damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

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Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

[M39]

Being dragged away from ZEX mid-conversation was something of a mixed blessing. On the upside, it meant that Zelnick would have at least few minutes to regain emotional balance before spending the whole night with the guy....

Well, perhaps it was more of a mixed curse. Normally Zelnick didn't begrudge allies their oddities, but ZEX had this amazing ability to jump straight from normal conversation to oh-god-awkward innuendo-laden flirting, and Zelnick couldn't do much but hope that he'd keep away from the latter.

In any case, he paid closer attention to where they took him, this time, not just his room number, and he realized he was actually really close to Yuber's room. Wasn't that convenient?

Once he was in his room, he started to get ready for the night; skillet, knife, pestle, all loaded into the apple basket that had wound up in his closet, along with a couple pens and the radio (hadn't Yuber said it spilled hints at night?). This meant he couldn't take all the apples with him, so Zelnick wrapped them in one of the extra shirts and left them in the corner of the closet. All that was left was to get the flashlight, which he found under his pillow like he did last night.

Then the intercom clicked on.

So that was their lord and master, in this place? After spending the first night confused and the first day hearing the voice of the Head Nurse, he found that the guy sounded pretty sane, until he admitted to killing someone. "The man on the radio--" did he mean whoever was on the other side of the little antique, sending out hints? And the method of death sounded... frighteningly personal.

He unloaded the skillet from the basket and held on to it as the doors unlocked, and sat at his desk to wait for ZEX.

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Harry hadn't asked about his roommate's mental state because it was so clear that he was agitated and he didn't want to add to it. Instead he just sort of glanced at the guy as he slowly got ready. He was planning on going out on his own to look for Hermione, but with his roommate seeming so out of it, he at least wanted to see if the guy turned out okay.

The knock at the door at least somewhat explained why he was pacing. He had been worried about the girl. Harry stopped what he was doing and watched them for a moment, curious.

Bella let out a relieved sigh of her own when Edward opened the door, and she forced a smile as she looked up at him, nodding her head twice before stepping into the room.

Her eyes searched his face for a few seconds before being practically glued to the wound that was being covered by his shirt, and she had to physically force her eyes away from him by walking into the room.

Her eyes peered silently around the room for a few seconds before falling upon Harry Potter, and all at once Bella’s forced smile turned into a full fledged grin. “Hello,” she greeted the boy happily, looking around the room a few more seconds before turning all of her attention to Edward’s well known roommate. “I’m Be—“

All at once she remembered how she had horrified the poor boy on the bulletin board. Blushing, she turned to look at Edward’s bed for a moment before finally biting the bullet. “I’m Bella. Sorry for just … uh …” she turned to look at Edward for a moment before lifting a hand to run through her long brown hair. “Just … running over here randomly …”

"And for the harassment on the bulletin?" Edward questioned, reading her embarassment on her face. Emmett had showed him the... better "fanfiction" of the series. Why she would ever destroy Harry's mind by mentioning some of its contents was beyond him.

The vampire was going to try to be in good humor from now on; as well as he was able. She seemed fine, and his wound hurt less, and he wasn't going to push either subject.

- No, nevermind. The wound still hurt. A lot. But since the doors had only just unlocked and a flood of fleeing patients was inevitable, the lesser evil seemed to stay put for the moment. Less bodies, the better. Right.

"Hold on for a minute," he said, moving to poke around in the pathetically empty closet. "I need to find something to redress this wound in."

Harry had no way of knowing that this was the one who had told him those things on the bulletin when he had first arrived. He looked at them both for a moment with an expression of confusion. It was pretty clear he was missing something, but even with Edward's comment he still didn't get it. Part of him had tried to block out what she had told him, it was still too disturbing to think about.

"Uh, I'm Harry," he said finally, grinning slightly but in a way where it was clear he was unsure of himself. He watched Edward for a moment, wishing that he had something to offer his roommate, but he also had very limited supplies. "You and Edward are good friends I take it?" At least they seemed to be relieved to be in each other's presence. It made him miss Ginny all the more, not that he would want her here, of course.

Bella winced, turning the full power of her glare upon Edward as he reminded her of that time on the bulletin. “That wasn’t me. Don’t try to pin your jokes on me. Have you no shame?” She knew she should have never told him about that.

