[From here.]

But being outside was probably just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than it was being trapped inside the bus with that nurse.

Besides the many other deformed nurses that were roaming around here, Zero caught sight of numerous forms flying overhead, casting large shadows on the ground as they passed by. They looked like...eagles. But deformed and horrific-looking, just like the nurses. At first, they seemed content to simply circle overhead, screeching, like vultures swarming above a carcass. But then many of them suddenly swooped down and headed straight for some of the prisoners running in the street.

Kind of like the one flying at Zero right now.

"Kh--!" The once-Reploid barely managed to dodge the monster as it dived for him by falling to the ground and rolling back onto his feet. The bird flew upwards again, slowly flapping its wings, then circled around as if to try again, another eagle joining it. To avoid them, Zero quickly moved out of the open, where he was obviously a target, and circled around one of the buses, keeping his back to it for cover. But he knew he wasn't going to be safe here...not when there were nurses on the ground and so many eagles above.

Not since the night he had become temporarily stronger had there been so much visible chaos... And if that one prisoner hadn't started a riot, this wouldn't be happening right now...!

As he stood contemplating the best route for escape, Zero glanced around quickly, searching the fleeing prisoners for anyone familiar or anyone who might need help. He was defenseless, so protecting someone else would only get him so far (and he certainly didn't want a repeat of two nights ago), but they all might have a better chance of survival if they grouped up...

[Leanne, Lana, and Harvey, WHERE YOU AT.]

By the time the darkness fell and the strange fluxing of air swept across the buses, Tolten still wasn't certain what was going on. Only that there was some problem with the final bus, and that they had been waiting to resume.

Of course now it was very certain that there would be no return trip tonight. Whatever the implications of that were, the young king had no idea. Nor did he spare a thought to it. Rather he found himself lurching to his feet and losing his lunch in the empty seat space behind him.

It was the only reaction his body could offer to what he saw unfold before his eyes, a twisted carnival show of gore and depravity the likes of which he had never imagined. Even the creatures in the sewers were less violent and torturous than this!

He knew he didn't have time for pity or wonderment as to whether or not the staff was always like that, under the surface, but his mind was slow to follow. He could only stare, shaking, his mind buzzing with fear and disgust and sorrow.

This was simply wrong!

[For Locke!]

The wind was whipping hard enough that S.T. decided not to take his burger back outside. Eating dirt was all well and good on camping trips, but there was a roof and chairs that weren't too sticky right here. So he sat down at a table and started doctoring his burger with shelf-stable squeeze-packet mustard.

There weren't as many patients in here as he'd expected. How many of them were sick? A lot, if the number that had found their way to the bulletin in the grocery was only a sample. All of them trying to fake being O.K. until they lost control and ate their roommate. Their lack of appetite (for food, at least) was showing, though. People rarely thought about the things they did from day to day and what impact they had. These burgers had been trucked in, the ketchup had probably been grown in Mexico, shipped as tomatoes to China, processed and shipped back to the US. If this was Earth, yada yada. Maybe Landel just opened a portal and snagged stuff by the truckload. In which case they'd have to add how much damage interdimensional travel did to the ozone layer to his list of sins.

Either way, it was boring in here with no one to talk to. S.T. tried folding the aluminized paper from his burger into an origami boat, but it had absorbed too much grease, and sagged.

[free]

The buses’ trundling halt next to the park meant the “field trip” was officially in full swing.

Aidou couldn’t imagine there was much excitement to be had in the prospect. Assuming there wasn’t another zombie ambush or something similar, being able to roam Doyleton merely meant they had been transferred to a bigger cage until sundown. A bigger cage with nowhere to go.

The one new addition was the credit card. Aidou would’ve thought Landel would have wanted to get rid of the purchasing system, but apparently not. It was probably more enjoyable for him to watch and see what they would try to buy to better their stay, especially now, with his latest threat breathing down their necks. Aidou was tempted just to throw it away along with his sack of food, but pragmatism won out. In the end, he kept it in the pocket of his jacket. If an idea struck him, he would have it for later.

Since he had been in the aisle seat, Aigis had been required to file out behind him; once they were free and clear of the smelly contraptions he turned around to address her. “You have an idea of where you’re going, I presume? I expect you’ll want to look for your friends.”

[M63]

Dinner had been quiet, with Okita staying as silent as possible while Guy slept. It was concerning, actually, how long the man had slept this past day. Even as he finished his meal and the lights turned out along with that ominous message, Guy didn't stir. Okita had heard such things happened sometimes - people slept for longer and longer and then... The swordsman shook his head as if he meant to shake the very thought from his mind. Guy was stronger than that, stronger than a lot of them. He wouldn't go out like that. Not at least without a reason, a goodbye, some measure of warning.

