---

Hillview High

---

It was like that dream after the incident at the camps, the whole experience felt strangely familiar to Kimberly. A foggy area, she was a ghost, and... the last thing she remembered was making a break for the portal and now she's dreaming? She wondered if she was killed, and this is the afterlife. She looked around, and she saw herself in a wooden room with the orange glow of the sun piercing through the cracks and the window. There was a bed and the... the two kids fromthe last dream sleeping on it. According to what Britney said, it was John Reid and his future, the so called guardian on the town - then again, at this point, she knew better than to take what Britney says at face value. At least not anymore.

The boy suddenly jotted himself awake and Amy was awoken too. "Wha- where am I?!" He near-shouted. "What... what happened?" Was it all a dream? It definitely didn't feel like any dream to John.

"John, calm down, I'll explain," Amy put a hand on John's shoulder and attempted to get him to calm down.

"No, I'll explain," A woman's voice came from the door as she walked in. She was wearing a green robe that was covered in various symbols, same as the sword wielder that killed the "aberrant". She had her hood down, and she was revealed to be a woman with a flowing head of black head and features that were seemingly a mixture of European and Arabic.

"Where am I?" John repeated.

"You're in our base of operations." The woman said.

"Who are you?"

The woman smiled warmly, "I am of the Sinclair line, my given name Floris. Your bloodline's name?"

"Ummm... Reid?" John said, a little taken back.

"Your name?"

"John."

"It's great to make acquantinces with you, John, I'm certain you two have a lot of questions." Floris said as she walked over to the edge of the bed, and sat down on it.

"Yeah... what happened?"

"You kids were attacked by an apparition," Floris started off, before she continued upon realizing they probably wouldn't understand, "Which is a manisfestation of human ideas, beliefs, and emotions taken a spectral form."

"... What?" John was confused.

"Okay, that was a lot," Floris chuckled for a moment. "It's a monster, basically. It was eating people... including kids that wander into the woods – what were you kids doing out there?"

John sighed, and it was Amy's turn to do some talking, "We were looking for his dog... and something killed it."

"Oh, my condolences."

"But, I want to know what is going on," Amy said confused, "Was that magic? Are you magic...?"

"It's not magic, love," Floris said. "It's Lux."

"... Lux?" Amy incredulously said.

"Yes, the essence of the universe itself and source of all life is known as Lux. Which the people of my world are capable of harnessing, and certain people in your world are empowered by... like you and your friend here."

"Huh?" Amy raised an eyebrow. "We have... Lux?"

To which Floris nodded, "You're an Awakened. You've opened your everything to the Lux – your mind, your heart, your body, and most importantly of all, your soul – and for that dedication you've gotten powers in return."

"What powers do we have?" John asked.

"That's a question I cannot answer," Floris said, "You'll discover your abstraction in time, but there's one thing I must show you." She pointed at John's chest, the sigil of a shield with wings on it, "This is your sigil, a mark that is the source of your powers - only other Awakened can see it."

"Let me guess, there's more Awakened?" Amy asked.

"Yes, but only in Farmer Hill, and due to your mark, you'll be drawn to them, and they will be drawn to you... along with Apparations like that cannibal. You must learn to protect yourself."

"Won't you protect us, Floris?" John asked.

"I can't... it's not my duty to keep you safe," Floris solemnly said.

"Then what is your duty?" Amy hissed at Floris, only for the older woman to raise an eyebrow. "Actually, you never explained just who are you, you only gave us your name."

"I am with a group known as the Watchers, a group that's main goal is keeping the magical world secret from the greater world. We have been killing Apparitions before they decide to wander into town. Along with... another goal I cannot discuss. It is not our job to protect people and instead it's to protect our intererests."

Kimberly remembered that Britney said she was with the Watchers... but there was obviously a few things that this woman was leaving out. She was still trying to figure out who the League are in this.

"... Some watcher you are."

Floris stood up as she said, "Irelevant... you all have to leave, before your parents get even more worried." She gestured for them to follow her as she walked through the halls off their base.

"Fine," Amy said as she followed.
They ended up in a dark room with the robed figures that was vaguely illuminated by various candles and torches. The one with the book recited a few lines and a massive swirling portal appeared in front of them that was unmistakenly Mason Square.

"If we require your assistance, John," Floris said. "We will find you, but for now we have things to discuss... without outsiders."

John nodded his head as he walked into the portal clutching Amy's hand very tightly. The portal closed behind them and Floris turned to the rest of the group.

"... Think he'd be a great candidate for our plan?"

---

---

???

---

On cue, Britney awoke.

It was a sudden jolt of energy that had forced Britney awake against her wishes, and she was confused. All she heard was beeping, and saw a bright light... her head drifted around as she noticed that she was in some kind of hospital room. With a quick glance downwards she noticed that she was in a hospital bed... wearing a gown. What the hell? She felt oddly violated while she was under. It took only a moment to remember what lead to this, and she could only feel guilt because of what happened to Claire. She shrugged her shoulders as she crawled up into a fetal position with her arms wrapped around her knees. It felt oddly cold in here, and she glanced towards the window and noticed that it was... snowing? Very hard, too. The girl could only help but wonder how fucking long she's been under.

Okay, she needed to assess the situation here, a lot. As discouraging as Claire's death was, she knew that she was just the beginning if Britney were to give up. She had to figure out a way to stop the Glutton and save everyone. She climbed out of the bed and she felt a jolt of discomfort flow through her body as her bare feet made contact with the cold floor. She swallowed it up asshe walked over to the sink and turned on the cold water and cupped a handful, before splashing it on her face a few times.

A piercing scream from not too far away stopped Britney in her tracks as she raised her head. She remembered what the Child had said; the Glutton has found them.

And she needed to be ready for anything.

---

Wake up. It was a voice he'd almost mistaken for someone else's, if only because of the snow, invoking memories from home life in Bellevue, remembered Christmas Holidays the old man had promised to spend with him but hadn't because he didn't have time to make it back and forth for work before the weather kicked in. Bundling clumps of broken up snow and hurling them at other peoples' doors and windows to avenge the snowballs tossed at his own home, or just for the hell of it - because what was so bad about it? He-..

Nate was getting off track with his waking thoughts. His mouth was dry, his throat cracked - he felt thirsty, but only for the feel of water in his mouth. Part of him woke in a cold sweat, no dehydration there. His vision, still bleary - not like when he could slip through things, but more like being underwater without any goggles - eventually found clarity. Blinking, he tugged his arm inwards and felt the IV running from a stand to his arm. Instinctively, he reached for his pocket to pull out his phone and get an idea of the time, when he realised he wasn't wearing his clothes anymore - he was in hospital garb, exposed in comparison. The frequent blips and chiming of electrical equipment around him left no other doubts where he was.

Out and around him, however - his vision distorted. Colours briefly bleeding away, but without his mass shifting through the bed on which he laid. For a moment, silhouettes blinked in and out of existence, a dozen shades who had once dwelt here. How long had he been here? Opening his mouth to shout for someone, his voice rasped and he barely wheezed out a "Hello?!" A hydraulic press moved inwards on his temples in that moment, as if provoked by the use of speech, reminding him of the hell they had narrowly fled into... what? It didn't make sense. One moment, they were moving through the walls - Nate had spread himself out as far as he could, let the group slip through the world. Then... his focus had slipped. Some were left behind, others split off. Claire... she was dead he realised. It wasn't a dream. She'd died, she'd been... his voice rasped a little more, wheezing in a panic. He felt out of breath, like he'd run marathon without getting into any shape.

"Hello?" Nobody else answered. His stomach churned, the uncomfortable sensation of something wrenching at him pulling away. Nobody else seemed to be nearby, not that he could make any sense of, though the curtains surrounding his bed didn't help with that sense of isolation. What broke it in the end was a piercing scream from somewhere else, not so far off. The voice - the God-Kid - it had warned him that the thing that had killed Claire, that had chased after their group at the school - it was coming. Wincing, he pried at the IV line feeding fluids into his body and disconnected it, stifling a pained noise and climbed down from the bed, finding his footing to be unsteady.

Once he had his bearings, he approaches the curtain - ready to slip back into the gap between the physical realm and whatever lay on the other side.

