Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

The late-afternoon sun filled the large, open Sun Room. It was almost enough to make you sleepy, Euphemia thought, as she walked in, brushing a little glitter off her shirt. She didn't particularly feel like she was up to much - the worrying about everyone had drained her, as much as she'd tried not to think too much about it.

With that thought in the back of her mind, she walked over towards the bulletin board. It looked like it was cleared off at the end of the day, because now it was filled with information. She made a note of the 'primer' post, then began copying the maps onto some paper she'd taken with her from the Arts and Crafts Room.

One more thing struck her, though - the idea of visitors. Was this what all the announcements about graduates were? She thought of the others then, and frowned, hoping that neither of them were going through anything like that today.

[reserved for the tallmore.]

Spending all of brunch talking to a "Vulcan" and pretending he was just as much of a hardcore fanboy as Spock was one way to start a day.

Hey, at least the guy was coping. Different strokes and all that.

As much as it'd been half awesome, half totally awkward to hang out with some Trekkie over more free food (he still wasn't sure if he could keep down brunch 'cause of last night), he really did have other things he needed to do. What he really needed was to get back into Kisugi's office; the only advantage he had over Sam right now was he actually knew which door it was. Any other day, he'd be tryin' to figure out how to get himself one of those orderly outfits, see if he could make it far enough to her office to destroy "his" patient files. Dangerous? Hell yeah and he'd probably get caught, which would've been worth the risk if he thought he really could make it that far. Wasn't like he had anything to lose with that year, right? Problem was he was gimped, what with all his healing injuries and bruises all over his face drawing attention to him as a patient, and despite tryin' to see if he could get to a lone orderly, they seemed to travel in pairs. One guy, he might have a chance against, even like this.

A team, though...

Dean might jump the gun sometimes, but he wasn't stupid. These weren't odds. He wouldn't even make it to that bitch's office without gettin' his ass jumped, probably sedated again.

He supposed he could have Sam check out the other doors while he popped into Kisugi's tonight. Might work. He'd also only have a few minutes, way he figured it, unless Sam went through every single file in every doctor's office, which wasn't gonna make sense when they were just trying to find theirs. If Dean was "Eric Derringer" and filed under Kisugi, then it made sense Sam's could be too, with their "cover" also as brothers. He'd want to check Kisugi's before everyone else's.

Too bad he'd just been shunted outside by Hello Nurse. She claimed it was 'cause he needed some fresh air, but he had a feeling his stunts in town and slugging Slappy in the face probably had a hand in putting him in a wide open space where they could keep an eye on him and not in a closed space, like a room, for now. Dean was just glad at least after all that BS, it'd been worth it when he looked at what they had today that they didn't yesterday.

Now they just needed accelerant and they could torch the corpses upstairs.

The recreational field looked pretty much like it had the couple of times he'd been here - okay, one of them didn't count when he didn't remember it actually happening - a field with almost no pointy edges and that vine covered wall you could climb that'd lead to the courtyard on the otherside. Dean wandered about the fence, hands in his pockets as he surveyed the area, keeping it cool as he checked for any thing they could use, glancing at the wall as he passed by the shed before sweeping around. They could probably use a bat, although he wasn't sure if they could turn it into a stake or if anything needed staking here in the first place. It probably wouldn't even be the right kinda wood.

What he wouldn't do for his own arsenal again. A guy got spoiled on being able to just pop the trunk and pull out whatever weapon he needed for a job.

Dean missed his baby. He still had no idea what they'd done with the Impala. The idea of her gettin' stuck up on blocks or something was just another nightmare he didn't need.

Then there was the fact Sam had gotten bitten by something right outta the movies. Dean wanted to say it was nothing, just a bite they needed to make sure wouldn't get crazy infected, but he didn't want to take chances.

[from here]

Once he was on the roof, Kratos exhaled slowly. They were safe for the moment on the roof, although he couldn't afford to relax: they had no control whatsoever over what happened inside the restaurant, and judging by the bright flames issuing from a store in the distance, that meant another possible mad dash for safety in the near future. That was of course assuming the zombies didn't get onto the roof first, but Kratos doubted they had that sort of coordination.

He turned to find Stahn. "Are you alright? We still haven't seen any sign of Leon..."

Now was a good time to pause, gather their thoughts, and plan their next move. Objective number one would probably be finding their friend; after that, Kratos wasn't so sure. He was hardly in the mood for playing the hero.

[from here]

Junpei burst out of the Twin Pines, dragging his chair along with him. Wide eyed, with sweat dripping down his face (he was so not crying), the teen stared at the hordes of zombies in the street. What was he going to do? He could still feel Chidori's presence, so she had to be alright. She had to be - right? RIGHT?

