Night 46: Cafeteria

[quickdrawbkiddo]

[from here]Beatrix shouldered the door open and helped Lugnut get over to the nearest table. The Cybertronian was big and heavy, but the Bride didn't have too much trouble. Her eyes did a quick scan of the area, looking for immediate threats before she flicked the blood off her katana and sheathed the weapon

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[sheisthecause]

"It's okay." Obviously it wasn't, but what else was she supposed to say at a time like this? "The man over there's been shot," she pressed on, trying to choose her words carefully to avoid upsetting Remy any more than she had to. "His friends are helping to get the bullet out. I know it sounds scary, but that's the only way he's going to get better." She was just praying she didn't have to do any of that herself. Patching up injuries was one thing, but extracting bullets was definitely another. Even if she'd had the right tools, she wasn't sure she'd know where to begin.

She peered toward the door to the Sun Room, trying to pick out what was going on. It was too dark to see much. No more gunshots, though. Meche hadn't been counting shots, but she was pretty sure the gun must be empty by now. Even if he had extra rounds, surely the three of them could take their chance to close in on him. Surely they'd have him down before long.

Either way, there was no way she could leave Remy by himself while she went back there, no matter what her plans might have been. "No, we're not going to go back," she told him firmly. "We have to trust them. We're going to stay in here and be ready to help when they get through."

She knew from experience, too, that Trigger-Happy out there probably had orders not to kill anyone. He was just supposed to knock them out, or rough them up enough to change their minds about trying to get through. That was the other thing keeping her from rushing out there--they'd be okay, by morning at least if she couldn't help them. What they really had to worry about was the monsters, Meche thought, gripping her spear tighter. Those things didn't have orders.

[tiny_chef]

Until recently, if Remy or someone like him had been shot with a bullet, there would have been nothing left of the unfortunate victim except a cautionary tale, or possibly a cautionary tail. (The lack of a tail was another thing he'd had to adjust to so far, along with the loss of his fur, but at least he didn't have to worry about his tail getting stuck or amputated somewhere. It now seemed like it would have been a distinct possibility.)

Meche's reassurances began to add up: the guy who was screaming was in bad shape, but his friends would help him, and on top of that, he'd be better in the morning. Everything sounded terrible, but in some ways, it wasn't as dire as it sounded... only very, very unpleasant. He felt his breathing slow a little; he was calming down. For the time being, the idea of cooking up a snack in the adjacent kitchen had fled his mind.

"You can't see what's going on out there? What kind of help do you think they're going to need? Scott's leg is hurt... what do we do if we have to pull a bullet out of him? How are we going to get back to bed... just... wait?" His fear, while diminished, was still causing him to rattle off questions as they came to him. "If I were at home, I could sneak around, but it seems to be harder to do that here."

[sheisthecause]

Better start with the first question Meche felt she could answer with at least a little authority. "The nurses will take us back to bed," she explained. It was a white lie; it could've been the monsters dragging them back for all she knew, but it sounded good. "Eventually we'll just wake up back in our rooms, with all our injuries bandaged up. If we can just keep them okay until morning--" If, she added silently. She wasn't a trauma nurse, just an ex-volunteer. What in the world was she going to do if one of those kids staggered in with a big spraying chest wound? Recommend a travel agent?

She felt so stupid for wearing the damn dress and heels. There was already a run slicing up one side of the long-coveted silk stockings, and if that was the worst that happened to her tonight, she'd be the luckiest person in the building. Why had she thought this would just be an easy run to the basement? Nothing was ever easy here.

The shouts coming from the Sun Room made her edge forward a few steps, trying to get her flashlight beam close enough to give them some idea of what was going on. All she could make out was a cloud of smoke--and then the sound of footsteps, running toward them. Meche shot a quick look back at Remy. "I think they're coming." She swallowed. "Be brave."

[tiny_chef]

"I woke up in bed this morning, even though the last thing I remembered was talking to Scarecrow in the hall. I didn't understand that it happens every night... it does, right?"

At some point, he had stuffed the thing Scott had tossed to him, and his flashlight, into the pockets of his pants; he had seen Linguini carry stuff in his pockets all the time. He wasn't sure what the mystery item was, and this didn't seem like the time to ask, so he set the topic aside for later.

Now, hoping to be helpful, he pulled the flashlight out and followed Meche's lead. He was worried about what condition the others might be in when they arrived, but they weren't there yet. As far as he knew, Meche hadn't lied to him yet: if he could stay put until the night ended, and nothing else attacked them, he'd be reasonably safe. He gave a solemn nod to her admonition to be brave.

At the moment, he didn't think that he would ever leave his room again.

[vsyourface]

[From here]

Scott turned the group directly around the corner and behind the wall where the gun-wielding crazy couldn't see them. He waited to see if they would be chased. When they weren't, he slumped down to the floor with relief. Finally, he could stop to catch his breath.

After a few moments, he spotted Remy and his lady friend. "Hey!" he called out softly, not wanting to attract the crazy's attention. Still grinning, he slowly raised his left arm and gave Remy a Terminator 2-style thumbs-up. "So how about that food?"

[scintillatingly]

Somehow, they had managed to get through. By the time they had raced through the door, Sora was gasping for breath as he kept a tight hold on Scott. Until the other boy fell to the floor, anyway. Letting go of the man's hand, Sora then leaned forward to place both of his hands on his thighs, his Keyblade long gone by now. "Phew!" He considered kicking the door closed so that they weren't in any more danger, but quickly realized that doing that would make it that much harder for the next group to get away.

It looked like Mercedes and the other boy had waited for them, and Sora sent them a thankful grin - at least they weren't injured! The wound in his side was still bleeding, causing Sora to press his hand tight against it as he stood back up. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "That didn't go exactly as planned..."

But then Sora heard Scott say something about food, and he glanced to the injured man with a puzzled expression. "Food...?" Personally, Sora thought it would be a better idea to get them patched up first.