Harvest Moon: Resident Evil 2
Chapter Fourteen: Cause and Effect
Inside the Florist Shop, Basil was starting to lose patience.
He and Lillia had turned on the TV – the only channel that was available now was the News, which still had the emergency breaking news update going. The grim-faced reporter with the slicked-back-by-gel hair was still on the air, but it must have been a while for him – it had been going on since morning. He had taken off his suit.
The reporter rubbed his eyes. He seemed very tired.
"We've recently received reports about the virus spreading seaward," he droned in a monotonous voice, proving only more so that he was exhausted. "However, scientists are starting to deny them… however; it is still at large farther inland. Towns like Forget-me-not Valley have unfortunately suffered the full blast. We now take you live to reporter Jack Habbeger. Jack?"
The camera cut to a much younger reporter who didn't look tired at all. Rather he looked scared shitless.
"Tom, I'm out here in Forget Valley, where… my God, it's a massacre. There are bodies everywhere but, strangely enough, some of them aren't even human. Take a look over here…"
He started rushing away towards one of the bodies. The camera wobbled as its carrier tried to keep up with him. They crossed a bridge and arrived in an open field, where a farm can be seen in the background.
"Look at this thing," Habbeger panted. "It looks like… some kind of scaly gorilla! And that isn't all, Tom, but Captain Blum of the SFOAR, or Special Forces Operations And Rescue, has told me that his squad uncovered some kind of secret laboratory facility underneath Forget Valley… the sights in there… Christ, I can't even describe it."
"Jack, can you at least tell me what you think happened?" came the grim reporter's voice.
Habbeger hesitated, then looked into the camera. "Well, Tom, I think it's safe to say there were no survivors. The facility apparently belongs to Umbrella Corporation. Police and Officials are trying to contact their CEO, but they can't get through to him… maybe he doesn't want to be found…"
There was the longest pause before he spoke again.
"Back to you, Tom."
The live feed cut off and they were watching the grim-faced reporter again.
"The situation seems to be developing from there. For all we know this virus may have originated in Forget Valley… wait a minute… this just in. Reports indicate that strange fruits growing in the Arklay Mountains have connections to the virus. It says here that if a person eats one of these fruits… they'll be infected with the virus. This may explain the tragic slaughters that befell Forget Valley and –"
Basil switched the T.V. off.
"A god damned fruit," he muttered. "A fruit. How fucking typical."
Lillia said nothing.
"Y'know, I heard Rick talking about some weird fruit," Basil continued. "Looked like shit, but solid gold inside. I knew there was some sort of problem with it."
"None of us could have known any of this would happen," Lillia said quietly.
Basil looked at her.
"I suppose you're right, hon," he muttered. "But, still. I'm not sitting here anymore. I have to do something. I'm gonna find Popuri."
"Whatever happened to her being 'as good as dead'?" Lillia said with miserable sarcasm.
"I could be wrong," Basil said. "I'm going out to find her."
Realizing he wasn't screwing around, Lillia quickly got out of her seat.
"You're not kidding," she said slowly.
"No. I'm not," said Basil flatly. "If I can't find our daughter, I'll… I have to do something, okay? I can't sit down and let this all happen."
"There's nothing you can do!" Lillia half-shouted. "It can't be prevented! Don't do anything stupid, you could die out there!"
"I'll take my chances," Basil stubbornly grumbled, heading for the counter. There was a locked drawer in the register's desk. Taking a key from one of his sealed pockets, he carefully inserted it into the lock and turned. The drawer slid open – a shotgun was inside, along with ammunition.
"Good lord," Lillia gasped, as Basil took it out and loaded it. "How long was that in there?"
"Long enough," Basil replied simply.
"Who would rob a flower shop?" Lillia asked, enraged.
"I don't know," said Basil. "But it sure would've been funny as hell to pull this out if anyone had tried."
Holding the weapon over his shoulder, Basil then headed for the door.
