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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[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.

[wantsyourzex]

[Since ZEX is heading towards the group of people in the center, is it alright to jump in here? If not, I'll rethread him separately...]

It appeared that ZEX's luck with monsters had eventually run out. He was sure that it had to, eventually. He just didn't think it would run out so completely.

He watched the Nurse's transformation with what he knew should have been horror, but was actually more of a perverse fascination. Their bodies shifted shape so grotesquely, bones and muscle alike moving into new, hideous forms, and ZEX couldn't help but find that it turned him on.

It really turned him on, and that was exactly what he did not need right now. ZEX may have been unable to control his body's reaction, but he was not stupid. Those creatures would probably quite easily kill him if he came anywhere near them, and with his lack of fine (or even gross) motor skills, he had no chance of fighting them

[wiz_kid_redfive]

Dairine heard Thursday's warning just in time; she had been lining up the words for a shield spell in her head, ready to unleash it. "Window open back here!" she cried out, hopping back over a seat to get closer to the egress point. "Come on, this way!"

She could hear someone as he moved towards the center. He didn't appear to have the best control, tripping all over the place. He was also mumbling something in a strange, guttural language that Dairine didn't realize he was speaking until it was too late to listen in with the Speech.

[secret_orchard]

Armand reached to steady the unsteady person lurching by, but something caught his eye. He waved frantically at Thursday and pointed to the front of the bus where a green gas was starting to fill the air.

"Mme. Next, We need to get people out of here fast! That doesn't look breathable!"

He hoped the red-haired girl and the others pushing toward the front could hear him. He reached out to try to push her toward where the window had been broken open.

[jurisfictional]

Part of Thursday wondered briefly how the man had known her name, but the sight of the gas quickly pushed that out of her mind. No. No, that didn't look breathable at all. Time to move.

She reached out for the man who had fallen in the middle of the aisle, trying to drag him upright by the collar of his shirt - he was going to get himself trampled to death if he stayed there for long.

"Move toward the back of the bus!" she yelled over her shoulder for the benefit of anyone who still hadn't spotted the gas. "There's a window open! Let's go!"

[iamyourflower]

From- Here

It wasn't closer to an opening, but it was closer to a familiar face, and somehow, even in this panicked dire situation, that felt better.

"Monsieur Armand!" She called, suddenly stopped by nearly tripping over ZEX, who didn't seem to have a hold of himself.

"Are you alright?" She asked the strange, uncoordinated man. The babbling sounds he made... the way he was tripping... she hoped he wasn't one of them as well. No, he seemed too pitiful for that. She quickly extended a hand to him, noting the gas filling the bus. Was his paralasys from that? Could it work that quickly? They had to move. She stumbled quickly where the woman called out to go by the window.

[wantsyourzex]

Humans this way, humans that way, this was definitely getting confusing. Not to mention distracting. He felt a few humans grabbing for him, and he took the hand offered to him. ANYthing to help steady him right now would be ideal, since he was starting to feel sick. Human bodies really did NOT fare well in crisis. He stumbled along with the rest of them, this time managing to stay on his feet.

"I-I'm uninjured..." This time in English. While his natural language was comfortingly familiar, it would not help him here.

ZEX thought, tried to remember. He heard someone shouting about windows...open windows, in which case... "Is there a way out of here?"

[jurisfictional]

Oh good, so the man could speak English after all. Thursday kept her eyes fixed on the window ahead. "Yeah. Stick with us, we're getting out of here."

A purple-haired girl (honestly, the colours young people these days dyed their hair, she thought, and then felt distinctly old for doing so) who seemed to know Armand had joined them; Thursday nodded at her.

The exit wasn't too far away now; Thursday pushed her way through the people still in the aisle and moved to a seat, ready to assist the others through the window.

[wiz_kid_redfive]

"Come on, come on," Dairine said, starting to help others through the hole. She may have only had an infinitesimal fraction of her former power, but ability or no, a wizard was a wizard for life. She had to help the others off the bus first - moreover, she wanted to. Wizardry was not based on mere necessity, it also was based on character. She could defend herself; she wasn't sure how many of the others could.

She caught sight of Thursday pushing her way through the crowd to help people to the windows, and smiled with relief. Of course she could do it on her own, but it was so...reassuring having the older woman there. Dairine tried not to think about this too hard, but she had found herself thinking throughout the day that Thursday and her mother would have gotten along well with one another. That was hard to deal with, because despite her and Nita's best efforts, Betty Callahan was dead. She looked back at the hideous nurses with hate in her eyes. They were another perversion of life by the Lone One, just like the cancer that had

[secret_orchard]

Armand waved to Anthy. "Mlle. Anthy, here! You can get out through the windows!" The bus didn't seem much emptier though it seemed the gas might be clearing before it reached them. He wouldn't feel comfortable leaving until the others did.

He reached for her hand. "One of you ladies please get out!" If the clumsy man made it out, then they could and he'd feel he could leave, too.

[iamyourflower]

Anthy looked warily at the window, unsure about whether she would fit.

"What about you?" She asked urgently, tentatively taking his hand, for comfort more than need; in the chaos and raw fear, she needed to support herself on another person. She kept a solid eye contact with Armand, if only for the sake of not looking at the disfigured nurses.

[wantsyourzex]

The humans were actually a great comfort, not to mention great help on keeping him on his feet. He looked up and tried to squint through his double vision (not at all helped by adrenaline) and could see the window that they mentioned before. So there was a way out of here!

ZEX looked back at those who had helped him. "Thank you, thank you for your help, I'll see you outside..." At least, he hoped he would. He didn't have much time to think about it, he had to get off this bus before he got himself killed, which he was sure would happen fairly quickly if he didn't do something about it.

"Please be careful, and thank you again!" He looked at those who helped him, trying to memorize how they looked so he could thank them more appropriately later, and he began to force his way through the window. His clumsy body was not much help, but he was hardly going to give up at this point.

It took some effort, but he fell through.

[To here]

[secret_orchard]

[dropping down the thread]