She let Edward meander around looking for whatever it was he was searching for, trying not to let the fact that he said “something to redress the wound with,” a wound he shouldn’t have even received in the first place, a wound he shouldn’t have even – Bella forced her thoughts away from that topic as she looked at Harry with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Harry.”

The mention of being good friends with Edward made Bella smirk, and she turned to look at the vampire for a second before turning back to look towards the boy who survived. “Oh yes. We’re greeeeeaaaaat friends.” She elongated the word as she strolled across the room with a grin – she didn’t really need to tell Harry, did she? It would be kind of sad, anyway. Didn’t he have a girlfriend back where he was from? To remind him would just be cruel, even though Edward would probably just open his big mouth again.

Sitting herself down against the very edge of Edward’s bed, Bella continued to peer around the room, her eyes finally falling upon Edward as he continued to rummage around in his closet.

Edward made a dignified snort, turning back to the closet. He didn't have much choice to choose from in wound redressing; stuck with an extra shirt and the duct tape, he worked at tearing the clothing into long strips, keeping his back to Bella. The old bandage was brown with old blood stains. Blood he didn't recognize.

No. He wasn't going to think about it. With deft hands, he folded the old bandage, sticking it in the old pillowcase at the back of the closet, full of the supplies he'd pilfered from the janitor's closet. After a few moments, he had managed to stick a sloppy bandage over the wound. It had sealed, at least.

"There's a bag of things I took from a closet in there. If you ever find a use for any of them, you're welcome to take them." Edward figured telling him about it late was better than never mentioning it at all. He hadn't been in the best mind, the last few times he'd been with his roommate.

Switching gears, he closed the door of the closet and gave Harry a curious glance. "I never did ask - have you found anyone from your world, here?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, thanks," he said to Edward's offer. Some supplies were better than none. He didn't move over to it just yet, instead he looked at Bella and then back at Edward.

"Actually... did either of you meet a girl named Hermione Granger? Thursday posted that she thought she had seen her, but I looked for her all day and I couldn't find her. I was hoping that Thursday was just mistaken, but if either of you saw her... She has thick brown hair and is kind of small, but she's very smart and brave." He frowned, thinking of Hermione in this place still gave him mixed emotions. For one, he could really use her brain and her support, but for another he didn't want any of his friends stuck in this place.

Bella sat moved herself further into Edward’s bed as the two boys spoke, and she curled her legs underneath her while Harry went off to describe what Hermione looked like.

Turning to look at Edward with a “did we see her?” look, Bella turned back to Harry a few moments later with a frown, and she shook her head. “I … I don’t know if I have, but …” she turned to look towards Edward once more before speaking once again, a sad smile crossing her lips. “But if I do see her I’ll tell you?”

She hoped Hermione wasn’t there, personally. It was horrifying to have someone you cared about stuck in the institution with you (she knew this quite well, obviously) so she could only hope that whoever this Thursday person was had made a mistake. She knew Harry would probably enjoy the company … but …

But.

Having a loved one in a place like this just sucked.

The vampire shook his head, signifying the negative. "Maybe he was mistaken? I wouldn't personally want friends to be stuck in here, as well." He briefly wondered if Thursday was another character from the boo - Harry's world.

Edward's face suddenly lit with an idea. "Would you like to come with us?" he asked, moving to sit besides Bella on his bed. His roommate didn't seem to have any friends in the place, and with the extra help, they might be able to get more done. He only had one clear-cut plan, but when it came down to it -

He stopped breathing for a moment, avoiding a pained look as a strong wiff of Bella's perfumed smell hit him. The covers were probably soaked with the scent. A good thing he didn't sleep. "We could help you look for her, if you'd like. It's not as if we have any clear-cut plan of what to do tonight, anyway."

Harry blinked for a moment at the offer and then grinned. "Actually, I'd love that. I was planning on going out on my own, but that sounds much better." After spending so much time with Ron and Hermione, Harry didn't want to have to face danger alone anymore. He had been able to do so with Voldemort because it had been the only option left to him, but in this place, when he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, it was better to have friends. "Thanks."

And of course, the moment Edward sat down Bella was up and moving across the room to lean against the wall, her attention turning towards Harry.

