Chapter 7
I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil. This fanfic was written purely out of love for both series.
I'm gonna go grab a sandwich now!
Enjoy!
Chapter 7 : Macabre
The six girls seemed to be running out of ways to go. The door in the gallery was locked, and so was the last one in the main hall on the first floor, and they both had strange symbols etched under the keyhole. Sticking to staying on the first floor, they didn't want to climb the stairway just yet, as Tomo recalled seeing some more doors in the dark hallway where they had their first encounter with the creature which Osaka referred to as 'a zombie'.
"Do we really have to go back there?" Yomi gulped.
"Don't worry, I shot it through the head remember?" Tomo glanced at her. "There's no way it could have survived that!"
"That's what you said when you jabbed your knife in its neck. How can you be so sure?"
"The only way to kill a zombie is to damage the brain, or to chop its head off." Osaka spoke up.
"You seem to be enjoying these explanations. It's almost like you're a specialist on these kind of things." Yomi said frowning.
"Cool! Osaka the zombie specialist!" Kagura sparkled. "I didn't know you were into horror movies."
"My dad likes them, and he makes me watch. But I'm usually too scared to watch them alone..."
"Oh, I see"
They made their way through the dining room again, and entered the hallway, which was now even darker because of the moonlight being completely cut off by the dark thunderclouds. The flashes of lightning created a gloomy, unsettling athmosphere. The only sound was that of rain crashing against the window, and an occassional thunderstrike. Once again relying on their flashlights, they searched the hallway for any door that would open, staying as far away from the still, decayed corpse as possible. To their dismay, almost all the doors seemed to be locked as well. They didn't bother to check the one down the stairs, as it seemed a little too creepy to head down there already. During all this, Tomo scanned the area with Chiyo's camera, capturing some damn scary footage the kid scouts around the campfire could only dream of obtaining. In fact, she figured that she would be able to scare the shit out of those kids with the stories she could tell if she got out of here.
After investigating, they concluded that the only door open was the one next to the window, the one Tomo noticed when Kagura and she first got here.
"So, are we going in?" Sakaki asked hessitating with the deadly shotgun in her hands.
"Hauu, we don't have a choice do we?" Chiyo weeped with big puppydog eyes.
"Nope" Kagura grinned, "but don't worry Chiyosuke, we'll protect you. Just stick to Sakaki. She has the biggest guns around here after all."
Kagura laughed heartily at the pun she just thought of, Sakaki blushed madly and Chiyo...didn't get it.
"Okay you goofballs, we're going in now" Yomi ordered. "Tomo, Kagura, lead the way!"
Carefully, Kagura turned the handle on the door and took a peek inside. It was yet another dark hallway, with a silent squeeking noise coming from somewhere further into it. As far as she could see, there was no zombie or anything else in eyesight. Just darkness, and a little hint of moving light coming from around the corner. Tomo followed her in, with the gun in her left hand and the camera in the other. The rest followed after, with Sakaki and Chiyo in the back. Not really sure what to expect behind the corner, Kagura leaned back against the wall and carefully peered around it. She saw a birdcage, and the chandelier seemed to be moving, causing the silhouettes of the shadows to rock back and forth. Also, a set of stairs which lead to the second floor, but again, no monsters. Kagura nodded to the rest of the group.
"Okay, it's clear."
When Yomi saw the staircase, she sighed "Looks like we're being forced to the second floor here. Oh well..."
They continued through the hallway, but around another corner was something that startled them, even though it was beginning to become a common sight for them.
Another dead body sat against the wall, its torso slumped down. It was covered with deep puncture wounds, and an eye seemed to have been pecked out. Its terrified expression showed signs of struggle, before collapsing due to the wounds. A small pool of dried blood surrounded it, indicating that it wasn't a fresh kill.
"Oh no! Not another one?!" Yomi exclaimed.
Tomo got a little closer, not completely comfortable. "But this one doesn't look like he was attacked by a zombie! It's more like he was killed by birds or something."
"Birds?" Osaka took a look at the birdcage behind her, and there was a small dead bird inside, probably neglected for too long.
