NIGHTSHIFT 28: BUS 1

[byname_bynature]

Artemis had always been skeptical as to whether or not the things present in the Institute actually turned into their nightly counterparts. He'd never seen a kitten turn into a rotting cat, or a nurse turn into a syringe-covered monstrosity. Now he had, and he was very sorry that he'd seen it up close and personal. It'd been difficult to keep

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[claire_ity]

And just like that, Claire's light-hearted, normal conversation was brought to a close as the buses reached their destination. The institute looked even more menacing from the outside.

She knew what was coming when the nurses started to jerk uncontrollably.

Her hands gripped the seat in front of her as her eyes widened in shock. It was one thing to know the transformation happened every night. It was another thing to see it happen, right in front of you.

In a very enclosed space.

The nurse was on her feet, letting out a blood curdling scream.

"Holy shit."

[no_side_effects]

Even though Wesker no longer had his enhanced speed, he was still next to Claire as soon as he heard her shouting.

Apparently the buses had not gotten back as soon as the institute had planned, but this did explain some of how the institute changed at night. This would certainly require much more research, but for now the most important thing was to survive and get off the bus.

"Claire, stay close to me."

[loyal_soldier]

TK tensed up as the busses screeched to a halt. Everything felt wrong here. Something bad was going to happen and soon. He started looking towards the exits, even more worried as the nurses moved to block both of them.

Then the world shifted, and the nurses started screaming. And changing. TK looked around through the darkness, trying to pick out Claire from the rest of the prisoners. He spotted her, and made his way over just as another man got there. He seemed to be someone who was in charge. "Sergeant TK-622. I can cover for you." He wanted to at least do something useful after how little he’d managed to help last night.

[claire_ity]

Having Wesker and TK rush to her side snapped Claire out of her inital shock. Standing up with Clark, she looked at the amount of people heading to the front of the bus, and those who were making their way to the back.

"We should split up," she reasoned. "TK and Clark, you guys help out in the front. Wesker and I can help in the back."

Claire knew Wesker would want to stick close by her anyway, and since he knew about her ability, she wouldn't have to worry about him holding her back from doing anything that seemed reckless.

"We should all meet back up in the F-blocks. It's close by once you get inside and monsters don't usually attack there, so if anyone's injured, they can lay low there. My room's number 15."

It sounded strange...like she was giving out orders, but Claire didn't have time to think it through. They needed to act quickly.

"Let's go!"

[notmyfather]

....

What in the name of the Ancestors was happening? Valyn's eyes widened as he watched the disturbing scene unfold before him. He'd seen grotesquery before - he'd seen his father punish slaves, he'd seen gladiator matches - but this was something altogether different.

Someone was attempting to take charge. Valyn wished them luck. He leapt to his feet, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and neck, and summobed a levin bolt. He gripped the lance of magical lightening in his hand, waiting for the right moment to hurl it at one of the changed nurses.

[notmyfather]

Valyn watched in horror as Keman went down. He dispersed his levin bolt and leapt over the seats, deciding the rest of the patients had things as under control as possible.

Besides, he knew how to heal, and it looked as though Keman needed it. And after earlier....

The young elven lord winced, remembering the last exchange he'd had with the dragon. He bolted to the exit, ignoring the pain from his wounds, and followed after the young man that had taken Keman....

( to here)

[rubbermancan]

One minute, he and Zoro had been clowning around. And then the next? All hell had broken loose.

Immediately, his heart pounded with adrenaline, and he sharply rose from his seat. "What the hell!" he shouted without even thinking. "They didn't even put us back in our rooms! This isn't fair!"

But, of course he'd learned a long time ago that Martin Landel didn't play fair. Not by a long shot. That didn't mean he'd ever accept it, though.

"Looks like we gotta fight to get out of here, Zoro," he said suddenly, his tone growing a little more quiet now. It was almost difficult to hear him over the racket from within and outside the buses, but Luffy figured his swordsman would be able to understand him. "You ready? 'Cause this isn't gonna be like other fights before."

[i_promised]

"Yeah." Short, simple, and to the point. There was no way Zoro would let a little lack of weaponry set him back and Luffy knew this.

