[IC] Vivid Recollections Season 2: Into The False Light [COMPLETE]

[Zombiedude101]

St. Mercer Hospital

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It didn't take Nate long to realise he was very much naked in the metaphoric sense and not so far off in the literal one. Glancing back towards the direction he came from, he backpedalled to the bed he'd had and let his gaze hastily search for anything might've suggested he had visitors - Quent and Viv, maybe? Only there was nothing. Not a card, not flowers. Nothing. It had implications he didn't want to confront right now, so instead he blinked the thought away. Pausing, Nate took a glance outside the borders of his own unit. Around him in adjacent beds were familiar faces - they were all awakened, people who had abstractions, the powers that had kept them alive so far where others had been wiped out in the chaos-

Inexplicably, he found himself losing balance, disoriented by the experience. Instead of moving, or trying to form words, he'd just stood there - trying to make sense of this in his head and find some mental equilibrium. Voices that had begun to speak up, others shouting around him droned away, colour bleeding from his vision as silhouettes solidified from a blur to hard, oily black forms, only to dissipate once more. More droning, like a siren on a low pitch - more screams, more shouting. Nate's fingers tightened into a ball, not a fist - willing himself control of his situation. He didn't have time to screw around trying to find his stuff that might not have even been here - the God Kid had warned them. It had killed some of their kind - because what were awakened if not abnormal - already.

Once more, colour filled the world, vague shadows dissipating once and for all to be replaced with solid objects and people talking and moving, shouting and screaming. It didn't sound good - Nate found himself searching for the nearest thing that might serve as a weapon and decided that an empty IV stand by a bed would do the job, it was at least light enough to haul around without dragging constantly on the floor. As he approached, abandoning his bed once more, he arrived in time to see more of his fellow awakened and others, less familiar, scattered across the hall, some engaging in an impromptu wrestling match with nurse bearing the hallmarks of another Scott Reese-esque murder spree - and then to witness her drive a pair of scissors into her own throat, before he even had the opportunity to get involved and have his ass beaten down in the fray.

[FernStone]

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St Mercer Hospital
_{@Atrophy@Ruler Inc}

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“What the fuck.”

Caelea had very much not meant to kill the nurse, only to immobilise her with a lot of air blasts. So when she stabbed her neck with a pair of scissors… well it was gruesome to say the very least, and also saddening. Clearly the nurse had been possessed or something. She didn’t deserve to die.

Forcing herself to look away, Caelea headed over to Zoe and Justin. She didn’t particularly know the two – she vaguely recognised Zoe from the camping trip (god, how long ago that had been). Justin had been around the whole time but they’d never talked. But they all had to stick together in this. Cael was happy to force herself to work with other people.

“I agree with finding the others and getting out of here. Or at least figuring out what the fuck’s happened since we went under.”

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St Mercer Hospital
_{@Atrophy@Ruler Inc}

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It was far too quiet for Tuyen’s liking, but she followed Rita down the corridor nonetheless. She hugged the wall too – there was nothing wrong with being too cautious. Caution was what would get them out alive. Especially when it was her and Rita, who between them didn’t exactly have powers that could protect them.

Then someone else came out of the one of the wards. Far taller than the two, and certainly more intimidating, Tuyen recognised him somewhat. Not enough to put a name to the face. But obviously he knew Rita, and Rita knew him.

His smile as he introduced himself creeped Tuyen out a little, and it only took a little bit of thought to tell that it was fake. Billy’s words didn’t really register with her as his face morphed – becoming something more disturbing and less real, something that could all too easily kill them. In the back of the mind she knew that this wasn’t really that he hadn’t turned into some kind of monster from her imagination.

That didn’t stop the fear, the panic that started pumping through her veins again.

She understood why Rita shouted to run, the balled up sheet thrown in Billy’s face giving Tuyen enough energy to actually move.

“Rita, wait!” She took off after Rita – not wanting to be left behind. The panic stopped her from paying attention to where they were going just concentrating on running and following.

Their indiscriminate running brought them right to the lobby and Tuyen spotted other people – real people, some of whom she recognised. “Rita, stop, we’ve found some of the others.”

She’d managed to catch up with Rita as they ran, close enough to speak quietly and hoping the other girl would listen and not continue running. It didn’t stop the panic and adrenaline that was running through her, but she tried to ignore it – the last thing she needed was another panic attack.

There were at least four other people in the lobby. Justin was the only one that she knew. She was glad that he was alive, she had hardly seen him since everything went to shit. She recognised Penny but wasn’t sure of the other two.

She made no move to talk to any of them, sticking with Rita and trying to ignore the dead bodies. Seeing more people was a relief (signs of a fight and all) but she knew she couldn’t keep up the illusion of not panicking out of her mind if she actually talked. So she’d just listen.

[Atrophy]

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St. Mercer Hospital
_{@Ruler Inc@Fernstone}

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A little “yes!” erupted from Penny’s mouth as her shot hit true and forced the man to drop Justin’s tiger, which allowed it to go full force on the bastard. Their little moment of victory was soon ruined by the smell of burning flesh followed up by some self-surgery. Penny looked away, but she knew she’d hear that sound like pudding being plopped on a cafeteria tray anytime she closed her eyes to go to sleep for the rest of her life. She instead focused on the nurse, ready to go to Caelea’s aid—and beaten to it by a girl she did not expect to see. Zoey Gray, Claire’s old BFF and yet another person in the long list of individuals whom Penny had spurned in the past. None of that petty school shit really mattered anymore, but she still felt her demeanor grow icy as they made eye contact.

That little moment was enough to make it so that Penny did not realize what the path of the scissors in the nurse’s hand meant until it was too late. She had only made it three steps towards the woman before the scissors were plunged into her neck and made the floor slick with her blood. Penny let out a noise of disgust as she deactivated her abstraction, the world losing its shimmering effect as is projected motion disappeared. She bent down a picked up the scissors and took a second to wipe it off on the gown before stashing it in the pocket of her smock. If any more of these redemption freaks popped up, she needed to be armed.

“Thanks for the help,” she said quietly to Caelea, before she heard Zoey pop a question that Justin was incapable of answering. Penny turned on her heels and folded her arms over her chest, ready to drop the bomb on Zoey. She paused when she saw Justin. Wouldn’t it be better for Zoey to hear this from a friend? It wouldn’t hurt if she just kept silent on this, would it?

No, worse, it would make Penny like Britney.

“Justin, she deserves to know,” said Penny, taking a step towards Zoey. “Claire was protecting…”

Protect? She had been on a goddamn rampage, probably put them more at risk than anything. Penny shook the thought out of her head. Those were unnecessary details. As she tried to collect her thoughts and put the rest of it in the most gentle way possible, two girls ran into the lobby. The quiet ones, finally loud, their breath heavy and their ability to dismantle a moment impeccable. Penny frowned. She was already bad at this, and now there was an audience. Penny gave Justin a guilty look and then decided to keep her tongue still. She turned and caught the mousy girl’s eye.

“What...the hell...is happening?” demanded Rita, terrified by the scene around her, doubled over to catch her breath, her greasy hair clamped to the side of her face.

Penny tried to roll her eyes. Instead, they couldn’t even move away from the wreck of a girl. She felt as if hands were forcing her mouth open, prying apart her gritted teeth, and then reaching down inside her throat to pull words out. Her head began to hurt as she tried to keep herself silent, and then she swelled with relief as the words came out in short, staccato bursts.

“God, you’re nosy. Those things attacked. We fought them. We won. They killed themselves. Justin refuses to tell Zoey that her stupid friend was a dumb bitch and got herself killed. Happy?”

Penny blinked. Shit, why did she say that last part? She turned towards Zoey, a pit already formed in her stomach. Her voice was low and grave as she said, “Zoey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that last part. I don’t...I don’t…” She put a hand on her hip and looked away. Apologizing was pointless; she had fucked up.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

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^{@Eric Horst}
St. Mercer Hospital

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Understandably, the person she just pointed a stick at would be a little bit confused. Any normal person has no idea what in the world is going on in this town, but Britney was faaaar from normal. She nervously chuckled as she looked left and right, making sure that nobody was creeping up on her. Honestly, she would be a little confused in the same situation, fortunately, she knew just how to diffuse the situation!

"It's a... uh... long story..."

Meaning she has no idea how to explain anything to this newcomer in a way that makes any sense at all! Britney still needed to get this person out of here before they get hurt. "There's something on its way... a monster of sorts. The same thing that put me and my friends in the hospital- wait..." She trailed off, after realizing something that Charlie had said:

"I know the town has gotten crazy..."

"... What do you mean the town's gotten crazy?" Britney asked Charlie, as she remembered that, besides Scott Reese's rampage, the town was in perfect condition. Which means that the Glutton probably decided to throw subtlety out of the window and plunge the town into chaos. What reason does that thing have to be subtle? It gets stronger from emotion and so much power that nothing conventional can kill it. Which means that there are possibly armies of people he's corrupted by now. "Either way, we really have to get out of here, you gotta believe me we're gonna die!" She pleaded with Charlie.