"SENPAI!!" Junpei yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping one of his senpai would find him. He was alone, surrounded by zombies, and didn't have an evoker. He was scared. "MITSURU-SENPAI! AKIHIKO-SENPAI! WHERE ARE YOU?"

The sudden zombie apocalypse forced any thoughts that Junpei had been pissed off at Akihiko and avoiding him. Akihiko could punch a zombie and makes its head explode. Mitsuru could kick a zombie and make its head explode (no matter where she kicked it). Junpei? He could... swing his chair ineffectually at the closest zombie as it tried to eat his brains. Good thing he didn't have much of them; maybe they would get a whiff and decide to go after someone smarter. Which made him think of Yukari.

"YUKA-TAN!"

Shit. No one was there for him to hide behind to help him. Maybe he could find them the next street over. It had to be called Main Street for a reason, right?

He tried to sneak across the street, hoping maybe this hat they gave him had some kind of special stealth mode, but forgot he was still clutching to his chair. Junpei tripped over it, screaming like a little girl in the process. Zombies descended and the teen struggled,m kicking and punching and pathetically swinging the chair around in an attempt to get back to his feet. He cried out in pain when he felt something bite his ankle, but the chair came down and crushed that zombie's head. Struggling to his feet, Junpei just ran, swinging the chair back at the zombies he'd just escaped as he entered the alley across from the restaurant.

[to here]

The shift was familiar enough, in it's own way, but it came too soon. He wasn't sure if any of the others in the group aside from Stefan had been around long enough to witness this before, but he wanted to reassure them that this was just like the changes the institute underwent at night.

Except it wasn't, this time. Marcus could hear them before he could see them, clawing through the dirt, and paused with his mouth open, losing what he'd been about to say. Then the first hand popped out of the ground, much like the zombified followers of the Banished Pantheon often did. Marcus didn't wait for them to start pulling themselves out of the ground entirely before he spoke, loudly but clearly. "It's time to go. Stefan, Scourge and I will head to the Sheriff's office and secure it, you three get people in Magus Park and down South Street to go there, we'll have it cleared and safe to use as a rallying point. When that fills up we'll take the hardware store," He could hear the moans of the undead off in the distance.

"I suggest you only go halfway down South Street and then go up to Main Street to arm yourselves in the hardware store if you need it, that will also take you past the Sheriff's office so you can drop anyone off. I have extremely good hearing so if you shout loud enough I may be able to hear you if you get in trouble and need reinforcements," Marcus decided it was time to wrap things up when the undead were finally all the way up out of the ground. "Try not to get bogged down in too many fights if you can avoid it. Go!"

He didn't waste any time either, and took off at a brisk but not all-out pace for main street.

Being inside a building, the setting of the sun was not as prevalent as it would have been outdoors. Beatrix had enjoyed a pleasant meal alone after she had left the elf and her companion outside. She'd just been getting up, folding her napkin to set on her plate at the behest of her nurse, then the change came. Being right next to her nurse, it wasn't hard to miss.

"Fuck," the Bride stated, realizing that she was currently bereft of her sword and other armaments. That did not mean she wasn't still deadly. The assassin wasted no time, immediately grabbing her nurse and snapping the woman's neck while she was still in the twisted throws of change. The body went limp and hit the ground, laying still, once she'd let go.

More, there were more. Cold eyes darted around the restaurant, noting the other prisoners remained the same, though many were already frightened and others moving as she did, but the wait staff had all changed. They'd become...

"Zombies?" What the hell was this? Beatrix felt like she was in a bad adaptation of a George Romero film. This lead her to wonder if these were Type I or Type II zombies. Best to find out.

When the first zombie waitress came at her, Beatrix met it and , after blocking its attempt to bite her (duly noted), she grabbed its head and twisted sharply. The zombie's neck snapped and, just like her nurse, the creature went limp and fell to the floor. Type II it was. This was most beneficial as she didn't have anything sharp to...

The kitchen.

The Bride fought her way to the restaurant's kitchen, snapping a few more zombie necks along the way, and shoved the swinging double doors to the kitchen open with enough force to knock the zombies trying to come through back. She snapped the largest zombie's neck, the chef from the tattered remains of its clothing, and then headed further into the kitchen. Jumping up onto the stainless steel counter, she quickly crossed the kitchen amid the sea of the zombified kitchen staff. On the far wall, she could see the magnetic board holding the knives.

