damned_institute | NIGHTSHIFT 42: BLACK ROCK HOTEL

Snake jerked his head away from Fox's hand and shot to his feet, disorientated slightly by the sudden shift. The grout in the tiles was black with what looked like old blood, and the stench of rot heaved in his throat. Something was badly wrong. He sensed threats - left, faint shapes in the dark outside the large windows - Fox - something creaking in the ceiling - a long groaning voice off to the right, past the walls - and something moving in the back of the room -

It staggered towards him, and before he fully knew what he was doing he ripped the match from the book and struck it with his left hand alone, popped the cap off the hairspray, and blasted a tongue of flame at the aggressor, aiming for its face. He saw, in the flickering light, long hair and long nails and the skin on its rotten face peeling and cracking and bubbling in the heat. It gave a long, screaming cry, and toppled to the floor. Its arms and legs writhed and kicked furiously, an automatic, animal gesture, before it finally lay still.

"Here?" he snapped at Fox, wrapping his fingers around the can of hairspray. "This place gets better and better. It's like a theme park." His voice quaked with anger. The place now stunk of something far worse than rotten meat, and for a fraction of a second he thought he could hear Big Boss's voice saying something he couldn't make out before he realised that it had come from inside his own head.

"At least I don't have to be the only thing here back from the dead," he growled. The woman zombie was leaking something he didn't want to think about. He guessed that the decomposition must have trapped methane and other flammable gasses inside the body, hence why it went up like a candle.

That said, he didn't really think he could burn anything else again. For a while.

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Yue had been watching the approaching creatures warily, hoping that Fai wouldn't find more of them in the room that was intended to be their shelter. He didn't exactly relax when the all-clear was given, but the set of his shoulders did shift a little and he started to move back toward the doorway again.

Good. At least now they could get a break from the fighting, for however long it lasted. Or however long they lasted. He hoped it would end with the morning, as all the other horrific nights had been so far in this place, but...apparently the rules had changed. One couldn't be certain, now.

He glanced briefly toward Sakura as Touya led her into the room, concerned about how she was holding up in this situation, but instead caught Touya's worried look. The guardian hesitated, expression softening for half a second into something that certainly wasn't a smile, but was closer than what was usually visible on his face, then shook his head slightly and moved into the room with one last glance down the hall.

"There's time for that when we're safe," he replied, moving immediately to the closest bed, dropping his barstool-weapon in favor of tugging at the mattress. "We have to block the door first." They would have a few minutes, with the rate at which the creatures were moving, but only a few.

Sakura nodded slowly before following her brother into the room. At least it seemed like things were going according to plan. Hopefully, day would come soon and save them from this nightmare, as she wasn't sure how long barricading themselves in a room would prove effective.

After realizing what Yue was doing, Sakura rushed over and helped by pulling the pillows and blankets off the mattress. Although she couldn't help with any actual zombie fighting, she could always do small things such as this to help everyone out.

Once everyone was inside, Yuuhi moved to grab the other end of the mattress, forcing it up against the door before going back for the bed frame. Whatever they could use, they had to get over there right away. Would the undead know they were here, among all the other doors in the hall? Or would they be safe? There was no way of knowing for certain.

It wasn't until they'd moved a good portion of the room's furniture to the door that he let himself relax in the slightest. He leaned back against the furniture holding the door, almost collapsing as he slid to the floor and the hopelessness of their situation seemed to sink in. Normally, with as terrible as the night was, day always meant waking up in their own bed. Tonight, there was no such guarantee. This could be the end of the line and all they could do was hide and hope that someone or something else saved them.

Touya wasn't buying Yue's brushoff, but in some respects he was right. They had to block the door before the zombies got in and left them without an escape route.

As Fai put the mattress against the door, Touya lifted a bedside table and put that against the mattress. Then he hefted a chair on top of that, and a small table. He stood back, brushing his hands of and taking a moment to thank all those stupid retail jobs for building muscle in him.

"That should hold them for now," Touya said, turning around. His eyes flicked to the wounds on Yue again. By now, it was obvious that they were growing, and it wasn't just zombie blood on Yue's shirt and jeans.

"C'mon, you're covered in stuff," Touya said, trying to keep the truth from Sakura for just a little longer. "Maybe there's some water in the bathroom."

He didn't wait for Yue to agree. The way he saw it, Yue's body was just as much Yuki's, and Touya had been holding hands with him mere minutes ago. The young man put a hand on Yue's back and steered him firmly into the bathroom.

[Jumping down for a bit!]

Although the barricade against the door was the best that they could manage with the furnishings in the room, and was likely to hold for at least a little while, Yue still wasn't entirely pleased with it. He was studying the makeshift structure with a small frown, imagining he could already hear zombies in the hallway trying to open the door, when he suddenly found himself being manhandled into the bathroom.

Getting cleaned up wasn't exactly something he'd protest, but wasn't there time for that once they weren't in danger? Or rather, once Sakura wasn't in danger. He glanced back over his shoulder toward his mistress, then toward Fai, his frown deepening, but before he could say anything he was pushed rather unceremoniously into the bathroom.

[dropping down to here]

Even with the furniture pressed against the thin wooden door, it was difficult to feel safe. He could still hear them, not far away, but he tried to smile and put on a brave face instead of letting on just how frightening the whole thing was. If it was enough to shake him, what about a child like Sakura?

Yue and Touya left to get cleaned up and Yuuhi couldn't really say he blamed them. Doing something normal, even if it was just going through the motions, would probably help. He glanced over to Sakura, looking concerned for a moment.

"That was a pretty close call," he tried, after a bit of silence. The other two were probably having a conversation in the other room, but it was hard to hear anything specific. He didn't really want to invade their privacy anyway. "Lucky we all found each other though, right?"

Not that it'd really been luck. And as he tried to push himself up from the floor, he could feel pounding on the other side of the door. Did the dead know they were here? He took an apprehensive step back, but kept himself between Sakura and the door. Maybe if they kept quiet enough, they'd give up and continue on.

NIGHTSHIFT 42: BLACK ROCK HOTEL

[Second Floor - Random Room]

[Second Floor - Random Room]

[Second Floor - Random Room]

[Second Floor - Random Room]

[Second Floor - Random Room]

[Second Floor - Random Room]