A.N. You all know the drill... "This is normal speak":This is translated sign language: *This is thought* "This is telepathy"
I waited for five hours until we stopped again, this time because Arlene needed sleep.
:I'll drive, honey. I'm sure the cab will hold me. If not, I'll pull the truck.: I signed to her. She nodded, then slid to the passenger side, Connor sleeping beside her, Sally resting in the back, with Darkrai. "For a guy who causes nightmares, he's pretty nice." I said in my helmet. I opened the door to the cab, and barely managed to slide into the seat. "Thank Arceus I don't have the energy shielding." I said in my helmet again. I proceeded to start the car again, and continued to drive, headed towards Lilycove, where we could hold up in the mall for a while. It took a while for me to learn how to be able to drive in such bulky armor, but I managed. After about three hours, the sun came up, but I decided to keep the rest of the car quiet. I still had a ways to go to get to Fortree, so I was simply plowing through until I was stopped by anything powerful enough to stop this car. I kept the course until we got to the Weather Institute, where I presumed I could get a place for my family and our new Companion to rest.
I hopped out of the cab after turning off the engine, and slowly opened the door to the back.
"Will? What's going on?" Darkrai asked me, his eye squinting at the bright light that was pouring in.
:I've found a place for us to properly rest. Help me get the kids out, I'll get Arlene and the guns.: I signed to him, picking up the duffel and my Keyblade, the both of them attaching to the magnetic holster on my back.
"Alright. I've got Sally, here. I'll make sure that she doesn't stir." Darkrai said, picking up my daughter. I nodded, then got out of the way of the door, and went over to the passenger side, where Connor and Arlene were sleeping. I opened it, picked up Connor, and gave him to Darkrai, who quickly dashed into the Institute. I pulled out Arlene, holding her in my arms bridal style, and carried her unconscious body into the place, her arms having been placed over my shoulder for added stability.
"Ngh, wha...?" Arlene said in the middle of the walk to the Institute. She looked up at me, and smiled, saying, "Hey Will." After carrying her into the Institute, and seeing that Darkrai and the kids passed out together, against the wall, I laid Arlene out on the bed, tucked her in, and put my first two right fingers to the front of my helmet, and then to her forehead.
After driving the truck into the garage, I went to the front entrance to the Institute and locked it, pushing a few desks against it to make sure that nothing got through. I then went upstairs to the sleeping party, and pulled a desk up to the window, laid down on it, and pulled the Rifle from my back, using its scope to look out for any undead. I sat in this position for about an hour, before I heard a noise, like the coo of a dove.
"Daddy?" I heard Sally say. I turned to see my daughter, standing next to the desk that I was on, looking at me with curiosity in her eyes.
*Hey, Sally. Did you have a good sleep?* I asked her.
"Well, yeah, but, there was this one guy who kept reappearing in them, until you came back, that is..." She said, pulling a chair up and climbing on it, using the added height to get up to the top of the desk, and she laid herself next to me.
*Who was this man? What did he look like?* I asked her.
"Well, he had on a suit, and a black tie. He had really white hands, like as white as my skin. He was really tall, even taller than you are now, Daddy." Sally explained, crawling over the Keyblade on my back.
*What about his face? What did that look like?* I asked her, returning my eye to the sight.
"Well, he didn't have one." She said, her tone of voice in deep mystery. "He had all of the signs, like deeper spaces where his eyes would be, but he didn't have them. No eyes, nose, or mouth. Just one big ball of white." She further explained.
*That's strange.* I sent to her.
"Yeah. Hey, can I see how you do that?" Sally asked me, dropping off of my head and into my arms, which were also using the gun.
*Sure.* I sent to her, helping her move her tiny body to look through the scope. I let her try and maneuver the gun, keeping the stock against my shoulder. I let her try to fire off a couple of rounds before her tiny hands had to stop. After I set her down, I saw both Darkrai and Connor up, as if there were danger, so Sally laughed while I mimicked laughing.
"Real mature, Will. Why did you fire off a couple of precious rounds?" Darkrai asked.
:Sally wanted to know how to shoot that gun. I wasn't going to have my daughter be uneducated in that place. Besides, I thought that she was having fun.: I signed. *You did have fun, right?* I sent to Sally.
"You bet I did, Daddy!" She said, running up to my leg, which she quickly jumped and wrapped her arms around. I placed my hands on her sides, pulling her up, and brought her into my armored arms, giving her a hug that I severely limited on squeezing.
