Something was wrong. Hitsugaya could feel it in his soul. The sky darkened and an ominous wind passed through the town, heralding something sinister. Before his very eyes, the whole place underwent a horrific transformation, particularly the town residents. They had become monsters with decaying skin, revealing muscle and bone beneath.

"Get out of the streets!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

There were far too many enemies for the patients to take on. If they stayed outside, they'd be killed.

"Come on!"

Hitsugaya dragged Hokuto along. He couldn't worry about everyone else, but he could at least help her. Despite their awkwardness, he couldn't just leave the girl behind.

As they ran through the streets, the feeling of ice-cold finger tips ghosted the back of his neck. A sense of urgency welled up in the pit of his stomach and propelled him towards the closest door. He didn't have time to be picky. As soon as they were inside, Hitsugaya threw himself against the wooden doors. The energetic pounding on the door said more about zombies' ravenous intent than their ghastly moans.

"Get the table! We need to barricade the door!"

He saw a girl grapple with the bartender, but he couldn't afford to help her right now. Just holding back the door required all his strength.

At first, the idea of being stuck in this meatbag dwelling sector at night seemed like a wonderful idea. So many targets, such an open field, and so many things that could be repurposed for use as weapons!

...Then he saw all the zombies. After the talk of those 'space barnacles' last night, it was fairly easy to identify them as such. But the only thing was, those things were supposed to only affect droids.

Now there were meatbag zombies. All over the place. And he didn't have a flamethrower. Oh no no no nononono.

In short, HK freaked out.

It was when she first got off the bus that Rangiku noticed something amiss. It took her a moment to realise what was wrong, she'd become so used to having him around that she'd never even thought... But not, he was... Gin was gone. It caught the breath in her throat in shock. She didn't even need to ask the nurse, reiatsu didn't lie, although she asked anyway, only to be told that he had been released.

Rangiku had just walked off.

Ichimaru Gin would never have just been released. He'd been so certain last night, so confident, and that would not have changed with the coming of morning. They'd done something to him and she intended to make them pay.

When she'd finally regained her composure (although there were no tears; she wouldn't cry for him, it would feel like a betrayal), she headed into the town, finding the bar with little trouble. It was smoky inside and dim and Rangiku headed straight for the bar, ignoring the looks from some of the patrons as she swung herself onto a bar stool. Information, perhaps that she could do.

[Free, Limit; any]

The bus ride had been uneventful. Tim was more than a little annoyed at the shirt he was wearing. He was sure it was a girl's shirt, but the nurse had assured him it wasn't, and had refused to get him anything else. The way too tight pants weren't really any help, and he was sure the color coupled with the tightness was some not-so-well-hidden hint that they knew exactly who he was. At least the coat covered up the stupid shirt. It was unnecessary, maybe, but it served it's purpose. And he could do worse than worn out blue Converse. Why they were blue and completely refused to match the rest of the clothes he'd been brought, well, who even knew.

The sack lunch was a ridiculous touch, as far as he was concerned. And the way the staff was littered all over the place, was this really necessary? It sure as hell wasn't like any hospital he'd ever heard of. Letting mental patients run around a town? That was crazy in and of itself.

He hadn't shaken the feeling he'd gotten last night. Blood all over the place, and he hadn't been able to reach Kon right away, and...

He stood on the street corner, unable to push the thoughts completely out of his head. All that blood, and it smelled real, and he couldn't save anyone because he couldn't be Robin and he wasn't cut out for it...

Dad, I'm sorry.

He forced himself to open his eyes. This was not the time or the place for that. Kon wasn't dead (well, okay, maybe he was, but he wasn't dead again), and the blood wasn't his fault. It wasn't like some other things, and it wasn't something he could have prevented or helped. It was just...something that had happened.

But he hated feeling like he had no control. He just couldn't stand that. So he stood there, fists clenched inside the too-long sleeves of the coat, and told himself to breathe. He had a few short hours to find something useful in this town. There was no sense in wasting the trip.

[Waiting for Alfred. He just doesn't know it yet.]

[from here]

Kenpachi stepped into the pure darkness of the room. If he were lucky, this was the kitchen. If he were really lucky, this room was filled to the brim with those nasty non-hollow monsters people seemed to talk about. Knowing his luck, however, it was probably filled with cute fluffy bunny rabbits or some other thoroughly disappointing surprise. He stepped forward, one hand out to feel for the counter, but instead his hands curled around something leather.

A chair like this? In the kitchen? There was only one reasonable answer to this conundrum. He probably wasn't in the kitchen.

"Damnit all to hell!" Kenpachi growled, picking up the chair and flinging it blindly across the room in frustration. He needed to find a weapon and find this rec field before the lack of a good fight drove him nuts.

[blindly stumbling from here]

His original plan of keeping by the wall forgotten, Kenpachi pushed forward in the darkness. There was a faint light at the end of this hall, probably from more of those light-thingies the other patients all seemed to have. Stepping a little further, that small amount of light was just barely enough for him to realize that wherever he was, it had just opened up by a lot.

He reached his hand to the right and felt a door. A locked door. So instead he reached his hand out to the left and felt the expanse his instincts had told him was there. Another hallway, probably. He was pretty damn sure he was supposed to turn left at some point, wasn't he? There were a hell of a lot of left turns in those instructions, so his best bet was probably to turn left.

The first door down this new hallway, surprise surprise, was locked. The second door, however, was not. First damn not-locked-or-broken-locked door he'd found up here, this had to be the right door. He turned the handle and stepped into the darkness.

[to here]

Just like usual, the intercom came on soon after dawn, pulling most patients out of their "sleep" to start a new day.

The voice was Lydia's, and she was quick to explain her presence. "I apologize for the Head Doctor's absence, but as he was busy doing paperwork all night long, he's feeling a bit exhausted this morning. He should be around for the next announcement."

With that taken care of, there was a slight sigh and then a shuffling of papers.

"Some new patients will be joining all of you this morning, so please do your best to make them feel safe and welcome. Breakfast will be pancakes with sides of tater tots, bacon, and scrambled eggs. There is also a salad bar and drinks such as water and juice available."

She was all business, not even taking the time to throw in a quip or side comment. Instead, she rushed to end her announcement.

"I hope you all have a good morning."

The intercom shut off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post.

Have your character wake up in a random room as we don't have roommates sorted out yet. Putting M??/F?? in the subject line is fine. ]