"If you want to know how I made this, then..." Britney put both of her hands together as if she was cupping water in her hands. She created the wheat-colored energy in her hands, creating an orb in between her palms that only the Awakened can see. It was merely a test to see if Charlie had awakened.

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^{@FernStone@Zombiedude101}

St. Mercer Hospital

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For some reason, Kimberly didn't believe that John's dream was the only one that Rien had (going off of the "some" part). She knew that it'd be wise not to prod because she had some things that she'd... rather not go into herself. Either way, it didn't matter because they were finally back together! "It doesn't matter. At least not anymore, we need to get the hell out of here." Kimberly said with a nod of her head, as she extended her hand towards Rien. Seems the other guy left, but she wasn't really in the mood to deal with ghost boy.

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^{@Atrophy@FernStone}
St. Mercer Hospital

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"But not now-"

Justin had his reasons for not telling Zoey right at this moment, he saw that it's a very, very, bad time to drop the bomb on Zoey. Given that, from his understanding, the last thing that Zoey even remembered is Claire. Which effectively should have been a few moments ago in her head. And the fact that they don't know what's coming next - Justin would rather have everyone perform at their very peak. Of course, before he could even continue, many more people ran for the lobby.

The boy recognized them, but was afraid that they were more freaks - but one of them started talking and then Penny started shouting out all this bullshit. Zoey was completely floored, she stood silently would her jaw to the floor in a state of shock. A surge of fire erupted from Justin because of how annoyed he was at her bluntness... it quickly faded. While she definitely pissed him off, he couldn't help but agree with her. This was a deep down thought, but he knew that every word out of Penny's mouth was correct. He got reminded of that woman, who was almost always blunt and honest about her emotions, even when it was rude to do so. Justin always admired that aspect of the woman, but he knew speaking his mind all the time would prove fatal.

Though, he wondered how well Zoey was going to take this...

... Zoey breaking out of her moment of shock, grabbed Penny by the shoulders and damn near shoved her into the wall. Zoey looked the girl dead in the eye as she hissed the words, "Listen here, bitch," She hissed, "I want you to fucking tell me what happened to Claire. Right. Now." She stared Penny dead in the eye as she said this... but arcs of electricity danced across her skin as she spoke as Justin noticed a glowing mark literally appearing on her hand. It slowly faded in... did Zoey awaken?

Either way, as much as Penny is an ass, he didn't want Zoey to kill her. Especially now of all times.

"Zoey, calm down..."

[NoriWasHere]

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St. Mercer Hospital

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The warm sensation of the bright lights that lit up the fields of his high school surprised Cyrus. He was standing at the fifteen yard-line. He saw it happening in slow-motion. A juke move to get to the outside, Cyrus watched as number twenty-one avoided a tackle, before eyeing the two defenders bearing down on him. A spin move back inside, the running back avoided the duo before cutting back up-field. He was at the five-yard line now as the guardian angel of the defense squared him up. The safety was solidly built, yet Cyrus somehow knew he had a habit of being baited into mistakes by fake jukes and cuts. The running back faked a cut outside, then faked another one inside, before planting his foot and cut outside. The safety had bit, and the running back appeared to have an easy touchdown ahead of him.

*snap*

Cyrus watched as the ankle gave out. The foot went parallel with the ground while the leg fell downward. The sensation of pain radiated from his own ankle as he watched as the running back dropped the ball on his way down, with it soon to be recovered by the defense. Cyrus shifted his eyes to the scoreboard, it told him that the home team was down thirty-five to twenty-eight. That score seemed familiar.

Then it hit him, and he sighed and said a soft "no" as to what was to come.

Cyrus quickly turned his attention to the sideline as he spotted his father. He had a look of excitement slowly turning to disappointment on his face as Cyrus watched on. No remorse, no sadness. His father slowly shook his head from one side to the other. Everything started to blur until he was left alone in the darkness. Slowly, another scene faded into existence. He was back at his parents' home, and in front of him he watched as his dad and himself were arguing, but things seemed different. His brother was on the couch, still in his walking boot. The duo argued for what seemed like forever before his father stormed out of the room, and Cyrus watched as this alternate version of himself sat down next to his brother. “Don’t worry, I won’t let dad do to you what he did to me,” Cyrus said. Cyrus teared up a little bit as he watched the scene slowly fade back to black, and he was once again left alone in the darkness. In this dream he was alone, much alike his brother he left.

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“Wake up”

Cyrus’s eyes flew open on command and he immediately regretted it. The bright light of the room assaulted his hungover eyes, causing what was already a throbbing headache to grow exponentially worse. Cyrus closed his eyes as fast as he could while he placed his hand on the side of his head. Slowly, he opened his eyes just enough to see without letting too much light in. On the far side of the room he noticed a large poster, reminding us to wash our hands to help curb the spread of viruses. Turning his focus downward, he saw that he was on a gurney and attached to an IV drip. “I’m at the hospital,” he thought, “why am I he-” he paused the thought, thinking back to the night before, “oh yeah,” he muttered under his breath as he remembered walking down the stairs before something overloaded his thoughts, forcing him to collapse. Didn't help that he was drinking and already off balance, he supposed. Someone in his building must have called the paramedics. "Need to quit that habit," Cyrus whispered to himself. Ever since his brother had re-injured his Achilles tendon, he had started to search for answers at the bottom of a bottle. It didn't help that his mental health started to deteriorate as well around that time as well. Cyrus blinked once, twice, and once, once more as he allowed himself to get ready for the shock of the lights once more.

The sound of a women screaming forced his eyes open too quickly once again, and he groaned as they closed them; feeling the pounding in his head grow once more. “Someone is having a bad day at the hospital,” Cyrus thought as he relaxed on the bed. He paused there, mulling the thought of falling back asleep when he remembered. “It’s time to wake up”, Cyrus said aloud, “the Glutton has foun-,” Cyrus paused as he thought, “what’s a Glutton,” he asked to no-one in particular. He then remembered what proceeded the voice. “What a strange dream,” Cyrus joked as he placed his hand over his eyes; allowing just a little bit of light in while opening his eyes up.

Outside his room, the sounds of a growing confrontation continued. Cyrus was curious. Then the sounds of people searching for others filtered in over-top, and soon thereafter the sounds of conversation became clear. “...strange dreams...walking into a trap...clothes”. He removed his hand from over his eyes and looked out the room’s window to see other patients, in their gowns, walking towards the commotion. Meanwhile, the thud in the back of his head grew steadily as he watched and listened. It felt like it wanted him to follow the sound. It told him to follow the people he saw. But why? He slowly came to the realization that something was wrong. All he could hear were the patients, he heard no nurses at the station and it did not sound like a hospital; he knows all too well what a hospital sounded like. Leaning up, he placed his left foot on the floor. The coldness of the tile was openly welcomed as Cyrus realized he was really warm. His eyes darted downward and noticed that he was wearing a gown as well. Though the gown was out of focus for some reason, “my glasses,” he thought, “where are my glasses,” he continued as he shifted his focus and looked towards the table next to him; spotting his glasses in the process. Reaching out, he grabbed them and brought them up to his face and slid them on; finishing with just his pointer finger pushing from the bridge.

Cyrus arose off the gurney as his free hand removed the IV line, letting the cord hang off to the side. The sound of the confrontation grew even louder and now sounded like a battle had only grown louder in the meanwhile, and that thud at the back of his head grew. With a wobbly first step, Cyrus moved towards the door. He poked his head out and first looked down the hallway, before he looked towards the commotion. Not a single soul in sight. “Strange,” he thought to himself as he moved into the hallway and started moving towards the sounds. As he drew close, the sounds seemed to die down a little bit before disappearing completely; instead being replaced by voices. It sounded like a group was arguing. “Probably the two sides arguing to the guards.” Cyrus joked.

As he turned another corner, and found himself entering the lobby, he saw a group of young adults, all in their gowns. “I don’t...I don’t” said one of the females before she averted her gaze. "Listen here, bitch," another lady shouted, "I want you to fucking tell me what happened to Claire. Right. Now." Cyrus watched and was quickly taken aback by what appeared to be blue sparks, as well as a glowing sigil that appeared on her hand. Cyrus looked at his own hands, noticing the two sigils that only he could see, before he turned his attention back to the group. A man, turned his attention towards the girl who demanded answers, "Zoey, calm down," he said.

Before anyone else spoke, Cyrus caught sight of what caused the commotion. There lay a bloodied nurse off to the side of the lobby, she had a smile on her face and scissors in her neck. The pool of blood underneath answered any questions he had as to the possibility of potentially saving her. His mouth slightly agape now, his head slowly turned and caught sight of a large man. His chest bore three claw marks and was ripped open. His eyes squinted, noticing that the man's own hand was inside his chest. The gap between the lips on Cyrus grew further apart. He turned his attention towards the group. From what he could tell, none of them seemed surprised by the scene before them.

