NIGHT 64: MEDICAL WING HALL

[envy_the_sinners]

_{[From here]}

Looking around, Scar wasn't quite sure what to expect upon this returning visit to the medical wing. It was silent, for now. Scar shined his light around each corner as he moved silently through the room, ready for something to jump out at him at any moment. He wasn't sure of what to expect, but he held his scalpel at the ready with his free hand. It was feeble protection at best, but Scar was a sitting duck without his alchemic arm.

He still wasn't sure if he would actually want it back, though.

Comments

[complicatedliar]

There was another roar, blood spraying wetly through the air to decorate the wall. The wavering lights caught something massive, scaly, painted liberally with blood. It kept in constant, surging movement, form uncertain.

But it had something head-shaped, something that might have one been human but was now decidedly misshapen, overgrown and serpentine. And here and there, a few shreds of the familiar Landel's clung to its skin, the smily face pasted on with a coating of blood to one side.

It slurped down a leg, another crunch filling the air, and then it disappeared into one of the doors further down the hall, leaving on the sound of dripping in its wake.

[gald_digger]

Disable it... and then what? Maybe Claude was just trying to keep their morale up, but Anise couldn't be that optimistic. Even if there was a cure for the infection, there was no guarantee that someone who already transformed could ever turn back. And even if they could... could this guy live with himself if he knew what he just did?

Those ominous thoughts in her head only grew darker as they advanced on the creature, their flashlights finally revealing its sickening serpentine form, surrounded with blood and shredded clothing.

Anise couldn't believe what she was seeing. That thing in its mouth... It was a piece of the woman they just saw. A piece. Anise stiffened, making her best effort to keep from crying out in horror. "How... can this happen?" she choked out, turning her head away.

The nausea was worse than ever, but there was no way they could take a break now. Any time wasted, and she or Claude could end up like that. It was too horrible. She'd rather die.

[earthling]

Claude had seen a lot of gruesome things both inside and outside of Landel's, but even he couldn't have been prepared for the sight of that monster swallowing a human limb. He fell into a heavy silence, any thoughts of trying to subdue the creature lost as he struggled to swallow the bile threatening to rise at the back of his throat.

Not trusting himself to speak, his grip tightened on his sword. As horrifying as that was, they couldn't afford to just stand around. What if he or Anise turned into...that? The thought scared him more than he wanted to admit. One of them could easily hurt other patients, like Guy, and--

Letting himself spiral into that train of thought wasn't going to do him any favors, he reminded himself.

"I...don't know," he hoarsely answered Anise after a moment, "but we can't let it happen to anyone else."

[nobleman]

The monster that had once been a patient turned out to be something snakelike. It was larger than Guy would have expected, and he tried not to think about how painful that transformation would have been. It took him a second to realize what the creature had just eaten, but once it sunk in that it was that girl's leg Guy felt like he'd been hit with a sack of bricks.

He thought back to that moment when he'd been five years old, the limbs of all those maids and of his sister reaching out over him to keep him safe, and almost felt like he was going to lose his footing for a moment. Claude and Anise's voices reached him, but as if they were calling to him from across a chasm.

Guy clenched his jaw, and swallowed, and shook his head to clear it. "I guess it had its fill," he said quietly as he took a few more tentative steps forward. They reached another door that was simply labeled "X-Ray," and Guy turned towards the others, nodding to it. "Looks like this is it." They'd made it, and yet he was too shocked by what they'd just seen to feel much of anything about it.

[gald_digger]

Anise wanted to believe that they could stop those horrible transformations for good, but her optimism had just about run out. She met Claude's eyes in response, but couldn't quite bring herself to say anything.

Fortunately, Guy announced their arrival moments later, and sure enough, she could see the sign confirming that they had the right place. Witnessing that tragedy had sucked away a lot of their motivation, but there was nowhere to go but forward now. Just a few more steps, and maybe they'd have some answers.

Anise drew close to the door, her legs wobbling slightly with each step. Between the illness and what just happened, she was feeling fatigued, both emotionally and physically. She hoped she'd get to take a break once they found the clue. If they found the clue.

"I hope this is worth it..." she mumbled as she reached for the door, gently pushing it open. Once it appeared that no monsters were going to pounce on them in the doorway, she went on inside.

[to here]