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[ Room A ]

"Astute observation," Ami commented, her mind already 2 steps ahead. She hadn't wandered off, because maybe sometimes she did kind of like to maybe talk to Lex sort of. "The question is then why. Which begs the question of what remained in the other containment chambers. That, and where Caelius has gone."

It didn't seem intelligent to trust Caelius in the first place, but Ami was also eternally suspicious of the man. "Which makes this an entire room of sitting ducks." She watched everyone else talking as idly as she and Lex. "It only depends on who is holding the gun, you understand?"

Room A
Gale, Stormy, Evan


Gale completely ignored Evan's glare for obvious reasons.

"Two days," he confirmed quietly, because when he'd woken up to see her collapsing onto her bed, he'd scarcely had time to utter a gasp of surprise and relief before she'd all but passed out asleep. And he'd wrapped his arms around her, tucked himself close, and let himself be reassured that she was home and that she was alive before falling back asleep himself.

He had wanted to ask her the same sorts of questions Evan was asking her now, but pressing Stormy for information when she didn't want to give it hadn't always worked out too well; and Gale had decided that this time he would just wait for her to talk to him when she felt ready. His eyes followed hers briefly as she stared at Tuck's back.

Gale squeezed Stormy's hand gently. "We've only had one speech about how incompetent we are," he said lightly, "Which means we're about due for another one, I expect." Her head tucked against his, Gale automatically tilting his own to meet hers. "I suppose all we can do now is wait."

Wait, and try not to start anything, said a small voice in his head that wasn't Jinhai.

room a

Jack slowly tennis-balled his gaze between Chel and the Finn/Ripley duo, happy not to be an active participant in that conversation. Definitely not to get near Finn's zombie vomit souvenir--not having the proper containment measures meant no grabbing samples.

"Still as eager to strip as usual, then," he observed dryly as Chel took off her coat, though it lacked his usual bite.

Okay, maybe just that one line. At least he couldn't be blamed that she was getting nosy.

He gave Hanna a narrow-eyed glare and seemed to radiate his own chilly aura as she reached out, an instinctive response to being touched that was now ingrained in him more than ever. That, and the subject matter of the desert was a raw nerve, however nonchalant he appeared on the outside. His jaw tightened before he swallowed a few choice words down. Just a touch. Just a joke.

Not a joke, he countered.

"Never bring my best pair for a mission," Jack said after another steely-eyed moment, suddenly back to a casual tone as he tapped the toe of a worn boot against the wall and turning his head forward. He was not being very good at being a fake boyfriend, but he supposed being romantic would have had someone call his bullshit. "s**t always gets on you somehow. What brand?"

[Cell 7 → Room C]
Group: Robert + Lucky

While the two of them busied themselves with unchaining the patient (or one of them did, at least), Mimsy took fast advantage of the arrangement that allowed her to be temporarily free from manual labor. Swabs and various samplings were collected and sealed into containment vessels as quickly as she could manage, fingers deftly avoiding removal on several toothy occasions. Once she was satisfied with what she had gathered, she took a step back, 'accidentally' smacked Lucky's hand away from one of the chains Robert was holding, and glanced up at him as she responded.

A slow, unsettlingly pleased smile spread wide across her face, and her fingers brushed briefly against his cheek.

Encouragement.

"Of course it is not bad for you to feel hungry in this moment, Robert. It is an entirely sensible urge," she assured him, stopping to snatch a handful of the patient's hair to roughly yank its head back and away from a proximity that might have resulted in it taking a chunk out of someone important. When she turned back towards Robert, the cold cruelty in her eyes that had been directed towards the patient shifted to something that might have been playful, were it not so wicked.

"We will locate some suitable food for you, in time, and you can eat your fill. I promise. If we are forced to find sustenance for the infected, however, there are substantially better choices than our dear brother." Especially ones that she already wanted to be rid of - and oh, the possibilities! "They might not be very satisfied with him regardless...considering. I will not allow either of you to be consumed by someone else."

That presumably meant 'some other humanoid entity, much like yourself, who has a symptomatic urge to eat you', and not 'only I am allowed to eat you'. She did not make any attempt to clarify this in any capacity, so it was truly left to assumption, as she had already reached to snatch up a chain to assist them in leading the patient to the next room.

With a strong tug and a half-stifled smile that implied she really enjoyed the idea of a this sort of pet on a leash, she stepped towards the exit, pausing only to nudge Robert, much like an affectionate cat.

"Come along, Robert, Szczesony," she urged, pulling on two more figurative leads as she moved towards the door.

"Aw, you're no fun." While Robert had been busy actually following the directions, Lucky was antagonizing the zombie by literally yanking its chain periodically. The thing was gibbering, frothing, and snapping to begin with, but this was actually making it noticeably worse, and by extension making it takes forever to round up all the leads. Even after Robert had smacked him over the head with the rusted chain links (followed by Mimsy), Lucky was stifling a silent laugh in the rolled-up cuffs of his sleeves. It hadn't even been for any sort of purely scientific observation; it was a game.

"I think Mark might have a cure for that," Lucky added unhelpfully in regards to Robert's inopportune appetite.

On the whole he didn't seem particularly bothered by any of it, even handling the disgusting chains. He nodded gratefully at the promise that he wouldn't be eaten; Mimsy's rough treatment and hands-on approach to the infected was regarded with a wry smile but no objections. Had he missed the part where they'd mentioned these things used to be Hunters? Or had he finally adjusted to Mimsy's perverse set of morals?

Both Robert and Mimsy seemed to be sharing the leads, leaving Lucky free to follow at his own pace. He chose to walk at Robert's other side and peer upward. "So, Robert," he began, as though he hadn't just been pissing off their zombie, "Have you seen anything like this before?"

"God damnit Lucky, hold it tighter here - " Robert tried to get the chains closer, but he managed to get a better look into the zombie's eyes, and made a revolting expression at the shade of green in them.

"Well, that solves one problem," He grumbled. "I ain't hungry no more."

But finally, their combined efforts had the zombie slowing down, and eventually it dropped to the floor and shuddered one last time. Robert paused to catch his breath, before he started dragging it out of the room towards quarantine.

[Cell 13 → Room B]
Group: Robert + Lucky

"I suspect that Mark has a great deal of valuable things, namely relevant information." Mimsy chanced a glance at Lucky over her shoulder, brows raised, before Robert called all of her attention back to him with his commentary.

"Robert!" She sounded scandalized, and appeared appalled for what might have been improperly prioritized reasons to anyone but herself. Proving that her priorities were still in order, she removed one hand from the chain long enough to smack his hand this time. "Not every undead is a zombie! Do not make such racist remarks!"

Apparently, the patient took this as a cue to begin making its own remarks, which received little more than a blank stare from her. She did note that the room was much colder than those before it, however, which made perfect sense from a neurological standpoint.

Which also made the idea of being infected an actual concern, now that the degeneration of her brain cells was a distinct possibility. She immediately released the chain and held her hands rigidly out in front of her, as if it somehow felt inherently more disgusting just from this knowledge, and opened her mouth to insist for Robert to drop it, only to discover that he already had.

"Tether it and get out." Her gaze fixed firmly upon Lucky as she spoke and began backing out of the room at the same time, and she turned on her heel to follow Robert. One of his rude gestures was intercepted as she lunged to trap it between both of her hands, held hostage in temporary lieu of fifty Luckyless cuddles.

Really, she wasn't sure why he was so adamantly opposed to twice the familial affection, but she always followed his lead for that sort of thing, so she didn't press to know.