DISCLAIMER: Resident Evil and its trademark are rightfully owned by Capcom.

CHAPTER 4: Working Together

I wiped the sweat off my brow as I set down my tennis racket. It was a Saturday morning and Catherine, Francis and I had just finished playing tennis. Well, it's Cath and I playing against each other while Francis is the one keeping scores.

"Yes! Six to five! You suck, Ann!" Cath gave a smug smile as she cheered for her win doing a little victory dance.

I rolled my eyes. Whenever we play tennis together, Cath is always the competitive type. I'm not bad myself, our levels are pretty equal but this time I thought I'd let her savour her win over me.

"Sure if you weren't so much as a fussy bunny and always have to repeat Ann's serves just coz "you're not ready" or you need to tie your shoelaces, Ann's serves would be counted for" Francis replied sarcastically.

Catherine scoffed. "Oh come on, man. She just serves straight off the bat without warning. Anyway, I still won". She swung her bat back and forth while we headed back to the lockers. Francis just smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Ok. We'd better take a quick shower before heading off. I'm so hot and sticky," I said pulling my yellow and white sleeveless top away from my skin. I took off my matching yellow visor cap off my head and started fanning it to my face to keep cool. My long hair was matted to my head and beads of sweat ran down the side of my face. Our tennis match was a real work out.

"Yeah. You guys stink!" Francis exclaimed. He quickly ducked and ran away while Cath picked up her water bottle and tried to squirt him with water. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, that's right! Run away, chicken!"

I shook my head as I grabbed my friend's arm and dragged her towards the ladies' shower room along with our stuff. I put my duffel bag down on the bench by the wall and opened it. A change of outfit, a bag of toiletries, a pair of flowered sandals and my golden yellow fluffy towel greeted me. I quickly dumped my tennis outfit inside my bag underneath all my things. I grabbed my towel and toiletries and proceeded towards one of the covered shower stalls, hanging my towel by the wall and putting my shampoo and conditioner by the floor.

"So Ann, what's the plan after the game?" Cath asked as she did the same and closed the door from her shower stall.

"Well, we're supposed to meet Cameron and Tommy in the mall for lunch. Then we're heading towards the library to do our group work with them," I said turning the shower knob. A blast of cold water hit my face. "Whoa!"

I heard Cath's laugh through the noisy shower. "Cold, eh? It's ok, nothing more refreshing after being under the hot sun". I heard the squeak of her shower knob turning and the water blasting off. "Whoa, that's freezing!"

We quickly finished our shower and changed into our clothes. I wore my denim shorts and my white short sleeved t-shirt and quickly shoved my feet into my sandals. Dragging a wide toothed comb along my hair I glanced up to see Cath frantically looking at the ground. I frowned.

"What's wrong? Did you drop something?"

"Ann, I can't find my earring! I must have dropped it. It was a birthday gift from my parents," she said worriedly. She dropped to her hands and knees and searched underneath the bench where our bags were.

"It must be around somewhere. It couldn't have gotten too far," I said as my eyes searched the room. "What does it look like anyway?"

"It's a gold star shaped earring. My mom is gonna kill me if she finds out that I've lost it again! I mustn't have put the butterfly at the back of the earring tight enough. Oh, great!" she moaned. She tugged her hair in despair.

"Calm down, Cath. Like I said, it couldn't have gotten too far," I made my way towards the shower stall that she used and checked the floor. I squatted down looking left and right. I checked the drainage just below the shower hose is and sure enough a shiny little star shaped earring was lying beside it. I smiled as I picked it up, careful not to drop it and fall in the drainage to be lost again. As I opened my mouth to call out for Cath, I suddenly heard something odd.

A groan.

Puzzled, I looked around but there isn't much to see inside a tiny shower stall. The walls were made up of light green tiles and some were covered in black gout. A couple of tiles were cracked with water seeping through them. The concrete ground was still wet from Cath's shower. The steady dripping from the shower nozzle seemed to echo around the walls of the tiny stall. I don't know why but my eyes suddenly fell towards the drainage. I can still hear water flowing down it in a soft gentle sound. Did I hear that noise from down there? Dismissing that silly thought, I shook my head. Great, now I'm hearing things too. I stood up and turned around to leave the stall.

