Waking up was a slow and painful process, his muscles aching, hearing only the steady rhythm of a heart monitor beside his bed. Gradually, he became aware of the stiff fabric covering his injured form, as well as a pair of lumpy pillows tucked beneath his head. The antiseptic smells of the sterile environment combined with a metallic stench of blood and unwashed linen, assaulting his senses the instant he became aware of his surroundings.

Blinking slowly, Credence opened his eyes and groaned, lifting a hand towards his aching head. He had momentarily forgotten about his previous injuries, the sight of his missing fingers causing him to utter a faint gasp. Then he remembered the birds, the strange messages on the newspaper clippings, and the hospital he was trying to locate.

Staring in bewilderment at his hand, he quickly noticed the sutures closing the wounds where he had lost three of his fingers. A needle had been inserted into the back of his hand, providing a fresh supply of blood from an intravenous line. His shoulder had been sutured as well, though he was still experiencing a fair amount of pain, swelling, and stiffness, limiting the range of motion in his injured limb.

"I guess I found the hospital," he muttered. The metal frame creaked as he attempted to sit up, only to feel a pair of arms wrapping around his chest moments later.

"Daddy!"

A sharp cry of pain followed this exclamation. The little girl beside his bed poked his bandaged shoulder.

"Hmm, still tender."

"Chilindrina!" Credence gasped, instinctively reaching for his injured shoulder, only to fall short when the intravenous line reached its limit, preventing him from moving. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that his honorary daughter was dressed in a nurse's outfit, a toy opossum sniffing and shuffling near her feet. Both the animated plushie and its owner were wearing a nurse's cap.

His mouth opening in utter disbelief, Credence stared at the both of them. "Chilindrina, what's going on here?"

The opossum scurried upwards, climbing onto Chilindrina's shoulder, where she scratched him under his chin. "It's kind of hard to explain," she said at length, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a hotdog. She then offered this treat to her opossum, the hungry animal gobbling it up in a heartbeat. "We're trapped in this dream. We can't wake up, and nobody knows why. Everything here is an illusion. The monsters, blood, and wounds are not real, Daddy. The only real things are pain and fear."

Credence's mouth dropped open even further, finally closing when he swallowed hard and turned his head, eyes widening at the sight of his fellow patients. Beside him, the bed was occupied by an overweight man covered from head to toe in bloody bandages. Only his eyes and right arm were visible, his left leg hidden beneath a plaster cast. Looking further down the line, Credence spied a patient whose face had been horribly butchered. The man's eyes had been carved from their sockets, leaving behind a pair of gaping holes ringed in tattered strips of flesh. Both ears had been sliced off as well, his hair and scalp torn from his skull, exposing bones and tendons along the side of his face.

The blind patient turned his head towards them, a large vein pulsing near his temple where the layers of tissue had been separated from the bones. That was when Credence noticed the continuous beeping of the monitor attached to the sightless victim. This man was somehow still alive. They all were, even after being brutally attacked.

"So you're telling me this isn't real?" The Obscurial queried, flinching and drawing back when he noticed those empty sockets were still leaking blood down the man's face. He then lifted his mutilated hand, the needle still embedded in the back. "This isn't real either? That's what you're saying. It's as if none of this ever happened." He looked at his hand, feeling a strange sensation akin to phantom movement when he tried flexing the fingers he no longer had.

It was all too much, his mind recoiling in horror as he tried to understand what was happening. He was still struggling to wrap his mind around their current situation when his daughter took a step back, revealing the final patient in the room. A headless koala plushie, one that looked very familiar, was lying on the bed, a series of ragged stitches lacing its arms and legs.

"We don't know where Quico is," said Chilindrina, her voice barely above a whisper, threatening to break. It were as though the monstrous bird creature had seized her by the throat and wrung the last ounce of hope from her chest. "He was with us when we crossed over into the dream world, but then something happened and he got lost. All we have left is his dirty old bear."

So Quico was here too. Pulling his thoughts out of the dark corner of the abyss, Credence wondered if Chavo was here as well. His spirits lifted momentarily, thinking how nice it would be to have some company. Specifically someone he loved and cared about. The thought had barely entered his mind when his heart sank even further, realizing that they too risked becoming victims of the malevolent creatures that roamed the streets.

