Rapture

[Mistress of Whispers]

Wisperlee was about to ask Petra what was wrong, when she saw Cujo.

"Yes, let's go," she agreed.

Grabbing the hand truck - even now, she was loathe to give up her loot - she made her way to the front of the shop as quickly as she could. Part of her wanted to stop to grab a few more items, but this was not a video game - there were no reloads if things went sour.

 

"Do you see anything?" she asked Petra while she haphazardly piled everything in the back of the car. She squinted her eyes against the bright morning light. Should there be more birds out? More noise? Heck, she had no way of knowing what was normal, no reference point for a city without people and traffic.

 

She considered getting in the car with Petra - the animal part of her brain demanded she stay with the pack - but she wasn't about to sacrifice the bike. Still, if Petra got solid metal and reinforced glass as protection, she was taking Cujo.

"C'mon boy," she said as she jerked her head towards the sidecar. Squishing her bag down on the sidecar's floor, she hesitated for a moment and then rearranged the crowbar so it was within handy grabbing distance. Great, now I'm getting paranoid.

[Salix]

Petra had expected Wisperlee to make some comment as to why she was suggesting that they should leave. To tell her that she was panicking over nothing, and that she should pull herself together, and Petra would have been glad to accept the scolding, if it meant that she could ignore the ‘fight or flight’ response that was causing shivers of adrenaline to course through her body.

 

Instead Wisperlee had agreed. The younger woman had taken one look at Cujo, had said “yes let’s go”’ and had started pushing her loot laden trolley towards the door.

 

Quickly they piled everything into the car, taking it in turns to do so while the other kept watch. “Do you see anything?” Wisperlee had asked, as she took her turn to load the car. “No” Petra replied quietly, she confined herself to that one word, unwilling to share the panicked thoughts that were playing in her mind. Taking a deep breath she willed herself to calm down. ‘Pay attention to what is around you’ she told herself.

 

After what felt like an age the car was packed. Petra was nearly going to suggest that Wisperlee ride with her in the car, but said nothing as she watched the young woman and Cujo walk determinedly towards the bike, and then get themselves ready.

 

With one last look about the Land Rover, to make sure nothing was lurking in it or under it, Petra got into the driving seat, and waited for Wisperlee to start her bike.

 

There was an unspoken agreement that Petra would follow Wisperlee on the bike, so Petra resisted the temptation that was telling her to put the acceleration peddle to the floor.

 

[Quhanta]

The huge building was dark and creepy. Ez was actually a bit excited as she may potentially be needed more than hated in the moment. The group thing didn't appeal to her, overly, but ever since they became the last few, she felt the urge to remain close to the group, but still far enough away to run if anything ever hit the fan.

Ez grabbed the flashlight from her bag and got out of the van without the backpack. There would more than likely be a duffel bag or more in the Hospital somewhere, she had thought.

Ez did, however get an odd feeling when looking at the Hospital. She couldn't place it. If they found someone who couldn't survive outside of the Hospital, what would they do? What if they found no one at all? Which would be better? Another person would mean that someone else has survived, but if they couldn't leave... Ez cut out of her thought and shut the car door with her hip.

 

(To be edited in an hour or so. Or a couple of days... Wow. Sorry.)

Edited July 25, 2015 by Quhanta

[Mistress of Whispers]

Wisperlee rode wheel-to-bumper to Petra's car, to the point where she had to brake a few times to avoid collision. She didn't like feeling so... cautious? paranoid? panicked? Probably a bit of each.

 

The little voice of reason at the back of her head kept telling her that Cujo had probably seen a cat, or another dog, to which he had reacted badly. A greater part of her mind knew that to be BS though. Cujo was a well-trained and well-behaved dog, who hadn't displayed even an inkling of aggression to Nougat. Not to mention that a few days ago, the vast majority of people had just disappeared into thin air and some of the people she'd met later had also vanished completely. What if they hadn't just disappeared? What if they were taken?

[Peelzies]

The SUV bounced on its suspension as the damaged tire hit the floor, covering loose floorboards. He tossed the tire iron back in the SUV and motioned at Micah to get in the car. Alistair opted to answer Micah's query with silence and a slight shrug.

 

"We're not far," Alistair said simply. "Only two more miles."

 

As he examined Micah he recognized the look of quiet contemplation on his slightly naive looking face.

