Chapter 01

Falco Alfred

Two hours later...

*Lilypad High School*

Falco Alfred was never the kind of kid to speak up or act out. He always kept to himself, which made him branded as the loner of Lilypad High School. His unruly, black hair was usually kept under a cap where it stuck out at the sides, and he had very rare eyes; one of them was blue, and the other was green. He was slightly short as well, only five and a half feet, but he had much worse problems.

He was also the most mocked teenager in the entire school. In the first week of school, some punk had stolen his binder, which was where he was carrying his personal writing. Falco found that very ironic, because it was only for one day that he was contain these files in his school binder, and that was the day it was stolen.

The writings were bits and pieces he did in his free time. He loved writing, and planned on being a fictional writing when he graduated. They were all based on small things that he liked, from the video games he played to the animés he watched.

His writings were photocopied, and literally posted all over the walls for all to see. He had ripped them off whenever he saw them, but the damage was done. The high school's student population was now officially his enemy. They knew all of his fantasies, his opinions and his ideas.

Falco had a love for monsters and creatures, which ranged from playing Dungeons & Dragons with his two sisters, playing Pokémon and creating new kinds, to original stories of science fictional aliens and fantasy monsters. Many small writings and ideas of his took up many pages. His D&D character's sheet, an elvin ranger, was also part of his collection of personal writings.

Several animés were included in his fictional writings. Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Slayers, Cardcaptors, and a few other, less-known animés. He created original characters, and wrote many ideas for "pairing" characters.

He played video and computer games, and had a love for the series of Monkey Island, Nintendo's characters, and games that the company Blizzard made; ideas for stories were part of his writing, as well as brief daydreams of him in the world of Starcraft or Warcraft written down for fun.

His taste of music was different too, or, in the words of the popular and tough kids, queer. He preferred "Weird Al" Yankovic, and hated the most-liked music of the majority of the school, which was Eminem, Marilyn Manson, AC-DC and the like. Falco knew such opinions would get nothing but hatred after the first two days of going to the school, and he was more than right.

Falco Alfred also had the most unthinkable opinion that caused teenagers to spray paint his locker with disgusting words, to insult him in the hallways without even lowering their voices, and to treat him with intense discrimination when he was part of any group project. He liked the Star Wars character Jar-Jar Binks; he even made a D&D character sheet for him. Several of the writing ideas were around Jar-Jar, even one where the Gungan becomes a Jedi Knight!

The average human might think Falco Alfred was a strange child if he had only known him through these writings. That was how the other teenagers reacted to him, with immature hatred and blatant discrimination. Members of each grade level mocked the junior, but it was hard to tell who were supposed to be freshmen and who were seniors, because they all insulted him at the same level of intelligence.

Falco Alfred had taken five months of this, and his grades were slipping; he was breaking down emotionally inside, and was going his parents if they would consider moving before he was beaten. They had moved to Lilypad City this year, and Falco wanted more than anything to move back.

He lived with his mom, step dad and two stepsisters. Falco's biological father had traveled to Raccoon City to meet a friend, and never came back. His step dad was an old friend of mom, who had also lost his wife when she visited her sister in Raccoon City. He had two daughters, Jessica and Krystal, and they were the best sisters Falco could ask for.

It was Friday. School was out, and he was walking out of his English class, thinking about the essay he taken so much time into writing. He had just received it back, and discovered he had earned a B, which made him very unhappy; he thought it was his best work in a long time, but he figured right then it was just not any good.

"Look out, here comes faggot boy!" he heard someone say outloud when he headed for his locker. Ignoring the usual gibes, he started twirling the numeral lock.

"Hey, you screwing Jar-Jar tonight, instead of coming to the School Swing?" someone called out, getting scattered laughs.

Falco rolled his eyes as he opened his locker. "Why do people still find that funny after two million times?" he grumbled to himself as he shoved his English textbook into the locker. He pulled out his history book, for he would be studying tonight, instead of going to the School Swing.

He really did not want to participate in any event that was going to contain the majority of the high school board in one room. Especially when it was in the name of a party with a really, really stupid name! Then again, there weren't a lot of students that struck Falco as creative in his multi-colored eyes.

