Night 57: X-Ray Storage Room

[loyalrose]

[ From here.]Staggering into the small room, Rose took a moment to try and control her breathing, gasping for air as she leaned against one of the shelves. Her flashlight was dim, but steady for the moment, and even that much light was enough to quell some - though certainly not all - of the unreasonable panic that had ruled her a moment before

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[zack_fair]

Rose's shriek had been murder on Zack's sensitive ears, even causing him to flatten them against him head. He'd had to resist the urge to just move away from her right then and there, especially when her attempts to get one of the doors open forced her flashlight back on somehow. It wasn't as bright as before, but...

Abandoning someone who was clearly at the end of her rope wasn't an option, though, and so Zack followed Rose into the small storage room. He didn't know if the cramped space would make her feel better or worse, but he chose to linger near the door, wanting to give her as much space as she needed.

He couldn't even ask her something as simple as "Are you okay?" (which was probably a pointless question anyway, seeing how she clearly wasn't), and so Zack simply watched her with a steady gaze, hoping that this spontaneous fear of hers would wear off sooner rather than later.

[loyalrose]

"Shit," she whispered, sagging against one of the shelves as she managed to get her breathing back to something resembling normal. The flashlight was still dim, but at least it was there. Hearing the quiet click of nails on tile, she turned around to see Zack in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, her tone sheepish and embarrassed. "I'm not normally... I think there's something wrong with me. Maybe... maybe I'm not as immune as I thought. Although why the drugs would turn you into a dog and me into a raving lunatic, I don't know." There was no point, at least not that she could pinpoint.

She closed her eyes, still feeling herself tremble, and took deep, calming breaths. "It's the dark. I keep seeing things out of the corner of my eye but when I turn my head, there's nothing there. When the flashlight went out... there were things moving everywhere."

[zack_fair]

The apology was hardly necessary. Rose had stayed there with him while he'd changed, which Zack would have thanked her for if he'd been able. It was only right for him to remain by her side while she tried to deal with her own bad reaction to the drug. He also didn't know why it was that they'd responded to it so differently, but knowing this place it was completely random. That thought was easier to handle than the idea that it might be tailored to each of them

[loyalrose]

Rose slouched there a moment longer, catching her breath, trying to find her calm - which was easier with the flashlight still glowing in her hand. She kept it pointed away from Zack, which made his shadow twist in weird angles on the wall. When he crouched down in front of her, she tensed for a moment, an unconscious reaction, until she realized he was just stretching out. Which surprised her, until she realized what she figured he was doing. Giving him a small, half-convincing smile, she reached out and gave his one good ear a scratch

[zack_fair]

The last thing Zack would have expected was to find Rose's hand scratching at his ear. It twitched in response, and actually, having that done felt strangely calming. Though with the way she pulled away, Zack could tell that Rose hadn't really been thinking about what she was doing, and even he had to admit that it was weird. Still, the fact that she trusted him enough to touch any part of him, rotting or not, was good

[loyalrose]

Despite the minor trepidation she felt, Rose took his getting to his feet to be agreement, or at least acceptance. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she reached out and twisted the handle, slipping into the next room.

[ To here.]