Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related to House of the Dead. (...Do I have to state the obvious in every chapter?)
Important Note: I have nothing against a guy called "Anthony", alright? [...including others whose names were mention...no offense or bad intention...] This is a fiction story after all.
Chapter 6
"Don't do this to me...
Please just let us be
I've no sins to pay
Don't take him away..."
Year:1989 [2 days after the town incident...]
Dr. Curien came back early from work. Everything was different. The main hall was deadly silent, there was no woman sitting at the sofa, waiting for him to come back...nobody came running from the hallway to greet him...nothing. Empty. He walked up the stairs to see his son... "Daniel." he called. Silence. "Daniel, I'm back." Still silence. His son always answered him when he called... 'This can't be good...' Dr. Curien entered his son's room...his heart almost stopped beating when he saw his pale son curled up on the floor choking out blood. "Oh God..." He rushed to his son and held him up. His body was warm a few days ago...now he was almost as cold as a dead body. For the first time ever, Dr. Curien didn't know what to do. "Daniel! Daniel, stay with me!" he cried. The memory of his dead wife lying on the cold ground came back to haunt him again. This time, it was his son... "D..dad..." his son weakly held his father. "...dad..." his hand slipped away and he lost conscious in his father's arms. It looked almost like he stopped breathing.
"DANIEL!"
"Dear child, stop mourning...
It'll do you nothing...
Heart fills with sorrow
Death will soon follow..."
Year: 2000
Stephen and Sarah found Allan sitting in the hallway. "Allan, you're supposed to be inside the room. Robert will kill you if he found out that you're here." said Sarah. "Allan..." Stephen spoke up. Allan didn't even look at them. He tried again "Allan, you know that you're not supposed to be out here and -" "They're jerks." Allan blurted out. Sarah and Stephen were speechless. "He's just a boy...they say it as if this whole thing is his fault. He didn't even ask for any of this to happen." "We didn't ask for it either." Stephen replied. "Nobody asked for it...but it already happened." Sarah nodded. "We'll talk about this later. We need to head back inside." The three of them went back inside the room quietly.
"Hey, what time is it? I'm starving." Terrance asked the three when they entered. Allan took a quick glance at his wristwatch and shrugged. "Six o four...just in time for some dull breakfast..." Stephen and Sarah looked at each other and sighed almost at the same time. They nudged Allan's side. "Allan, it's our turn to go down to the 'harvest' room..." Stephen pointed to the hallway. "Looks like we're going out...again." Sarah groaned. "Uh, guys?" Terrance got their attention. He pointed to Daniel at the far corner of the room. "What about him? Do you want to bring him down with you guys?" Stephen shook his head. "No, just leave him there. You just keep an eye on him, alright?" "Sure." Terrance replied with an awkward smile. "And Terrance... don't hit him with the pipe again..." Sarah winked at Terrance who blushed at the sight of her eyes. "It won't happen again..." he waved at her.
Daniel was still sulking at the corner, ignoring all those eyes staring at him. 'Oh, stop crying like an idiot already! You're embarrassing yourself.' he told himself. 'This isn't 1990 anymore...stuck here in this place that gives nothing but pain and-' ...pain... He looked at his arm again. The wound was gone. He wasn't hallucinating. But such wounds weren't supposed to heal THAT fast... 'This can't be right...' he was grateful that it was gone but this didn't feel right for him. The bite mark on his shoulder was still there though but it wasn't painful anymore. 'This isn't normal...'
"Alright, I'm back." said Sarah as she entered the room with a basket full of potatoes. Terrance groaned. "Potatoes again? Where are Stephen and Allan?" "They're still in the 'harvest' room, checking whether the fruits are safe to eat." Sarah answered. She distributed the potatoes to other researchers and scientists in the room. She stopped at Daniel. "Here. You should have something while waiting for the fruits..." she handed him a small bag. "...thank you." he murmured. He wasn't hungry at all...and he found that weird. He had been running away from those monsters and he should be starving or something...