Only two stood out. Krystal, who was his stepsister. She had tried to run for High School President, but lost to another girl, whom Krystal described as "the definition of a power-hungry bimbo." Falco was inclined to agree, although he also felt that being her stepbrother was part of the reason she lost as well. The other other being he would consider being of remote intelligence and creativity in this school was a very popular, very pretty girl named Mandy Sabrina.

Mandy could not be mistaken for any of the light-headed, prissy girls of Lilypad High School. She made people think twice about telling dumb blond jokes around her, not only because she had one of the highest grade averages in the school, but she was also very intimidating in her own way. Maybe it was because she took the high school's material arts class, maybe because her emerald eyes were vocal on their own, or maybe it was that she had enough wit to be today's Groucho Marx.

Sure, she wasn't perfect. Anyone who hung out with the popular kids definitely was not flawless, to Falco's opinion; she probably had an issue or two that would be the reason. He had also seen her reading one of the photocopied versions of his writings, and she was smiling quite broadly, so it was clear to him that she thought he was loony too. He still didn't know which piece it was that she had read to that day, but did it matter?

Someone walked up to Falco while he was still squinting into his locker. She was wearing blue jeans, a plain green t-shirt, a black watch, and white sneakers. Her hair reached down to her waist freely, and was dyed blue; a dark, animé-like blue. She was also taller than Falco by a couple inches.

"Ya got a date for the dance yet?" she asked him playfully.

Falco smirked at his stepsister, who grinned back. Krystal knew perfectly that he was not going, but she wasn't going to resist teasing him. "Sure do," he replied. "Jar-Jar Binks."

"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically as she cocked her eyebrow. She didn't care much for Star Wars, so her opinion on Jar-Jar was neutral. She never could understand how people could get so worked up on a secondary character anyway.

"How about you?" he asked. "You ready for the dance?"

"Please!" she scoffed as they walked to the parking lot. Krystal was one-hundred percent tomboy, not giving a second thought about the clothes she pulled on each day. "You know just as well as I do that no one asked me!"

"In other words, you're going like that," he hypothesized as he pointed at her jeans and t-shirt look.

"You've got it, little brother," Krystal was only a year older than Falco, and just barely so. Even though they were related by their parents being married only, the two acted like normal siblings.

They reached the parking lot, and entered his step dad's car. Even though both had a driver's license, Krystal usually drove. As she started up the car, she muttered slightly, "You know, you should go anyway. It'd be the perfect opportunity to meet a girl."

"Like who?" replied Falco, a little more harshly than he meant to. Krystal knew how much torment he had been putting up with at school, and even though she shared barely any herself, she couldn't stand it. It hurt her to see her stepbrother mocked so much, even though they had only known each other for less than a year.

"I dunno," she admitted as she backed out. "Maybe that Paige chick?"

"Paige Danielle?" he repeated, amazed Krystal even suggested that. "Are you nuts? Someone could ask her out, and someone else could invite her ego out too!"

"I know. I thought you could ask her ego out," she joked as she drove out of the school.

"Nah, there's no one I'd like to dance with," he commented as he leaned back in his seat.

"How about Mandy?" she asked. "I hear she's very sweet!"

Falco didn't reply at first, he just stared out his window. Krystal was now nervous that he had offended him, for he had told her once that he had a crush on Mandy Sabrina. She also knew that he had tried several times to drop that crush and move on, but his attraction to her was too strong.

"She's one of the popular kids," he finally muttered. "How sweet can she be? Just because she's good-looking doesn't mean she's my type,"

"Have you even talked to her?" asked Krystal.

"...No. She's always hanging with those freaks who if get within a ten-foot radius of them, they look like a waste treatment plant moved next door."

"Does she act like that?" challenged his stepsister.

Falco thought about it, then replied, "No."

"So, go to the dance and ask her! She's not taken, from what I hear!"

"What about Shaun Fogel?"

Krystal rolled her dark green eyes when he thought about Shaun Fogel. As far as Falco and Krystal was concerned, if Shaun didn't grow up to be a pimp, he was one already. He was the most popular boy, groping the girls that would let him. He had made the mistake of getting too fresh with Krystal once, and received a slap across a face that he for so long deserved. Unfortunately, this was also during the time when Krystal was running for president, so her chances dropped to bar none after she slapped the most popular boy in school. What was worse was that the "attack" was "unprovoked," or so the school newspaper claimed.

