Chapter Five:
Tea walked back into the living room of the Game Shop, finding Yugi kneeling on the floor in front of the TV, all four of the controllers ranged around him, his headset in place. On the screen, the four avatars remained in their various places unmoving. Yugi's was in the kitchen of the abandoned house holding the crucifix, Joey's was in the backyard of one of the houses a couple down from the manor, and Tea's and Tristan's were in the main street between the manor and the forest, somewhat closer to the forest.
"The demon hasn't appeared," Yugi said without taking his eyes off the screen. "It has to be about to get Kaiba. I should have gone with them."
"It'll be more helpful if we win the game," Tea said, kneeling down next to him. "If it's a real demon, we aren't going to be able to just challenge it to a Duel."
"But they could get hurt."
"Maybe Joey's right. Maybe the avatar has to die first. Den was in the house with Ken when… And it didn't touch her. Although, now that her avatar is dead…"
Yugi nodded grimly.
"While those guys get Kaiba, she's all by herself." Tea jumped back to her feet. "We can't leave her alone like that. We don't know it's going for Kaiba first, it could go for her first!"
Yugi looked up at her and got to his feet as well. "You're right. I'll go to-"
"No, I'll go."
"But-"
"Yugi, you're the best at games. Everyone knows that, and so do you. It doesn't matter if this isn't a game you've never played, that's never stopped you before."
"That was only because of Atemu."
"No, I don't think it was. I don't think he thought so and I know I don't. You're both the King of Games. You defeated him there in the tomb and that proves it. He knew it, Yugi, because he wasn't surprised. And you're definitely the best of our group."
"I don't have the slightest idea-"
"Doesn't matter. You're really smart. I'm sure you'll-"
"You can't go alone."
"Someone has to stay here with our avatars. And we can't leave her there alone. Win the game, Yugi, then there's nothing to worry about."
She turned and hurried from the apartment, ignoring Yugi's calls for her to come back. Knowing he'd stay, for the slightest chance he could win, she ignored him and ran.
She wished someone was with her, she was terrified, but all she could think about was Den. Tristan and Joey had chosen to head to Kaiba's, she had to choose Den.
Outside, she hurried for a block down the street to the intersection and managed to hail a cab. There were three hospitals taking care of Domino, but she asked the cabbie to take her to the closest. While the cab drove through the streets, Tea tried to decide what she was going to do. Unlike the boys, she didn't have any silver or weapons with her. Would they even do anything if she had? What would she do if the demon showed up?
The cab dropped her off at Shinatsuki Hospital and she hurried into the main lobby. Heading up to the intake desk, for a moment, she completely forgot Den's last name. As one of the nurses manning the desk turned to her with a smile, Tea froze.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" the nurse asked.
"Um, yes. I just… I'm so worried." Tea sniffled and reached into her purse, making like she was groping for her ID. "My little sister was just admitted. Our…Our brother…"
"Oh, honey." The nurse reached for something out of Tea's viewpoint. It turned out to be a box of tissues for her. Tea took a couple, keeping her head down so her bangs hung in her face and helped hide the fact she wasn't really crying. "What's her name?"
"Den…" Tea sniffled heavily and dabbed at her eyes as her mind raced. Thankfully, it came to her. "Den Setsuna. Our brother Ken… the cops say…"
"Oh… yes." Clearly the nurse knew. She looked up with sympathy, then gestured towards an orderly who had just dropped off a handful of paperwork. "Touma will take you up. Room 316. You'll have to talk with the attending there."
Touma smiled at her with practiced gentleness and walked with her towards a bank of elevators. Riding up, Tea kept sniffling and dabbing her eyes to maintain her cover. "How is Den?"
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't know," Touma said quietly. "You'd have to talk to the attending. Should be Dr. Sato."
Tea nodded and clutched her tissues to her mouth. The orderly walked her down the hospital corridor to a room outside of which two uniformed cops stood. One held out his hand when they came up.
"Sorry, no one allowed inside."
"Her sister-" the orderly started, but the cop was still shaking his head.
"No one. Protective order."
"But Den needs me," Tea said shakily, trying to edge sideways so she could see into the room. All that was visible was a corner of the hospital bed.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," the cop said. "No one but the doctor. But you can talk to him when he gets back."
