Nightshift 49: The Bookworm

[chainsaw_royal]

[From here]The dark looks the same, no matter what, but the moment Hime's flashlight beam ghosted over rows of books, she knew something was odd. When a flash of lightning illuminated the darkened bookstore, it was confirmed

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[chainsaw_royal]

"We're left with few other options," Hime said, finally giving up on trying to open the locked drawers or cash register. "First of all, we can't split up. As you can imagine, if we become separated, it will become almost impossible for us to regroup." A bit of a huff, then. "Though, it's not as if we aren't already separated from the rest of the patient population. Secondly, we need to start mapping this all out. To do that-"

Hime's explanation was cut off by a low, moaning noise, the kind of deathly rattle she recognized right away even through the pouring rain. She immediately headed over to the window, peering out into the darkness. Vaguely, across the street, she could see a figure. Her flashlight beam barely made it a few inches beyond the glass, but all it took was one flash of lightning to confirm what she had suspected.

"Zombies," she hissed, an uncharacteristic look of hatred coming to her face. She turns around, looking for something heavy and shouting. "Change of plans - we're going outside!"

Picking up the cash register - it wasn't bolted down, apparently, the Royal held it over her head and turned, throwing it against the storefront glass. The window shattered with a crash, letting a howl of cold wind and torrential rain. That out of the way, Hime marched around the counter with a purposeful stride, heading towards the jagged hole she'd opened up.

[scalyfishman]

Uh-oh. Hime wasn't happy. Depth Charge sighed, resting both elbows on the counter and listening with surprising patience while she started to speak- and then stopped, just as he heard the first traces of a faint, ragged rumble under the steady beat of rain. No, not a rumble. That was a moan. Exactly the kind of moan he'd heard only a week before.

He stared, then, slowly rising from the counter and turning towards the window with an expression that fell somewhere between disbelieving and outraged. "Oh, gimme a break." Zombies? Again?! As if that hadn't been bad enough last week- looked like someone decided that what they really needed was a rerun.

But that didn't even approach the reaction it got from Hime. A flash of lightning and suddenly Hime's face had changed completely, switching from plain old irritation to utter revulsion in the blink of an eye. Slag. He'd never seen her look like that, not even when she was getting her skidplate handed to her out on the activities field.

"Hime-" he began quickly, stepping forward to grab her shoulder before she could do anything rash (like he could talk), but she was already gone- and so was the cash register, clean through the window with an almighty crash and a spray of broken glass out onto the streets like crystal raindrops.

Slag it-! As much as heading out into the zombie apocalypse again didn't appeal, it wasn't as though he had any better ideas. And with Hime already halfway across the store floor, who was he to argue? He took off after her, gripping his crowbar more tightly than ever. "Are you out of your processor?" he snapped, but not before he was certain he was standing in front of her. Just in case.

[chainsaw_royal]

Hime wasn't particularly listening to Depth Charge's shouting and it wasn't until he stepped before her that she payed him any attention - lucky for him it was to run vanguard rather than stop her. At the very least, he'd have a few stomped-on toes if that were the case.

"Zombies are threat even the Royal family are forbidden to use," she hissed as she continued towards the window. The door would be useless. "As the only appropriate authority here, it is my duty to contain and eliminate that threat."

Stepping past the display of books, Hime only took a moment to knock away any further shards of glass from the frame with her baseball bat to make sure she wouldn't suffer too bad of injuries before stepping through with Depth Charge into the torrential storm.

[To here]