Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related to House of the Dead. (If I own them, you'll see me in the credits...but I'm NOT there so I don't own anything.)
Chapter 9
Year: 1996 [AMS HQ]
The phone kept ringing. It kept ringing. No one answered the phone. "Huh...That's odd." Rogan mumbled to himself. He hung up the phone. His partner G was reading a folder beside the door. When he saw that worried expression on his partner's face, he put the folder inside the cabinet. "What's wrong?" he asked though he didn't sound so interested. Rogan sighed heavily as he sat down on the chair. "Sophie isn't picking up her phone. This is the fourth time already this week..." "She must be busy..." G murmured, looking at the phone on Rogan's desk.
The door suddenly swung open and hit G against the wall. A rookie agent came inside with a bag in his hand. "Agent Rogan, boss wanted you to have a look at the evidence in this bag." "Uhh..." Rogan was speechless...and still looking at the door. The rookie looked around the room and asked. "Wait. Where's that special agent guy?" Rogan just pointed at the door and the rookie gasped. "Oh my..." he walked towards the door. "I hope he's al-" G punched through the door and hit the rookie right in his face.
Rogan smirked. 'There goes another rookie with a black eye this week. Maybe I should put a sign 'Beware of Silver Fang' in front of the door.' He looked at the phone on his desk and frowned.
'I hope Sophie is alright...'
"Just...leave me alone
No sins to atone
No one to save me
Nowhere else to flee..."
Year: 2000
"No, no, no, and no. There's no way I'm going to let you go back in there again, Allan." Robert shook his head, still blocking the way to the air vent. "Of all the sane mind around here, Allan...you're the most insane person." Lance muttered without care. Allan almost looked surprised by that. "Don't you people want to get out of this hell hole?! This is one of those chance that we can get help from the outside world!" Allan turned to Robert and tried again. "Robert, please, just move..." "There are high chances that you might not come back, Allan. We don't know what was in that vent and that kid almost didn't make it a while ago...and you're still insisting me to let you go back in there?!" Robert poked Allan's chest with the tip of his chain. "This is my final answer: No way."
Allan stood very stiff, glaring at Robert. Clearly, he looked displeased. Very displease. "...I can't believe this." Allan spoke with stern voice. "You want us to stay here and rot?" "That's not what I-" "High chances to die or not, I'm still going up there and give it a try." Allan interrupted. Robert sighed. "You're the most stubborn idiot I ever met, Allan." "Not as stubborn as you are. Move." Allan pointed, gesturing for Robert to move away. "I already warned you, Allan." Robert spoke. Allan ignored that. "I'm going solo this time."
"What?!" Sarah looked shock. Stephen also had the same reaction. "You need someone to watch your back." "Not this time..." with that, Allan disappeared into the dark vent. Terrance grimaced. "Uh-oh..." he murmured. "Well...guess we have to wait for him." Stephen shrugged. Robert grumbled to himself. Sarah glanced around the room. She noticed that Lance and Anthony stared at Daniel. Something told her that something bad will happen but she wasn't sure what.
Terrance moved a little closer to Daniel. "Umm...hey, Daniel. You feeling okay?" Daniel shook his head. "I'm worried about Allan." he answered. Terrance nodded. "Me too. We all are." he leaned against the wall and tried to relax. "So...did Sarah gave you that old notebook?" Terrance started another conversation. Daniel nodded. He turned to Terrance and showed him the notebook. "Where...did she find this? I haven't seen this notebook since my..." he stopped. This notebook belonged to his father. He always carried it with him. How did it end up here?
"Uh...Sarah found it in his office." Terrance pointed to Sarah. "She...read it once...out of curiosity. Dr. Curien...beat her afterwards..." he shivered at the last sentence. Sarah seemed to hear that and smirked. "Don't worry, Daniel. It didn't hurt that much." Lance winced at that. "Yeah, what a nice gentleman. He beat the crap out of you and some woman called Richards." "Shut up, Lance." Stephen shot him a glare.
"He's actually a good person. I mean...he tried to help you after all." Sarah smiled and patted Daniel's back. "Yeah. Even though most of the time he spook the heck out me..." Terrance leaned back against the wall trying to relax. "What the-?" Stephen stared at Terrance and Daniel. "Stephen? What is it?" Sarah looked confused. Stephen looked at Sarah and gestured to Daniel. "You didn't notice anything?" he asked her. Sarah still had that confused expression on her face.
