Night 49: Nurse Lounge

[vsyourface]

[From here]A slightly larger and comfier-looking room greeted the pair next. A couch and several cushy chairs littered the space, along with a table, chairs, and a large cabinet, among other things. Definitely wasn't the worst place they could have ended up in, Scott thought. They could have ended up in a fridge or something

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[meitantei]

Glad they were off the topic of near misses and attacks by the Institute, Shinichi took a step towards the mini fridge. He really didn’t think it was a great idea to be poking around too much at night; these kinds of rooms that didn’t usually see that much patient traffic were probably full of less than savory things. Still, if they could find something that was useful-especially when it came to barter with other patients-that could justify the risk somewhat. How many people were jonesing for alcohol, or even caffeine? If they could find something that valuable, it put them in a pretty good position to trade. For information maybe, or better weapons than meat skewers. Anything.

“Let’s check it out, I guess,” he said, hanging back. “But don’t try to sample anything. I don’t exactly trust the product safety of anything around here after nightfall.” For all they knew, swigging a Nightshift Coke could be a fasttrack train to dysentery...or something even more unpleasant, like Bubonic Plague. Shinichi certainly wouldn’t put it past this place.

[vsyourface]

"Don't worry, I won't. These don't even have power-ups in them or anything. What kind of cheap Coke is this?" Scott pouted as he pulled out one of the few unopened cans of cola and skimmed over the nutritional information. They hadn't even had the decency to mix in a token +1 Speed or anything into the drink. The Coca-Cola Corporation was getting super stingy, Scott thought with a short sigh. Still, he took the can and slipped it into his pocket with the corn skewers. Someone was going to want some, he figured. It would be warm by the time he could trade for anything, no doubt, but he was betting someone desperate enough for a Coke wouldn't care too much.

"There's one more can of Coke in here, and the rest is water. Lamesauce. You want the can?" Scott asked over his shoulder.   

[meitantei]

…Okay, Shinichi wasn’t even going to ask Scott about the ‘power ups.’ The guy probably (well, more than probably) played too many video games as it was; no need to encourage it further. He just held back, holding the flashlight so Scott could see and praying that his new companion wouldn’t get his hand bitten off while grabbing the Coke.

His fears were unfounded, however, because the soda came out of the fridge looking perfectly normal. Shinichi still didn’t want to drink it of course, but the cans were some of the first things he’d yet seen at nightshift that looked even close to normal. “Yeah, let me see.” He reached out and grabbed it, turning it over in his hands. Looked like a standard American-issue can of Coke. Felt like it too. The ingredients label, the nutrition information; all was as it should have been.

Except for one thing.

“Hey, Scott. Look. No expiration date.”

[vsyourface]

"Really?" Scott pulled his own cola can out again, checking it over to make sure Shinichi's hadn't just been a misprint. Absenceprint. Whatever. Sure enough, there was no expiration date or dates of any other kind to be found. Scott's eyes widened. "My god. Shinichi, do you realize what this means?"

A dramatic pause. Scott's hand trembled around the can in awe.

"...We have just discovered immortal Coke."

[meitantei]

Immortal Coke?

Shinichi snorted, in spite of himself. He couldn’t help it. It was just too ridiculous. “Caffeine is the ambrosia of the gods,” he agreed with a grin. But they needed to be a little more realistic here, didn’t they? “But I think it’s more that they don’t want us to know what year it is. The newspapers in town today were the same; they just had the day of the week instead of an actual date. I think Landel’s just messing with us, as usual.”

Anyway, now that they had their immortal Cokes, it was time to go.

“C’mon. Let’s see what’s behind door number one.”

[going here.]