Nightshift 45: Greenhouse Yard

[byname_bynature]

( From here.Pulling Chris through the door, Sean nearly slipped on the grass as he ran barefoot across the yard outside the greenhouse. It was quiet--a strange and eerie silence that made Sean's skin crawl. He had a bad feeling about being outside. Like eyes were watching him run across the grass. Like he shouldn't be out here without something

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[faithful_frost]

He could feel something warm and wet run down his chest and leg and Chris bit back another wince. His stiches had torn and now he'd get into even more trouble. Chis reached up and pressed his hand over his heart, feeling it pound as he peered through the darkness.

It really was only a matter of time before they were caught, but for some reason, something was telling him that it wasn't the crazy red-haired man they needed to worry about...

[k4t4str0ph4l]

[Has caught up again from here.]

Well, that just about capped off the night. Artemis - the boy who was supposed to be a genius - had run headlong outside, at night, dragging Haku. While, unless Arty had gotten very good at hiding things from him, they were both still virgins and prime prey for whatever those bird-things were. And with Haku bleeding, or Schuldig's eyes weren't nearly as good as he knew they were.

It almost made him doubt, for a minute, that Artemis really was in there anymore. Even for him, this was just catastrophically stupid. The boy had only stopped just short of covering himself and Haku in steak sauce

[damned_monsters]

It was the sounds that alerted it first, the footfalls on grass, whispering voices and furtive movements. What had truly caught its attention, though, was the scent of blood, sharp and crisp in the air. Still, at first it didn't move: for a moment it waited, nostrils flaring as it scented the air, ears swiveling about to listen to the pair in the yard

[byname_bynature]

Sean didn't dare speak when he heard Schuldig coming across the grass. His heart seemed to slow down, like he was a cornered animal without any means to fight back. What would happen now? What would Schuldig do to him? Torture him and Chris until Sean gave in? Carry him back to his room and corner him there? Kill him and Chris?

He clung tighter to Chris, as though putting himself between Schuldig and his friend would somehow save them both from whatever was happening. Pausing, he released Chris' shirt and looked at his hand. There was something wet and dark on his fingers. Something that smelled distinctly of blood. He'd run Chris so hard, Chris' stitches had opened and he was bleeding. He hadn't noticed that.

'He's injured.' Sean looked up and saw Artemis crouched on the other side of Chris. 'You've really done it now. Injured your best friend running away from your prob--...' Artemis cut himself off, falling silent. Sean recognized that look: Artemis heard something. The only question was, if it wasn't Schuldig he

[faithful_frost]

Trembling, Chris had kept his eyes closed and tried to calm his heart and his breathing. It wasn't until a soft sound alerted him to something being ... off. Then the smell hit him, and he turned to see what had Sean so transfixed.

Oh. God.

Acting instinctively, Chris stood and in one quick move, even as Sean had gotten the second scream out, he grabbed the other boy and yanked him away from the glass wall. Monster or man, Christopher would take his chances with the man. At least those could be reasoned with.

Pulling Sean and keeping his iron grip on his arm, he ran away from the monster and towards the only other person with a weapon.

"RUN," he shouted as he got closer.

[k4t4str0ph4l]

When Schuldig had heard the steps - from something that clearly couldn't be human, not with footfalls like those - he'd started moving more urgently...in the direction of the sounds, because there were three inevitabilities in life: death, taxes, and Artemis finding new ways to make himself a target for the danger du jour. If something was moving to attack, then all he had to do was go to where it was and he'd find Arty.

When Artemis shrieked, he ran.

Unfortunately, this almost resulted in his running into Haku dragging Arty the other way. The near collision, however, was the last thing on Schuldig's mind, because by then he'd seen what was following them.

Run? Haku was no more genius than Arty, if he thought that something on four legs - something built like a horse, at least partially, and could probably do (was already doing) a roughly similar turn of speed - could be outdistanced by two scared kids. Schuldig only needed a second of looking at the thing heading straight toward him to calculate that he himself would have just

[damned_monsters]

Normally, people ran. The creature wasn't capable of completely intelligent thought, but something deep within told it that this wasn't normal. This wasn't what was supposed to happen - not having someone stop and face it, especially not without any evidence of fear.

Fear was what it was looking for, after all. It practically oozed off the smaller ones, a tempting scent that had orginally drawn it to them and pulled it after as they fled. But - if it wasn't already present, such a thing could be producedIts steps slowed as it approached and it finally came to a stop only a few feet away from the small group, prancing a little in place with an uncertain-seeming air. Its tail flicked, its ears turning toward them as it gave a faint snort, breath gusting as warm vapor in the chilly air. Three of them. Three targets: one with a weapon, blade glinting in the moonlight, one already bleeding so temptingly, the other dripping fear even more temptingly

[byname_bynature]

Sean felt like his arm was going to come out of his socket, Chris was pulling him away so hard. If he tripped, Chris might be able to drag him across the yard. Fortunately, he only stumbled a little before regaining his feet and fleeing as fast as his legs would allow towards the door.

He saw Schuldig go past them, and it took a moment for his mind to process what was happening. Schuldig wasn't running--he was protecting him and Chris. Which denoted two things: one, Schuldig was used to seeing creatures like the one Sean had seen; and two, Schuldig had been trying to protect them the whole time.