Tea tried to protest, both to keep up her charade and to get inside. It didn't seem like the demon was here, but Tea wanted to talk to Den, try to get her to come back to the Game Shop with her. The cops were polite, but firm. Touma smiled at her sympathetically and gestured back down the hall to the floor's waiting room.
"Sorry, Miss Setsuna," he said, assuming Tea' s last name. "We'll be sure to let Dr. Sato know you're here, but you'll have to wait. If you need anything, the nurses down there at the third floor nurse's station will be able to help."
He left. Tea sighed, then paced around the small area. What was she to do now? At least it seemed the demon was not here. Of course, that meant it probably was at Kaiba's, and she was cold with fear for Joey and Tristan.
**Tea Gardner life-force draining**
Tea uttered a little scream. She whirled around, but there was nothing there.
The voice from the game. She was sure she had just heard it. How could she have heard it here?
Worse, her avatar was in trouble. If she died, she would be vulnerable to the demon.
**Joey Wheeler life-force draining**
Oh, no. Joey, too. It seemed Yugi was becoming overwhelmed. What could they do?
**Tristan Taylor life-force draining**
Tea looked down the hall, wondering if she could somehow distract the two cops to leave. Or maybe she could try to find some way to find a doctor's clothes and sneak past the cops.
A chill suddenly came over Tea and she saw her breath plume from her mouth. Dread washed over her and she felt every muscle tense.
**Tea Gardner life-force stabilized**
Relief was short lived, because the lights above began flickering. The cold intensified and Tea knew the demon had arrived.
A shushing, scraping sound came from the hall just in front of the little waiting room alcove. As Tea watched, a shadow, stuttering in the flickering light like a living thing itself, began to form at the right side of the hallway. As she watched, it began to grow, and slowly the demon came into view.
It was tall, but walked in a shuffling, hunched manner. It was black as pitch, and seemed semi-corporeal, its outline shifting and twitching. It seemed to have the mixed features of a man, a wolf, and a bull. It was mostly human in form, with overly long arms; a wolf-like head with raked bull's horns; a ropey, bovine tail; and claws as long as an eagle's on each finger and cloven hooves. It had a long mane and a swatch of fur on the tail that twisted and writhed as if made of black flame.
The demon paused in the hall, then slowly turned toward Tea. Scarlet eyes with no discernible sclera and black, elliptical pupils glowed in the twisted, wolf like face. As Tea stood there in terror, the demon stared at her in silence for a long moment before slowly turning away and starting back down the hall.
Surprised yells came from the cops in front of Den's hospital room. The demon disappeared from Tea's view and she stood and listened to the cops yelling at the demon to stop and questioning each other if they saw the same thing. Sudden gunfire exploded through the hall and screams erupted from patients' rooms. A grating, metallic screech added to the cacophony.
Tea's paralysis broke. Vaguely aware of the disembodied game voice telling her that Joey's and Tristan's avatars' life-forces were stabilized, Tea ran to the corner of the alcove and peered cautiously into the hall.
The demon was standing in front of Den's hospital room. It was holding one of the policemen by the throat, the other on his back on the floor with the demon's right foot on his chest. The policeman suspended in air kicked his legs spastically, then raised his pistol and pressed the muzzle to the demon's head between the horns. A gunshot was muffled by the demon's flesh and it staggered back with another screech, its foot leaving the second policeman.
The gunshot appeared to merely sting. The demon did not go down and instead threw the policeman like a doll down the hallway. He crashed into a nurse and two patients who had come into the hallway, knocking them all down like ten pins. The demon then ignored everyone and turned into the hospital room.
Den's terrified scream wavered and cracked. More shouts and screams were coming in all directions as nurses, orderlies, patients, and doctors ran away or came closer depending on whether they'd seen the demon or not.
Tea ran forward without thinking. She could hear Den sobbing hysterically and begging for mercy and she could not ignore that petrified pleading. She bent and grabbed the one policeman's gun from the floor, only dimly registering the cop was alive and trying to get up. She stopped in the doorway.
Den was in the far corner of the room, crouched down and with her hands up as if to ward off the demon, sobbing and cringing. The demon stood beside the foot of the bed, staring down at her, its bovine tail swaying slowly back and forth. Then it started for her.
Tea ran forward, pressed her gun into the demon's back, and pulled the trigger. The demon arched back with a screech, then reached back and clubbed Tea with a muscular arm. She hit the wall and the air was driven from her lungs. The gun spun away across the floor and Tea crumpled.
