luxord, Ashton hadn't known what to do but wait for the buses to deposit them back at the Institute. He'd let himself drift into daydreams again, much like he had at the salon. (Except, of course, quite a bit less bawdy!) He'd also nibbled on his sandwich absently, only getting it half-eaten before the tension in the air began to make him uneasy, and he put the sandwich back down. Maybe it was just the excitement of being able to see Dias soon, but-

His fighter's senses, however, couldn't help but prick up a little bit. And then his vision blurred and he was wondering if something like last night was going to happen again, when he saw them. The nurses.. the sweet, kind nurses were turning into something he'd seen before. The orderlies were growing into giant, hulking things, which very nearly sent Ashton into flashbacks of the thing he and Xigbar had toppled together on the day Axel was taken, the thing that had turned his shoulder purple.

No. This wasn't happening! Not like this! He had plans!!And he

[full_score]

Claude felt relief wash over him upon seeing Ashton rush towards him. "You're all right!" he said suddenly, eyes lighting up, and he couldn't help but grab for the other man's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. But the feeling was short-lived, and the blond looked anxious again. "Have you seen Guy? I--"

He was interrupted when their bus suddenly seemed to light up. Claude had no idea where the mysterious light had come from, but he was left to assume it was the product of someone's heraldry or something similar. It was a generous thing of them to do, whoever it was, considering Claude doubted many people could use their abilities without some kind of repercussion. He thought of Leon from the other night and frowned.

Claude hoped he was okay. He hoped everyone was okay

[part1of3]

[IT SAVED MY POST OMG HOORAY]

Ashton moved his hand gently over Claude's as it landed on his shoulder, squeezing back a little, rather worriedly. "No- no clue." But they had seen him.. well, right before they'd been led to the buses. "Have you seen Dias?" He was terribly worried about the taller man, even though there was no real reason for him to be worried, besides that he hadn't seen him all day. Dias could take care of himself, but.. he was as confident in his abilities as Claude was, which led such people to do..

...well, things like Claude just did. Like punching through windows and leaving themselves terribly bloody.

Ashton winced a little bit. He hadn't meant for Claude to punch through the window - certainly they could have found a way to open it or .. or something. But escape was something they had to do. "Oh.. okay. Be sure not to get any glass on you, okay? I'll push you out.. if you get me from the other side, that is."

Hopefully he could fit. Hopefully some nurse wouldn't.. come up and attack him in the butt, or

[bastard_sadi]

Daemon had been sitting and talking to Phib... Lei on the ride back when he was caught off guard by the sudden shift as they pulled in front of the asylum.

He rose to his feet, golden eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness that fell over them. He opened his mouth to call out orders, try to calm and reassure the others around him that he could feel tensing with fear as screams and shrieks and cries rose around the buses.

[damned_nurses]

One of the orderlies from the back broke away from the nurses, shoving aside any who got in his way. The burly, twisted, hulking creature grabbed at Daemon, a pinprick stinging the man's skin. It was a drug.

Once Daemon was out cold, the orderly threw the man over his misshapen shoulder, hauling him off of the bus out the back exit, and into the darkness of the institute.

[jurisfictional]

Holy fucking shit.

Thursday sat frozen in shock and horror, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her. First mutant spiders, now this - they really hadn't been fucking kidding when they said sick things happened here, had they?

Then some sort of light illuminated the bus above her, and her brain swung into motion once again. Her hand went instinctively for the gun in her shoulder holster before she remembered it wasn't there. Swearing colourfully, she shot to her feet, pushing past Dairine and into the aisle. There were those nurse-things stationed in front of both exits - her gaze swiveled to the windows - hard to break, but most likely not impossible. This was an old bus, wasn't it?

"Get the kids to the middle of the bus - it's safest there! And see if you can break the windows, while you're at it!" She wasn't armed, but the least she could do was try to maintain some semblance of order.

[wiz_kid_redfive]

Although it was a silly thing to think, Dairine was quite glad that she hadn't eaten any of her pre-prepared dinner, because it probably would have left her with demeaning suddenness.

She knew she'd been in worse situations in her life, but she was hard pressed to name any of them at the moment. Certainly this was near the top of the list - trapped on a school bus with dozens of other patients, unarmed, and with only a fraction of her proper power, facing some demon nurse-creatures from the most twisted depths of hell. Yeah, this was pretty high up there.

"Right," Dairine said, and hopped on top of her seat. "Anyone who can't defend themselves, to me! To the center! To me!" she bellowed with a voice that belied her rather petite twelve-year-old frame.

She didn't know how effective her shield was in this place, or how much of a range she had, but she was about to find out.

[secret_orchard]

Armand had finished his sandwich and was a bit tired of trying to draw the pre-occupied Dr. Birkin into conversation when they pulled into the institute's driveway. When the darkness fell and the nurses and orderlies transformed into the most hideous things Armand had ever seen, Armand jumped to his feet, a scream drying in his throat. He and Birkin were very close to the back, which meant far too close to the ones guarding the back exit.

As he tried to gather his thoughts to decide what to do, someone shouted to try to get the children to the middle of the bus away from the transformed staff. He pushed his way to the middle, looking around for any chidren. Then a light flared, and he saw who it was who had shouted. He frowned and kept moving toward her. There was nothing to be done now.

He didn't add his voice to the din, but looked for the young ones he meant to help.

[I just moved this... trying to keep the threads tidy]

[jurisfictional]

It was bloody difficult trying to see in here - or hear, for that matter. Dairine was yelling something; Thursday glanced down at her. Even if the girl did have some of her powers left, she probably shouldn't use them. It looked like the other patients would probably be able to hold the nurses back - it would be stupid to waste energy this early on.

"Don't tire yourself out this early!" she shouted. "There's still the rest of Nightshift ahead of us! They've got a window open further back - go on, move!"

She caught a glimpse of a man pushing towards them. He looked vaguely familiar - was that Armand, then? No time to worry about that. Thursday kept scanning the heads around her, trying to keep calm.

[fyeonly]

What the hell was going on?

Naomi froze. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. This was what everyone had been talking about. These were the monsters. They weren't hallucinations, they weren't just misunderstandings in the dark. They were real.

Her mind kicked into autopilot, not ready to deal with this final realization. She was on her feet, eyes immediately going towards the front of the bus, where she could see L. He was injured, in a wheelchair, and she would be damned if anything happened to him.

She ripped off the ridiculous white coat and reached down, ripping her dress along the seems to her hips, to free her legs. She couldn't fight in a skirt that came to below her knees!

Someone was shouting orders. God, this was why she hated working in groups. It never went smoothly, people were acting without thinking....

Face set into an unreadable expression, Naomi spun and dropped her body downwards, kicking at the nearest window in an effort to break it.

[fyeonly]

Naomi caught sight of L...what was he doing? She gave the window a third hard kick, her leg beginning to ache from the blows. But the window cracked, and another kick broke it completely.

"I have a window open!" she shouted. She gestured to L, silently pleading for him not to do anything stupid. "Come on!"