Hello guys! Sorry that we've been taking so long to continue our stories. We've been very busy in family matters, me finishing up for the school year, and so on. I just want to thank you guys so much for reviewing this story and spending your time to read it. Please take your time to review each chapter of our story, as well as favorite or follow us, or A Ghastly Epidemic.
This chapter is named after Maroon 5's song "Misery". Thank you Maroon 5! This chapter shifts between every current group of importance: the hospital survivors, Corey's group, Anna's group, and the Koopa Family.
Chapter 10: Misery
Day Four: 3:37 PM
"How could he do this to us? I expected him to finally put an end to this feud, but NO! He had to be a little numb nut just to keep us out. I hope Mario dies one day because he messed with the wrong koopas! Who does he think we are? I bunch of freak shows who can't do crap!? That little-"
Bowser was ranting on for the duration of the ride. Iggy, Roy, and Wendy didn't seem to care, for Roy was asleep, and Iggy and Wendy were read Yager's medical journal to ignore their father's rant of anger.
Larry and Morton were sound asleep in Ludwig's car. Their elder brother, Ludwig was torn between two ideas: going back and killing the hospital survivors, or staying with his father. The silence was slowing killing his mind, so he turned on music to make the thinking stop. Of course, he picked the wrong disc. It was Maroon 5 with the song "Misery". Ludwig moaned as he heard one of his least favorite songs of all time.
The two cars drove away from sight, the sight of a dozen zombies...
...as well as several survivors going the opposite direction.
_
Day Five: 8:54 AM
Mario was still outraged about the events of last night. Luigi and Sam wouldn't listen to him, and he got wacked on the head by Ashley. He decided not to tell Peach, for she would go into one of her emotional rage fires from a certain Mario Bros. Game. Mario watched as Luigi, Wes, Daisy and Jordan returned from their second supply run to Twilight Town and back, driving Peach's Camaro and the supply truck.
Sam was disappointed. Five people went on the run, but only four came back. He didn't need to ask if Rane, his childhood friend was alive because she wasn't. He shed a tear, but wiped it off when Jordan walked over. He needed to stay strong for the community.
"I'm sorry sir." Jordan mumbled. "She sacrificed herself so we could get out of that warzone of a town."
Sam said nothing.
Conrad, Gordon, and Silas cleared a piece of the hospital, right up to the office and basement area Conrad and the rest were stuck in. They closed off the nearest door and decided to call it a day. Conrad was still furious with Sam, as was Kim, who stayed in the room next to Akiro's.
The Mario Bros. were now on guard duty. As they sat on the wooden gate, Mario ignored Luigi in spite of his attempts to talk to him.
"Mario, I'm sorry. Ashley only did that so you could stop yelling like a maniac."
Mario remained silent. A zombie wearing a jumpsuit walked over to the gate. There was a name tag on it, which said Winston. Mario climb down the ladder leaning on the gate, and he pulled out his combat knife. He swiftly stabbed Winston in the head, putting the cadaver out of its misery. He dragged the zombie into the forest, and he hurried back to the gate. Luigi tried once again to conversate.
"Mario, you were being ridiculous last night. Just imagine what would have happened if you-"
"Shut... up." Mario interrupted. "Just shut the hell up, and freaking leave me alone."
Luigi said nothing more.
The two sat at the gate for an hour, remaining silent until Wes and Akiro walked over to take their shift.
_
Day Five: 9:03 AM
Bowser stared at the now dead koopa. Zombies ate part of his body minutes ago. Of course, Ludwig and Roy dealt with them. His kids were now sitting in the cars, either asleep, reading the medical journal, or simply watching their father as he stomped on the corpse's head, crushing it.
Wendy and Iggy didn't notice, as they were preparing for the situation when someone gets injured. Morton was asleep, dreaming of how the world was before it went to hell. The other kids were waiting until Bowser stopped stomping on the corpse's head. The former koopa king took one last look at the dead koopa, and then he walked back to his car.
Millions of thoughts were flying through Bowser's head. He had only just remembered that his son, Bowser Jr. was hiding out in Mario Hotel, which was infested with zombies. So that's where he was going to go. He had to tell his children his plan, and he hoped that they would help him get his other son back.
_
Day Four: 11:04 PM
Anna began to grow worried. Ever since Brian got himself killed, she and her friends remained shut inside her apartment. They were almost out of food, so Anna prayed that her sister would come and save her and her fellow survivors from this hell hole. In the corner of her living room, sat Bowser Jr., tied to a chair, duct tape covering his mouth. Apparently, on the day Brian died, Jennifer went back to Bowser Jr.'s apartment and ambushed him. What she didn't know was that by the time she got back to the apartment to tie the prince up, zombies broke into his poorly barricaded hideaway. Bowser Jr. however, believed that he never owed anyone anything. He was still unaware of zombies roaming his apartment, so he tried to wrench himself out of the chair. No dice.