Chilindrina's arms curled around her chest as she continued speaking. "The people here are scared, Daddy. Their minds keep making monsters, so everything keeps getting worse. They come here in pieces with their guts hanging out. I'm trying my best, but I can't help everyone." Hugging herself tighter, the little girl let her gaze fall to the floor. There was little comfort in being reunited with her father. The damage he'd sustained was already bad enough, breaking her heart at the sight of his mutilated hand and torn shoulder.

After a moment had passed, Credence shifted against the faded linen, still trying to avoid the sightless gaze of the blind man sitting next to him. Looking anywhere but at his fellow patients, he spotted a newspaper on the table beside his bed. Reaching for it with his one remaining good hand proved to be more difficult than he thought, the pain in his shoulder causing him to cry out. He soon discovered that he couldn't even lift his right arm, the searing agony radiating throughout his neck and his chest.

Sensing his discomfort, Chilindrina's opossum leapt off the little girl's shoulder and skittered across the floor. He expertly traversed the nightstand in a matter of seconds, taking the newspaper in his mouth and dropping it on Credence's lap. The Obscurial thanked him by scratching the animated plushie behind the ears with his good hand.

Though he couldn't lift his right arm due to the severity of his wounds, Credence still had limited mobility from the elbow down, enabling him to pick up the paper. The headline stated that a new birdlike monster was seen near the bridge, the accompanying photograph depicting the same entity who was responsible for his missing fingers.

Hesitating slightly, Credence asked if Chavo was here, though he feared the sort of answer he might receive. For all he knew, there might be a children's ward located down the hall, populated by the younger victims. Her response, though not entirely expected, was better than what he'd hoped for.

"Oh, he's here alright." Sighing in exasperation, Chilindrina shook her head then snapped her fingers, summoning Hank to her side. "He's here because he wanted to look for nurses with low-cut dresses and big breasts. But since he couldn't find any pretty ladies, he went to the hospital cafeteria to get something to eat."

Silence followed this statement, filling the empty spaces between mechanical heartbeats, the machines beeping and humming in the background. Credence's pain had finally begun to subside, thanks to the potent cocktail of pain relieving mediation he'd received after being admitted to the hospital. And now, after having a good look at his fellow patients and their gruesome wounds, he quickly came to the conclusion that he didn't want to stay here anymore.

"You know what? I think I'll go visit Chavo in the cafeteria," said Credence, wincing as he reached for the needle and tugged it out of the back of his hand. His traveling cloak had been draped across the foot of his bed, tattered and torn by the attack, but cleaner and drier now after having been run through the laundry. "I don't feel comfortable being here," he muttered, glancing towards the blind man in the corner.

He reached for his cloak, sitting up in bed and attempting to dress himself. A scream tore from his chest a moment later, pain ripping through his injured shoulder. His daughter immediately rushed to his side, fearing that he might have torn his stitches. The dark fabric pooled at his side against the sheets, falling from his grasp. Clearly, this was not going to work.

"Alright," the Obscurial hissed through his teeth, doubled over and clutching his shoulder. He sucked in a deep breath, jaw clenched against the burning agony that flared to life with even the simplest movement. "Baby girl, in... in my pocket... I need..." A low groan cut through his sentence, his eyes squeezed shut, trying to steadily breathe through the pain.

Chilindrina was already leaning over the railing on the hospital bed and stuffing her hands in his pocket. "This?" she asked, holding up his wand. "What's this for?"

"Yes, give that to me, please, baby girl."

After a moment of hesitation, Chilindrina handed him the length of wood, the fingers on his right hand curling around the object. Though his hand trembled and his breathing came in short, ragged gasps, Credence managed to concentrate just long enough to magically dress himself.

"If this is just a dream, then I don't have to hide this from you anymore," he said, taking a moment to repair the rips in his cloak. "See that? It's just a dream, baby girl. It's like you said, none of this is real."

Instead of being reassured by this statement, Chilindrina withdrew from her honorary father, taking a step back and watching as he moved towards the exit. Credence was almost out the door when he stopped and called to her. The little girl glanced around the room, her opossum plushie still clinging to her shoulder.

Of course, this is just a dream, she reminded herself. That's why her favorite stuffed animal could move and assist in caring for the patients. Magic in dreams was acceptable, sure. Because her father wasn't like the evil witch lady. Magic could be used for good, love was the most powerful type of magic in existence. It's fine, she told herself, hesitantly following behind her father. Everything is fine. Although one look at the patients she'd accumulated was enough to tell her otherwise. Nothing was fine in this world.