"What hap- how did- who are-" Cyrus asked as he pointed between the nurse and the brute, a look of pure shock and horror on his face. His hands shot up, bent at the elbow, "are they-" he paused as his eyes closed. He placed his hands on his forehead as he fought an urge to vomit; accidentally crossing the two sigils, left hand over right. He felt the sudden rush as his two shades emerged from his body. "Not right now," he groaned under his breath, "don't go crazy right now," he finished as he, as well as his shades who were flickering in and out of view, all opened their eyes. With a deep breath, Cyrus composed himself as his eyes drifted over the strangers ahead of him. "What going on," Cyrus asked with some fear in his voice as his eyes once again darted to the deceased figures before settling on the one named Zoey, who had another woman pressed on the wall.

[FernStone]

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St Mercer Hospital
_{@Atrophy@Ruler Inc@MagratheanWhale}

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Well, this had turned into even more of a shitshow. Two more girls had appeared, with one practically demanding to know what had happened. And Penny answered with a bit less tact than was necessary.

Though, honestly, Caelea would’ve said the exact same thing normally. She had some respect for Penny there. But now really wasn’t the time. Even Cael knew that. Although it didn’t seem like she had meant to say it. Heat of the moment, probably.

Tuyen didn’t know what to do apart from stand there helplessly, watching the fight unfold. She knew why Penny had said more than she meant to – after all she knew about Rita’s abstraction. But she wasn’t about to rat the other girl out. Rita had stuck with her so far and trusted her with the full details of it. She wasn’t going to betray the trust of one of the few people she could currently put up with.

But the fighting, it didn’t help the panic Tuyen was already feeling. The voices grated on her mind – over something so small, a slip up of words. So many had died so far, what good did fighting about it do? Why couldn’t they all just shut up?

“Guys, now is really not the time to fight each other,” Caelea piped in, eyeing Zoey and Penny and trying to figure out if there was any way to separate them. Between her and Justin they probably could… but not if abstractions came into it. She’d just hurt someone with hers. “There are more important things… like if more of those things come.”

Really the last think she wanted was those two killing each other. Or anyone killing each other. They already had some kind of eldritch abomination trying to do that.

Another person arriving caught Caelea’s attention – a guy this time, and he looked a lot more confused than any of the rest. Cael didn’t remember ever seeing him before. He didn’t seem to take to well to the two dead bodies, either.

A reasonable reaction.

What was disorienting was when he split into three. Two version were constantly flickering in and out of view, forcing Caelea to look away. That was just a headache in the making.

“Oh, we’re just having a friendly conversation in the middle of a hospital,” she couldn’t help but respond sarcastically to his question of what was going on. It was fairly obvious something had happened and as much as he seemed to be an awakened, Caelea wasn’t about to just drop the bombshell on him. There was enough stress with Zoey and Penny being at each other’s necks anyway.

She was still far to ready to have to jump in and stop the two from killing each other.

“I don’t know what went on with that,” Tuyen spoke up helpfully, nodding towards the dead body and trying to ignore the fight that was going on. If there was one thing that helped her ignore her own problems it was helping others, though. “This is probably all very confusing… But basically there’s something coming after all of us and we need to get away from it. That’s not very reassuring is it?”

Like she could reassure him. What could she say? Oh yeah those four probably killed the dead people but don’t worry, we’ll kill anything else that turns up to try and hurt us.

“It’s hard to explain.”

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St Mercer Hospital
_{@Ruler Inc}

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“Getting the hell out of here sounds like a good plan,” Rien very quickly agreed, quite happily taking the hand Kimberley offered. They felt far from safe in this situation but at least they were with someone they knew. They didn’t quite trust all the other awakened. “I, for one, have never liked hospitals.”

They headed towards the door quietly, sticking a head out to check what was around. Nothing.

“Coast is a little too clear for my liking. Think this place has any back exits or will we have to head to the main one?”

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St Mercer Hospital

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It was cold when Min woke up, even under a blanket that was far too scratchy to be his own. He didn’t remember much from when he was asleep. There was a few dreams but most had been reliving the past, all his successes.

Tuyen had been missing from them all. He tried not to dwell on it.

It was easy to figure out that he was in a hospital, images flooding his mind as he concentrated on his hand on the bed. He didn’t know exactly how long but he’d been asleep a long time. His parents had visited, but not recently.

Carefully he climbed out of the bed, unsteady on his feet but quickly regaining the ability to walk. The chill that hit his feet was unpleasant but not unbearable. His mind set on finding clothes and people he headed to the door, out and into the hall and towards the lobby.

[NoriWasHere]

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St. Mercer Hospital

_@FernStone

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Cyrus listened as two of the women in front of him attempted to explain the situation. “Oh, were just having a friendly conversation in the middle of a hospital,” the one responded and Cyrus crooked up his right eyebrow at the sarcastic response. She was pale, extremely so, and was somehow not at all bothered by the scene before her; the two dead bodies and a possible third on the way. “.....something coming after all of us and we need to get away from it. That’s not very reassuring is it,” Cyrus missed the first half of what she said but he heard the second part all too clearly. Something, not someone. His eyes darted towards the two dead bodies and felt a wave of unease wash over him. There was something wrong with the two bodies; besides them, you know, being dead. There was a feeling in the back of his head telling him that they did not belong here. Not in this lobby, nor in this hospital, not even in this city or in this state; no, there was some other-worldly presence he felt when he cast his gaze upon them.

"No, I, uh," Cyrus paused as his staring conteset with the dead man continued, "very, ha," he paused and let out a nervous chuckle, "very vague," he finished.

His attention, however, drifted from the bodies and towards the woman named Zoey. Something about her seemed off as well. Was it the fact that she was pressing another woman into the wall? Was it the question she asked earlier? Or was it the blue elec- “wait,” Cyrus thought as his head tilted slightly to the right, as his eyes widened with shock, “is..is she always that electric,” he asked aloud. As soon as he spoke, he noticed a mark on her hand that seemed all too familiar. His eyes quickly darted down to his own hands, his eyes scanned the moving markings on of his own before they darted back over to the woman. Something was telling him to trust these complete strangers, something deep within the core of his being. He thought he heard other voices speaking yet he did not hear the words said as he once again looked back down to his hands.

His brain, on the other hand, told him to run. They were too calm around these bodies. They were standing idly by as one woman was assaulting another. What if they killed those people? How did they force that man to punch himself so hard his hand went into his body? These questions started to pile up in his head as his eyes darted from stranger to stranger; his brain reminded him to run. His eyes shifted to the dead nurse. What if he was next and they were trying to get him to let his guard down; and then his brain reminded him to run, and so he did.

And so, in one quick motion, Cyrus turned his body around and was off. His first few steps had the wobble of a sailor on dry land for the first time in months, the mental strain of three concurrent perspectives showed their effect. He stumbled and nearly fell over in process yet his muscles remembered how to run, and soon enough he found his stride and was off. His shades remained stationary, however, and through their perspective, he could still see the strangers. Gaining distance from the group now, the sound of his bare feet slapping along the tile floor of the hospital echoed off the wall; and the echo reached the ear of one of his shades. How can he still see them and how was he hearing the echoes grow further in the distance of himself running?

He questioned himself one too many times on the subject of his shade, unfortunately. On accident, and without much thought from himself, Cyrus mentally reactivated his abstraction. Immediately, he felt his feet being pulled out from underneath of him as he flew backward, towards the shade. *wham* In an instant, Cyrus was back in front of the group and a shooting pain entered his head once more. His body went from running in the opposite direction to facing the group once more, at that. “I’m going crazy, I have to be,” Cyrus spoke to himself as he fell to one knee, his eyes resting on the strange markings on his hands once more.

[Atrophy]

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St. Mercer Hospital
_{@Ruler Inc@Fernstone}

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Oh no, this was her fault. Rita recoiled as she watched Zoey grab Penny and shove her; the blonde girl shouted in protest and balled up her fists. If she had just kept her mouth shut, Penny wouldn’t have said anything. Yet between the bloody bodies and the frightful reunions her nerves had gotten the best of her, and the question had just blurted itself out. She pressed herself up against the reception desk and made herself as tiny as possible, a hand tightly shoved against her lips to keep her mouth from asking any more damning questions. Rita cast a nervous glance over at Tuyen. Tuyen would know that she was responsible.

“I didn’t mean to,” she whispered as she lifted her hand for just a second before she slapped it shut again.

Rita was ready for things to turn explosive. Penny didn’t have the best track record of keeping a cool head, and this Zoey girl had clearly taken plays from her friend’s book. Her dead friend’s book. Rita hadn’t known that. She was afraid of Claire, but didn’t like the idea of her being killed. It implanted the idea that maybe more of their ragtag group of misfits had also died in the chaos with their run-in with the Glutton. The hospital had records and ways to look up patients, right? She looked over her shoulder at the desk. Maybe there was something. Even a calendar. Anything to give them perspective.

