NIGHTSHIFT 42: MAGUS PARK

[zeus_incarnate]

The shift was familiar enough, in it's own way, but it came too soon. He wasn't sure if any of the others in the group aside from Stefan had been around long enough to witness this before, but he wanted to reassure them that this was just like the changes the institute underwent at night

Comments

[tartaros_avatar]

Wonderful. He was about to spend a night alone with Marcus, Scourge, and a town full of zombies. Well, at least that would delay any need to explain Scourge's presence. The fact that the Decepticon was here probably made it a bad idea to raise the question of whether these things might be infectious.

He immediately followed after Marcus, keeping close. "I saw axes in the hardware store. They'll make good weapons." All he had now was a few hand tools, not exactly the right sort or armament for dealing with the undead.

[haplesstracker]

Scourge let out a horrified gasp when nightfall hit, and a scream stifled only by the quick application of his hands when the ground erupted with corpses. He knew the human word for them, he'd seen a movie or two, and he knew what happened when they caught up with you. The gore wasn't so funny when your insides looked exactly the same.

Try not to get bogged down in too many fights, what kind of an order was that? Scourge did know a few suicidal maniacs who'd do it just for fun, but he'd hoped people ranked him a bit higher than that. Either way, he was out of here. Maybe they could just barricade themselves inside, nail the doors shut, and wait it out until morning--

No, 'Search and Rescue'. Damnit. What a time to try and be a good guy.

Despite his smaller size Scourge managed to keep pace with Lord Recluse due to sheer force of epic-level surges, his air intakes aching as they pulled in the cold night air. A galaxy for his wings.

[buteo_sapiens]

Tobias swore loudly, eyes going wide, before doubling over in unexpected pain.

Gasping for breath and trying to hold back the morph for just a few seconds, he clawed the awl and the big screwdriver he'd shoplifted out of his sleeves, thrusting them towards Depth Charge and Javert with a quivering "Here" before his face melted forward into a beak, burning as the bones shoved their way past his skin, wing bones pushing out before his skin and muscles could catch up, and that dizzying feel of falling as his legs shrunk under him to raptor talons--

He cried out in pain as the itching fire of feathers spread over his skin, jeans and tee melting into the morph but his oversized jacket tangling around him as he plummeted to the ground, and then the morph was over, and he lay there shuddering for a moment before struggling upright, sharp gold eyes glaring up at his teammates.

< Right, now that that's over with, let's get the hell out of here, > he said, thought-speech strained. < Could someone get this jacket off me? >

[unmocked_lawr]

Typical. The nagging suspicion that they would be trapped here for the night had proved true. He loved it when his instincts were correct. Javert had to laugh mirthlessly at the sight of the creatures--were they actually hordes of the undead? He didn't want to think about it--clawing their way out of the ground. There was nothing else he could do. He had never been one for screaming and running

[secret_orchard]

Even sheltered in TK-622's arms, Armand could tell that something was changing. The air didn't get any colder, but the aroma of rotting flesh filled the air, at first subtly then with more pressure, causing him to gag. He pulled completely free and turned to look, staring at the animated corpses that started pulling themselves out of the ground, one dirty and rotted limb at a time. He could barely think through the sudden wash of horror. More revulsion and fear, so far.

"Oh, my God," he breathed. "We have to get out of here." But where was safe to go? Some of them were already too close to make him feel at all confident they'd be able to run.

[loyal_soldier]

622 immediately snapped into alertness as something began to feel wrong. He'd seen a lot of impossible things here, but this... "We get to a place with weapons. We barricade ourselves in." He started moving for the town, pulling Armand along with him. "If we can't manage that, stay with other people. Let's move."

[secret_orchard]

Armand stumbled as he was jerked along. He didn't fall, but he wasn't fast. Some of that was still the lingering numbness from cold. His toes could barely feel the ground under his feet and his fingers were stiff. He didn't resist, but he could feel something dragging on the ends of the heavy coat. The grass here wasn't high, nor were there bushes encroaching on their path. He feared the worse and yanked his arm free to turn around and look.

There was already a zombie on their tail, and a few still emerging from the ground reached grasping hands after where he'd just been.

"Oh God!" he repeated, and turned to follow TK again, trying to catch hold of the back of the big man's jacket, or his hand again.

[loyal_soldier]

622 stopped, whipping around to see what had made Armand fall behind, swearing explosively as he kicked one of the closest... things in the head, grabbing Armand again and trying to find them a relatively clear way through the rotting creatures.