The lights grew dim and winked out. The head doctor gave his little speech and Okita watched the speaker box on the wall with gradually waning interest and growing fear. People were going to grow sick, change, become horrific creatures, and those unaffected had a very clear choice at hand: kill their former friends or find a way to help them. Knowing Martin Landel, however, finding a cure would mean risking certain death for at least one person. Dropping his gaze from the wall, he knew he would volunteer if such a mission came.

His eyes fell onto Guy's sleeping form again and Okita finally got up, turning his head away as he coughed a few times. The sound seemed to echo in the room and he frowned, looking down at his hand. The napkin from his dinner tray served him well enough in cleaning up the red dots he saw and he quickly disposed of the offending thing in his desk drawer, locking it. Then, he made his way across to where Guy was, sitting down on the floor next to him. Maybe he shouldn't disturb the man's sleep in case something terrible had happened, but...

Okita reached out and gently shook Guy's shoulder. "...Guy-san? Guy-san, are you alright?"

The intercom chimed at the beginning of the hour, accompanied by the Head Doctor's pointed inflections.

"Goodness! Where did our time go? You would think a simple test would not occupy the entire..."

He trailed off, laughing nervously, the sound coming off closer to breathless from the speakers.

"Er, moving on! Our main course tonight will be fresh salmon, seasoned with the finest herbs and spices available to our kitchen staff and served on a beautiful bed of pilaf. For sides, you have your choice of steamed broccoli or roasted spring vegetables. You're also in for a real treat: Chef Woolstenhulme has prepared golden plum souffles for dessert! And let me tell you--they are simply divine. You will never have anything like it. You'd have to be insane to think otherwise."

There was an abrupt pause, as though the man realized the full extent of his inept phrase.

"...Well, eat up. I will see you at bed time."

The intercom clicked off.

This whole day had been quiet so far, and Kratos rather liked it that way. Aside from a mandatory therapy session, he had not been forced into talking with someone he didn't know under the pretense of making friends, nor had he been conversely accosted. There was still a report that he needed to give, if Sora would actually be around the next day for him to give it, but that was different. Reports and things of a more business-like nature agreed with him where small talk did not.

He was the first one into the showers for perhaps the first time, which meant that the often sought-after corner shower was now his for the taking. Kratos had no problem with communal showers, thanks to his time in the military, but the corner shower had this aura about it, this sort of vibe that clearly stated, "Do not bother me"--exactly what he was looking for, on a day where he'd enjoyed mostly peace and quiet.

Turning the water on, he waited for a few seconds under the spray to thoroughly soak his hair before reaching for the shampoo.

[OLD MAN CLUB MEETING NOW IN SESSION]

What an unproductive day this was so far. Doing nothing but sitting on a couch, watching the bulletin board and thinking too much about things...if only his injuries weren't keeping him from getting some decent exercise. (If only he hadn't let himself get injured, period, but...)

This shift, Zero was left with nothing to do but sit around, without the promise of a useful conversation like last shift with Nigredo. It wasn't like his other option was any better, though. Showers, already being a waste of time as they were, just sounded very uncomfortable, if not impossible, to do while wearing a sling and a cast. So when his chatty nurse came up to him at shift change and tried to get him to follow her to the showers, the once-Reploid refused to budge. She seemed surprised at his refusal, tossed a few 'why not's and 'we can do this and this to protect your bandages so they won't get wet's at him, but he stubbornly shook his head at everything she said. There was no way he was going in there in this condition. Too much effort for no gain. Why did getting clean matter so much, anyway? It had only been a few days since the last time he'd bathed. It didn't matter.

Thankfully, the nurse took pity on him (only because of his injuries, he was guessing) and gave up trying to persuade him to move. She left him alone with his thoughts, and the once-Reploid carefully reclined on the couch and lay his uninjured arm across his stomach, staring up at the ceiling.

... He supposed some quiet time to think wasn't all bad. He was feeling much better emotionally than he was this morning, mainly because he'd had time to let recent events sink in. Zex and Ema's fates had hurt at first, but by now he'd managed to channel most of that hurt into more resolve to fight. His conversation with Nigredo had helped keep his mind off of things and was enough to leave him wondering for awhile, even though figuring out what to do about Landel was more important than that right now. And, he had a new self-assigned mission for tomorrow via the bulletin board - to assist Ema's sister Lana in any way he could. Not to mention he'd learned about the existence of a town outside of this place....

...Alright. On second thought, the day was not as unproductive as he'd been thinking it was. Didn't mean Zero wanted to spend the rest of this shift just lying here, but at least he could say the times he was doing so earlier in the day weren't a total waste.

[free!]

Renji was in a weirdly good mood as breakfast finished. Brook was one of the stranger conversations he'd had in a while, and maybe that's what made it easier to feel less like punching everyone in the face.

