Nightshift 41: East Wing, Hall A

[broken_exorcist]

[from here]

It'd been almost a week since he'd been down this way, though it felt like much longer.  Allen was pretty sure he remembered the right office, especially after he'd watched Tyki and that other patient facing off over a package of cigarettes.

His ribs still hurt from last night's injuries, but at least some of the bruises had started to

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[broken_exorcist]

[[from here]]

Allen ran back out into the hall, feeling more than a little annoyed that he'd been unable to collect the cigarettes, but what else could he do? Wasn't that the only place that had them? And he was pretty sure he'd been the first one into the office. What was he going to do now?

[broken_exorcist]

[[to here]]

[scintillatingly]

[From here.]

Now this place was completely empty. Sora happened to notice that someone had broken down one of the doors, but whoever had done so was long gone by now. Sora had never had any need to go searching these offices, but that probably had to do with the fact that he'd only ever had therapy once.

It was also because, in general, he didn't need much to get by. He was going to have to find new batteries for his flashlight eventually, but that was really his own personal concern when it came to looking for things.

[broken_exorcist]

The same hallway again, though it looked like some others had been through as well. He cast a look back at office 3 as they passed it. So much for having any kind of luck.

[[to here]]

[its_the_mileage]

[from here]

The flashlight beam didn't reach to the end of the hall, but the map depicted five doctor's offices on either side of the corridor. Farther down would be the larger offices and a door to the greenhouse at the opposite end. Simple enough. Indy didn't see anything moving.

He tried the first door on the left. Of course it was locked. Ten locks--no, nine; looked like someone had been into the second room on the left--to get through. They'd better move fast.

"How do you want to do this?" he asked, turning to Pierson. "Go in together one room at a time, or each take one side of the hall?" The second option would probably be more efficient, but it could go sour fast if they ran into one of Landel's pets--or if the offices were guarded.

[oldest_man]

"Considering Landel's fondness for releasing test subjects in strange areas, I think we might want to sacrifice speed for caution," Methos replied. It was a little reluctant, but not too much so. Even outside of the guise of Pierson, he didn't relish the idea of running into one of those strange, mutated apes alone, let alone who-or-whatever had caused some of the more grievous wounds he'd spied on other patients in the common area.

"We can opt to use another tactic if we find a pattern of unguarded rooms," he added. "Though I wouldn't put it past the people running this place to anticipate that sort of thinking."

[its_the_mileage]

Indy couldn't say he was sorry about that decision. "All right. Got your lockpick?" he asked. He wasn't too optimistic about the ultimate fate of the light bulb filament--it'd worked pretty well so far, but one of these nights it was almost certainly going to snap. Like a lot of the patients in here, come to think of it.

With no way to know what was behind all these doors, though, Indy was more than willing to try the subtle approach. If Pierson could get the door open quietly, hopefully they'd have enough of the element of surprise to get the drop on whoever--or whatever--was on the other side of it.

[oldest_man]

"And several backups," Methos replied as he produced the filament and knelt down to work on the first door. "Though if we're going to do much more of this, I'll need to go back for some more spares. Or find a better alternative." The rueful smile accompanying the comment might have been lost on the door in front of him. Once again he found himself wishing for his usual equipment, or at least for companions to call on who had expertise in this particular area. He could hope to find something in town in the morning, but it seemed unlikely, especially if the nurses kept as close a guard as they did inside the hospital.

"Watch my back," he added absently, though several more seconds of work saw the lock clicking into place. He pulled the filament out and eyed it critically. There was one more use in it, maybe, before he had to swap to the next one. Looking down the hall, he found himself abruptly hoping the spares would be enough to even last the night.

[see_my_back]

[[from here]]

They could walk and talk as far as she was concerned. It wasn't like changing their escape route should take that long anyway, but if they stood around talking the whole time, they'd have gotten nothing at all finished.

She pointed the way down a nearby hall and got them started going in the right direction.

[see_my_back]

[[from here]]