Play@YSDC

Posted: **Tue May 01, 2007 2:18 am**

The bags she carried dragged at her arms and yet she barely felt them. Her feet worked with a purpose of their own. The little dears were all asleep. She was vaguely aware of this as she settled down the two large bags onto a square of linoleum, obsessively nudging the two bags until they were both on the one tile. As she turned, the bag's loose side slipped a little, exposing several links of slightly rusted chain. She pushed open the double doors, a blast of heated air brushing the hair from her face as she passed beneath an airconditioning vent, on her way to collect more of her bags.

The faces were all ambiguous blurs to her. She didn't recognise them as belonging to people. She recognised nothing but the duty she was doing and the dreams of drifting black clouds rolling across London. She recognised nothing but the metallic screech she heard inside her own head.

A droplet of blood slipped from her nose and ran a smooth arc over her lip, into the gap, onto her teeth. It tasted like iron.

She collected the last of her bags. One containing a tool box and the last of the padlocks and pollyfiller. The other containing packets of crisp and other delicious edibles. She vaguely thought she smelled roasting meat as she re-entered the hospital.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 4:25 am**

Jason Brown's doctor was busy. The appointment line is at least two hours long. Not that people were lined up. They are all just sitting down in the waiting room or strolling around the hospital. There seems to be a lot of people strolling around, a few more then usual who are looking very agitated.

He sees a familiar woman enter the hospital, carrying a couple of very large bags. He seems to recall that she used to volunteer at the Children's Ward. Her eyes are glazed and her face slack as though she has just heard the worst news of her life and is still incapable of coming to grips with it. Jason's mother had worn a similar expression for a few weeks after finding out how sick he was. Nowadays, she smiled more regularly. Nowadays, she hardly looked at him.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 10:24 am**

Jason wasn't about to stick around to find out what the woman was sad about, eventhough it was unlikely for her to recognise him in the sea of people floating around the hospital. He had become quite adept at dodging potential sources of grief and sadness. Life was too short, especially for him.

He quickly dropped the book he was reading into his wellfilled backpack and fled onto the stairway up to the second floor. Perhaps there was someone he knew at the Children's Ward. Calling them friends would be a lie, but at least he could relate to some of them.

Still, he'd have to be careful, as it would mean having to dodge the woman again...

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 11:19 am**

Jason gets up to the second floor easily enough by going up the access ramp. The elevator was on another floor and there was already a line. The stairs were directly in her line of sight. The only sneaky way was up the sloping tiled floor, though the walk makes him feel already the fatigue nibbling at his bones and making his muscles feel as though they were drooping.

This floor seems less busy, at least, and he finds it easier to hear himself think. Soft strains from a crackling radio station seem to come from the Male Ward. The nurse's station is deserted. The nurses must be all doing their rounds or were otherwise occupied. Not everyone in sight was a patient. For some reason, it seemed like a lot of visitors had been attracted to the hospital on the same day.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 11:30 am**

Jason follows the steady flow of people until he reaches the doors of the children's ward. There he leans against the far doorframe and looks in, trying not to get affected by the smell which quickly brings back bad memories.

He cautiously throws a glance over his shoulder, to make sure the woman hadn't caught up with him yet.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 11:32 am**

She's nowhere in sight.

The Children's Ward seems quieter then usual. It's as though they were all asleep. The chair where the duty nurse often sat was empty. In the left-hand corner of the room, were a couple very large of bags bulging with all sorts of odd shapes.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 11:49 am**

All beds are filled. Crowded room, yet silent? Odd... there used to be always at least one snivveling bastard crying or one attentionwhore ruining for the rest of the kids. And what's with those bags?

Jason throws another quick look over his shoulder and enters to take a closer look.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 12:03 pm**

The double doors swing shut on weighted hinges, closing with a soft click, as Jason comes further into the room. He recognises a few of the children. Lessica, a once beautiful six-year-old girl with childhood leukemia whose long, golden curls have lost their lustre over the past few months, and whose once excitable face is now slack in the repose of sleep. Oliver, a hawkish twelve-year-old asthmatic who always seemed to keep coming back to the Children's Ward. His brown hair is flopped across the pillow, his gangly arms hanging over the edge of the bed, his eyes are closed. Steven, a fourteen-year-old boy suffering from AIDs, who's unending amount of energy has seen him bounce in and out of hospital, even when his damaged immune system was overrun by some new disease, is now snoring loudly.

There are five large bags in the corner. Each one can easily fit a computer monitor worth of goods and each one is filled to bulging. They are zipped up, though, so he can't see what is in four of them. The fifth one, though, has ripped along the seams and a few fat links of rusted chain are visible.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 12:11 pm**

Rusted chains? In the children's ward? What the hell is that crap doing here... As if these kids weren't sick enough, they store random crap here too? Slightly pissed off he takes a closer look at the ripped bag.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 3:38 pm**

Jill Adams finishes lugging her last bags up the stairs and stops for a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow. Luckily she still retained some of her old athletic muscles. Picking up the bags again she drags them to the doors of the Children's Ward, back to where she left her sleeping darlings. This was the last load and now she would be able to make them safe before ... she shakes her head and pushes open the ward doors.

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2007 4:42 pm**

Jason is surprised by the schreeching door and quickly abandons the idea of investigating the bags. Instead he casually walks towards the other end of the room, heading for the balcony. He doesn't even turn to see who it is that entered. He can guess well enough...

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2007 3:29 am**

It is only after Jill Adams places the bags on the floor that she becomes aware of the child moving out onto the balcony. He can be fetched now or later. The balcony was twenty or thirty feet from the ground. There was no fear of him getting lost that way. She now had all the goods she needed to shut the door. The vents had already been blocked by some other kind fellow. That was one less thing she needed to bother with. The doors, though, needed to be chained shut. The metal would keep it closed. The metal would keep it all away.

In the meantime, Jason is steadily crossing the room toward the door that led out onto the balcony.

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2007 4:04 am**

As Jill begins unpacking the chains and padlocks she calls over her shoulder. "Hello, Jason. I'm glad you're here. I brought some more of those comic books you like." Her voice is expressionless and flat. She starts feeding the chains through the handles of the doors.

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2007 9:52 am**

Jason stops walking abruptly. How did she recognise him from behind? Surely, there must be more than one kid with jeans and baseball cap...

He slowly turns around and spots her securing the chains to the door.

"Wha-" Jason says, almost yelling, but he stops himself, afraid from waking the other children.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he whispers with his heart pounding in his throat.

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2007 2:04 pm**

Jill pulls the chain tight and snaps a padlock through two links. As she studies the door she quietly replies. "I know, it's going to be horrible. But at least I can keep all of you safe in here. When I finish this I'll find those comic books for you." She pulls more equipment out of her bags: a hammer and nails, and small, oddly shaped pieces of lumber, which look like discards from some other project. She seems to change her mind and instead picks up another chain and padlock and turns to head toward the balcony doors.

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2007 3:39 pm**

"What are you going on about? You can't lock us in here." Jason whispers while slowly walking backwards.

"I'm not even supposed to be inhere..." Jason adds.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 4:02 am**

Jill gives Jason a smile that somehow makes her countenance even more disturbing. "Oh, but it's good that you are. Since you're here I can keep you safe, just like all the rest of these wonderful children. It'd be so sad if you were caught outside when ..." The artificial smile drops from her face and a glazed look covers her eyes. She walks over to the balcony, pulls the doors securely shut, and starts sliding a chain through the handles.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 10:13 am**

Jason slips into the lavatory and searches for a way to lock the door behind him. If the main door can't be locked, he'll lock himself in a stall.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 11:06 am**

The toilet is relatively spartan. The doors to the four cubicles are closed and the lights are steady and give the room a distinctly antiseptic look. This door cannot be locked though there is a door that leads into the Male Ward. However, unless the Children's Ward door is locked from the inside - thus suggesting there are no children in here - the door into the Male Ward is locked, and vice versa.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 12:30 pm**

Jason enters a bathroom stall and closes the flimsy prefab door behind him. He calmly dials the police on his mobile.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 12:48 pm**

The number he calls isn't the local police. The only number he has listed is the one near his home, a fair way west of the hospital. The phone rings seven times before there is a click to signify someone answering. Instead of speech, however, he gets a jarring screech that tears through his mind. He instinctively jerks back, holding the mobile phone at arm's length. THe mechanical screech dies back as a crackling voice comes through.