Even with a light headache starting to build behind his eyes - maybe there was a storm coming or something - Renji managed to be something approaching polite to his nurse as she took him back to the room so he could grab his coat.

He also realized that he hadn't seen Sora at breakfast and asked the nurse if she knew what happened to him. He had to resort to describing Sora, since he couldn't remember the kid's fake name. But the nurse knew who it was and told Renji he was sleeping.

That was worrying. But Renji told himself it was nothing to freak out about yet. Maybe. He'd sure be checking in with Sora as soon as the kid woke up, and he wasn't going to stop feeling worried until he did. But until then, that also meant someone had to deal with Arts and Crafts for the day. One the way back out, Renji took a quick detour to the bulletin board. It was better to concentrate on business than worry anyway.

Out in the courtyard he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started wandering around, just trying to keep the blood moving. The cold didn't really help the headache, but he used to everything just sucking at random.

[Free to a good home]

A misplaced sense of familiarity met Barnaby the moment he opened his eyes, and the sight of the blank, white ceiling from yesterday morning greeted him. After rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, Barnaby sat up and felt around for his glasses. Had he blacked out again and wasted an entire night? Where was Kotetsu? And what had become of the man who had seemingly vanished before his very eyes at the end of dinner?

Once Barnaby slipped his frames onto his face, the world came into clearer focus, even if he didn’t get any answers out of it. He was in his room, and someone had apparently stripped him out of his street clothes in favor of the hideous hospital pajamas. Barnaby wasn't sure what he found more offensive -- that someone here had once again touched his things without his permission, or that he’d been undressed while unconscious for the second time since his arrival.

The thought made his skin crawl.

Just as he looked over to find a lump in the bed next to him, though, his assigned nurse came to retrieve him. He would have to confirm Klavier Gavin's whereabouts later. For now, he had no choice but to allow the nurse to escort him into the cafeteria. Strangely, she seemed to be under the impression that he and the other patients had slept soundly the whole night. While he might have assumed it was an act, Barnaby got the feeling that she genuinely believed what she was saying.

Regardless of her intentions, he knew she wasn't going to be any help. Instead of trying to ask her anymore questions, Barnaby left a note on the bulletin board concerning his roommate. If his observations from yesterday were any indication, he'd get some responses, at least. While he could have taken the time to leave something for Kotetsu, Barnaby didn't feel inclined to do so, especially when he knew he probably wouldn't check the board anyway.

He had no appetite this morning, but his nurse wouldn't leave him alone until she'd assembled a tray of fresh, fluffy pancakes for him. Honestly, Barnaby didn't see why some people felt the need to butt into his personal choices like this. At least there wasn't anyone forcing him to eat -- for now, at any rate. He sat down at an empty table close to the wall after setting his food down, privately hoping that she wouldn't try to find a "friend" for him to eat with this morning. He was tucked out of the way, so maybe she would forget about him for a few minutes as long as he didn't draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

Hands neatly clasped on the table, Barnaby didn't look at anyone in particular as patients filtered into the cafeteria for their morning meal. There were too many questions buzzing in his mind for him to focus on the names and faces of people he didn't care about. If Kotetsu wanted to find him, he could. It wasn't like Barnaby was going anywhere.

[For Kotetsu.]

[From here]

Hijikata tried the door, and finding that it wouldn't open, resorted to the method that had worked well for him in the past--namely smashing at it with him flashlight until it popped open, allowing him access to the greenhouse itself.

It was a bit of a shock, stepping from the cold outside air to the warm, muggy environment inside the building, and he wondered just what, exactly, the building used to maintain that sort of difference between inside and out when the whole building was made of walls you could see right through. He stepped further inside, closing the door behind himself and looking down the long, dark rows of plants inside. The atmosphere was oppressive, and the light that seeped in from outside cast strange shadows over everything, but he tried not to let that distract him from his task.

He moved past rows of out-of-season flowers and what looked like garden vegetables of various kinds and on towards where the herbs were being grown. He had no idea if anything here would actually be of use to him, but he figured he could collect what was here, and investigate what it could be used for later, preferably someplace with better lighting.

[From here]

As Hijikata stepped out into the cold night air, the radio in his sleeve came to life. He frowned, pausing to pull it out of his sleeve to better hear the conversation.

Unfortunately, while he recognized the names from his conversations with Souji, the actual message meant nothing to him. These people were still trying to come to their aid? Why wasn't there more than these occasional messages? With a grumble of annoyance, he shoved the device back in his sleeve. There wasn't anything he could do with that information, anyway. Instead, he turned his attention to the Greenhouse itself.

The building looked significantly less inviting at night than it did in the light of day, full of shadowy shapes and strange reflections. He checked the yard surrounding it before approaching the building itself, peering inside for any movement.

[To here.]