"Terrance, sit up straight." Stephen ordered. Terrance also looked confused but he did what Stephen told him. "What are you trying to show us, Stephen?" Sarah couldn't understand the situation. Stephen finally gave out his observation. "...I think Daniel is getting taller." "So? Don't we all grow taller?" Terrance scratched his head. He looked at Daniel and then shrugged. "He's a kid after all." "...taller about 3 inches overnight? Isn't that...strange?" Stephen asked Terrance.
Robert wasn't so surprised. "So? My cousin grew about 6 inches overnight." Everybody looked at Robert with wide eyes. "...What?" Robert raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that your last name isn't 'Giant'..." Terrance whimpered. Robert smirked. "No. It's Mason." Terrance sighed with relief. "Still, I think it's a bit weird about this." Stephen pointed at Daniel. "It looked like...age is catching up with him or something." "Well, good!" Lance shot a cold glare at Daniel. "I hope he die faster than the rest of us."
"What the hell is wrong with you and Anthony?!" Stephen snapped. "Quit your endless curses about Daniel, will you!?" "...and who do you think you are, Stephen? His new father?" "Shut up, Lance!" Sarah hissed. Anthony snickered. "Hey, Sarah...you wanted to be hismommy?" "Geez, Anthony... You sounded like a duck that broke its vocal cords." Sarah sneered harshly. "Hey, shut up! All of you!"Robert stomped his foot down. Everybody stopped. "For crying out loud! You people are much worse than a bunch of kids! Quit turning up the heat on this whole situation, will you?!"
"Talking about the heat...is it just me or is the whole place is getting hot?" Terrance tried to fan himself with his hand. He was sweating a little. Everybody froze in horror. "Oh no...if this place is getting hot then-" Stephen was interrupt by a loud noise coming from the air vent. Everybody jumped at turned their attention to it. Allan jumped out from the air vent, full of disappointment. "Guys..." he shook his head. "Let me guess. It didn't work." Lance cut him off. "There was a signal..." Allan explained. "...but while the cellphone was dialing the number, the line was cut off. Like it was jammed by something."
Anthony probably snapped or something. He pulled the pocketknife out from Lance's coat and rushed towards Daniel before anyone could stop him. He pulled Daniel towards him and pointed the knife at the boy's throat. "I had enough of this." he spoke. Daniel froze with shock. Others also had the same reaction. "He's gone mad like Bob!" Terrance panicked. Allan looked pretty mad when he saw his pocketknife in Anthony's hand. "Anthony! Put that down! Don't hurt him!" Sarah shrieked. Her mind froze. She didn't know what to do. "This brat brings nothing but trouble and bad luck! We should just finish him off!" Anthony drew the weapon closer to Daniel.
"You had a point, Anthony...but this is a little too much." even Lance joined in, trying to reasoned with him. Clearly, it didn't work. "Anthony," Allan stepped a little closer to Anthony. "...put my pocketknife down or I'll make you." Anthony laughed. "Make me? I'll slit his throat before you could even take a step forward." Daniel froze. If he moved, Anthony wouldn't hesitate to slit his throat. Allan wasn't giving up. "Last chance, Anthony!" he warned. "Put. It. Down." he pointed at the pocketknife. "...Make me!" Anthony shouted. Allan then nodded to the person behind Anthony.
"Fine! I'll make you drop it!" Robert slammed his fist down on Anthony's head and dragged him away from Daniel. Robert quickly opened the detention room door and threw Anthony inside then quickly shut it. "Enjoy your stay!" Robert sneered. Allan rushed to Daniel. "Are you alright?" "I'm...okay, I think." Daniel shivered a bit, still frighten by the crazed researcher. Allan got his pocketknife back. When he turned around and faced Terrance, he noticed that the young researcher was sweating.