Sarah gave the biggest potato to Robert. "How's Bob? Is he still alright?" she asked with concern. Robert rolled his eyes. "He's getting crazier everyday..." the security guard observed the survivors in the room while munching the potato. "Where are those two that went down with you?" "Oh, still in the room. I'll go and check whether they have any problems or not." Sarah turned around and left the room. Robert seemed to panic when Sarah left the room without an escort so he followed her out.
"Hey, you little brat!" the guy named Anthony called to Daniel. Terrance was stiff in his place, didn't know what to do and didn't want to have any trouble with Anthony. "My name is not 'little brat'! It's Daniel..." Daniel returned the answer with a scowl. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Anthony blurted out and threw a bag of potatoes at Daniel. "Make yourself useful around here. Go in that room and give that to Carl and Bob." Lance laughed. "Please, Anthony...I doubt that he'll even move his legs to do what you asked him to do. He lived in a mansion with his 'dear old daddy' with butlers around. He won't even know how to handle a bag." other researchers snickered quietly. Terrance turned pale.
"You're sending him in that 'detention' room alone without Robert?! But he'll be de-" "Who asked you to talk, Terrance? Just stand there and watch the door. Let this kid do something useful for once!" Anthony shouted back at the stunned researcher. He turned to Daniel and winced. "Well? What are you waiting for? Waiting for your daddy to come up from the grave and do it for you?!" Daniel stood up with the bag in his hand and rushed through the door... Terrance looked like he was going to scream...but he kept his mouth shut when he saw Lance's gaze. "Shut it." Lance hissed. Terrance forced himself to look away. 'Hurry up, you guys.' Terrance looked at the quiet hallway. 'Daniel's in BIG trouble.'
How dare they? HOW DARE THEY SAY THAT TO ME AND MY FATHER?! Daniel slammed the door close behind him. He was mad...andscared. Anger rarely happened before...now it was getting more frequent when he stayed with those researchers. He really wanted to scream...but he didn't. "Hey, what are you doing here? Where's Robert?" the researcher looked startled to see Daniel in the room. There was another guy who was tied to a chair in the middle of the small room. "I...I just bring you this ba-" "Yeah, that's nice of you." the researcher snatched the bag out of Daniel's hands. "Now leave this room." The researcher looked pretty scared himself but Daniel didn't know what caused the fear.
"Okay, Bob. Stuff to eat here so don't bite me, alright?" the researcher removed the tape from the guy's mouth. So, this person is 'Carl'...Daniel looked at those two people with confusion. "What happened to him?" Daniel asked Carl. He looked at Daniel with shock. "Didn't you hear what I said? Get out of here." he pushed Daniel to the door. He didn't push Daniel that hard...but when Carl saw the bite mark on Daniel's shoulder, he panicked. "Oh my God..." he gasped. "You're...you're one of them!" Unnoticed by both Daniel and Carl, Bob lashed forward and hit Carl hard against the wall, knocking Carl unconscious. Somehow, he was able to untie himself off the chair and ran to the door. He didn't escaped though...simply locked the door and...gazed at Daniel manically. Daniel froze... now trapped in this room with this 'Bob'.
He cackled menacingly and circled Daniel...slowly. "She said that you'll be here...and she's right." "She?" Daniel took a step back...but the crazed man followed him. "Hehe...Don't play stupid, Daniel. She's been talking to you like she did to me..." That woman's voice...he heard her too?! "So she bit you..." he pointed at Daniel's shoulder and smiled wickedly. "I got bitten too...you and me, kid...we're doomed to die. DIE!" He slammed the chair down on the floor, broke it in to pieces. Daniel backed away...until he was cornered. 'Not again...' Daniel got scared...and he felt much worse when Bob grabbed his neck and raised him up...trying to choke him to death. "L-Let g-go!" Daniel gasped. This guy was stronger than he thought...for a scrawny guy.
