Empty Streets, Chapter Two: Silent Dream

[Rutskarn]

PROLOGUE

December 26th, 2010.

Time seems to blur on the subway. The midnight hour, the steady ache of lurching travel, and the lifelessness of your fellow subway-travelers combine to form an almost oblivion-like state, one which the mind retreats reflexively from. You are lost in your thoughts; you watch, detached, as the lights of the tunnel walls fly by like ghosts fleeing from the stretches of tunnel the train greedily devours.

Perhaps it was because of this limbo state that you can’t remember much of what happened. There was light, and the sound of brakes. The subway began to screech to a stop, and your reverie was rudely jerked away. You remember the force of the train slowing, the impact of sudden deceleration knocking you to the floor, the first harsh mutters of panic rising from the startled passengers, a deep voice from the driver’s cabin yelling for everyone to remain calm, and the lights grew brighter…

December 27th, 2010.

Haziness. Your forehead feels wet, and you feel pain. You’re not in the tunnel anymore. Where you are is bright, and harsh, and cold, and you hear voices all around you, urgent, frantic. You lie on your back, feeling rough fabric. You are lifted, like a soul being raised to heaven…


CHAPTER ONE: COLD AWAKENING

?? ??, 201?

It is dark, cold, and deathly quiet.

You have awoken.

Beneath you lies a cot, rumpled and stained with dried blood. You yourself are dressed in a clean white patient's dress, wrinkled but unsullied. To your left and right are sets of medical equipment, all of which are silent and inactive. A tube runs into your arm, but the bag attached is dry as bleached bone.

The room is filled with shadows, thick and impenetrable. The only light is that afforded by a very dim lantern, lying on the ground in front of the row of beds which you occupy. The light of the lantern reflects off a pair of long windows on the wall opposite you, reflecting the cold and motionless tableau. There appears to be a door between them.

You are not alone. In the four other hospital beds lie four other people...awakening, just as you are, to utter silence.

[rubakhin]

Oddly enough, the first thought that floats through Jordan Sullivan's brain is as follows: I can't afford this.

He was pretty sure that at some point the other night he had quit his job in an ecstasy-addled haze, which meant that his health insurance package was gone. Goddamn, there's the cost of the ambulance ride, at very least ... that's hundreds of dollars that they just don't have. Maybe he could beg, get reinstated ... no, that was beneath him, no matter what.

Well, he's technically indigent right now, when they come around to make him fill out payment paperwork, he'll just give them some fake address. Unless they've already got it. He tries to remember whether or not he had an ID on him that showed his address. Makes Jordan sick thinking of his sisters and his dad getting a hospital bill in the mail after the way he disappeared like that.

Then he realizes that he's half naked, he's got a stick in his arm, and there's nothing he can do but lie here and wait. He calms down and starts looking around. The lantern thing's beyond strange, what's the matter with regular lights? (Maybe this is a free clinic and they just can't afford them ... talk about your Irish luck.) He looks at the other people waking up around him. Were they all in the crash too?

[Warpfire]

"Oh ****."

That's the first thing out of David's mouth as soon as he regains awareness. A hospital. This was perhaps the worst place he could be right now- unable to move, unable to run. It was only a matter of time before that crazy bastard figured out where he was and sent a couple of his legbreakers to finish the job the crash had started.

The utter panic turns to confusion as David looks around the room. The lantern, the inactive equipment, and the empty bag...what kind of hospital was this? Something weird was going, that was certain. Still, David didn't have time to dwell on the oddities of his hospital room.

"Gotta get out of here..." David starts pulling lightly on the tube in his arm, mostly to try and gauge how hard and painful to remove it would be rather than to actually tear it out.

[Rutskarn]

The tube feels as if it would slide effortlessly out of David's arm.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Huh? Who? What? Xanathorb?" the old man shouted as he woke up. He looked about the scene, eyes open wide in surprise and astonishment. He ached all over, but then again, he always did. Such was the effect of dragging his old bones through the streets day in day out. Sleeping in a soggy box didn't help his backaches much either.

