Chapter 3: The dark hour.


"How long 'till morning?" Accelerator asked. Last Order crawled beside him on his bed, bringing the blankets closer to her face.
"Don't know." Charlie said checking her watch. It read 12:00 AM. "Maybe 6 or 7 hours until sunrise."
"I guess we'll have to sit here until then," the boy said. He had the idea to fall asleep. Waiting until 6:00 AM would be much easier that way. After that, Accelerator and Last Order would find a way out of the town, it it was possible. Charlie did say something about the town being 'alive' so that would make things more difficult. "You know, this room won't stay safe for long." Charlie said as she turned on her pocket radio. Only static could be heard. "Sh*t." the nurse said.
"Hey, there's a kid sleeping here!" Accelerator scolded her.
"Sorry, but do you hear that static?" Charlie asked the teen. Accelerator's head started to throb as a female voice entered his head.

"Darkness is near..."

"Darkness...?" he said quietly to himself.
"The Shadows know we're here. We have to leave now." Charlie said as she loaded her M1911A with .45 ACP rounds. The nurse took another pistol from her pocket and handed it over to Accelerator. "Here. Take this." The gun was a Colt Commander, chambered for 9mm Parabellum rounds. "It won't do much against Shadows, but it fires as fast as you can pull the trigger, so it has that going for it." The white-haired teen took the pistol from Charlie's hand and inspected the handgun. The frame appeared to be made of aluminum, so it was light. Some modifications were done to the trigger to make firing the gun much easier. This knowledge came to the teen as naturally as breathing, and he didn't know why. Maybe his memory is somewhat coming back to him. The static on Charlie's radio grew louder, and the throbbing of Accelerator's head grew more severe. Then something started to bang on Accelerator's door. "They're here!" Charlie exclaimed, waking Last Order from her sleep.
"What's going on? Asks Misaka Misaka just now noticing something's trying to break in!"

Eventually, the wooden door fell from the frame, shattered into pieces. Behind the wooden rubble stood what looked like a bulky mannequin. It's face was entirely featureless, and it's whole body was an off-white color. The Shadow looked similar to some sort of animatronic doll, but more... organic? It had no joints, instead having what looked like thin sticks that bend, and instead of plastic, it was made of very pale flesh. Even it's head was unnatural, being in the shape of a sphere instead of a humanoid head. In place of hands were blades that rotated like a drill. Except they were not made of metal, but rather bone. The bone rotated with a joint that spun 360 degrees like a motor.

"THAT'S A SHADOW!?" Accelerator exclaimed. He and Charlie stood shoulder-to-shoulder and drew their pistols as Last Order hid behind them.
"What does it look like?" Charlie asked as the monster approached.
"The hell do you mean?! Are you blind! It's a killer doll!" the boy shouted.
"So we're seeing the same form..." Charlie's remark confused Accelerator, but he didn't linger on it. Right now, he had to take down this killer doll before it could do anything drastic to the three of them. Loading his magazine into the Commander, Accelerator fired a shot straight into the Shadow's head. But nothing happened. "Why's it not dead!?"
"Keep shooting, moron!" Charlie shouted as she fired her gun at the creature. "Obviously a single bullet won't kill it. Remember how fast your gun fires?" she reminded him. The Shadow shambled closer as the blades spun around, ready to carve Accelerator into pieces. It was awfully silent for something with drill arms.

Accelerator had no time to think. All he could do was shoot it and hope it died before he did. Taking one of his hands away from the grip, Accelerator held his hand perpendicular to the direction he pointed the gun and placed his finger on the trigger, making it easier to fire quick shots in succession.
In less than a second, the teen fired the remaining 8 rounds at the creature, seemingly killing it as he did so. When the killer doll fell to the floor, Last Order rushed over to stomp on it's head, making sure it didn't get back up again. A pool of blood slowly dripped from its lifeless corpse.

"She has the right idea. Kick a shadow while they're down, and they won't get back up." Charlie said.
"I assume more will come now that we made all this noise?" Accelerator asked. He then realized that his magazine was empty. If they encountered another shadow, having no ammo left would be dangerous.
"In case you're wondering, no. I don't have any more bullets. I've only got one shot left." Charlie said, seemingly knowing what Accelerator was going to ask.
"Damn." he said. "How am I supposed to defend myself without ammo?"
"Simple: You don't." the nurse said. "At least, not if you don't have something you can swing around."

"Other than my fists, I've got nothing. You have a knife?" the teen asked. He didn't expect her to say 'yes' as if she always carries one in case of emergencies.
Charlie shook her head "I lost mine." she said. "You'll just have to run if you run into a Shadow." Drat. Looks like there's nothing he can do for now, except maybe throw his gun at a Shadow and hope it does something other than tickle it. Running would be Accelerator's only option until he could find something suitable to defend himself with. Like a pipe, or a wooden plank or something like that.
Last Order rushed over to the closet and started rummaging through the various medical equipment inside. "I'll see what I can find, says Misaka Misaka as she scavenges for supplies like in a Survival Horror game!"

Finally, the child found a canvas bag beneath all sorts of equipment. Inside was a bottle of vitamins, a first-aid kit, a pocket knife, and some 9mm bullets.
The medicine and kit made sense, since this was a hospital. Where the knife and bullets came from, the girl had no idea. She handed the bag over to Accelerator. "Here. For you," she said with a smile. The kid sure seemed to be in high spirits, even with all these monsters running loose. Charlie Newport asked to see the bag herself. Turns out, it was hers. She forgot she left it there when she was attacked by shadows a while back.
"That's yours?" Accelerator asked the nurse.
"It's fine. You can keep it. You'll need it more than I will."

With the door broken down, the hospital room was no longer a safe place to hide. Shadows could walk in as they pleased, and would eventually overwhelm whomever remained inside. Accelerator discussed this matter with Charlie. "I know," she said. "That's why we need to get out as soon as we can."
"Any ideas where we should go?" the teen asked.
"There's a pharmacy within walking distance of Alchemilla Hospital" the nurse explained. "From there, we can scrounge for medical supplies and ammo, as well as hide from the Shadows."

It wouldn't be that simple though. Accelerator's room was on the second floor, and descending the stairs to the first floor would be too risky if they were infested with more of the killer dolls. However, it might be their only option considering the elevator won't be working without power.
Last Order had an idea of what they could do. "If the stairs are gonna be filled with monsters, why don't we just push them down and sneak by as they tumble? Asks Misaka Misaka hoping her plan doesn't have any flaws."

"Huh. Good idea kid. It's risky, but it might just work."
And so, the three of them made a plan, and left the hospital room afterward. This would be the beginning of a journey none of them would ever forget.