Night 50: F-A Block Hallway

[nobleobliged]

[from here]Like a ghost story, Natalia told herself as one hallway opened into another. Reminding herself that these were the same halls she had been escorted through during the day had not served to ease the hairs on the neck, nor her quickening heartbeat. An adventure, a quest through haunted rooms to find the one responsible. That she was not,

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[zack_fair]

[From here.]

So, getting out of this block was their first priority. They'd searched it as well as possible, beyond digging through people's desk drawers and closets in search of Aerith's clothing. And as much as he wanted to find his friend, that was just taking it a little too far, and he was sure that Cloud would agree. There would be other ways to look into this, even if it meant having to talk to a nurse about it. At least a lot of them were easy on the eyes...

Zack didn't really know what they were going to do once they were out in the main hall again, but he figured he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. He was about to try and think of some random subject to discuss to get Cloud's mind off of the unfortunate truth they'd been faced with, but that was when he heard a buzz of static and then a voice coming from somewhere on Cloud's person.

The radio? Zack hadn't thought to bring his with, so he was glad that Cloud had. This was the first time he'd actually heard it go off, though he realized it may have happened during other nights he'd been here and he wouldn't have known, as he hadn't ever brought it along. He'd have to keep that in mind in the future, then.

For the moment, he focused on the announcement, taking in the information with some confusion. From what he could piece together, the guy had been injured but then helped out, and had even met up with some of the patients in Doyleton. He sounded pretty informed, which gave Zack some hope that they might actually have a helping hand on the outside.

But just as they were about to hear some truly helpful information, the broadcast sharply cut off. "Hey, what gives?" Zack exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "Do you think there was some kind of interference?" he asked, glancing over at his friend.

[notthistrain]

Cloud pulled his radio from his pocket as it came to life, noting as he did that Zack hadn't brought his. Well, that was all right. It was his job as leader to keep track of things like that, wasn't it? Though it still felt odd thinking of himself as being in a leadership position while standing next to Zack. Even someone randomly passing them in the hall would probably assume his friend was in charge before him.

It did seem as though 'Marc' had been purposefully cut off - as though he might have been about to actually reveal something important that Landel didn't want them knowing. Coincidental interference? Maybe, but not likely. "I don't know. Seems a little too timely for that."

And then there was a follow-up, this time over the intercom. That all but confirmed it. Marc knew things and the head doctor didn't want those things being shared with the public. But what did he plan on doing? He had all this power over them already, so why--

His thoughts were cut off by a painful sound from the speakers, possibly some sort of insane feedback. He covered his ears, but it was more than just sound. It was painful. Cloud was still recovering from the shock of it after it finished, so he didn't catch the man's parting words - if they were even anything he could recognize.

[zack_fair]

As it turned out, they weren't left to wonder for too long, since the intercom came on almost as soon as the radio had turned off. From what Zack could tell, the Head Doc was gloating over the fact that he'd managed to cut off the one chance at help that they had. As if the odds weren't already stacked against them, the one person on their side wasn't even able to talk to them.

Still, Landel was talking in very vague terms, stringing them along and leaving them in anticipation. It was enough to piss Zack off, since he had too much experience with being talked around and put on a need-to-know basis.

Before he could vent to Cloud about it, though, there was suddenly a piercing noise that came from both Cloud's radio and the nearest overhead intercom, but it was no regular sound. Zack winced his eyes shut and swayed on his feet. This was completely different from the disorientation he'd felt when walking through doors last night, but it was no easier to handle. He reached out for the closest wall and leaned his hand against it until it was over.

Zack did catch the last thing the man said, but was too confused to really realize what was wrong with the words. Figuring he'd heard wrong, he simply gave a shake of his head and then glanced over to Cloud. "Hey," he spoke up, "are you all right?" In the next second he looked back up toward the intercom and glared. "What's that guy trying to do, make us deaf?" It certainly seemed that way.

[notthistrain]

"Yeah, I'm fine." The pain had been temporary, though there was still a bit of a ringing in his ears. Cloud gave his head a shake, straightening up. Despite how obnoxious that sound had been, he doubted it had been meant to deafen them. There were far better ways to do that. (Not that Zack's comment had probably been serious anyway.) But whatever it was, he was a hundred percent certain it wasn't benevolent in nature.

The blond held his radio in one hand, scrutinizing it. The device had gone silent, however, and he doubted they were going to be hearing anything else from it just yet. He wondered if Landel couldn't use the radio against them, what with all the control he seemed to have over them. Why even allow them a means of communicating with a rebellious force anyway? One would think that if Marc and anyone he was working with was the least bit of a threat, they'd have stopped providing the patients with a means of getting in contact with them. So there had to be some reason they were allowed to keep them.

"I'm sure he did somethin'. Wouldn't do to leave us alone for a night." No, something had happened with all that noise. Maybe they were in for some more of the undead, but then that wasn't very original. It could have been the sound of him squelching Marc's little rebellion by shutting down the radio frequencies, but if he was capable of that why hadn't he done it sooner?

[zack_fair]

So there had been an obnoxious, painful noise, and then nothing. Nothing that Zack could pinpoint, at least. Despite that, he had to agree with Cloud that something must have just happened, even if they didn't know what it was. The fact that it wasn't readily apparent only made him more nervous, but there wasn't much point in standing around and worrying about it when they still had a job to do.

"No, I guess not," he replied, shaking his head in disbelief. Zack hadn't realized that there were people out there that could be as bad as Hojo, but maybe he'd been giving the world too much credit. Then again, this wasn't Gaia, so... Maybe every world had at least one Hojo in it. The question was why he kept running into them, but it seemed like he had set himself up for an interesting life. And afterlife, as the case might be.

"Can't let that stop us, though," he pointed out, giving Cloud's radio one last glance before he turned to look back down the hall. "Upstairs, right? Let's get going." And with that, he continued walking, trying to ignore the lingering ringing in his ears.

[To here.]