Nightshift 33: Kitchen

[blood_and_pocky]

[from here]

The first and only time he’d come to the kitchen, it’d been his first night, and it had started with chocolate cake, too. And ended with fighting off lizards, meeting Sasuke, and being inflicted with Alucard. There weren’t any good memories of this place (if that could seriously be said of any part of the building

Comments

[loyal_soldier]

[from here]

Something smells dead in here. That thought was enough to put TK completely on guard, scanning the area with the light of his glowrod, one of the two halves of his broken staff in his hand.

It only took a few seconds to spot the body. It looked really trashed. Like someone had gone at the poor sod with a verpine shattergun. He didn't keep his focus on the body for long, going back to searching the room. Whatever had left that body on the floor had to still be here. "Keep moving. Now." He kept his voice quiet, but with an edge that wasn't to be argued with.

[secret_orchard]

Armand's first reaction to the smell was vivid flashes of memory of the streets around the Place de la Revolution, where la guillotine did her bloody business. Blood and shit and fear. He whimpered, then bit his tongue to silence himself.

Keep moving. Now. TK's words echoed in his head.

He knew where they were going, but the floor was slippery too, and that made him keep the light low while the soldier searched higher. So Armand couldn't miss the body. He clamped down on his tongue harder, tasting blood inside his mouth now, so coppery with the reek in the air that he nearly lost his gorge.

That's a prisoner. Gray shirt, like most of us. Oh God! With Citan just behind him, turning and bolting wasn't an option, so if running was his only choice, he knew he'd have to run forward to try to get the cold room.

Blood and fear and.... something bitter and sharp that wasn't like anything he'd ever smelled before. The reek of the animal that had killed that poor... prisoner?

Keep moving.

[reanalyze]

Now that was a scent Citan was all too familiar with. His eyes narrowed and he nodded, glancing at the corpse. One of them, it appeared like, rather than a monster.

A pity. Though the spy couldn't honestly feel much real pity. They were in a combat zone, in a sense, deaths were inevitable. And he couldn't waste his time sparing a bit of grief for every body he saw.

Besides, whatever had killed the luckless man could very well still be nearby.....

[silent_predator]

There was the sound of something liquid hitting the floor, dripping, and hissing with the contact....

[misterprince]

[from here]

Fighting had gone on here. Sanji should have suspected this. They weren't alone either, but they didn't have the luxury to pause and see who or what else was there. The room smelled heavily of blood and something more foul. He wasn't going to shine his light anywhere but ahead, and he hoped the others followed suit.

"Don't look, just run," the chef hissed over his shoulder. He stopped to usher the others ahead of him. They didn't know what was coming, but they knew there was something here. He didn't want it getting the drop on Chopper from behind.

[tonytonydoctor]

Chopper's hands flew to cover his nose before they even entered the kitchen. It smelled horrible... The smell of perfume in Nanohana had made his nose hurt because of how overpowering it had been, but at least it didn't reek like this did. This smell made him feel sick.

He didn't want to find out what this smell was.

With his hands clamped firmly over his nose, Chopper hurried forward, all the while following Sanji's instructions to "get Nami's back." He kept his eyes focused on their navigator, afraid of what he might see if he looked around.

[navigating]

[Lol, had to repost, 'cause the sword was promised to someone else :x]

That smell. It was suffocating, and Nami didn't know how much of it she could stand - indeed, if she could make it to the other side of the kitchen without dry-heaving. Her teeth chattered in fear; she really, really didn't want to get eaten by monsters, but..

But when her flashlight passed across the thing that was making it? She nearly screamed, and clapped a hand over her mouth. That thing was going to kill them!!! And they weren't going to survive the night!! This was terrible, why did she decide to go to the basement in the first place, what the heck was she thinking?!

She looked around frantically for something to protect herself with. Yes, she was holding her clothes rod, but somehow it didn't seem good enough. No, no, she needed her Clima Tact, or Luffy or Zoro or Sanji if he only had his shoes, or..