---

Hospital
_{@Zombiedude101}

---

Everything was too bright when Rien woke up. The white walls hurt their eyes, the slightly clinical smell hitting the back of their throat. Sluggishly they moved a hand to rub their eyes. Where the fuck were they? They could remember standing at the wall with Billy when some kind of portal appeared. Then after that it was just darkness… and a strange dream.

They sat up, wincing as their body protesting. So they were in a hospital. Just how long had they been out? That would explain the glaring whiteness and Rien’s general hatred for their surroundings. They’d never liked hospital, not after spending so long in them with Katya when they were younger. But that wasn’t something they wanted to think about.

”Hello?” Someone else in the same ward asked.

Rien tried to reply but found that their throat wasn’t being all too compliant with that. The person seemed quite far away from how quiet their voice was – must be a long ward. It didn’t help that they couldn’t see anything around due to the curtains that surrounded their bed.

Maybe they should go back to sleep. Yeah, sure, some voice had told them that the Glutton had found them. But what chance did they stand? It had gone so well the last time. Surely it was easier to just… give up and sleep.

A piercing scream pulled Rien out of their depressing thoughts. Okay, maybe they should get up after all.

They not so gently disconnected the IV line that had been connected to them, trying to ignore how much everything hurt as they stood up. They winced as their feet touched the ground – it was painfully cold without shoes. They felt somewhat naked in nothing but a hospital gown and without their drawing pad, but what else were they to do. First peering out of the curtains, Rien then stepped out when they noticed no one else was outside.

“Anyone else awake?” They asked, loudly. It was a bit of a dumb question – they knew someone was. They were pretty sure it was that guy who’d pulled them all through a wall, though their memory of voices wasn’t amazing. “I don’t like the sound of that scream at all, and safety in numbers and all seems like a smart idea.” They paused thoughtfully. “Also I’m kind of screwed alone because I can’t use my ability without drawing tools.”

---

Hospital

---

When Tuyen woke up, the first thing she saw was her shadow. Standing over her, still and silent. She’d almost hoped the whole thing had been a bad dream. Of course it hadn’t been. All the death had been real. She wasn’t sure how she’d survived.

Her head ached as she slowly opened her eyes. She was greeted by unfamiliar surroundings – a bed that wasn’t her own, and clothes far from it. A hospital? She could barely remember what had happened past the Glutton killing Hagan. Maybe that was for the best.

Already the whispers had started in her mind – but Tuyen tried to ignore them. She tried to get her bearings. How long had she been out? Was everyone else here too? That would make sense. After all the God-Child had told them all to wake up because they’d been found. A positive thought if there is any.

You’re lucky to still be alive.

Tuyen agreed with that shadow on that one. Was it even something it had said? It was quite a logical thought. She was lucky to be alive. They all were. But the thought didn’t fill her with any joy. Somehow she was sure none of this was over yet. Far from it.

She practically jumped out of bed as a piercing scream rang in her ears. Nearby, too. Panic beat through her chest, with Tuyen’s breaths becoming faster and shallower. Her body felt numb from the lack of use but still she forced herself to move, stumbling out from the curtains surrounding her bed and into the ward she’d been sleeping in.

She promptly fell into a wall, leaning against it heavily as something close to a sob racked through her body. The panicked feeling only increased as did the pace of her breathing. She knew, deep down, that she had to get a hold of herself. She’d survived this far.

By pure luck.

Right, it was that. Because she was useless enough to be having a panic attack straight after waking from some kind of coma when god knows what was coming after them. She had to move, but she didn’t know where to.

She knew she had to get out, but that was easier said than done when she could barely force herself to move.

---

---

Rita bolted upright as she gasped for air; her hand clutched against her chest while her heart threatened to hammer right through her ribcage. Sweat was formed on her brow, and her eyes darted around in a panic as a rapid beeping rang in her ears. Her breathing became more regular as she realized that she was no longer outside of the old, decrepit school but inside a hospital ward. The beeping came from the heart monitor standing next to her bed, and it too slowed with her realization. She scooted her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them: had it all been a dream? A hallucination? She must’ve gotten in a accident while riding her bike. There had been no friendship with Martin, no tension with Claire, absolutely zero mass murders, and an utter impossibility that…

Her eyes lingered on the sigil that ran from her fingers like the severed strings of a marionette. A choked sob escaped from her throat. It had all been real. The Abstractions, the Watchers, the Glutton, even the dreams she had when she was out were just visions of the past, as vivid as they would be if she had been there herself and written them down in her diary. She sat there for what must’ve been several minutes and silently cried as she tried and figured out why she had dreamed of her father before the vision of the Watchers.

She had been transported back to Corpus Christi, Texas. More accurately, she had been transported back in time to the last time she was in that garbage town that smelled like a dirty pier and cowboy boots that had trudged through horseshit. She was inside of a chain family restaurant, in a booth, surrounded by tchotchkes and flair, across from her father. Much like the rest of the folks in that town, her father was dressed in plaid tucked into a pair of levi’s over some flashy boots so that he looked like a real cowboy despite being a Yank. Just another convenient little lie—it was better to pretend that he was a true good ol’ boy than not for the sake of his work—from a man who was about to reveal to his daughter that his, and therefore her, entire life was a fabrication. It didn’t hurt so much that she was told that she wasn’t wanted. She knew that. She just wished he hadn’t pretended for so long that she was.

Rita, now that her mind rejoined her body, wiped away the tears. There was plenty of time in the world to be miserable, but first she had to figure out what was going on. For starters, how had she gone from some certain death situation to a hospital bed? She buzzed for the nurse once, twice, three times, and then waited, and waited, and waited. It became clear to her that a nurse was not coming, and perhaps that voice she had heard in her sleep hadn’t been part of the dream but an actual warning, and perhaps that meant it was time to get moving.

Rita closed her eyes as she removed the IV, and then slid over to the side of the bed. She winced as her bare feet touched the cold floor and her knees wobbled but held as she stood up, her hand gripped white against the bed rail for support. For someone who did not like to even show knee, it was almost a subconscious decision to take the sheet from the bed and drape it over her gown for some decency. Now as ready as she could possibly be, the girl went over to the curtain and peeked through it. The coast seemed clear enough: she stepped out of the threshold and into the ward.

Hospitals always gave her the creeps, and the dim lighting and, excluding the occasional beep of a machine, silent ward did nothing to change her opinion. She tiptoed past several closed-off beds before a scream shot through the air and robbed her of her ability to walk as her heart went into overdrive. Immediately after, she her something rip against the curtains before she saw Tuyen emerge and then collapse against a wall. Rita did not hurry over to the girl right away. After all, while they had been cordial to each other they were not really close; just two unlucky quiet girls who happened to be in the same shitty situation. It wasn’t until Rita recognized the symptoms of a panic attack—an experience she was all too familiar with—that she approached the girl.

“Tuyen, it’s Rita,” she said, her voice barely above a squeak as she walked around Tuyen so that she could see her. She reached out to put a hand on Tuyen’s shoulder. “It’s...it’s going to be okay.” Her voice shook; Rita obviously didn’t believe that. “I’m here for you. Try and steady your breathing, okay? I know it’s difficult, but you can do it.”

---

???

---

The snowstorm that had engulfed the town had reduced the visibility to such an absurd level that people could only see vague shadows in the distance. There weren't too many shadows out, given the anarchy that the town had fallen into. Which made it easy for the attendant of the front desk to simply look at her phone, as the whole lobby was completely desolate. She was hoping that the night would go by fast, so she can head home.

However, a figure wandered through the snowy streets of Farmer Hill, holding something in hand. He slowly made his way towards the hospital and he gazed up at the sign of "St. Mercer's Hospital". He knew he was exactly where he needed to be. The sliding doors of the hospital opened wide for him and he stepped inside. The woman raised her head and dropped her phone at the sight; it was a tall middle-aged man that was covered in blood and oozing flesh wounds that should have killed the man. But here he was, standing in the middle of the lobby, holding a massive rusty pipe that looked like it was ripped out of someone's house. The woman loudly screamed the man quickly closed the distance and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up into the air. She stared him directly into his eyes that were glowing with an otherworldly orange color... as her eyes began glowing as well...

---

St. Mercer Hospital

---

Justin's memories brought him back somewhere he truly didn't want to go. The lucid dreams brought him back to the worst day of his life... he looked down at his hands and saw himself glowing with a transparent red color as if he was a ghost. He was watching... himself, not too long ago, skateboarding down the street to his grandmother's house. If he had a heart right now, it would have started racing, he violently jerked himself away as he shouted,

"No! I'm not going through this again!"