"Basil…" Lillia started, but he cut her off.
"I'm going whether you like it or not," he snapped.
"…please be careful."
Basil slowly faced her. The anger had left his eyes.
"I will."
He unlocked the door and opened it. Before leaving, he turned to her again and said, "I love you."
Then, the door was closed and locked and he was gone.
-
Joe was still outside, giving an occasional scan of the Moon Mountain entrance with his binoculars. When not watching the entrance he kept a careful eye on everyone else who was outside – Josh and Maria had gone down to the Wishing Pond and Tito had come outside to the porch for a smoke. Chief shortly came outside to join him. The rest were indoors, save for a certain two.
Just as Joe was wondering where Gray and Popuri were, he saw them out of the corner of his eyes heading up towards the cave.
"Where are you two going?" he called out.
Both acted surprised, but Popuri quickly responded. "We're just going inside the cave to check things out. I haven't been in there before, and, well… neither has he."
Joe didn't believe them, but it didn't bother him. "Mmm-hmm… well… enjoy that. Don't get lost," he said with a chuckle.
Gray and Popuri continued until they were inside.
"Have you been in here before?" Popuri asked.
"Actually, I have," Gray answered. "But it doesn't matter."
They both noticed at the same time how dark it was inside the cave.
"Can we get some light in here?" came Popuri's voice.
"I think there's a switch somewhere," said Gray, feeling around the cave walls. "It's here… somewhere… aha, found it."
A fluorescent light fixture installed in the ceiling slowly beamed up, bathing them in a dim white light.
"That's better," Gray muttered, looking nervous all of the sudden. Popuri was watching him and noticed the change immediately.
"So… what do you want to talk about?" she pushed, still feeling curious.
"Well…" Gray said, gulping. "It's kind of hard to explain… and bear with me, it takes a while to explain things when I'm nervous."
"Well… why are you nervous?"
Gray suddenly felt dread; he hadn't meant to say that he was nervous.
"Well… um…"
"Is it another thing that you haven't told anyone before?" Popuri guessed, politely.
"…sort of," Gray stammered. "Let's put it this way, it involves… my personal feelings."
"I see," Popuri said. She looked at him again. "Look, if you're too nervous to talk about it now, maybe you can tell me later…"
"No! No, I… I want to talk about it now…"
"Okay," Popuri said, with a smile.
Gray sat down against the cave's wall, near the mining area's locked entrance. Popuri respectfully sat down next to him, looking at him straight in the face to show that she was listening. Gray tried not to meet her gaze for some reason.
"Well, I… Jesus, it's hard to explain. I… kind of… well…"
Popuri was suddenly reminded of herself when she was trying to tell Jack something.
"I've been… feeling something for… a bit of a… um, long while now. Yeah."
Popuri nodded, still watching him. She had never seen him act this way before.
"It… anything wrong?" she asked.
"No, no," Gray said, taking in a deep breath to try and calm down. "Everything's just fine. Um, anyway, I've been… wondering what it was, and, well, I'm starting to think it's… er… um… God, this is so awkward, I just…"
"Just try to calm down," Popuri laughed.
"Okay… okay…" Gray replied, taking in more breaths. He was silent for a moment with his eyes closed. When he opened them, he finally turned and looked Popuri straight in the eyes. For a long while he hesitated to say it, but he finally worked up the strength to do it.
"I think its love," he said straight out. "I think I'm in love. With you."
At first Popuri didn't say anything. Gray thought his fate was sealed, but then she said "Why didn't you just say so?"
They looked each other in the eye again. Then, they both laughed.
"See how easy that was?" Popuri asked.
"…well…" Gray said, his mood instantly changing. "Aren't you surprised?"
"Are you kidding? Yeah!" Popuri exclaimed gleefully. "I mean, I had no idea! I mean, maybe I could've guessed, but I didn't really think about it that much! Wow… that's… that's great news, Gray."