"If that asshole gets ten feet to Mandy, you know she'll kick the shit out of him, Falco!" she said. "You know what goes on between those two!"

She was right. Mandy would have nothing to do with Shaun, and it was known across the school that the most popular boy wanted her in any way possible. Mandy kept her distance from him as much as possible.

"Come on, Falco!" Krystal spoke up, taunting her stepbrother a little. "Wouldn't you like to dance with her?" Then she added in a sing-song voice, "She's not that bad-looking!"

Falco smirked at the older girl. "Not that good-looking? That doesn't come close to describing her and you know it."

"Ah, so the truth comes out!" Krystal was enjoying this tremendously; she had Falco hooked. "She's got nice legs, great hair, beautiful eyes, and good...how do you boys call them today?"

Falco made a face, knowing what Krystal was insinuating. Truth was, Falco never cared for discussing the subject with anybody, especially since it was incredibly embarrassing to him. He was not about to admit what he thought of Mandy's chest, especially not to his stepsister.

Krystal raised an eyebrow, then added, "She's quite decent in that department. And she doesn't look irregular either...,"

"Are you going to start that again?!" exclaimed Falco playfully.

Ever since Krystal lost her run for president, she was fuming over the winner. Krystal never admitted it to anyone but her family, but she believed the girl had somehow received breast implants; she also suspected that her brain had been removed and stuffed in her chest for more size. Falco just suspected tissues to be the case, but Krystal brought up the matter constantly. He couldn't blame her, for the bleached blond with blue eyes portrayed the stereotypical "stupid blond," and had won by doing nothing after all Krystal had worked for to be High School President.

"No, I'm not!" said Krystal firmly. She concentrated on the road, and Falco drifted off into space. That was a constant habit of his.

His mind was suddenly filled of images of Mandy. She looked so gorgeous to him, and she only know him through some stupid writings that were pilfered from him. He wanted more than anything to just talk to her, get to know her personally. Yet she was always surrounded by those stupid-

"That bitch was like Lara Croft with extra implants!" Krystal suddenly grumbled, and Falco burst out laughing. He knew Krystal was incapable of bringing up the topic of the High School President without adding an insult to her opponent. Falco had trouble remembering her name, however.

"What was her name?" he asked, after he was done laughing.

"Imogine Susanna," she grumbled. "Same initials for Ignorant Slut,"

"Well, Mandy doesn't hang out with her, thank God," he said, mainly to himself.

"How do you know that?"

"I know all of the people she hangs out by name."

"Why ever would you want to know those bastards' names?"

"I need to have some names for the people who get knocked off in my stories, don't I?" he replied.

"Oh, yeah," she smiled.

They talked about the fictional writings he was doing currently until they arrived at home. Yet as they walked inside, Falco answered a question of Krystal's that he hadn't answered right away.

"I'm still not going to the dance," he said. "I don't care that it's casual, so that I don't have to wear a tuxedo. And as much as you think that I'd love to have my hands on Mandy, I'd prefer to stay home. I have homework, and I haven't worked on my stories in days."

"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug. "Personally, I can't blame you. I'm only going because my friends are, and they'll probably play a ton of music I can't dance to. Also, for that little thing I told you about. But still, you're missing out on getting your hands on Mandy! They will be playing slow dances," she added slyly.

But Falco's mind was set. He didn't want to go, and even the thought of slow dancing with Mandy Sabrina (a thought that him swallow in apprehension just thinking about it) wasn't going to change his mind.

They entered their home, and Falco made his way to his room, only stopping to say hi to Jessica on the way there.

"I can't believe you're not going to a dance!" his younger stepsister called to him as he walked by her room.

Jessica was fourteen, and went to Lilypad Middle School. She was very different than Krystal, as she took ten minutes a day what to wear. She liked to wear a little make-up, and sometimes decorated her long, light brown hair with all kinds of fancy objects that Falco had never heard of. Her green eyes were like her older sister's, but she didn't look like Krystal otherwise. Although she sometimes sounded like a Valley Girl or the like, Jessica had a lot of heart and intelligence to counter her material girl ways.

