Kmart Revised (2016) Chapter 2
AN: I haven't disappeared and since I had the 4th off, I managed to finish up this chapter, and have started the next. The next chapter is the last one really discussing the virus, and chapter 4 will really be the start of K-Mart's story officially.
It had just turned 9 o'clock when Dahlia had finished up with her chores, heading towards the house when she heard the ATV flying up the driveway, and Kmart cast her gaze in the direction that it came from, her brow furrowed. Maybe Emily had forgotten something, Dahlia thought to herself, toeing off her shoes in the hallway after setting down the large five gallon pail just inside the door.
Emily stumbled off the ATV, fumbling with the key to turn it off, her complexion pale, and her hands shaking terribly as Dahlia met her on the front porch. "Em?" Dahlia question her friend who was stuttering, tears spilling from her eyes.
"M-my house, the blood... it was everywhere... my parents weren't there... something happened to them." Emily sobbed, and Dahlia herself went pale.
"Come in, we'll call the police and then go get Jo-"
"No need Dahlia, I heard the commotion, Betty is already on the phone, she thought someone broke in when the alarm to the front gate went off." Joe offered both girls a grim smile. "Better get indoors until we know what's going on and the police arrive." Joe spoke, the rifle once pointing at both girls, rested upon his shoulder as he ushered the pair in, his gaze scanning over the property.
"I'm going to go lock the gate, you stay there with Betty, and Dahlia call your father and let him know." Joe demanded as he climbed aboard the ATV, twisting the key and starting the machine up, speeding towards the gate to secure the property. Dahlia led her friend into the kitchen, herding her towards Betty.
"The police should be here in about ten minutes," Betty informed, sitting Emily on one of the barstools and fussing over her, "Dahlia please start the kettle, we'll give her some chamomile tea, it's very good for the nerves." Betty stated and gently wiped some of the tears from Emily's face. "We'll figure out what happened little one, we promise." Betty soothed softly, kissing the top of the girl's head.
Joe returned stone faced with the cops what seemed like hours later, when in reality it was only minutes, Emily had been wrapped in a comforter and was clinging to a mug of hot tea, crying softly still. "Miss, we have to ask where you were between the hours of 5 and 8 PM tonight." The officer questioned.
"She was here with Miss Case." Joe answered. "They were having dinner, the pizza was delivered at 5:37." Joe produced the recipt for the pizza delivery. Emily nodded.
"I went home a little after 8:30, I didn't really want to leave but mom wanted me back. She called me at 5. She said daddy wasn't feeling good. I didn't want to get sick." Emily sniffled as she answered the police officer's questions. "I drove my ATV to my home, and went inside. Nothing seemed out of place at first, so I started going upstairs," Emily's voice began waivering again. "T-there was blood everywhere. So much blood. I didn't hear any noise so I came back here." Emily began crying once again.
The police had asked a series of questions before going over to investigate Emily's family estate while Dahlia called her father, worried. "What is it Dahlia?" Timothy asked, sounding old and worrn down from the day's work.
"Something happened to Emily's parents. There was blood all over the place, too much." Dahlia murmured into the phone. "Someone tried to bite her dad earlier, and he'd been sick on and off all day so her mom called her home." Timothy inhaled sharply.
"Dahlia, I need you to put Joe on the phone and listen to EVERYTHING he says. This is VERY important." Timothy stressed, which is something he rarely did. Dahlia handed the phone over to Joe, frowning as she did so.
"It's dad." Dahlia said un-necessarily, as she passed the cordless phone to Joe, who inhaled deeply.
"Sir?" Joe questioned respectfully of his boss.
"I need you not to react Joe," Timothy began, shoving important documents into his briefcase. "From what Dahlia told me, I think Emily's father was infected by an escaped bio-hazard at Umbrella. The details have not been released however it's highly contagious, spread by blood, saliva, bites, scratches." Timothy listed off grabbing his wife by the wrist and dragging Amelia through the halls. "It's re-animated the dead, and quite frankly we have no way of controlling this. You need to lock down the property immeaditly. Tell them that a biohazard escaped inside the home, and that me and a support member are returning immeadiately if the police return, if they don't- expect the worst. We'll be home in 20 minutes." Timothy hung up, and raced to the thirteenth floor.