Yet, even though he resisted, Justin was thrust to it; the moment that changed him forever. He saw the police outside of his grandmother's house and they were carrying out something on a cart with a sheet over it. It obviously looked like a body... and there was lots of blood dripping out of it. He paused for a moment as he tried to run in, but he was stopped by two policemen.

"Kid, don't!" One of the policemen said.

"No, let me in!" Justin shouted as the tears started running, "Please, I have to make sure she's okay!"

"Kid, you don't want to see what happened to her!" The policeman effortlessly held Justin back as he was forced to watch them put her grandmother in that van. No matter how hard he screamed or protested, they wouldn't let him past.

"What did they do to her!?"

Present Justin had no choice but to stop and clench his fists.

"... They killed her! Real messy, too." The Policeman said... which made Justin's heart sink as he fell to his knees and cried. Even though he had a fleeting suspicion as to what happened, it didn't make the actual words being said to his face any better.

The scene faded away as it quickly changed to the sheriff's office with him sitting leaning forward next to his mother - Meifeng, a tall Chinese woman that was very well-built even for her age, and had her hair in a dark brown rope ponytail, wearing a suit-dress - sat next to him with her arms crossed. Across from them was Sheriff Reese, sitting at his desk sifting through the papers.

"So...." Meifeng spoke in a deep accent, giving the sheriff a glance that showed how displeased she was. "... You're telling me that somebody broke into my mother's house just to kill her, stole nothing, and left behind no evidence?" She spoke as if the Sheriff was a moron because Justin knew it was complete bullshit.

"My investigators have come up with no leads, I'm sorry to say."

"Then let me investigate it." Meifeng suggested, "Maybe this case needs a second perspective..."

"I can't let you do that, this is a matter for Farmer Hill's sheriff's department," Reese said.

"I'm above you," Meifeng quickly flashed her CIA badge.

"With all due respect, Sheriff," Meifeng said that word as if it was an insult, before she continued, "That sounds unlikely unless someone's not doing their job..." She trailed off, passive-aggressive.

"I'm telling you, we're as confused as you are."

"... You guys are only confused because you fucking backwater rednecks aren't doing your jobs!" Justin screamed at the top of his lungs, surprising both Reese and his mother. "Hundreds of people died in this damn town, and nobody has even thought of who could fucking be behind it!?" He slammed his fist on the desk to make his point.

"Justin, calm yourself, I have this." Meifeng said to him in her native language in a low tone.

But, her words didn't reach Justin in time, as he continued his flaming rant, "I bet it was one of you that did it! Yeah, you can't find any evidence because you don't want to, you rednecks probably had something against her so you killed her because you could get away with it."

However, the Sheriff had enough, he sighed as he said, "We're done here, Zhaos. Leave here right now or I'll have someone escort you out."

"This isn't the last you'd hear of me." Meifeng snarled as she walked out, and Justin followed. Present Justin clenched his fists as fire surrounded him as he cried yet again before Justin was projecting a massive flame in all directions that looked like an enormous torch that burned the scene...

---

Not unlike the others, Justin was violently stirred awake by the God-Child, he gasped for air as he shut his eyes closed because the white room and the lights had hurt his eyes. He was wondering what the hell had happened, and wherein the hell had Justin ended up.

After one quick glance around, he determined that he was in a hospital.

Wow, weird.

He climbed out of the bed and realized that he still had no idea where he was. He was in a hospital room, yeah, but was he still in Farmer Hill? Not only that, but Justin knew that something was coming towards him. The Glutton had found them, which meant it was going to either send a Scott Reese after them or it... he felt a feeling of deep sadness within himself as he remembered what just happened to Claire. She was dead... not his closest friend, but he still liked her company. It was another reason to kill the Glutton, but he realized that he had to figure out where the others were.

Which was easier said than done because he was still really disoriented by suddenly being jolted awake. He almost fell over while trying to get out of the bed, and he had to slowly stumble over to the door. He opened the door and got the worst of the scream... he was hoping it wasn't anyone he knew, but he rushed towards the source of the scream.

---

... Somewhere?

---

Before she could experience any of the visions, Jordan was brought back to the same black void that she had become afraid of in the past. It was a portent of her fear of death, but it wasn't as surprising as it once was, she admitted. She expected what was coming... especially when she heard the thunderous footsteps in the distance. Jordan casually turned her head to see the Hound in the distance, slowly walking towards her. She swallowed as she knew that she had nothing to fear from the giant wolf... which had taken the size of a building again. She was trying to contain her fear, but she couldn't help but shiver, stare at it slaw-jawed, as she loudly gulped.

"... Jordan Nichols," The Hound started off. "You still don't get it, do you?" He asked, tilting his head sideways at the girl.

"I'm not afraid of you, Hound..." Jordan clenched her fists as she snarled at the giant wolf, only for the beast to take a smaller size as he walked a circle around Jordan.

"That's obviously not true," The Hound scoffed at her comment, chuckling softly as he said, "Regardless of whether or not you fear death, it still comes all the same..." He trailed off, but Jordan crossed her arms and took a deep breath.

"What is there to get?" Jordan hissed out the question. "That I can't escape death, or something else stupid and cryptic?"

"Madison Brown was meant to live."

Immediately, Jordan jolted upon the words and she immediately whipped around to face the ghostly wolf. She could no longer hide her shaking as she muttered, "... What?"

Instead of saying anything, the black void began taking form. It took the appearance of a scene that haunted Jordan to this day. A dark Philadelphian avenue that had a speeding Ford 2016 Explorer speeding down the street. Jordan was frozen in place, not a word left her mouth as she watched the scene in horror. The Explorer ran the light and the car was hit by another speeding car from the size and the vehicle went careening out of control and they ended up hitting a pick-up truck at crushing speeds. However, the scene was a bit different... instead of hitting the passenger's side, it hit the driver's side. A young African-American teen came stumbling out, bloodied, but still able to walk. She dragged herself to the other side and opened the door...

... For Jordan's dead body to come falling out. The girl grabbed onto Jordan and loudly screamed her name as tears began falling. The scene faded away back into darkness as Jordan fell to her knees.

"As you can see, this was the way things were supposed to go..." The Hound stood over Jordan as he grew in size. "... I can fix things. I can make things right... and I can give you the outcome you desperately wanted. You just need to come with me, Madison will take your place." He trailed off.

Jordan did nothing, she said nothing. The Hound began walking off.

"I thought by giving you the truth you would come with me..." The Hound muttered, "...But, it seems you still don't get it."

---

Jordan loudly gasped for air as she was jolted upwards. The infuriating sound of the machines beeping was the first clue she was in a hospital. The second one was, well, the room itself. A large white room with a bed and curtains... and she hated hospitals. Tears began to fall from Jordan's cheeks as she was forced to relive that horrifying experience. What was worse was that she was in a hospital... where she received the news about what happened. She loudly sobbed, as she just couldn't contain it anymore. There was a sinking feeling that she wasn't going to survive this, and maybe she'll just go with the Hound because it's more peaceful...

... No.

Jordan raised her head, it would be selfish to abandon her friends and these people against the Glutton. And if she was going to have Madison take her place, she would have to make sure the Glutton is out of the picture first... if she could even stop it. If she recalled correctly, she could stop time - at horribly inconsistent moments. Jordan shook her head for just a moment as her feet touched the cold floor. Okay, she just needed to figure out where she was. She looked down at the hospital gown and realized that her cell phone was definitely not on her so there go the easy answers. She slowly maneuvered towards the door, with her fucked up leg she was definitely the most helpless out of the Aw-

... Then she heard screaming in the distance.

Oh boy.

---

St. Mercer Hospital

---

Kimberly found herself in a dreamscape of her own... she was watching a past recollection of herself. She watched her past self as she stood over a computer desk with all sorts of photographs in hand. Pictures that Beth sent her of her adventures in New York City, and of all the fun times she was having without her. What made it even more insulting was that she insisted on sending her physical photographs - and what was worse was that she was sending pictures of her amazing grades and whatnot. Kimberly couldn't stand that bitch, at least after what she did... look at her. Having fun, getting a boyfriend... "UGH!" Kimberly screamed at the top of her lungs as she ripped the photographs in half. Before she threw them into the trash and things began to fade away...