 

"I can see the gears turning in your head lad. Take your time and think about it when we return. Right now i need you focused on the mission. Hop in." He said as he he stepped into the drivers side of the vehicle and shut the door.

[DragonSpirit009]

James followed Emily into the shop. Thankfully the windows were facing the sun, allowing the light to flood the room. There was a large variety of items dotted around and judging by the labels they had been in the middle of a sale. As a thief James was more than used to taking items without paying for them, but knowing now that there was no point to it anyway still felt rather bizarre.

 

Wandering around a little James found the clothing section and looked around for anything overall like. He eventually found some likely looking gear, though it looked more suitable for construction work than farming. Then again, he knew very little about either, so maybe there wasn't much difference.

 

"What about these?" he called out to Emily. "Will something like this do?"

There were quite a lot of tools in the shop which made Emily a bit glad. She wouldn’t mind to take a couple in case she got stuck with the water pipes again or any other chore that needed them. Grabbing an empty toolbox Emily slowly gathered a couple tools and placed them in the container. When she heard James calling Emily left her current task and headed towards where she heard James spoke from.

 

“They can work.” Emily spoke as she also took one of the overalls of the shelf. “They are strong and thick enough for farm work.” Emily continued to inspect as she tugged on the material a bit. “We should take a couple of them as extras. Just in case.” Emily turned around to head back to her new toolbox. “Oh and I found some of those wellington boots over here. We’ll have to try a couple on to see if they fit.”

 

[Avialae]

Micah climbed back into the passenger seat of the SUV, still half lost in thought. After a few minutes he realized that Alistair had said that they were almost at their destination and turned and looked at the other man. "Exactly where are we headed, anyway?" Alistair obviously had a specific location in mind if he knew how much longer their trip would take. Micah didn't think it was too much to ask to want to know what that location was, especially since they would be there soon in any case.

[Kestra15]

"If we find someone..." Mak shrugged. The thought had plagued him the whole way to the hospital. "We'll see." He didn't want to commit to an answer, to put to voice his own concerns and misgivings. He was scared of the idea of finding someone who was dead - or worse still, near death. What if they did find that patient who had been unable to move, unable to walk, but a drip bag had been put up at the right time and was only now on the verge of death by dehydration? A dried husk of a human being, sitting in their own faeces, crying out hoarsely for help with skeletal hands - someone who, at this point, they could do nothing for but potentially put them out of their misery? He shuddered hard at the thought, nearly dropping the heavy torch he had unstrapped from the side of his backpack. Taking a deep, steadying breath Mak switched on the Maglite, holding it in his left hand while his right rested on the knife at his hip, and led the way into the Emergency Department.

 

Entering through the ambulance entrance meant that they'd skipped the public entrance, reception and waiting area and instead went straight to the clinical area. The lobby they found themselves in had empty ambulance trolleys lining one wall, blankets and oxygen masks and splints showing the now-tell-tale sign that people had been Raptured. To be strapped to a trolley, leg fractured or heart muscle dying, only to be taken to...wherever...Mak gulped, hoping that wherever it was everyone had gone it truly was a better place. Every day he couldn't help but find the situation that little bit more sinister, that much more terrible to consider.

 

The lobby split off left, right and straight ahead, easily enough to wheel a hospital stretcher down. He remembered this place well despite only having volunteered in the department for only two months; to the left was Minors, where fifteen beds lined the edge of the room around a central nursing station, with the small kitchen and cleaning cupboard tucked at the far corner. To the right was Majors, only five beds to the one nursing station, which then led on to the Minor Injuries Unit where those who merely needed stitches, glue or some reassurance could be seen on a series of beds. And straight ahead was the corridor to Resus; four fully-equipped bedspaces ready to deal with the most serious of patients, from the heart attacks to massive trauma victims to full body burns on a baby. The corridor was also the main passage to the rest of the hospital, the elevators that took them to any of the ten floors they wished to explore, and through to the Promenade. The lobby was clean of any sort of animal droppings, small rodents, piles of rubbish, anything to indicate someone or something had come that way yet; it would appear they were the first ones here.

 

"Don't go that way," Mak warned the pair, pointing his light down towards Resus. "Not yet. The paramedics stock up their medication from Majors," he continued, highlighting the right doorway. "All the basics; adrenaline, IV paracetamol, bags of fluid. It's in a white locked cupboard on the wall; we'll probably end up trashing a few drugs if we can't pick the lock and have to rely on brute strength, but it's only the start. There's a load of clinical supplies in the Minor Injuries Unit too, like stitches and ice-packs and so on. We should grab those and load them before we go any further."