"Well, whatever the case, we should get out of here before he decides to stand up again." Yomi interrupted. But as soon as she did, a loud cawing echoued through the room. The girls looked up to where the sound came from, and in a small open window with wind billowing in sat a large crow. It sat motionless, minding its own business, occasionally flappings its wings dry from the pouring rain outside.
Yomi whispered "Tomo-chan, you said killed by birds right?"
Tomo just gulped and hummed positively.
"Then I suggest we slowly get out of here. Don't startle it..."
With throbbing hearts, they ascended the croaking wooden stairway, making the least noise possible. Even though they were so close to the big bird halfway the stairs, it only stared at them. A cold, protruding stare that made the sweat seep out of their pores. Having made it to the top of the stairs without causing too much ruckus, and opening the door, they got a small feeling of relief. But they didn't get much time to breathe, since behind the door was yet another hallway, well lit this time, and yet another dead body greeting them. This one was laying face down on the floor, its head and hands pointing towards a door. It seemed a little different though. Besides the chunks of skin and muscle missing, the skin had a crimson red colour, as if the blood had been forced to the surface of the dermis. Also, small sharp shards of bone sprouted out of the fingers, making it look like it had claws.
"Now what the hell is this thing?" Yomi pondered. "It doesn't look like a regular zombie at all!"
Yomi shook her head, not believing she just said that. As if zombies were regular. She could be expecting anything out here.
"Psshh, hey guys, over here!" Kagura whispered.
She stood in a small segment connecting the hallway to another one. "There's one of those freaks right now, look!"
Osaka, Tomo, Yomi, Chiyo and Sakaki peered behind the corner, and there was another undead creature standing in a corner, in front of a large mirror, with its head faced away from the girls. The mirror was placed in such a manner that it reflected the next part of the hallway around the corner, and the zombie's face could be seen. However, the zombie could not see the girls from where it was standing.
"Okay Tomo, this one's mine! You can have the next one." Kagura smirked.
Kagura walked up into the hallway and concentrated her aim at the monster's head. When she was focussed enough, and her hand was as steady as it would get, she squeezed the trigger. Unlike Tomo's shot, that just buried the bullet in the brain, this one literally shattered the zombie's skull, causing half of the head to explode. This splattered a great deal of blood against the mirror and the surounding walls, as well as some fragments of the brain either falling on the floor or sticking against the mirror and sliding down afterwards. With blood squirting out of the gaping open wound so far to almost touch the ceiling, the zombie didn't get a chance to even groan before plummeting down on the carpet, continueing to bleed dry. What could be seen throughout the gory and bloody mess, was a bullethole cracking the mirror, indicating that the bullet went straight through the head.
"Booyah! Did you guys see that?!" Kagura cried out. "That was a grade-A headshot!"
Tomo stood in total awe. "Oh...oh wow! I'm not sure if that's supposed to be totally disgusting or totally cool!"
The others were just standing there, not sure how to rate Kagura's shot. "Ehm...that was...interesting...I guess" Yomi said with a sweatdrop rolling down her face.
Sakaki, who wasn't comfortable with the grotesque scene herself, covered Chiyo's eyes, to which the little girl responded with a small voice "Too late Sakaki-san, I'm no longer sleeping at night." Sakaki then removed her hand.
"Wow, that was even better than in the movies!" Osaka said dryly, before getting an awkward look from everyone.
They checked the door that was there, but surprise surprise, it was locked! They then carefully made their way through the squishy bloody mess that Kagura had induced. This part was filled with several spears and other ancient weapons which were firmly stuck to the walls, so they could not be removed, as well as some more busts and statues. In the back of the hallway it turned again into another corner, and with a mirror placed exactly the same way. In the reflection they could see a figure standing still.
"What? Another one?" Tomo whispered.
"Uh oh, no need to whisper Tomo, we've been spotted." Yomi shouted.
Because the mirror was placed in the same way as the previous one, the zombie could see the six-headed group as good as they could see the zombie. It slowly stumbled from around the corner, arms stretched out, making deep and sorrowful moans as it shuffeled towards the fresh, tasty flesh.