"...hear me? ... can hear me? ... all gone ... tried to ... hurts ... please, don't look up at the ... tried to call ... don't come ..."

The voice is overwhelmed by the mechanical screeching and his mobile phone disconnects as it momentarily loses the signal.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 3:03 pm**

Jill continues securing the doors, especially intent on sealing the all cracks. Darling Jason needs a little privacy right now. I'll make sure the door to the Men's Ward is secured once these two are finished.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2007 3:13 pm**

"This isn't happening... This isn't happening..." Jason mumbles at his cellphone as he dials 112.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 5:12 am**

Beep ... beep ... beep ...

They're engaged. All lines seem to be tied up. No matter how long he waits, he doesn't get through.

(well, this post might only matter if he waits only a good ten minutes or so, but I'm assuming he doesn't, if he will, I'll show you what happens in the next post - though you may get a repeated message - whether there's a pot of honey at the end of the waiting rainbow that he can find if he waits long enough, well, that's up to your character to find out if he so dares...)

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2007 9:40 pm**

Jason plops down on the closed toiletseat. What to do, what to do?

Telephone not getting through or even getting something which he doesn't understand. Locked into the children's ward with heavy chains and padlocks. Plenty of other bags with god knows what inside.

The ward is full though, but would these children even stand a chance if they tried to overpower the nurse? And even if there was a chance, would they even want to try?

Jason considers his options and comes up dreadfully short...

"What is going on? Please explain this to me..." he pleads through the toilet's flimsy door.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 3:25 am**

"What's that? I can't hear you clearly." Jill is carefully filling the cracks around the doors. She begins humming, but no melody is apparent.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 9:15 am**

Jason sighs. He wonders if he should try to call the police again, but decides against it out of fear of using up his battery.

The humming volunteer doesn't seem to want to share whatever is troubling her, and as such, Jason doesn't feel like pressing the matter.

How about vents? he thinks. He tries to remember if there are any airducts that would be large enough for him to fit inside...

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 10:42 am**

He can see the corner of one of the large grilles that cover the manhole. It appears to be blocked by something from the other side. Sticky tape? Or a sheet of cellophane? It's hard to be sure. The screws on the corner look pretty tight, though.

"Attention emergency personnel," says an unfamiliar voice over the intercom. "An emergency situation has developed. Will everyone who is not otherwise occupied, please go down to Accident and Emergency. I repeat, an emergency situation has developed. Will everyone who is not otherwise occupied, please go down to Accident and Emergency."

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 3:30 pm**

Jason takes out his pocketknife, clicks out the screwdriver and tries lightly unscrew one of the vent screws, just to see if it was possible.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 3:58 pm**

Jason can't reach the high ceiling from the toilet. Only if he were to climb up onto the toilet cubicle's wall itself and sat himself on the corner of where one cubicle meets the other, could he reach it. Once there, he would need to steady himself to reach the screws.

Jill notices the children seem to be lying very still. She can hear their snores at the back of her fogged mind and it tugs at her awareness before sliding away. She is dimly aware that it is not yet the time for sleeping and that, were they awake, they might have been able to help her. The thought causes her to look around the room instinctively, lost in a reverie of opposing concerns, and her eyes fix on the words someone has written in large loopy writing on the notepad affixed to each patient's bed.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 4:10 pm**

"Jason, I'm going to need to secure the toilets next. Finish up, please." Jill walks over to one of the beds and picks up the patient's chart.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 4:13 pm**

The loopy handwriting seems nonsensical, a list of odd lettering and numbers. However, in the familiarly tight, condensed script of a doctor's handwriting, she can see written at the very bottom:

I stole your consciousness away with drugs but only to keep you safe, without fear, as what can't be stopped comes into this world.
Don't wake up.
Doctor Bernard Scott.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2007 5:56 pm**

OCC -

imme wrote: "Jason, I'm going to need to secure the toilets next. Finish up, please." Jill walks over to one of the beds and picks up the patient's chart.

Jill can enter if she wants to, just the individual stalldoor is locked, not the entire lavatory.

Posted: **Sun May 13, 2007 12:25 am**

Well that sure was nice of him. She walks over and pats the sleeping child on his head. Keep sleeping, darling. She goes back over to her bags and gets supplies to secure the toilets. Her arms full of construction equipment, she pushes open the door. "Knock, knock, Jason. Take your time in there, I'm just going to patch things up. Time is limited, you know." She begins her tuneless humming again.

Posted: **Sun May 13, 2007 9:00 am**

The door to the Men's Ward is only a few feet away. In mere moments, Jill is able to start work on the flimsy door. It is a shame the doors here are not made from sturdier stuff although for her purposes, door width is not the vital part. It does not matter how thick the walls, windows, doors and linings are, so long as there are no gaps.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 11:27 am**

"What is going on? Can you explain this to me? Why are you doing this?" he asks through the toilet's flimsy door as the woman works on the door seperating the men's toilet & the children's toilet.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 12:38 pm**

Jill hammers scrap wood onto door to keep it closed and fills in the cracks around the edges. "Oh, Jason, honey. Don't be afraid. It's going to horrible, but that's why I've come here to make sure that all of you darlings are safe. The black cloud's coming and ... would you like to read the new comic book I brought?"

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 12:46 pm**

"Dark cloud? What do you mean? A terrorist attack? A chemical accident?" Jason asks trying to make sense of what the woman is saying. Afterall, the P.A. did say something about an emergency, so maybe something happened.

"How would you know about it in advance?" he ponders half aloud.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 1:10 pm**

"I ..." Jill pauses in her work and her shoulders slump. In a faraway voice she says, "I don't know." She shakes herself and begins humming again, fastidiously checking and re-checking her work. "There must not be any cracks or gaps. Would you like to help me check to make sure I've filled them all?"

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 1:26 pm**

Jason slowly opened the toilet door and took a careful peak outside.

If Jill really wanted to hurt him, she could've done so earlier, couldn't she?

But that still doesn't change the fact she's acting like a looney...

But what if she's right?

Was this the famed Stockholm syndrome in action? A bit early for that, no?

Jason stepped out and checked the seams, but carefully stayed out of Jill's armreach.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 1:44 pm**

The gap between door and frame needed to be filled. The sink plug holes and toilet were both considerable sized gaps. The vents all seemed blocked by that cellophane-like object on the other side of the grille but that could not be assured.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 1:55 pm**

With Jill busy, Jason sneaks by and goes into the ward. He flips on the tv, and quickly lowers the sound to make sure no one wakes up yet.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 2:08 pm**

Flickering static fills the television screen but some kind of a show can be glimpsed, as though the television is tuned in between channels. Something moves beneath the static, glimpses of things that turn his stomach and intrigue him, patterns that explain concepts his rational mind cannot grasp but his subconscious seems to find reason in it.

As he watches, he sees footage from a newsroom and can hear the voice being only somewhat drowned out by static, the actual words too quiet to hear. A popular reporter whose name Jason cannot remember, is discussing an image in the top right-hand corner of the screen that Jason can't quite see. The static is simply too bad, sometimes obscuring the television screen entirely, making it difficult to see anything, yet implying such terrible things. Concepts, thoughts, theories, all swirl about his head, making him feel somewhat warm. It is as though he could grasp something incredible and terrible if he could only pay enough attention and yet part of him warns that he might just want to switch the television set off.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 2:20 pm**

Jason looks at his watch: 16:35.