.oOo.

"Haven't you got anything to eat? It's a cafeteria, so where's the food? Where are all the sandwiches?"

A well endowed frog plushie joined her owner, croaking in protest at the lack of menu items. Not that anyone other than Chavo would attempt to order food from these less than sanitary conditions.

Dirty dishes, bowls, and silverware encrusted with a layer of grime and ancient food particles were stacked on the counter. Cracks ran from the floor to the ceiling, sprouting from corners where the plaster had fallen from the ceiling. Every now and then a large, hairy spider could be seen scurrying across the various counters and tables, stopping to examine the spills and splotches that adorned the floors and walls. The stains ranged from thickened gravy and ketchup splatters to what was clearly dried blood, mixed with chunks of decaying flesh that had long since become one with the furniture. Overturned bar stools were coated in a layer of dust, cobwebs stretching from one broken relic to the next.

"Place has a familiar touch to it," Credence stated mildly, thinking back to his father's inn. He entered the cafeteria, recoiling at the stench of rotten meat and spoiled produce. "Although I don't think Pa ever let anything go bad. It was just filthy." He stopped beside a stack of dirty dishes, examining a plate that had leftover meatloaf residue clinging to its chipped and broken surface. "Really filthy."

Chavo turned in his seat when he heard Credence and Chilindrina approach the counter. His toy frog nearly fell from his shoulder when he leapt off the barstool and ran towards them.

"Uncle Blueberry!" Chavo immediately wrapped his arms around the Obscurial's narrow waist, hugging him like there was no tomorrow. And in this world, that might just be the case. "Uncle Blueberry, we were so worried! We found you on the bridge, and you were really really really really really bloody, and then this nice man helped us carry you back to the hospital, and we still thought that you were never ever gonna wake up! But then none of us can wake up here, but you know what I mean, don't cha?" He said all of this very fast, the words tumbling out of his mouth in quick succession.

"A nice man helped you take me to the hospital?" Credence asked, feeling slightly perplexed. It wasn't until a moment later that he discovered a homeless man sitting at the counter, a tattered rag tied around his head, covering his eyes.

Chavo sighed. "Another victim of the crows," he said sadly. Credence winced, a sudden realization dawning on him. "He only wanted something to drink, so I gave him this bottle of brown stuff I found in the trunk of somebody's car. Then I told him he should stay and get something to eat. But the lady says she doesn't have any sandwiches. I'm not picky, Uncle Blueberry, honest, I'm not! I'll take any kind, even tiny little finger sandwiches."

The cafeteria lady behind the counter, with her sagging breasts and stained apron, looked as though she had no business handling food. She wore a hair net, which had several small tears in the mesh netting, allowing her unkempt, graying hair to escape. These matted clumps stuck out at odd angles, occasionally seasoning the food with the delicate taste of sniffy old lady.

"We don't have finger sandwiches, but we have finger soup," she spat gruffly, pausing to unleash a series of wet, hacking coughs that sounded like eight months of pneumonia. "But you gotta pay for it. Nothing's free in these parts, kid."

When a quick check of his pockets turned up nothing, Chavo asked the homeless man beside him if he had any money. The man shook his head, then turned in the general direction where he had heard Credence's voice.

"You, good man... Do you have some change?"

With a hiss of pain, the Obscurial managed to force his right hand into his pocket, searching for any loose change he might have forgotten about since entering the dream world. He couldn't bend or stretch his arm enough to reach his left pocket, asking Chavo to check it for him. The boy nodded, reaching in and retrieving a large silver coin, which he gave to the cafeteria lady.

"Will this be enough?" Chavo asked, his stomach growling.

"Yeah, sure, kid. It's close enough." The cafeteria lady retreated into the dusty depths of the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a bowl of putrid green slop that she slid across the counter, spilling several large drops in the process. Chavo was about to tuck in when he noticed a couple of severed fingers floating in the soup. "Don't act so surprised. I told you we only had finger soup. Fresh off the highway, just made it this morning in fact."

With a wide grin on her face, Chilindrina approached the counter and said, "Looks like we found a replacement for Daddy's fingers."