Who: Adrian and Connor When: morning, Thursday, Dec 28th Where: Mercy Hospital Status: complete
Adrian barely slept. He was stuck in Seaview because his car was still out of order and even if it had been fixed the fog would have made it impossible to drive anywhere. The damn thing didn't let up and as he kept tossing and turning through the night his anxiety only kept spiking. His little sister was still in the hospital and he knew Aaron had gone there to see her shortly before the fog rolled in so she wasn't alone and yet he kept worrying about her. She was so traumatized already and something about this fog just rubbed him the wrong way.
It was about six in the morning and he was hungry but this time it was probably a good thing. If he was hungry, he was faster and sharper so he let the pain come, forced himself to resist the food he shoved in his backpack and then bundled up as much as he could. The fog was fucking cold.
He couldn't see shit when he got outside but the hungrier he got, the less it mattered. He knew where he was and he went slowly, feeling his way around until animal instinct started kicking in. It took him a long time and he broke into a couple of cars on the way there, just for somewhere to warm up a little and calm his nerves.
He was getting closer to the hospital when he saw the first creature. 'Saw' was a generous term, it was barely a shadow in the fog, looming close by, impossibly large. Adrian froze, then backed up and started sidestepping closer to what he hoped was a building to the side. He bumped into something, a fence probably, and something wild and angry inside of him wanted him to attack whatever this was, bite a chunk out of it, go down swinging.
He wasn't hungry enough to go that crazy. His body hurt, his head hurt and the cold was sharp against his skin but he was still Adrian, still human enough to self preserve. His thoughts might be foggy but they were still his. He slipped to the side as soon as the fence ended and every instinct screamed that it was taking him off track but he wasn't about to walk straight into the arms (claws?) of some unknown danger. The shadow got closer, snow creaking under its feet and Adrian hit a wall. Was there anywhere to hide here? Did he even need to hide with the fog being this thick? The answer was yes because the large creature got closer, then stopped just a few feet away from him, bowing down like it could smell him.
That was it, Adrian thought. He'd survived one monster only to get eaten by another. He pulled his knife out, not about to go down without a fight but just when he'd readied himself to start slicing, the shadow moved away again, the crunching getting quieter the farther away it got.
Adrian stood still for a few long moments, still save for the trembling and the hitched breath hiccuping its way from his lungs. He forced himself to move again, making it back to the street and shakily heading toward the hospital again. He knew this road, he couldn't see shit but he knew it. He was so close and he was going to make it provided nothing else came lurking out of the blind, hungrier than the last one.
It was a crazy relief when he pressed against the glass of the emergency room doors, knowing that he'd actually found his way and gotten there in one piece but then the damn doors didn't budge and nobody seemed to be inside. It was smart, of course, locking everything up, especially with whatever was out there but it was still stupidly inconvenient for him. He considered banging on the glass but the fear that something was still behind him ready to strike stopped him from doing that. Instead he carefully made his way around, pulling a piece of jerky from his pocket to sate some of the worst hunger. He didn't need to be starving, he was there now. At least he hoped it was safe to eat because his damn tattoo was burning and his time was running out. He was thankful that he'd worked here before, it meant he knew the place better than non employees could and after a while he found the kitchen staff entrance. It was locked but there was a bell there and he rang it despite knowing the risks. Someone had to hear it, anyone, hopefully nobody he knew but someone.
Connor ... didn’t quite understand what was happening. At least he didn’t seem to be alone in that, but it was still massively disconcerting and the past twenty four hours felt like a bad dream. The fog had been bad enough on its own, making navigation impossible for ambulances and essentially locking everyone inside the hospital. The phones had gone down, radio communication seemed spotty, nobody could get the internet to work or had any signal on their phone. It was a modern nightmare. Connor was just thanking whatever powers-that-be existed that the lights were still on. The hospital had quite a few heavy-duty generators, but nobody wanted it to be that much of an emergency.