There wouldn't be news at this hour unless something terrible happened. His gut tells him to turn it off, but his curiosity wins.

Reluctantly he cautiously turned up the sound.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 2:30 pm**

Voices, words, indistinct mutterings all flow into his ears. He starts, slowly increasing the volume until it reaches halfway to maximum before the remote control slips from his fingers. Still he stares, his mouth hanging slack, his muscles relaxing as images flit across his eyes.

Screaming, running people, followed by a smog that strips the flesh from bone, tatters of bone then disappearing like paper in the wind and then nothing. The line of smog crossing buildings, fading paint, peeling plaster, cracks and lines of multi-coloured rust that grows and bloom like fungus crusting up the sides of cars. Cracking glass. The rumble that comes from beyond and above.

It twists and turns, its limbs a'sunder.

Things beneath that slither in slime. Toad-like heads that turn towards a sun passed over by a cloud that should not be over.

Jason's eyes instinctively close but the weight of what he almost sees sears his mind. He feels it burn inside of him and feels the twisting and turning of the other places. His mouth and throat fill with water and he gurgles as it runs down the corners of his lips and down along his chin. His lungs heave, wet and slippery, but he manages to force it outward. One of the children sit up in panic but his back is to the child though he hears it gurgle and thrash behind him. His eyes roll up so that only the whites are visible and he feels the panic set in.

As Jill finishes with the Men's Room door, she can hear the television noise rise as a blast of static assaults her ears. Beneath it all, she can hear some kind of a commotion.

Posted: **Mon May 14, 2007 2:45 pm**

His fault... It was all his fault... Wasn't it?

Turning on the TV, the child behind him? All his doing, right?

Jason whimpered for help, dropped to his knees and scurried for the remote to turn this... this infernal machine off.

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 2:49 am**

Jill nods in satisfaction of a job well done and goes to check on her darlings. "Jason? Honey, is everything okay?"

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 6:43 am**

Jason is on the floor, his front covered in water, groping for a remote and catching hold of it as Jill re-enters the room. Dahlia Summers sits upright on her bed, her small hands clawing at her throat, her eyes rolling in her skull as she sputters, spitting water out with each cough. Her eight-year-old body contorts with the effort.

The television set is on and garbled voices can be heard. A glimpse at the television screen brings flashes of dreams back to mind.

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 9:08 am**

"Help 'em!" Jason says as he grapples the remote and switches the tv off. (since he hasn't looked back yet, he doesn't know it's a she)

As soon as the television has stopped channeling pure hell into the ward, Jason races to his feet and runs for his poor victim.

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 12:28 pm**

"Would everyone please remain where they are?" asks a calm voice over the intercom. It sounds like the hospital administrator, Brian Williams. "A chemical incident in London Central has caused massive storm clouds containing high quantities of dangerous substances. Could everyone please remain inside and, where possible, find a secure place to stay until the all-clear is called? Thank you and have a good day."

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2007 2:03 pm**

"No, no oh no. Oh no, no." Jill rushes over to Dahlia and desperately tries to do something to help her.

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2007 4:24 am**

Jill attemptsCPR on the little girl but the girl just continues to sputter and cough, struggling against the large woman, though her struggles are weakened by the drugs in her system.

Do you continue or stop after the first six seconds?

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2007 9:03 am**

"No, no, no! You have to clear the water from her lungs first." Jason says as he attempts to help as well.

He also tries to focus on finding a way to reverse what he's done, but how? He still can't understand what happened... Did he really transfer this from him to her?

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2007 9:23 am**

Before they manage to do anything else, Dahlia manages to vomit up the rest of the water and flops back against the bed, breathing heavily. Her pupils are very dilated, her breathing shallow and wet, her pulse slightly weak. She just lays there, as though too weak to move.

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2007 9:32 am**

Jason breathes a sigh of relief and wipes the sweat from his forehead.

After a few moments of reflection, he rolls up a blanket, rolls the weakened child on her side and puts the blanket behind her back to prevent her from rolling back on her back. This should prevent her from sufficating if she happened to cough anything else up.

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2007 1:43 pm**

In a fake, cheerful voice Jill scolds Jason. "Okay, no more television for now. We don't want to wake anyone else up, do we?" With an added sense of urgency Jill grabs her polyfill and scours the rooms (the ward and the toilets) for any last gaps to be filled.

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2007 4:38 pm**

Jason sits down on the ground next to Dahlia's bed. With his eyes closed and his back against the wall, he can't seem to rationalise what is happening.

Posted: **Fri May 18, 2007 4:31 pm**

Jason realises that trying to figure this out isn't going to help & that he should just go with the flow and hope for the best. He gets up and checks Dahlia's breathing.

After that, he quietly strolls to the front of the ward and checks the main door for gaps in the polyfill isolation-thing.

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2007 2:35 am**

It takes a good five minutes of pain-staking searching before Jill can be satisfied. The warm of glow of triumph that passes over her clarifies her mind. Her recent memories become a jumble of vague, blurry images and sounds as she stands blinking and confused, the polyfill can in her hand, the chained door in front of her.

This place seems so familiar. Where was she?

The memories start flowing back in fragmented lumps.

"Would everyone please remain where they are?" asks a calm voice over the intercom. It sounds like the hospital administrator, Brian Williams. "A chemical incident in London Central has caused massive storm clouds containing high quantities of dangerous substances. Could everyone please remain inside and, where possible, find a secure place to stay until the all-clear is called? Thank you and have a good day."

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2007 4:15 am**

"A what? A chemical accident?" Jill looks around the room, taking in her surroundings for what seems like the first time. "How did I ...? This is the Children's Ward." She runs a hand through her hair, willing her mind to sort itself out. Seeing Jason, she turns to face him. "What's going on? Why are the doors chained? And why is everyone asleep?"

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2007 4:51 pm**

"No chemical known to man makes monsters magically appear on the tv. If you inhale it sure, but no chemical spreads by tv cable, now does it?" Jason replies as if he was coldly reporting this weekends cricket scores "That, or I'm crazier than a coconut..."

"As for the chains, you did that. Same with the polyfillthing." he says as he studies the polyfill on the main door "To protect us. From that crazy batshit fog. You were in zombie-mode somehow."

"And the other kids? Drugged, I guess. So much the better, right?" he says as he turns to face Jill.

Posted: **Thu May 24, 2007 9:12 pm**

"I, well, I ..." Jill slowly lowers herself to sit on the edge of the nearest bed, careful to not disturb the sleeping child. "Hold on, everything is a little confused."

Posted: **Fri May 25, 2007 10:04 am**

"Take your time, it's not as if we're going anywhere." Jason says as he sits down with his back against the wall. He pulls his sketchpad out of his backpack and starts to draw. Somehow his subconcious mind keeps pushing him to draw what he saw on the television screen. Slowly he gives in. Afterall, aren't kids in psychiatry usually encouraged to draw what troubles them?

Posted: **Fri May 25, 2007 7:30 pm**

Jason sings a little as he sketches, humming over some parts of the song and sometimes using his pencil as a drumstick.

"A groan of tedium escapes me, startling the fearful.
Is this a test? It has to be. Otherwise I can’t go on.
Draining patience. Drain vitality.

But I’m still right here, giving blood and keeping faith. and I’m still right
Here.

If there were no desire to heal
The damaged and broken met along this tedious path I’ve chosen here,
I certainly would’ve walked away by now.

I must keep reminding myself of this...

If there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through this tedious path I’ve chosen here,
I certainly would’ve walked away by now.
And I still may..."

