Hello again. Sorry for the delay. Things have been busy, plus I've been agonizing over some plot points. Anyway, this should set things up nicely. Enjoy.

Over the next couple of days a pattern seemed to be forming with the patient's symptoms. When he didn't have a high temperature he was throwing up, and when he wasn't throwing up he ran a temperature. His body appeared to be alternating between how it wanted to expunge the last of the poison, either by sweating it out or regurgitating it. His fevers were intermittent, and over that time they eventually became less frequent, but while that symptom improved his stomach was still finicky about what could be put in it.

During those days everyone noticed a change in Murdoc. It came on subtly, and it took awhile for the others to clue into it. Over their years together his band had seen him when he's been in the care of medical professionals, so they were prepared for that same reaction here; for him to be pissed and moody, uncooperative, impatient and generally difficult. It's what they were used to, what they could call him on and what they could handle. Noodle and Russel had given Gillian plenty of warning, and they hunkered down for the worse.

But that didn't happen here. Instead of vocalizing his discomfort, like they expected him to, he became withdrawn and distant; most of the time he didn't even talk unless someone spoke to him first. When he did speak he would make some small attempt at humor, like when Gillian offered to clean him up and he made a smart remark about her wanting to get him naked (to which she pointed out that anyone with a telly or a computer has likely already seen him naked, so the novelty had worn off some). But mostly he would stay silent. He slept nearly all of the time, due to sheer exhaustion, but when he wasn't asleep he would often lie in his bed and just stare, his eyes taking on a remote and haunted look.

Naturally this was very disconcerting to everyone who knew him well. Gillian reminded them that he was lucky to survive what he had gone through, and it had been a lot to overcome on his end, so she wasn't all that concerned with his reaction.

"He's a forty-something year old man who's had a number of brushes with death this last week and pretty much spent days under torture and is still sick as a dog" she said to them one morning while she worked in her kitchen. Noodle, Russel and 2D sat or stood around her while Murdoc was asleep in his room. "I mean, that is a lot to handle, even for someone who claims to be as thick skinned as he is. And besides, if my throat were as raw as his is right now from the screaming and now from vomiting, I wouldn't be too eager to talk myself."

"But Gillian" Noodle explained. "This is just…so unlike him. And we don't know what's normal after something like this."

"When he's not sleeping he just lays there" Russel went on. "And he's far too cooperative, it's like..." he struggled to find a way to explain it.

"Would you rather that he act the way you expected him to?" Gillian asked. "Would you rather deal with the bullying, self-centered, ridiculously childish person you know so well after all the crap we went through these last few days?"

"Er…no" 2D replied.

Gillian rolled her eyes but smiled; "Rhetorical question, mate." He just scratched his head.

Noodle pursed her lips. "Regardless, what's happening now just isn't right. There's something wrong."

"It's like…the fight's gone out of him" Russel said, finally finding a way to explain his concerns.

"That's it exactly" Noodle agreed.

The healer considered this. "Fair enough," she finally said, "But…those few days he spent marching through hell and then surviving the poison…I'm willing to bet that he fought harder than he probably ever has in his entire life. Wouldn't you want to lay down your arms for a while after all that?"

Another tense pause came from the band. "Look" she went on. "I understand, and you know him far better than I do, but from my experience people come back from this in different ways, and there could be a number of things affecting him right now; this is probably the most ill and exhausted he's ever been. His age may be a factor; the older you get the harder it is to bounce back. The last traces of the aconite may be disturbing him mentally. He may even remember more about the last few days than he's letting on. I don't know. It's still early, and all we can do is wait and see." The whole 'wait and see' plan was starting to become bothersome to the three musicians, but none of them could think of a better idea.

A speck of light that was becoming all to familiar suddenly flew in, swishing past 2Ds ear and startling him to the point that he tripped over his own feet and landed on the floor. After they threw him a quick glance to make sure he was alright Russel and Noodle barely batted an eye; apparently this was a common occurrence.

"Hello Steren, what's the good word?" Gillian greeted her visitor, trying not to laugh at the sprawled singer.

The sprite landed on the countertop. "No good words I'm afraid. The lockdown in hell has ended."

Gillian froze. "Since when?"

"It was lifted yesterday I hear. The buzz has been growing since then and it finally got back to me today."

After another frozen moment, Gillian knocked her spoon against the counter in frustration. "Damn."

"Is this bad?" Russel asked.