"! Terrance? Are you sweating?" that wasn't a good sign at all. The whole floor was getting too warm. "Allan, you didn't change the temperature in the power room on your way back here, right?" Stephen asked. Fear was very clear in his voice. Everyone looked at Allan. "No, I didn't change it!" he shook his head. "Why would I change it if-"
"AAAAAH! Get away from me!" Anthony's scream pierced through the tense atmosphere. Everyone's attention turned to the detention room. "Oh my God! NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! NOOoo! AAAaa-!" then silence. Robert went closer to the room and listened. "...what the heck was that?" he murmured...then he saw blood seeped from the door. "What the-!?" he stepped away from the door. "Anthony?" he called. No answer...
The door suddenly broke in half and everybody screamed. The blood soaked creature waddled out from the room and snarled. "Dear Mother of-...is that Bob?!" Terrance gasped. Anthony was ripped in half and was thrown down on the floor. The creature roared and charged forward to Stephen but was tackled down by Robert. "Somebody do something!" Sarah shrieked. Allan stabbed the creature's head but... "Holy-!" Allan pulled his knife out. The creature growled. Green blood dripped down from the cut. " That does it!" Robert yelled and slammed its head down on the floor hard. The creature's head went splat, leaving a pool of green liquid on the floor. "Eew!" Lance covered his mouth.
Down the hallway, the giant capsules broke and the bony zombies ran out from the chambers...to their direction. The entire floor shook as they ran towards the room. "What do we do now?!" Terrance panicked. "Where do we go?!" he screamed. The rest of the researchers also panicked. Robert rushed to the entrance door and opened it. "There's another empty room close to the power room on the next floor. Go now! All of you!" he pointed to the hallway. "Wait...what about you?" Daniel looked at the guard who held the chain firmly. "...I'll try to slow them down while you guys ran up stairs." he answered.
"Robert..." Allan was shocked to hear that. "You can't-" "AAAAah!" Lance screamed. The headless body of Bob tried to strangle Lance. Sarah and Stephen rushed to Lance and pulled the creature away from him. The bony zombies finally reached the room and attacked the researchers. Some chased the researchers down the hallway. Screams and howls filled the air as they swarmed in the room. Robert tried his best to beat them down...but they overwhelmed him in seconds. Lance tried to run to the door but the zombies caught him and ate him alive. "Oh, God!" Stephen gasped. Sarah, Terrance, Stephen, Allan and Daniel were the only ones left. "They're everywhere!" Terrance screamed.
"Not everywhere..." Allan looked up. The air vent was still open. "We're going in there." he jumped in the vent and reached out his hands. "Guys, c'mon!" he yelled. "Daniel, you go first." Stephen pushed Daniel up to Allan. The bony zombies saw them and snarled. They came towards them. "Terrance! Go!" Stephen pushed Terrance up the vent after Daniel. Stephen jumped up and reached his hand for Sarah. "Sarah! Take my hand!" he called her. Sarah caught his hand...but the zombies pulled her away. She screamed. Her hand slipped away from Stephen. "SARAH!" Stephen screamed. Terrance pulled Stephen in. "She's gone, Stephen." he sighed and headed in to the vent.
The four of them crawled in the dark vent. They could hear the zombies inside. "Where are we going?" Stephen asked. "The room that Robert talked about. I think the way to that room is that way." Allan pointed to the other way. Daniel recognized this path. The right side would bring them to the harvest room...the left side, however, he didn't know where it would lead them to. He hoped that it's the room that Robert talked about.
"...My little chew toys..." the voice echoed. Daniel froze. Not in here again... "My cute little boys..." it sang. "Did you hear that?" Stephen asked everyone. Daniel was surprised to know that others heard the voice too. "It's a woman's voice. Where did it came from?' Terrance glanced around the vent but saw nothing. Allan didn't say anything. The vent shook and a vicious growl was heard. "S-something is in here with us!" Stephen looked back and saw a pair of wild golden eyes staring at him. Others saw it as well...including Daniel. "...Run while you all can..." it whispered coldly. "G-go now!" Stephen yelled...then he was pulled away in to the dark. His scream echoed in the vents.
"Stephen!" Terrance panicked. "Terrance, hurry up or that thing will catch you!" Allan's voice shook when he called Terrance. "We're almost there!"
When Allan and Daniel reached the end, Terrance wasn't there. The spine-chilling scream was heard again. "NO! PLEASE, NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Terrance cried.
