Snippet #2722436

Gabriela followed her, pistol drawn as the two experienced Inspectors eyed the hallway outside the entrance to the morgue area. The lighting was fairly decent, giving them a view up and down either way--

--And of course, the power chose to go out at that exact moment. The hallway was thus bathed in darkness, before dim, emergency lights flickered on.

"Shit. Musta gotten to the breaker down here, or something." Natalie's partner proclaimed. Scowling, the older woman turned on the flashlight extension mounted on her gun, bringing back some more lighting. She shined the light down both sides of the hallway, noting two doors and the end of the hall on the left side, and one door on the right, with the hallway curving around to another corridor on the right.

"All right...if I had to guess, going right might lead us to the parking garage for the morgue. Probably where ambulances offload dead bodies." Gabriela guessed...though without a map of the place in front of her, there was no way to be sure. "Could be a likely escape point. Or the Changeling is hiding in one of these rooms, waiting for us to take the obvious bait forward while it rushes back upstairs."

Much as she hated to admit it...they didn't have a lot of options here. Until the Response Unit arrived, it was just the two of them. They had to play it carefully here, otherwise they could lose the Changeling. Yet, taking time to think meant the Changeling could be getting further and further away...

The eternal paradox faced by a Slayer Inspector: did they try and take the time to guess the Changelings' move, or rush forward so they didn't burn more time?

"We might have to split up." Gabriela finally, reluctantly, noted. "There's a good chance the Changeling could be hiding in the garage, if there is a garage. That's the most likely place he coulda cut the power. Of course, that assumes the Changeling doesn't have help upstairs, and that's who cut the power..."

In fact, the more Gabriela thought about it, the more plausible the option seemed. If this Changeling was working with a Succubus, what other creatures could they be working with, that might also have snuck into the hospital? Shit, this was looking worse and worse the longer she looked at it...

"Shit. Well, whatever's happened, one of us needs to check to see where that hall leads. Maybe you stay here for now, make sure that thing doesn't double back and try to escape upstairs, while I look ahead. Or do you wanna brave the darkness, Natalie?" Gabriela inquired, glancing at her partner.