Wait. Wait. What was that? A flashlight.. on the floor, next to - a body?! Oh, god, they were all going to die.With all the speed she could muster, instead

[silent_predator]

The alien hadn't moved when the flashlight went over it. The thing had settled down, body on standby as it continued to digest its meal, and to try and recuperate from some of the damage it'd taken earlier.

What did grab its attention, was the sudden motion - Nami dashing for the sword, right near its earlier kill.

The alien's lips rose, teeth bared.

It rose, getting to its feet, joints cracking and twitching. The sword slash on its shoulder was healing, although some blood dripped out of it, hitting the ground and sending up smoke.

[jurisfictional]

[from here]

The reek of blood hit Thursday even before she entered the kitchen. Reeling instinctively, she almost shut the door again, but she grit her teeth and forced her feet to move forward, trying to ignore the only-too-familiar liquid spilled in decidedly unhealthy quantities on the floor.

No sudden movements. No noise. Have to focus. Focus, Thursday!

Oh, God - there was a patient lying over there - was he still alive? Was he the source of all this blood? Oh, God. This was bad. This was bad. What the hell were they doing here? Was it worth checking to see if he was past saving? (It probably wasn't worth it.) Keep moving, Thursday.

She risked a glance backward at Archer and Hokuto. They weren't kidding about this killing machine thing, were they.

[akarusa]

Hokuto drew in a breath sharply when they entered; even before she looked, she knew the floor was covered in blood. Too much. Whoever's blood that is... I don't think they left. Under their own power or someone else's. Again, the smell of so much blood had her flashing back to when she was killed; she shivered and tried not to think about it, but it was impossible to stop seeing Sei-chan's face and hearing Subaru scream out for her.

A few steps into the room, and she saw the Alien's victim; her heart ached, for a number of reasons. The body was a little too small to be an adult, too... a few more steps, and she saw his face. She should have known better than to look, there was nothing she could do for him, but she did anyway.

It was Hisoka.

Hokuto's chest tightened even before she saw the jagged, bloody hole in his forehead. His body had relaxed somewhat in death, but she was sure he looked scared. And looking at how badly his body had been torn apart...

She would not scream, she couldn't, the thing that had done this to him was

[spirit_forge]

His slippers made splashing sounds as he stepped in the dark liquid. There was no need to inspect it since he was very familiar with the smell. How many battlefields or dead bodies had he seen before he became desensitized to this scent?

Following at the rear, he saw Hokuto pause and could guess what she saw, a corpse. It wasn't that shocking. After all, people died everyday, especially in this place. However, he was a little surprised at the victim's identity.

Hisoka...He hadn't really known his fellow patient that well, but Hisoka had helped him when he first arrived, answering Archer's questions about the Institute. Even so, he wasn't particularly moved by his death since they weren't exactly close

[silent_predator]

The wound was healed up, and there wasn't any more blood dripping from it to give it away. All that remained was the desire to kill, eat, survive. What came through here were intruders, prey.

The alien had been curled into a near ball, hidden against the ceiling. amongst the pots and pans that dangled from their holding places.

Three, one further away, two had stopped to look at its meal.

Gracefully, it moved out of the wall of metal: it had learned now not to hit against them. Claws tensed, and released, as it crawled along the ceiling, bringing it over to the intruders.

The xenomorph dropped down silently behind Hokuto and Archer.

[multiweapon]

[ From here. ]

Nothing really spectacular about the kitchen. The Freezer lingered on the other side of the room, so it wouldn't be much longer until they made it to the downstairs. As long as they hurried they could make it to whatever room lay on the other side of that locked door, everything would work out. Hopefully the person that had been brought along to unlock it could unlock it.

Speaking of..

Haseo looked back at the three persons that he was traveling with. Peony said that he wanted to bring along an expert to try and unlock the door downstairs. 'I wonder which one is the expert...'

