Nightshift 49: Mountain Antiques

[gargantuanlaugh]

[From here]Damon Gant took one step into the room and felt a rush of dizziness cloud his head. He staggered for a moment, and reached up to touch his temple. A headache? No, it was disappearing quickly, but he still didn't feel completely well. Probably the atmosphere. Gant had never been in this part of the institute, so he wasn't sure what

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[fourstonewalls]

Lana, too, stumbled as she crossed the threshold, and it was only luck that stopped her an inch before tumbling directly into the broad expanse of Damon's back.

He looked smaller in the gray cotton, somehow. Or perhaps it was just the fact that the world was spinning slightly, around the point where her eyes had landed. She blinked, and stood up straight. The world continued to turn, but she ignored it and focused on where their flashlights were pointed. A record player? Unless Mr. Landel had some very strange ideas indeed on both therapy and torture, this wasn't where she'd been trying to go.

She blinked one more time, trying to clear the dizziness and the hiss from her ears. Hang on, that's just the rain. Only it's much louder than it was before, as if there wasn't another story above us. Maybe there wasn't. She pivoted and swung the flashlight directly at a window

[gargantuanlaugh]

Yes, that indeed was a phonograph. No mistaking it. And next to it was a box of old records. And next to that was a set of china figurines. And next to those was a pair of brass candlesticks. The entire shelf was covered in knickknacks of all kinds, some a little more worn than others. Nothing that would normally be found in a mental hospital. Just... trinkets. What was going on here

[fourstonewalls]

She raised her eyebrows, slowly and deliberately. Composure, Damon. He'd taught her that lesson. "It's a possibility, albeit slim. Hallucinations don't leave evidence." True enough that she had no evidence for prior instances of teleportation, but she'd had sufficient to leave behind her usual assumptions.

"Good find," she said, looking at the candlesticks he'd just abandoned. "We shouldn't go out there unarmed." She had the scalpel, but something in the way he looked at her made her keep it a secret. He knew something, they all did. He had to know.

All of that was moot if there really were flesh-eating zombies out there. She marched over and grabbed both candlesticks, dangling them awkwardly between the fingers of the hand without the flashlight. She held them up in front of him. "Take one." Before I lose my grip on them, or you on reality.

[gargantuanlaugh]

He didn't like that look she gave him. He really didn't, but how else was he supposed to respond? They were in an antique shop that looked like it was on the ground floor but he was sure they had walked into a room on the second floor of a mental institute. And she was talking about being armed again. With candlesticks. Even with his record the thought of bludgeoning possibly hostile mental patients was not appealing

[fourstonewalls]

The way he swept over a moment's lack of focus with a tide of confidence shouldn't have been comfortable.  It should have splintered her already-floundering nerves -- any reasonable person would be devastated with worry over their little sister, even before adding in monsters, doors that connected entirely disparate locations, or a town filled with zombies.  But Lana had years of practice in going numb.  In shutting down in the face of Gant's irrepressible, irresponsible cheer.

"I'm sorry, sir," she murmured.  "I thought you'd been briefed."  It was one last, strictly pro forma jab before she launched into a hurried explanation.  "The town, and in fact, the entire Institute are filled with monsters at night.  It's only reasonable to carry something to ward off the local wildlife, and this has more heft than anything else we've got."  She was still omitting any mention of the knife, but everything she'd said was true; a small scalpel would be little use against zombies.  "I'm afraid we don't have time to go over the entire list

[gargantuanlaugh]

He met her apology with a nod, glad to know she had remembered her place. Finally, finally some answers. Unfortunately they were just as crazy as anything else she had said tonight. Wildlife didn't translate into monsters according to Chief Gant but maybe she wasn't far off the mark. He was in an unfamiliar town so maybe he did need something to protect him from wild dogs or whatever was out there. Lana was anxious enough to push onward, despite her claim of danger. Only one thing would force her to take chances even when things were at the most extreme--dear baby sister

[gargantuanlaugh]

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