"Soon, we're ALL going to die! You, me and everybody will die painfully. Why do we have to wait for her to come and kill us all when we can do it ourselves?! There's only one way out of here, Daniel...DIE!" He threw Daniel down on the floor. Daniel didn't have a chance to get up when Bob pulled him up. "SOMEBODY HE-" Daniel screamed but Bob muffled his mouth. "No one can help you, Daniel...No one... NO ONE WILL EVER HELP YOU!" Bob growled...almost like an animal. He strangled Daniel. "...kill him." the voice whispered in the air... "Send my regards to your father, boy!" He cackled.
The door swung open. Robert charged inside the room and pulled Bob away from Daniel. "Who the hell let this maniac go?!" he yelled in rage as he pinned Bob down on the floor. Daniel gasped for air and tried to stand up...but he couldn't. Sarah, Stephen and Allan ran in the room and were shock. "Daniel?..." Sarah gasped. "Why is he here with Bob and...Oh my gosh! Carl!" Sarah ran to Carl and checked him. Stephen looked at Allan and then glanced at Terrance outside. "I told him to watch that kid..." Stephen walked out of the room and walked straight to Terrance to have a few strong words with him. Allan helped Daniel up on his feet. "What were you doing here?" Allan asked with concern.
"SHE'S COMING, DANIEL!" Bob yelled. "SHE'S COMING TO GET ALL OF US!...AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"Oh, shut up, you lunatic!" Robert whacked Bob's head with his baton, knocking him out for good. Carl finally regained conscious and with the help of Sarah, he stood on his feet. "Bob...Bob pushed me. I don't know how he got out of those bonds but I swear... I didn't let him go..." he explained when he got the dreadful gaze from Robert. "Why the hell did you get in here?" that question was from Robert to Daniel. "Anthony told him to get in here to give the bag to them." Terrance barged in to the room with Stephen. "...and you didn't stop him?!" Sarah frowned when she heard Terrance's explanation. Terrance faced downward...feeling guilty. Robert's face turned red. "After all of this chaos is over...I'm so going to snap their necks and use their damn skulls to make a new baton!" he stormed out of the room to those researchers.
"...I think Robert is much scarier than Bob..." Terrance muttered when silence filled the 'detention' room. "I mean...'snap their necks' and 'use their skulls'?...that's brutal..." Sarah sighed at Terrance's words. "He's more frightening." Carl spoke and pointed at Daniel...which surprised everyone. "His shoulder...the bite mark. It's the same mark that was on Bob's shoulder. He'll go crazy like Bob!" "That's why it was so familiar..." Sarah muttered to herself. Daniel winced. "What's with the bite?" he asked. They stared at one another...then it was Allan who answered it. "Bob was bitten by something. A few days later, he went crazy. He kept saying something about a woman in the walls and a bunch of crazy stuff. He became violent after wards." "That's why Robert put him here in this 'detention' room. At first it was called a 'solitary' room but Terrance prefer to call it 'detention'." Stephen nudged Terrance's side. Terrance simply shrugged "Solitary sounds spooky so I prefer the term detention...to keep dangerous people or those who are out of control in."
"But...but I'm not...dangerous...am I?" Daniel glanced at everyone, unsure what will happen. "...maybe soon." Stephen exchanged glances with Sarah. "...but we're not sure." Sarah shook her head. Allan was worried. "Daniel, you don't hear any 'whispers'...do you?" ...'Of course I hear it...' Daniel thought...but he didn't want to be locked up with this Bob. Everyone looked at him with suspicion...waiting for his answer. "...I hear them." Daniel finally answered. He never lied. Terrance's jaw dropped open. "Uh-oh.". Robert walked inside with a broken baton in his hand. "Problem solved. Anthony won't be saying anything for the next 2 weeks." He threw the baton away and he noticed that everyone was looking at Daniel. "What's going on?" "The kid had the bite mark like Bob." Carl pointed at Daniel before anyone could say anything. The security guard then frowned "Well, sorry kid..." he paused "...you're staying here."
