Monsterhearts:ICU Zombie

Thursday August 21st, 3:00 PM
Wildomar, Windsong Housing Tract
**???**: You think you can just go on causing death and destruction without consequences? **He narrows his eyes, and as he does Liam can feel a strange heat pour into his head from the boys strong hands, and Liam's eyes start to dry up and burn with irritation, like he hasn't blinked in a long time.** There are always consequences.

**A burning pain flows into Liam's head. Like spines of heated needles spreading from his ears and cheeks and up into his eyes. It is by far the most painful thing Liam has ever felt in his life.**

**Liam**: **He screams out as the heated pain overrides all other sensations.**

**???**: **He clutches Liam's head tighter as the heat grows more intense.** Perhaps without sight, you'll learn to see and feel all the pain you have caused. **The pain vanishes as Liam loses consciousness.**

***Meanwhile, at the hospital...***

**Claudia**: I-I don't understand? **She's arrived moments ago and has brought Odie's younger brother, Hunter, and Tate along with her.**

**Orion**: **He's speaking with her as they stand in the hall outside of Odie's room. The door is open so Chris, Odie, Tate and Hunter can see and hear them.** When your son came in he was taken into surgery, using an advanced technique, practiced in europe, we were able to graft several layers of an experimental nutrient gel to the burns. Normally this gel does not take, however there are *exceedingly rare* cases where the patient's body not only accepts the gel, but also uses the nutrients in it to more rapidly heal themselves. **He shakes his head.** In addition your son's injuries were not quite as severe as many medical staff here believed...

**Claudia**: **She moves forwards and grabs Orion tightly, hugging him.** Thank you... Thank you doctor... **She's starting to weep in happiness.**

**Orion**: **He looks into the room at Chris and shakes his head awkwardly.**

**Chris**: **He smirks at his uncle a little. He looks back at Odie.** Looks like your mom is happy.

**Odie**: **He speaks quietly.** Yeah... I feel bad, making her worry all the time, but this'll probably just make her even *more* overbearing... **He shakes his head.**

**Hunter**: She cried every night you were gone. It was sad. **He says it flatly as he's playing Pokemon.**

**Odie**: **He frowns slightly, looks to his mother, who is still holding onto Orion, then looks to Chris. He's sitting on his hospital bed, still wearing Chris's jacket.** We're probably going to have to sneak out.

**Chris**: What? **He looks confused.** Why would we have to do that?

**Odie**: My mom's not just going to let me leave to go to Murdoc's -My boss's place. She's probably going to lock me in my room.

**Chris**: Oh... I see what you mean... **He looks at Odie's mom.**

**Claudia**: **She finally lets go of Orion, and holds his hands tightly.** You're a miracle worker, Doctor.

**Orion**: Please... It was the least I could do, my nephew felt so responsible for what had happened, as a family we felt we had to do everything in our power to ensure your son's well-being. **He nods at her several times.**

**Tate**: **He looks at Chris and Odie.** So why do you need to go to stuffy old Murdoc's anyway?

**Odie**: That's confidential *and* top secret. **He looks over at Tate and crosses his arms over his chest.**

**Tate**: **He rolls his eyes.**

**Claudia**: Let's get you signed out and home, where you belong. **She looks over at Odie and the others, smiling warmly.**

**Odie**: **He sighs and gets off the bed and walks out of the room. Hunter and Tate get up following after him.**

**Chris**: **He stands up and follows after Odie. He whispers to him quietly.** What should I do?

**Odie**: I don't know. Might have to wait until later tonight to deal with this. **He lets out an exasperated sigh as they're following his mom down the hall towards the nurse's desk.**

**Chris**: **He keeps whispering.** I could go down to your boss's place and tell him you're alright... Should I tell him about Shane?

**Odie**: ...Hmm... Yeah. **As they're walking down the hall a blonde-haired woman opens the door to Leo's room. Odie seems to notice her as she discretely goes into Leo's room and closes the door behind her.** ...Didn't you say Principal Foxx was dead?