---

Like all the others, she awoke in the hospital and was fairly confused about what had happened. The portal was their sweet respite, but they lost it all when they heard the hellish sound of the Glutton. Though, the scream that she just heard was nowhere near as bad as that. Kimberly remembered what that voice told them... The Glutton was on its way. Which meant that they had to get the hell out of there. She looked down... and determined that the last thing she wanted to get caught in was a hospital gown. First thing's first, she needed to find her stuff, then she needed to find the other Awakened. It was a simple concept on paper, but she knew it would get very complicated.

Kimberly slowly opened the door as she stepped into the hallway, she heard some low chattering and it was literally her only lead on the others. Still, she was cautious as ANYTHING could happen. She turned the corner and was met with the sight of Rien and the guy that saved them, and her heart warmed up. The girl almost excitedly ran over to them, but she slowed down when she remembered she had to be subtle.

"Rien, thank God you're alive!" Kimberly whispered before she glanced at the fat-kid, whom she didn't personally know but she definitely knew he was a good guy since he saved them from the Glutton. "Have you seen the others...?" She asked, before adding on, "and have you had any weird dreams?" She also looked towards the new guy in case he also knew anything.

---

St Mercer Hospital
_{@Zombiedude101@Ruler Inc}

---

“Kimberley!” Rien responded quietly, but enthusiastically. “I’m so glad you’re alive too, honestly… but no haven’t seen the others. Maybe they’re in other rooms?”

“Weird dreams, though? Yeah I’ve had some of those.” Not that they wanted to go into them. Sure, some had been similar to the past ones shared with other awakened. But some had been personal.

---

The bright decorated walls were garish, attempting to force a sense of friendliness into a place it shouldn’t be in. It didn’t cover the slightly septic smell or the beeping machines. It didn’t stop Rien from hating the place.

“They say I can be home for our birthday,” the girl in the bed gave a bright smile. She was small and a bit frail looking, but the smile lit up her entire face. “We’ll still be able to celebrate.”

“But you’re going to miss the violin recital you were excited about tomorrow!” Rien scowled, folding their arms. “And they said they’d let you out days ago, Katja.”

“Well they still don’t know what’s wrong,” Katja pointed out.

“Doesn’t mean they can’t release you.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Rien,” Katja laughed. “I’ll be home soon, don’t worry.

“Good, I’ve been waiting for you to get home to finish our painting!” Rien nodded, turning their head as the door to the room opened. An older doctor walked in, followed by the twins’ adoptive parents.

“Marijn, come outside while the doctor talks with Katja.”

Rien didn’t want to, but they followed their father outside anyway. It seemed like hours that they were stood out there in silence. They could tell that something was wrong from the heavy silence – none of the normal jokes were cracked. But then again, Rien didn’t find it as easy to talk to their parents when Katja wasn’t around. And it didn’t seem like their dad was ready to make conversation with the twelve year old either.

Eventually they were let back in and left alone with Katja.

“So we’ll continue the painting when I get back,” Katja smiled, less bright than before. She was avoiding telling them something, Rien knew. They always knew with her.

Rien sat down on the chair beside the horrible hospital bed, folding their arms and fixing their twin with a hard stare. “What did the doctor tell you?”

“Well they’ve figured out what’s wrong with me.”

“Yeah?”

“I… I’m dying, Rien. I’ve only got a few years left to live.”

---

Rien definitely wasn’t planning on sharing the details of those ones.

“Something with that guy who’s house we broke into… John? Yeah, there was one with him.” They shook their head slightly. “But I don’t know what it meant.”

---

St Mercer Hospital
_@Atrophy

---

Tuyen looked at Rita as she approached, panic only increasing as she realised someone was seeing her in this state. No, that was the last thing she wanted. She didn’t hate the comfort – if anything the hand place on her shoulder was nice. But she needed to pretend.

“I’m- I’m okay. I’ll be fine, thank you,” she barely gasped out, trying to take on the advice. Breathing in and out. That was all she had to do.

You’ve just gone and disappointed another person.

Yeah, like Tuyen didn’t know that. Everything was going through the same shit and yet she was the one having the breakdown. Fuck, it hadn’t even been that bad for her.

She was just a disappointment.

“Really, I’m okay, thank you.”

And then everything disappeared and it was just her and her shadow sitting at a table with two sheets of paper in front of them.

No, fuck, she didn’t want to relive this. She looked at the shadow, but it just stayed silent. Still there, taunting her with this memory.

A banging door and her Aunt and Uncle walked in.

“What do you call this, Tuyen?” her Uncle pointed to the test paper on the table, before going on to answer his own question. “A fail in mathematics? Do you think this is acceptable?”

“It certainly is not,” her Aunt chimed in.

“We did not take you into our family and raise you as one of our own for you to fail school subjects. Min-Jun is years above his age, yet you cannot even do something this simple?”

“You never live up to our expectations.”

The scene played out just as it had before, yet her Aunt and Uncle’s faces twisted into something less than human. They kept talking far beyond what they ever had.

“You’ve never been good enough. You’re nothing but a disappointment.”

She knew everything they were saying was what they’d always thought.

“We should never have taken you in. You only bring Min-Jun down.”

“You’re a failure who’s never going to amount to anything.”

She knew they were right, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear it.

“Min-Jun will always be better than you. You can never surpass him.”

“You’re never going to be good enough.”

She just wanted them to stop talking.

“You never should have been born. You were a mistake.”

“You’re just like your father and you’ll die in this town just like him.”

Shut up.

“Your writing is never going to lead to anything.”

Shut up.

“You killed your mother. And for what? Your own worthless life?”[/i]

“Shut up!”

The hallucination faded and she was back in the hospital… with Rita still there trying to help her out of a panic attack. Who’d just heard her shout shut up. Fuck. Deep breathes.

“Ah, uh, that wasn’t towards you,” Tuyen got out, managing to get her breathing more under control as she did. Not panicking quite so much – though she really should be. “It was towards-”

What? What did she say? That it was towards the voices in her head and the hallucinations she’d been seeing. Right, make herself look like crazy towards someone else.

Might as well tell some of the truth.

“It was towards my power thing… it’s kind of sentient.” She shrugged, quickly changing the subject. “Thank you, though, for helping. I think I’m actually fine now.”

At least she’d managed to do the whole steady breathing thing and her shadow had actually shut up.

---

St Mercer Hospital

---

The pre-competition nerves were beginning to get to Caelea as she stretched, ignoring all of the other teenagers around her. It didn’t help that they were running late. She was supposed to be on a few minutes ago but she was still waiting.

“Mum and dad are thinking about leaving soon,” Blair crouched down to get to her level where she was in the splits. “They want to get dinner started.”

“I’ll be on soon, please get them to stay,” Caelea looked up to her older brother with the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. “This competition is really big and they’ve never come to watch before. And they’ll never let me continue if they don’t see.”

“I know, Cael,” Blair sighed, ruffling her hair – much to her annoyance. “I’ll try and get them to stay, I really will.”

“Caelea Baird!”

Caelea jumped up, trying to shake away the nerves.

“Good luck, kid.”

She just rolled her eyes at her brother as she stepped through to the competition area and walked onto the floor for her routine.

The music started and she got into it. All nerves disappeared as she moved about the floor, landing each leap and jump. She felt free, freer than she ever had before. As if she was the air she moved through. She felt like she was soaring. It was a feeling she loved. This was something she was good at.

Soon she reached her last tumbling pass, leaping from hands to feet until she made it to the last jump. Mid-air she looked to see if her parents were there, only to find that they’d already left.

Then she hit the ground with a loud crack and everything went black.

---

Caelea woke up gasping, sitting bolt upright only to have her vision swim before her. Where the fuck was she? A quick look around made it fairly obvious. Just how long had she been in a hospital? She really didn’t want to think about it.

At least her parents wouldn’t give a fuck about her not being around. They’d probably be delighted to be rid of her.

But those were depressing thoughts for another time. For now she needed to get out of here. She didn’t want to stick around if that thing from before was coming after them again. It was easier said than done, though, as her legs gave out under her the instant she got off the bed. Slowly she pushed herself back up and took a few moments to gain her balance.

As she made her way over to the door a loud scream sounded, ringing in her ears. Fuck. Caelea set off running towards the source of the scream – maybe she had a death wish, but she didn’t want anyone else hurt if she could help it.

