CHAPTER 2
"Brilliant." Haruka muttered in my ear. "What do we do now?"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" Shouted Makoto, unleashing her attack into a group of zombies, splattering numerous body parts across the street. They still kept coming.
"This is ridiculous!" I shouted. "How much does it take to kill these guys?"
"I dunno." Replied Rei. "BURNING MANDALA!"
The five fiery rings cut apart the equivalent number of zombies.
"We're running out of time!" Usagi shouted.
"Really? What makes you think that?" Ami asked her. The zombies were less than three metres away. I took a gamble. I gathered myself and jumped through the window of the building next to me, splintering the glass in all directions.
"Come on!" I beckoned to the others.
"What is she playing at?" I heard Michiru say.
"She's got the right idea, let's go!" Setsuna replied and the other eight, with the cats in tow followed me.
"Minako-chan, are you okay?" Rei asked me. "You didn't hurt yourself jumping through that window, did you?"
I shook my head. "Nope. Used to break windows all the time as Sailor V. Seems natural to me."
Rei smiled. I caught sight of something on the wall. I stopped and moved closer to inspect it.
"What is it Minako-chan?" Hotaru asked me.
"I've found a map of the town." I replied, whilst still looking at it. "I don't know about you, but I want to find somewhere safe."
"Why?" Usagi put in. "We're the Sailor Senshi, we can wax anything that gets in our way."
"But our energy won't hold out for constant attacks." Setsuna put in. I could see that this was going to degenerate into a planning meeting. Personally I didn't feel safe in that building, not with zombies wandering around outside.
"What do you suggest?" Haruka put in. "We beat them to death with frozen Icelandic cod? There's a fish shop across the street."
"No need to be sarcastic." I told her. "We just need to find some proper offensive weapons."
"I don't need any." Haruka replied. "I've got a sword."
"And I've got this!" Hotaru announced, flaunting the Silence Glaive.
"So, what do we do?" Usagi asked.
"I don't care, as long as we kick butt!" Put in Makoto.
There was a crash behind us. The zombies had followed us. Hotaru spun round and neatly cleaved four zombies in two.
"I think its time for us to leave." Luna suggested. "Do you have any ideas on where to go, Minako?"
I scrutinised the map.
"I don't know yet. Give me a minute."
"We don't have a minute!" Usagi pointed out.
"Watch it!" Haruka shouted at me. I spun round just in time to see a zombie lurch sickeningly towards me. I screamed. The zombie went to grab my neck, but didn't get any further. Hotaru jumped in behind it and ran it through with her glaive. The zombie stopped moving, gave a small death cry and pitched forward, right on top of me!
"Aaaagh!" I screamed as I fell backwards, pushed by the weight of the zombie, which was twice the size of me. The stink was incredible, due to the fact that the body was decaying.
"Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" I pleaded, trying to fight it. The others were too busy, so I just lay there with a dead zombie on top. Eventually Haruka saw what had happened and helped me out.
"Thanks Haruka-chan!" I said to her, wiping myself down.
I went back to scrutinising the wall. I looked over it trying to find somewhere we could use as a safe house. Suddenly I heard a scream. I spun around just in time to see Hotaru fall beside something like a dinosaur.
"HOTARU-CHAN!" I shouted. I ran towards her. My first thought was that a zombie had bitten her, but this wasn't the case. There was a large cut in her leg, where something sharp had struck her. I turned to face the creature that looked like it wanted to have me for breakfast.
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" I shouted. The creature didn't know what hit it as it was vaporised. I knelt down beside Hotaru, who was moaning.
"Hotaru-chan, are you okay?" I asked her, picking her up.
"Y…yeah, I think so Minako-chan. But I don't think I can walk very well."
The others disposed of the remainder of the zombies and joined me.
"What happened?" I heard Luna say.
"I…I don't know." Hotaru weakly replied. I saw this…thing. A bit like a dinosaur, it attacked me. Its claw sliced my leg. It hurts!"
She burst into tears because of the pain. Setsuna came over and comforted her.
I ran back over to the map, scanning it.
"Bingo!" I yelled.