**Chris**: Yeah. **He looks to the room, noticing it's Leo's.** But I think I just saw her...

**Odie**: **He raises an eyebrow and looks ahead at his mother. She's at the nurses station signing him out, Hunter and Tate are still walking ahead, towards the waiting room and exit area.** My intuition says we need to make sure... I don't trust Leo, he might be a part of this... **He slips passed Chris and goes for the door, opening it and going inside quietly before his mom can notice.**

**Chris**: **He looks back and forth and then follows Odie before the others can notice them missing. He closes the door quietly behind him.**

**The room is quiet, and the curtains are drawn, so they can't see most of it.**

**Leo**: I was wondering when you'd show up... **His voice doesn't have quite the same tinge of hysteria that it had earlier when Chris spoke with him.**

**Foxx**: *Tell me where the pendant is, and I will let you live.*

**Chris**: **He looks over at Odie, there's a dark quality to the woman's voice that he recognizes, when she asks about the pendant he nods to Odie slowly to show that he agrees that something obviously isn't right.**

**Leo**: Or what, exactly?

**Foxx**: *You may not be afraid to die, but there are fates worse than death.*

**Leo**: That's the second time I've been threatened today, and this will be the second time that I don't care. I don't do deals with demons, so just kill me, or torture me, or whatever.

**Foxx**: *I am going to rape you. To death. Then I will wear your dead flesh like a puppet, and I will use it to molest that little red-headed harlot, and then I will wear her corpse, and use it to murder your parents.*

**Chris**: **He looks at Odie with wide eyes. He wants to run in and stop her, but at the same time he remembers what Odie said and shrugs, waiting to know what they should to.**

**Odie**: **He sighs, pushing the curtain back.** Am I in the right room? They put me in room 212, but I lost my glasses...

**Foxx**: **She turns and looks at Odie, as she does her bones crack, like something isn't right with her.** *Another child of the grey queen?* **She has on large sunglasses and is wearing a raincoat. Her skin looks pale and sickly** *...Oh it's you...*

**Odie**: Yeah. It's me, it's me... **He forms a katana made of ice.** What's the endgame here, demon? You just gonna possess a bunch of dead people? That it?

**Foxx**: *There is no better entertainment than sex and death.*

**Chris**: **He narrows his eyes at the former school principal.** Well you're half-right, at least...

**Odie**: You gonna help us here, Leo? Redeem yourself. You can still come out of this as the good guy... **He looks over at Leo, who is sitting in bed.**

**Leo**: Watching you scoobies die from your own stupidity would be poetic justice... **He gets out of bed, pulling a lighter out of his pants.** ...But it wouldn't be the first time I would be left to deal with your mess... And I'm not about to let whatever this thing is go after Lilith.

**Chris**: **He looks to Foxx.** Three against one, think you like those odds?

**Foxx**: *You act as if this body's destruction would matter to me...* **She turns and grabs a large cushioned chair, and then flings it at Odie and Chris with surprising strength.**

**Chris**: **He easily jumps out of the way, anticipating something like that, and into the bathroom. His skin shimmers as scales rise to cover his body and his face shifts to become more reptilian.**

**Odie**: **The chair literally flies through him as he bursts into a cloud of mist. It clatters against the wall and sticks to it. The mist rushes forward, and he reforms slashing his katana down towards the possessed Foxx's head, but she lurches to the side unnaturally and he only manages to chop off her arm, which seems like it was barely held in place to begin with.**

**Foxx**: **She lurches towards Odie and grabs his arm with an iron grip.** *I'm going to break every bone in you, one by one.* **She squeezes Odie's wrist tightly and it cracks loudly. He let's out a muffled groan of pain, it's obvious that it hurts badly but he's trying not to make too much noise, and he drops his katana as his hand goes limp, and it clatters to the floor, but somehow doesn't break. A blast of flames tears across her backside, lighting her on fire, though it doesn't even phase her, and she turns, throwing Odie at Leo. The two of them are sent clattering against the wall. Both of them take** **1 Harm**

**Chris**: **He steps out of the bathroom, translucent claws raised, in addition, a long snake-like tail extends behind him.** So I apparently have a tail now. Kinda weird. **He seems to say this to himself more than anyone else as he narrows his serpent-like eyes, looking over to Odie and Leo.** How do we stop it?