"Uhhhh…"

I stopped dead on my tracks. Slowly I turned back towards the drainage. Stepping carefully towards it, I frowned as I leaned in a bit closer to see if it's coming from down there. A low growling noise erupted from underneath. I gasped and drew back. It was a groan, unmistakeably. But at the same time, it is different. It doesn't sound like an animal, yet it doesn't sound like it belongs to a human as well. It sounded like a pained groan but animalistic. It was throaty and raspy almost as if the person belonging to it needs a drink of water. It sounds frighteningly inhuman.

"Hey Ann! You found it yet? It's not around here anywhere," Cath called from the main shower room. I snapped back towards her direction and remembered that I was holding her earring.

"I've found it." I called back. I rushed out of the shower as fast as I could never once looking back.

ooooo

"Man, this cheeseburger is so good! I could eat dozens of them," Tommy said as he chomped down on his third burger. His cheeks were bulging from the food he's chewing. A few burger bits spat out of his mouth as he talked.

"Real charming, doofus. I could almost puke at the sight of you and your mashed food," Catherine rolled her eyes and turned her head away from his direction.

He grinned. "Anytime, buddy." A couple of mashed meat was stuck between his teeth. Cath wrinkled her nose in disgust and made gagging noises. Cameron shook his head and laughed.

"Well, looks like you kids are getting along".

The four of us were eating lunch at Raccoon City Mall in the food courts. Francis already went home after our tennis game to study for his algebra test. Cath's mom picked us up from the tennis courts and dropped us in the mall. It's 12:30pm in the afternoon and Catherine and I agreed to meet the guys here and proceed to do our group assignment. We would have preferred to meet up after school but due to Cameron's football practice, my tennis lessons and other extra co curricular activities the weekend is the only spot left open. As usual for a Saturday afternoon, the mall was packed with shoppers, parents pushing trolleys, crying kids and giggling teenagers.

"So I've got some books out about our assignment. Let's just make notes for today and plan who does what and when to finish," I said to Cameron. He nodded.

"Sounds good to me. We've got a bit of time for our assignment anyway. I can help write our report and prepare our presentation at the end. I might miss some football practices but heck, I want to get an A for this assignment," he said. He popped some French fries to his mouth and chewed.

"Ohhh, Cameron wants to be a brainiac now. Gonna aim to be valedictorian of our class?" Tommy mocked as he nudged Cameron on his side. He just shook his head.

"What would you know about brains, Tommy?" Cath shot back smirking as she crossed her arms. I rolled my eyes. Here they go again.

"Oh, so Miss She Devil finally speaks. I take it that you're implying that I don't have much of the brain power. Well, you haven't seen the real Tommy yet. I've got more power than you ever think," came the snide reply.

"Puh-lease! If you have one brain cell solely dedicated for brain power, you still can't handle anything!"

"Ok, guys! Shall we finish eating so we can get on with our work?" I interrupted their verbal match just as Tommy was about to open his mouth to protest. These two, they can really go on forever. I'm beginning to wonder how on earth they'll survive working together when they're already trying to rip each other's throats already. And they haven't started their assignment yet.

Cameron scrunched up his napkin and pushed his tray aside. "Cool, I've already finished. Let's go to the library now, guys." He stood up and gathered his things. Tommy quickly finished the last of his burger and stood up grabbing his backpack. I saw Cath give him a death glare before getting up. Tommy just flashed her a mock smile which I knew irritated her more. I sighed. I picked my bag up and got ready to leave. With these two around, this might be a long day.

ooooo

"Ok, here are the list of companies that we thought we might use for the first part of our assignment. We've got McDonald's, America's Cup yachting groups, the Rave band and Umbrella Pharmaceuticals," Cameron studied our list as we brainstormed the different companies who use team work. I peered over his shoulder at what we got.

"Cool. Which company do you think is the best one to use as an example?"

He tilted his head as he thought. "Well McDonalds is the easiest one. I mean when they make the burgers they're all in a line as to who cooks the meat, puts it on the bun, and puts the cheese and toppings on, put the top bun on and someone at the end wraps it all up in a paper. It's a single file group kinda thing. One member has a job to do and passes it on to the next one as he or she is done with it."