Daniel and Constance were both asleep on makeshift beds, located on the wall opposite of Bowser Jr. Jennifer was smoking right outside the window to the metal stairway. Anna remained next to the koopa kid, watching to make sure he didn't escape his chair. After half an hour of jerking himself left to right, Bowser Jr. gave up and passed out of exhaustion.
Jen does know how to tie someone up right, Anna thought.
Jennifer sat on the balcony outside, smoking a marijuana cigarette. She looked up at the night sky, wishing something she hadn't wished since she was thirteen, to live among the Lumas, the star people. They and Princess Rosalina have the luxury of not getting hunted down by revenants of people she used to love, so why can't she have the same thing?
Anna felt like she was the loneliest toad on earth. Not including Bowser Jr., only her fellow survivors kept her company. Not wanting to be alone for the night, she walked over to Jennifer, and sat next to her on the balcony.
The two friends were in the same boat, figuratively and literally. All they wished for was a miracle to smite this ghastly epidemic. But most of all, Anna needed Corey, her sister to hold her in her arms, to never let go of her, to never lose her again. Anna need a miracle.
"Hey Jennifer." Anna said.
"Hey." Jennifer replied, feeling the same feeling that Anna had. "What's on your mind?"
"Do you believe in miracles?" Anna asked.
"Yeah..."
Jennifer stopped for a minute. She didn't want to chat, but then she decided it couldn't hurt to speak.
"I believe in a miracle that trumps all miracles, the miracle that I could live among the Lumas."
"I believe in the miracle that Corey would save me, and she'd never let me out of her sight again. *sigh*"
"Well then, I guess we essentially have the same dream." Jennifer spoke.
Anna and Jennifer sat there, bedazzled by the stars shining in the noir sky. Anna made a wish upon a star. Her wish: that Corey would find and save her from this madness.
_
Day Five: 9:04 AM
"Dad, are you out of your freaking mind!?" Wendy berated, apathetic about her brother's situation. "He's probably dead already! If we go in there, we could all DIE!"
"Wendy, don't you talk to me that way!" Bowser yelled at his selfish daughter. "We are going to save Junior; you cannot refuse your father's wishes!"
"But Father, Wendy may be right." Iggy argued. "What if this plan is doomed to failure?"
"Are you serious Dad!? I don't want to die!" Morton panicked.
Half of Bowser's children were against him. Roy, in all honesty, didn't really care about what they were talking about. He was testing out his cannon. There were two kids however, who chose to side with him.
"Guys, what if he really is alive? What if he needs our help to spirit him away from Mushroom City?" said Larry, the most caring brother of the Koopa Family.
"I'm with Larry and Dad." declared Ludwig, the eldest brother.
Wendy was pissed, for she would rather jump off a cliff than attempt a suicide mission. She stomped away from them, and took the driver's seat of Ludwig's car. It was just then that Ludwig realized he left his keys in the car, and left it unlocked. Damn.
"Hey! That's my car you beach!" said a rather irked Ludwig.
"Whoever doesn't want to die an utterly useless death, hop in!" Wendy screamed.
Morton and Iggy walked over and took the back seats. Roy, who had headphones on, couldn't hear a thing as he shot a 75 MPH Bullet Bill at a nearby zombie.
Larry and Bowser walked over to the car.
"Sis, please. Don't do this..." Larry pleaded to his sister, looking as though he was on the verge of tears.
"Kids. Final warning." Bowser threatened the three.
Wendy ignored them both, and without even saying goodbye, she cruised away towards the highway. Morton and Iggy began reading the medical journal, looking for a vaccine that's close to a zombie cure. Wendy felt proud that she no longer had to do whatever her father wanted, but just then, she felt something. She got the feeling that this wasn't how things should've turned out.
As Wendy drove away in Ludwig's car, tears streamed down the Koopa King's face. Half of his siblings didn't care about him, nor his plan to rescue his only biological son. He didn't want this newfound pain, but it came, and it would never leave.
"****!" screeched Bowser as he picked up a nearby boulder, and smashed it into a tree. It was only then that Roy took his headphones off to see what was the matter. Boy was he surprised.
"What the hell just happened?" he asked Larry.
No reply came. All four of them just stood in silence, complete silence.
_
Day Five: 9:46 AM
Henry, Corey, and Lucas were in the ruins of the South Mushroom City Monorail Station. This used to be one of the four main checkpoints of a special monorail that could travel to almost anywhere in the city. Lucky for them, this wasn't a hard place to reach in the commerce capital of the Mushroom Kingdom. This station stood next to the road that lead to the entrance of Mushroom City. Nonetheless, clearing zombies in the building proved to be a pain in their bums. Luckily, they managed to reach the station area. All they needed to do now was to get it working, and then they could get to Anna's hotel and back with only one problem, zombies.
