The ward was quiet. Too quiet. A room full of newborns should never be this quiet.
Nurse Alice Roy had spent too many years catching babies from their mother's wombs to allow herself more nap time without background crying.
The halls greeted her sleepy grey eyes with soft street lights reflected off of gentle snow. A fine, fine New York winter night if there was ever one.
The feeling did not last long. Accustomed to it, the sight of blood was not frightening in and of itself to her. But the scream she screamed looking at every newborn with their throats nibbled at and gnawed on by rats, would have chilled anyone.