"It could be. Some of the residents down there could be carrying some major grudges after what happened, and now that they can walk the earth again they may come looking for us." She sighed. "I had hoped that the lockdown would last for a few days longer, at least until Niccals is strong enough to move if we have to, but I don't think he can even stand right now, at least not for very long." She bit her lip as she thought this over.

"What should we do?" 2D asked after pulling himself off the floor using the counter's edge.

Noodle got into strategy mode. "We can stay on alert, like we did with Paula" she suggested. "Make sure we're well armed and keep an eye out for any trouble."

Eventually, Gillian shook her head. "No, I'm not going to sit here and wait for trouble to find us. We're not doing that again. It's time to take some initiative." She made her way to her weapons cabinet; "Steren can you stick around here at the cottage and keep an eye on the patient for a while?"

"Yeah sure" the sprite replied. "I could use the time to rest my wings a bit." She stretched them both out to illustrate her point.

"Wait, what's going on? What's the plan?" Russel asked.

Gillian pulled out a broad sword from the cabinet. "I'm going to make some calls and then I need one or two stout people to accompany me. We're going hunting, and there's only one place nearby where we can get some first-hand exposure from the netherworld."

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

The rain was back, coming down in a never ending, depressing pour, washing out the colors of the landscape, the gray clouds moving in a funeral march overhead. That should've been the first sign that the lockdown had ended. They had all been so distracted they had barely noticed there had been some nice days weather-wise, completely out of character for the location. But things were certainly back to normal now.

Past the graveyard they moved quickly to the base of the hill where what remained of Kong Studios stood waiting at the top. The climb was particularly difficult today, as the rain made the hillside slick and treacherous. Any road that had once been there had long since deteriorated, so they had to make due. The chill and fog in the air didn't help either.

In the darkened front lobby, with the holes in the wall and ceiling letting in the aforementioned chill, the first figure pulled off the hood of her rain poncho. Gillian surveyed the area, keeping a hand on her sword and looking for any problems that need immediate handling. Aside from the rain pelting the walls outside, there was silence.

A second figure came in, also armed with a sword, and pulled off her hood. Noodle took it all in, marveling at how it looked even more decrepit in the few days since they'd been there. She realized that if they ever decided to come back here and make music again they may end up having to rebuild the whole studio from the ground up.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Noodle asked, not for the first time.

"Of course not" Gillian replied, "but I think we need to nip this in the bud, and I haven't heard any other plans."

"But we shouldn't have left them alone in the cottage, if there's a chance someone could come after us again."

Gillian took a few steps in. "First of all, you already mentioned that. Secondly, what do you take me for? And thirdly, I've got it covered."

Noodle looked over at her sharply. This was news to her. "What? Why didn't you say anything-?"

"Shhh" Gillian held a finger to her lips and gestured to the remains of the walls. Noodle understood and stopped talking. Just because they didn't see or hear anyone didn't mean they weren't alone, and if this was some grandiose, covert plan Gillian had cooked up they certainly didn't want the enemy (whoever or whatever that was) to know.

A splash of water, a cry of distress and a thud drew their attention back to the entrance. A soaked bundle of rain poncho slid into the lobby on a trail of wet marble floor, past Gillian and Noodle, and came to a less than graceful stop by landing against the far wall.

The girls laughed a bit. "Nice entrance Blue" Gillian chuckled, "very dramatic."

The bundle untangled himself and stood up, a hand reaching up to pull the twisted hood off. "I still don't see why I had to come along" 2D said as he rubbed his banged knees and elbows and shook the water out of his blue hair. "I mean, why couldn't I stay at the cottage with Russ and Steren and keep an eye on Murdoc?"

"Because we don't know what we're getting into, and having three people here is better than two" Gillian explained. "And Steren is more than capable of watching over Mr. Niccals, she only needs a set of hands to assist her, and Mr. Hobbs can do that. Besides, you showed some talent with a staff the other day, so I thought you might like a little more practice. By the way" she looked around "where is the staff?"

He and Noodle looked around as well, before the guitarist found it right where he had dropped it, just outside the entrance, and handed it back to him.

Satisfied that everyone was sufficiently armed and in one piece Gillian led them further inside. "Now, we need to find a way back to the lowest level. We'll see what's going on down there and hopefully we won't have too much trouble. Let's keep this just a reconnaissance mission if we can help it."

No sooner did the words leave her mouth they heard a sound, a rustling somewhere in the shadows. Keeping silent, Gillian gestured 2D to get behind her and Noodle to come around the other side. Swords drawn and at the ready, they approached the darkened corner as another noise betrayed the figure lurking in the darkness.

I know, I know. Cliffhangers suck. But, like always, keep an eye out for the next entry.