Night 66: Patient Library

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

Loki took his time moving through the shelves of the library, trying to locate a few books that he'd thought looked promising. At night the state of the library was far less pleasant, but the books seemed to be mostly intact.

He located the large volume of Shakespeare - he'd rather liked that - and the book of Sherlock Holmes stories. Those had seemed interesting, and he'd rather liked the main character. Also, since each book contained main separate stories, they ought to let Soma skip around if she found one particular part boring.

He tucked the two books into his coat and then moved back toward the still open library door. Hidden from view, he made himself invisible again and prepared to run.

[To here]

Comments

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

Soma kept her flashlight moving as the Once-ler wheeled her into the library. The shelves looked even taller at night, looming above her in the gloom, and she almost told herself she was stupid for thinking before common sense intervened. Of course it wasn't stupid to be wary of the dark when you knew there were things actually lurking in it.

"It was down this aisle," she murmured, indicating with the pistol. "Let's just grab it and go."

[fallenbeanpole]

The Once-ler nodded and steered the wheelchair down the aisle, stopping near the shelves where they had found the book that day. With his own flashlight, the man scanned the spines of the books.

"No, no, no... ah, here! Found it." He grinned. "I'll just grab it and- oh, come on!" Again the book slid out only partway before jamming. Any other complaints the man thought to voice were silenced, though, as the wall at the end of the aisle opened.

For a few seconds the Once-ler stared in surprise at the secret doorway. Then he voiced the first thing that came to mind.

"I wasn't expecting that."

[damned_monsters]

As the door slid open, something else was roused as well. Any action taken at night could always have a consequence, and these two patients had picked the wrong path tonight. They shouldn't have ever put their noses where it didn't belong.

Clomp, clomp went the sound of bony hooves as the Nightmare slowly started to descend the stairs into the library. It had been placed here, given this area as its territory, and it would not let anyone past.

If they were looking, they would see its front hooves and legs first, completely made of bone. Not a scarp of flesh was left on the beast, its bones white as snow. It let out a tortured whinny, eager to find those who had disturbed it and chase them off.

[Court]

[madeinthehrl]

She didn't know what was happening at first. There was a click, and a sliding sound, and as she swiveled in her seat, looking wildly for something, anything, she nearly missed the panel in the wall slowly sliding open. Then Soma turned, mouth dropping open as her flashlight caught shadowed steps and the flash of white bone.

"What..." she began, but her voice died as the rest of the creature emerged into view. A massive, skeletal horse, draped in rotting scraps of leather, empty eye sockets staring blindly at them. And the air around it...it was beginning to twist and warp, like it had stepped out of another dimension and was bringing a storm with it.

It was a moment before she even had the presence of mind to bring her gun up. Not that it would do much good, she thought numbly. How did you kill something that wasn't even supposed to be alive in the first place?

[fallenbeanpole]

The Once-ler froze as a whiny echoed from the passage. A horse? In here? He was squinting into the darkness when Soma illuminated the hidden hall with her flashlight.

All color drained from his face as the skeletal horse emerged from the dark stairs. That couldn't be possible; there was no way a skeleton could move around as though it were alive. Yet there it was, leather scraps hanging off of it like nightmarish ribbons, moving closer.

And the way the area around it distorted and warped itself only added to the horror. Alien, and yet terribly familiar. Was that a fallen Truffula trunk behind it? He could almost taste the smog in the air.... Wide-eyed, he remained still, fear holding him in place.

The man's mind was screaming at him to do something, to not just stand there as the... the thing approached. His hand was still on the Oxford. Without wasting another second, the Once-ler slammed the book back into its slot on the shelf.

[damned_monsters]

As soon as the book was forced back into place, the passageway that had been revealed once again disappeared as the doorway slammed closed once again. That left the Nightmare on the other side, unable to get through, but it was clear it wouldn't give in so easily.

It let out a louder whinny, one that seemed almost angry, and the sound of it forcing its front legs, bony as they were, against the wall made a thundering sound that echoed throughout the library.

And its effects had already started, as the ceiling above the patients warped into a dark, swirling sky, and flashes of lightning arced through, as if to complement the sound that the monster itself had made. The books started decaying, and eventually the very outlines of the room disappeared, as the landscape around them changed.

[madeinthehrl]

Soma glanced back as the door shut again: the Onceler had pushed the book back into its place the shelf. Quick thinking on his part, but hiding the creature from view didn't mean it had--

She flinched involuntarily as something slammed hard against the back of the wall, rattling the books in their shelves. The area surrounding the passageway hadn't stopped warping, and the ceiling couldn't be opening up--that was impossible, there was a whole other floor on top of this one--but it had, somehow, and in seconds there was nothing but open sky above them, and a cold wind past the rapidly disappearing shelves.

And with the wind came the smell. Some kind of burning, she realized. Gasoline, or some other kind of fuel--a smell that was rare enough in her own world, but which she'd learned to associate here with the buses that took them to Doyleton. Dead trees dotted the landscape, but here and there patches of something else shone through. Stars. The smell of charred metal and burning corpses. She felt suddenly sick, though she couldn't say why.

"We have to get out of here," she said urgently. "Before it breaks through the wall. Back to the Sun Room--"

She turned. The library doors had vanished.

[fallenbeanpole]

It had been an instinctive reaction, shoving the book back into place. That it had worked gave the man a small moment of relief, but it was shattered with the sound of pounding coming from the panel.

And then the books started melting. The Once-ler yanked his hand away from the bookshelf as it disappeared. Eyes wide in panic, the man stared around the room as it shifted into a familiar landscape, dotted with stumps and reeking of pollution.

Some areas were not right, though. Were those... stars? And there was another stink, even more revolting than that of the smog, he realized, though he couldn't identify it.

The man limped back over to Soma as she turned, only to freeze in shock as he saw what had cut her words off. No door. They weren't in a room any more.

"This can't be happening," the Once-ler said softly, barely restrained fear tinging his voice. "This cannot be happening."