Britney Spears music was blaring from her room, and Falco smirked at her from her doorway. "Why, you wanna be my date?" he asked her sarcastically, yet playfully.

Jessica, lying on her pink-sheeted bed, blew a bubble from her gum and burst it loudly. She had been reading a magazine, but had set it down to talk to her stepbrother. "Incredibly," she replied with the same amount of sarcasm.

Her older stepbrother winced as the song hit an especially loud note. "How can you listen to her all the time?" he asked her.

With a roll of her eyes, Jessica replied, "Because I like her! All you guys think of when you think of her is a great body. You blow off the fact that she's a singer. I'll give you credit though, Falco, because you personally don't think got implants."

"Nah, we all know who got the implants in this house," joked Falco, and Jessica laughed a little.

Returning to her magazine, she added, "Besides, if you went to the dance with her, you would also see that's she a dancer too,"

"Maybe," he cast a glance at one of her Britney Spears posters. The pop singer was only clad in shorts and a bra, or at least it looked like a bra to Falco. He really had no clue what it was in the world of clothing, but as far as he was concerned, it showed off more than enough cleavage than he could take. Slightly blushing, he turned his eyes away from the lovely poster, then asked his sister, "What's that thing she wearing on top in this poster?"

"What would a guy care?" she replied, not looking at the poster. "It shows off part of her boobs, so that's all men are interested in."

"True in most cases," he admitted.

"If Mandy wore one, you'd be delighted, I'm sure!"

That surprised Falco very much. He never told Jessica about his crush on Ms. Sabrina, but she knew! "How do you know about that?" he exclaimed.

"I overheard Krystal telling one of her friends on the phone. Do you even listen to her music?"

Now Falco was confused. "Her music'?" he repeated.

"See?!" his young stepsister shouted. "Men don't care that women like Britney and Mandy Moore sing! They just like their bodies! Honestly-"

Falco walked to his room smirking, leaving Jessica to ramble about some sexist issue that he had heard several times already. He couldn't believe that his sister believed he had a crush on Mandy Moore. He held nothing against the singer, but it amused him that when Krystal said Mandy, Jessica automatically thought it was one of her favorite singers.

Falco's room was not particularly interesting, apart from the poster of "Weird Al" Yankovic and one of Groucho Marx. Sitting down at his desk, he pulled his history book out his backpack and began studying.

*Umbrella Company Building*

"Is there anyway to get out of here?!"

Yoshi Waterflower was close to panicking. He and a handful of survivors had locked themselves in a room, only armed with one handgun. Yoshi had managed to take it from a dead security guard, who was mauled to death by a zombie dog.

No one answered him right away. One of the men was eying another man in a lab coat furiously.

"This is all your fault!" he exclaimed. "Where the hell did those monsters come from?! One minute, this is a normal building, the next, zombie dogs are running around on the stairs!"

"My friend was killed by a giant spider!" a woman exclaimed, gaining up on the scientist. "The thing was crawling on the ceiling and spat poison all over her!"

"Tell us now, you bastard!" someone else exclaimed.

"All right!" the scientist exclaimed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and Yoshi the blood splattered on his coat. "Mind you all, I'm as innocent as you all are. Umbrella is to fault here!"

"You helped make Cujo and all the other freaks!" exclaimed Yoshi.

"They threatened to kill my brother and my girlfriend if I didn't!" the scientist exploded. "Umbrella had tabs on everyone who worked on those monsters! Some are willing, some are just being paid a lot to keep quiet, and some, like me, have loved ones in jeopardy."

"So what on earth is making these spiders and dogs and frogs so lethal?!" Yoshi asked, calming down.

"I'm...not sure. They never told me personally, but I do know that all the animals were treated with some kind of...virus. Any human who was bitten by them or what some of the scientists called infected,' where treated as fast and efficiently as possible. However, if it was too late...,"

The scientist stopped, and one man shouted, "What?! What happened?"

"Did any of you ever hear of Raccoon City?" the scientist asked, shaking from what Yoshi thought was fear.

"That city that was nuked and rumored to have the walking dead through it?" someone spoke up. "That old, stupid urban legend?"