[forgot_it_all]

Ritsuka looked down at his camera and smiled, flipping through the photos he'd been able to take so far. The afternoon had gone rather well, all things considered. They may have been trapped at Landel's still, but there were good things here. He had Miku and Soubi and Sousuke and his roommate and maybe things weren't going to be so bad. All they had to do was get back to the Institute, survive the night, and tomorrow they could start looking for a way out together.

He really should have remembered Murphy's Law at that point. When Ritsuka looked up from his camera, he froze. The trees were decaying in front of his eyes. The sun was still up. It was twilight, but the trees were decaying. This isn't possible. This can't be happening!! Ritsuka felt his hands shaking and he stepped back toward Miku and Sousuke, as he forced himself to look around. Bad idea. The townspeople who had been on the benches were transforming, skin rotting off, eyes turning lifeless, all bones and blood and hunger. Ritsuka had seen a movie like this

[rope_victim]

It was different, with the dead people.

Miku had been used to seeing people in their death form on a regular basis for a long time. Throats would be slashed, eyes gouged, rope marks burned into skin, skin pulled tight over intangible bone in hideous smiles, and blood would be black on blue-grey bodies. But this was different. This wasn't something she could just run through and be okay.

"I... I can't..." she whispered, trembling like a leaf. Her legs felt weak, unresponsive. "I... I can't r-run, R-Ritsuka..." She turned to look for Sousuke, her eyes wide with fear. "I can't..."

[uruz_vii]

Before he'd arrived at this strange place, Sousuke had never put much stock in the supernatural. If he'd had any doubts now, even after being around Miku so much, they had vanished

[uruz_vii]

[ To here.]

[winged_moon]

It had been a pleasant day so far, better than any since they'd arrived in the Institute by a long shot. And given the talk between Touya and Yukito in the park, in one particular way it had even been better than some days before coming here - or so Yukito believed

[guardiancomplex]

One moment, Touya was living in his dreams, his mind wandering towards sealing their new found happiness with something tangible, when the swing chain in his hand suddenly rusted over. Looking up, the buses, which had seemed to be so cheerful as they awaited the return trip, went dark, and the nurses began lurching around.

One moment a dream, the next a nightmare.

"Sakura," he breathed, standing up and finding himself running towards the town, hand in hand with Yue. How he'd gotten there, he didn't remember or care. They had to find her.

Oh my God... were those... undead?

( To here.)

[windstwilight]

The laughter seemed to fade with the breeze, the setting sun only now realized. The wind shifted Senna's hair and she glanced up at the sky, wondering now when they'd head back to the buses. It seemed much later than last week. Something shifted in the girl; something felt strange, the wind was moving in different ways now, and Senna tensed unconsciously

[sheisthecause]

Meche was still sitting against the tree when the first of them began to stumble through the park. At first she didn't pay a lot of attention to them. It was getting darker and a little cooler as the sun sank lower in the sky, and she was wrapping her scarf around her neck again and starting to think about getting up and getting some dinner now that the cramp in her side was gone.

And then they got closer, and she saw the empty eyes, the wounded skin and the...red mouths. Oh, no.

And then something burrowed up from under the ground right next to her. Meche screamed and scrambled like a crab out of the way as the monster--no, not just any kind of monster, the zombie--stood and lurched right for her.

She sprang to her feet and tried to run--to the buses? Somewhere, anywhere--but they were all over the place now. The girls! she thought in panic. She had to try to keep them together, make sure everyone was okay. The attack had come so suddenly that she couldn't see any of them at first, and then--"Senna!" Meche called, rushing toward

[windstwilight]

No one... no one.... She couldn't see anyone so far, and-- "Meche! Here!" Senna moved forward, bringing an elbow in and up into a throat of one that had gotten too close. Least these clothes were easy enough to move in.

When the other girl reached her, Senna reached out, grabbing her arm, and looking around frantically. No. She didn't see any of the others. There was no way to see in this crowd right now. And if she did see them? Falis could defend Hokuto, as well as Soma. Senna needed a weapon. Her prowess was only going to get her so far. Difficult decision reached, her eyes turned, something like regret filtering through. They needed a path.

"We're getting out of here, okay? We need something more substantial to fight them with. We can't help anybody like this." Whatever you want to tell yourself. "So we're moving. Fast." She grinned at Meche weakly. "Pretend its another race."

[sheisthecause]

Meche opened her mouth to protest, but then she caught the look in Senna's eyes. No, she was right. This wasn't like last night, where charging at the enemy at least had some chance of doing a little good. Now they weren't just outnumbered, but totally unarmed. She'd just have to trust that Falis and Soma could take care of Hokuto.

Already she couldn't see a clear path to anywhere, and the longer they waited, the more zombies they were going to have to get through. Meche nodded sharply. "All right. Let's go!" she answered, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. This was another one of those times when she was going to have to stay tough.