They were at the very back of the bus where people were trying to shepherd some of the weaker ones out through the emergency exit. It was noble of them, sure, but there was only one thing the mass of screaming patients made him want to do and that was to find his nakama.

Nami and Usopp were out there somewhere (the idiot cook too but who the hell cared about him?) and Zoro would bet his swords that neither were properly equipped to deal with this kind of fight, assuming (correctly, going by what he could hear coming from the outside) they were experiencing the same thing. He and Luffy would have to get to them before anything bad happened.

They were probably on one of the other big, yellow things.

"Come on, we'd better try to find the others." Zoro clambered over their seat easily, trying to avoid the general mess of people rushing to get out.

[rubbermancan]

Luffy paused, frowning just a little to himself, before nodding. He knew his crew were strong, and he trusted them to do their best in looking out for each other and themselves. But Landel's was crazy and weird, and things weren't the same as they had been back on the Grand Line. Zoro was right -- they needed to group together and then decide what to do from there.

"Right." And without another word, he moved beside Zoro, doing his best to make it towards the emergency exit. There couldn't have been any more than two or three buses, so everyone would be easier to find that way.

((To here. ))

[not_rly_fai]

This was certainly an unexpected twist. It was odd that even he couldn't quite detect what kind of sorcery was behind it, but he wasn't going to dwell on it. Keman was already up and going after the monsters, leaving him with the responsibility of protecting Ururu. Keman was terribly like Syaoran in that regard, protecting the ones important to him seemed to come first. Yuuhi wished things could always be that straight-forward and simple, but it just wasn't the case.

"Do your best Keman," he said encouragingly as the boy left them to face the dangers on the bus. He did feel slightly guilty for not volunteering his own magic, but then, he'd promised himself he wouldn't use it.

"Hold on tightly, ok?" he spoke softly to Ururu as he rose from his seat, one arm under her bottom for support, the other protectively around her.

[bewarethecute]

Something was happening. A very bad something indeed

[icy_pole]

Ami almost leapt to her feet when the orderlies and nurses began changing, shoving her hand into the coat pocket for...something that's not there. Darn it! If only I had my change rod!

She heard someone yell for people to organise into groups and fight, or to hide. She glanced frantically around the bus. It was too confined a space to fight easily. She spied the emergency exit window at the rear.

"Logan-san!" she whispered over the ruckus. "I need to get to the emergency exit to get everyone who can't fight out of here. Can you take down the...monsters...at the back while I open it?"

[ol_canucklehead]

The bus pulled to a halt as Logan awaited Ami's next response, but it never came before the last light faded from the sky. He fell silent as the feeling washed over him. The animal within knew this sensation far too well. Anticipation. Something coming. He took in the bus with slow, sweeping gaze, hands tightening, muscles bunching. The wound in his leg throbbed lightly, but he was hoping it would be strong enough for whatever was about to happen.

Logan had already changed his breathing pattern to one more suited to fighting,and mentally began clearing his mind and focusing on his senses. He knew something was up, but had no idea what.

And then it came, a twisting, warping of the vision, and all hell broke loose. His eyes widened as the first of the nurses began to writhe and change, and the others quickly followed suit. Jus' like tha Brood, his mind growled. So that was how it happened. There was no more time to sit around gawking, there was only time to act. His mind raced as he took in the scenario, and his eyes focused first on

[icy_pole]

Ami dropped to the floor as Logan charged towards the back of the bus like man possessed. Trying to ignore the pain in her hand, Ami began to crawl quickly under the seats towards the back of the bus, whispering to other patients to follow if they could and trying to remain relatively undetected by the now mutated nurses and orderlies.

[no_side_effects]

[[Running from here]]

Wesker had heard the man at the back shouting. It took him a small amount of time to catch up, and by then Logan had committed to attacking the large orderly already.

"Claire, go for a nurse," Wesker had picked his own target, and trusted Claire to take her own target out, or at least to stay in one piece while Wesker took his on. He wasn't as careless in his own attack on the nurse, getting up onto one of the back seats and aiming a kick towards the head of his target nurse.