(Tool - The Patient, 2:00 & on)

Posted: **Mon May 28, 2007 11:37 am**

The room grows somewhat darker as the electric lighting has to take up the burden of keeping the room well-lit. The curtains no longer glow with sunlight. There is the sound of people rushing about outside, voices being raised and lowered. The handle on the Children's Ward double doors dips, then rattles, as someone from outside tries to open it. Then there is the sound of beating hands and fists.

"Alice! Alice!" a strained male voice cries.

Posted: **Mon May 28, 2007 1:14 pm**

"And so it begins." Jason says theatrically, probably to coat his own fear.

He then turns his attention back to his sketchbook, where slowly a toad-like head takes shape. It seems less threathening now than before, with it's eyes averted.

Posted: **Wed May 30, 2007 2:56 am**

Jill jumps when the man starts banging on the door and rushes over. "Don't worry! They're safe in here. You should ... you should go take care of yourself. I'll watch over these kids." She wipes tears from her face. "Jason? Do you have a phone with you? Could I borrow it to call my husband?"

Posted: **Wed May 30, 2007 8:46 am**

Jason digs up his cellphone from his backpack.

"I already tried to call the police, didn't work. But you're welcome to try." Jason says as he slides the cellphone over to Jill.

Posted: **Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:23 am**

Horns bleat outside. Someone on the inside of the hospital screams, followed by another, and yet another. A chorus of screams wail, tearing at the air. Footsteps can be heard running past the ward. The man continues to bang on the doors. "Alice! Alice!"

Posted: **Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:05 pm**

"They're safe inhere, for now. Look after yourself. We're taking care of the kids." Jason says through the door as he puts his sketchbook into his backpack "Maybe the toilets at the end of the hall are a good place to hide."

He then walks to the beds and starts looking for patients with a chart marked 'Alice'.

Posted: **Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:26 am**

The man screams, his screaming hitting a fever pitch, drowning out all thought, followed by a terrible crunching sound and the wet smack of something hitting linoleum. Both manage to keep calm under the onslaught of screaming that echoes down the halls outside. A terrible buzzing can be heard.

Alice is a four-year-old girl with her leg in a cast. Her brown hair lays smoothed across her pillow, her little brow furrows in her sleep.

Posted: **Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:52 am**

Desperately Jill punches in her husband's phone number. As the sounds in the hallway reach a nightmarish level her knuckles turn white and she has to conciously keep herself from smashing Jason's phone.

Posted: **Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:11 pm**

A crackle of static erupts as the person on the other end picks up. "Hello dear," says her husband's voice, flat and emotionless. She can hardly hear him over the buzz of static. "When are you coming home?"

Posted: **Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:54 pm**

Jason walks on, checking the other patients' charts for anything interesting. Maybe a strange condition or two, but looking for contagious stuff in particular.

Posted: **Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:24 pm**

Jill is thrown by the normality of the question, especially in contrast to the nightmare she can hear in the hallways. "I'm with the children at the hospital. Honey ... are you all right?"

Posted: **Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:36 pm**

"Yes dear. When will you be coming home? I miss you."

Posted: **Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:48 pm**

"Just as soon as I can, dear. But, haven't you noticed what's going on outside? The dark cloud? The chemical accident?" Jill moves toward the balcony windows, checking to make sure that this wasn't some strange dream afterall.

Posted: **Mon Jun 04, 2007 2:26 am**

It's so dark outside, it could almost be night. The fluorescent lights in the Children's Ward flickers, casting garish shadows across the walls.

"I'm outside, dear. Open the door. Open the door and let me in."

Jason finds that the ward contains three asthmatics, one childhood leukemia, a kid in a leg cast, one sickle cell disease, one duchenne muscular dystrophy. There are more charts to look at, but this is as far as he has gotten. He also finds the message Jill had read earlier.

----

The loopy handwriting on one of the charts seems nonsensical, a list of odd lettering and numbers. However, in the familiarly tight, condensed script of a doctor's handwriting, he can see written at the very bottom:

I stole your consciousness away with drugs but only to keep you safe, without fear, as what can't be stopped comes into this world.
Don't wake up.
Doctor Bernard Scott.

Posted: **Mon Jun 04, 2007 2:53 pm**

Jill turns and takes a few shaky steps toward the door. "You are? You can't be! I ... the doors are chained shut. And sealed. To protect the children. Don't make me open them." A silent tear slides down her cheek.

Posted: **Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:14 pm**

Jason picks up on Jill's side of the conversation and turns to her.

"Whatever was out there got creamed, you heard it yourself." he warns "If he is really out there, tell him to lock himself in the toilets down the hall, it's the best he can do."

He then went back to reading the patients charts.

Posted: **Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:51 am**

"Let me in, dear, it's so cold out here, so cold it burns," her lover says, his voice melancholy. "Let me in. I missed you."

Posted: **Tue Jun 05, 2007 3:01 pm**

Jill wraps an arm around herself and takes a few small steps toward the door. "But I c-can't, the children need to be safe. Can you go hide somewhere else? I could open the doors once the cloud is gone ..." Her pleads are a mixture of fear and sad resignation.

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:52 am**

"It's safe out here. Just cold. Open the door. Let me in, I'm still alive, I'm still safe."

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:41 am**

Jill walks forward and hesitantly puts her hands on the chains. "But what about the sounds I heard earlier? They were ..." she shudders, "it sounded like something horrible was happening to people. Is it over?"

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:13 am**

"No, wait! What are you doing?" Jason says as he races towards Jill attempting to stop her.

"Listen to this Doctor Bernard Scott-guy... You can't risk letting anything in."

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:09 pm**

"Jill? Is there someone else in there with you, Jill? Is there a man in there, Jill? Why won't you let me in, Jill? Jill, are you cheating on me again?" The double doors tremble as someone beats on it with their hands causing the chains to tremble and clank.

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:15 pm**

Jill stumbles away from the door and hugs herself tightly. "No, Charlie, I've never cheated on you. Never! Please, I would never do that. Please."

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:41 pm**

The beatings stop abruptly. "Do you promise, Jill? Do you promise? I love you. You know that. I would never hurt you. Please, let me in."

Jill's breath escapes in a small condensed cloud. She feels so cold she trembles. His voice is so calm, even when he was angry, it is so unnaturally calm. She can hear him breathing on the other end, deeply but calmly. In the old days, he used to whisper his own special version of sweet nothings into her ears in that voice.

Jason also feels the edge to the air, chilling him and causing his head to ache. The excitement is making him feel a little weak.

One of the children begin to stir.

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:04 pm**

Jill walks back to the door and it looks like she's going to start undoing the chains. She whispers, "I love you, too."

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:21 pm**

"Think, woman!" Jason gasps as he tries to push Jill away from the door.

"Would your husband accuse you of cheating on him in a freakin' full children ward?" he pleads.

Posted: **Thu Jun 07, 2007 4:22 am**

Jill puts up gentle but firm resistance. "Oh, he didn't mean it. He was just angry at me for locking him out. He's not a bad guy."

[OOC--Laraqua, you want us to roll for this? Jill wants to try to open the door and Jason, since he's smart, isn't going to let her.]

Posted: **Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:41 am**

OOC: Of course, if you two are going to fight about it.

Posted: **Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:58 am**

"What the hell are you on, woman?" Jason cries out in despair as he struggles to keep her from removing the chains. He always had had a feeling that grown-ups were a few cards shy of a full deck, but luckily for him, he'd never reach that stage to find out if that was a universal truth...

"How the hell did he magically know you were inhere when you talked to him on the phone? You never told him!" he argues, but figures it might be futilite...

Posted: **Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:28 pm**

Jill pauses briefly, but then continues in her attempt at opening the doors. "I don't know, but it doesn't matter. He's here, and he's going to be mad at me if I leave him standing out there."