“Zoey, calm down…”

Rita turned her attention back to the two girls, ready to watch Penny drop an atom bomb of assholery on Zoey.

But screw harsh words. Zoey was lucky that Penny didn’t repulse her across the room. She didn’t drop Zoey’s death glare. If the other girl thought that Penny would back down then she was in for a world of disappointment. This was the same girl who had gone after Scott Reese on her own before; who had stood on the same ground as the Glutton and gotten away. A bitch with a bad dye job in a hospital gown wasn’t going to intimidate her, even if she did have a few unimpressive sparks. Hell, Penny had stood against Claire a number of times, even though she knew fully well that her abstraction would likely have been pulverized by that girl’s aura.

Penny felt her stare waver. Despite their differences, Claire had also gone after Reese—Penny had just rushed off first. And if it wasn’t for Claire and that damn good punch of hers, Penny would’ve been skewered by the Glutton. She felt tears come to her eyes. It wasn’t like this was a new realization or anything; Penny had been aware in the moment that she owed a lot of things to Claire, as awful as that girl could be. She just didn’t realize until now that she never really would be able to pay that off. She opened her mouth to talk, a dry crackle came out instead. For a moment, she was speechless. A rarity, and in just about every case except this one, a blessing. By the time her voice came to her, Caelea was already trying to defuse the situation.

“For fucksakes...Zoey, she’s right. Look, I’m sorry for what I said. I’m an asshole, but I’m still on your side. Before anything else we need to make sure that we’re safe,” said Penny as she caught sight of the stranger’s arrival. Another awakened, judging by the shades, and scared out of his wits too. Damn it, in comparison to this she rather be fighting those two goons again. “I swear to you, I’ll explain everything the moment we’re out of here. We need to just find anyone else that survived first.”

As Penny tried to calm Zoey down, Tuyen attempted to help explain to the newbie why everyone else seemed so nonchalant about a couple of dead bodies and some powered-up young adults. Rita couldn’t blame him for freaking out, but she did find it odd how numb she had become towards witnessing death. Back at the camp, she had been absolutely paralyzed by even the sight of violence. Now, well, she wasn’t comfortable with it at all, but she could still function. That realization didn’t really make her feel any better; it was just simply a fact.

“It’s hard to explain,” finished Tuyen after having told Cyrus just about the worst of it.

“Looks like he understood well enough,” said Rita under her breath as the man turned and bolted. She heard Penny swear loudly and bark at Justin to go after him, but it ended up not mattering. Within a few moments he had warped back to the location he had been before and fell to one knee. Rita began to walk over to him to offer some sort of comfort—God knows she would want some if she was in his position—but stopped a few feet before him, a quiet “shit” escaping from her lips as a figure loomed behind Cyrus.

---

St. Mercer Hospital
_{@MagratheanWhale}

---

“Man, this looks about right,” said Billy, a smirk on his face as he scanned the lobby. “Can’t leave you kids alone without y’all making a mess.”

It was quite the vivid scene, and he took it all in. Almost immediately below him was some guy he didn’t know having a classic freak out; considering Billy had witnessed him running away from the lobby to suddenly snapback to it, it was probably justified. Still, the dude should cheer up. The kind of shenanigans one could get in with an abstraction like that. Across from the cry baby was the pair of dorks. He was surprised the lamer of the two hadn’t bolted yet; it was her new favorite hobby. Billy was excited to see that Zoey was back, or was it that he was excited to see Zoey’s back in that hospital gown? That left Caelea, Justin, and, of course, Penny, or the Albino, the Asian Guy, and the Asshole. Sounded like the lineup to a tasteless joke.

Oh, and there were also a couple of freshly deaded folks. Nothing out of the ordinary. Billy let out a low whistle.

“Shit, that’s pretty fucked up. You do this, sis?” he said, his voice definitely too sunny for the mood of the room.

“Oh my fucking God, I’m glad you’re alive but now is not the time, Billy!” barked Penny, her voice growing hoarse.

“I’mma take that as a maybe. Hey dude, you’re not crying are you?” said Billy, craning his neck to look down on Cyrus. “It’s gonna be okay, bud. It’s not like it’s the end of the world. I mean, it might be, but we had a good run.” He gave him two uncomforting pats on the shoulder before turning back to the group. “Sooooo, what does a guy have to do to get some pants around here?”

“Please let me go so I can hit him,” muttered Penny.

[Eric Horst]

_{St. Mercer Hospital}

_{@Ruler Inc}

---

"I'll explain on the way, this town used to be such a peaceful place, well I mean, it smells like cow and a hobo who hasn't showered in over a year, but at least people were normal." Charlie's finger twisted through a lock of their hair, curling it around their finger, trying to think for a moment. So there was a monster of some sort? Monsters exist apparently? Wait they might die!?

Charlie had to blink a few times at that, their brain continuing to slowly process what was being said and what the bloody HELL was going on. This was exactly like a movie, but it was real, movies didn't really happen, they were meant for entertainment purposes. They were just kidding right?

That's when they made the glowing ball. No CGI effects could compare to seeing a glowing ball of energy form right in front of your eyes. It...it was beautiful. At the same time though, it was also kind of terrifying. For a moment, just a moment, Charlie felt the true weight of the world crashing down around them, as they realized how small they were, and how much more life was. How any of this was possible, Charlie was yet to know, but they did know that the woman before them, Britney, had some kind of power that didn't exist in real life, and that was FRICKIN cool.

Leaning forward, the blond headed individual peered down at glowing orb cupped between Britney's hands, eyes filled with what could only be described as awe, horror, fascination, and a mix of so many other emotions that Charlie could have passed a horror movie audition for the stupid protagonist with flying colors. Either that or an Indianna Jones remake.

"I got way to many questions, but you did say we gotta get a move on or we might..." Charlie trailed into an ominous voice, "Die."

Perking back up, they hopped back a step, and took a glance around the hallway. "Where're we going exactly?"

[Mixtape Ghost N]

---

^{@Eric Horst}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

"... You have powers, don't you?"

Britney asked, just from Charlie's reaction they definitely saw the energy. She knew how her abstraction worked, or how abstractions worked in general, and if Charlie was still Blind, they wouldn't have reacted at all. Charlie probably awakened during the event that got them sent to the hospital, but that's irrelevant. According to Charlie, the town had gone upside down... and that confirmed Britney's suspicions. Which meant that they had no time to play around.

"We'll discuss it later!" Britney said as she dispersed the energy and grabbed onto Charlie's wrist as she began marching down the hall towards the front entrance. She was hoping that the group was the one making the racket, not the Glutton's minions...

---

^{@FernStone@MagratheanWhale@Atrophy}

St. Mercer Hospital

---

"Let's get to the lobby, at the very least."

Kimberly responded to Rien, and she shared a similar sentiment in how the coast was waaaay too clear for the hospital being under attack from the Glutton. To Kimberly, it was just the calm before the storm, and the real threat was simply right around the corner. Still, they needed to survive, no matter the cost. "Here, take my hand..." She said as she grabbed onto Rien's hand, a gesture she didn't didn't put too much thought behind, and they proceeded through the halls of the hospital. Eventually they made it to the lobby and Kimberly had to take a second look to figure out what had happened. Two burning bodies, and everyone's at each other's throats. If the situation wasn't so tense, she'd sarcastically ask what she missed.

Still, somebody was on their knees freaking out after they were shot backwards through time? This guy was completely new... she didn't really get to know anyone in their group, but she could tell a newcomer when she could see him. With a silent nod towards Rien she released her friend as she walked over to the person. Billy had a similar idea... but he had the nerve to make stupid jokes. She was wondering how the guy managed to take nothing seriously, even after they lost two different people. She rolled her eyes as she pushed past him and knelt forwards towards the new guy. He was taking his power really hard, and Kimberly wanted to help him.

"I just wish were going crazy, but it's a lot worse than that," Kimberly started off. "It's all real." She flatly said.

"Where the hell do I start? Well, from what I understand you've 'awakened'? Is that what I heard someone calling it? You have something like this?" Kimberly moved aside her bangs to reveal the camera's eye directly on the center of her forehead. "I... don't even know how to explain any of this to you. You got some kind of magic power, that's all."

---

^{@Atrophy@FernStone@MagratheanWhale@Eric Horst}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

In time, the rage slowly subsided as Zoey just pressed Penny against the wall. She looked towards the ground as those emotions inside of her got more and more conflicted. It was evident that, despite her grief, what everyone said was getting to her. She ignored the newcomer as she merely took a step away, and the electricity faded as the brand on the back of her hand stopped glowing, seemingly withdrawing in general. She found herself a seat as she firmly placed her hands over her eyes as she slouched down, she was literally fighting tears.

A sigh of relief escaped Justin's lips as he was glad that things went the way they did... he was worried that Zoey would have killed Penny, or vice-versa. Especially when they needed everyone - he nearly jolted at the newcomer but Tuyen explained it pretty well and he didn't feel necessary. He needed to comfort Zoey above all else as he stepped over to her.