Kicking the nearest zombie in the head to get it out of the way, Beatrix jumped the aisle between the two counters and grabbed the knives. She was glad for the jacket she was wearing as it had large inner pockets (thank God for bad eighties fashion) and stuffed three of the knives into the pocket after wrapping them in a cleaning rag that had been on the counter. She then took the two largest knives left (there was no way she'd be able to take all of them) and brandished them at the advancing zombies.

Yes, a bad George Romero film. With a narrowing of her eyes, the assassin watched the small horde before leaping to the opposite counter to give her more maneuverability. She needed to find her associates, but clearing the restaurant to make it something like a safe-house would be a good idea. The children needed someplace safe to hole up in, after all. Zombie-killer was never a title she ever thought she'd have tacked onto her name.

The zombies in the kitchen didn't last long.

Okay, so it looked like there was no point in trying to get through a TV. It figured. It was either because their abilities were sealed off or the world inside the TV simply didn't exist here. It wouldn't have made much sense for the Head Doctor to bring them there when they had such an easy method of escaping/hiding out anyway. Yousuke told himself he shouldn't be surprised, but he couldn't help but be disappointed anyway.

Well, whatever. He hadn't eaten since breakfast on the bus, so he figured it was about time he put one of his coupons to good use. "Tasty Burger" sounded like a generic chain out of a kid's show or something. Some place the main characters would meet up at after school. In any case, it couldn't hurt to see if the burgers really were as tasty as advertised.

He pulled out his coupon and got in line. Looked like he was stuck with the basics...

[Mitsuru]

After lunch, Kanji had just decided to stay sitting at the table and slowly finish off his soda while he tried to think of something productive he could do while he had the chance here in town. ...Ah, who was he fooling? He had no clue what the hell to do. His senpai probably had a list of things they could all be doing while in town. Investigating stuff or mapping the landscape or gathering information from the townspeople or... something like that. But Kanji had no clue how to go about any of those things. He had the observational skills of a rock and him walking around trying to talk to everyone wouldn't end well.

But even he knew he couldn't just sit here, slurping on his soda all day. He just needed to think of something. Yeah. Something.

....

He drank some more.

[unknowingly for Zex]

Tim knew he shouldn't go and eat some greaseball burger meal, but really, the calorie content of a meal that he might actually enjoy was the furthest thing from his mind. Might as well get some use out of their bogus coupon book. It still struck him as really odd; this wasn't how mental facilities worked. It seemed like ridiculously low security to him, even with all the staff milling about.

Well, whatever. He was hungry and the sack lunch just wasn't doing it from him. So he ordered his meal, complete with the greasiest fries in the state of New Jersey, apparently, and sat at a table. The jeans were still annoying him. The skinny jeans fad was stupid, as far as he was concerned, because the pants were designed so tight that they were actually falling down if he sat. Wonderful. The next person he saw wearing these things voluntarily was getting punched in the face, just for being a moron.

...Okay, not really, but it was nice to entertain the thought.

He was glad to be away from Alfred for a few minutes, to clear his head. He wasn't sure where the butler - er, right, gentleman's gentleman - had gone, but he knew Alfred wouldn't follow him into a fast food place. Anyway, if there was anyone that knew how to take care of themselves in weird situations, it was Alfred. He'd be okay.

HEven with all the grease, the fries were palatable enough, and he opened another ketchup packet, glad for the chance to just sit here for a few minutes and think.

[Waiting for one impulsive speedster, and possibly one Superman clone.]

One second he was in the hallway, dizzy and sickened and barely able to focus as Youko picked him up (and he'd thought for a moment to warn her to be careful before remembering his shirei couldn't hurt her anyway, even agitated as they were) and then the next...in bed. Back in the sterile hospital room, with only the sharp scents of cleaners and laundry soap from the sheets, but nausea and a lingering pain behind his eyes still reminded him of the close call the night before.

Before he had time to think about it for long, though, the door opened and the nurse arrived with a bundle of unfamiliar clothing; she fussed over him briefly, trying to feel his forehead (from which he automatically grimaced and ducked away) and cooing over him like he was an invalid child. Of course he was a little feverish; it would only have been worse if the blood had touched him as it came so close to doing.

But the woman only bundled him into the clothing she'd brought without paying any attention to his protests, and he was hard-pressed to decide whether or not the shirt she gave him was any better than the bright yellow smiling face. And then he was led out to the front yard, through what he noted didn't look anything like the "holy ground" of the night before, and given a brown paper bag before being herded onto a bus with admonitions to "take it easy" ringing in his ears.