"Shit!" Tomo braced herself and raised her gun at the height of her shoulders, trying to aim for the head again. This was, however, very hard because the head was wobbling left and right with each step it took.
"What are you waiting for Tomo?! Shoot it!" Yomi yelled.
"Crap, I can't get a clean shot!" she cursed.
To at least slow the monster down, she opened fire at wherever she was able to hit it, striking it several times in the chest and a few times in the shoulder. The zombie was knocked back a bit, but stayed on its feet, paused for a split second, then continued its slow but menacing march. Increasing the distance a bit, the group took a few steps back, and Kagura joined in the firefight. They fired a few more rounds, none were direct hits to the forehead, until the monster succumbed and fell on its knees, the rest following a bit later, hitting the floor headfirst with a loud thud. The blood and pus oozing out of the many bulletwounds formed a small puddle, and the creature no longer moved.
Tomo leaned on her knees panting and sweating, her arms still shaking from the multiple recoils, but also from fear. Kagura blew away the smoke from her gun, allowing it to cool down.
"Phew, this isn't as easy as it looks... that was too close."
"Do you think that was enough to kill it?" Tomo wondered, still catching her breath.
"I think so. We managed to damage it pretty badly. I'm sure some of those bullets went straight through it."
While Tomo and Kagura where having this discussion, Chiyo noticed an arrow sticking out of one of the busts. She tried to pull it out, but she just wasn't strong enough.
"Sakaki-san, could you help me with this?" she asked her.
Sakaki silently nodded, put her shotgun down against the wall, and pulled with all her might. It budged, and finally came loose. It was a golden arrow with an green emerald like tip.
"What's that?" Osaka asked the duo.
"Whaa, it's pretty!" Chiyo's eyes sparkled at the beautifuly coloured stone.
Sakaki looked through the the tip. "I think this is a real emerald. Do you think we could use it for something?"
"You should keep it! I think it's worth a lot of money!" Tomo exclaimed.
Kagura placed her hands on her hips. "And if not, maybe you can use it to stab one of those things in the eye" she joked.
Carefully stepping over the now immobilized zombie, the finally found the end of this hallway. There were two doors, one locked, the other open. So naturally they went through the one that was open, and they found themselves on the second floor balcony, the one right above the dining room. It was a lot darker up there than it was down below, and the large windows on the sloping ceiling were creaking because of the heavy winds pushing against them, and masses of water were streaming over them. So far, fortunatly, they appeared to be holding themselves. From here, the violent lightning bolts were frighteningly well visible. Over all, it was a scary, but breathtaking sight. There was nothing on the balcony, except for a suspicious looking statue of a man standing in the back. But then they realised they were on the same balcony where they saw the bloody hand, the one that formed the puddle below. They shone their flashlights at the exact same spot, but the body, if there ever was a whole body, was gone! The only trace of it was the blood covering the wooden floor, which had already dried up mostly, but still was relatively fresh.
"I think..." Yomi broke the eerie silence, "I think we might start fearing the worst here guys."
Osaka looked up to her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that what you said was right. The person that was here was most likely killed by one of those zombies. But the body is gone now, which means it probably got up and walked away" she figured out.
"What you're saying is, it's contagious?" asked Sakaki.
"Yes." Yomi turned around and looked over the room. "I don't get it. I can't find any logical explanation for what's happening here. Dead people don't walk around, it's physically impossible. Their blood is coagulated, their flesh is rotten, their eyes are dead, but they still walk!" Yomi sighed and leaned with her elbows against the railing, crossing her arms. "I...I hope this is all just a terrible dream."
The rest stayed silent, absorbing Yomi's words. One for one, they all wished they were just having a nightmare, but it seemed they were living one instead.
Yomi pulled herself together from her gloomy mood, turned around and faced the team again. "Anyway, whatever happened here, I think we should at least try to figure out who or what's responsible. Tomo, you keep using that camera to capture as much as you can. Something like this must be brought out to the public so actions can be taken against it. But more importantly, we have to find a way out of here, alive, and all of us. So let's not waste anymore time and get going!"