"I... wanted to break the news to you at a better time," Justin said. "I know... I know it sucks, but everything that Penny said was right: Claire died."

"I can't, Justin..." Zoey sobbed, and nearly broke down into uncontrollable sobbing, "She was... she was my best friend!" She loudly said, "How could she just die, what the fuck killed her...?"

"It's hard to say," Justin started off as he looked at Cyrus... Justin's eyes shot wide open as the guy did some freaky deaky shit and flew backward. Going off the glowing brand on his hand, he was one of them; An Awakened. Which was good because they needed fresh blood to replace what they lost. He ended up turning back towards Zoey as he finished explaining, "I don't fucking know what killed her myself... it's nothing from this world."

Slow footsteps approached, they had a somewhat unnatural pace that would be familiar to anyone who paid enough attention to this particular person. From one hallway, Jordan Nichols walked in, fully clothed in what she was wearing during the night of the incident. Her clothes were dirty and tattered, which Jordan preferred to having her ass hanging out in that damn hospital gown. She looked around and saw two dead bodies, someone freaking out on the ground, and various other craziness. Is it a bad thing that Jordan was already desensitized to the group's insanity?

"Thank God you guys are alive," However, Jordan quickly threw a thumb over her shoulder, "They got all of our stuff in a back room unless ya'll want to go out in the cold with your asses hanging out I'd come along."

Justin knew that Jordan had a valid point there... he was getting tired of looking at ass. He knew everyone else had the same idea so he was the first one to go grab his stuff, and since Zoey wasn't all that inclined to get up, he was also going to get her items.

---

Eventually, everyone was fully dressed and standing in the lobby-room. After some coaxing Justin convinced Zoey to get dressed and she came out of the supply closet in the dirty clothes that kind of reeked... but the smell was the last thing on her mind right now.

"Okay... what now?" Zoey asked the group and there was a bit of silence before Justin answered.

"Honestly, we need to find Britn..." Justin was confused as Britney came out of hallways at that exact moment. She had a stranger right behind her, but Justin was more focused on Britney. He clenched his fists as she was unsure of how to respond. Should he be angry at her? Or should he try to see from her perspective... either way, he had a lot of mixed feelings for his former friend.

"Well, here I am." Britney nervously said as she walked in the center of the group. There was a deep sense of regret in the girl as she wondered what the hell she should even say right now.

"... That's one question out of the way."

"Alright," Britney said as she nodded her head, "We need to find everyone fast as possible, then we'll get out of here and regroup at-"

"No, fuck that!" Jordan loudly voiced her concerns as she walked over to Britney. Even though Britney was a lot bigger than Jordan, she still stared down the girl without a single hint of fear in her voice. "I want some fucking answers, and I am not going anywhere with you until I get them." She spat out the words to a former friend with the same ferocity she would speak to her worst enemy. Because in Jordan's eyes, Britney was an enemy until she convinced her otherwise.

"Because your fucking games nearly got us killed- it already got some of us put in a box! So tell me what I want to know, then I'm taking the first trip back to Philly away from all this bullshit." Jordan nearly shouted the words, as she crossed her arms.

Justin spoke his mind on complete instinct, "I'm with her on this, no more bullshit." He wasn't as angry as, say, Jordan was, but he ultimately felt the same way.

A sigh escaped Britney's lips as she merely plopped down on a chair. A wave of regret hit her as she realized that everything that Jordan said was right; everything was on her head. All because she thought that she could play games and look where that got them? She looked around and realized that she was the most hated girl in the world right now, everyone looked at her with faces of disdain.

"Truth is... I honestly didn't think things would turn out this way..." Britney started off, "I thought we could find a way to beat the Glutton and fix all the problems with the town easy peasy... but life's not that simple, is it?"

Britney started off, before she looked off into the snowy streets of Farmer Hill, "I thought you all would just play along long enough for you all to understand what the hell we're dealing with. I thought I was trying to help you all, protect you from the town by giving you the truth in pieces... because in all honesty, I didn't think you all would believe me, nonetheless follow me." She turned her head back towards the group.

"But... with Claire's death, what good are these secrets? All I did was hurt you all... and lose one of my best friends," A tear trickled down from Britney's eye as she continued, "From here on... I will tell you all everything. Heh... there's so much shit I have in my closet I don't even know where to start... what are these burning questions on your minds? I know just about everything that has been going on in this town behind closed doors, so I can probably answer them."

[NoriWasHere]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Mercer Hospital

_{@Ruler Inc@Atrophy}

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Cyrus sat on his knee as he watched as one of the females began to make her way towards him. She was pale as well, though not as pale as the first one that had spoken to him, with oily hair. She moved with a jittery pace as she approached, yet she paused suddenly as she appeared to mouth a quiet shit. Cyrus turned his slightly to the left. The sound of a loud whistle pierced the air and Cyrus’s heart dropped. Her expression, the dead bodies, combined with the mental strain that had already been wrought upon him had already told him everything he needed to know about their upcoming foe. Images of a large, hulking brute of a creature that would tear through Cyrus as if he were nothing more than a wet paper towel. Yet, when the man craned his neck into view and mocked him, Cyrus adopted a confused expression.

“It’s not like it’s the end of the world. I mean, it might be, but we had a good run,” the man said as he continued as he patted him twice on the shoulder with strong slaps. “Sooooo, what does a guy have to do to get some pants around here?” Cyrus looked down and he remembered all too quickly that he himself was very ‘exposed’ in the cheekiest way possible. While he felt strangely vulnerable, he watched as the strangers had a somber moment among themselves over a fallen friend. "I... wanted to break the news to you at a better time," a man said. "I know... I know it sucks, but everything that Penny said was right: Claire died,” he continued. Who was Claire? The question did not seem to need specifics from the electric woman, however, as she responded with tears. A raw, emotional moment that caused Cyrus to pause his line of questioning. Something happened, someone died, and his relentless desire for information and his limitless questions would wait; for now.

Another woman made her way to Cyrus’s and knelt down in front of him. "I just wish were going crazy, but it's a lot worse than that," the woman started, “It's all real," she finished as Cyrus turned his attention towards the woman. "Where the hell do I start? Well, from what I understand you've 'awakened'? Is that what I heard someone calling it? You have something like this,” she paused as she parted her bangs and showed a tattoo of a camera. His head tilted to the side as he took in the information that she was sharing, eventually, he realized that the camera that was tattooed on her forehead were similar to the weird tattoos on his hands in some form, and he raised them up and presented them to the woman. "I... don't even know how to explain any of this to you. You got some kind of magic power, that's all.," she finished.

“Magic powers,” Cyrus asked as another woman, this once fully clothed, entered the room, he wanted to pry further yet the fully clothed woman told them where their clothes were, and Cyrus spirit was uplifted at the thought of not baring his back while bearing the stress that the situation was bringing. “Magic powers,” Cyrus repeated, “hard to believe such a thing exists,” he paused once again as he watched as the others started to make their way out of the lobby, his head shaking from side to side, “I’m Cyrus,” he finished as he extended his hand out. Something about this group brought about a great sense of distrust directed towards them, yet he felt compelled to at least follow them for the meanwhile.

As he walked, he repeated the phrase "magic powers" several times.

------------------------------

After dressing, Cyrus found himself back in the lobby. Another pair of strangers found their way to the lobby, and Cyrus’s confusion with the group only grew as the outburst between the strangers was explosive before it was emotional. The lady had messed up, that much was clear to Cyrus. Cyrus guessed this lady was a leader for this group once-upon-a-time judging by the group blaming her for all the horrors that had been wrought upon them, and as a leader she took it in stride.

"From here on... I will tell you all everything. Heh... there's so much shit I have in my closet I don't even know where to start... what are these burning questions on your minds? I know just about everything that has been going on in this town behind closed doors, so I can probably answer them,” the lady finished.

Cyrus quickly raised his hand into the air, as if he was back in class, before speaking. “Hello,” he started as he lowered his hand back down, “I am, uh, I am Cyrus and I am very new to,” he paused as he flashed his sigil to the woman, “well all of this. Obviously, you all have seen some shit,” he paused as he looked at the bodies once again, “how is this norm-” he paused and took in a breath, another question for another time. “My question is how do I factor into all of this. I’m guessing you all have some grasp on your powers,” he paused as he let out a small chuckle, still unsure if he had gone mad, “why was I brought here,” he asked as he looked towards the man who had mocked him, “and was he right when he said that the world might be ending,” he finished as he turned his attention back to the woman.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

---

^{@MagratheanWhale}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

"Name's Britney, and let me tell where you "factor" into this, it's the least I can do."

Britney sighed, it seemed that Cyrus was new to all of this insanity. She hoped that nobody else would get involved, but if her very fleeting suspicions were correct a lot of people are dead. Probably including people that Britney knows, so she could only sigh in response. Though she was getting off track a little here and she needed to answer Cyrus' questions. He was confused as she was when she was first initiated into all of this. She put her hands out, as the trees on the palms of her hands began to glow a bright color. A thick wooden vine came out of the palm of her hand and wrapped around her torso.

