70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[So while the rest of Johto alternately panics, cries, or rushes around trying to capture as many of the soulstealing insects as possible, there are dozens of souls floating around in that dream limbo, drifting in and out of each other's slumbering thoughts and visions. Whether it's nightmarish flashbacks or just those dreams where you're at school taking a really hard test, and then Dracula shows up, and then everybody's naked ... anything is possible when it comes to what people see in their sleep.]

[But what appears in the darkness in this particular spot in the spaceless, shifting mass of dreaming souls... is a door.]

[It's old, and covered with boards and bolts, rusted near-through in some places. The lock is broken-- mangled and half-melted and wrenched out of the keyhole. The only thing on it that doesn't look ancient is a scrap of torn notebook-paper that's taped up on it at roughly eye-level. It reads only a single phrase:]</sub>

Fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh.

<sub>[More importantly, though... the door is ajar. Through the gap come the scents of rust and metal-- and something organic, fleshy-- and a low, deep hum of industrial machinery. It's not a door that anyone in their right mind would want to go through. ... But for anyone who may have stumbled this far into the dreams of their fellow lost souls, either in flight from some other nightmare or just pure, wandering curiosity... there's just no other place to go but through the door.]




[Go on. Open it. After all.... it's only a dream.]</sub>

[ooc: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, GUYS. Thanks for being patient! If you commented on that planning post, there's something spooky planned for your character to do here so please feel free to tag or not tag as it pleases you!]

~*~

[ooc: This is the IC post for what was announced over here! Even if you didn't comment there, feel free to participate! I'm still happy to whip up Silent Hill scenarios for folks!]

Comments

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[Calm down? How is he meant to calm down when oh god did he see that what just moved?

Being stuck in the hallway was definitely better than being in here. He finally turned around, hoping to make a clean break for the door before whatever was moving came at him.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[BYE COBRA. WE'LL STILL BE HERE WHEN YOU GET BACK. Y'KNOW, BEING BODIES. AND DEAD. AND GROSS.]

[Fortunately, nothing impedes the Commander's flight to the doorway, although once he steps out the door, he... might be wishing pretty quickly that he hadn't.]

[There's something down the hallway... shuffling in his general direction. It's kind of hunched... but... it looks like an old nurse lady or something! Hey, maybe she has directions out of here! WHY DON'T YOU GO ASK HER.]</sub>

Maybe he should have stayed in there

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[The Commander breathes a sigh of relief, glad to be out of that morgue, even if he stuck back in the hallway.

Wait, if there was no way out, how did that woman down there get here? Maybe she had the keys to get out of this place. And if she didn’t want to help, he could always force her to do it.]

You!

[He ran towards the hunched over nurse.]

Get me out of here! Now!

QUITE POSSIBLY

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She doesn't reply... maybe she's hard of hearing. But hey, at least she's doddering closer, and coming into better view as he comes towards her...]



[HELLOOOOOOOO NURSE!]</sub>

asdgghjklwidnwon oh god the puppet nurse

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[Oh wow, that's um...

...

...

The Commander will just be turning around and running like hell back down the hallway.]

GET AWAY FROM ME!

SHE LOVES YOU~

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The nurse blinks blearily after him a couple of times. >8I YOUNG PEOPLE THESE DAYS.]

[Anyway, he won't be getting too far... because there's three or so more of them coming down the OTHER end of the hallway.]

[What do, Commander? WHAT DO.]</sub>

Cobra Commander doesn't want her love :(

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[He stops dead in his tracks and screams.]

No! No! No! No! Get away from me! You won’t get me!

[He scrambled towards the left side of the hall. Oh god oh god oh god where was the open door? Why are these all locked?]

Sssstay back!

8'(

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It might take him awhile to find the door to the morgue, but he will eventually-- and a good thing, too, because some of those unopenable doors are opening... with more and more of those nurses shuffling out of them...]

[Might wanna try that hole in the wall there now, bro.]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

How many of those things are there? I have to hide!

[He stares at the hole for what seems like forever. He wouldn’t do this under any other circumstances, but…those things scare him. And if they managed to get him…

He shudders and climbs into the hole. Maybe they wouldn’t think to check there.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Tons of them, Commander. And all of them want to be your friend.]

[The hole is open, inviting, and most importantly, corpseless. It's a tight squeeze but he'll be able to fit in and start crawling, if he's careful.]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[This wasn't so bad. Dark and creepy sure, but better than whatever was out there.