St. Mercer Hospital

---

Paige's dreams were, as if with those of the other Awakened, truly horrific.

She remembered the day she was shot. She saw herself obliviously walking home, perfectly unaware of what was about to happen. She wanted to scream at that younger, happier Paige, to tell her to run and run and not look back. She tried. But the younger Paige couldn't hear her.

Her present self saw the men go in to the store, but her past self paid no attention. It was only when she heard shouting that the past Paige looked into the store, and saw the two men pointing guns at the owner. They were jumpy, nervous. They had never committed a crime before, and were unused to the tension that came from the knowledge that their actions might ruin their lives. Quite possibly, they were also high. She saw them, and they saw that she saw them, saw her gasp and panic and try to decide what to in that split second. They reacted faster, but only out of instinct, not clear or logical thought. And so they were just as surprised as she was when there was a thunderous crack, the sound of shattering glass, and a shooting pain in her right thigh. The last thing that the younger Paige saw before she fell unconscious was the concrete rapidly getting closer.

Waking up, in a hospital. This memory nearly as unpleasant as the one before it. Feeling strange, and afraid. No one else present, no one else knowing she had woken up. Feeling weak, but wanting to understand why... why something. It felt like nothing she had ever felt before. In fact, it felt like nothing. Surely a bullet wound would hurt? Paige didn't understand, it was difficult to think clearly. Lifting the sheet, just to see, just to find out what had happened. And seeing nothing there. Nothing but a bandaged stump just a few inches above where her right knee should have been. Hyperventilating, panicking, as she understood. A doctor coming in, rushing over, just in time to see her fall unconscious.

The next few days were murky. They had been filled with dreams which seemed real, and realities which seemed dreamlike. Living through the event for the first time, then encountering it again and again in nightmares. Hoping that none of it was real, and she'd wake up at home, healthy and happy, any minute now. White lights. Seeing her parents. Polite conversations which never seemed to help. Neither Laura nor Michael were the sort of person who could help with purely emotional matters. When they wanted to make a person happy, they'd identify the source of the problem, work out how to fix it, draw up a plan... they were solution people. Not feeling people. And there was no solution here.

Paige watched herself go through all this. She saw herself realise that she'd never properly take part in any sport ever again. She saw herself feel that her life had been wasted, and that it no longer mattered what she chose to do. She saw herself put on the prosthetic for the first time, that which she hated so much, and which became a symbol of weakness for her, which she had relied on the rest of her life regardless, because she had to. Paige lived again through the worst days of her life.

The only mercy was that she did not have to relive the months that followed.

---

Paige woke up to a worryingly familiar scene. Once again, waking up in a hospital room. Her instinct was that this was another dream, but after a moment it was clear it wasn't; the room was similar, but not the same, and she didn't have that same feeling as before, that she as watching events she had already experienced. This time, it was happening now, and it was real.

And if it was real, she was in danger. Her last memories were of running, and of darkness and fear and death. Paige sat up in her bed as quickly as she could in this weakened state, spotting her crutch and prosthesis leaning against the wall, a few feet away. Close, but not close enough to reach from here. For anyone else, it was only two or three steps away. But for some, it's not that easy.

Paige sat on the edge of the bed, and set her left foot against the floor, and pushed off, hard. She fell against the wall, tried turning, and half-succeeded. Her back was now against the wall, with the crutch and prosthesis next to her, but in getting their, she had fallen painfully.

"Fuck!" she whispered harshly in reaction to the sudden pain, before setting about putting on the prosthesis.

Once finished, Paige slowly got to her feet, and made her way out into the corridor. She was just getting her bearings when she heard a scream.

---

---

“I’m sorry!”

The instant apology came naturally as Tuyen shouted at Rita to shut up. She withdrew her hand from the girl’s shoulder and took a tentative step back, more concern than anything in her wide eyes. She gave a slight, understanding smile as Tuyen backpedaled, although it creased closed as the other girl mentioned her Abstraction being sentient. Before she could even think, as question had formed on Rita’s lips, and the sigil on her still outstretched arm glowed for Tuyen to see as Rita asked, “What do you mean your power is sentient?

---

---

Penny was on the move towards the scream. The God Kid’s voice had startled her awake, and she had wasted little time in bed. She had her own room and had torn through the cabinets look for DIY projectiles that she had stuffed in a pillow case; her own Santa’s sack of slings. Anger fueled her as she darted through the halls of the eerie hospital, the scream still ringing in her ears. The Glutton had killed Claire and now it was back to finish the job; she would do whatever she could to be a thorn in its side until the day she died.

Worry also seeped in to her anger, concerned that perhaps the scream belonged to one of her peers. In fact, she worried most that perhaps the Glutton had gotten to Britney. The bitch was her second most hated thing in the universe, but she was the only one with any answers. If she died then so did any real chance Penny and the others had to stand against the Glutton.

Her slippered feet slapped against the floor and made it awkward to run as she past by darkened room after darkened room. Penny turned a corner and noticed the light from the lobby shining through the windows on a set of doors like a beacon to guide her to the source of the scream. She slammed through the doors and practically slid into the lobby, the bag of ballistics unslung from her shoulder as she grabbed an assortment of pens and tongue depressors. She had expected to see the Glutton in all of it’s bizarre, undefinable horror; instead, she found herself faced against a man that gave her vibes of Scott Reese with his blood-soaked body and makeshift club. He had a woman raised up in his arms as they choked her.

“Hey asshole, You got three seconds to drop her before I turn you into a pin cushion!” shouted Penny. The world buzzed to life as she spotted his head start to turn towards her before it actually did, the orange glow of his eyes trailing behind as it caught up. The color was an all too familiar one; she had yet to notice that the victim was also the same. “Oh, fuck off,” muttered Penny as she unleashed a salvo of makeshift missiles at the man, with the intention to just wound him enough to make him drop the lady.

---

^@Atrophy
St. Mercer Hospital

---

Penny's words were just a distraction as the man arched his head towards Penny, what caught his attention was the barrage of various medical equipment. Throughout the barrage, a pen had slipped by its defense and hit him square in the hell. The man let out a loud yell as he threw the woman across and grasped his eye. He growled as he released his eye, baring his teeth, and the orange light returned as a network of tendrils appeared that repaired the damage that Penny's done to his eye.

Justin had charged into the room literally the moment the brute tossed the woman aside. "Oh shit!" Justin said, having not a clue about what's going on. One look told him that Penny was in the room - which meant that one person in this damn hospital that he knew. But, his instincts were telling him to help the woman, because clearly, Penny got this. Justin ran over to the woman and knelt down as he checked her pulse... her heart's still beating, so that's good, right. But, would she be able to get up, or would Justin have to drag her off.

"Hey, hey!" Justin shouted at the woman as she slowly rose awake, "Are you okay?"

"I... I am..." The woman trailed off, as she kept her eyes closed shut for a moment, "... Because I am finally in the glow of my lord." The words had Justin in shock for a moment as the woman grabbed him by the neck and tossed him across the room.

"Ah!" Justin said as he rolled across the tile floor - thank God that he didn't hit anything. But instinct made Justin roll onto his stomach as he looked up at the possessed nurse, her eyes glowing with an orange light. She knelt down and grabbed a pair of scissors on the ground.

"At last... I finally see the truth," The nurse rambled on as she stared at her weapon. "You demons are the only thing in between humanity and salvation... so die!" The woman screamed the last few words as she lunged towards Justin with the scissors. On reflex, he rolled away as the woman ran towards him as he got up on his knee. Flames sparked off his body as he looked at the woman marching towards him - but he knew she was just getting ready to lunge at him. He couldn't help but turn towards Penny...

The man with the pipe had charged Penny with the pipe overhead and tried to bring it down on her head, he let out the loudest yell as he did so.

---

^@Ciaran
St. Mercer Hospital

---

The God-Child's words rose Lynette Dominguez awake... she actually slept the easiest given that she didn't have her worst moments flash before her eyes yet again. Though, she can't actually name anything horrible that happened to her - that was all semantics, what mattered that she got up even though she didn't expect to. Lynette woke up gasping, about to scream because all she remembered was running away and hearing the Glutton scream at them... and then she's here. She was certain that she was done for until she heard the God-Child's voice. Though, she realized that she got more than what she bargained for when she came to this hell-town. She shook her head as she walked over to the nearest sink to wash her face off, even though it was a placebo effect it was nonetheless something that Lynette needed to soothe her nerves.