"You're one of us, first and foremost, an awakened," Britney gestured towards the sigil on the back of his hand which she eyed the second he spoke up. "Which means two things; first that you had some strong emotions resting inside of you and that gave you the potential to Awaken. And second; you have gone through some kind of traumatic incident that tapped into that potential."

That should make it easier to explain the next part. Which was the harder part... as Britney needed to explain the Glutton to everyone. "You were probably injured by, what I believe, to be the roves of furious people corrupted by that... thing." There was something inherently wrong to Britney about saying the Glutton's name... that thing would be the end of them.

"... The Glutton, I don't know what in the world it is, but it's the being that is responsible for the town going to hell. It's an ancient abomination that feeds on emotion, our emotion. And you want to know what's the most delicious to it?"

"Stop playing this game, Brit," Jordan groaned at Britney. "Just say it."

"Fear, hatred, and love of it," Britney said and the room went silent. "It's the reason why, despite the fact that it's probably the most powerful thing in the universe, it hasn't just wiped out the town. Because it has the power to do so."

She shook her head, "Ages before anything we know and love was even a thought, this thing went on a rampage, eating thousands of different universes- and yes, there are alternate universes - before it was stopped by the inhabitants of Gli- I mean, the inhabitants of another universe and it was sealed in the mountain. Where it should have stayed."

Britney shrugged her shoulders, "Something not too long ago woke it up, and now it's trying to escape and kill everyone." She realized that this was a lot for Cyrus and everyone else. "We... Awakened, are the only thing in between it and the destruction of what's left of reality." Britney said.

"... And we will stop it," Justin optimistically said. "Screw that end of the world bullshit, I promise that everyone here will live a happy life!"

[Atrophy]

---

St. Mercer Hospital - Hall

---

Penny was thankful to be back in real clothes. They weren’t clean by any means, but the smell of stale cigarettes covered up any other foul odors. She had even found a half-crushed pack of the culprits in her jacket’s pocket, and considering the circumstances the “No Smoking” signs littering the hospital could go fuck themselves. She waited by the makeshift changing room for her brother. He was going to get an earful for abandoning them during the fight with the Glutton, plus a hug for making it through it, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing his dumbass could do to get out of it.

“Hey,” said a quiet voice. Penny looked down from the smoke cloud she had been staring at to see Rita standing there in an old gray sweater with a pile of gowns in her hands..

“Oh hey,” said Penny. It was weird for Rita to be talking to her. The two of them didn’t really have much of a rapport, outside of the camp incident and the chest moment. There was a stillness in the air that forced Penny to continue, “What’s up?”

Rita shuffled her feet and looked down. Penny sighed; she remembered now why the two of them didn’t have a close relationship. “Okay, look, I don’t know if this shrinking violet thing is a fucking bit or if you really have this much social anxiety, but if you need something just say it.”

“Can we talk, later? Once we’re out of here?” asked Rita, still looking away.

“We’re talking now,” said Penny.

“Alone,” said Rita, her voice barely there.

Penny sighed, “Sure. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.”

Rita muttered a thanks and then took off towards the lobby. Penny barely had time to consider the odd girl when Billy entered the hall where she was waiting, decked out in some god awful combo of cargo shorts and hooded sweatshirt. She launched herself at him.

“Jesus, Penny, there are people around,” said Billy, squirming as his sister locked her arms around him.

“Shut up you’re ruining it,” she said with her head pressed into his chest, the urge to yell at him gone. “Don’t run away next time. I know things are fucking scary and you’re absolutely useless in a fight, but don’t run. Not unless everyone’s running, too.”

“Penny, come on, I—”

“Promise me,” she said, “Promise me you won’t run away.”

“Okay,” said Billy, his voice lowering, “I promise.”

“Good,” said Penny as she pulled away. “Cause next time I’ll blast you with a bunch of quarters.”

“Cool,” he said, as his sister headed back to join the group. “Cool, cool, cool…”

---

St. Mercer's Hospital - Lobby

_{@Ruler Inc@MagratheanWhale}

---

Rita had taken it upon herself to cover the dead with the discarded hospital gowns. There was still a lot of blood in the lobby, but at least they didn’t have to look at the fresh corpses anymore. She wiped her eyes and pulled down the sleeves of her sweater after the task to recover the sigil on her arm. By the time her task was complete most of the others had returned in their new old duds, and Rita found a nice wall to become a flower on. Billy sat on top of the receptionist’s desk, zero fucks given about the papers he had knocked to the floor, while Penny stood by the front door and watched the snowstorm outside.

The God-Child had warned them that the Glutton was coming for them, and Penny doubted that one zealot with a pipe was all of its forces sent to descend upon the hospital while they were out of commission. She tried to use her abstraction to see any movement beyond the blinding snow, but was quickly overwhelmed when she saw every snowflake’s projected path of descent. She shut down her abstraction as fast and she could and picked up the dropped cigarette, rubbing the butt of it with her fingers as if it would clean it before she put it back in her mouth. If a few germs killed her then she’d be lucky, considering what happened to the rest of their group.

“Well, here I am.”

Penny felt her temper flare up in an instant as she looked back at the group and saw Britney take center stage. It was easy to blame her for everything. In reality, everything was way more complex than it seemed, but when Penny looked at Britney and thought, this bitch is why everyone is dead, it just felt right. She couldn’t help but smile when Jordan shouted Britney down, although her own desire to jump in on the beatdown was kept at bay when Britney agreed to spill her guts. She took another drag of her cigarette and held back.

“...And was he right when he said that the world might be ending?” asked one of the new kids.

“Well, man, even if it doesn’t end now, the Sun is eventually going to expand and swallow up the Earth anyway,” said Billy from his perch, ever unhelpful. “So don’t sweat it, dude.”

Britney offered a more insightful explanation.

"... And we will stop it," Justin optimistically said. "Screw that end of the world bullshit, I promise that everyone here will live a happy life!"

“We’ll fucking stop it, at least,” said Penny, holding back a rare laugh. She quickly swallowed it and glared at Britney, the smile on her face turning sour. “Let’s say I’m a fucking idiot that doesn’t learn from her mistakes and actually believes you. You’re saying the reason we have to deal with the fucking Glutton trying to destroy our little shithole town is because some assholes from a different universe decided to lock him up here, right? Maybe there is some way to send it back there, then—except no, fuck that. Clearly that didn’t solve shit!” Penny slammed her fist against the wall. The thought of other people pushing this off on them pissed her off, even if it was the way the world worked. Let the next generation deal with our problems; let the other universe fight our abominations. “How the fuck do we kill that thing?”

[Ciaran]

---

St. Mercer Hospital
_{@Ruler Inc}

---

Paige's initial reaction to Lynette's response was one of anger. She was no mind-reader, but she could tell from Lynette's tone of voice what motivated her not to go to these people's aid: fear. And whatever was going on, people were fighting, and the wrong side might be winning. Either of them might be enough to change that, and it would be selfish to let people suffer the same thing that you fear, especially if that fear is the reason you leave them be. Plus, Lynette clearly doubted both of their capabilities. Of course, she could speak for herself, but while logic stated that Lynette was right; Paige was not a useful fighter, the fact that she now had an Abstraction, and one that could help, bolstered her bravery considerably. So, in a brief moment after Lynette told her that they shouldn't go to help, Paige's face twitched in anger, for a fraction of a second moving towards a furious expression before logic took hold and she accepted that though she may not like the truth, it was the truth. Makes more sense to live fleeing than die fighting.

But that still left the pair with a problem: if not that way, they still had to go somewhere. And all they'd established so far was to avoid one particular direction. The others were still fair game, and none in particular seemed any more appealing than the rest. The only advice Paige could find from logic was to pick a direction that didn't sound dangerous, and walk that way.

The sounds of fighting had stopped. Someone was dead. Bad guy, good guy... there was no way to tell. All she knew was that the fighting was over.

"Which direction do you suggest, then?" Paige asked Lynette. "I've never been here before, thankfully, though I've only been in town a few weeks. I don't know where our clothes might be, I don't even know where the front door is." She didn't say it out loud, but it occurred to Paige that she might not have just been in town for a few weeks, any more. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious - she made a mental note to find out the date as soon as possible.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

---

^@Atrophy
St. Mercer Hospital - Lobby

---

“How the fuck do we kill that thing?”

There were a few moments of total silence was Britney merely stared at Penny, before her eyes drifted over to the floor and she was silent for what felt like minutes. After an actual minute passed, Britney opened her mouth to say the words that have been prodding at her for ages now. What has been making her feel more and more guilty as time went on, for Claire and the deaths of everyone else.

"... I don't know."

Britney just out and said it, she knew that a lot of people would hate her. "Billions of people tried to kill that thing and not one person could do it..."