**Leo**: **He pushes Odie off of him. The smell of burning hair and flesh is quickly filling the room.** Burn it-

**Odie**: Hey-No! Wait! **Leo throws out his left hand, and the flames on the principals back flare brightly, suddenly moving all around her and consuming her. He gets to his feet.** It's a zombie you idiot! It doesn't care if its on fire!

**Foxx**: **She raises her remaining hand and looks at it, watching it burn.** *Oh... This will be so much fun...*

**Chris**: **As she looks at the fire on her hand, his tail wraps around Odie's Katana and throws it up for him to catch. He almost drops it both times because it's so cold, but he manages to grab it and he slashes it at her quickly in an attempt to decapitate her.**

**Foxx**: **The katana cuts halfway through her neck before the blade melts away into nothing. Her head slouches slightly.** *You're so much smarter than this, Chris, you just need to apply yourself.* **She leaps at him and moves to grab him. Her movements are ridgid and sloppy due to her having been ripped apart yesterday, and also because the fire is burning through her musculature. The fire alarm goes off.**

**Chris**: **He leaps to the side, dodging her clumsy movements, and grabs the metal bar on the side of the hospital bed.** Help me! **He pulls it with the obvious intent to slam the bed into the former principal and pin her against the wall.**

**Odie**: **He grabs the bed and helps push it from the other side. They slam it into Foxx and pin her against the wall. He winces and grabs his wrist, having hurt it more from moving the bed.** Fucking... Damn it!

**Chris**: **He gets behind the top side of the bed and pushes against it to keep her pinned.** Can't you put her out or something!? **He looks to Odie.**

**Odie**: I use ice, not water! **He rubs his hand.**

**Foxx**: **She pushes against the bed, but only having one arm keeps her from getting the leverage she needs and she can't escape.**

**Chris**: That's not the same thing?

**Odie**: Not in my case! **The fire starts to spread to the wall.** Leo!

**Leo**: **He groans and throws his hand out again. The flames that are spreading suddenly pull inwards towards Foxx and wreath her form in concentrated fire.** I'm not going to be able to contain it for long, so do *something*... **There's suddenly pounding on the door, it's apparently locked or jammed shut, possibly by the chair that was thrown at it ealier.**

**Odie**: Whatever- Too late! Light her up Leo! **He moves and grabs Chris's arm, pulling him away from the bed.**

**Leo**: **He narrows his eyes and the undead form of what was once his principal ignites brighter and flames completely consume her, burning away her flesh down to the bone in a few seconds.**

**Odie**: **He grabs Leo's out-stretched arm and pulls him over. In an instant the three of them disperse into freezing mist. It travels up through a vent.**

***Meanwhile...***

**Liam's slowly regaining consciousness, there's muffled voices surrounding him, the sound of sirens in the distance. His eyes feel like they're still on fire, burning with pain. The voices fade for a moment, and there's dark silence. He sees Shane and Nemo, but the vision fades almost immediately and the voices and sirens return.**

**Woman's Voice**: We found him out here after the lightning strike. **She sounds concerned. For some reason, Liam can't see her. There's just blackness before him. He feels someone pick him up and lay him across a soft surface, like a bed.** He was just laying on the lawn... **The pain in Liam's eyes has diminished, but they still sting badly, like someone poured a bottle of shampoo into them.**

**Liam**: ...I can't... What's going on? **He reaches to rub his eyes as he continually tries to open them.**

**Paramedic**: Whoa there! Grab his arm! **Liam can feel both of his arms suddenly grasped and then pulled to his sides.** Don't try to touch your eyes, alright?

