Chapter 4: The Graveyard
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the Digimon franchise.
D.A.T.S.
"Why the heck were we sent here…?" grunted Marcus, the irritation evident in his voice as he shifted the bag on his shoulder which contained all that they would need for the trip.
"The King wants us to protect this place. He feels that there may be an attack coming soon. He wishes you to use your DNA charge and his virus to control… them…" Sangloupmon trailed off.
"Oh… Yeah… I forgot about them…" Marcus mumbled to himself.
Their destination was quickly coming into sight. They could see the roof of the place they were to stay in looming in the distance.
Eventually, they came into a clearing where they saw their abode. A tall stately-looking mansion that looked like no one had stepped foot in it for years. An eerie fog had settled over the graveyard around it, creating an overall foreboding air.
"What. No welcome party? They didn't even clean the place…" Marcus stated sarcastically, glancing at the cobwebs and dirt covering the outside of the mansion.
"No one has been here for years. We're just here for the graveyard. We should be thankful that there's at least somewhere for us to stay," Sangloupmon reasoned.
"Let's just get this over with…" Marcus mumbled in a disgruntled tone.
He chanced a look at the sky. The near-full moon was peering through the trees, appearing as though it was a blood red colour through the barrier that surrounded the Dark Area. It was unsettling, to say the least, but Marcus had gotten used to it.
He needed to wait until the moon was full. Just another few days. That was all it would take. Then, when the Blood Moon – as they called it – was full, the inhabitants of the Dark Area became filled with a strange power – Marcus more so than the others.
Although he'd had it explained to him before, it was still rather strange to him. GranDracmon had told him that it was all due to a genetic mutation which was also the reason for his overwhelming strength that far exceeded all of the other infected humans…
… That wasn't to say that there were many infected humans.
Four.
That was how many he had counted, and that was including him. He hadn't really spoken to the three others, but he'd seen that two of them – women – had long since been infected. The young man among them was very recent and was still learning the ropes. Not that it bothered him. It was none of his concern.
The virus itself was a real mystery and that both interested and concerned him. The virus, as he had noticed, had two very different ways of affecting the human body. The first way resulted in beings like himself and only happened when the body had at some point been drained dry by the very one who had bitten them in the first place.
Another curious effect that he had noticed was the production of an odd black blood-like substance that was produced within the bodies of the infected. This strange liquid did not affect him or his kind, but to others, it was a dangerous acid that produced a powerful poison gas once it had been spilled and began to burn the surrounding area.
While this liquid fascinated him, the second form of infection interested him even more.
The second way killed the human somewhat permanently and didn't even require them to be bitten. Fever. Laboured breathing. Racing pulse. These were only some of the symptoms of the virus that had infected the human. The vaccine was incredibly difficult to make and the result was almost always death.
That was the very reason for the graveyard that they were now venturing through. What lay beneath them were the bodies of those the virus had failed to turn only because the human still had their blood.
Why this happened both baffled and fascinated Marcus at exactly the same time. He longed to find out why the very virus that kept him alive had killed so many others just because they had blood flowing through their veins.
Note that the humans were killed "somewhat" permanently. The key word "somewhat" was the reason why Marcus was here. His powers would activate on the night of the Blood Moon and then he would be able to protect this place alongside… them…
… But, that was a story for another day. Right now, Marcus and Sangloupmon were currently trying to open some very annoying and very stuck doors. Marcus sighed in minor annoyance as the massive front doors, once again, refused to budge just as Sangloupmon decided to ram them.
Nothing.
Marcus cracked his knuckles.
"Stand back, buddy," he grunted, pulling back his fist.
Sangloupmon hurried out of the way. "Hold on a second! You're not going to -!"
CRACK!
"… Break the door down… Nice going Marcus… Now we'll get a draft…" Sangloupmon sighed as the door was almost completely blown off all four hinges, leaving the doors bent and hanging by only two hinges, but otherwise open.
"Well, would you have rather slept outside?" Marcus reasoned, cracking his knuckles again.
"Fair point," the Digimon responded as it entered the mansion ahead of Marcus. "It's really dusty in here…" he muttered as he looked around himself.