Corey didn't care about the zombies though. All she wanted to do was to save her sister, even if she had to sacrifice herself to do it. Besides, what has she got to lose? She lost her normal life, she lost Cherry, she most likely lost the rest of her family. But worst of all, she lost her true love, Tom. If she hadn't panicked and crashed into that tree the other day, he wouldn't have gotten bitten and died. It was her fault, and she knew that she would never love another fiance again because of what she did. She had to right her wrong, redeem herself by saving the last person she cared about left, Anna.
Henry felt obligated to help Corey however he could. He promised that he would help her find and rescue her sister, or die trying. But he couldn't help but get the feeling of dread, that something horrible would happen. Henry knew the risk, but he had to take it, even if it lead to his murder at the hands of cadavers.
Lucas would follow Henry, but he just hoped for the possibility that he would survive this whole catastrophe.
The three understood that if they went to the hotel via monorail, they could never turn back until they at least tried to save Anna, along with any other survivors they encountered. They only had one try, so it would be best if they didn't screw it up. They were ready.
The power switch was in the office, where a zombie resided. Henry swiftly stabbed it in the head, and he found the power switch.
No turning back now..., he thought as he pulled the switch.
_
Day Five: 10:00 AM
Toad and Conrad took their turns on guard duty. Both of them felt it was necessary to guard the hospital, but this was the most boring job in the entire survivor camp. They had to sit on a gate for an hour and kill zombies that crossed their path. Couldn't they get a more interesting job that didn't require sitting around the entire time? The answer was no. They couldn't.
Typical Doctor Walsh, Conrad thought.
He hated that guy. He locked him and four other people in an office to keep zombies from flooding out of the area. Pretty stupid move if you asked Conrad or Kim. Conrad was also uncomfortable with the fact that Wes held no grudge against the doctor, even though Wes was one of the five people who got trapped in the office. He never understood that young adult koopa.
Toad was a lazy fella, but he could do any job if he needed to. In his younger days, he won third place at a Beanish Dance feis, second in a cooking show, and even first place in an archery showdown at Fahr Outpost. He was the hospital's jack of all trades. But what occurred next was definitely not something he was good at dealing with.
A pink toad with long, mushroom hair struggled to walk towards the gate. Oh dear god. It was-
"*GASP* TOADETTE!" screamed Toad in utter shock.
The zombie who was walking towards the gate was none other than Toad's former girlfriend, Toadette. She was Peach's personal servant every other day, and she was the grand-niece of Toadsworth.
The moment Toad screamed, Conrad slipped off the gate catwalk, and onto the truck parked nearby. How fortunate. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and some of the other hospital survivors rushed to Toad's aid. However, the moment the Mario Bros. saw Toadette, everyone else stopped dead in their tracks. Conrad accidentally opened the gate the moment he slipped off the gate. To everyone's relief, Luigi took the initiative. He shot Toadette in the head before she got any closer to Peach, the closest person to the gate.
Toad broke down in tears, for his fiance, like Corey's, was now also dead. He couldn't believe that this happened so suddenly. It was too bad for him that he couldn't see her one last time before she became a walking corpse. Peach did the same thing Toad did, for Toadette was a very close friend of her's. No one at the scene could believe that this was how Toadette met end, not even Luigi, who put her out of her misery for good.
And just when you think the day couldn't turn out any worse, you wouldn't know how wrong you'd be until it hit you right in the face. At that moment, Mario came to understand that life was full of hard knocks, and there was no way you could avoid them. And he also learned a much more important lesson: you won't know what you have until it is gone.
Mario rushed over to Luigi, and he squeezed him like he never did before. Luigi embraced the brotherly love, and he hugged his brother back.
The elder, shorter Mario brother said the one thing that his taller, younger brother was hoping for all day.
"I forgive you. Obsessing about Bowser coming to ruin our lives over and over again was ridiculous. And for that, I'm sorry."
"I forgive you too Mario." Luigi responded. "And I'm sorry as well."
_
Sorry if I rushed the events in the story a little bit. I just wanted to get this chapter out while I had time. Please leave comments and reviews about this chapter, and make some suggestions for bonus chapters! If I missed anything, I will gladly use some of that information to create a bonus chapter to use later on in A Ghastly Epidemic. Also, there is a Story Summary Chapter that will help you remember the main events in the story. Be sure to use that if you aren't sure about something in the story.
Also, the departure of Wendy's group is legit. They literally abandoned their father and brothers to escape the importance of family. They will return to the main story soon, but until then, they will only appear in the next chapter, and then a bonus chapter or two.
Anyway, that's all for now. Until next time kupo!
Team ArcanetheGreat