"It's true," With a deep swallow, the man continued. "The virus slowly decomposes humans cells, causing them to die slowly. Yet the virus is supposed to regenerate dead brain cells, and since it only can give life to a few, they live once again, but not fully alive. It...it makes the living dead real."

"Too goddamn real!" one man shouted. "Are you saying any of us can be infected by this virus?"

"Only if you are bitten or scratched!" the scientist proceeded.

Suddenly, the room was filled with a horrible scream! Everyone looked around to see a middle-aged woman clutching her arm, blood leaking out from under her hand. "That...that man bit me!" she screamed, pointing at a man who looked half-demented.

"So...hungry!" he moaned. "Must...feed...itchy...itchy...," With that, he lunged at the woman, biting at her throat!

Yoshi acted fast. He pointed his gun at the crazed man and fired. After two bullets to the head, the man stopped and rolled off of his prey. Yoshi then noticed his skin looked crusty and decayed, pieces missing here and there. His eyes were hideous blue orbs, and his mouth had blood caked around it now. The lady who this horrible man had attacked was dead, her throat torn apart.

"He must have been infected," the scientist muttered tonelessly. "She is infected now too, and will soon rise up and attack us. A zombie's hunger is never complete, and fresh meat is the only food they can eat.

"We've got to get out of here!" someone screamed.

"How? All of the exits have monsters lurking outside!"

Everyone except the scientist and Yoshi started shouting at each other, pandemonium ensuing. Yoshi walked over to the scientist, and sat down close to him.

"Is there any way out?" he asked him slowly.

The scientist looked up at him with weary eyes. "There are three,"

"Where are they?"

"Passages. They lead to the park around Lilypad Lake, City Hall and the High School."

"...Why the hell would Umbrella want pathways to those places?"

"I have no clue. Maybe for escapes such as these, or maybe for people who worked for them, or maybe they were going to do the unthinkable, and kidnap humans to experiment on!"

"Where have you been?" Yoshi exclaimed. "Don't you read the paper? There has been several kidnappings, I think maybe five!"

The scientist was silent for a minute or two, as Yoshi remembered the headlines of the kidnappings well. Two teenagers, one male and one female, and three adults, two male and one female. Umbrella must have captured them and turned them into zombies...or worse.

"Can we get to those pathways, Mr...?" Yoshi asked the scientist.

He was quiet, then muttered, "Stan. Stan Murray. And no, not unless we go back into the lab. Even then, it is a labyrinth to get to either one. The labs are so large and comply of many rooms, and the doors are...,"

"What? What are they?" Yoshi tried hard to speak over the peoples' arguing.

"They are usually open, and are only sealed shut when a human activates the electronic lock! ...If no one sealed the lock...,"

"Then what? What?!"

"Then these monsters will travel to the high school, City Hall and the lake unchecked!" Murray whispered, and Yoshi had only just barely heard him.

A shriek pierced the air, and Murray and Yoshi looked over to see the dead woman pull herself up. Already, her skin was falling off and her eyes were glazed over. She reached for the nearest man with a loud, hungry moan.

Yoshi pointed his gun and fired, but missed. He fired again, and hit the woman on the side of the head. Blood spurted out, and the zombie flinched. Still walking, she headed toward Yoshi! He tried to fire again, but his gun clicked, signaling that it was empty. He backed up, breathing hard and thinking that he was going to die.

Murray acted fast. He lifted a chair up and slammed it against the zombie's head. With a cry and a moan, the zombie woman fell down.

"We've got to get to one of the passages, Murray!" panted Yoshi, as he gasped for air. "It's our only chance before we kill each other!"

"Passages? What passages?" someone shouted.

"Murray here says that Umbrella has passages that lead out to the city. We have to get out and tell the people about what Umbrella is doing!"

Everyone looked at each other, some agreeing and some disagreeing.

"We're safe in here!"

"Help will come!"

"He's right!"

"We're not armed!"

"We have to do it!"

"What about those monsters?"

"Umbrella," shouted Murray, quieting everyone, "will not send help. They would sooner help these monsters polish us off to keep this from the public. If we stay in here, Umbrella could bomb the place and make it look like terrorists did the job. We must try to escape, so grab whatever you can use a weapon!"