"It is?" Gray asked.
"Yeah…" Popuri said, smiling at him. "It's funny, when we were younger I actually used to have a crush on you."
Now it was Gray's turn to be surprised.
"R-Really?" he sputtered.
Popuri nodded. "I told my mother all the time about it, but I thought you'd never like he back. It's funny, you know, because now…"
They were both silent. Then Popuri turned and faced Gray again.
"Gray, I'm really glad to hear this."
Gray slowly faced her. "You… you really are?"
Popuri nodded wordlessly. "Yes."
Their eyes met. They were stuck in a trance – Popuri was caught in Gray's dark, blue eyes and Gray caught in her bright green ones.
They didn't realize it, but they were pulling in closer to each other. And when they did, they didn't seem to care at all.
When they were close enough they closed their eyes. They kept moving closer. Gray opened one eye and he could've counted her eyelashes if he wanted too.
It was all lost to him soon enough, though.
Popuri seemed to be hesitant at first. But then she pushed her head slightly forward the rest of the way and finally they embraced; she pressed her soft lips against Gray's in a long, passionate kiss.
The kiss lasted a long time.
When they parted, they only moved a few inches before opening their eyes again. Once again they were lost in each other's eyes – and, before they even knew it, they had pulled in for another kiss.
When the second kiss ended they didn't part. Instead they took a second or two of a pause and kissed again, and repeated the motion until they started to kiss at a frantic pace, turning their bodies to face each other as they did.
-
Meanwhile, while his daughter was having an intimate moment, Basil cautiously crept through the silent, dark village of Flowerbud. He was rubbing his hands together, the shotgun held under his armpit.
"Bloody cold out here," he said through clenched teeth. "And it's almost pitch black – I should've brought my damn flashlight."
As he passed the church and approached the stairs to the town square, his instincts detected some kind of noise behind him. He turned around, his shotgun instantly in his hands.
Nothing was there.
For a moment Basil thought about calling out, but he knew that probably was a bad idea. Instead he turned left and started heading towards the bridge to cross over to the library. He figured it was part of his imagination playing tricks on him.
However, he was wrong.
As he passed the building that had Rick and Saibara's shops, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed him.
-
Danny and Josh were still inside the cabin. Ace had found an Uno Card Game box and they started a quiet game with Buzz at the center table.
"God damn," Danny said after Ace won for the third time. "You're a pro at this, Ace. Hell, you're an Ace."
"Have that nickname for a reason," Ace said, sounding boastful.
"Eh, don't worry about playing actual card games with him," Buzz reassured. "Ace completely sucks at poker."
"I do not!" Ace protested. "I… just never learned how to play it properly is all!"
"Yeah. Right," snorted Buzz.
Ace stood up from his seat. "Fine, I'll prove it to you! Danny, get the card set."
"Where is it?"
"In the desk drawer… no, the desk's over there… yeah! That's it!"
Danny opened one of the desk's small drawers and took out a small pack of regular cards held together by a rubber band. Bringing them back over, he placed them on the table between Ace and Buzz, who were sitting across from each other.
"You guys wanna play?" Buzz asked without looking away from Ace.
"Uh, no thanks," Jack said awkwardly.
"Pardon me for saying, but this sounds like it'll be entertaining," Danny remarked.
"No offense taken," Ace said. Despite his tough attitude, he did look a little nervous.
"Believe me, when Ace starts over-reacting like he does, it'll be entertaining enough," Buzz said with a sneer.
Frustrated, Ace sputtered, "Well, let's just… gah! Why are we getting so competitive over cards, anyway?"
Danny nodded to Jack. "I just know I'm gonna like this."
-
Maria and Josh were coming back from the wishing pond. Noticing Popuri was gone, she asked Tito if he knew where she was.
"I wouldn't know," Tito answered. "Try asking Joe; he's s'posed to keep an eye out for everyone."
"She's probably fine, if that's what you're worried about," Chief added.
