Night 66: Medical Library

[rocksthecourt]

[from here]

Though the word "library" was used, Klavier hadn't quite been expecting such a large room. Not to say he was complaining. He would much rather have too many options to look over than too few. This was exactly the sort of thing they needed. They were dealing with an illness here and very few of them had enough medical or biological knowledge to fairly know how to combat it. Even if it was obviously a condition that had never been documented before, there had to be information they could at least work with in here.

From where he was, he could see there were several rows of shelves to work with, and admittedly, though this wasn't anywhere close to his field, he was a bit excited. What to search for first? Something related to all "flu-like symptoms" and what could internally cause them? Or perhaps a book on how various chemicals can affect the human body. If anyone was really going to risk experimenting with a cure, it would be good to have a reference on what substances and combinations thereof they shouldn't be using. And information on what to do should someone be given the wrong thing would also be helpful.

Actually, no. To turn that about, maybe it would be better to find a book on medicines. Someone on the bulletin had suggested there be a focus on a particular sort of medicine. ...Ach. What was it? It felt like an eternity ago, but he was sure he had noted it in his journal. What sort of medicine was it? It hadn't been anything rare; he remembered being very familiar with the names. Come on now... He was certain if he saw a related word or something else that could serve as a reminder, he would immediately remember.

He moved to the first shelf, thoroughly focused on scanning every single book until he'd found the ones he wanted. This was going to take a while since he was unfortunately forced to do so by flashlight, but it wasn't as though he had anywhere else to be at the moment. ...So far there seemed to be a lot of binders. He had to be sure he not only found something related but something that would reasonably fit in his bag. Hopefully with room for more books as needed.

He left the binders for now, noting to check them more thoroughly once he'd gathered some thinner books. He really didn't want medical journals or theories or experimental therapy opinions. All he wanted were facts. There had to be reference books somewhere. Basic instructional books would also be nice, but that wouldn't really be in a room where licensed doctors were meant to look things up on the fly. ...Or he certainly hoped not.

Comments

[damned_monsters]

Something was scurrying under the shelves. Someone who didn't know better might think it was a bug; it clicked and clacked. But no bug could be that big, could it?

Someone who did know better wouldn't be alone in a dark library at night. It was a bug. Or, rather, two bugs, chasing each other through the stacks. It was never hard to raise cockroaches; where there were two, there would be ten tomorrow. But for now, just two, skittering out from underneath the shelf to find out what, exactly, smelled so delicious.

[rocksthecourt]

Sudden movement was definitely not a welcome sound in the middle of the night. And certainly not that kind of sound. It was fast, a sort of clicking that seemed incredibly loud in the dead quiet room. That was very similar to the sound he had heard when he, Red, and von Karma had come across a scorpion that one night. So when he whipped his attention toward the noise, he was half-expecting to see that blasted thing again.

To tell the truth, he probably would have preferred the scorpion. Because there crawling out from under the shelves were...! OH GOD, they were two huge...!!

There was not even a second's hesitation or thought. Klavier simply reacted on immediate instinct. He pedaled backward a few steps and just let out a loud SCREAM. Oh. Oh, no! Nononono! ARGH! NO. EW. What the hell?!

[damned_monsters]

Antennae bobbed up and down, in silent communication. Not that there was much to communicate; larger brains than during the day didn't make the roaches any smarter. One of them darted forward, jaws clicking. Ankles made a very good target.

The other stood still, antennae still bouncing in indecision. It was between the human and the door, now, but whether it planned to escape or trap him even it didn't know.

[rocksthecourt]

Honestly, if these things had been completely normal in size, Klavier still would have freaked out at the mere sight of them. It was just that them being way bigger than roaches were ever meant to be just made it that much worse. And this wasn't taking into account any thoughts of his life possibly being in danger. That hadn't even crossed his mind. All he was registering was what they were and how huge they were and how they were right there and oh god he didn't even want to look at them cause they were so freaking disgusting and--

AHH! It's moving! Why is it moving?! No, wait... It was moving towards him. Which was like something out of a blasted nightmare because bugs don't normally go around attacking people. They normally would run away, right? And they don't normally have mouths that one could see and hear, do they? (Are they even supposed to have mouths?!)

He let out another noise, though this was less of a scream and just a sound of horror and disgust. He found himself moving backward and away from it again, but this time he actually managed to realize this was just making him move further away from the door and further into the room. And who knew how many more of these things there might be waiting for him in the darkness. Maybe they were everywhere: on the walls, under the shelves, behind the furniture, right behind him. How could he know? It was pitch black in here. He needed to get out! Right now!

Unfortunately, that meant going past both of these things and he really didn't want to get anywhere near them. Although this one was definitely making that wish impossible. It moved very fast and didn't look like it was planning to stop even as he moved away. What was it going to do?! Crawl up his leg?! ARGH, HE DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!

"Get away!!" His voice wasn't exactly what one would considered dignified in any sense, but at the moment he didn't care at all. Maybe yelling will scare it? They should be more scared of him than he is of them, right? So how else could he make them run away? Should he stomp the floor? "Stay back!!"

[damned_monsters]

Crawling up the prey's leg would expose the roach's softer underside; why bother, when there was a delicious ankle right there, skin flashing each time the man stepped back. The roach reared back, for just a second, and then lunged, mouth wide open.