"Wait!" Sean cried, tugging on Chris' iron hand to stop them. "We can't just leave him!"

He turned back when he heard the thing snort and spread its wings. Sean shrunk in fear, wondering what was going to happen now. Was it going to breathe fire and kill them all? Would it bear razor-sharp fangs and eat them all whole? He looked back to Artemis, who was staring up open-mouthed at the thing.

And suddenly, everything was black--and

[faithful_frost]

Nothing. He was used to nothing. It was his own place, where he went when things got bad. Chris was breathing hard, trying to think. "Hush," he hissed when Sean called out again. "We need to... to calm down."

He moved closer to Sean, so that he could protect the other boy if he had to. If the red-headed madman wanted to fight the thing, fine. "It... it needs or wants something from us. I think. Otherwise, it would have k-killed us." He brought a hand to his chest, trying to slow his breathing and his heart.

"We... we can't fight it head on though. We don't e-e-even know where it is."

[k4t4str0ph4l]

One moment, Schuldig had been facing down a monster - ugly, dangerous, quite likely deadly, but not actually alarming because such things didn't actually alarm him. Be they people or monsters, there was nothing alive that Schuldig would allow to cow him, and next to none had access to anything that could frighten him.

Because there were things Schuldig feared; Crawford could call him a devil, and Schwarzz could talk about eradicating the human race as though it was something separate from them, but the fact remained that Schuldig was still human, and even the most evolved, most bold humans were built around a pure, primal core - equal parts lust, fury, and primordial terror. Schuldig had the good - and manufactured - fortune of all of his fears being abstract, not things any human or monster could truly embody or, in most cases, have the power to threaten him with

[damned_monsters]

There was raw terror, a base instinctual reaction to a situation and a creature designed to instill fear in those who saw it. That was intriguing enough to the creature, satisfying enough to have focused its attention on the ones supplying it, and it relished the taste inasmuch as it could enjoy anything. As the nightmare hybrid brought the illusion to life around its prey, though, it found itself abruptly focused on a surprising source

[byname_bynature]

Sean sat in the dark silent expanse, clinging to Chris and breathing heavily. His eyes darted around, trying to see if the monster was coming at them, trying to attack him and Chris. Though part of him knew that while he and Chris were two kids, they were two people--Schuldig was one. If Artemis were there, he would tell Sean that lions separated an animal from the herd for a reason.

"We might not be able to see it," Sean said, pulling Chris up with him. "But Schuldig probably can't see it either. And we can't find our way back to the door, not when we can't see that either. Our best bet is to regroup and fight together."

Sean looked forward, trying to remember where it was that he last saw Schuldig. God he had no head for this--if only Artemis were there, he would know.

"Let's... walk this way," he said, pointing forward. "Don't let go."

[faithful_frost]

Chris frowned, not liking this, but he wasn't about to abandon Sean to this nightmare.

"A-alright." He kept hold of Sean, trying to be on his guard.

[k4t4str0ph4l]

There was very little actual recourse Schuldig could possibly take with all his senses shut down; that was, of course, one of the terrors of sensory deprivation. True helplessness was a sensation no human in the history of the world, as far as he knew, had ever enjoyed, and he was no exception. There was nothing he could do, no escape. All he could do was cling to sanity by his fingernails and pray that either someone else would save him(Crawford had been good for that, once, but the institute was forcibly reshaping everything he knew about who he could rely on), or an end would come on its own.

The flash of agony - a sudden arc that seemed to snap its way through his entire body - wasn't exactly a relief, but it was sure as hell a distraction. It actually didn't hurt that badly, compared to some of the injuries he'd already taken in the institute - though it wasn't pleasant by any stretch of the imagination - but the sheer unexpectedness of it was enough to jolt the breath from his lungs in a cry of shock and pain.

[damned_monsters]

The two boys, original targets though they might have been, were by now almost completely forgotten. Instead the hybrid creature was focused entirely on Schuldig, on him and the fear and pain emanating off of him in steady waves. Though unseen by its targets, its lips curled back from yellowed fangs, as though it were drinking in the emotions with delight.

The lightning playing over its dull feathers slowly grew in strength and brightness, then its wings flapped once more, directing a far stronger bolt at the man. If the weaker arc had provided such delectable sustenance, a stronger one could only increase that; at the moment all it could think of was its desire to increase the agony, give it more to feed upon. Never mind the effect it might have upon the man...

[byname_bynature]

It was slow-going, but Sean was determined. Groping in the dark for Schuldig or some way out of this situation, Sean continued forward, trying not to think about what would happen if he were veering slightly off-course. There was no way to tell, really. Artemis would have known which way to go. Schuldig was right, no one would miss him if he left; Artemis was so much smarter and interesting and wise--

No! He couldn't think like that, not now! Now it was him--now was Sean. Artemis was out of reach, so he had to keep going. For Chris and Schuldig's sake.

"I got you both into this," he said, sounding both frustrated and regretful. Sean tightened his grip on Chris' hand. "I'm sure as hell going to get us out!"

He thrust out an arm into what he thought was where Schuldig's back should be. What actually happened was quite the opposite, however. Whatever his hand had met with, it was not cloth--it felt more like... a pelt.

Sean slowly looked up, transfixed in somewhat bemused terror. His palm was on the foreleg of the animal.