Maria nodded. Telling Josh to go inside, she headed over to where Joe was farther uphill.
"Sergeant… Avery, right? Do you know where Popuri is?"
"Pink-haired lady, right? She went into the cave with that Gray fellow."
Maria snorted. "First my husband, and now Gray? How does somebody find any fucking time for romance during something like this?"
Joe pretended to be oblivious. "I don't know what you mean, ma'am."
Maria gave an irritated sigh. "Nevermind… I'll be inside."
Joe nodded. As Maria left, he took his binoculars and did his routine check on the entrance.
-
True to Maria's suspicions, Popuri and Gray were making love on the cave floor. Gray had pushed himself atop Popuri and had been searching his hands over her clothes – he couldn't help himself. Popuri, in turn, did the same to him.
As Popuri kissed him, Gray's hand came across a button on her leathery, vest-like overshirt. Without thinking, he unfastened it. But when he realized what he had done and froze, Popuri didn't seem to mind at all. She was still kissing him.
Shrugging, Gray continued through the rest of the buttons until the vest overshirt was cast to the side and forgotton. Gray had the strong urge to do the same to her formal shirt as Popuri began kissing his collarbone. As her lips pressed against his cheek, he turned his head and engaged them with his own.
Coming back to the ground, Gray began working his way down Popuri's lovely form, kissing her neck and her collarbone while she closed her eyes and let out seductive sighs as he did so; he went all the way down to pecking her shoulders, her torso and her breasts. His head stopped at level with her chest and he stared at the buttons on her shirt. Noticing his halt in movement, Popuri opened her eyes and raised her head to look at him. His eyes met hers.
"Can I?" he asked breathlessly.
Popuri nodded. That was all he needed to see.
Instantly he returned to her sweet, luscious lips and kissed her; at the same time his fingers fumbled on the first button to her formal shirt. As it unfastened, he grew hasty with the next button and almost had trouble with it. As he went through with unbuttoning the rest, his head returned to chest level and his eyes marveled at what was being revealed to him, occasionally lowering his head to gently kiss her chest.
As soon as the last button was undone Popuri leaned slightly upwards, balancing herself on her elbows, and Gray slid the shirt down her arms. Popuri leaned farther upwards so that she could bend her arms straight, letting out a tiny cry as she did so; her chest was inches from Gray's face. Gray couldn't resist noticing how enhanced Popuri's breasts seemed under her sexy, strapless pink bra.
Once the shirt was out of the picture Popuri instantly forced Gray to roll over so that she was on top, she let out a triumphant giggle, letting her beautiful pink hair loose, and then came in and kissed him again. As they were pulled into another session of kissing, Gray's hands caressed the fabrics of her dress before searching out the zipper and pulling down on it. As the dress slowly loosened and pulled shortly down Popuri's slender legs, revealing her panties, Popuri began working on the buttons of Gray's shirt. With a seductive twist of her thighs and the shifting of her legs, she managed to get the dress off without any assistance.
When Gray's shirt was opened, the couple rolled over the cold cave floor, not letting the temperature get to them. Gray raised his head and stared down at the beauty before him and she stared back up at him, grinning mischievously, her hair sprawled out over the floor around her head. There she was, the girl he loved, laying below him in nothing but her underwear.
"You know, it's funny," Popuri panted, still grinning. "Earlier today I thought I was in love with Jack and tried to tell him…"
"You… uh… I… what?" Gray said, almost stuttering again. "Wait… maybe we got a little too carried away here –"
"Oh, nevermind," Popuri said, trying not to think about it, and then pulled him in for another kiss.
Author's Note: Yeah. I may have been a bit perverted when I did this. But then again, that's your average horror flick for ya…
And before I forget, special thanks to the reviewers who have remained patient with me between updates for the past few months – more specifically kittychobit, Horseface, and WildGamer. Feedback means a lot to me, so please keep reviewing! Thanks.
SFR.