[From here]

Hijikata turned off the main hall and into darkness, forcing him to pull out his flashlight and switch it on. There was no one around, it seemed, just a dark, quiet stretch of hallway. Down at the end was the door he needed, but before he started towards it, he dropped the butt of the cigarette he'd been smoking and lit another. He didn't want to go through his supplies too fast, but limiting himself to one a night just wasn't going to happen.

Nicotine fix obtained, he set off down the hallway towards the door that lead outside.

[To here.]

[from here]

Anise made sure she had her chin up as she reached the hall just outside her friends' block. Maybe the others already had an idea of how she felt, from seeing the morning's bulletin conversations. It was hard to say if that meant they ought to talk about it, or if there was nothing that needed to be said.

In any case, this was probably a good spot to wait at. Anise walked until she was across from the entrance to the M-B block and stood aside by the wall there. She heard voices from the surrounding hallways, which meant several other patients were out and about. It probably wouldn't be long before her friends showed up.

As she waited, Anise set her weapon down for a moment, its heavy, flat top letting it sit upright on the ground. With her free hand, she idly tugged at a few out-of-place strands of hair, trying to keep her mind from wandering too far towards anything too distressing.

[Guy and Claude!]

[from here]

Still nothing out of the ordinary here. Soma kept jogging, keeping her eyes peeled for any movement in the shadows ahead.


[to here]

[from here]

"It really isn't far to the hallway upstairs."

Lust could see the door to the stairwell now, at the edge of the light from their torch. She looked to Scar again.

"What do you think we'll find?" she asked, hoping to steer the conversation to something that wouldn't result in them ramming heads like mountain sheep. And she was somewhat concerned over what was in this room. Things that were supposed to be theirs, but...what did that mean?

And how much would it really tell them?

[from here]

"I know you didn't believe at least half of what I told you at breakfast."

And she supposed that was being a bit generous. But why should he have believed her? She really couldn't blame him. This place was full of half-truths and illusions as it was.

"But I hope you at least verified what I told you. I have no reason to lie to you, Scar. What purpose would lying to you about this place possibly serve me?"

If nothing else, she figured an appeal to logic might have more impact on him. She really didn't have any reason to lie to him. Not about the Institute. And for goodness sake, it wasn't as though she could carry on a lie. All he needed do was ask someone else!

Most of the time, Guy focused on not letting the head doctor's words get to him too much. The man put on a show in order to get under their skin, and usually he tried to just ignore it. In this case, though, there were too many ominous hints dropped. First was the outright mention of Special Counseling. It was common knowledge that it happened every other night, but it was never good to be reminded of that. After that, Landel mentioned continuing one of the things that had been introduced by Aguilar -- just judging from what Guy knew, that had to be those missions, like the one that Ilia had supposedly went on. As if they needed more things to worry about.

But it was the man's final words that really got to him. Several of you have a special appointment with me, he'd said. Guy knew that could only be one thing: the coliseum. Seeing how Ilia had been planning to go there both tonight and the one before it, there was little doubt in Guy's mind that she and her companions were the ones he was referring to.

"Dammit," he said under his breath, though he didn't really want to catch Okita's attention. His roommate likely had enough to worry about without more added on. Guy could only imagine how Claude was reacting to all of this...

He wondered if they should make some attempt to go to the basement and try to physically bar Ilia and those kids from going in. Guy didn't know if that would really work, but it was something he could bring up to Claude, if nothing else.

Either way, there was no point in wasting more time. Guy quickly changed into his normal outfit and then grabbed his sword, flashlight, radio, and the bone bracelet that the ferryman had given them. Those four things were usually the only items he took with him these days, and while it wasn't exactly traveling light, he could manage it.

"Good luck tonight," he said to Okita, managing a smile for the man before he left the room and took off down the hall.

[from here]

The main hall was dead quiet as Soma rounded the corner. The last few nights, this place had been bustling with fellow patients; the sudden calm was very nearly unnerving.

Still, she tried to put it out of her mind. Marie didn't sense anything out of the ordinary--yet.

[to here]

Like clockwork, the intercom came on at the end of the hour. And like clockwork, the Head Doctor began the first of his concluding daytime announcements with abnormal levels of cheer and good will.

"Good evening, everyone! What a fun-filled day we've had, hm? You must all be tuckered out and ready for bed."

Why, the man seemed unwilling to say.

"Never fear. We're nearing the end." He paused thoughtfully. "The main course of our dinner menu tonight is gourmet spaghetti topped with our signature marinara sauce. We have garlic bread and Caesar salad for your sides as well as your choice of vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate ice cream for dessert. As usual, we will have our assortment of drinks and vegetarian alternatives. If you're partial to that little extra omph, we have parmesian cheese available upon request."

There was another pause, this time with papers rustling in the background. "Take care not to stain your letters now. Bon appétit!"

The intercom clicked off.