"What is it?" Ami asked me.
"There's a hospital not too far from here. There's got to be some way of treating Hotaru-chan there."
"But the place is swarming with zombies." Usagi put in. "How are we going to get past them?"
"You don't need to worry about that." I replied to her. I knew what I had to do. "I'm going."
"No, Minako-chan!" Rei protested. "You'll get yourself killed!"
"Well, that's better than all of us dying." I replied. "Don't try and stop me. I know where the hospital is, and I'm fast. I'll be okay."
"No, I won't let you!" Makoto put in. "It's too dangerous."
"Being a Sailor Senshi means that danger is all around us. I'm kinda used to it." I grinned. "See ya around!"
I winked at them and ran out the door.
Rei
Minako asked me to talk about the small bit just after she left. After she ran out the door, Haruka and myself tried to follow, but when we got outside we couldn't see her. We looked around but eventually gave up and went back to where Hotaru was. Setsuna had ripped a strip off a curtain hanging nearby, and had wrapped it tightly around Hotaru's leg in an effort to stop the bleeding.
Usagi was in a corner, trying to prevent herself from crying. I may seem a little cold hearted at times, but I am compassionate when it's due. I went over to her and put my arm around her shoulder.
"I'm sure Minako-chan knows what she's doing." I said to her in a low voice.
"Yeah, I suppose so." Usagi agreed. "But what if she doesn't come back?"
I sighed. Minako was almost as much of a goof artist as Usagi, but I knew that she'd had the most experience, having been a Senshi longer than any of us, with the exception of Setsuna. But Minako had never been up against zombies. None of us had, and therefore we couldn't predict what would happen. Would Minako make it back in one piece? Would she make it back at all?
I rescued myself from brooding, and went over to where Hotaru lay.
"How are you feeling, Hotaru-chan?" I asked as soothingly as possible.
"Okay, I guess. Where's Minako-chan?"
"She's gone to get you some help."
"I hope she'll be okay."
"We all do. But I think Minako-chan knows what she's doing."
Minako
After that small interlude from Rei, I'm back! It's ironic that Rei thought that I knew what I was doing, because I sure as hell didn't!
"I must be crazy!" I said aloud to myself as I ran along the streets. I knew where I was going, but I didn't know what I had to do once I finally got to the hospital. Rounding a corner, I nearly ran into the clutches of a zombie. He lunged for me but I jumped into the air, and kicked him in the head. The head detached itself from the body and flew into the arms of another zombie.
"Detachable limbs?" I muttered aloud. "There's got to be selling potential there."
I ran past the group of zombies, weaving in between them. One managed to grab my arm but I punched his face in (literally) before he could chow down. Looking around I saw an illuminated red cross on a building up ahead.
"The hospital!" I breathed. "About time."
I ran towards it, avoiding the numerous zombies that infested the street. I ran up the steps and kicked open the door. On entering the lobby I relaxed a little. No zombies.
"I'm not used to running." I wheezed, holding my hand to my chest.
I looked around for some sort of first aid cabinet or dressings drawer. There was nothing in the lobby so I wandered down the corridor. Still nothing.
"Where do they keep the things?" I asked out loud. My voice echoed round the building in an eerie way. I was already on edge and this didn't help matters. Not for the first time that day I questioned my intellect. I pushed open the door to a surgery. There was a cabinet marked 'first aid' in the corner. I breathed a sigh of relief and opened it. Inside was an assortment of bandages, slings, plasters, sprays, you name it. I grabbed a handful of antiseptic sprays and a few rolls of bandages.
I turned to go but a movement caught my eye. One of the boxes at the back of the cabinet was moving. The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' nearly applied to me that day. I carefully moved the box back to see what was behind it. Suddenly with a lightning movement the vine which was behind it wound tightly around my wrist, yanking it back. I screamed, naturally and fought it. With one hand held by the vine I looked around for something to fight back with. I spotted a scalpel on the surgical unit next to me. I grabbed it and cut the vine, which on closer inspection was only an inch or so in diameter.