The staff and patients had spent an uncomfortable night there; Connor had gotten maybe a couple of hours of sleep, in between worrying about his charges and the people ranked under him and worrying about Jacob. Because god, thinking about him being stuck out somewhere in this made Connor feel crazy with anxiety. A few stragglers had made it to the ER, with injuries from car accidents and frostbite. Every time Connor got word of a new one, everything seized up with fear that it was his boy. It hadn’t been, not yet, but Connor knew there were probably a lot of people out there who couldn’t make it to their doors.
And then, early that morning ... someone had seen shapes in the fog. Big, dark shapes. Shapes that smashed into one of the pillars holding up the roof over the ER entrance. They could hear other destruction, cars flipping and glass breaking, and they’d locked the doors up as tight as they could and cut most of the lights to the ER waiting room. Part of Connor balked at that -- what if someone showed up needing help? -- but he could barely wrap his mind around what was happening, so he didn’t protest.
There wasn’t anything immediately to do except stay away from the windows, and Connor had gone to the kitchen to make some coffee in the bigger pots for everyone. God knew he needed the caffeine himself, having something hot in his stomach would help him think better. There had to be a rational explanation for all of this, his exhausted brain just couldn’t reach it. He was almost done with the first pot when he heard a buzzing that sounded like an ugly doorbell. He froze, his heart hammering in his chest, but when the buzzing came again, it sounded insistently human. Maybe someone was hurt out there, and this was the only door they could reach. Connor put the coffee mug down and approached the staff entrance cautiously, like it might bang open at any second.
“Hello?” he called through the metal, and was dimly pleased that his voice didn’t shake. “Who’s out there?”
By the second time he rang Adrian was already thinking about other ways to get in there. He could possibly climb until he got to one of the second storey windows but he wasn't really thrilled about the aspect of breaking a window to get in. Destruction of property was one thing, making too much noise was another. He was about to ring again when he heard the voice, muffled through the door and instantly he banged his hand flat against the metal.
"Open up," he said, loud enough to be heard - he hoped - but not yelling because he still had that creepy feeling that something was about to come up behind him. That creature had ignored him earlier but he didn't know why and he wasn't exactly dying to find out if it had been a fluke or not. "There's something out here, please. I'm unarmed." That wasn't strictly true, he had a knife, but he didn't have a gun and for the first time ever he could actually see himself wielding a pistol despite how much he hated them. He held back on his urge to start banging on the door, not wanting to scare off whoever was on the other side but his body ached to do it, to bang and yell and plead. He'd already made noise, now it felt like whatever was out there would be closing in faster.
It was a man’s voice, so that was slightly reassuring, but not very. He didn’t sound panicked, and wouldn’t he be if something was out there with him? What if he meant to do harm in the hospital? Connor waffled for a handful of seconds, but his compulsion to help won out and he hurried to unlock the door and open it. He didn’t know what they were dealing with, but people were more vulnerable outside than in, and he couldn’t leave someone to freeze to death out there just to be paranoid. Connor was relieved to see a human face on the other side of the door, and he made room to let the man in, then closed the door quickly behind him and locked it again. “Are you injured?” Connor asked as he turned to look at the new arrival. He didn’t know what else to say yet.
"Thank you," Adrian wheezed with feeling, letting his backpack fall to the floor before pressing up against the wall next to the door just to get that creepy sense of chase out of his system. He was inside, he was safe, and a solid wall against his back felt good and reassuring. "No," he added when he processed the question. "Just cold. So fucking cold." He shakily tugged his gloves off before starting in on the scarf he'd wrapped around his head. It was warm inside and the clothes would just keep him cold right now. He didn't know this man and that was lucky. It would have been pretty typical for him to run straight into someone who recognized him after all this sneaking around. "There's something out there," he said and he had a feeling he wasn't delivering any kind of news here but it still bore saying. "Something big." And god was he still hungry, his body not fully his own.