[Fangirl05]

While she figured he was trying to put on a brave face, Erin frowned a little in guilt at Mak's answer. Apparently she had more of a talent for upsetting people than she'd realized.

 

This place was just as creepy as the one back in Hawkingsthorne. She kept expecting something to jump out from around a corner and eat their guts. All those survival horror walkthroughs on YouTube had made her paranoid. Dammit.

 

Mak mentioned that most of the useful meds would be in a locked closet, so she looked over at Ez and gestured with her hand for her to step past them. "Madam?"

 

She looked back at the first door Mak had pointed out, the one he seemed so reluctant to go through. "You expecting to find anybody in particular in there?" she asked. Finally, and perhaps most importantly: "Any idea where they would keep the antipsychotics?"

[Quhanta]

Ez followed along warily. The hospital was eerily empty. Void of any persons to object with her doings, Ez followed Erin's prompt to pick the lock on the cabinet door. It didn't take her long, nor did she feel any guilt for being able to commit a contextual crime. The cupboard revealed a well stocked supply of drugs that, hopefully, they wouldn't need, but should have on hand.

"Anything else that's important to know?" She asked, scanning the nearby area for a bag of some sort.

[Kestra15]

"The antipsychotics will be on the A-wards; we'll go there next," Mak replied, standing next to a small plinth near the double doors to the outside world. "If we get supplies from Minors - and one of the mobile monitoring devices - then we'll go a bit deeper into the hospital." The whole time his eyes hadn't moved from the plinth, on which a short stack of papers were sat, scrawled handwriting over them. There had always been paperwork at the nurse's triage station; here, one of the senior nurses would have a list of which patients were in-bound, their presenting complaint and priority, and from here that nurse would direct crews where to take their patients or to wait while a bed was freed up. However the stack that sat on there was not the standard triage paperwork but an actual set of patient notes from Resus - with the final entry having been written on the second. More than twenty-four hours after the Rapture had occurred, someone had still been treating a patient.

 

With a growing sense of dread filling his stomach Mak turned over the paper and started reading.

 

01/05/14 0215hr

Pre-alert for major trauma from RTC. For Resus 2.

 

01/05/14 0250hr

Pt brought in by ambulance to Resus 2. o/e:

 

A - Maintained by OP airway, suction required during transport to maintain clear airway. ?for intubation.

B - Spontaneous on 15l non-rebreather, reduced air entry left lung, left flail chest noted, RR = 10, SpO2 = 95%.

C - Major internal hemorrhage suspected, CRT = 5s, cool extremities, evidence of external hemorrhage, P = 123 bpm, BP = 78/45, cardiac monitor showing sinus tachycardia.

D - GCS = 5, BM = 5.7, PEARL 3mm

E - ?fractured left wrist, ?fracture nose, left flail chest ?3 ribs involved, open fracture left ankle - stabilised with splint, still bleeding - minor lacerations face and right hand. T = 35.9 Celcius.

 

Taken to Resus 2, trauma team prepared and active treatment underway.

 

And then, in a different set of handwriting altogether:

 

01.05.14 0320hrs

 

Nursing - After returning from break noted that all staff and majority of patients have now disappeared, no sign as to where they are or where they have gone to. No patients remaining in waiting room, ambulances remain open as if mid-off-load, no response to emergency bleeps, maintenance, 2222 or site practitioners. No report of evacuation or fire, no NBC alarms, no major incident declared. Appears that...everyone has gone. Except for this patient.

[Fangirl05]

Erin nodded at Mak's answer about where to find the drugs, then shrugged out of her jacket and started loading it with the contents of the cupboard. Most of it was bagged fluids, but the adrenalin only seemed to come in vials. She hoped there were syringes nearby.

 

Eventually she noticed Mak reading something pretty intently at the desk. Curious, she walked over to read it for herself. Her eyes widened at the last sentence fragment.

 

"Well, f**k" she decided. This wasn't gonna be pretty.

[Fortune86]

There were quite a lot of tools in the shop which made Emily a bit glad. She wouldn’t mind to take a couple in case she got stuck with the water pipes again or any other chore that needed them. Grabbing an empty toolbox Emily slowly gathered a couple tools and placed them in the container. When she heard James calling Emily left her current task and headed towards where she heard James spoke from.

