Night 48: F21-F30 Hallway

[fourstonewalls]

When the intercom finished another deliberately vague note, Lana was already standing at her door, flashlight in hand and scalpel securely in her coat pocket. She'd neglected to find out exactly how the doors worked at night, but the general idea was clear. Some time soon, they would open, and she had to be ready the moment they did.

Click. The knob loosened under her hand, and she stepped out into an as-yet empty hallway.

F28 was only two doors down -- no-one else emerged as she walked over to the door. She tucked one hand behind her back and waited for Ema to come out. That she would was inevitable, despite the monsters and Lana's express orders. She would just have to repeat them until Ema listened; Lana couldn't protect her and investigate at the same time.

[for Ema]

Comments

[fourstonewalls]

When they were attacked. Filling in the blanks wasn't difficult; the gaps were only because Ema obviously didn't want to talk about it. That was fine with Lana. She didn't want to talk about it either. Not when talking about it meant acknowledging that they were both trapped here, and there was very little Lana could do to assure safety for either of them.

"I have no assurances that it is any safer in the dormitories than anywhere else," she said, her tone conversational, as if she were informing Ema that leftovers were in the refrigerator. "I can't very well ask you to stay here alone." And this way she didn't have to worry about Ema running off on some hare-brained mission. Lana's legs were longer -- if nothing else, she could keep up.

She narrowed her eyes and laid out her terms. "Keep behind me at all times, don't argue with me in the field, and if something attacks, you are to run towards the last place we passed another person. Do I have your agreement?" She knew she did; Ema was already perking up at the idea of exploring, and she braced herself for something resembling full-on enthusiasm, should it come to that.

[scientist-skye.livejournal.com]

Lana was going to let Ema come along with her! It was almost like Christmas. Ema was going to get to put her scientific investigation skills to use and prove her worth to her sister all in one shot! More importantly, the sisters were going to spend time together. Such bonding moments were rare these days, and Ema was ecstatic, even with Lana's restrictions. If anything, Ema was further assured by them; Lana had managed to kick over an oil drum filled with water, after all. Rat monsters have nothing on that kind of power.

"I understand. Let me just grab my things." Without waiting for an 'okay,' Ema ducked back into her room to grab her journal and radio. She left her flashlight where it sat on Agatha's desk, since there wasn't any point in bringing it. Tying everything into a t-shirt as she had the night before, Ema went back to her sister. "Ready."

[fourstonewalls]

There was a voice in the back of Lana's head, whispering to itself as Ema downright bounced off to collect her things. It was a voice she had tried very hard to drown out these last few years. There was too much silence here. Too little work, despite the open-ended investigation that was Martin Landel's Insititute. Too much room to think, and apprehensions became words.

This is the way it should be.

No. No no no no no. It was too late; far too late, by Ema's account. The best thing she could do for her sister was accept her fate gracefully, and keep her safe to walk out of the courtroom freed of Lana's mistake.

When Ema re-emerged, Lana turned towards the mouth of the hallway without another word, and started walking. As they neared the end, she finally broke the silence.

"Your flashlight was damaged last night?" Lana had always carried a penlight; she knew for a fact that Ema had heard chapter and verse on the importance of being prepared. So if she had left it behind, it had better be. It made going for their things more important, though it would help to have better directions than 'upstairs'. If Ema didn't want to talk about what had happened, they could talk around it, but Lana needed to know what was out there in the shadows just as much as Ema did. She couldn't allow the fact that Ema was the star witness to stop her.

[scientist-skye.livejournal.com]

Ema fell into step behind her sister without a word of argument. Lana's lack of verbal communication didn't faze her in the slightest; part of being professional in the field was keeping the chatter down, after all. Of course Lana would get straight down to business, and Ema followed suit to keep from seeming unable or incompetent. The last thing Ema wanted was to somehow disappoint her sister further and be left behind the following evening.

The question seemed to come out of nowhere. Lana must have noticed that Ema had failed to bring her flash light. "Yeah." She was quiet for a few moments until she realized that Lana would probably want more information than a simple confirmation of the question. "I used it to beat back one of the rats last night, and then I tried to bash its heads in and missed. It's in pieces on Agatha's desk right now." There was a long silence as Ema realized just how brutal that really sounded. "They were attacking, I didn't have a choice..."

[fourstonewalls]

"You..." should be more careful with your equipment, Officer, was what she'd started to say. But Ema had no police academy training to begin with; to say she'd allowed her training to desert her was wholly incorrect. Instead, she snapped back over her shoulder. "When we get home, you're enrolling in the women's self-defense class down at the precinct." Lana couldn't protect her forever. A few more months, at best.

[continued here]