**Liam**: I can't open them... What's going on I can't see! Get this thing off my face! **He starts to struggle.** What are you doing to me!?

**Woman's Voice**: Oh God... **She sounds worried.**

**Paramedic**: We're paramedics, we're trying to help you, stop struggling!

**Liam**: Why can't I see anything! My eyes hurt! **He keeps trying to pull free.**

**Paramedic**: **Liam's arms are held down as he continues to struggle.** Jerry get an IV into him! **There's a pinch in Liam's arm.**

**Liam**: **After a moment he stop struggling and starts to calm down as he remembers what's happened.** I... Someone burned me... **He frowns and realizes, even in his fading panic, that he needs to keep from speaking out about what actually happened.** ...There was a loud sound... And burning...

**Paramedic**: We think you might've been struck by lightning. We're taking you to the hospital. We're going to strap you down for your own safety, alright?

**Liam**: **He frowns, unable to see anything. After a moment he just nods a few times.**

**Man's Voice**: Alright. Try to stay calm. **Liam can feel his wrists being tied and then held in place by some kind of straps.** Let's lift him, 3, 2, 1...

**Liam**: **He murmurs quietly to himself.** ...I'm sorry...

***Meanwhile...***

**Chris, Odie, and Leo suddenly reform in the bathroom. All three of them have massive motionsickness, like someone grabbed them and spun them in a chair for nearly a half hour. Odie stumbles and grabs onto the sink. He'd throw up if he'd eaten anything yet today. Instead he just dry-heaves into the sink. Leo isn't so lucky, and stumbles towards one of the bathroom stalls, throwing up all over the floor of the stall.**

**Chris**: **He stumbles around, he instinctually grabs the handle of one of the bathroom doors with his tail to keep him from falling, but he slips and falls anyway, barely keeping his face from hitting into the tiles. He coughs up nothing, as he hasn't eaten yet today either.**

**Taylor**: **Rolling for Chris to use** **Shed Skin** **3 + 5** **+ 2 Venom** **is 10. Choosing to remove motion sickness.** **Marking Experience**

**Chris**: **He rolls on his back as he returns to human form. After a moment he manages to get out a few words.** ...The fuck... Just happened? **He slowly stands up, even though the motion sickness is gone, he still feels an after-effect of the dizziness.**

**Odie**: **He's leaning on the sink, gripping it for dear life, as if the whole room were turning on it's side.** It's a side effect of the... Transformation... Never transformed three people before... **He rests his head on the cold edge of the sink, breathing heavily.** ...Ugh... I want to die... Should've just... Let the zombie kill me...

**Lilith**: **Her voice rings out.** Oy!

**Chris**: **He slowly looks to the source of the voice.** ...Lilith?

**Lilith**: Wot you two blokes doin in the ladies room? **She looks at Odie.** Thought you were dead or something.

**Odie**: **He just rolls his eyes, a mistake, as he's so dizzy that rolling his eyes makes the motion sickness worse.**

**Chris**: We were... Wait we're in the girl's bathroom? **He looks at Odie.**

**Leo**: **He stumbles out of the bathroom stall, holding onto the edge of it.** They were helping me to the bathroom, I got sick from the painkillers they were giving me.

**Chris**: Yeah. **He looks from Leo to Lilith.** ...Just help'n out our good friend Leo.

**Lilith**: **She tilts her head.** You know your room's on fire up the hall. Buncha blokes with extinguishers had to put it out.

**Odie**: What'd we tell you about leaving the stove on Leo?!

**Leo**: **He ignores Odie.** Why are you here Lilith? **He looks at her strangely, still feeling sick.**

**Lilith**: It's the lady's bathroom, and I'm a lady? Well I'm a girl, and that's usually good enough. **She puts her hands on her hips.**

**Leo**: **He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.** I mean... Did you come to the hospital to see me? You're not ditching school again are you?

**Lilith**: School got cancelled, was coming here to tell you that some shithead murdered the principal.

**Leo**: **He sighs and looks over at Odie and Chris.** That explains a lot...