Yoshi swallowed hard. He clutched the empty pistol, then muttered under his breath, "I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning!"

KA-RUUUUUUNCH!!

The wall to his left exploded, plaster and wood spraying the people. The horrible monster that had butchered the people in the elevator crawled into the room! Its claws and mouth were coated with blood and bits of flesh, and it seemed to be grinning as it looked at the terrified people. Yoshi had fallen down when the wall had been ripped open, and the monster did not see him, for it was looking directly at the crowd of frightened people.

"A LICKER!" Murray shouted. "RUN!!"

The Licker hissed and leapt at the people, slamming a man against a table as everyone scattered. It dug its claws into the man's chest, ripping out organs and spilling blood everywhere. Yoshi was splattered with blood as the Licker ignored the other humans, screaming and running around, as it feasted on its prey.

Yoshi got to his feet, and headed for one of the doors, but then he saw a young woman being grabbed by a zombie in that doorway! It bit down on her shoulder, tearing off a chunk of flesh! Yoshi then decided to run through the hole in the wall, as the Licker pounced on another victim, knocking her down and then digging its jaws into her back.

All Yoshi heard was screaming of his fellow humans being slaughtered, and he didn't want to look back. He couldn't help them, and he didn't want to see them get ripped apart and eaten. He could only hope that they didn't all die, especially Murray; the man seemed trustworthy and innocent. This was a nightmare come true.

*Falco Alfred's House*

Falco ate dinner as he listened to Krystal talk about the dance. He tried hard not to grin as he listened to her, because he knew where she was leading the conversation to. He also noticed that Jessica was struggling too.

"So this whole dance thing is supposed to an event for the students, right?" Krystal was saying. "They are only going to be one or two teachers there, hardly enough to keep a watch over everything! Ten bucks says someone spikes the punch or gets high!"

"Or start dancing in inappropriate ways?" Falco's mom asked. Falco's mom has shoulder-length red hair, blue eyes and is normal height for a woman. She's still in her forties, and her first name was Elaine. She is a waitress at a fancy restaurant, where the pay is great, but the food is terrible to Falco's taste.

"Bingo. I also bet that there will be a lot of parking, if you follow me," replied Falco's blue-haired stepsister.

Falco's step dad shook his head in disgust. He has brown, straight hair and green eyes, which obviously were passed on to his daughters. He is quite tall, and his name was Jason. He is an architect, and his business was doing fine. "I don't understand why you're going, Krystal! If you disapprove of this, and if you're certain boys are going to want to do that kind of stuff with you-"

"Dad, I have to go!" she protested, folding her arms across her chest. "Because if this whole School Swing...," she rolled her eyes as she stated the name mockingly.

"Here it comes," thought Falco, who wasn't eating any food, just in case he started laughing.

"Then I'll be able to prove to the school board that Imogine Susanna is not fit to be High School President!" she exclaimed. "If I'm not there, then I can't say how terrible it was!"

Falco and Jessica started snickering, unable to control themselves. Krystal glared at them, even though she knew it was coming herself. "Although I don't want to go personally, I'm just going to be with my friends. They're highly supportive of what I'm doing, and they also want that bimbo out of office before she sleeps with the school board and makes it impossible to her to be kicked out!"

That did it. Falco and Jessica burst out laughing, finding it very humorous every time Krystal lost her cool and insulted Imogine Susanna without holding back. Elaine sighed, while Jason chuckled to himself.

"Okay, honey. But be home before eleven o'clock!" Falco's mom suggested. "If what you're saying is true, then I don't want you there for long with hormone-driven perverts!"

"Are you going, Falco?" his step dad asked him.

He shook his head, still chuckling. "Nah, I don't want to. Besides, I'm doing a report on Robert E. Lee. He's a fascinating man!"

"Maybe," Jessica grinned wickedly. "But I'm guessing that you'd rather be studying Mandy Moore, huh?"

Falco never forgot the way Krystal burst out laughing when she heard that.

"Well, if you'll excuse me," Elaine said as she stood up. "I have a late shift tonight. They're running low on hands, so I said I'd help."

"I'll drive you there, honey," suggested Jason. "I have to go to work for a little too. Frank said there's a building blueprint that he wants me to look over, but for some reason, cannot wait until tomorrow."

