Air Raid?
Who: open to everyone in the bunker
Where: the bunker
When: oh dark hundred hours, approximately
What: Loud Freakin' Sirens!
The noise ripped Bob from slumber, literally flinging him out of bed. He made it halfway across the room before coming fully awake. Good lord, what was going on? Bob retraced his steps, fumbling in the dark for a light switch. At least the electricity still worked, though it flickered as if it might go off at any second.
And wouldn't that be just wonderful, he thought, hastily pulling on trousers, socks and shoes. He'd laid out clothes at the bedside the night before. Wandering around for two days in dress shoes with no socks had at least taught him to take that precaution. It seemed the scientists would always have some new curve ball to throw their way, however. Now they faced a power outage in an underground bunker.
He finished buttoning his shirt as he left the bedroom. The siren was just as loud out here in the corridor. On some level he'd been hoping it wouldn't be as bad. He clamped his hands over his ears and started toward the mess hall. There must be some flashlights around here somewhere.
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...
Esme’ sat bolt upright in bed as the sirens went off. Her body's startle reflexes going into overdrive, she kicked the covers off of her before she knew what had happened. Intense pain was boring its way into her ears and it was all she could do to get her hands over them to try to block out some of that horrible noise. God, this hurts! Where are my earplugs? They fell out somewhere back at the campsite! She attempted to curl up into a ball, to protect her sensitive ears as much as possible, but all she managed to do was fall off the bed, screaming, practically flailing about on the floor in her underwear. Her eyes were clenched tight but tears were still making their way out as she continued screaming.
.
Ben was getting tired of this, or would be when he had the time to get his bearings. He'd spent the day before in the eerie house, chewing down more of his meds than he likely needed and fighting against the rage and panic that swept through him in his guitar's absence. While he hadn't exactly liked the new surroundings, the decrepit house had been a welcome change from the church and the campsite. Sure, he'd been surrounded by strangers who'd likely not understand his condition, but he'd been inside.
Being indoors wasn't much of a comfort now though, not as the air sirens snapped Ben from his fitful sleep and left him to wake with anger already on the rise. "Stop it!" he roared blearily, struggling to sit up in the unfamiliar bedroom and squeezing a hand over each ear. "No more!" Ben went on, tumbling from bed with a thud and casting a panicked glance under his bed. It was a small hope, but he was daring the chance that someone had seen fit to give his guitar back.
No such luck though, and nothing else would do much for his mood as Ben crawled to his knees. He scowled deeply, dimly filtering through the noise. Was there screaming mixed into the constant shriek of the alarm? Ben thought so, and with a moment to dig his pills from his pockets he headed for the door, grimly chewing and dry-swallowing one after the other as he stepped out into the halls.
..
Yesterday had been nightmarish for Kaylin; with Millie tied up with the two fighting men, she'd just stumbled around until she'd found her room to lie down in the cool darkness. It was a stroke of luck that her migraine medications had been there as well. Kaylin had nearly wept with relief as she'd taken a dose immediately, the migraine clearing up within a few hours. Her head still felt overfull, skin, ears, and eyes sensitive to stimuli, but the pounding pain and throbbing waves of sick agony were blissfully gone. She'd bunked down with Torlin in one of the more cheerful 1950s-decorated rooms for the night, falling asleep blessedly quickly.
She was not so happy, however, to be awoken by the sound of blaring sirens. She didn't know what time it was, as there were no windows and her watch had been lost with the burned house, but judging from her exhaustion, it was early. She jolted upright, hands going to her ears as pain flared behind her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked Torlin, realizing a second later that her friend wouldn't know any more than she did. Grabbing her migraine medication off the bedside table, she fumbled it open and dry-swallowed a couple. The last thing she needed or wanted was to be incapacitated again with this going on.
The abrupt beginning of the siren made Torlin sit bolt-upright in bed with a thin little scream. She felt it in that dim not-really-awake way as the kitten that had been nestled between her legs flew off the bed and scrambled under it. She heard Kaylin say something, the words not registering for a second or two. "I don't know," she half-wailed over the sirens, getting out of the double-bed they were sharing in the old-fashioned nightgown that she'd excavated from one of the closets. It was cotton and billowy and had entirely too much fabric, if you asked her. But nobody did, and at the moment, she couldn't care less. Putting her hands over her ears, Torlin went to the wall to feel blindly for the lightswitch.
Kaylin stumbled her way to the closet, pulling out the first outfits that came to hand. Fifties clothing was taking some time to get used to, with all the petticoats and fluffy skirts, but Kaylin wasn't bothering with that at the moment. She just wanted out of her nightclothes and to get decent so they could figure out what was going on. "Are you all right?" she called back, ditching the nightgown and getting dressed as quickly as she could. Loki had joined Sushi under the bed and she dropped to see if she could coax them out, but she doubted it was going to happen, not until the noises stopped.
Torlin found the switch, and the room flooded with light that she squinted against. "Yeah," she said loudly, blinking over at the kneeling Kaylin. The animals thought that cowering under the bed against the wall was a much better plan than coming out. Tor winced and put her hands over her ears again. God, that hurt. "Let's go see if we can shut it off!" she called, not bothering with any more clothes than what she had on. She just wanted it to stop, and maybe it was like the other time that they'd been blasted with sirens.
"Let's see if we can figure out where it's coming from, first!" Kaylin called back, her own hands firmly clapped over her ears. It was only of marginal help. Leaving behind Torlin, she made sure to shut the door so the animals couldn't get out and lost, and set off towards the bunker's common area to see what they could do to help.
...
Esme’ had no idea how long she'd been curled up on the floor. All she knew was that her ears felt like they were being stabbed as she continued to scream and cry. As she lay there, the siren noises were slowly being replaced by a ringing- no less loud, however, and just as painful. The ringing seemed to block out all other sound. "Can someone turn that off pyease!", she screamed, or at least that's what she intended to scream. What came out, however, sounded just like noise.