When she heard the scream, she got a grim reminder that the Glutton was here. Coming for them. Her first instinct was to get the hell out of there, but Lynette looked out the window and saw something but the worst snowstorm she has ever seen. She glanced down at her hospital gown, before realizing she was poorly, poorly, equipped to go out in all that. However, if she recalled correctly hospitals usually keep their stuff. Usually.

The girl quickly tore out of the room, then she decided to take it slow. At least until she figures out what the hell is going on. The last thing she wants to do is turn a corner and turn into the Glutton himself. Of course, a person she ran into was a silver-haired girl that she recognized as apart of the group. She saw her a few times - most notably when they were at John Reid's house - but she also remembered Jordan mentioning her a few times. Still, anyone was better than nothing.

"Pa-Paige?" Lynette said, stumbling on the girl's name. "Are you okay? It's me, Lynette... I doubt we had a chance to get acquanted."

---

St Mercer Hospital
_@Atrophy

---

“What do you mean your power is sentient?”

As Rita asked the question the sigil on her arm glowed clearly for Tuyen to see. She was using her abstraction, but Tuyen didn’t feel compelled to do anything.

The question didn’t have the intended effect that Rita wanted it to. Instead, as soon as she began to ask the question her mind was filled with horrendous screams. These quickly subsided after the question was finished.

“It has a mind of its own, but it’s not that important,” Tuyen shrugged, merely giving the definition of sentience. After all she wasn’t being forced to say anymore – and that was all the information she wanted to give on the topic. On the other hand, she very quickly put together two and two for Rita’s abstraction. What with the sigil glowing as the question was asked. “You can make people answer your questions can’t you?”

Her expression held no judgment. Sure, that abstraction could be used to get some fairly personal information out of people. But at this point that didn’t really matter. Some people had abstractions that would let them do much worse things.

“That’ll make it easier to find out how long we were out if we find someone, right?”

She gave a slight smile. There was one thing she wasn’t quite sure about – why Rita’s abstraction hadn’t worked on her. She had a feeling her shadow had something to do with it, but that was something she’d worry about later.

---

St Mercer Hospital
_{@Atrophy@Ruler Inc}

---

Caelea reached the source of the scream in time to see Justin roll away from a woman with scissors and another man charge at Penny. Fuck.

She’d barely used her abstraction, from what she did know was that it had absolutely no range. From where she was she wouldn’t be able to hit either of the two attackers. But by the time she ran over she’d be no help – she’d have to run right into the face of one of them.

Fuck it. She had gymnastics training, this probably wouldn’t kill her.

Caelea blasted air into the ground, launching herself up into the air. She flipped over as she projected herself towards the nurse. As she reached the women, she shot air out of her hands directly into the nurse’s body. It was more than powerful enough to do a fair amount of damage or knock her over.

It just had the unfortunate and unforeseen circumstance of shooting Cael back too, right towards a wall.

---

---

Rita’s hand clutched against her head as the screams invaded her mind. Was Tuyen responsible for them, or was it her Abstraction acting on its own? Either way, the look Rita gave the other girl was one of bewilderment. She tucked her arm back inside of the blanket and wrapped her hands around her as Tuyen guessed Rita’s abstraction. Her lips drew tight, but already she could feel the words crawling up her throat like worms after a spring shower. She bit her tongue and tried to swallow them, but Tuyen’s slight smile disarmed her.

“I...I don’t know...oh…” The words came out forced through gritted teeth. Rita was afraid of what would happen if another person knew about her abstraction. She had only told Martin about it. However, Tuyen didn’t seem disturbed by Rita’s ability, and she had seemed tight with Martin. Rita shook away her doubt. Perhaps it would be nice to have a confidant.

“Yeah. It doesn’t really work when the target knows about it, though, so...uh, and I wasn’t trying to pry or anything. It just sort of happens whenever I ask a question. Sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t,” said Rita. She stumbled over her words to get as many of them out there as possible. Her eyes looked around the room for the exit, and so that she wouldn’t be meeting Tuyen’s eyes. Those screams had been horrifying. “But you’re right. We should find a doctor or something and figure out what’s happened.”

Her eyes snapped back to Tuyen. Underneath her sheet the sigil on her arm glowed and then fizzled out like a sparkler. “The God-Child woke you up too, right?” Her voice was quiet. “Maybe answers should wait. We better get out of here before anything comes.”

---

---

Penny felt a mix of relief when her shot striked true and disgust when she realized she had blasted the man in the eye. Gross! She watched, her jaw agape, as the orange light began to repair the damage she had done. She rubbed her shoulder and glanced over towards Justin as he helped out the thrown woman. It was good to see him. She needed to go a bit harder on this abomination, and Justin had one of the stronger abstractions. Penny turned her head back to the corrupted man and flipped her hair behind her shoulder, an arsenal of pens in her left hand as she flipped one with her right.

“About time you showed up. It felt weird doing this alone. You ever notice how we’re always the ones stuck dealing with assholes like this?” she shouted over to Justin; she could hardly make out what the woman was saying. “Is she o—”

And then Justin was tossed across the room like a doll.

Penny launched a pen at the woman before Caelea arrived and quite literally flipped into action, also going towards Justin’s aid. It was a sight to see through the eyes of her abstraction, but there was another threat. Penny turned her attention back to the man just in time to catch him upon her as a bloodcurdling scream nearly shattered her ear drums. The pens dropped from her hands and she fell backwards. The pipe missed where her head was but kept following through to where she had fallen. It would certainly be a bone-crushing strike if it hit her.

So maybe the case would be the same if it hit him. The sigil below her neck glowed as she threw up her hand, blasting at the man and the pipe a fraction of a second before it hit her. At the very least she should be able to shove him back enough to make the blow miss, but Penny truly intended for her power to drill the pipe back through her assaulter.

---

^{@Atrophy@FernStone}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

It all happened in an instant, Justin was trying to summon even a small amount of fire to scare the bitch off, but then a literal white blur flew past him. Justin was confused to no end; all he heard was a jet of air then the woman screaming as she was launched back towards the wall. He figured that the girl was one of the Awakened, she looked familiar, and she was helping. Only problem was that Justin was hesitant to critcially injuring or killing the woman, as he figured that she was possessed by that thing. If there was only a way to just disable her for a bit... though, Justin noticed that she was just getting right back up, so she was definitely a lot tougher than normal.

The Pipe made contact with the ground and shattered tile immediately upon impact and sent tiny little fragments all over the place. It also had the unintended side effect of breaking his pipe, shredding the tip into jagged spikes that wasn't quite unwelcomed by the brute. Penny's abstraction sent the brute flying across the room and he hit the ground almost immediately. He was stunned for only a few moments before he tried to reach for his weapon... That was what Justin took notice of. Seemingly without even giving an order, the Soul-Self valiantly leaped out of his body in the form of a tiger and pawed the pipe away sending it across the room. It smiled as it turned towards the man, whom lunged towards the Tiger. Despite the flames, the possessed man wrapped his arm around the Soul-Self's neck even as it burned him horribly upon contact. He squeezed the thing's neck... which had the unintended side effect of restraining Justin. He found himself falling to his knees as he found himself unable to move.

"H-Help!" He squeaked out.

Justin's actions had the effect of knocking the pipe towards the Nurse, she grinned as he grabbed it with both hands and turned towards Caelea. "All my life I wanted purpose, and now I have it!" The nurse yelled out the words at the top of her lungs as she charged the girl, swinging it at a wide arc towards her face as she let out her battlecry of "Redemption!"

---

Charlie had always hated hospitals, and waking up to an ear piercing scream did not improve their views on them. The first thing they did was bolt upright, the second was of course, to fall back into the bed they lay on when their head made it clear that Charlie wasn't ready to move in such a quick manner. As their back collided with the bed with a thump, Charlie stared up at the ceiling, silently willing for the scream to shut up. Jesus Christ their head hurt, everything was ringing, they could hardly make anything out, they needed to focus. Focus on something that wasn't the blasted screaming! Charlie didn't even realize the screaming had already stopped until their ears ceased their ringing, and things went silent.

Lying on the bed, only their thoughts and the distant echoing of some sort of struggle, Charlie stared up at the ceiling, trying to piece together how they had gotten there, and for that matter, what the hell was going on. Straining their aching mind, the blond headed individual dug deep into their memories, digging out the foggy remenants of why they were within the hospital in the first place.