Daniel shivered. Only two of them were left in the vent. Allan kicked the cover and pushed Daniel out of the vent. A huge animal paw grasped Allan's shoulder and tried to pull him back in the vent. "Allan!" Daniel caught Allan's hand and tried to remove the paw from his shoulder. Like always, he couldn't remove it. Allan winced from the pain. "It's alright, Daniel...You can get out of here. You can get through this." Daniel shook his head. The word 'you' was for him. "No, Allan! We'll get out of here!" "I always knew that you would survive through this..." Allan sounded so...hopeful...Daniel found that very strange. "Just let me go, Daniel. Just go..." Allan said weakly. Blood seeped through his jacket and dripped down in the vent. "No! I won't!" Daniel cried. Allan gave his pocketknife to Daniel and smiled. "...Good-bye, Daniel." he pushed Daniel away from him and he was pulled in to the vent.
"ALLAN!" Daniel yelled. Allan was gone. He couldn't believe what just happened. Everybody...gone. Gone...and he was alone. Again!He wasn't in an empty room though... It was the same chamber that has the mysterious being in the middle of the room. For the moment, he thought that he was safe...then everything vanished. He was back to square one again...still no clue how to leave this facility...and alone. Daniel still stared at the vent and saw those wild eyes that stared back at him. "...I'll be back for you soon...child..." said the cold voice full of spite. Those eyes disappeared in to the dark.
Daniel backed away until he hit the cylindrical containment. He pressed himself against its warm metallic surface. '...Everyone's dead and I'm alone again...' he sobbed silently.
Daniel didn't notice that the silver being bent down and watched him...but he heard the soothing voice that came out from the containment.
"You're safe here, Daniel...Safe with me..."
"Jealousy, that's me.
Wherever I see...
They have happiness
I have emptiness..."
Year: 1996 [In the lab within Curien Mansion]
"RICHARDS!" Dr. Curien swung the door open and yelled. All the researchers in the room were startled at the sudden voice that interrupted their concentration. The blond woman in maroon suit, however, didn't look so startled by it as if she was expecting Dr. Curien to scream his head off. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Dr. Curien slammed the gray folder on the table in front of her. The contents in the folder came out and spread over her table. All of them had the word 'abomination' written in red marker.
Sophie Richards simply looked at him blankly and just swiped all of those papers off her table. Other researchers in the room gasped. "What? I did exactly what you told me to do. You asked me to observe the subjects and wrote the results down. Isn't this what you asked for?" Sophie pointed down to those papers. "If you don't like that then I can tell you in words or you can assign someone else that will tell you only the stuff that you wanted to hear-" "ENOUGH!" Dr. Curien whacked her shoulder hard. The poor researcher hit the floor hard. She stood up holding her shoulder and frowned but didn't say a word.
"I expected you to do BETTER than THIS, Richards!" Dr. Curien pointed the cane at her. From the corner of his eyes, he saw other researchers looking at him. "WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS LOOKING AT?!" they turned back to their work, avoiding eye contact. Dr. Curien shot a cold stare at Sophie. "If I see your next report, Richards, I expect to see -" Dr. Curien stopped. He saw something gleaming at Sophie's finger... That same topaz ring around her finger... In her place, stood a familiar brown haired woman in green gown looking at him with sad blue eyes. He froze. '...Katherine?'
'Oh, Roy. Did I mention that I'm engaged to a woman?' Rogan's words echoed at the back of his mind. He looked so happy when he said that... Rogan was happy...that made him felt sick. The phantom of his wife disappeared and that blond researcher took her place still glaring at him. He had enough of this woman. He turned back and stormed out of the lab. "Richards, are you alright?" one of the researcher asked Sophie after Dr. Curien left. She just nodded. "What was that all about?" another researcher asked. Sophie shrugged.
"Maybe he realized that hitting a woman isn't a brilliant move." she told the researcher. She wondered to herself.
'...Why did he stare at my ring?'
Author's notes: ...Oh boy...stuff about to get real...to me anyway. XP
So after all of this, should I change this to rated 'M' instead of 'T'?...plus, I'm getting lame in making those 'poems'.
Thanks for the views, reviews and reading...again.