"That was close." I breathed. What would I have done if it had grabbed my neck? I probably wouldn't have survived. I knew that there was a lot more to Fujima than met the eye. I decided to get back to the others, Hotaru needed me.
Picking up the bandages that I'd dropped whilst getting to grips with the vine – or rather whilst the vine was getting to grips with me, I retraced my steps to the lobby and was relieved that it was still clear of zombies. I took a quick look round for anything useful and my eyes focused on a cabinet in the office. It was a large metal cabinet, which I immediately took an interest in.
I was a lot more cautious with this cabinet, after the incident with the vine I didn't want a repeat attack. I carefully opened it. The first thing I noticed was that there were no vines. The second thing I noticed caused me to grin like somebody who'd just escaped a lunatic asylum.
Arranged neatly on the racks were weapons. Later I found out that these were MP5 Assault rifles but at that point I didn't care what they were. They were big, black and deadly. I picked one up and felt it. It was reassuringly heavy and I knew that I'd be a lot safer on the streets with it. I sighed. I didn't have any pockets on my Senshi uniform so I transformed back.
Back as the everyday attractive high school girl I looked around for some other clothes. There were a few patients' lockers around and I opened each one in turn. There was a boiler suit, a biker's outfit and a neat suit amongst other things. Upon opening the sixth locker, I found what I wanted. There was a knee length combat-style skirt with a few pockets in the side, a neat top and a long coat with deep pockets. Perfect.
Surprisingly they fitted quite well and I found myself wondering whose clothes they were. In any case, I'm sure that person didn't want them back, since she probably was a zombie by now. I turned back to the gun cabinet, and picked up a few clips of ammunition, about three hundred rounds. Stuffing them into convenient pockets I filled the others up with the bandages and sprays that I'd left on the reception counter. I picked up the MP5 and switched the safety catch off. I grinned.
"Watch out, Fujima!" I said menacingly. "Aino Minako is coming to town!"
Wandering through the streets back towards the building where the others were camped was a lot more fun than I first realised. Any zombie that got in my way, I shot.
"This is so much fun, it's scary!" I said to myself as I blasted the head off another zombie. I was conserving ammo as much as I could.
I would have rather have used my Senshi powers, but I knew that I didn't have the energy to keep using my attacks. In any case, a gun was a lot faster than the Crescent Beam.
I saw the building and breathed a sigh of relief. I climbed back in the window and headed towards the room where I left everyone.
"Guys!" I shouted. "I'm back!"
"MINAKO-CHAN!" I heard Rei shout. Within the space of a few nanoseconds Usagi, Rei and Artemis charged out the room. They stopped mid run as they saw my new outfit, complete with large gun.
"Woah!" Rei exclaimed. "Look what the cat dragged in."
"Hey!" Snapped Artemis. "I take offence at that!"
"Sorry." Rei apologised.
"Hey, Minako-chan." Usagi put in. "Where did you get that outfit?"
"At the hospital." I replied, shifting the weight of the MP5. The others noticed it properly for the first time.
"Where did you get that?!" Rei exclaimed. "Wait. Don't tell me, at the hospital, right?"
I nodded.
"Well, that's our next port of call. How many are there?"
"In the cabinet I looked at, there was about six, including this one. So now there's about five."
"Okay." Usagi said, changing the subject. "Did you find anything besides cool guns?"
"Yeah." I replied, moving through to the others, who also enquired about the gun. "I got some bandages and antiseptic spray for Hotaru-chan, is she okay?"
"She's a little better, but the wound needs proper dressing." Luna informed me.
I knelt down, and asked Haruka to help me. Hotaru was asleep at the time, which was a good thing because her body was limp. I got out an antiseptic spray and Setsuna carefully unwound the cloth we had originally used. I knew that strictly you shouldn't do that, but I needed access to the wound.
Luckily, none of the cloth had stuck and I sprayed the wound with the antiseptic spray. I unwrapped a bandage and applied it to the wound, wrapping it as tight as I dared around Hotaru's leg.
"Any idea how long that will take to heal?" I asked casually.
"I don't know." Michiru replied. "It would be better if we got her to a hospital. Is there any staff at the hospital, Minako-chan?"