“Oh, yeah …” she started at the mention of going out alone, her arms wrapping protectively around herself as she started to remember her first night at the asylum, “You really don’t want to go out alone … trust me. I’ve gone through it.” At least they would be able to help someone else not get hurt or anything like that. What had happened to her sucked, and she wouldn’t have wished it on anyone.

Well, that was a lie. The person she did wish it on was gone.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Bella suddenly remembered that she had forgotten about her pipe. “Damn, I forgot my pipe back in my room. I’ll go back and get it and come back here to not waste time …” it was worth a shot.

Giving only a small glance to Bella, Edward made no other reaction to her words. "It's no problem," he replied to Harry with a smile.

With Bella's suggestion, however, she did receive a hard glare. "No. Just take mine; I won't be able to use it, anyway." Not without ripping his wound open. Wonderful. He got up to lift the mattress he had been sitting on, bringing his rusted, dirty bathroom pipe out from the flat bed. "We can stop by a bathroom on the way out of the block and get a few more - "

He paused midsentence when he heard a familiar tune. Music? Don't Fear the Reaper, his mind immediately indentified it as, along as remembering that horrible skit from some mindless comedy show that had been quoted for years. "One moment," he said, moving over to the solitary desk in the room to rummage through the first drawer. He found the radio he'd almost set aside for junk, seeing as nothing had ever drawn out of it before.

He remembered something of a death of the "radio man", though the title didn't hold much to the vampire besides the name Jack. And now Jill.

Edward was surprised to hear the man had been giving out hints; only during the night, it seemed, when the vampire had never stayed in his room long enough to hear one of these hints. At least he knew better now. Better late than never.

"Anyway," he continued, after the message was over, sticking the radio in a pocket. "Let's get moving, shall we? We can find a pipe for you to use as a weapon, Harry - if you don't have one already."

Harry did not like Bella's suggestion that she go out alone. It was bad enough that she had come here alone, but there was no way he was going to let her leave too. Luckily, Edward stepped in to protest it, considering he was the one who actually knew and cared for Bella it was more appropriate for him to be the one to step in.

Harry listened to the radio with a slight frown. He wasn't sure he could trust it, but there had been something like it during the war back home (Potterwatch, he remembered proudly).

"I haven't got one," he admitted. So it sounded like a good plan to him. He moved to towards the door to open it for them. "Do you think we can trust that?" he asked, pointing to the radio in Edward's pocket.

Well, it was worth a shot.

Looking at the bar that Edward pulled out from under his bed, Bella’s eyes lowered to the ground, almost as if she were ashamed. Which she wasn’t, really – she was just … it was a strange feeling, to actually not want to be close to her fiancé for his own sake. She moved slowly towards Edward as he held out the pipe, quickly taking it from him with a smile. “Thanks. I’ll return it later.”

She made sure to be the first out in the hallway once Harry opened the door, her eyes quickly looking at the aforementioned radio that Edward had shoved into his pocket. “I’ve heard it a few times before. I think it’s pretty handy, actually. Gives you clues to where things are hidden and stuff like that.”

Now out in the hall, Bella took a deep breath, releasing it a few moments later. She could hear talking in a few rooms, but other than that the remainder of the hallway was mostly empty.

Mildly creepy.

A part of her was slightly worried to be heading off to the bathroom again – the last time that had happened blood had started pouring out of the faucets and she had nearly puked in a hallway. Not a fun trip, in her opinion.

“Let’s see…” she whispered to herself, lifting her flashlight to peer down the empty hallway with a frown. “Which way?”

Edward shrugged. "It's still something else. Take it with a grain of salt?" He didn't exactly trust the last man on it either; it would be foolish to blindly follow any off-hand clue some clouded figure might dish out. The fact that he was dead only proved to be some sort of small, personal victory for the head of the Institute. Probably the same old story of animosity between men with egos. He'd seen it in action a thousand times before.

Looking beyond the scope of the light, he glanced down both ways, mentally examining the map he had drawn in his memory. He had at least the way to the second floor, which was a good start. It was a comfort to know he wouldn't need to draw one out to remember it. "To the right," he said, moving past her, out into the hallway. "The bathroom is right around the last room."

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Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

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