They certainly wouldn't climb this far in after him...right?]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Well... PROBABLY not!]

[Hopefully the... uh... 'humps' will make it hard for them to get into such a small space. And it IS small... and sticky. Smells like rotten meat. But hey, anything to get away from those nurses, right?]

[Still, the only option is to go on into darkness...]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

Does everything in this building smell rotten?

[He didn’t want to think about what was causing that smell, but ugh, it was everywhere. And the tunnel was sticky and gross.

He crawled further in. Cobra Commander had to get as far away as possible from those things.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Yes, Cobra. Yes it did.]

[In any case, soon the sounds of shuffling nurses and rustling cloth fade-- the hole just... goes on.]

[But there IS a pinprick of light ahead...]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[Light? How far was this tunnel anyway?


Still, light might mean a way out, so he continued to crawl further in.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[PRETTY FAR... and a hell of a lot further than morgue drawers are supposed to go... hey, you don't suppose any of those corpses escaped the room through here, do you...?]

[In any case, it might take awhile... but eventually the light grows larger and larger and the Commander will find himself finally emerging from the tunnel into the blessed outside. ... And by blessed, I mean everything is covered in shit-tons of fog and most of the plants look dead. He's in a forest, quite literally popping up out of a hole in the ground.]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

What?

[The Commander looks back at the hole and then at his surroundings.]

This doesn't make any ssssense! Where did that building go? And where am I now? How is any of this even possible?

[He glances at the hole one last time, before deciding to walk away from it. He was away from that building, but he didn't want to hang around here if anything else chose to take that tunnel.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's gone, bro. Or maybe it was simply underground? Either way... yeah, it's probably not a good idea to stick around the hole too long. You never know what else might come out of that thing.]

[The woods are hard to see in, but at least there don't appear to be any dead bodies lying around. There's even a small path that becomes visible if he pays attention to where he's going, although it doesn't look like it's been walked in quite awhile.]

[Where does it go? Well, eventually, he'll get to a paved road with some parked cars on it... but where are all the people?]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

Ssstrange.

[No one in sight. Not anyone moving their car. Not people going about whatever sort of business. Not even a single bum begging for change.

It almost resembled Springfield after they put the synthoids away. Almost. It was beginning to creep him out. Not as much as the hospital, but still enough to be suspicious of everything.]

Where issss everyone?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Not anywhere around HERE, apparently... the cars parked on the side of the road are even rusted, like they've been sitting there a long, long time.]

[There's no animals, either-- no birds flitting around, no insects humming, no squirrels sitting like doofuses in the middle of the road...]

[The entire place seems utterly lifeless... it's amazing how the continuous hum of roads and airplanes pervades everyday life so much that people don't even notice it, but without it, everything seems so surreally serene. Although in this case, it's a particularly eerie sort of serenity...]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[The further he makes his way up the street, the more this scene bothers him. A ghost town? Yes, that made sense. But where? And how? And what did it have to do with any of that from before?

Angrily, the Commander kicked at one of the rusting cars.]

What is going on? None of thisssssssssss makes any sensssssssssse!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It really doesn't. :(]

[But at the very least, the silence will be broken soon-- because when he delivers a kick to the poor old parked car, something underneath it stirs.]

[... And then comes scurrying out with a loud rattle.]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[The Commander screams. Loudly. Very loud. Like earsplitting loud. Did I mention loud?]

R...Retreaaaaat! Retreaaaaaaaaaaat!

[He ran to the other side of the street. Over where they weren't any creepy scurrying oh god what is thats running around.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The scream echoes up and down the desolate street. There's a shattering noise far off-- it's more likely that something alive over there smashed a window or something, but the timing could just as easily mean that the scream itself broke some glass. Those are some pretty impressive lungs you got on ya, Commander.]

[The creature, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be particularly put off by the screech. In fact, that seems to have gotten its ATTENTION more than anything else. Oddly-prominent muscles rippling, it swivels in Cobra's direction, staring at him sightlessly. ... And then skittering forwards.]</sub>

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[The Commander starts backpedaling. Fast. ]

Sssstay away! What do you want? Is it money? I can pay you if you go away!

[He didn’t have any money on him. He also figured that this thing didn’t know that. And it couldn’t hurt, right?

Actually, judging from the creature’s body, it could probably hurt very badly if the thing decided to corner him. ]

Get away from me whatever you are! Go back under that car! Now!