Nightshift 41: M11-M20 Hallway

[oftemptation]

Endrance sighed just slightly as he got his things together. Those injuries from the night before were still there, and he knew he would need to be careful if they should run into something unexpected that night. With any luck, any exploring they did wouldn't require fighting, but he knew now to be on his toes and prepared for anything that could

Comments

M14

[unmocked_lawr]

Dinner had passed quietly. When Tanaka had failed to appear, Javert had inquired about his roommate to the nurse when she'd come to collect the dishes. Apparently Mr. Soto was in the medical wing - news that he received with a barely concealed laugh. Yet another one fallen ill, he thought, darkly amused by the idea of it. Well. We'll see about that.

Rising as the door shut behind her, he dressed quickly. The doors would be unlocking soon and Taylor would be along shortly. Tonight there would be experimental sessions; there would be more rooms to search and, with luck, he'd be one step closer to figuring out what went on this place.

Locating the last battery in his drawer, he clumsily switched it with the dead one in his flashlight, feeling ridiculously proud of himself for remembering how. Then he sat back and waited, leaving the flashlight off for now.

[toxicspiderman]

T-minus twenty and counting... Houston, we have liftoff. Or M14. His eyes had grown accustomed to the low light enough to confirm it.

S.T. rapped the door with the back of his knuckles in a double-time rendition of shave-and-a-haircut.

[unmocked_lawr]

That had been surprisingly fast - assuming, of course, it was Taylor. Javert leaned over and grabbed both the pillowcase full of drugs and his saber before answering the door. Paranoid of him, perhaps, and he rather doubted most creatures here had the courtesy to knock, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"Evening, S.T.," he said, and held out the pillowcase. "Here's what you were after. Were you planning on heading up tonight?"

[toxicspiderman]

"Thanks." He knelt down and opened the toolbox. The t-shirt was spread along the bottom, muffling sound. Then he opened the mouth of the pillowcase over it and let bottles and needles cascade in a gentle plume into the box. "Here you go," he added, holding the pillowcase back out.

"Not sure yet. I put up a note for someone who was coordinating efforts, but I didn't hear back. I'd like to talk to anyone taking one of these kits up. Some of this stuff can really do a number on you if taken willy-nilly."

S.T. shifted from one foot to the other. He didn't like admitting hesitation or anything remotely resembling cowardice. Even when the other man had flinched as well and would know exactly what he meant. Did it take more balls or less to admit fear? Whatever. "And I'm not sure I want to go up there tonight. Maybe I'll head to the bottom of the stairs and see if someone else wants to round up the troops."

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert folded the pillowcase and tucked it into his greatcoat pocket. "Mind if you enlighten me? I plan on having a look around regardless of who else decides to come; I may as well take one of the kits with me."

At Taylor's more-or-less admission he raised an eyebrow but saw no need to comment further. It was apparent what was bothering the other man. Javert himself would have had his own reservations were it not for the fact that fear had long since learned to give way to duty. "Fair enough. I don't know how well-guarded those hallways will be."

[toxicspiderman]

"If no-one comes, I'll head up."

He extracted one of each bottle and set them on the floor, and then balanced the injectable

Then, one by one, he picked them up, starting with the aspirin. "Aspirin, a.k.a. extract of willow bark, give or take the fact that this stuff never saw anything outside a lab. Painkiller and fever reducer, pretty much always safe. " Every bottle of aspirin sold in the US had that lengthy disclaimer about kids and flulike symptoms, but it didn't merit inclusion here. " I'd say everyone coming out of those rooms should get one or two just as Standard Operating Procedure."

"Then there's the vicodin -- heavy-duty painkillers, side effects include drowsiness, vertigo, nausea. All the crap that you might or might not want to make worse. If you can wait until you've got the poor bastard tucked in in bed, do so."

The other two were the complicated ones. "The amoxicillin is if you think a bacterial vector is involved." He held up a hand, press-briefing body language for hold your questions 'till the

[unmocked_lawr]

Willow bark was familiar enough, the other three decidedly less so. Javert remained silent for the duration of Taylor's explanation, committing everything the other man said to memory. Just because he was farther behind in terms of medical advancements than anyone really had a right to be didn't mean he couldn't catch up, however painstakingly slow the process might be.

"One or two aspirin, depending on the intensity of the pain," he repeated quickly, picking up the bottle. "And none to all three of the others, depending on the symptoms. I believe I can manage that."

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. nodded. Javert sounded like the kind of guy who could follow descriptions. Not being from the land of instant gratification versus Just Say No was probably a bonus.

He shut the toolbox, and stood back up. "You got it. Good luck." There hadn't been any guards the night before last, or if there had, they'd been taken care of well before he'd had a chance to find out. He hadn't thought to ask. Spider had vanquished several bottles of something, but beyond that, there hadn't been any signs of a struggle.

[unmocked_lawr]

"Same to you." Javert swept up the bottles and syringe, all of which went neatly into his pockets.

The night was still early; there was probably time to pick up more supplies from the pharmacy tonight before he reached the experimental treatments hallway. Nodding to Taylor, he stepped out of his room, closing the door behind him, and headed off down the hallway.

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. followed Javert back down the hallway. He was moving with the lazy slowness of a man who did not want to reach his destination, and Javert quickly pulled away into the gloom, light joining the others that had started to emerge, flashlight beams bobbing like glow-in-the-dark deep-sea fish. The kind that looked like an accident with latex, since they never had enough light to see their own mates and thus lost all hope of having what passed for taste in a brain the size of a toasted sesame seed.

[separately to here]

[unmocked_lawr]

[to here]