"Rose? Could you go with me to the bathroom?"

Rose looked up from the psychology text she was perusing. What, too timid to go to the bathroom yourself? But then again, this was Jade and thus this was likely the case. It was kind of amusing rather than irritating. Jade could hardly be irritating. The girl had been moved to their ward earlier on, perhaps not so much of a surprise since Rose knew her from school. However, she had been one of many struck by a recent wave of disease and disaster - Jade was one of the more unfortunate ones.

"Okay."

Jade pulled her shawl slightly so that it covered her now-defunct left sleeve. "I'm sorry if it's a bother, but..." She looked down. "I'm scared."

"It's alright. I understand." This was Jade, after all. Rose found herself with an uncanny inability to be her usual sarcastic and / or scathing self whenever she was around this girl. She rose from her seat, placing the psychology text down before walking over to join Jade. "Let's go, then. It's late, you should be getting to bed."

"There're strange sounds from outside." Jade pointed out. "And the lights - the lights are strange." Despite her comments, she pushed open the door and stepped out into the corridor.

Rose didn't really notice the various 'strange happenings' Jade was nervous about, having been busy with her readings. The poor girl was really spooked by all this. "The electrical systems are probably just a little faulty tonight. I'm sure the hospital disposes of its dead before they turn into zombies and ghosts."

Jade nodded, but slipped her hand around Rose's arm as they ventured out into the corridor.

The hospital's corridors looked normal enough. All was quiet, except for the occasional snore or cough from a sleeping patient. Rose gently guided Jade towards the direction of the bathroom. The windows provided intervals of moonlight, which was calming, but the fact that all the lights beyond the washroom door were out didn't help calm Jade at all.

With trembling hands she pushed open the door. The bathroom was dark.

"Rose..."

"Yes?"

"What if there're monsters inside?"

Rose stepped into the washroom. The lights around this place were motion-triggered, and it would do a lot of good to have some light around here to put poor Jade at ease. "Jade, it's nowhere near Halloween. Why would there be monsters inside?"

"Oh." Jade followed her hesitantly, then chose a stall to go into. She opened the door.

And screamed.

She backpedaled furiously, skidding somewhat on the tiled marble floor, throwing up her one remaining arm to shield herself from... whatever was in the stall.

Rose started, moving forward to steady Jade. A burst of adrenaline shot through her veins and she craned her neck forward, recognizing her need to stay by Jade but yet warily curious as to what was in the stall. "What's wrong?"

She pointed at the inside of the stall.

There was a dead body inside, sprawled over the closed toilet bowl. It was definitely dead, but from the relatively untouched state of its clothing, he or she hadn't been dead long. What was most strange, however, was the colour of the person's skin. It wasn't the faded yellow would usually expect, but an ashen pallor interspersed with veins of black. As they watched, its fingers began to twitch, and its head rolled sideways to expose a half-decomposed face. The thing drew a rattling breath, and spoke in a voice reminiscent of leaves crackling underfoot.

"hhhelp...me..."

A vile stench issued forth from the thing's mouth, distinctly acrid and chemical that left a taste of metal on their tongues. However, the stench also had a sickly sweet undertone - while not enough to cause nausea, it was still disgusting.

Her thoughts copy the body and flatline, fading to a blank white that creeps into her field of vision with a crackle and a burst of static (all that's left of her thoughts.) She's vaguely aware that she's shaking like a leaf in a storm, that there is fabric and skin under her hand and Jade is crying out -

"W-w-e've- We've-" Rose blinks once, twice, dumbly at what should be a corpse- decomposition had set in (fast, too unnaturally fast), rigor mortis and everything that even her shallow knowledge confirmed should be the signs of a dead person. There is something she should do. Trying to gather her thoughts, to register what's going on, she moves backward without really remembering how her limbs are supposed to move - "We've got to go. G-get a doctor."

(Get out of here.)

Jade didn't wait, sprinting out of the bathroom without a backward glance. Rose followed, putting on a burst of speed as a horrible slimy slithering sounded behind them. Hurtling down one corridor after the other, they did not stop until the ward's heavy door was safely between them and... that thing, whatever it was.

John was sitting on one of the ward's common chairs, an inhaler on his lap. He was still pretty pale, but looked much better than before. At least he wasn't sprawled on some kind of surgery table, hooked onto tubes that were for goodness knows what. "Uh, Rose, what were you and Jade running for?"

The question made Rose blanch. Heart still hammering, she schooled her features - "N-nothing. Jade, stay here. I'll get the staff to s-sort the matter out."

John did not need to know. Jade did not need to worry. But still it took a Herculean effort to turn herself around to face the door, to walk back out with calm and measured steps. With every inch she traveled towards the doorway Rose became more aware of the trembling in her knees and calves.

The corridor was darker now, several lights flickering on and off in the distance. A chill wind blew through, despite the lack of an open window, and several curtains fluttered like dying moths around a fire. The doctors rarely had a permanent office, and she had no idea where those working the skeleton crew would be.