After this motivational speech, everyone nodded, feeling ready to take on whatever was in their way. But not long afterwards, Tomo got another crazy idea.
"Hey, Kagura! How about we push this statue over the ledge over there and see what happens?" Tomo said while pointing towards the statue and the part of the balcony that was missing the railing.
"Ehm....why?" Kagura responded confused.
"Dunno, that statue just seems fishy to me"
With that, Tomo pushed the statue towards the gap, with Kagura gawking behind her, not sure what the big idea was.
"What the..." Yomi looked up to the wildcat, "what in the name of Hades are you doing???"
"Heehee, here goes!" She shoved the statue off the ledge, and it landed on the checkered floor down below with a loud crash, making Chiyo jump up at least 3 feet in the air, crumbling it into hundreds of tiny pieces.
"Sweet! Awesome!" she cheered.
Yomi stormed up to her and without a warning, slammed her on the head once again. "ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR MIND?! Do you WANT to draw attention to us?!" she yelled with the red vein over her head, and her teeth looking ready to bite her head off.
"Ow!" she put her hand on the place on her head where she was hit. "No, but look, I was right! Something fell out of it!"
Rolling out of the now shattered statue was a blue, shiny stone, looking like a sapphire. It spinned around a bit before toppling over like a spun out top.
"Errr, how...how did you know that?" Kagura stared in disbelief.
"Intuition!" she replied with a finger in the air.
"I believe you mean pure luck induced by idiocy" Yomi murmered.
Having no more business there, they went through the double door which, as they expected, lead back to the balcony on the main hall. Not really sure where to go next, Tomo pulled out her map.
"So, on the first floor, we checked all these doors, and we've been through all of them that were open. So I guess we can investigate this floor now?"
"What about that one over there?" Osaka pointed down below the small set of stairs on the platform. "Isn't that a door too?"
It was the same door they all noticed when they first ran in the hall, but back then, they didn't even realise it was a door. It looked more like a painting to them.
"You're right!" Kagura said, "It has a handle. Fancy checking it out?"
They all huddled up around the door, and Kagura cautiously opened it. As the door was only ajar, they felt a cold breeze meeting them, so this door most likely lead outside. Kagura peered through the crack, but her eyes widened when she saw what was behind it.
"What is it?" Chiyo asked.
"Trust me, you don't wanna know!"
Kagura opened the door completely, and through the drapery of rain and gusts of wind, several broken graves were visible. It was a small burial ground. A cemetary.
"Oh no. No no no no no. No way I'm going through there" Yomi stated with her hands waving in front of her.
"Why not? Scared?" Tomo challenged her.
"Well, yeah!"
"I know what you mean Yomi" Kagura gulped.
As one half of the group protested against going through the dark graveyard, the other insisted that they should at least take a look. After all, there may be something useful there. They finally decided to split up into even groups. The ones that didn't want to go would stay behind in the hall until the other half got back. The stay behind group consisted of Chiyo, Osaka and Yomi, while Tomo, Kagura and Sakaki decided to go, since they were the ones that were armed.
"Okay then, here goes" Kagura gathered her courage. As she took the first step outside in the pouring rain.
"Hey guys, be careful out there! And get back here as soon as you're ready" Yomi called after them. Tomo made an aye aye sign at her, and followed Kagura out. Sakaki followed close behind.
Chiyo sat down at the top of the stairs, looking over the main hall. "I hope they will be okay."
Osaka sat beside her. "A graveyard really is the worst place to be at a time like this huh?"
"Don't worry, they have guns. But I hope Tomo doesn't do anything stupid again." Yomi assured them, sitting down next to Chiyo and Osaka.
Outside, the weather and winds were even more terrible than they believed, having a hard time staying on their feet and their visibility being grossly limited. At least the rain felt relatively warm, since it was a midsummer storm. But still, since they were only wearing T-shirts, the wind and rain combined made it a chilly experience. Only a few seconds out and already soaked to the bone, they slowly marched through the deep puddles and the muddy dirt. The patches of grass stroked against their legs in the wind, and the many flashes of lightning were followed up quickly by loud cracks of thunder.