Even though the guy said no, Connor still looked him over for injuries from a distance, but he looked all right. He was about to ask some questions -- how long were you out there, is anything on your body numb, do you need food -- when the man said there was something out there. Connor’s stomach clenched and he shot the closed door a wary glance. “Did you see it?” Connor asked, his tone a little urgent. “I keep ... hearing it, but I haven’t really seen it yet.” Aware that the man was cold and there was fresh coffee, Connor headed back toward the counter where the pot was and pulled down another mug.
"Yeah," Adrian replied, bundling his winter clothes in his arms. "Well I don't know what I saw, a huge shadow. I thought I was goner for sure, it was so close to me but uh, guess I got lucky." He couldn't say what it was, if he didn't believe in monsters he might have tried to come up with something like a moose or winter-mutated elephant? Jesus, it had been big but he couldn't reconcile it with any living creature. Much like the thing that attacked him and his friends. He was trying hard to sound normal, to say normal things but he was distracted by distant voices, someone was crying, he hoped it wasn't Mila but all he heard was the choking sobs some rooms away. This inbetween state always felt weird. His attention snapped back to the kitchen when the smell of coffee hit his senses like a freight train and he automatically stepped toward it, craving the heat.
Connor was trying to process ‘huge shadow.’ That was essentially all he’d seen too, but hearing it confirmed by someone who’d just been outside was making him feel a little dizzy and unreal. Dissociated. Because unless it was some animal he wasn’t thinking of, escaped from a zoo or come in from the deep forest or ... but the fog too? Fuck, it was so hard to wrap his head around. He poured coffee for the young man, spilling some over the edge of the mug. Connor cursed softly and swiped his fingers against his scrubs before offering it out to Adrian. “Here, uh ... it’ll help,” he said. “We locked the doors after something ... after it brought part of the carport down.” Neither Connor’s voice or his hand was quite steady. Once both of them were free, he rubbed his hands against his face. “How, uh, how long were you out there? Do you need food? Any frostbite concerns, how’re your fingers and toes? I’m a doctor, by the way, guess I should’ve led with that. It’s been a crazy fuckin’ night.” He was trying to sound normal, trying to keep a handle on things.
The cup was almost too hot and Adrian briefly thought about raiding the fridge for some milk but then he found himself drinking it anyway, no matter that it almost hurt his mouth. It seared through him, so warm so good he almost felt like going cross-eyed and just curling up on the floor right there. The doctor was rambling, like Adrian hadn't figured out already he was a doctor, and it was also easy to suss out he was incredibly human and probably had never experienced anything really weird before. "Is there food?" he asked once he'd chugged down everything in the cup. He had food with him but he was running low on money and stealing large quantities of meat wasn't easy.
That wasn’t an answer to any of Connor’s questions, but he wasn’t going to insist. This situation felt completely different than any other one he’d treated patients in. Things changed in an emergency, and he honestly felt completely unbalanced at the moment. He hardly even registered how fast Adrian drank the coffee down. “Yeah, uh ...” Connor started gesturing to various shiny appliances surrounding them. Mercy wasn’t a huge hospital, but they did enough business to warrant a fair sized kitchen. “Whole ... cafeteria. Fridges, microwaves, help yourself. Just don’t pig out too much, in case we need to start rationing.” Because who knew how long this fog was going to last? Connor’s brain wanted to latch onto that instead of whatever was out in the fog, stressing about the weather made much more sense.
Adrian could have laughed at that 'don't pig out' request because jesus, he could probably eat everything in there by himself in a couple of days. The hospital wasn't that big, it didn't serve too many people. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that," he murmured, slinking over to the fridge to look for something to eat. It wouldn't be a priority to him if he wasn't so hungry but he couldn't lose himself, that just wasn't a risk worth taking. Most of the food in there wasn't cooked and he wondered if anyone would actually come on down there to make sure the patients who were stuck there were eating. It was too early for total chaos but the people already in the building had been there for a while now and who knew how long they'd been on shift before the fog hit. He finally decided his own stash was probably better so he went back to where he'd dropped his bag and started rummaging around for his usual beef jerky. "My friends are in the building," he muttered. "Did everyone gather somewhere? Or are people still in their rooms?"