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:07 am**

Jason's weak struggles do little to even slow down Jill's Strength x5 (1d100=12)determined[/url] work. Soon the chains lay on the ground, allowing Jill the opportunity of yanking open the doors to let in her beloved.

"Thank you, Jill," she hears him say on the phone. "I missed you. I want to hold you. Let me in. It's so cold. We'll be warm together."

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:13 am**

Recognising his defeat, Jason quickly backs off, keeping his eyes fixed on the door. In the meanwhile he's trying to remember anything in the room that could be used to defend himself.

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:30 am**

Jill had brought a small tool kit into the corner of the Children's Ward. Inside was a hammer, collapsible saw and scredriver among other things. The tool kit itself could be swung at anyone coming inside, although,that would be quite an unwieldy way of taking down an enemy.

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:39 pm**

Jason scampers towards the toolkit, to retrieve the hammer. He also stores a sharp screwdriver in his backpack.

OCC - over 50% of all stabbings on police officers in the USA are done with screwdrivers.

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:40 pm**

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. Please don't be angry with me." Jill pushes open the door.

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:57 pm**

As she yanks them open, cold air rushes in, instantly raising goosebumps on Jill's skin. The fluorescent lights wink out. There are no words of encouragement or thanks coming from Jason's phone, still clutched tightly in Jill's hand, nor is there any sound but for their own breathing. There is a light somewhere out on this floor, turning the darkness from total blindness to a darkness so thick they can barely see the silhouette of their own hands a few inches from their faces.

Posted: **Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:35 am**

"H-honey? Hurry, it's cold outside."

Posted: **Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:09 am**

Silence flows thickly around her, broken by the tapping of keys somewhere in the distance.

Posted: **Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:24 pm**

Jason would give Jill an applause, but he figures that would draw unwanted attention to himself.

"Grown-ups are so freaking gullible..." he silently sighs instead.

Posted: **Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:59 pm**

All of a sudden Jill panics, realizing the doors she had (apparently) worked so hard to seal are now standing wide open to whatever danger is waiting outside ... where her husband was supposed to be. She grabs the door next to her and throws it closed. She works as best she can in the dark to close the other and chain them again.

Posted: **Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:59 pm**

Jill's left hand snaps out and grabs the door, her mind instinctively remembering where the door handle was, and draws it shut. Taking a few steps forward and reaching out she hesitates momentarily as a blast of cold air hits her face like a wall. Moist warm air hits behind her ear and flows down her neck in the moment of that hesitation, snapping her from her shock. She reaches forward the rest of the way, her hand slipping across the cool wood of the door. Slipping up, slipping down, until finally she grasped icy cool metal. She draws the handle down as she drags it backward and closed. She ducks down, picks up the loops of chain and prepares to affix it back to the door.

Jason feels the coldness become deeper. It comes in waves, drawing the warmth from his bones. He can hear movement out there in the darkness, the sound of a woman breathing heavily, of doors moving, of something shuffling somewhere above him. He manages to keep his demeanordespite the claustrophobic darkness closing in around him.

Posted: **Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:53 pm**

With chills running down his spine, Jason goes to grab a blanket, but somehow he expects it to be of little use.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:32 am**

Jason gropes his way along the wall to one of the cots and reaches one of the blankets that covers one of the children.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:11 am**

As Jill slides the chains back through the door handles, she is overly conscious of the cell phone she stashed in her back pocket. The call is still ongoing; she hasn't hung up yet. Perhaps her husband will still be on the line and can explain that it’s all been a misunderstanding. Of course he wasn’t actually standing in the hallway. Of course not.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:50 am**

Jason sets his egoism aside... Why on earth would he steal a blanket from a sick child?

Either way, this chill probably wont be going away with a blanket and all of the sudden he's getting visions of old horror movies where the bad man is able to grab on to the innocent victim due to a blanket or overly wide jacket. Bad idea...

But what should he do? The children's ward is a dead end, there is nowhere to go...

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:51 am**

Jill can hear footsteps coming from somewhere in the room with her. Jason can hear a woman's heavy breathing coupled with the rhythm of the children's breathing. The darkness crowds in around them now as though their eyes had been sealed shut. The cold quickly steals all sensation from their flesh, leaving them numb. The cell phone is still on, static hissing wildly, but the cell phone only lights up when the buttons are pressed and so it gives no light.

In the darkness, from further down the room, comes the rasping sound of something being dragged.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:44 am**

"Oh great..." Jason sighs as he frantically starts to search his backpack for his penlight.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:03 am**

His fingers grasp about inside his bag, fumbling around amongst his things, and finally catching hold of his penlight.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:07 am**

Having his light in hand does give him some confidence, but then he realises that it is also a double edged sword... Light will probably make him easy to track for whatever is out there, but without it, he can't see.

Cautiously he switches his maglite on.

Posted: **Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:44 am**

"Jason? Is that you?" Jill pulls on the doors a few times to make sure they're securely locked again.

Posted: **Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:58 am**

The small circle of light appears on the wall directly in front of Jason as he flicks the light on. The scuffling sound seems to retreat somewhat towards the far corner. As Jason turns the light in its direction, there is a heavy slam of the middlemost hospital bed being turned over. The child that had lain on it hits the floor and rolls onto her stomach.

Posted: **Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:20 pm**

Realising that the drugged children don't stand a chance, Jason decides to make a break for the door in the hope to lure whatever is turning over the beds with him.

Posted: **Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:42 am**

It's my fault. Jill turns and slowly walks towards the ... whatever it is. Maybe I can do something to keep it from hurting the children. But she has no plan, and no kind of weapon.

Posted: **Fri Jun 15, 2007 7:41 am**

Jason makes a break for the toilet door (the only one easily opened at this point) as Jill makes her move towards whatever is lurking in the darkness. With the rather small light pointing at the north wall as Jason grabs hold of the door handle and prepares to swing it open, Jill is left blanketed in near total darkness. The dim glow that the torch provides being enough only to define the silhouettes of the beds and the children within them. Due to the arrangement of beds, including the tipped-over one, Jill can't see what's in the southwest corner of the room, but she can hear the sound of flesh and fabric scraping against the linoleum.

Then the scrape of metal. The bed on its side being moved. Swung around a little. Moved to remain in between Jill and whatever lies beyond.

Posted: **Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:39 am**

Jason halts inside the toilets and takes up a position next to the door. He firmly grips the screwdriver he scavenged, ready to stab what comes in after him. Still, he is painfully aware he should be careful, as Jill might enter and he doesn't want to stab her.

Posted: **Fri Jun 15, 2007 1:30 pm**

Jason's breathing echoes loudly in the confined space of tiles and concrete walls despite his best efforts. He waits, positioned between sink and light switch, the torch's light roaming a few inches up and down the door in time with his breathing. The tension of the situation is wearying and his body craves sleep. A tap drips slowly in the background.

Posted: **Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:20 pm**

Is it hiding? What is it? Tentatively, Jill clears her throat. "Hello? She continues to move slowly toward the overturned bed.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:35 pm**

Jill holds out her hands to feel her way forward in the utter darkness of the room. Without Jason's meager penlight, the darkness is total. She can hear the steady breathing of the children. She hears one stirring in her bed. She thinks it's Alice Cooper judging from the direction of it but she can't be sure. The thing in the corner moves. Hand slaps beat the linoleum as it passes by the window. She hears cloth and flesh drag against the floor.

Jason hears nothing through the sturdy toilet door. The cold bites into his skin, numbing his hands and causing the torch to tremble, the little circle of light wavering in his hands. Warm breath presses against the back of his neck.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:54 pm**

For a split second, two thoughts pierce Jason's brain: freeze, give up and embrace the darkness, or desperately hang on to this pitiful life of his, whatever little there is left.