He dropped into the first empty seat he found, leaving the bag sitting next to him unopened as he leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. Food was most definitely not interesting at the moment, and he had things to think about anyway.

[waiting for Youko]

Scar quietly moved out into the hallway. As always the area was empty and devoid of any other patients. He wasn't quite sure if other patients - besides him and his oh-so-talkative roommate - occupied this hall in the first place, as he had never seen any. Then again, with so many new faces brought in it was rather difficult to tell. He wouldn't be surprised if suddenly one of the other doors opened.

The feline kept his light-stick off as he walked, instead relying on his own senses to navigate through the darkness. In the other hand he carried the steel pipe he had found a while ago, but he hoped he didn't have to use it. Scar didn't like unnecessary battle, and with his body the way it was hardly made him more enthusiastic about getting involved of such things.

Once again, he had failed in making any decent acquaintances to travel with during the night. Heading out alone wasn't among the wisest things to do, but it would be better than wasting yet another night in his room as he had done plenty of times in the past.

[To here]

S.T. woke in a rush from a dream involving playing referee to a wrestling match involving two topless girls and a leviathan-sized octopus waiting for a rematch with the Nautilus or the world's largest deep-fryer and dish of butter sauce. His fingers were in his mouth and he was trying to whistle, when the intercom took over the job.

He'd slept through dinner, and the smell of uneaten fish hung in the air. That explained the dreams, at least the parts involving sea life and condiments. He made short work of the potatoes and asparagus, washing them down with the ubiquitous and still-over-chlorinated, now-lukewarm tap water.

Opening the closet doors let out a gentle wave of aromatic brewing by-products; the beer was progressing. He picked up one small bottle without agitating the breadcrumbs off the bottom, and poured a small amount into the glass. Looked like beer, smelled like beer, tasted like flat beer and stale bread. He screwed the caps down on all of them, since it seemed like the time for explosions had passed.

Then he hunted down his toolbox and repacked. The syringes went back in the trash can, labeled and sorted. A spare t-shirt went in the toolbox, pre-emptive protection against bottle-rattling. The flashlight got a new layer of tape, and the glass cleaner went in its holster. Everything ship-shape, which meant it was time to shove off.

[to here]

[From here]

Just as in the hallways inside the building, the field looked completely deserted. von Karma saw not a single person nor creature upon it. Far to the northwest was his destination: an old supply shed that contained items that he would find marginally useful to defend himself -- at least until he could acquire something better. As much as he dreaded making that trek once again to that filthy, dusty old structure, he headed for it, keeping under the cover of the shadows of the main building. As he did so, he warily looked around for signs of potential danger, gripping his flashlight tightly in his hand in case of a sudden attack.

When the intercom's jingle sounded, there seemed to be some kind of tapping in the background noise, like letters being punched into a keyboard. It stopped and the Head Doctor chuckled.

"Hello, everyone! I'm actually taking a break from paperwork for once – everyone needs some recreational time, you know! – and of course, now we can all look forward to a scrumptious dinner from our cooks. Tonight, herb-seasoned grilled salmon is on the menu, served with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. All our regular drinks and vegetarian options are available, and for dessert, we will be serving yellow cake with a whipped cream icing.

"...Well! I can hardly wait to get my own dinner after saying all that. Good bye for now, everyone, and enjoy your delicious food!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

Endrance turned his head to look at the intercom, giving it a look that would wither an entire rose garden in an instant. He would never get used to ending up in his room again from somewhere else in the Institute.

He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, not sitting up just yet. He could tell already that his torso had been heavily bandaged, even more so than it had been the night before. The cuts on his arms were covered with fresh bandages, and the one on his cheek seemed to no longer be there at all.

Endrance had been expecting to wake up in a lot of pain, but even that seemed numbed. "They must have given me something," he murmured quietly, as he slowly sat up.

At that moment, his nurse came to get him, pushing a wheelchair along with her. "Peyton, dear, good morning. I've come to take you to breakfast, so..." He shook his head. "I'm fine. There's no need for that...I can walk perfectly well."

She sighed. Well, if he insisted, she wasn't going to stop him. She motioned for an orderly to take the chair away, and walked him to the cafeteria. Once they had gotten there, she pointed him toward a seat, then set a full tray of pancakes covered with syrup, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of orange juice in front of him. "Now eat all of that, Peyton, or else you won't be strong enough to keep walking like that."

He glared at her back as she walked away, then stopped suddenly. There was that faint pulse he'd felt the night before...it was exactly the same.

And so he completely ignored his food in favor of staring at the cafeteria doors, looking at every patient that came in.

[thread will be closed to Haseo. ♥]