While the new arrival checked out the fridge, Connor finished making his coffee, trying to breathe slow and steady and calm his nerves a bit. Maybe caffeine and sugar weren’t going to help with that, but he needed something to keep him awake. He had a feeling it was going to be a long day. He looked up and noticed that the guy didn’t take any food, just went back to his bag, but it wasn’t Connor’s job to feed him. The only people he cared to make sure had food were those who were too sick to come into the common areas. “There are plenty still in their rooms,” Connor answered as he took a sip of coffee. “Some out in the hospital proper lobby and the cafeteria ... we’re trying to stay clear of the bigger windows. Who are your friends?” Connor had talked to just about everyone in the building already, and if the guy needed an update, he might be able to provide one.
"Aaron Lucas and Mila Moretti," Adrian mumbled with a hint of a question in his voice. He suddenly wondered if Aaron had made it to the hospital before the fog hit and considering he'd almost killed him not long ago it was a little strange to suddenly have that sinking feeling of worry about him. It made sense though, Aaron was like a rock for Mila right now and he'd done so much to help Adrian despite their first encounter. He was practically family and Adrian didn't have much of that left. "Have you seen them?" he asked before shoving food in his mouth, needing to calm down and feel more like a human being.
Mila Moretti wasn’t his direct patient usually, but Connor had familiarized himself with everybody who was staying long-term when the fog had come down the day before. “Yeah, an hour or two ago, I checked in on her. She’s still in her room, I’m pretty sure, and Aaron’s with her.” He wondered if this dude was family, or just a friend ... or some jealous ex boyfriend or something who was using this disaster to come seek revenge. Connor didn’t know, and none of the normal protections like a guest list were in place, but he was going to try not to stress about that. “Do you know which one it is?” he asked to test those waters a bit. If the guy had been here to visit before, it was probably fine.
"Yeah," Adrian said, frowning softly as he wondered if Mila would really stay in her room. She had been pretty traumatized before and if the carport had been attacked by some creature out in the fog and she knew about it? She was probably hiding in a closet somewhere, or else she might be at the chapel. At least Aaron was with her, that was a relief, not just because he was physically strong and could protect her, he would also make her feel calmer. "She might not be there now," he said. "I know I wouldn't stay near windows. You shouldn't either." He was already calmer now, having swallowed some of his jerky and he gathered his things in his arms and got closer to Connor again. "Mind if I have some more of that?" he asked, nodding toward the coffee maker.
“Of course not,” Connor muttered, stepping back with his mug and making another useless gesture at the coffee pot. He probably ought to make another or two and bring it out for everyone, but that big of a task seemed hard for some reason. The guy was likely right about staying away from windows, but hospitals had a lot of them, so he wasn’t sure how much that would help them. So far nothing had tried to break in, as far as Connor had heard, but that didn’t mean things wouldn’t escalate later. Like they had when there was suddenly ... something in the fog. Something big enough to damage part of the building. Connor didn’t know what else to say so he didn’t try, just feeling shaken and surreal and like he should go do rounds again just for something familiar.
This time Adrian had the wherewithal to grab the tiny containers of milk and sugar and while he prepared his coffee he glanced over at Connor with a bit of sympathy. "You're new here, aren't you," he muttered. It wasn't just that he didn't know the guy from before, he also had that deer in the headlights look of someone who wasn't used to things going this sideways. Adrian didn't remember things going as badly as they had been recently but there had always been weird shit going on in town and after his own Blackwater tragedy he wasn't as easily rattled. He should be dead already and he'd pretty much sold his soul so without clear and present danger right in front of him he was feeling unusually calm.