Scared of what is to come, he choses the latter option. Ackwardly chilled he darts for the opposite side of the room, turning around in half flight, almost tripping over his own feet. Shaking now even more than before he shines the penlight to the corner he was standing in a splitsecond ago and he raises the screwdriver that he is now gripping so tightly that it hurts his fingers.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:01 pm**

Jason reaches the other end of the cramped room by the time he had managed to spin around. There is nothing where he had once stood. He flashes the light at the gap between the two toilet cubicles, directly opposite where he had stood, but can't see inside that space where the sinks are located. The penlight illuminates the gap of the open door to the Men's Ward and the penlight seems to move over to it of it's own accord. If the Men's Ward door is open, does that mean the Children's Ward door is now locked? The chains are loose. The polyfiller lines are still there on the floor but obviously have not kept the door shut. Ash floats within the room.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:09 pm**

With his heart beating in his throat, Jason gathers his courage to approach the doors. Slowly and cautiously, inch by inch, he draws closer. His hand reaches for the Children's Ward door and slowly tries to see if it is open or closed.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:13 pm**

Jason's eyes dart about, checking the doors are shut, the corners are empty. The sink alcove is empty. The mirror above the sink is cracked but it had always been that way. The handle to the Children's Ward slides down as though it weren't locked. Had both the locks been busted?

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:17 pm**

Jason cautiously continues towards the open door that was once seperating the children's ward toilets from the men's ward toilets. He inspects that lock trying to see how it had gotten loose.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:34 pm**

It seems as though the lock itself has been corroded by age. Both handle and lock are streaked in the yellows, golds and oranges of rust. The place where the locking mechanism enters the door frame has been completely disintegrated. The wooden door is pitted and warped, the cream paint flaking off in large strips. There is a vague glowing lump in the middle of the Men's Ward that makes the floating ash that seem to rise and fall on an unfelt breeze all the more eerie.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:41 pm**

Slowly doubt took the place of his fear. If the door had aged so fast, what about the others in the children's ward? Were they still there? Alive?

Jason had fled the children's ward, leaving everyone behind, but what if they now had left him behind for his cowardise? What use would it have to go on alone?

Trembling, he opened the children's ward door shining new light inside.

Posted: **Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:42 pm**

Jill starts shaking in fear, but gulps and continues slowly moving toward the thing. Her steps are cautious and she waves her hands in front of her, trying not to trip over anything.

Posted: **Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:04 pm**

She inches forward, her knee banging against the edge of one of the beds, pushing it sideways, the wheels squeaking as she went. She heard a sharp intake of breath coming from somewhere in front of her and then the thing was rushing towards her.

Posted: **Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:03 am**

Jill takes a step back and hunches over, raising her arms before her face (her typical defensive posture).

Posted: **Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:44 am**

She feels someone brush by her, knocking her sideways a few inches and into one of the beds which rolls sideways on its wheels. Footsteps run towards the door and she hears the chains jangle and start hitting the floor. Heavy, strained breathing can be heard from that direction, like a wounded animal being slowly strangled.

Posted: **Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:07 pm**

Jill picks herself up out of the bed. "Hello? Who are you? You're safe in here. Calm down. My name's Jill." She sincerely hopes that she's guessing right, and this is some scared person from the hallway and not ... well, and not something else.

Posted: **Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:19 am**

The doors are swung open. She can hear them move and the figure is running off down the hall, just as the toilet door opens and Jason's penlight reappears. At least, she believes it's Jason, the light's glare is too much for her now adjusted eyes to see past, although it does once more allow her to see the lay-out of the room. The double doors at the other end are now stood wide open.

Posted: **Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:01 am**

Jason enters the room and quickly swings his flashlight to get an idea of his surroundings. He sees Jill, but no sign of what startled him in the first place.

"Is it gone?" he asks, more to reassure himself than to actually receive an answer.

"The seperation door between both toilets has 'decayed'." he then says, simply sharing information "It's open now."

He then walks to the disturbed bed(s) to see if there was a patient in it, and if so, if he/she is alright.

Posted: **Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:38 pm**

"Yeah, it is. I think it ripped off the chains on the doors." Her voice is full of disbelief. "I'm going to see what I can do to rechain these doors. I vaguely remember that I have some bags with supplies in them. Could you help me find them and then we could try to patch up the other door as well? Whatever that was, I don't want it to come back." She shudders and moves to close the doors.

Posted: **Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:49 pm**

Jason briefly shines the light to where the bags used to be and probably still are, but then his attention goes back to the beds that were shoved aside.

Posted: **Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:56 pm**

The child's feet are visible from where they stand but the rest of the child is hidden from view due to the nearest bed. If either of them squatted or moved aside, they would be able to see the fallen child better. One of the other children, the one nearest to the doors, begins to cough and sits up in her bed.

Jill's bags are in the corner of the room, on Jill's right, only a few feet from the double doors.

Posted: **Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:33 am**

Jason moves around the beds and gets closer to see if the child is alright.

Posted: **Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:29 am**

The child lays on its side, his head resting on his upper arm. He seems to be okay though even at this distance its hard to be sure. Jason can hear the dripping tap from the shared toilets behind him. If he checks, he will see that the door hasn't closed properly.

Posted: **Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:22 pm**

Jill grabs another chain and lock and works on re-securing the main doors.

Posted: **Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:25 pm**

The nails that she had previously used to keep the chains in place have come loose since the chains have been upset on several occasions. She doesn't have enough materials to correctly keep the double doors truly closed and repair the twice-broken barricade.

Posted: **Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:36 pm**

Jason approaches the fallen child and ignores the dripping tap.

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:51 am**

The child mumbles incoherently, his words a bare whisper, his lips tinged with blue from the cold. His left arm is out-stretched, the fingers tensing and relaxing against the linoleum. His eyes are closed.

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:27 pm**

Jill rummages through her bags, doing her best to find some way to keep the doors closed, although she realizes that it's her fault they can no longer be completely safe. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mumbles. It's unclear, even to herself, exactly who she's apologizing to.

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:50 pm**

Jason seizes up the kid, trying to figure out if he can lift it back into bed. If not, he'll try to cover it with blankets until Jill can help.

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:14 pm**

The child stops moving as soon as he is touched. His skin feels exceptionally cold and clammy to the touch. It is only as Jason lays him on the bed that he realises that his arms are stained with smears of a gray ash. His clothes and hair, even his skin, are quite damp. As soon as he looks back over at Jill, and shines the light at her, he can see that her hair is smeared with ash and clings damply to her, as does her clothing.

Jill, for all her efforts, finds the bags empty. In her haste to keep things secured in the first time, she had not left any materials to waste. Fortunately, there are bags of crisps, books, drink bottles and healthy, meat-and-salad sandwhiches wrapped up in clingwrap to help pass the time.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:05 am**

If there are any empty beds or other furniture, Jill will try to push them in front of the door, asking for assistance from Jason.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:47 am**

There are no empty beds. However, each bed does have a small chest of drawers stationed in front of it that could easily be moved. However, from experience, she knows they are quite light.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:53 am**

"Look at yourself." Jason tells Jill as he briefly shines his light at her. Crud and dirt really don't bother him, but this ash... It is unsettling.

Jason then carefully attempts to lift the kid into his bed.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:23 am**

The child's trembling subsides as he lifts the child onto the bed which, itself, is sprinkled with small bits of ash. The cold grasps at him, causing Jason to tremble violently. Jill, shocked and with a healthier body, feels the cold somewhat less though it still does cause her fingers to ache.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:15 pm**

A tiny, fear riddled voice calls out into the darkness.

"Who....who's there?"

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:25 pm**

Jason swings around to where the voice came from and shines his penlight there.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:06 pm**

The voice has come from a child in the bed closest to the doors, who is squinting now into the light, and rubbing her eyes. Her face is difficult to make out in the low light, but you can already tell that half of her face is terribly scarred. Her dark curly hair is showing the signs of having been caught in a fire, as some of it is matted and missing from the top of her head.