Running up his leg would be easier if he fell over, after all. They often did. If not after one bite, perhaps after two or three.

[rocksthecourt]

There was absolutely no reaction to his yelling. It just continued to charge right at him as he backpedaled away, like it wasn't scared of him or the sound of his voice echoing through the room at all. In fact, rushing at him for the sake of being disgusting and giving him a heart attack no longer seemed to be good enough. Shockingly, the thing suddenly pounced forward, blatantly attacking him in a way he certainly hadn't been expecting at all.

Had this happened while he was still, he probably would have been able to jerk out of the way in time. But since he was already moving backward, he wasn't able to react in time to shift directions mid-step. The thing landed on his foot, mouth clamping hard into the area right above his left ankle. For a thing that he didn't even know had a mouth (teeth? mandibles?), it was able to inflict a shocking amount of pain. It was hard and sharp, both possibly more impacting since he hadn't seen it coming.

"AAHHHH!!" Any mind-shattering hysterics Klavier might have exploded into from this thing touching him were immediately cut off by that pain. Reacting again mostly on instinct, he reared his leg back and swung it forward hard, trying to send the thing flying off.

[damned_monsters]

The prey finally did something more than make noise; the leg swung, and the roach's bite wasn't strong enough to hold on. It flew through the air, landing on its back. Its feet waved in the air and its mandibles grabbed at empty air as it attempted to right itself.

The other roach, smelling the blood, darted in, aiming for the other ankle. It was larger, and slower than the other, but it scuttled forward as quickly as it could.

[rocksthecourt]

Ow, ow, ow. That had not been a minor bite at all. Klavier had thankfully managed to get the stupid thing off, but he could still feel the sharp sting of the bite in his leg. But even worse, it burned. He couldn't say he'd ever been bitten by anything before (except for getting snapped at by Vongole that one time), but he was certain it shouldn't have burned like this. Something was wrong. Of course, there was no way to tell since he wasn't going to dare pull his eyes away to examine his wound.

The one he'd kicked away was -- UGH! UGGGGH! They're so disgusting!! -- incapacitated for the moment. The other one had decided it wanted a bite of him for itself and was now charging at him without giving him much chance to recover from the first one's assault. God, could they actually eat him? And if there really was the possibility of there being more in here...

The sudden thought of these things swarming him was so terrifying and so unbearable, he could not possibly stand to be in that room another minute. But making a run for it was not going to be a simple task with his leg like this. And this second one was not giving him much chance to think or even try limping away.

He grabbed the pipe from his shoulder bag and waited a second or two for the thing to run closer, other hand keeping the flashlight on it. Oh God. This was gross. This was so gross. Even with the risk of getting another bite if he didn't, he wasn't sure how much he could bring himself to hit this thing or in any way touch it, even secondhand. But he brought the pipe up, and when the thing was unfortunately in range, he slammed it down. The aim was to crush the thing, which on its own was disgusting enough for him to squeeze his eyes shut while he swung down.

[damned_monsters]

The roach was just about to bite when something came crashing down out of the dark, adding two new bends to both of its right-side legs. Its body squirted sideways, carapace cracking a little but not failing. It shoved itself up on its remaining two feet, and started dragging itself sideways. It hadn't decided whether to go for another bite, or try to hide.

Meanwhile, the other one had made it back onto its feet, and was running, not towards the human, but towards the other roach. It would be easier prey than the human, after all, if less tasty.

[rocksthecourt]

He might have saved himself from watching the moment the pipe hit, but Klavier couldn't do anything to stop himself from hearing it. There was a horrible, crisp crack that sent a violent shudder running up his back. That sound was probably going to stay with him for a few days and might have been worse than actually watching it happen.

Opening his eyes didn't make it much better. He'd been hoping to kill the damn thing in one hit. Maybe that was just too optimistic, all things considering. Though he'd hit it dead on, the impact hadn't been quite enough to kill the thing. In fact, it had been left in a sorry state; several legs broken, body half split and dripping out bug innard juice... stuff... whatever. This as well as it half-heartedly dragging itself away with a distinctive, dry scraping noise just made it that much more disgusting.

A fast clicking sound immediately pulled his attention back toward the other one, which was running back for a second assault. Or that's what he'd assumed. He took a step back and prepared to strike with the pipe all over again, but after a moment, he finally realized. It wasn't aiming for him. It ran over to its injured, um, "comrade", and then proceeded to... well, it started to eat the other. While it was still mostly alive. And this was all happening a little over a foot away from where he was standing.

Klavier stumbled back another step, unable to keep the disgust from his face. Looking at these things was revolting enough on its own, but now this? It took every ounce of self control he had not to turn or look away entirely. He wasn't about to let his guard down, especially since he was certain there must have been more of these things hiding and waiting. There was no way he was going to stand here and find out.

As horrific as it was, the distraction was a godsend and probably would not last too long. He needed to use this to either kill them both or get out of there entirely. And considering he would probably vomit if he had to continue looking at these things another minute, he settled on exiting stage left.

He moved away from them quietly and slowly, worried anything too sudden might draw attention. Then after he'd gotten a good distance, turned his attention away and moved as quickly as possible for the exit. The pain in his ankle spiked every time he put pressure on that foot, but he was so focused on getting to the door that he barely paid it any attention.

[to here]