"Now who's complaining about the dust?" Marcus joked, following his friend inside. Sangloupmon paused.
"Not now. We have company," he grunted as he turned to stare into the distance.
"What is it?" Marcus asked with a hint of curiosity as he also turned to see a bright pillar of light appear about a day or two's walk away from where they were currently situated. It seemed almost familiar…
Marcus shook off the feeling as he and Sangloupmon stepped outside again.
"I suppose that's what we're supposed to protect this place from…" Sangloupmon guessed. Marcus nodded.
"Your guess is as good as mine. It's about a day or two away from here. Even if they manage to come in our direction – which I highly doubt as it's quite easy to get lost here – the moon will be full by the time they arrive," Marcus stated calmly. Sangloupmon nodded his agreement.
"Oh, well… We'd better get inside. There's no point in waiting for them out here," Sangloupmon told him as he turned to walk inside. Marcus followed promptly.
Meanwhile…
"Exactly how dangerous is the Dark Area, Keenan?" asked Yoshi absentmindedly as they stood at the borders of the forest. They couldn't see more than a few feet through the barrier, yet all around them was bright and it felt slightly unnerving for all of them.
"I've honestly never been here," Keenan replied in the perfect grammar that he was so proud of nowadays. "But the stories that I've heard about it…"
The way he trailed off only served to demoralize the group further.
They glanced back at him when he spoke again. "I've seen them, though."
"Seen what?" Yoshi questioned. When Keenan didn't speak again, Falcomon decided to speak for him.
"The ones who were infected with the virus. Humans… Or, at least, they were humans at one point…" He trailed off, much like his partner had only moments prior.
There was a brief pause before Lalamon spoke.
"… Is it like the stories…? The ones where they… hunt us Digimon relentlessly after dark…?" she squeaked fearfully. Yoshi shuddered at the thought of anything that was once a human being behaving like that. It reminded her of those zombies in all those horror movies that she'd watched with her older sisters as a child.
"Relentlessly, yes. Mindlessly… Well… Not so much…" Falcomon told them. "They have a mind just like any of us, but they have an overwhelming desire for the blood of living beings. Once they start drinking, they won't stop until everyone in the vicinity has either been drained dry or has escaped somehow."
"How did you see them?" Yoshi inquired.
"Well, there was only one at the time and it was many years ago when Keenan and I still lived in the forest with Frigimon. At first we were a little apprehensive because we thought that she was a human -" He was cut off by Yoshi.
"She?" she asked, almost as though she had believed that such monsters could not possibly even bear a resemblance to a woman. Falcomon sighed in irritation at this reaction.
"… Yes… She looked like a young woman… She was most likely much older, though… She just stood there at first… Then she lifted her head and looked at us…" Falcomon shuddered. "… Those eyes…" he trailed again.
After regaining his composure, he began to speak again. "… She started to laugh… I'm not sure what happened next, but the next thing we knew, she had Silphymon…"
"Maybe we should stop with the ghost stories and start moving," Gaomon interrupted. Thomas nodded with a serious expression.
"He's right, guys. We need to stay calm and alert and this isn't exactly helping us," he reasoned. "We'd best get moving while it's still day…"
That night…
It wasn't all bad. They'd found some old wine glasses in the kitchen which cleaned up rather nicely. Now, they sat in the living room with Sangloupmon lying beside a roaring fire in the large fireplace while Marcus fished inside his bag for a few seconds before pulling out a large bottle filled with a thick red liquid.
He uncorked the bottle and the scent of iron filled the room. Sangloupmon sniffed the air before smiling slightly in content as Marcus filled up a small bowl with the red liquid and placed it in front of his Digimon friend. Sangloupmon tasted the liquid briefly with his tongue, sighing in satisfaction.
"Ah… I need this…" he said softly before beginning to lap up the liquid.
"Mm…" Marcus grunted in agreement as he filled his own glass. "Which Digimon do you think this blood came from…?" he asked absentmindedly, swirling it around in the glass slightly.
"Not sure. It tastes nice, though. This'll sort us out for a few days. How many of those bottles do you have?"
"Two more after this one. It'll keep us going until this is over," Marcus told him.