*I love you Sally.* I sent to her.
"I love you too, Daddy!" She said back. She jumped from my arms into Connor's, who then set her back onto the ground.
Later that day, I was still at my post. I made the others stay, mainly for them to get another day's rest before we had to go out again. I had gotten three undead down after the practice between Sally and I today. I looked through the scope, the light of the moon illuminating everything enough for me to make out everything, when my motion sensor went off again. I looked at the small screen to see that it was a red dot, meaning an enemy, at least fifty yards from my current location, past the edge of the scanner. I put my eye to the scope and focused through it, not seeing anything at first. However, when I checked the scanner again, I was shocked.
The red dot moved from fifty yards to thirty yards, within at least two seconds. "Nothing moves that fast." I said to myself. I looked through the scope again, and spotted a man in a suit. I was about to pull my finger away from the trigger when I noticed something. He bore a striking similarity to the man from Sally's nightmare. And I saw how he had no face. "What the hell are you?" I said to no one. I placed my finger back to the trigger, and his head snapped to my direction.
"Daddy, no! He'll hurt you bad!" I heard Sally yell at me. I moved my head away from the gun for a second, and I heard a sudden rushing. The Tall Man suddenly moved up to the window, and knocked me away from the window, the rifle going to another part of the room. I moved my head, to see a different, more gruesome sight. The Tall Man started to stretch his face, and a large, bloodthirsty maw appeared at the bottom. From his back, sprouted large tentacles, each of them black, all of them looking deadly. I saw him then rush at me, knocking me to the wall, and tried to bite me. I managed to pull his jaws far enough away from the base of my neck to keep him preoccupied, but I was trying to roll a barrel uphill.
BANG!
I watched as the faceless man dropped, slack as a sock, to the ground. I looked to the direction of the shot, to see Sally, propped up against the wall, the Rifle next to her, and a chair that now had a decent-sized hole in it.
"Are you okay, Daddy?" Sally asked me. I nodded, then walked over to her, picking her up and holding her in a hug, and also watched as Arlene came in.
"Will! What happened?" She demanded.
"We were attacked by this thing. I recognize it. It is a creature that came around the same time as the undead epidemic came around. It is a horrendous freak of nature. It is incredibly fast, can change its size at will, has these tentacles for ripping, and loves to try and feast on young children. These things also have unusual dream properties. That is how I was affected. The lab that made them stole my nightmare inducing ability." Darkrai explained, kicking the body with one of his extended leg things.
"What lab made them?" Arlene asked.
"The Umbrella Corporation. I was imprisoned until this epidemic started. Looks like I wasn't the only thing to have gotten out. They were codenamed: SLENDERMEN." Darkrai explained, dragging the body to the window, and tossing it out.
:So, how many of these, 'Slender Men' were made?: I signed to him.
"Nine, at my last count. However, the bad news is that they are Asexual. They multiply after eating enough children." Darkrai explained, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Oh dear lord..." Arlene said, raising her hand to her mouth.
"The only good news is that they aren't pack hunters. This would be the only one for miles. Another good thing is that they are incredibly fragile. Pump them full of lead, and they'll stay down." Darkrai said, picking up the gun that he still had, and handed it to Connor, who took it. Arlene then moved back into the room, and Darkrai went back to where he was. I laid back against the desk, and Sally made a makeshift pillow out of my chest plate and her arms, and she fell asleep on me. I simply chuckled, and laid a hand over her, lightly, keeping her protected.
As the rest of the group slept, I began reviewing what new information I had gained. One, The Umbrella Corporation did much more than simply make the T-Virus. They also indulged in making Bio-weapons, which were capable of killing and reproducing at a massive and incredible rate. Two, they often used Pokemon in their experiments, taking natural qualities from them and implanting them in their Bio-weapons. Three, The Umbrella Corporation had to pay for everything that they had done here, and what they had done to the world.
After a while, My motion sensor picked something up again, but this one was tagged as a friendly. I looked in its direction, and saw Arlene, walking towards me. She sat down beside me, and took Sally out of my arms, using her milk-engorged breasts to serve as great pillows for our baby girl. I slid my arm behind Arlene, which caused her to smile, and lean towards me. She stopped her face just before my helmet, giving it a quick peck.
"I love you." She quietly said to me. I nodded, resting my hand over her left one, trying to reply to her.