The group had mixed reactions. Justin, for one, kept his opinions to himself, because he still hasn't heard the full story and still gives Britney the benefit of the doubt. For now, at the very least. However, Kimberly and Jordan had different ideas.

"Then what the fuck were you leading us around for?" Jordan loudly hissed as she was realizing that this crazy bitch was going to get them all killed. A little while ago, this girl was her friend; being one of the only black people in this racist ass backwater hilly billy ass town. Now Jordan detests Britney's very existence and is close to shoving her fucked up leg up this giant's girl ass.

"I was hoping that John would have a way..." Britney trailed off for a moment. "But I guess he was just as in over his head as we are against the Glutton..."

"John was a bastard that killed a bunch of people." Justin quickly noted. "Hell, for all we know, he could have working with the Glutton."

"So, from what I can tell," Kimberly said as she crossed her arms. "You knew everything about the Glutton and what was going on in the town - you just didn't know how to fix what was going on?" Kimberly contorted her face into a frown as she tried not to sound too passive aggressive. She hated being tugged around like this, but she didn't have much choice.

"... I have a better question for you, Britney Williams," The group heard a voice speak through the halls as she walked up. The first thing they saw as she walked into view was the bright red-haired girl who had her hair in a ponytail and was a heavy winter coat and jeans. She had a massive hunting knife in her left hand that was bloodied that she used to wipe off on her coat as she asked the simple question "... Why did you bury a body in my front yard?"

"... What?" Jordan said as she arched her neck towards Britney. "What is she talking about?"

"Sharon..." Britney trailed off.

"Or better yet..." The sigil that was on Sharon's stomach started glowing a bright color as she pressed her fingertips against it and suddenly the group was all put into the same vision...

Suddenly the group was back on John Reid's farmhouse, and they were all transparent third parties within the vision. Everything beyond a very small radius was imperceptible due to an ethereal fog. The scene was quiet as it focused the body of Andrea Pasternack... A rather pretty, tall, blonde-haired girl that was completely mangled by a swarm of insects that Sharon unintentionally summoned. Her body rested there at the foot of the Reid Household, as she fell simply seconds before getting away to safety.

However, the first to step outside was Britney Williams, who noticed her before making a sickened face before she simply stared at the glowing brand on Andrea's forearm. Britney knelt down to touch the sigil before she came to an abrupt stop as the sigils on her palms began to glow. The wheat colored energy covered both sides of Andrea's body as roots sprang forth and covered her dead body before they pulled her into the ground. Britney manifested more plants simply to cover her tracks.

Before Britney stood straight up, sighing and moved on.

Everyone turned their heads towards Britney, and even Justin, who was trying to play the devil's advocate in all of this, was disgusted.

"... Britney, what the fuck?"

[Zombiedude101]

St. Mercer Hospital

---

Content to observe as he made sense of the chaotic circumstances going on around them, it didn't take long for Nate to realise they were already turning on each other now that the immediate threat of death-by-alchemilla-nurse. “God, you’re nosy. Those things attacked. We fought them. We won. They killed themselves. Justin refuses to tell Zoey that her stupid friend was a dumb bitch and got herself killed. Happy?” Penny had once again gone straight for the jugular to one of the newcomers in their growing circle of glowing bodies - to Zoey, it seemed, who in turn seemed ready to tear her a new mouth-hole. "Listen here, bitch, I want you to fucking tell me what happened to Claire. Right. Now." For a brief moment, a knot formed in his stomach at the tension which had filled the room - then uncoiled, fortunately before he could soil himself, if he even had anything to soil after the timeless stay in hospital.

Jordan's arrival was a welcome change of pace, at least - even if she looked like she'd been dragging herself through the woods, one's own clothes were better than no clothes at all.

---

One change into an old set of clothes later, Nate at least felt somewhat more comfortable in his skin, not unlike a hermit crab that had ditched one of those glass shells for a bigger seashell. His phone, he was relieved to find out, had not been lost in the school's fight-or-flight situation - though he hadn't recalled turning it off. Once the dim glow of the screen returned, he felt a little relief - but any hope of getting in touch with Quent or Viv was dashed by two simple words.

Network unavailable.

He checked again, tried restarting his phone while the others made conversation - but the result was the same. Even the GPS was off, he couldn't figure out where he was. Couldn't make a call home to his family to let them know he was okay.

"Fucking hospitals.." It was just a murmur that slipped loose from his lips, but it was the truth. He hated them, in no small part because he could never get a fucking signal in them. He remembered in the hours following what had happened to Mom, seeing her hooked up to all those tubes, unable to get a hold of anyone to keep up to date - not Martin - his stepdad, who was at home trying to figure out if their insurance policy would cover anything, what their options for treatment were (for which there was nothing). Not even the old man, who was miles away on business. For all intents and purposes, he'd been alone then.

Now? Not so much, though the group he was with bore a great deal less familiarity to him than his family did. Case in point - Britney, her answers only raising more questions as the others pressed on her, understandably pissed off about the whole situation they'd been dumped into.

"How do we kill that thing?" The million dollar question. No - the billion dollar question, if Britney's response had been anything to go by. "Billions of people tried to kill that thing and not one person could do it..."

It was a phrase used often for emphasis, but one which you couldn't really understand unless you added the extra digits to it - all nine of them, plus whatever number you had at the start. Wrapping his head around it gave him a headache, but he had to make some kind of contribution to the discussion, no matter how small it sound. "I've got an-.. I know someone from the sheriff's department. We've gotta try, I dunno - there's gotta be something we can do to try and stop this... thing?"

Nate's voice strained a little at that, he knew it was a hollow statement. With all their powers they hadn't stopped it, Claire had died trying. What could Quent have done? Shoot it? Bullets probably tickled their Friendly Neighbourhood Cthulu.

And Britney had proved just about as helpful as the stalker's photo collection at the school. Dripfeeding them information, pulling conspiracy-level answers out of her ass whenever she was backed into a corner. It had to have some truth, or else half the crazy shit with their powers and the God-Kid and Glutton wouldn't have happened, but now that more of them had died it was beyond the point of frustration. As if to add an extra note to Kimberly's probing question, he seemed ready to speak up himself about just what they could actually do if the collective human population or its numeric equivalent had failed, when their red-headed companion butted in.

"Why did you bury a body in my front yard?"

Without any chance to explain, Nate shared in their collective vision of what had transpired at the farmhouse.

Suddenly the group was back on John Reid's farmhouse, and they were all transparent third parties within the vision. Everything beyond a very small radius was imperceptible due to an ethereal fog. The scene was quiet as it focused the body of Andrea Pasternack... A rather pretty, tall, blonde-haired girl that was completely mangled by a swarm of insects that Sharon unintentionally summoned. Her body rested there at the foot of the Reid Household, as she fell simply seconds before getting away to safety.

However, the first to step outside was Britney Williams, who noticed her before making a sickened face before she simply stared at the glowing brand on Andrea's forearm. Britney knelt down to touch the sigil before she came to an abrupt stop as the sigils on her palms began to glow. The wheat colored energy covered both sides of Andrea's body as roots sprang forth and covered her dead body before they pulled her into the ground. Britney manifested more plants simply to cover her tracks.

Before Britney stood straight up, sighing and moved on.

It was something which, in spite of having been a witness to the deaths already, seemed more real in retrospective. The sight of Andrea's corpse, contorted on the ground with countless welts and stings pockmarking where the plague of insects had unleashed their wrath upon her, it wasn't clean, or dignified. Disgust perhaps was the one thing Nate shared with Britney in this situation - his stomach roiled, an urge to throw up clawing at his throat as he witnessed the roots sprouting from the earth, only to draw the remains back in like a carniverous plant devouring prey, then more plants taking their place to disguise the scene of the crime.

He drew his fingers inwards, tightening them into a fist for emphasis - though it probably wasn't as threatening as he'd meant it to be. "Really playing the 'I know what you did last summer' vibe back there, weren't you? Jesus-... fuck, you know what that is? That's a fucking crime scene right there, you just illegally concealed a body.. you know what would happen if we got found out?" Quent's voice was in his head a little, though he was probably talking out his ass for some of it. "What about her fucking family? They'll just think she's missing - they.. they gotta know! It's not right." He knew that better than most, at least.

[Atrophy]

---

_{@Ruler Inc@Zombiedude101}
St. Mercer Hospital

---

Penny frowned when Britney admitted to not knowing how to kill the Glutton. Of course she didn’t. Certainly, Penny was disappointed that there wasn’t something that Britney had just been holding back, although given her track record she still could’ve been lying, and the others descend upon her like starving hyenas. Normally if Penny saw something like that she would’ve felt some kind of satisfaction, but a social victory was hollow now. She was about to continue probing their disgraced leader when Sharon appeared and added more fuel to the fire that was licking at Britney’s heels.