"Hey! We're choosing McDonald's. That's ours, guys!" came a reply from the other end of the table. We both looked up to see Tommy, paper strewn all over his side of the table.

"Ugh! Can't you stop thinking about food for one minute? Even our assignment is based on food," Cath scoffed tidying up the papers and books in front of her.

"Hey, hey. If it's your passion, then why not? Who knows, we might even ace this thing."

"Acing an assignment with you? Now that's an ambition," came a sarcastic reply from Cath. "Look at all these papers! I can't even tell if they're notes we wrote or just junk."

"If you live in my turf, you'll get used to it," Tommy said lazily as he folded his arms behind his head and leaned his chair back from the table.

"Fine, guys. You can have McDonalds. We were just discussing about that company," I said, my eyes flicking back to our sheet of paper. "Well what about the America's Cup yachting? They're good to research on. I mean, in order to win against the race, one has to be the captain and steer the boat. And some people help around the ship like use those turning wheels thing to make them faster. One is the navigator telling the captain where the right course is to go, one is in charge of the sail they put up and the rest of the team works together. They're a good group."

"Wow. Didn't know you know a bit about yachting," Cameron smiled at me. I felt my cheeks grow warm as I looked away from his gaze. Does he have to look so cute when he smiles?

"Well, ummm, my dad is a yachting fan and watched that sports to death. You can't imagine how happy he is when the Americans won their cup again," I said smiling shyly.

"I might try watching that game to see how it is. I've always wondered how those sporting games go."

I shook my head and laughed this time. "Sure, but I warn you they can get pretty boring. Especially if you're not really a fan of yachting. I guess the only exciting bits are when they're about the cross the finish line."

"Ok, noted. So what else have we got?" he leaned closer to check out list. "How about the Rave band?"

"Yeah, I suppose. We can classify bands a group, can we? They all work together to make music, each member has a part to do." I looked at the last company of our list. "What about Umbrella Pharmaceuticals? Do you know much about them?"

Cameron leaned back in his chair and folder his arms across his chest. "Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. Well, I know one of my dad's friend's works there. He works in the factory though. In a way, it's pretty much how the McDonalds system works. In the factory they operate the machines and boxes, packages and bottles all run in the machine and someone is responsible for putting the medicines and information leaflet in the box, seal it up and someone will then collect those boxes and seal them tight in plastic packages and someone will take over to put them in cardboard boxes to seal up and send to chemists, pharmacists, supermarkets and clinics."

"Sounds like a good company to work on. They must provide quite a bit of information too since Umbrella is a well known organisation here in the city. Do you think that we can talk to your dad's friend more about their company rules and norms and other things like that?" I asked hopefully.

"Sure, why not? I can go ask him to set aside a time to talk to us. Haha, like an interview or something," he grinned. I'm beginning to feel a bit more enthusiastic. Looks like we're getting ourselves a plan.

"Great. Now we're getting somewhere. I'm gonna write more notes on Umbrella and our group work times. So when are the times you're free for the next week or so?" I asked as I opened up my organiser to schedule our group work times.

"I've got football practice on Wednesday after school so no can do that day. On Thursday night I've gotta attend Tommy's basketball game to support him because they're up against Oceandale Junior High team. But hey, asides from those days I'm free," he said giving a shrug.

I gave a nod. "No problem. I've got my gymnastics lessons on Wednesday after school as well and my tennis practice the next day. And of course Oceandale's our school's biggest rival, you've gotta be there because Tommy's gonna need your support head on."

"Never fear, I'm gonna crush them! They're gonna be sorry for showing their faces in our courts!" Tommy exclaimed banging a fist on the table.

"Ssshhhh!"

We all looked up to see the librarian giving Tommy an annoyed look through her thick lens glasses. Sighing irritated, she turned her heel and walked back towards the reception desk.

Cath kicked his shin under the table. "You just love getting attention, you do?"

"Well forgive me for showing a little team spirit!"

"Your so-called team spirit is gonna get us kicked out of the library, genius. You really lack brain power. No, wait. You have totally no brain power."