They had been walking home, well, what constituted as their home, and then, somewhere along the way they had been jumped by a bunch of raving lunatics, saying something about... what had it been, non-believers? Something along those lines, and then nothing. Charlie could assume the ringing in their head was the enormous beating the mob had delivered, and the end result had led to them ending up here.

With care, Charlie slowly sat upright, one hand kept on their temple, gently massaging it in case the pain flared up again. Movie logic would have dictated that Charlie could have instantly stepped out of bed, felt fine, and then go on their merry way until they found out what the hell was going on in St. Mercers, but movies were very misleading.

It took several minutes, but Charlie finally managed to step out of bed, and push past the curtains shielding their bed from the rest of room. The hospital was eerily quiet, well, with the exception of whatever the bloody hell was going on elsewhere, but for that matter, there was nobody else in immediate sight, which was rather odd. They didn't reside within a particularly large town, but normally there would be staff wandering past or checking up on any patients. Had the impossible finally happened?

Had aliens finally invaded the planet, done with causing all the weird occurrences around town and finally dropping down to earth to settle things in person?

Or zombies. That was a possibility too.

As painful as it was, and as much as they would rather find some proper clothing instead of the rather thin and somewhat revealing hospital gown, and for that matter... Limping back to the bed they had been resting upon, Charlie removed the chart from it's place on the front of the bed, looked it over for a moment, and then promptly tore it up. Real genders weren't defined by organs. Tossing the scraps of paper of the clipboard into a trashcan, Charlie moved a hand over the top left side of their head, feeling what must have been a large bandage taped over a particularly painful spot. They must have done a bigger number of Charlie then first thought.

With nobody else in sight, and the possibility of new adventure awaiting them, Charlie hurriedly limped over to the only door out of the room, twisted the knob, and stepped outside.

---

^{@Eric Horst}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

The first thing that Britney thought about doing was arming herself as she knew the threat that the Glutton posed better than most of the people here, and unfortunately that meant she had to be ready for a surprise attack. The Glutton's true form rendered weapons useless against it, but if the Glutton had enthralled anyone... then this could be useful. She put her hands out and a wheat-colored light appeared in her between her hands, almost like a long rod. As the light faded it revealed a wooden spear, long, durable and with both ends pointed to the point where it could easily impale people. Perfect, she had no idea how to use a spear, but this would help a lot if she was caught off guard - she wouldn't have to worry about making anything to defend herself.

Slowly turning the knob, Britney walked on her tip toes to reduce the amount of noise that she was making as possible. Good thing that she didn't have any shoes on, she would have abandoned them anyway. She didn't know where her friends were, or who else was in the hospital, what she did know was that she had to get out of here fast as...

A door creaked open and Britney was about to pee herself, and on complete instinct, she whipped her entire body around towards the said door. Her spear was ready to stab whoever was unfortunate enough to open the door with impunity... but after the shock wore off, she realized that she was facing a person. Not a corrupted, not the Glutton, but some blood haired person whose gender was difficult to immediately discern.

Whom she was still pointing a stick at.

"... Oh, hey, sorry," Britney said as she lowered her weapon, wielding it with one hand. "I'm just a little tense... well more than a little tense." She put a hand on her chest, trying to sound casual and nice but her nerves were through the roof. Even if the person appeared "human", they could still have been enthralled by the Glutton.

"Yeah, sorry, but we need to get out of here fast as possible, it's dangerous here... and here I am getting ahead of myself," Britney pointed a spear at this person, but didn't even bother to give out her name, "my name is Britney, yours?" She quickly said.

---

St Mercer Hospital
_@Atrophy

---

“It’s okay, I didn’t think you were prying,” Tuyen shrugged. Though it was a bit of a lie, it was easy to make. She would have been a bit more annoying if Rita’s abstraction had worked on her. But overall she couldn’t judge the other girl for it – after all they had to make the most of what they had. And she didn’t exactly have an abstraction that she would call good in any sense of the word.

And anyway, that wasn’t the important thing just now. That was getting out. Not that Tuyen had many idea for that – and that didn’t help push down the constant, slight panic she felt. It put her on edge but now that she wasn’t having a full on attack she was more than able to pretend to be fine.

“Yes, he also woke me up,” Tuyen nodded. “I had some strange dreams too… but I agree. We should get moving. Maybe some of the others are here.”

It was pretty easy to find a door out of the ward, and Tuyen carefully made her way over to it. She peered out to find an empty corridor. Eerily empty, in a way. Weren’t hospitals normally bustling with activity?

“There’s nothing bad out there… but there’s also no one around at all.”

---

St Mercer Hospital
_{@Atrophy@Ruler Inc}

---

Caelea managed to stop herself from hitting the wall with another, slightly lighter blast of air. It seemed she could control how hard she controlled the air if she concentrated but not much. She really should’ve tried to figure out her abstraction sooner.

And she had barely even scratched the woman. Fuck. She guessed that she was possessed, it was all too similar of an orange glow to what had happened with Scott Reese. Seemed that made her stronger too. This was not going to be easy with just the three of them here. She honestly hoped more people were around and would turn up soon.

She tried to jump to Justin’s help as he fell down, restrained, but the Nurse cut her off while shouting out a bunch of shit.

“I’m glad you found purpose in your life, but can that be to not fucking kill me?” Caelea dodged away from the pipe, using air to make sure she completely avoided it. “That’s just a bit inconvenient, you know.”

She pushed out with her hand, blasting at the woman’s in the hope that she could knock the pipe away. At the same time she kicked at the Nurse’s stomach and shot another powerful blast of air at her.

St. Mercer Hospital
_{@Ruler Inc}

---

Briefly after leaving her room, aiming to investigate the scream, Paige encountered Lynette, another of the girls from among the Awakened. Paige knew about as much about Lynette as Lynette did about Paige - meaning very little. She did remember Lynette's assistance in the farmhouse, and subsequently the garage, where the Reids lived. The very first stage of this little adventure that had taken place after a psychopath had tried to murder her. Anyway, she trailing off, losing focus.

"Yeah, I've been worse," Paige replied. She looked down at her plastic leg, painfully visible in the hospital gown. "I've, er- I've had worse experiences in hospitals before. So I'd suggest we get out of here as soon as possible, but I don't know where the exist is, and since each direction is only as good as the others-" she turned and faced the direction the scream had come from. "-I suggest we see who needs help over this way."

Thuds and crashes were now audible from the same direction as the scream. It sounded like a battle. Paige didn't intend to leave Lynette behind, especially without waiting for her input - in the brief time they'd had together, Lynette had come across to Paige as a very intelligent, composed person - but time seemed to be of the essence. If Lynette had a different plan, Paige wanted to hear it now. She would already be slowed down just by her own walking pace. She didn't want to waste time over-thinking the course of action, or she might not have the choice.

---

---

Billy’s dreams were normally vapid or incomprehensible, visions of buxom blondes turning into colors and noises turning into the color of noises, and it was infrequent that he remembered them. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t immediately bolt to an exit when the voice of the God Child awoke him but instead took a second in bed to parse through the memory he had experienced. He rubbed his temples, thankful that the doctors had left his glasses sitting on the stand next to him, and sat on the edge of his bed as he desperately tried to find some meaning, if any, to the vision of the past.

It was of one of his family vacations from a few years back, the one to a national park not too far outside of Farmer Hill. The last one. None of the Lawson siblings were particularly enthused to be out in the woods. Henry had wanted something less familiar—he had more than hinted that he wanted to visit another country, Japan judging by the only media that interested him. Penny, in her desperate attempt to seem cool and hip, was upset that they were going on a trip together at all, although she said that if they had gone to maybe Portland she would’ve been okay. Billy just didn’t like the idea of being away from his computer for a week.

The family had all crammed inside of a rental RV that Billy’s dad had gotten a good deal on from one of the guys who frequented the shop. It may have been a good deal, but it was too small for the Lawsons. Billy had flexed his older sibling privilege to get a bunk to himself and forced Henry and Penny to share a bed, an idea that mortified the two of them. It also united them against him, and for the week they had been a force of annoyance. Billy had found pinecones in his bed, rocks in his shoes, and, the turning point, poison ivy in his underwear. By the last day of the trip, he was ready for some revenge.