"No!" Allan stood in front of Daniel. "He's not staying in here!" Sarah, Stephen, Terrance and Carl were shock. Robert glared at Allan. "This is for everybody's safety, Allan. He's staying here." he pulled out a chain from his pocket. "Where did he get that?" Allan heard Terrance asked but he ignored him. "He's not going to stay in here with that goddamn £#*~^&!" Allan didn't move away when the huge security guard moved towards him. "I'm in charge here, Allan. Move!" "I won't." "Last warning, Allan!" "...and I said...that he won't stay in here with that £#*~^&!" "..." "..."
The tension in the room was probably too much for Terrance to handle...he fainted. Everyone (except Daniel) just looked at Terrance with bored expression...then back at one another. "I'm telling you, Robert, he's not staying here. You saw what Bob tried to do to him and you still wanted to put him here?" Allan didn't budge. Robert stared at Allan for a brief moment then he pointed at Daniel. "If he did something wrong...anything suspicious at all...and if anyone get hurt because of him...I'll get you hard, Allan." Robert glowered at Allan menacingly before he backed away and tied Bob to the post with the chain. "Well? Get out already! All of you. Or do you want to stay here when this psycho wakes up?" Robert pointed at Terrance "...and take him out with you. Let someone else watch the entrance."
When they left the room, Carl tried to revive Terrance. Sarah and Stephen stood beside the entrance but always glanced back to check Daniel and Allan. Daniel didn't want to look at the other corner of the room. He knew that he would see those angry stare from other researchers, especially from Anthony. "You're not dangerous, Daniel. You're just scared." Allan spoke up suddenly. "Unlike Bob, I think he got so scared to the point of insanity." he let out a sigh. He saw that Sarah and Stephen never let their eyes off Daniel and him. He just gave them a sign 'He's still ok.' "Thanks for helping me back there." Daniel muttered. Allan shook his head "Nah. Don't mention it. I don't want anyone to stay close to that crazy guy anyway."
Time went slowly for everybody there. Other researchers still talked among themselves on how to get out of this facility. Sarah and Stephen took a break and helped Carl calm Terrance down. Allan seemed to realized something... "Hey, Daniel. I've been thinking. Since you're also stuck in here with us, I should tour you around this area." He stood up and extended his hand at Daniel. "...just in case Robert assigned you to go to the 'harvest' room. So you'll know where it is." "'Harvest' room?" Daniel frowned. "The only place where we get those." Allan pointed to the bag filled with potatoes and other fruits. Daniel was hesitant. "Don't worry, it won't take long. Just a stroll down the hallway. There are no creatures up here." Allan explained.
'No creatures up here...but she's here...' Daniel thought. 'What if she...never mind...' He stood up slowly and followed Allan down the hallway. "We'll be back here soon." Allan reassured Daniel that everything would be alright...
"Yeeesss...you'll be back here, child..." the voice whispered in cold tune.
Year: 1990
"Despair, that's my name
Things won't be the same
All gone, one by one
Goodbye, my dear son..."
He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep and couldn't stop thinking how to help his son to get better. He was killing himself slowly but he didn't care. His son was all he had left. If he's gone...then he'll shoot the bullet in his head. He was feeling desperate...very desperate. "Dad...?" a faint voice called him. Dr. Curien sat down at his son's bedside and held his cold hand. "...I'm here, Daniel." he leaned forward to his son. His son's complexion was nearly white and he could barely move. "...dad?...am I going to die?" That question caught him off guard. He never ever wanted to answer that question...but his son needed an answer.
"No, Daniel...You're not going to die." he lied. "You're...you're just sick...but you'll be better soon, I promised." "But...I don't..." his son tried to talk but he was too weak to respond. "Shh...just rest, Daniel. Everything will be alright." he lied...again. Knowing his son's condition was deteriorating everyday was making him feel helpless. No matter what he did, he only slows the deterioration down and his son still suffered. All he could do...was to watch him die slowly...
Author's notes: Oy, this is WAY too long. One sentence one idea...what a mistake...Well, a few more chapters won't kill anyone, I hope. A small spoiler for those who read this note...we'll have a special guest coming soon...THERE! I spoiled everything...XP Anyone ever had these types of phobias?
Thanks for the views and invisible reviews...