"No. Or at least I didn't see any."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Usagi asked. "Let's go!"
"Wait!" I yelled. "There's something else."
"What is it Minako?" Luna asked me. I felt very uncomfortable.
"Th…there was this vine, and it grabbed my wrist. I fought it off, but there's probably more of them linked to a central point."
"It's okay, Minako." Artemis put in. "We'll protect you if it grabs you again."
I felt wonderfully reassured by this.
Our journey back to the hospital was uneventful in terms of any major incident. Zombies turned up occasionally, and were soon reduced to kit form by me. Haruka and Michiru were helping Hotaru walk as best as she can. On arrival at the hospital, we put her on a stretcher in a cubicle and discussed what we were going to do. Rei and Makoto fetched the other MP5s and we looked around for some more. We did eventually find enough for all of us, and enough ammo to go round.
"I want to find out what caused this." I said to the others. There was general agreement and we decided to go and find some information. Everyone transformed back into their normal selves and we split into two teams. One team comprising of the inner Senshi would go and find out some information, the other team, composed of the outer Senshi would hold the fort and guard Hotaru.
"Let's get on with it." Usagi instructed. We shook hands with the outer Senshi and wished each other luck.
After half an hour we hadn't found much. I began to get totally bored, there were no enemies and this didn't feel right. We had entered a part of the hospital that didn't look very hospital like. The walls and door were metal, kind of like the sort of laboratory you'd find in science-fiction films.
Rounding a corner, I felt my heart tighten. The walls were covered with vines similar to the one that had caused me grief around two hours before. Rei sensed my apprehension and smiled at me.
"Don't worry. We'll be okay." She reassured me.
We cautiously moved down the corridor. A couple of vines moved towards us, one grabbing Usagi's leg pulling her down. I blew a hole in the vine and helped Usagi up. She was a little frightened.
"I understand now how you felt when it grabbed you." Usagi said to me. I smiled a little.
"Well, we've both had a gripping experience!" I quipped. I was met with a picture of non-humour.
"Sorry." I apologised.
Amy gave an excited squeak, which startled us.
"What is it, Ami-chan?" Makoto asked her.
"I've found a diary!" She said, picking up a small book. Very diary like.
"Well, read the thing then." I told her. "The last few entries."
"Okay." Replied Ami and started reading.
May 14th
Why did I get assigned to Umbrella Fujima? It's just a storage facility for Christ's sake! One good thing, though. There is some research being run on the G-Virus. After Prof. Birkin was killed last year, a few of our scientists want his project to live on. How they got hold of the formula is anybody's guess, I think they got it before Raccoon City was nuked. Anyway, hopefully the experiments will prove to be quite…interesting.
May 16th
A new development on the G-Virus. We applied a small dose to a common garden creeper, the results were quite astounding. What we are left with is a twenty foot tall multi-vined carnivorous killing machine. Hell, it's even nastier than Plant 42! Hopefully we can work on the DNA of this thing, with the idea of perfecting a defensive system from intruders.
May 19th
That stupid imbecile Jones has released the T-Virus into the town! The absolute fool! Anyone infected with that virus becomes a zombie within three hours. Luckily there are a few vials of the vaccine on level 16, and a vaccine generation machine on level 12, so we should be okay until we clean this mess up. In the meantime, I'm going to work on the G-Plant.
May 23rd
This is it. This is the end of the road for me. The T-Virus has taken hold of the town, so I'm going to try to get out of here as soon as possible. I've made a cache of weapons in the level 13 storage facility, the code for the door is 1726. That should be easy enough to remember. Now all I have to do is get past the G-Plant without alerting it. It's not going to be easy.
We all looked at Ami.
"Keep going." Makoto told her.
"That's it." She replied. "That's the last entry. Obviously the guy didn't manage to get past the G-Plant."
"What is the G-Plant?" Rei asked.
"I think this is it!" Usagi exclaimed.
We followed the sound of her voice and found ourselves in a huge room. But it wasn't the room that took our breath away. It was the enormous writhing mass in the centre of the room.
"Yep." I muttered. "We've found it."
"Now what do we do?" Rei asked.