 

“They can work.” Emily spoke as she also took one of the overalls of the shelf. “They are strong and thick enough for farm work.” Emily continued to inspect as she tugged on the material a bit. “We should take a couple of them as extras. Just in case.” Emily turned around to head back to her new toolbox. “Oh and I found some of those wellington boots over here. We’ll have to try a couple on to see if they fit.”

James stepped back a little so he could see past Emily. Following her line of sight he looked down the aisle she had just come from and saw a small pile of tools and boots. He was glad she had thought of getting proper gear for their feet, James doubted his trainers would last long in a farm enviroment.

 

Deciding it would be best to take a selection of sizes James turned his attention back to the overalls. Grabbing a Medium for himself he picked up another one and two of each other size just in case any of the others ever felt like helping out and slung them over his arm. He ended up with quite a heavy pile and had to balance himself a for a moment by putting his hand on Emily's shoulder.

 

"What are we going to do about animals" he asked Emily as he sorted the overalls out a little better. "I mean, we thinking of picking up chickens or anything?"

[Peelzies]

" A fenced-off radio station i passed on my way into town.It looked to be in pretty good shape, and the fences hadn't been cut through. It's a better place than any to find long-range radio equipment." Alistair responded.

 

"You can see the tower from here." He continued, pointing to the upper part of the windshield.

 

"We can easily cut the fence and get in."

 

The SUV quickly drew near to the radio station, and eventually came to a stop in front of the gate.

 

"Any suggestions? I was thinking we just pop the lock, back the SUV in, and load up whatever gear we can find."

Edited July 31, 2015 by Peelzies

[Quhanta]

Listening to what he was saying, Ez started to read over Mak’s shoulder, at a distance. There should be two people, at least, in this hospital. Maybe. Maybe there were waves to the Rapture. Wisperlee and Petra haven’t come back yet, so they may have been taken, for all anyone knew. There is still a chance of the hospital being empty, but having a nurse around couldn’t hurt anyone. The patient, though. Was the one surviving patient the one that was all torn to hell? Ez cleared her throat after Erin had spoke.

“That’s helpful…” she mumbled, “What do we do if we find someone all smashed to hell that isn’t going to get better without the proper medical help from people that, basically, don’t even exist anymore?” She asked, adjusting the gun tucked in the back of her belt and had an awful thought. If it came to that, it would be out of mercy, but they wouldn’t forget and probably not forgive either. It wouldn’t be her first, though. If anyone, Ez thought that it would have to be her. She took a breath and looked around for a duffel bag of some sort.

 

[Kestra15]

"There's no-one to help," Mak said, voice heavy and clogged with emotion. He'd already read the punch-line. Leaving the paperwork on the plinth for the girls to read Mak walked into the Minors area.

 

01.05.14 0400hrs

 

No response from site practitioner, hospital on-call, trauma department. Attempted contacting Dispatch but also no response. ?evacuation - however no alerts or alarms, and no sign of emergency evacuation. Patient therefore remains in care of RN. Acute deterioration of condition:

 

A - Compromised. Supraglottic airway in situ, suctioning required - blood blocking airway. Remains on scoop stretcher with neck brace and head-blocks w.r.t. ?spinal fracture.

B - Laboured, reduced air entry L. lung - flail chest segment ?haemothorax - cannot X-ray to confirm. RR = 19 Sp02 = 89% on 15l non-rebreather.

C - Severe compromise from external and ?internal bleeding, P = 142 irr, BP = 73/45. In absence of Dr have bolused 1litre Hartmann's and 500ml/hr Saline - appropriate to best of my knowledge and will stand by decision when medical staff return. See ABG results attached, note that hypoxic and reduced PaOxygen.

D - GCS = 4, BM = 5.6 mmol/L, PEARL 3mm sluggish.

E - Attempted to arrest bleeding L. ankle, dressings containing bleeding but not yet stop. Minor wounds bandaged. T = 35.3C, active heating through Bairhugger.

 

01.05.14 0520hrs

 

All reasonable attempts to contact any other member of staff have not succeeded, and no response from local Trauma Centres for information or support in case of this patient. Patient vomitted earlier, and I believe patient aspirated. Unable to suction patient therefore carried out roll of patient on scoop stretcher solo - I am aware that this is not best practice however without any other staff I have acted in best interest to preserve patient life at risk of aggravating spinal injury further.

