Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

Taura took up station midway between the two halls leading back into the dormitories. Alone with her thoughts; the hall was quiet. Too quiet. Dead quiet, a little voice hissed in the back of her mind.

This was no time to be getting superstitious. It was unavoidable, really, in a profession with so much risk involved in daily operations, that those who survived found things to credit. Beyond their own skill, because they'd all seen better men/women/herms when their luck ran out, and skill only improved your odds.

Her luck was holding, tonight. Was Rita and Goku's?

[Rita and Goku]

Comments

[hasnomeaning]

What had happened to her. Wasn't it obvious at this point? Rei began to cough again, small form curling under the weight of it. Yes, obvious, and it didn't even matter anymore, did it? When her coughs stopped, she still looked down at the ground.

"You heard what he said." A statement, question, and accusation rolled into one--all to point out the very real possibility of what Landel had spoken.

A monster. This was how they made them.

[corvus_veritas]

"Yes, but--" ...Byrne stopped, took mental steps back, replayed Rei's words in his head. Yes, of course he had heard what Landel had said about the illness. How could he not have--

...Illness. Red rash. And Rei was coughing.

There was a clear look of shock on Byrne's face now. "You're..." Sick. Sick, but more than just that. From what Landel said, and this rash--did this mean--oh god--Byrne quickly checked his own hands over, hoping and praying that he was jumping to conclusions. No-- There, on the back of his right hand, a mark. A red ring, just like the one on Rei's hand. And he knew for damn certain that had not been there before dinner, or just after dinner, or hell, even five minutes ago.

After staring at it for a moment, the prosecutor glanced back up at Rei and swallowed hard. What could he say? This proved it; they were both marked. If it were only him, he would have been less horrified, but the fact that Rei was marked as well, and if Landel was right...no! She was too young for this!