Play@YSDC

A distinct buzzing sound can be heard around the mannequin and he can see a few flies crawling across her face. The skin is drawn tight and smoothed as though through some chemical process but there are enough irregularities in the flesh and the eyes still shine in a way that makes her appear once-human. Beneath her arm is a letter with several words torn into the pen with the point of a pen: Where do I go?

There is a drawer in the top of the desk.

"Yes? Can you hear me? Where are you?" Jill clutches the phone, idly surveying the room as she listens for a response.

Rather than to approach the nurse that has obviously seen better days, Jason pulls the desk away from her, attempting to leave the corpse and the chair it is sitting in untouched.

Once the distance between him and the corpse are sufficiently comfortable, he'll attempt to open the desk.

The nurse slumps over her own lap, her hair brushing the linoleum floor. The desk itself comes away with a harsh grating sound that sets both Jason's and Brianna's teeth on edge. The desk drawer opens smoothly without the use of the key. Hidden within is a series of photographs. As Jason flicks through them he realises that each one is Brianna, most taken before the fire, a few taken of a car wreck holding her inside as her parents burn, and some taken in the hospital itself. On the back of what appears to be the most recent photographs are the words: Sleeping princess?

Despite the noise of the desk moving, Jill doesn't notice anything but the telephone she holds in her hand.

"The plot thickens" Jason mumbles to himself. This sure was getting more insane with the minute, and if he fought it, he would simply go insane himself, so he decided to simply go with the flow.

Afterall, this must be a dream? This is too much for a sane man to take in, this stuff only happens in movies and games. Besides, how many times do you get to save a 'sleeping princess'... He'd die soon enough anyway, so why not make it count?

He pocketed the pictures, quickly collected as many other sheets as he could and brought them back to the children's ward.

Jill hears another response on the phone - this one is a different man's voice to the one who said hello. "Hello? Yes, I can hear you! Are you okay? This is Aidan O'Connell, with Child Welfare... Uhm... I'm trapped in the Dr. Dullard's office... Is there anyway someone could let me out? This chemical spill has me a worried."

The other voice responds: "Hello. Is there someone else there?"

"Someone else?" Aidan O'Connell says. "Here? No... It's just me, in the Administration Office. Dr. Dullard stepped out a minute ago and seems to have locked the door behind him and hasn't come back. With this chemical incident, I'm a bit on edge. You wouldn't be able to get someone to let me out, would you?"

Brianna isn't sure what's going on in the hallway, but for some reason she has a terrible gut feeling about it. She sits on her bed, having only been resting there, legs over the side. But now she's been spooked by a scary scraping noise. What was it? she thinks, and tries desperately to calm the growing fear in her stomach. She had never been the bravest of her friends in fourth year class at school either. And now the dark, spooky ward and the children sleeping around her were beginning to freak her out.

She looks around the ward, trying to make out the images around her. Was that something moving in the corner? Or is her mind playing tricks on her? She stands from her bed and starts inching towards the door, to peek out. She won't leave the ward, but is hoping to see what the scraping sound was.

"Wait, there is someone else, there's me! My name's Jill and I'm in the Children's Ward ... or, well the Nurse's Station next to the ward. I'm getting a heater because the little ones are cold." Jill realizes that she's babbling, but it's just so good to hear someone else's voice, to know that she and the children are not the only ones left in the world. "I, let me move the heater to the Ward and then I'll come find you, Mr. O'Connell. Who else is on the line?"

Jill hears the man who isn't Aidan say: "Listen dude, you need to stay where you are. And seal yourself in, make sure the gas can't get through the gaps in the door. This.. er gas, its dangerous you hear me!"

The other man speaks. "My names Leroy, theres four of us sealed in the dispencery on the first floor. But don't come down here! We heard people outside screaming. And on the ground floor.."
He stops and lowers his voice to a whisper. "I saw the darkness come in through the front door, it killed everybody. Don't let it touch you!

"Actually, I think the gas, or darkness, or whatever, has passed through. I went through the hallway to get here and mostly it's just cold. But it does look like some horrible stuff happened as the gas passed through." Jill shudders and looks back toward the hallway.

Aidan speaks before Jill has finished, seeming not to have heard him yet, almost as though the phone is not sending and receiving the messages as quickly as it normally should. "Jesus... I'm on the fifth floor, and there's a window in this office. Please, someone let me out! Jill is it? Please, could I trouble you to let me out? ... But knock first... If I don't answer, then it's too late for me."

Brianna is interrupted on her path by Jason who re-enters the room, bearing a much larger torch. The light is reassuring in the darkness and she instantly feels better.

Brianna sighs in relief when Jason comes back in with the torch. The hospital is spooky in the dark to her. She follows him around, in typical kid fashion. She's so tired of sitting in bed, and her legs are stiff from being in one spot for too long.

"Watcha doin?" she asks, trailing around after him, looking at the sleeping kids. "Can I help?"

"Yes, I'll come for you. Just ... just stay calm. Leroy? I think the worst is over. You might want to take stock of resources. Maybe we can pool what we have. I might need some help taking care of these kids. I'm going to move this heater into their ward, and then I'll come get you, Aidan." With that Jill hangs up and goes to unplug the heater.

Jill unplugs the radiator, unleashing a small cloud of ash. It is positioned on wheels, though they groan and screech loudly in protest when she tries to push the radiator. Judging by the smears of rust on the wall behind the somewhat rusty radiator, it's been here for quite some time. She's probably the first one to move it in forever.

"Well, you can help me cover up these kids a lil' with these blankets." Jason answers Brianna.

"If this is a task fit for a princess." he mumbles under his breath, pretty much impossible to hear for her.

"Oh, and don't go wandering into the male ward..." he adds as he covers another kid with a spare blanket.

Jill gets the unsettling feeling that decades have passed while they were shut up in the ward. She shivers, only in part because of the cold, and begins pushing the heater out the door and down the hallway. The noise makes her extremely uncomfortable. Normally she would be concerned about disturbing others, but now she is only worried about what it might attract.

Jason and Brianna can easily hear the twisted sound but the acoustics warp it, making it seem louder and more alien.

Brianna has been flipping the blankets up in the air and allowing them to settle on each child, entirely pleased with herself that she is taller this year and it has become an easier task for her. She has been straightening each one as she goes, smiling all the while.

But then, a creepy noise comes from the hallway, and she sucks in her breath and holds it, turning to look at the double doors again in fear.

"What's that sound???" she says in a trembling voice.

"Stay here, I'll check." Jason says, trying to summon up his courage. He levels the flashlight with his left hand and draws the screwdriver as he steps into the hallway.

Jason's torchlight falls on Jill, near blinding her. She's struggling and has managed to get the radiator only a third of the way.