[rappigs]

...There was no one here, either. It was terribly reminiscent of his second night here, when it was so silent, so silent, and then.. there had been that horrible monster. He'd steeled himself since then, but the fact remained that he was still an old guy who wasn't really used to facing such terrible things.

That was when Peony saw the dead body at one side of the room, and his face turned kind of sick. There was no monster carcass. Jade and Guy were the fighting masters, weren't they? He and Haseo weren't so much. Well, actually, he didn't really know if Haseo could fight, but that body was kinda.. buff. So he probably did. Anyway, he didn't want to assume.

But he didn't say anything. He just looked from the dead body to Jade, as if handing him command. They had to continue, but how they went about it would be up to his battle-hardened best friend.

[hahah sorry had to edit D:]

[razing_phoenix]

All talk of Sync was forgotten when they entered the kitchen and Guy figured out just what it was that Peony was staring at. It was obvious that whoever was on the floor there wasn't just passed out, and Guy felt himself turn rigid at the sight of it. He was used to death, of course, but this was the first time he had seen it here.

It made sense that some people died here, considering how there was danger around every turn, but this was honest proof of it. It meant that they could never assume that the monsters here would go easy on them out of some "order" to not kill. The brainwashed patients might, but...

Something must be here, waiting for them. Guy closed his eyes briefly, trying to hear for the slightest of movements, but there was nothing. He wasn't convinced, and he drew his bat in front of him to show the others that he expected a fight.

[visualize]

Unlike the two blonds before him, Jade's face remained calm at the sight of the fresh corpse, taking his spot in the front of the group as he tried to visually dissect the specimen. After all, this was his specialty as a doctor, and it was merely out of habit to inspect the damage with a keen eye. Of course, if this had been nothing more than a milk run then he could've easily approached the body, but there was no doubt that his Majesty's life was not worth risking in this environment.

Like Guy, Jade pulled out the meat cleaver from his pocket, holding it steady behind him while his other arm remained outstretched to form some distance between him and Peony.

Even if there was some chance of an encounter, it was wise to tread lightly through the area, keeping eerily quiet as he carefully began to move off to the side.

[muted_flame]

[From here.]

Unlike the cafeteria, this room had the signs of a struggle written all over it. There were pots and pans littered on the floor, and--

A body, which had been abandoned. Left to the wolves, so to speak. Roy couldn't say he judged anyone for passing by it. What could they do, after all? It was one of the ugly truths of war and battle (people get left behind), though it didn't make it any easier to stomach.

He chose not to comment on it, not imagining there were any words to say. Instead, he remained professional, half-turning to Hughes. He narrowed his eyes at him, which was as good as telling him to be careful without actually having to say it.

Slowly, he started crossing the room.

[felled_hero]

Hughes just nodded briefly, letting Roy know he understood. He tightened his grip on his knife, giving the body - he couldn't even really recognize it from here - a brief head bow of respect. What else could they do?

Maybe whatever had killed the poor guy had been taken down by the fallen prisoner's friends.

Or maybe it was still lurking around. Hughes just hoped for the former rather than the latter as he followed after Roy.

[silent_predator]

Perhaps, but the boy had come in alone, and suffered the ultimate price for it. He'd died alone, with nothing but the very sight of death itself staring right back at him.

The kitchen was harder to navigate now, with all the mess, but the xenomorph managed, prowling carefully through it.

It was blocked from view from the two by the island, and hadn't been alerted to them yet.

It didn't make a sound. There was only the sense that somewhere in here, something was alive, and moving, disturbing the air.

[muted_flame]

At least the slippers they were made to wear didn't make much sound, though Roy imagined that if there was something here, it would be able to smell them just as easily. Sight was more of a question, since it was dark, but...

He didn't see any monster corpses around, so he had to assume that it was still alive. Or it had fled, but he wasn't going to count on that.

It was better not to speak until they had made it through and knew the coast was clear, so he focused on making as little noise as possible, which was difficult when there was so much scattered on the floor.