Struggling to breathe, she watched the demon look at her a moment, then turn back to Den.
"Leave…her alone…" Tea gasped, trying to push herself up.
"What the fuck is that?!"
It was an orderly. Two of them stood in the doorway, gaping at the demon. It ignored them and stepped towards Den.
"No!" Tea cried.
The orderly who had spoken stumbled into the room, seized the empty IV rack, then swung it around like a bat. It hit the demon in the back, who didn't react. He hammered again, then as the demon reached Den and bent down, he raised it up like a club and brought it down on the demon's head. The IV rack seemed to bounce out of his hands and he clutched them like shock had reverberated up the metal pole.
A doctor came in more timidly, but then he lunged forward and stabbed a needle into the demon's back. The demon made no noise, just stood up, turned, and seized both the doctor and the orderly. The second orderly and two security guards came rushing in. The two guards had truncheons and they started hitting the demon everywhere they could reach.
The doctor struck the wall by the door and slid to the ground. The demon reached for one of the guards, who danced back, striking the outstretched hand over and over.
Tea reached out towards Den and called her name. The girl was still in a ball on the floor across the room, watching in wide-eyed numb terror.
"Den! Den! Come here, come to me!" Tea cried.
The girl's eyes finally moved to Tea, but she didn't move. She shook her head frantically, clutching herself. A scream left her mouth and she hunkered down as the orderly went flying onto the bed and bounced off the other side to the floor. The demon caught one of the security guard's arms and there was a snap of bone and a scream of pain.
"Den! Please, come here! Now, while you can!"
The girl looked at Tea, looked up at the demon, started to uncurl, then froze again. Then she looked at Tea again and finally started crawling rapidly across the floor. She bypassed the demon, just inches to spare as it swung the guard around and flung him to the floor. Den reached out and seized Tea's hand, who ignored the bone-crushing force of panic. She pulled Den to her feet, dragging her to the door, seeing the doctor who had been thrown getting up. Out in the hall, the cop who had been stepped on was hunched against the wall, being attended to by the other cop who had been flung down the hallway and a nurse. There was blood down the side of his face, but he otherwise didn't seem harmed. Tea jumped over the cop's outstretched legs and pulled Den with her towards the stairwell beside the elevators.
"What's happening, what's happening?" Den shrieked as they ran.
"I don't know."
Tea looked over her shoulder. The demon came into the hall. It was dragging the doctor by the leg. Shrieks and curses resumed as all the people in the hallway saw it. Tea slammed into someone and nearly went down, but Den yanked her to her feet. They had to fight against other people scrambling to find cover and plunged into the stairwell. They clattered down the stairs, a patient, a nurse, and two people who were probably visitors just ahead of them, more people behind them. Trying to come up were another three security guards. A collision was unavoidable and one of the visitors crashed into a security guard and they both went tumbling down the stairs to the landing. The nurse started to go on, but then stopped and turned back, as did both of the other security guards.
Den nearly pulled Tea off her feet taking the corner of the landing as fast as she could. Tea went with her, being passed by another security guard and two orderlies, almost overrun by the people behind them.
Down in the main lobby, Tea pulled Den with her away from the front doors, where a glut of people trying to escape had clogged the entryway. Nurses, cops, orderlies, doctors, visitors, and security guards were yelling confused questions and trying to establish order.
The two women ran down a hall, took a corner, ran down another hallway, and crashed through a door marked Exit. They ended up in a parking garage and paused, both out of breath. Tea clutched a stitch in her side. Den held her other hand with both of hers, gasping for breath and still crying.
"What do we do?" she panted. "Who are you, how did you know?"
"My name is Tea. We were playing the game as well."
Tea straightened and started walking, pulling Den with her. "We have to get back to the Game Shop."
"Where?"
"Kame Game Shop. Where Yugi is trying to win the game." Tea knew she wasn't explaining enough, but she was too out of breath.
The garage was dim and lit with orange sodium lights. Only about half of the spaces were filled, and the only sound was their footsteps.
"What happens if he wins?"
"We don't know. We only hope that it'll send the demon back to wherever it came from."
Den looked down at the cement floor. "But it won't bring back my brother."
Tea had nothing to say to that.
tbc...
A/N: I'm very pleased by the reviews I see letting me know people are still reading this. I greatly appreciate your patience with me as I'm such a slow writer. I hope you're still enjoying and I look to continue this to the end.