"If you're so bright in comparison to me, let's see what you've got down our notes. Oops –" he gave a mock surprised look covering his mouth. "Omigosh! Look at your paper. Three hours in the library and you've only managed to write two paragraphs. Wow!"

"If you weren't such as loudmouth and always distracting me, I could have gotten far in our work, buster," Cath glared at him.

I turned back to Cameron and rolled my eyes. "Anyway, so should we meet up on Monday and Tuesday? We can go to the library again to look at the Umbrella website for more information. Jot notes for our report. Is that ok with you?"

He seemed to be glad to be distracted again from our friend's disputes. "Sure. I'll also ask my dad to ask his friend to set a time for us to ask him a couple of questions. Shouldn't take too long. Then after our information gathering we can finally get started on our report."

Satisfied, I smiled as I wrote down our meetings times. I'm really glad that we've finally gotten somewhere in this big assignment. Glancing shyly towards Cameron, I silently thanked heavens that I'm paired up with someone whom I can work with. Groups can be hard sometimes depending the on the person you have to work with. I'm certainly glad that I didn't get stuck with someone who's lazy and lets other people do the work with the previous groups I've worked with in school. I gotta admit Cameron is a nice guy. Back then, I would have never spoken a word to him. I'm always so shy and we hang out with different people. Getting to know him wasn't so bad. At least he's not one of those popular and egotistical jocks around. Well, not that I've seen so far. We've been working well so far and I hope it stays that way until we finish this assignment.

ooooo

"Omigosh, have you seen Jonathan Haley in their latest album? He's sooo gorgeous!" Cath giggled as we walked side by side together.

It was late afternoon and we had just finished our work in the library. The sun is beginning to set and I thought it's about time we went home before it gets dark. Cath and I are talking about the Rave band that's the latest crave among teenage girls. They had just released a new album and Cath couldn't stop talking about the lead singer.

I laughed. "Well, he's ok I suppose."

"Ok! Ann, are you blind? Can't you see how incredibly dreamy he is? He's got such a nice voice, when he sings I just can't help but melt away."

"Don't hold your breath, Catherine. It's not like you have a chance with him," Tommy joked as he poked her shoulder from behind. He and Cameron were walking behind us. They've decided to walk us home since its getting dark already and our houses are on the way to theirs as well.

"Oh, shut up! I never said I'm after him. Anyway, a girl can dream," came a snappy retort. She stopped abruptly and tried to kick him behind but Tommy quickly jumped out of the way.

"Haha, miss! Your aiming's a little off. Too much daydreaming about dream boy," he chuckled. Cath ignored him and kept walking.

"His song, Dream With Me is so nice. I listen to it heaps," she continued, her gleeful attitude back. I nodded and smiled.

"Yup. I do agree that that song is really good. I like soft ballads because they're so nice to listen to and they're so romantic."

Tommy snorted. "And to fall asleep to. They're boring. What do you think, Cam?" he nudged Cameron at his side.

"They're alright, I guess. They're not my favourite, but I can listen to them."

"In other words, they're horrible but you just put up with them," Tommy replied jokingly as he nudged Cameron again. He just shook his head and gave him a playful shove that nearly lost his balance. Cath and I laughed.

"Hey, hey! No fair, ganging up on me," Tommy crossed his arms and sulked.

"Ohhh, what's wrong? Tommy feeling upset because he's being picked on? Gonna go back to your mommy and cry?" Cath teased.

"Hmph."

"It's ok, don't cry little Tommy," Cath patted his back smirking. We all laughed. Tommy tried to keep on sulking but in the end, he threw up his hands and gave a defeated sigh. That seemed to widen Cath's smirk.

"You guys are pretty comic, you know that?" I asked raising an eyebrow looking at Cath and Tommy.

"What do you mean?" Cath asked.

"Well, both of you guys are so loud. You're a drama queen at times and Tommy's this joker who likes to pretend to be fiery and brash. You guys are at each other's throats most of the time but you do have to admit, you guys can get along," I said, now walking in front of the group as Cath fell behind as she joined Tommy when she was teasing him.