"Oh man, it's like a hurricane out here!" Kagura yelled throughout the noise.
"Yeah, no kidding!" Tomo yelled back, water dripping down her chin and hair.
Barely able to keep their ballance, they found a large concrete wall in the back which was decorated with various figures. The most noticable one was a depiction of Cupid with a bow and arrow aiming up diagonally to the right. But where the tip of the arrow should have been, there was an indentation.
The three examined the wall, and when shey saw the hole, Sakaki suddenly got an idea. She pulled out the golden arrow Chiyo found earlier.
"You think...I'm supposed to put this in there?" She wondered.
She turned the arrowhead, and indeed, it came loose. She looked at the emerald point in her hand now, and slowly reached her arm out towards the indentation. Like she was about to pet Kamineko, Sakaki gently placed the arrowhead in the hole, turning out to be a perfect fit. The wall suddenly started vibrating and making a rumbling sound, causing the trio to be on their guard, and a mechanism was triggered, causing a lid below the wall, large enough for a person to walk through, to slowly slide open.
"Well, that sure was weird..." Kagura said.
Behind the lid was a long stairway, leading deep down into what appeared to be a tomb. Flames flickering behind bars in holes in the walls caused shadows moving around franticly. Not intending to keep standing in the pouring rain, they descended the long, narrow, claustrophobic stairs. The three didn't know what expect down there, so they slowly paced down, without letting their guard down.
"I wonder what's down here" Tomo spoke up, although she didn't really want to know.
The fire used to light the place gave off a soothing, warm vibe, making them feel at least a little bit more at ease. They finally reached the bottom, only to be greeted by an overwhelming wave of heat, sounds of cogwheels turning, and a whole lot of thick chains hanging from the ceiling.
"Man, it's hot as hell down here!" Kagura noted.
"What is this place? Kinda looks like a crypt to me" Tomo quizzed.
"Ehm...guys?" Sakaki called to them. "Look!"
Suspended by 4 chains, a big red coffin hung across the room, looking over them as if something was about to jump out.
"Yikes, creepy!" Tomo shouted. "Think there's something in it?"
"Maybe we're better off not knowing"
Sakaki's eyes fell on a book upon a stone table in the back of the room. Suspiciously, she walked underneath the coffin and picked it up. The book couldn't be opened, but she found a key attached to the back of it. She removed the key, and as she did, the patch holding the book shut came loose. She looked on the cover and it read : The Book of Curse.
Curiously, she opened it, and read the next lines out loud.
The four masks,
a mask that speaks no evil
a mask that smells no evil
a mask that sees no evil
a mask that cannot speak, smell or see evil.
When all four fall into place, evil will awaken.
"Evil will awaken?" Tomo puzzled. "Do we really want that? And what was that about masks?"
"I don't know" Sakaki answered, "I don't get it either."
"I think I do"
Kagura pointed to four stone faces against the wall on the other side of the room. One of them had holes where the eyes should be, the second one where the nose should be, the third one where the mouth should be and the last one where the eyes, nose and mouth should be.
"Speak, smell and see. I get it, but then again I don't" Kagura shrugged.
"We'll remember this place, but let's go back now before the others get worried" said Sakaki.
"As if I would forget this place to begin with" Tomo reasoned.
They ascended the stairs, leaving the weird and scary tomb, and walked back into the the showering storm. While walking back to the stone steps leading to the door, Tomo felt a cold and wet hand grabbing her by the ankle.
Wata : Well, there ya go. Most of this chapter was written on one evening, all except the bit starting from the graveyard. I was just so into it that time slipped by in a heartbeat and I got to some pretty decent material. As you may have noticed, I slipped in some humorous parts, just for comic relief. I'm too much of a loose guy to be writing serious all the time. Also, during the puzzle sequences, I felt like I was spoofing the game, poking fun at some of the rediculous puzzles that come along. Who would get the idea to push a statue down a balcony to get a blue sapphire? Well, Tomo-chan apparently! XD
Tomo : Hey, why do the cliffhangers almost always involve me?
Wata : Because you're a glutton for accidents.
Yomi : And punishment too.
Wata : Look forward to the next one!