"Where's my coat? And my cane? This is an outrage! Nuuuuuurse!"

He quickly reconsidered, hushing himself too late. He checked under the robe for any significant scars.
"Oh, thank god, I've still got my liver... Wait... My stuff... The compass!"

The old man's bony hands felt his throat, but they found no necklace.
"Bastards..." he mumbled, his face going red with anger.
"Thieves!" he cried out, jumping up from the bed and removing the tube from his arm carefully. He stumbled over to the lantern, picking it up and shining the light on the other men.
"Do any of you gents know where they took our stuff?"

[Adlan]

Lieutenant Wherry
Saul awoke, on automatic. Hard Bed beneath him.

He reached for the sheets and woolen blankets over him. Only to find they were not there. As he blearily sat up, he realised he wasn't in barracks, there was pain in his left arms, and as he felt for it, he realised he was tugging on a cord, going to an empty bladder, whatever it had once been filled with gone.

Hospital, he realised, as he began to remember the last events of his waking knowledge.

'A crash?'
Was the first thought to cross the young soldiers mind.
'I hope I haven't missed movement'
Was the second.

Then, other thoughts as he took in the room, it's delapidated state, the lack of good lighting, and the other shapes to his right, other people in the beds, now awake and moving.

Saul reached over, and gingerly removed the tube from his arm.

He stood up, equally as gingerly, and was surprised to find that he felt pretty good. Apart from the twinge in his arm, and the fact he was dressed in what appeared to be a rather draughty nightie, and he was on the wrong continent.

'Blimey, I'll never complain about the NHS again' he thought, but this musing was interupted when another patient spoke. At first mumbling, but then louder. The other figure grabbed the torch and shone it at them all.
Saul shielded his eyes to protect his night vision.

"Do any of you gents know where they took our stuff?"

'Not a Clue friend' Saul replied to the old man's question, though with the latern light as it was, saul couldn't see much detail of the other figure.
He went to check his watch, for the date, and found it wasn't there.
then he went to check his stubble, to try and guage how long he'd been asleep, save that he realised he didn't know if he'd been shaved by a doctor or nurse while asleep.

'I say, were you all on the underground carriage with me? Saul asked, his english accent most noticable compared to the older gents Southern tones.

[rubakhin]

"I think so," says Jordan, to the British guy. He tells the older man, "They usually put your clothes or whatever in bags and lock them away somewhere." He frowns, as he begins to get his bearings and a firmer grasp on the situation. It's beginning to dawn on him that something here is seriously off.

He starts thinking aloud. "Hey. Somethin' strange is going on here. They wouldn't bother stripping us and taking us to a private room unless something was wrong with us. But none of us look hurt. And there were other people on the subway. Where are they?"

[Rutskarn]

Suddenly, there's a faint crackle from the ceiling near the door.

For a moment, a tiny green light flicks on. You can barely make out the illuminated form of a now-activated security camera behind it.

Slowly, it arcs back and forth. Then the light flicks off, and once again, the lantern is the sole source of illumination.

[Warpfire]

David quickly slides the tube out of his arm and jumps out of bed. Upon noticing that his clothes were gone, he curses. That had been a nice suit...but there was nothing for it. He takes another look around, barely hearing the words of the others.

"I was on the subway too, yeah," David responds to Saul's question, adding his panicked Irish voice to the list of accents. “But more importantly, where the hell are we now?”

Noticing the security camera turn on, he curses again. Now they knew he was up. Time to get out of here. David hurries over to the door and tries to open it.

[Rutskarn]

David approaches the door. The window on the door is somewhat musty, but on the glass you can make out Quarantine 2A, written backwards across the glass.

The door handle turns easily, although you can make out only darkness beyond it.

[rubakhin]

Jordan furrows his brow and removes the tube from his arm. "So we're in quarantine. Could there have been biological weapons on that train? Was that a terrorist attack?"