"What! I am not a drama queen! How can you say something like that?" Cath asked looking shocked, but I knew deep inside that she knows it and is not really a big deal. In short, she knows that what I said is true but like a true drama queen, denies it.

"Ha! Me and her getting along? When horses sing alleluia!" Tommy exclaimed looking over at Cath as if she's sprouted an extra head.

Cameron, who was walking behind the group, grinned. "Now that Ann mentioned it, I kinda agree with her. It's pretty funny, it's ironic."

"Yeah, isn't that right, Cameron?" I grinned at him.

"Heck, yeah!"

"Ohhh, so now you guys are ganging up on us, aye? What is this, some kind of tag team? Well then, for your information you guys are funny too. As in funny weird," Tommy said giving us one of his mock suspicious expression.

"Oh, really? How?" Cameron asked.

"Well, you guys are…uh…you guys say…" he scratched his head as he thought about what to say funny about us. Cameron gave him a scrutinizing stare.

"You guys are serious most of the time. I admit you guys work well together. And there aren't many funny or weird things about you. But hey, this moron and I may argue most of the time but we're gonna pull through this assignment and get good grades," Cath said. She then gave Tommy a determined look.

"Yep! You said it. This weirdo and I may fight a lot but that just means that we're a lot more exciting than you guys," Tommy gave a lopsided goofy grin and flashed a thumbs up sigh.

Cath rolled her eyes. "You are so lame. And you called me a weirdo! Excuse me, look whose talking."

"You called me moron! Look who's talking!"

I looked at Cameron and we shook our heads. It's a never ending verbal spar between those two. "Hey, guys? When you we get home and you're still arguing – oww!"

I suddenly found myself sprawled on the ground on my knees. Pain shot up through my legs and up my knees as I hit some rocks on the cemented footpath. I winced.

"Ann!" Cath rushed to my side.

"Darn kid! That's what you get for not looking." A gruff and irritated voice replied. I looked up and saw him. He is a middle aged man with a balding head and a moustache. He was wearing a navy blue jacket and jeans. He wore a scowl on his face and his brows were burrowed deep as he looked down at me in an annoyed expression. Where did he came from, I wondered. I didn't notice him at all while walking. Somehow he looked familiar to me. Like I've seen him around before but I can't quite remember where and when.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you. It's getting pretty dark and I was talking to my friends." I replied meekly, rubbing my scratched knee. Cath and Cameron helped me up to my feet. As I got up my eyes caught the sight of his hand. It was wounded and still quite fresh. And I'm not talking about a little scratch. The wounds were shaped like a horseshoe with little marks on them. The skin was torn off and I could see the pink flesh underneath the torn skin. In fact, it was still bleeding. The skin on his hand looked like the skin of a leper. It has a brownish grey colour and bits of fleshes looked like its infected or something. Sensing my gaze he quickly drew his hand back underneath the sleeve of his jacket and glared at me.

"Well, watch it next time. What the hell are you kids doing at night? Go home already," he growled. He muttered something about kids being a pain.

"Hey. She apologised. She didn't mean it ok?" Cameron gave a steel hard gaze at the man.

"Yeah, what's with you?" Tommy answered back as he took a step beside Cath.

"I don't give a damn about you brats. Just get lost!" he gave us a menacing scowl.

"Come on, guys. Let's head over to your places. It's just a couple of blocks away," Cameron said as he led us away.

Cath rolled her eyes as she linked her arm through mine. "Ugh, what a jerk!"

"Geez, what's wrong with that dude?" Tommy giving him a glare as we walked away.

"Whatever it is, I don't care right now. Let's just head home," I said wearily giving a tired sigh. Cath nodded. From the corner of my eye, I caught Cameron giving me a concerned look.

"You ok?"

"Just a scratched knee. Nothing a band aid can't fix," I said forcing a smile.

My house is just several blocks away from the library. By the time we dropped Cath off her house and I got to my place, it was well dark. I was exhausted by today's activities. I decided to skip dinner this time. I muttered a greeting to my parents who were in the living room watching TV and headed straight to my room. Kicking off my sandals and dropping my duffel bag on the floor by my desk, I changed into my pyjamas, did my nightly grooming and fell into bed fast asleep to forget about the strange incidents that happened today.