Justin and Nate openly expressed their disgust to the vision; Penny chewed on the cigarette in her mouth and stared down Sharon. The bloody knife was alarming, sure, but what puzzled Penny more was her coat. There was something about the girl that Penny just didn’t like; they had been at odds since Sharon had argued with Paige. Penny sighed. She didn’t like what she was about to do, but doing anything else seemed impossible.

“Okay, let’s hold the fuck on for a minute,” said Penny as she kicked off of the wall and made her way to join Britney in the middle. “Nate, maybe we should consider that the goddamn rules got changed a little once we all got magic powers after the Sheriff’s fucking son started actively murdering kids for sport. And...I’m, sorry, but why are you being a bitch about this?” asked Penny as she gestured at Sharon. “I was there. I saw what happened! Andrea was killed by the bugs being controlled by your shitty abstraction. Accidentally, maybe, but I think it’s a little worse than hiding someone’s manslaughter. Whatever! Now is not the goddamn time for a trial. How about we say that both of you suck and move on to the things that matter, like stopping the rest of the goddamn town from being devoured by some monster god thing? Fuck!”

“So,” Penny pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm herself, “We can’t kill it. Okay. You said something woke it up, right Britney? Then...then we have to make it go back to sleep, right? Do you even know what woke it up?”

[Mixtape Ghost N]

---

^{@Atrophy@Zombiedude101}
St. Mercer Hospital - Lobby

---

Nate's barrage elicited something inside of Britney... it was due to her polite nature that she kept it inside and out of her mouth but there was something so annoying about what Nate said - Justin, too. They were just so infuriating that Britney had to try her best to hold it in. Until the golden phrase was muttered and Britney had enough.

"... It's not right."

Britney clenched both of her fists as she tried to fight back tears, she had enough.

"... Will all of you get your heads out your asses?!" Britney shouted at the top of her lungs, regret and grief were loud in her voice as she finally made her thoughts clear. "If we did any of that, Nate-" She spat out his name like it was an insult. "-we would just be making all of our jobs harder. We would have the sheriff's office on our ass the whole time, how in the world do you think we'd explain the situation to them?! Try to explain to them that magic is real!? Some girl made bugs go crazy?! Stop being sooo dumb!"

She took deep breaths before she continued slinging the fire, "I was trying to help you all! From day fucking one to now! Sure, I definitely made some mistakes, but I hid Andrea's body for your protection! From yourselves."

What happened next was most surprising: Penny hopped off the wall and took Britney's side. It felt pigs were going to fly as she slung some comments of her own at Sharon and the rest of the group. In the end, Penny wanted to figure out the matter at hand; the Glutton and in all honesty Britney couldn't help but agree - they definitely had more important matters to deal with.

Even though Sharon wanted to yell at Penny... she couldn't help but agree. Sharon turned her head away, as she tried to come up with the right words to say. "Fine... you're right, Penny," Sharon turned to face Britney. "But you all shouldn't trust her; she's with the Watchers, remember?"

"Oh, you're one to talk," Britney hissed back at the girl. "You were just as involved with them as I was. Do not give me that shi-"

"Guys, how about a truce?" Lynette had to add on. "We can't be killing each other now of all times." She was silent during the whole affair, but she definitely had to add something on.

"Fine." Both Britney and Sharon said at the same time.

Lynette realized that Penny was probably being the most rational in all of this - well, second to Lynette herself. While what Britney did to Andrea was quite... cold, it makes sense to her. Reporting it to the authorities would have made their jobs harder... and Sharon was the one who killed her even if it was by accident. Either way, she walked over to her friend as said,

“So, we can’t kill it. Okay. You said something woke it up, right Britney? Then...then we have to make it go back to sleep, right? Do you even know what woke it up?”

Sharon looked nervous, as the fight in her deflated in one sentence. Britney turned towards Penny as she was about to speak, but then...

"... You can, actually," They heard the heavenly voice of the God-Child as they were all suddenly wrapped in white light. They felt a weight being lifted off of them as they were being teleported somewhere else. The ground ended up in a teal-blue colored space - standing on seemingly a transparent platform as they were all ghost-like and transparent. It was familiar to some of the group but alien to most of them. Standing in the center of the room was an ethereal being; a small humanoid figure that was glowing a white color and had a long hair that made up twice the length of the being's body. Their face was indistinguishable, but they definitely had the demeanor of a child in terms of body shape and voice.

"Wh-what?" Kimberly said as she looked at the thing.

"Hello, we never got a chance to meet or properly get acquainted," The being said, "I am... The Child, the next One-Above-All. We have much to discuss."

[NoriWasHere]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Mercer Hospital - And beyond

_{@Ruler Inc}

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cyrus stood, with his arms crossed, as the group explained everything in great detail, allowing a small smile to creep onto his face as the great weights that had burdened his soul began to fall off. He wasn’t mad, he was an Awakened like the rest of the group. He wasn’t seeing things he had a power. These questions subsided in his mind. Cyrus could not help a growing sense of doubt creep in to fill the void left behind, a sense of doubt directed towards Britney. She had promised to be completely honest in her answers yet she danced around one subject. The people who had beat the Glutton. “Gil-,” Cyrus mentioned under his breath. Who were they, how did they stop the creature, and could they help in their upcoming struggle? He wanted answers. As the others spoke, he awaited any pause that would allow him to slide in and ask his question. Nobody would have the chance to interupt him if he had it his way.

“So, we can’t kill it. Okay. You said something woke it up, right Britney? Then...then we have to make it go back to sleep, right? Do you even know what woke it up?”

“And who are the people of Gil, Bri--” Cyrus started but was almost immediately cut off by a godly voice.

"... You can, actually,"

“What the shit,” Cyrus shouted at the strange voice before he was enveloped in a bright white color. A feeling of weightlessness washed over him as he was teleported to a faraway area. As the teleportation completed, Cyrus swung his hands outward in an attempt to brace himself for a fall that would never happen. Instead, Cyrus quickly realized that he was on a platform that was transparent and the fall into the void below would have to wait another day. Cyrus slowly looked around and noticed the rest of the group was there, yet there was something eerily off about their appearance. They shared some similarities with the platform being transparent as well, yet he could still clearly their appearance and the outline of his bodies. “Weird,” he spoke aloud as he turned his face and he was greeted with the awe-inspiring sight of a godly creature in the center. While not entirely human, with the indistinguishable face yet obviously childlike body, the sight of the creature calmed Cyrus.

“Wh-what,” Kimberly asked.

“What she said,” Cyrus said in response.

"Hello, we never got a chance to meet or properly get acquainted," the being spoke in a childlike voice yet carried with it great power, "I am... The Child, the next One-Above-All. We have much to discuss."

“I kinda liked it when I thought I was going mad, afterall,” Cyrus spoke to no-one in particular as he took in the sight of The Child in front of him. "What are you," Cyrus asked The Child as his eyes danced across the visage of the creature.

[Zombiedude101]

@Ruler Inc@Atrophy@MagratheanWhale
St. Mercer Hospital

---

"Stop being so dumb?" Nate echoed, "We're not all balls-deep in some fucking illuminati bullshit like you, how do you think we're supposed to explain or even deal with any of this shit? I can just see you," he gesticulated towards Penny, "It'll be 'Oh, hi mom! Look, I can turn this box of tic-tacs into a fucking twelve gauge!' Some of us have homes to go back to, and what do you think the sheriff's department are gonna do when they catch us running around town like we're the avengers? They have these wonderful things called phones these days, they take pictures, see?" For emphasis, he tugged out his own device and tapped at the lense peering through a gap in the casing. "One person sees us, they use theirs. We'll be all over fucking liveleak and youtube before it's done snowing."

It wasn't that he thought Britney was wrong on this, outright. She had a point, they couldn't expose any of this to the outside world. Nobody would believe them short of actually showing their abstractions, which itself invited other kinds of trouble. He still hadn't even fathomed how Quent and Viv would handle the idea of finding him in a hospital after being missing for what, days? Nevermind what they'd do if they saw him phasing through the walls.

But for now, in Britney's case it seemed she was too busy getting into a catfight with Sharon, at least until Lynette cut into the thick of it to calm them both down. For his part, at least, Nate was willing to shut up as the topic shifted back towards how to deal with it.

“So, we can’t kill it. Okay. You said something woke it up, right Britney? Then...then we have to make it go back to sleep, right? Do you even know what woke it up?”

"... You can, actually," a voice cut in once more, the same one that had been stalking them for the last week with eerily prophetic statements and warnings. Nate didn't deign to add his voice to the collective astonished remarks, instead darting his gaze towards the glowing shape in the room. "Hello, we never got a chance to meet or properly get acquainted. I am... The Child, the next One-Above-All. We have much to discuss."

".. Right. God-Kid outta fucking nowhere," he muttered beneath his breath, weary of the whole situation, but eventually he found some courage to address this ethereal entity, joining his voice to Cyrus'. "Yeah, what are you? And what is it-.. the thing we apparently can't kill but you say we can? How do we even kill it? Throwing rocks?"