"What....what happened? Who's there? I heard a noise...." Her voice is weak and she seems groggy from sedation.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:22 pm**

"Shhht! Don't wake up the others." Jason said as he covered the child he had picked up with a blanket and started walking over while thinking what he could do. The kids would eventually wake up... And then what?

"What's your name? I haven't seen you here before." he asked as he neared the burned child in an effort to keep it busy.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:42 am**

Trying to brush the ash off of herself, Jill moves toward the girl as well. "Hello dear, my name is Jill. There's ... a storm going on, and the ... power's gone out, but ..." She can't bring herself to say what she'd like to: everything's going to be okay, because it's not. Instead she tries to give the poor girl a reassuring smile.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:08 am**

The child pulls her legs up a bit in recoil at the ash coming off of Jill. She looks at her in surprise and clutches her blanket nervously.

"M..my name's Brianna...." she says, stuttering nervously. She looks around at the ward, peering into the darkness, appearing disoriented and still groggy from a heavy medication.

"Where am I? I..I was in intensive care....w..where am I now?"

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:27 am**

Most of the ash doesn't get removed so easily, instead Jill smears the ash across her damp skin, though she does succeed in removing some of the gray substances. There is a little bit of ash on Brianna's blankets but almost none on her. It appears that the ash might have come in when the double doors were opened. Brianna is very cold, her lips are blue and her skin goosepimpled.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:04 am**

"Children's Ward." Jason says "Means you're out of the woods I guess, Brianna."

Jason then goes on to attempt to blow off and shake off some of the ash that is on him, knowing full well that you cant rub it off. He then turns his attention to the emergency lighting. It should've gone on as power failed, shouldn't it? And it works on batteries. Jason drags a chair towards it so he can fiddle with it a bit looking for buttons. Maybe the light is simply on the off setting and not stand-by.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:36 am**

Under close inspection, it appears that both the light fittings and the ceiling itself were somewhat damaged. Parts of the fluorescent lights that touch the ceiling appear to be corroded or perhaps melted, revealing twisted, rusted wiring exposed through the usual tubing. Running his light across the ceiling and towards the wall, it appears that the corrosion ends a bare half-inch down the wall. The cellophane that had blocked the ventilation shafts appears to have been partially melted though he didn't have the expertise to tell whether it was actually melted, burned, or corroded nor which direction it came from.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:57 am**

Jason grunts, obviously annoyed. How the fuck did this all happen? Metal doesn't simply corrode, ash doesn't simply float around and you sure as hell can't will yourself out of choking or drowning... This has to be a dream right? He pinches himself.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:31 pm**

He barely feels it. But then again, his fingers and exposed arms are so cold that they barely feel anything. By pinching a warmer section of his body, he finds the pain quite real.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:01 pm**

While the pain is real, it reminded Jason of the cold. Surely, the hospital is heated with gas or oil? That shouldn't stop even if the power failed. Still, if it was a badly corroded as the rest here, it might just blow up if he tried to get it going again.

"Jill, we need to find a better lightsource and find a way to turn up the heat... The weakest patients can't stand this cold..." Jason says, unsure why since the woman hadn't really been any help up til now.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:17 pm**

"You're right. I was just thinking that there's no way we can move all these children, but it's not safe, er, healthy for them in here right now. Maybe," she takes a big gulp of the cold air, "maybe you could lend me your torch and I could go out into the hospital to see if I could find anything." Since it's all my fault anyway.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:26 pm**

"I ain't going to give up my flashlight." Jason says "You already took my cellphone, use that as light..."

"Check the nurse's station for some heaters, I remember seeing stuff there. I'll go check the male ward if i can steal some blankets."

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:18 pm**

Brianna rumples her blanket up around her chin, and purses her blue lips.

"I'm....s.so....c.c.cold......"

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:42 pm**

"You and everyone else..." Jason whispers as he heads back into the toilets to go to the male ward.

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:16 pm**

Jason enters the Men's Ward, the soot and ash that floats in the room burning his lungs. The beds that line the walls have the blankets drawn up over the faces of the men. A mannequin in a nurse's uniform lays slumped over the nurse's desk, one arm has fallen off and has landed on the floor. In the center of the floor is a glowing lump beneath a sheet. The double doors to the corridor outside are wide open, their shape buckled and contorted somewhat, revealing the ash-smeared floor out in the main hall and the wall beyond.

Posted: **Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:19 am**

"Oh, right." Jill pulls the phone out of her back pocket and looks hesitantly at the feeble light it emits. She turns to Brianna and pats her shoulder. "I know, wrap yourself up tightly. I'm going to try to find some heaters. Just stay cuddled in your bed." She walks over to the doors and slowly pushes them open, peering into the hallway.

Posted: **Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:42 am**

Brianna gives Jill a faint smile as she attempts to comfort her, but her chin is shaking so much from the cold that it must appear strange. She bundles herself up and looks around the ward, at the other children sleeping. After Jill is gone, if Jason is not back from the men's ward, she slips out of bed to find the washroom.

Posted: **Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:45 am**

Jill is hit with a cold, moist breeze as she opens the double doors. The feeble light of the mobile phone is still enough to light her way now that her eyes are adjusted. The black-and-white diamond pattern on the linoleum floors are streaked with dirt and mud. The double doors to the Men's Ward are standing open. The other doors on the other side of the room show signs of decay and disrepair. Part of the floor in the direction of the Nurse's Station is cracked and pitted. As she approaches the Nurse's Station, she can hear a sharp whistling sound coming from the direction opposite to the Nurse's Station (somewhere in the bottom left of the map).

There is refuse on the floor. A handbag lies spilled, a note hastily scrawled on a handkerchief in red lipstick, surrounded by make-up, by coins and business cards. A jacket lies folded on one of the benches near the vending machine that sits by the nurse's station. The Nurse's Station, itself, from what she can see from her vantage point where the corridor meets the main hall, contains a couple of computers on the bench alongside a box of tissues. The bench itself has a hinged section that she can lift if she wants to get through, she remembers that.

Brianna is hit by the cold as she moves off the bed, her naked feet instantly chilled as soon as they touch the floor. It is entirely dark now and she sees not even the hand before her face. She can hear her own breathing and the snores of a few children around her. Still, when the others were here she had a good look at the room and knew how many beds were between her and the washroom - or at least what she figured the washroom is. She had seen the direction when the lad had headed into it. She could easily guess her way into it. But still, the darkness is frightening and she is so cold. She does remember seeing chests of drawers, small ones, at the foot of each bed while the other two had been in here. Perhaps there are clothes in there warmer than her hospital gown?

Posted: **Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:51 am**

Jason makes himself a mask of his handkerchief. He then goes to look for extra blankets, wanting to stay away from the (once?) occupied beds. While his curiousity is peaked by the glowing lump, he prefers to not let himself get distracted from his primary goal. Some children might not have long to live in this cold...

Posted: **Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:56 pm**

Brianna pulls her blanket off her bed and wraps it around her, then shuffles to the end of the bed. She is holding onto the side of it to keep her balance, and feels in the dark for where the chest of drawers might be.
"Silly billy", she says to herself. Why attempt this after both Jason and Jill have left with what little light they had? Regardless, she's tired of laying in bed for the moment. As much as her skin hurts, her body aches from sitting still, and that need is winning at the moment.

She pulls at the knobs, and rummages inside the drawers. Hopefully her clothes have been moved with her. Or maybe one of the other children would not mind parting with a pair of pants and warm sweater. She shivers again, and grimaces. Hospitals were supposed to be relatively comfortable, weren't they? Not dirty and dark, and freezing cold! After all, aren't there sick people here?