Timothy checked out a weapon from the security floor (floor 13) on his way out of the office building. "I think the disease... infection.. is spreading." Timothy corrected himself as he and his wife climbed into their vehicle, and sped towards their home. "Our neighbors were infected, the corporate lawyers." Timothy said softly. "Emily is at our house now. From what Joe said there was a lot of blood, and she went back to our place. The cops are there now so no chance of cover up without revealing our part."
"You had told Wesker it was a bad idea going in," Amelia had admitted to her husband.
"We're fucking with virus to create WEAPONS Amelia? How is it going to turn out to be a good idea?" Timothy's foot pushed down harder on the pedal, pushing the vehicle for even more speed, trees and landmarks normally distinguishable on their drives to and from work were a blur.
"We're buying property somewhere Amelia, and we're taking Dahlia and we're going to wait this bullshit out." Timothy demanded. "Your father started this mess he can clean it up. You saw how quickly he threw me to the other department heads in the meeting room. I was sent to retrieve a major medical break through that your father had turned into a virus that had brought in military profits." He hissed at his wife as he jabbed at the security system, pressing in his code.
"More than likely our neighbors are dead and turned-"
"We don't know that-" Amelia began.
"A homeless man tried biting him? That's either some good fucking drugs Umbrella should be checking out, or the virus got out and will be spreading more rapidly than we could have imagined. We're nearly 20 miles from the HIVE facility. How are we supposed to quarantine something that is already out in the world?" Timothy gestured around them.
"We already know the virus is capable of mutating, so how long until it mutates something that we're incapable of handling Amelia?" Timothy hissed and slammed the car door, rushing into the house and embracing his daughter. "We came as soon as we could Dahlia, have the police heard or seen anything? Are you okay Emily?" Timothy fired off questions while slipping Joe a file on the T-Virus and some of the projects they'd been working on.
Joe let out a low whistle. "This is what you think it is? How sure are you?" The slightly older man asked, scratching at his chin after the girls answered him, Emily more subdued, obviously going into shock with the events of the day.
"Would've went by there today and could have came into contact with one of them, gotten scratched." Timothy said, casting his gaze over to the girl. "I'm going to go find something in my office, I'll be back shortly," Timothy said and headed for the stairs. Joe sank into the seat beside the girls. The girls had tuned out the two men as soon as they'd seen the Umbrella Corp file- after all it was quite often that their fathers had brought home work with them, and they weren't supposed to know what the files contained.
"Why don't you two shower, and go get ready for bed, it's been a very long day, and when the police come back I'll talk to them- if they find anything at all, any clues, I will let you know?" Joe spoke softly to the two girls. Dahlia nodded and guided her friend towards the stairs as well, it wasn't hard to see that there was nothing that could be done until the police came back, and speaking of police, here they'd come up the driveway, flashlights focused on the ground, and as they stepped onto the porch Joe could see the grim expressions on their face.
"It looks like a slaughter house in there," One of the cops said finally when he saw that the girl wasn't in the kitchen. "I don't expect to find the girls parents alive but there were documents where you said they'd be, about Emily's guardianship should anything happen in the office. We're going to submit them to the state, there should be no problems." The second officer said. "We saw some blood heading towards the woods, but it's too dark to search and the K-9 units are unavailable- we'll begin the search at dawn." The first officer promised, "until then enjoy your night Sir." The two cops spun on their heels back to their car, talking quietly among themselves about what would need to be done in the morning, and Joe dragged a hand down his face.
Have the police came back yet? I know if anything were to happen that we are responsible for Emily's care."
"They did, they found lots of blood like Emily said there was but Emily's parents weren't there. It's too dark to search the woods, but they'll be back in the morning. " Timothy pulled a small plastic case out of his silver briefcase, his eyes dark with anger. "The paperwork regarding Emily's guardianship was in the office where it was supposed to be and they're going to submit it when they get in- there should be no problems."
"If any of that blood tests positive for the T-Virus, we won't be here come morning." Timothy said grimly, "I need you to come with me just in case," Timothy said, making sure the test was loaded with swabs. "This machine was created at the very beginning of our experimentation with the T-Virus. It indicates if the virus is present first and foremost, and if the virus is in check or not, and it's dark so I could use someone to watch my back."
Joe nodded and the pair set off in a jeep, towards the neighbors home in grim silence, the gun resting across Joe's lap while his eyes swept back and forth over the road and treelines, searching for anything that may have been out of place.
"We'll figure it out Tim, no matter what."