He goes for the lantern on the floor. The hallway doesn't seem to be lit.

[Rutskarn]

(Samedi, the old man, has the lantern)

[drum-n-bass]

Dr. Professor Bjørn Von Burghausen

Bjorn silently watches the precarious situation unfold before him. He woke before the rest, but that is always the case. He actually liked the idea of being in a place where he had no idea of what was going on and where he was at. After deep thought Bjorn realized this to be similar to The Matrix, but then again he always finds that the case. He could have been always living like this but never knowing. He smiled, silently laughed, and squirmed with joy at the thought of something like that happening. Plus it was like a vacation from work, which is always a good thing. Seeing everyone else removing their tubes, he follows suite. He then asked the question Does anyone know what the hell is going on and why we are here? I have some reason but it comes from the Matrix trilogy....... He then laughed to himself again because no one probably had any idea about what he was talking about. Also he may be talking in one of the many languages he knows.

[Warpfire]

"I don't care if they unleashed the second Black Plague on that train, I need to get out of here."

As David peers into the darkness of the hallway, he realizes he's going to need the lantern. He turns around to look at the old man holding it.

"Hey, you're the one wanting to get your stuff back, right? If you can get that bloody lantern over here maybe we can start looking around this hallway and find it."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"If we're in quarantine, and there's no-one tending to us, or stopping us, this bodes ill indeed" the old man said, "Mark my words, the dark one has a hand in this mess"
The old man looked quite ghastly saying this, holding the lantern under his chin.
"I don't know about you gents, but I'm following Mister Innahurry out of here"

The old man has a look at the medical equipment, in the vague hopes of finding some stuff he can sell on the street, or some morphine to shoot into his veins on those cold lonesome nights.
"Might need a weapon. A scalpel or such, if those bastards try to stop me... mutter, mutter... grumble"

Dark Sam continued to the door after stealing anything that seemed of use among the medical equipment, and shone his light into the hallway.

[Adlan]

'Hold hard friend, slow up' Saul said, as the fellow at the door started to explore on his own.

'We need to stick together. We're all in this together, there's only one lantern. And it's plain the electrics in this place are on the fritz.

He thought of his pack, with it's water bottle, dried food, a change of clothes... his bow.

'But You are right. I want to find my stuff as well.'

He walked over to the door, and peered out into the darkness.

Look, If we are stuck, the hospital's had a power cut or something, we should at least know each others names'

He held out a hand to the man who didn't care about the 'plauge'.
'Wherry, Lieutenant Saul Wherry'

[drum-n-bass]

Dr. Professor Bjørn Von Burghausen

Bjorn grumbles to himself at not being noticed. He then proceeds to remove his IV. After that he turns around in his not very comfortable bed, and gets up. He then stretches out to get his joints moving again. Hearing the bit about the name he says I am Dr. Professor Bjørn Von Burghausen of Princeton University. I am of philosophy of mind, and of literature. He then silently walks behind everyone else outside of the room, noticing the quarantine sign.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The old man grabbed the hand, ignoring that it wasn't meant for him, and shook it heartily, squeezing tight. His hands felt leathery and worn, almost sharp enough to cut yourself on.
"Name's Samedi, Lieutenant, but on the street they calls me Dark Sam, and I'd appreciate if you lads did the same"

Suddenly the smile on his face faded and he stopped shaking Wherry's hand. He pulled his hand nearer and shed light on it with the lantern.
"Oh... That doesn't bode well" the old man said, "Looks like these are the hands of a warrior... Gonna be blood on 'em soon, son... tsk, tsk"
Sam let go and entered the hallway carefully after making sure the coast was clear.
"I'd better find my stuff and get out of here soon..."

[Rutskarn]

The dim light of the lantern illuminates a narrow hallway. The floors are coated with a fine layer of dust that seems to dance in the air, unsettled by your movement.