Posted: **Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:19 am**

Expecting to be attacked at any moment, Jill makes her trembling way to the Nurses' Station. As she reaches the station, she grabs a few handfuls of tissues and again tries to wipe the ash from her skin. Realizing that she isn't getting any cleaner, she throws the dirty tissues on the floor. Jill almost bends over to pick them up again, before catching herself. Nobody's going to care about the mess right now. She pushes open the section of the bench and looks around for the portable heaters.

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2007 7:48 am**

Jason notices that there are no extra blankets folded up in the ward. He must either pluck one from one of the apparently occupied beds or venture out in search of a linen closet. As he passes the glowing lump, he realises that it is not glowing all over. In fact, it seems the light source was directed towards the toilet door. Even under the sheet he can recognise its rectangular body points away from the light itself. As he absorbs this information, he detects movement out of the corner of his eyes, coming from the double doors, but when he looks, he sees nothing.

Brianna finds a thick, warm skirt that is neither hers nor her size, a belt, a lump of wool that seemed attached to itself - perhaps cloth of some sort - and a hooded jacket, also three sizes too big for her. It appears that she has been lain on someone else's bed. Luckily, it's London and while it may only be mid-Autumn, people have obviously planned for the cold climate. It had, after all, been raining recently.

Jill steps past the contents of the handbag and moves away from the whistling sound toward the Nurse's Station. Movement passes behind her, attracting her attention, but an instinctive turn of her head - the mobile phone light in tow - reveals nothing but peeling paint on the far wall. There's a dark liquid stain on the stairwell, heading up, but she can't see it too well from her position near the Nurse's Station. Inside the Nurse's Station is an overturned chair, a couple of computers - one of which has a CD tray protruding with a CD held within, the Nurse's registrar and rows and rows of shelving along the walls with cupboards beneath the main desk. The radiator is in the far left corner, still plugged in. It appears a bit rusted and she can feel this section is still warm so it may well be still on. As she enters the Nurse's Station, her right foot connects with a low-heeled shoe, sending it skittering across the floor.

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:55 am**

Jason grunts, hoping that what he saw was simply a flash of light from Jill down the hall. He shines his light towards the double doors, but as nothing moves again, he turns to the nearest bed (although his face still towards the doors, he wouldn't expose his back). Slowly he pulls back the sheet of one of the beds, ready to make a run for it if needed. Mannequins he can handle and he has a feeling he'll see weirder stuff before the day is over, but not everything might be quite so harmless...

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:32 am**

There is nothing beneath the blanket but a damp, ash-smeared sheet.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:05 am**

A sharp buzz sounds from behind Jill, startling her. She notices the sound is coming from the reception desk telephone near Jill which has been left off the hook. "Hello?... Hello? Is anybody there?" demands a man's voice, strained and somewhat pleading. There's a pause, as though waiting for a response.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:19 am**

Brianna curls her lip up in disdain at the clothes. Sure she was cold...but jeez. What's a girl got to do to get some clothes that fit around here? She riggles into the hoodie, then pulls at the piece of cloth. It's strange feeling woollen layers turn out to be long things that could only be tights considering their shape from what she can feel in the dark. She shuffles back to the bed carefully, all the while hands suspended midair, so that she can feel in front of her. She sits on the end of her bed, fingers wrestling with the stockings in the cold and dark, moving like frozen slugs, excrutiatingly slow.

"Boy, I didn't think I'd get a chance for Hallowe'en," she mumbles under her breath.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:05 am**

Jason starts collecting blankets, and once he had his fill, he'll shuttle the first load to the children's ward.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:14 pm**

Jason manages to fold and carry six blankets before it starts becoming quite heavy. Each time he lifts a blanket, he sees nothing solid beneath it that might have deformed it into a human-shaped body. Either resting the torch on top or carefully clutching it while holding the blankets, he heads back towards the toilets. It's hard to tell if it's a trick of the light, but it was almost as though the mannequin's chest were rising and falling. As the movement attracts his gaze, it becomes more and more difficult to discern whether it was a detailed mannequin or a rigid, deformed corpse.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:25 pm**

Jason attempts to shake the thought, but hurries back to the children's ward while attempting to be quiet and steer clear of the mannequin.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:35 pm**

He finds Brianna dressed and seated on her gurney. She appears sleepy but other than that, she's recovered well form whatever was put in her system.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:54 pm**

Jason tosses Brianna a blanket and procedes to cover the smallest and weakest children with an extra blanket.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:52 pm**

"Thank you!" Brianna says, and pulls the extra blanket around her.

She watches Jason shuffle about the children's ward, then asks him curiously, "How long has it been storming out?"

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:10 am**

"Not long, but there isn't any end in sight." Jason replies "This aint no normal storm..."

When he is finished with covering the children with the blankets he has, he'll go back to the male ward to get more.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:56 pm**

Jill jumps when she kicks the shoe and has to force her breathing back to normal. When the phone rings she lets out a little yelp. Hesitantly picking up the phone, she says, "Hello?"

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:51 am**

As Jason enters, he finds the mannequin's face directed down at her arm on the desk. He can't be sure but he thinks this is a different position than before. As he lifts the corner of one of the blankets, about to draw it off, a man's hand flops out from beneath the blanket, a golden wedding ring on one finger. The hairy knuckles catch the eye as sooty water drips from the fingertips to the floor.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:01 am**

Jason curses silently as he backs away from the bed. He knew this would happen... Too damn predicatble like a bad horror movie. He curses himself again as he allowed himself to be surprised by it. With his heart racing he decides that if the man gets up, he'll make a break for the double doors and not the toilets leading to the children's ward.

Guessing that his time here might be limited, he turns to the only ally he's got... Light. He moves to the lightsource he previously ignored and pulled the sheet from it.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:05 am**

He finds a very large and very heavy Maglite torch, thick enough to be a weapon, big enough to light the room well.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:07 am**

Jason picks it up together with the blanket while pocketing his penlight and shines at the man clutching his own blanket.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:12 am**

There seems to be a small key dangling from the key ring on his index finger. He can also hears a voice coming from somewhere to the right of the Men's Ward.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:28 am**

Jason chooses to ignore the key for now and carefully investigate the noise first.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:16 pm**

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/6/1 ... kening.mp3

Jason is halfway across the room when he hears the tinkle of metal on the floor. Brianna hears it, too, but doesn't recognise it as keys. As the realisation dawns on her that the sound might be coming from something approaching her room, she is made aware of how little she can see though she manages to shake offthe fear that anything could be coming. Jason recognises it as a key ring, Brianna only knows that the sound comes from the other room.

From the damp telephone Jill holds in her hands comes a male voice: "Hello?"

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:42 pm**

Pictures flash through Jason's mind. Too many horror movies and too many survival horror games have fed his imagination and he tries to shake it off, but he can't bring himself to go look.

Jason turns back his attention to the hand in the bed and the key it holds. Would this key fit in the small cabinet next to him, or would it be comething else?

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:57 pm**

The key reminds Jason of a house key so perhaps it is a room key. The small chests of drawers are not habitually locked, although the nurse's desk drawer probably are, and would likely have a lock that would fit that sort of key.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:03 pm**

While not habitually a thief, Jason recons that whatever the key opens, the man in the bed no longer needs. He gathers all his courage and moves in to get the key, with the heavy flashlight held high ready to hit if it were to prove necessary.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:04 pm**

The man on the bed never moves. The key is easily obtained.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:22 pm**

Jason breathes a sigh of relief... Watching too many horror movies is bad for your heart!

He shines the light on the key, inspecting it for markings and then moves towards the nurse's station, for the first time really examining the nurse mannequin or corpse, whichever it may be.

Play@YSDC

Jill and Jason's Starting Thread

Jill and Jason's Starting Thread

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