 

01.05.14 0745hrs

 

Recognition of life extinct.

 

Patient remained unresponsive throughout episode of care. Deterioration of respiratory effort despite manual BVM ventilation for 35min, likely due to episodes of vomiting that I was not fully able to manage. Blood pressure continued to deteriorate, episode of melena confirmed internal bleeding and presence of fresh blood in vomit concurred internal bleed/haemothorax. Blood pressure and cardiac monitoring suggests that PEA at 0700hrs, seven minutes CPR without drug therapy unable to recover. Recognition of life extinct: 0709hrs.

 

Attempts to call NoK/ICE resulted in no response.

 

01.05.14 0815hrs

 

With no further reponses from emergency services or senior on-call staff I have presumed that I will not be handing over to a day team. I will try to find one of the Mortuary trolleys and will return for the patient.

 

There was a squeaking of wheels, and from Minors Mak returned with one of the mobile monitoring devices - while it required the mains to charge it held it's own battery pack and was able to check pulse, oxygen levels and even had a cardiac monitor, if three-lead ECG readings meant anything to the survivors. Slung over his shoulder was a sealed red back that read 'For Transport Only;' Mak wasn't sure what was in it, but it was portable and probably had something of value. Walking past the girls he simply pushed the machine to the van and carefully lay it down in the back, intending to grab some pillows and blankets to cushion it on the drive back. Walking back into the building he said nothing as he pulled out the required linen from a cupboard near the girls, but there was no mistaking the hard set to his face and the redness around his eyes.

[Quhanta]

"F*ck," Ez mumbled both upset and relieved.

(I don't know my way around this place, so I'm guessing.)

While Mak was fixing the mobile monitoring device into the van, Ez took a look in the waiting room lobby. It was dark, but with the beam from her flashlight, Ez managed to spot an old looking grey and yellow backpack underneath a chair. The fact that someone had, indeed, had a backpack with them made her a bit glad. She dumped the old smelling clothing and rotted lunch out onto the floor and claimed the bag as her own on this hunt for medications.

"Where to next? The antipsychotics?" She asked Mak and Erin, reentering the room shortly after Mak did.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Quhanta

[Fangirl05]

Erin hung her head sadly at the news that whoever this was had died. Sure, it took the burden of mercy killing the guy off their shoulders and he'd been in nightmareish shape, but it had still been a person, dammit. She wondered if whatever poor sap had been left with him was still around. Probably not.

 

She watched Mak wheel... Whatever that thing was out to the van and come back to gather pillows and blankets. She'd been planning on gathering those on the way out, but she didn't feel like questioning him about it when he was clearly so upset.

 

She did ask him "Which way to the... A-wards, was it?" in response to Ez's question. Maybe distracting him from it a little would help.

[Avialae]

Micah nodded at Alistair's response, although privately he wondered if it wouldn't have been quicker to just find a radio station in town. They were here now though, so they might as well make use of the resources that were available. "That sounds fine, as long as we can get the lock open," Micah told Alistair. It surprised him at how quickly he was getting accustomed to essentially breaking into places, something he would have considered unthinkable before the Rapture, but, well, it wasn't like most of this stuff actually belonged to anyone anymore. "Do you have materials to cut the fence in the car?"

[Kestra15]

"This way," Mak said flatly, pointing with the torch to the corridor past the Resus bay. With the observations machine padded and packed he led them down the corridor, past the closed door beyond which lay the body of the trauma patient. Although the door had been made to close solidly enough to block out the worst of sounds and smells there was still the distinct tang of decay creeping through, like a pack of steak that had been left out the fridge for one too many days. The acidic bite of vomit added unwelcome depth to the stench, and Mak simply held his breath until he was several paces past the door.

 

Normally the doors through the A&E area were keycard-locked, needed either a valid ID card or the keypad number to pass through. But with power down the magnetic seals were deactivated, and the double doors that led to the main corridor swung open easily. Straight ahead they could see a gloomy corridor some five hundred metres in length, the eerie darkness interspersed with patches of dim sunlight; the height of the building and the placement of windows meant even on a bright day like that day there was little that would filter through. The main corridor ended with their double doors, but a smaller corridor did a dog-leg to their left. Maglite beam piercing the shadows Mak swept from right to left, then with a cautious pace set off down the smaller corridor. After a few metres it made a sharp left, and a corridor barely a hundred metres long greeted them. Just wide enough for two hospital beds to pass each other, this was the neurology and mental health part of the hospital.