Rose glanced around. Not only was the corridor darker; it was empty.

Not even a nurse checking in the wards? Strange. She moved along the corridor, taking great care (unneeded care, she assured herself, there was nothing to fear that the doctors wouldn't sort out) to keep her footsteps soft against the tiled floor. A peek into the ward next to her own, and then the next - all was quiet, not a staff member to be seen.

It was mildly unsettling. The thought occurred to her that they had an emergency button to call for the doctors back in their ward if the circumstance arose - that, and the decision that this counted as appropriate circumstance, was what led her to turn back. Definitely not fear or anything like that. There was nothing to fear. Certainly it was just some unfortunate accident- or even better, just the both of them hallucinating.

Their own ward was the only one with a light. The door slid open smoothly, and Rose quickly darted into the ward as soon as the opening was big enough. However, it seemed as if the day (night?) had another, if more benign, surprise for her.

"Dirk?" This was a surprise. Rose turned from her search for a staff call button to face the shades and blonde spikes at the door, ignoring the confusion from both John and Jade over this whole series of events. Not that she herself didn't have any questions about the animated corpse in the bathroom, but she kept it under wraps better.

Even so, to dismiss the hostility that they had parted with the last time round was no easy feat. Her voice still lacked any measure of warmth when she spoke.

"What brings you here?"

"Not my idea." Dave raised his hand in a gesture of surrender.

"Hmm? Then who's was it? Visitation hours are over, Strider. If you haven't realized."

Dirk said nothing for a while, as if he was busy composing a reply that would not further provoke her. "I know about the... the thing in the bathroom. "

"The -"

"What?" John asked from his bed, confused. Jade made an all-too-audible squeak of terror.

"It's nothing." Rose answered immediately, fixing her eyes on Dirk. "Let's talk outside."

Dirk nodded, rising from his seat to join her outside in the corridor. He held a flashlight - a rather sensible thing, considering the fact that the lights were failing more than before.

"So." He said carefully. "The thing in the bathroom."

"So you know about it." Her brain stalled again at the very mention of it. "That's dandy. What's the point of this conversation again?" What, indeed, was the use of knowing about it if they weren't in a position to resolve the issue?

"As I was saying, the thing in the bathroom." Dirk repeated. "It has everything to do with us. I used to have an internship here, so I know quite a bit about its workings." A pause. "They said that there was a shortage of intensive care units due to a pandemic, yes? They didn't mention what the pandemic was."

"Everything to do with us?" That wasn't good.

"So, what is the pandemic?" Even without an answer she was beginning to piece things together - the strange condition of the thing in the bathroom definitely warranted intensive care. "And exactly why does everything concern us patients - well, a visitor in your case, but nonetheless. You're not an actual staff member, Dirk. I don't see any either of us with an obligation in pursuing the matter."

"Because everyone, or at least my brother and John, are going to be staying here for more than just a few days, and will be hard to move out. And the pandemic spreads quickly. Too quickly. Didn't you notice how quiet everything is?"

He didn't wait for her response. "That's right, all the infected are turning into the ones you saw in the bathroom. The virus, or whatever the contagion, spreads. Probably not through air, otherwise we'd all be dead. I would say physical contact."

Wonderful. She inhaled lightly, closing her eyes for a moment as she sensed a mounting headache. "So you want us to get out of here?"

"I don't think that's possible anymore. We have several people on drips and whatnot, two unconscious, one blind, and others similarly incapacitated. I would say I am the only... able-bodied person here right now." A pause. "It seems that the infection has spread to the maternity wards as well, at least from what I observed in my later rounds."

"Now what, then? We call the police? Quarantine the hospital, bomb us all to death to get rid of the plague? Watch as the zombie apocalypse happens?"

"I don't know." Dirk admitted. "Even the doctors are not immune, though. And I strongly do not recommend us going outside. The hospital exits are barricaded by the infected. Believe me, I've tried, and vaulting over a horde of zombies trying to infect you isn't exactly the easiest thing."

A pause. "Fine, I confess, I've overstayed the visitation hours. Now you know why I'm still here."

"..."

Zombie apocalypse indeed.

"You can't be serious. This - this sort of thing doesn't happen outside of movies." She's finally aware of leaning against the wall, the shaking in her legs spreading to the rest of her. Exits barricaded, doctors gone - she wouldn't have believed it if she didn't see the thing rotting in the bathroom. And yet, some small part of her was still crying out against this revelation, refusing to believe that it wasn't an elaborate prank or some sort of mistake. "We're not - we're nowhere near the action heroes who find guns and start scoring headshot after headshot. This can't be happening. This can't -"

Breathe, Rose. Breathe. Prank or not, they'll find out sooner or later.

"So, what now?"

"I don't know." Dirk admitted again. So much for him being the wise guy. "I suppose we wait. If there's anyone out there, anyone at all, we can only hope that they will come for us. That, or we can prepare, to see if the infection is weak towards anything, so we can finally put the patients to rest. And try not to die. That's the most important thing."