To the left, you see a row of doors, continuing off into shadow beyond the pale glow of the lantern. On the nearby doors, you see Quarantine, and then ascending numbers and letters. All of them are shut. Disturbing the sterile, white appearance of the hallway are the fact that each door has been bolted shut, the white paint on the doors and walls peeled away around the crude holes that accommodate the steel locks.

To your right, you see a staircase leading up further into shadow.

The sterile odor of the hospital room seems to give way to a very faint smell of burnt material, perhaps with a very indistinct earthy odor to it.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Dark Sam walked out into the hallway and peered into one of the windows in the other doors. He then put down the lantern between his feet and wrapped some gauze around his knuckles.
"Me fingerbones is gettin' cold" he said, laughing and showing his brown teeth.

Sam picked up the lantern again and gave the others some light by the door.
"Are you gents all done in there? Cause I ain't waitin' much longer"

[rubakhin]

"Jordan Sullivan," says Jordan Sullivan, to no one in particular. He goes out in the hallway after the old man. He doesn't bother pointing out that normal hospitals have generators and there shouldn't be this kind of power outage - not to mention that normal hospitals have an abnormally active janitorial service and there shouldn't be this kind of dust, either - but this clearly isn't a normal hospital. Jordan furrows his brow. At best, it's some kind of containment ward, a holding cell. At worst, they're in the goddamn House of Leaves.

[Warpfire]

"David Foley," David introduces himself. "And I'm with Sam here on the subject of waiting. Come on!"

[Adlan]

'Sounds good to me' Saul agreed.

When he came out into the hall, his bare toes curling on the cold floor, He tried one the doors, if at first, it would not give, with a good shove of his shoulder.

[Rutskarn]

Saul approaches the door opposite yours. Through the dusty window, he can see empty cots, sitting side-by-side.

He tries the door. Locked. He puts his powerful shoulder to it, and it doesn't even rattle. The doors are locked securely.

Those who have entered the hallway note that your door was similarly locked, but for some reason, the lock does not appear to have been in place.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"David Foley," David introduces himself. "And I'm with Sam here on the subject of waiting. Come on!"

"That's Dark Sam to you, sonny boy!" Sam said, smiling, and then cleaning out his ear with his finger.
"This hallway seems to be a dead end, doesn't it? There's just those stairs... We seem to be in a basement of some sort... Strange that"
With these words Sam walked off, scaling the stairs.

[Warpfire]

"Yeah, okay," David replies to pretty much everything Dark Sam said in an offhand, distracted manner.

He follows Samedi up the stairs, partly because it seemed the best way out and partly because he was the man with the light.

[Rutskarn]

The staircase is short. The weak light from the lantern is cast almost immediately on a large, sturdy steel doorframe. The door is ajar, pulled away from the staircase, and on the door is marked MAIN FLOOR SCRUB AREA in red letters.

Soft light falls on the musty room beyond. The room is square and cramped, with rows of lockers to the left and shelves of brushes, dry buckets, and steel drums of chemicals to the right.

A few of the lockers are ajar. Inside them, you can just make out pale, dusty teflon suits. The suits look like Hazmat suits, rebreathers and plastic visors adorning a built-in cowl.

[Adlan]

Saul made it up the stairs, and swiftly made a cursory search of the room.
When he looked in the cupboard, he saw the suits.

'Hey, clothes. Check some of the other cupboards. What I need more than anything, are a decent pair of boots.

He felt the suits, rubbery teflon over suits, not really suitable for wearing over their flimsy patient wear.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Dark Sam wandered over to the chemicals and inspected them briefly, hoping he'd find something of use, or at least something he'd be able to sell on the streets.
"What is this place, the janitor's closet? And if these people are so insistent on cleanliness, why is there dust all over the place! Damn cheap clinics..."

Sam held up the lantern and looked around for an exit of some sort.

[drum-n-bass]

Silently walking along the dust ridden floor, he grumbles to himself. He keeps quiet as no one seems to care that much about him. He tries to pry open some lockers to see what is inside of them. He would rather go around in his gown then in a hazmat suit.