The plot was a simple one: he was going to get his little brother stoned. Billy crushed up the herb, rolled a joint, and found Henry putzing around by a stream. Penny had seemed to be beaten by nature and joined her mom on one last hike while Billy’s father was busy packing up their campsite. It was easy to convince Henry to take a hit; Billy only called the kid a bitch twice before his lips were around the end of the joint. Henry took one of the biggest drags a first timer had ever taken, and he coughed up a storm after the hit. Billy couldn’t hold back his laughter as his little brother kept coughing. The idiot had just blazed on some poison ivy.

Then he kept coughing.

And kept coughing.

Billy smiled as he looked around the room. He remembered the weird crack in the ceiling; it was the same one he had stared at while his parents chewed him out for his irresponsibility. They were such a drag. Could’ve died was different than had died; people could’ve died all of the time. What were the odds that he’d wake up in the same hospital room as his brother? It was funny.

The scream drew him out of the happy memory. Screams in hospitals were never good ones, like screams for ice cream. He decided now that the best idea for his survival was to beat feet. Billy crawled out of bed and took a few unsteady steps towards the door before he got balance back to his feet. How long had he been out for? With some uncertainty, he grabbed the door handle and pushed through into the hall.

---

---

Rita followed Tuyen to the door and held her breath when the girl peered through the window, even though she wasn’t the one faced with immediate danger. Rita didn’t feel any relief when Tuyen said that nobody was out there. In a way, that was even worse; a normal, bustling hospital would’ve been a nice thing to see. She also looked through the small window after Tuyen had stepped back. It wasn’t an exaggeration at all: they seemed to be alone.

“Okay,” said Rita, her breath released in one big sigh. “That’s...that’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? Let’s be quiet, just in case.”

Slowly, she pushed open the door, thankful that the hinges were well oiled and didn’t make any deafening creaks. She gave Tuyen an uncertain look that said ‘here goes nothing’ and stepped through the threshold, half-ready for something to jump out and grab her. However, there was no boogeyman waiting for the frightened girl, and she motioned for Tuyen to follow her. Rita hugged the wall as she walked step by step down the hall, making certain to duck below the windows leading into other rooms (even the ones with the privacy curtains pulled down). She made it halfway down the hall when she heard a door click open behind her; her hair stood up on the back of her neck.

“Oh hey man, funny seeing you here. What are the odds?” said the voice that had haunted her dreams. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t even turn to look at him. She was completely petrified. “I mean, I guess they’re pretty good. We only have one hospital, right?” The tall man noticed Tuyen and gave her a superficial smile. “Sup dude, I don’t think we every really talked before, have we? I’m Billy, you’re...uh…”

_{”...run…”}

“Huh?” said Billy as he turned back to Rita just in time to catch a balled-up sheet with his face.

“Run!” screamed Rita as she bolted down the hall, hardly looking to see what was ahead of her at all.

---

---

Shit. Penny had knocked the man away, but it wasn’t enough. As the man grappled with Justin’s burning tiger—for a brief second, Penny felt a tinge of jealousy that her abstraction lacked such style—she pulled herself together and swept the broken shards of pipe into her hand. While the other girl went toe-to-toe with the possessed nurse, Penny turned her attention back to the bloodied man. He now had the flame tiger in a chokehold, an action that also seemed to be hurting Justin.

No longer so concerned about her abstraction lacking flair, and having caught Caelea dodge out of the way of the nurse and get some of her own licks in, Penny moved to help Justin. She hurried to get an angle on the man and moved so quick that she almost slipped on the linoleum. She went through with the motion and dropped to one knee, hard, as she unleashed the bits of pipe at the man’s face before she followed through with a salvo of the last of her pens.

---

^@Ciaran
St. Mercer Hospital

---

"... I think we shouldn't."

The witch-girl sheepishly replied to Paige's idea, realizing that it was a terrible idea. For starters, as cold as it made Lynette feel, they weren't heroes. Paige was a crippled girl and the best thing that Lynette herself had going for her was the glyphs that she barely understood, nor utilized to their maximum effectiveness. Second, they had no idea what was in the hospital or what they were dealing with - they could be facing down the Glutton which Lynette felt was, for all intents and purposes, completely unstoppable.

Though, she had to admit that strength in numbers and they would have a far better chance in that snowstorm if they had the help of friends. Or reliable transportation. Or actual clothes. If they were going to do anything they should at least get information on the situation.

"Actually, let's assess the situation first just to make sure we aren't walking into a trap," Lynette started off. "We need to find the others if we're going to stand a chance out here... and I'd like to find my clothes."

---

^{@Atrophy@FernStone}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

The possessed man's face was slashed to pieces by the barrage of broken metal shard fragments that he found himself letting go of the tiger. He let out a barrage of swear words as he stumbled backward. Justin managed to catch his breath as he fell to his knee... before he slammed his fist on the tile. The flaming tiger quickly slashed at the man's chest and left deep slashes in his chest that was immediately burnt shut. It would have been an attack that would have killed anyone else, but this man was still going. He growled as he faced down the tiger which merely opened its mouth and unleashed a flamethrower of flames on the man.

As he was being immolated, the man came to a stop. "It's useless! You may kill me, but God has already redeemed me!" In a gruesome display, he grabbed one of his ribs and ripped open his chest. He reached into his torso and clenched his heart with a sickening sound. He immediately dropped dead as his body burned and Justin had to resist the urge to vomit. That leads him to the nurse Caelea was fighting.

She went flying across the room towards the wall but as she was getting up, she was suddenly struck by a metallic object by a third party that knocked her over. "Take that you evil bitch!" A third party shouted loud enough to catch everyone's attention. It was an incredibly tall girl with black hair with blue highlights... that Justin immediately recognized.

"... Zoey?!" Justin asked.

"In the flesh, baby." Zoey answered.

As the nurse was crawling on the floor to get back her pipe she suddenly stopped. "Oh, I see..." She said to herself as she reached for a pair of scissors. With both hands, she poised to stab herself in the neck, "Take me into heaven, o' kind lord." She jammed the scissors into her neck, before yanking them out as blood spurted out. She jammed them back in as she fell slumped over, dead, with her last words being "... Redemption."

The Soul-Self immediately vanished. "Wait, ma'am!" Justin tried to stop the woman with an outstretched hand but by the time he got there, the woman had already killed herself. He stood there, staring at the woman with wide eyes for a moment before he shook his head and turned towards Zoey.

"Zoey, you woke up?"

"Obviously, how long have I been under?"

"That's the thing," Justin shook his head. "I don't even know how long I've been under."

"Well, fuck," Zoey hissed, "C'mon, we gotta find the others... You know where Claire is?"

That was a question that left Justin frozen in his tracks. He vividly recalled Claire's death, as the image of her dead body on the Glutton's hand flashed through his mind over and over again. Justin didn't want to drop the bomb on Zoey just yet, because this was going to be a tough one.

"I have no idea," Justin just answered for right now. "We should find the others before more of them come."

---

Well then, this had not been expected whatsoever. Charlie's heart had nearly tore free from the seams and run full speed in the opposite direction when they had opened the door, only to come face to face with a spear wielding amazon. Okay that was a joke, they clearly weren't an amazon, but they had a spear, a gun would have been scary, but a damn spear!? Who the hell carried around spears in a bloody hospital!?

Charlie remained silent for a moment, trying to catch up, tense? Charlie was frickin tense! They'd nearly been skewered just a moment ago, Christ's sake! If it wasn't for the factor of their body freezing up when they were confronted with the blade, Charlie wondered if they could've exploded into action like one of those action movie stars. Eh, probably not, they didn't have the strength and the right frame of mind to do so.

"Uh...Charlie. What're you going on about? Where and why the heck do you have a spear, and for that matter, where can I get some actual clothes?" The words poured forth from Charlies mouth like a torrent. "Wait wait, best question, why the heck did you have any reason to point it at me? I know the town has gotten crazy, but really? Really? I think my face has enough makeup thank you very much." It was clearly not make up, Charlie was just trying to make themselves feel better, and like they were actually in a movie right now. They might as well have been, It wasn't everyday that you opened a door to a spear in your face.

"Anyways..." Charlie took a small breather, allowing the words that had just flowed free from their mouth to fade, "You said something about danger? What the heck is going on around here?" And more questions. There were many to ask, but Charlie needed to learn to ask them in moderation.

Probably wasn't going to happen any time soon.