Connor had heard plenty of rumors about this town. Things that had caused him some worry about his parents living there -- and god knew he’d worried plenty about them in the past twenty-four hours ... he was at least reassured that they rarely left their house -- but he was skeptical of the supernatural and had dismissed most of the rumors. Now ... now he didn’t know. Everything in his head felt panicky and strange, and Connor knew that was from stress and lack of sleep and this sudden new, bizarre situation. He let out a little laugh at the man’s question. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked that now,” Connor answered, running a hand through his hair. “But yes, new to Point Pleasant, new to this hospital. New to ... whatever this is.” He gestured toward the side door Adrian had come through.
"It'll pass," Adrian said, smiling faintly at Connor's reaction. Of course people were asking that, he looked surprised rather than exhausted. "When it's over people will come up with plausible explanations and move on. Just focus on the fact that it'll pass for now." He sipped his coffee, more to his liking now, warm instead of hot, sugary and comforting. "But don't go out there yet. I don't know what it is but it's big and not very friendly." A hospital was a good place to hide out actually, unless there were zombies. Adrian really wouldn't put it past the town to throw a few of those their way but god, he hoped not.
The man said it with some authority, like he knew what he was talking about, and the part of Connor that was really scared latched onto that. He’d made it to the hospital from wherever he’d come from, so it made sense that he knew what he was saying, right? Right. He was one of the people who would probably hunt for plausible explanations -- though Connor had seen what he’d seen, he was sure of it -- but for now ... it would pass. He nodded, a bit of the tension leaving his shoulders. He put is now-empty coffee mug down and nodded again. “I wouldn’t go out there if you paid me,” Connor assured him. “Do you know your way around in here, or want me to show you to the lobby?”
"Yeah I can find my way around," Adrian replied. "And there are signs everywhere if I get lost." Hospitals were designed for easily confused people to find their way around, that was the nice thing about them. "I'm gonna go track down my friends," he added after gulping down more of the coffee. He was still hungry, it took a lot more than this to quench that, but he was warming up nicely and feeling more at ease. "You probably shouldn't stay down here by yourself." It was an afterthought, a morbid one, but he really didn't know what was out there and if it was only physically imposing or if it could do some weird shit like that thing in the tunnels. Lure people out, mess with their heads, possess them. "I think safety in numbers is key today."
“I’ll be fine, I’ll be behind you in a few,” Connor said, giving Adrian a nod anyway. “Go find your people.” He felt like he needed another few minutes alone, maybe another shot of coffee and a snack. Anything evil being able to influence him from the outside wasn’t even a possibility on his radar. Whatever was out there, it was big and solid, and it hadn’t tried to get into the building yet, as far as he could tell, so Connor felt safe enough in the kitchen. “I’m Connor, by the way,” he added to the man, then gave a wry smile. “I’ll probably see you around, unless we get lucky.”
Adrian had thought about using a fake name but he couldn't keep from thinking that Mila might call him, not knowing any better, and that would raise more suspicion than using his real name. If he needed a last name, he kept going back to Lewis, which was morbid as fuck given that it was his best friend's last name. His dead best friend. Connor didn't use his last name so that was something to worry about later and Adrian gave him a wan smile back. "Adrian," he replied. "And yeah, let's hope this all clears up soon." Even if it didn't, it was a big building and a lot of people couldn't leave their rooms so it wasn't like everyone would gather in the mass hall or anything. "Hang in there, Connor."
Adrian. Connor nodded and resisted the urge to offer his hand to shake. That was too normal, which was weird in this type of situation. Everything normal had been suspended. He just filed the name away with the others and gave Adrian a small, rueful smile. “You too man. Good luck.” Connor turned to go back to the coffee before he hit up the fridge. Maybe he would try to gather some snacks to take out to the people who’d clumped together in the lobby, get a little bit of breakfast into everyone. Everything else normal might have gone out the window, but people still needed to eat, and if he could help, he wanted to.