"… Where do you think the enemy is now?" Sangloupmon inquired after a few moments.
"I'm not sure. There's no point in worrying about it, though. There's no way they could get here right away…" Marcus trailed off, his dull golden eyes narrowing as he stared at the flames dancing in the fireplace. "This is… nice…"
Sangloupmon started slightly at these words before lowering his head onto his forepaws and staring at the fire as well.
"… Yeah… It is…" he agreed as a stick cracked with a loud snap. Then, all fell silent aside from the comforting roar of the fire in the hearth.
Meanwhile…
"Are you sure we're going in the right direction, Thomas?" Yoshi asked, somewhat exasperated with the fact that they had been walking for hours.
"Well, these are the coordinates that we were given," said blond stated, looking up from the laptop that he held in place on one arm. Seeing that no more questions were about to be asked, he looked back at the piece of technology and began to tap away on the keyboard, only stopping now and then to push his glasses up his nose.
"… Hey…" Keenan spoke, grabbing the attention of everyone but Thomas who continued to check their current position on his laptop.
"What is it, Keenan?" asked Lalamon quietly, still uncomfortable with her surroundings and unwilling to be the one to give away their current position.
"… Do you think… he's alright…?" the boy inquired, his voice barely more than a whisper.
There was silence. Thomas sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose with his index finger, stopping in his tracks.
"This is Marcus we're talking about. Someone like Marcus wouldn't let some Digimon get him, and he certainly wouldn't let any virus get him either." Thomas chuckled. "It would damage his pride too much."
"… Yeah… Marcus is far stronger than that," Yoshi told him.
"We just need to believe in him and find him as soon as possible before he gets himself in some stupid situation and needs us to bail him out. Again," Gaomon agreed, laughing quietly at his own humour.
Keenan smiled slightly at the encouragement as they started to walk again.
"… Yeah… You're right…! Marcus wouldn't let some Digimon defeat him! Knowing him, he punched the living daylights out of it and made a break for it!" the young man grinned.
Yoshi laughed.
"That sounds like Marcus!" she exclaimed quietly. "He's always been like that! Hey, Thomas. Do you remember the time we were told to flush those Numemon out of that building and he ruined your plan?" she giggled.
Thomas chuckled at the memory. "Yeah. His impulsiveness got us and our partners covered in… I'm not going to say what we got covered in…"
When Thomas suddenly fell quiet, Keenan and Falcomon realized what he was talking about and had to stifle their laughter at the thought of Marcus, Agumon, Thomas and Gaomon in such a situation. It was completely… fathomable!
"Of course, that was before we met you, Keenan," Gaomon told him.
"It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun back then," Keenan stated.
"Well, those were… the easy days, I suppose," Yoshi told him.
"What you joined, we were in the middle of a war. There wasn't any time for fun. But we've made a lot of fun memories with you since then," Lalamon reasoned.
"Yeah. Like the time you and Kristy accidentally caused a minor kitchen fire making hot chocolate in a pan!" Suddenly, she stopped. A confused expression appeared on her face. "Okay. Two questions. One – why were you making hot chocolate in a pan? Two – how did you two set liquid on fire?"
Keenan shrugged. "The kettle was broken. As for the fire… We still don't quite know how we did it!" he exclaimed, laughing.
"Keep your voices down, guys. We're in enemy territory," Thomas reminded them, taking off his glasses and paused. Gaomon tensed as Thomas closed his laptop. He slipped it into his bag and looked around himself.
There was a long pause before Thomas dared to speak. He reached for his back pocket and pulled out his familiar blue Digivice Burst.
"Guys… We're not alone… Get ready…" he muttered quietly, unsure of what the owners of the red eyes peering at them from every angle were able to hear.
The others had no idea how they'd managed to miss the red eyes glaring at them from the darkness, but they didn't argue.
Thomas slipped his glasses back on, his eyes shifting from one set of eyes to the other as Yoshi and Keenan slowly reached for the Digivices that rested in their back pockets.
Suddenly and without any form of warning, hundreds of Dracmon charged at them from the darkness.
The cry went up.
"DNA Charge, Overdrive!"