 

"The A-wards deal with neurology and psychological health," he explained to the others. "Wards are stacked on each other; A2 is on this level, A3 the next level up, and so on. A2 is acute mental health ward; if we'll find antipsychotics anywhere, it'll be in here." With that he pushed open the double doors to his right, leading them into the almost-total darkness of a hospital ward.

[Mistress of Whispers]

((OOC, but interesting read about a post-apocalyptic world. Thought I'd share.))

[Fangirl05]

((*reads* Fascinating. *Erin starts chiseling epitaphs onto tombstones*))

 

Oh, God.

 

Erin heaved a couple of huge breaths out of her mouth to keep herself from throwing up at that smell as she followed Mak past the door. A couple of rather strange thoughts crossed her mind when the threat of throwing up had passed: Maybe they should dig the poor *** a shallow grave, and how could that * just leave his body here to be eaten by rats?!

 

Unless whatever it was that was probably following them picked her off?

 

She drew her knife as they trekked through the abandoned halls. She felt like they were being watched by at least ten people right then. The hospital back in Hawkingsthonre hadn't been this creepy. Maybe it was the size?

 

Mak opened the doors and she drifted over to the nearest shelf, grabbing an empty, large-ish plastic container off a desk and sweeping any bottle of pills she could find into it.

 

"How do you know so much about hospitals, anyway?" she asked without looking at him, "Were you pre-med?"

 

((Cruel though it may be, if Jaune's not doing anything, I kinda wanna see whatever it is tailing us try to make off with him and everybody Ehcoughrin comes to his rescue ))

Edited August 5, 2015 by Fangirl05

[Salix]

Eventually Petra felt herself calm. The drive away from the Hardware shop had been a blur of trying to drive as quickly as possible, while avoiding knocking into Wisperlee on her bike, and trying to scan their surroundings or any possible dangers.

 

The further they travelled away from the shops the more Petra could feel the tension draining from her, and taking a quick glance over at Wisperlee, it seemed that she was beginning to relax a little too. Subconsciously the speed at which they were travelling had slowed, as they travelled through a spacious residential area, the large houses indicated that this was possible quite an affluent part of the city suburbs.

 

Petra flicked on the car’s indicators to signal to Wisperlee that she was intending to stop, and once she was satisfied that the younger girl had seen her warning, she steered the Land Rover to the side of the road to come to a gentle stop, and set the cars hand break, but keeping the engine running, just encase.

 

When Wisperlee drew level with her, Petra turned and opened the car’s door. “Are you and Cujo okay?”

 

That was a daft question to ask Petra thought to herself, but it did give the younger woman an opportunity to adjust her helmet, and for Cujo to stretch up in his seat at the mention of his name.

 

[Peelzies]

"Yeah." Alistair responded simply, turning the key to the off position. He clipped the key onto his belt and stepped out of the SUV.

 

Gravel crunched beneath his boots as he strode towards the trunk of the vehicle. A swooshing sound occurred as the trunk door lifted into the air, and Alistair retrieved a large bolt cutter from the back. He slammed the trunk shut and walked to the chained off gate. A loud chink sounded and the chain holding the gate and the fence together dropped to the ground. He slid the gate to the side on its wheels and returned the bolt cutter to it's home in the trunk.

 

"You said you're a good shot right?" Alistair asked Micah, retrieving his browning from the inside of his jacket slowly.

 

"Take the gun." He said, holding the gun out handle first to Micah, safety on, while reaching down to retrieve an 8 inch combat knife from his boot

[Quhanta]

Ez followed in the back, watching the rear. When they passed the door with the decaying body inside, she didn't even scrunch her nose. The smell was putrid and horrible, but she knew it well and her body had grown accustomed to it. She rubbed the side of her wrist against her nose, showing her acknowledgement of the horrific scent and her dislike for it. As Mak spoke, Ez listened, taking in a better understanding of the hospital's inner workings, of the psychiatric section at least. As Erin pulled out her knife, Ez drew her gun. Not for Erin, though. There could be danger. Ez had this off feeling in her gut that didn't sit well with her. She held the gun in one hand and the flashlight in the other, both arms in front of her. He gun hand resting wrist to wrist with her flashlight hand.

"Do you think we should do a sweep for survivors after we get the psycho some anti-psychos?" Her tone was lighter than the mood of the room, but not by much.