"I'm staying at a friend's house for the night! It's a huge sleep over, you all know?" exclaimed Jessica.

"How can we forget?" scoffed Krystal. "You haven't stopped talking about it!"

"Can you take her, honey?" asked Elaine.

"Yeah, sure. See you all later!" replied Krystal.

As Falco gathered the plates up and rinsed them off in the sink, he listened as Jessica and Krystal left. As he washed off the silverware, his step dad approached him.

"Since when did you like Mandy Moore?" he asked, chuckling.

"It's a different Mandy, Jason," Falco called his step dad by his first name, although he meant to one day call him just plain "dad."

"She from school?"

"Yeah. Well, good night!" he said as he walked to his room. "Drive safely."

"Okay, bye Falco!" his step dad called. "Be in bed by ten!"

"Don't worry, I will!" he called.

Falco went in his room, and pretty much stayed in there until ten o'clock. He studied for his math test, and read about Robert E. Lee and the Civil War. When he was done, he was still pretty much awake.

Dressed in his pajamas, he tossed and turned in bed, trying to go to sleep. He always had a problem with sleeping, and tonight was no exception. Especially with the problem of local teenagers.

Their house was right across from the park that encircled Lilypad Lake, which was a place for teenagers of Lilypad High School to go to hang out, to get drunk and have fights, or to have sex. Falco usually heard the particularly loud couples, and any brawls that took place there. It happened very seldom, but when it did, Falco wasn't very pleased. They were much more disgusting than arousing to hear.

He remembered when Imogine Susanna had sex with her current boyfriend a month ago. It wasn't that Falco had spied on him, it was that Falco was used to hearing her voice from school, and he was shouting out her name constantly. Krystal was delighted, planning to use this, but Falco pointed out that she couldn't prove it happened, so she dropped it.

Falco looked at his clock. It gleamed 10: 24 brightly, and Falco moaned. He tossed some more, trying to get to sleep. Outside, he heard a car's tires squealed, but ignored it when no crash was heard following. He stared up at the ceiling, still wide awake.

Actually, Falco was not anxious to go to sleep that much. He wanted to be awake for when Krystal got home, and told him about what happened. He was actually just as anxious to hear if the party was bad enough to get Imogine kicked out of office. Also, he had very strange dreams, and didn't like going to sleep.

Some of his dreams were revolving around his death, like the one where he was in Raccoon City when it was wiped out in a huge explosion. He frequently dreamed of people at school in fairly warped dreams, ranging from them being monsters to them taking over the world and having him executed. He also dreamed about the monsters a lot, which he didn't mind, so long as he wasn't maimed.

Trying hard not to think of anything like that, he closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep so that he wouldn't be tired tomorrow.

*Lilypad High School*

"This place sucks...," muttered Krystal as she leaned against the wall. Her friends were all with her, doing the same thing. Bright lights shone around like a disco floor, and the music blasted the air at such a high volume that Krystal wanted to cover to ears.

Each of her friends, all seniors too, were around her, each of them doing something different. Olivia was leaning on the wall next to Krystal, keeping her eye on a boy she particularly liked. Terry was sitting in a nearby chair, staring at the floor. Heather and Sally were chatting, and Julius, Krystal's only male friend, was clowning around like he usually did.

"You've got that right!" muttered Olivia to Krystal, but Krystal barely heard what she said over the loud music.

"Why don't you ask a guy out to dance, Krystal?" Julius asked.

"Whenever you ask a girl to dance, dude," was her reply.

"Then at the rate I'm going, you're not dancing tonight."

Krystal giggled, then looked down at Terry. She had been sitting here practically since Krystal had arrived. "You okay, honey?"

"I'm fine, really," she replied.

"Say, who's watching your little brother?" Krystal asked, trying to get a conversation going.

"Some babysitter," replied Terry, not even looking up. This surprised Krystal, for Terry was usually energetic and talkative. "For some reason...I...I just don't...,"

"You don't what?"

"...I don't know if trust that woman. I feel like something really bad's going to happen to him...,"

"Hey, it'll be okay, honey," Krystal placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and her friend looked up with grateful eyes. Those brown eyes were empty of the usual sparkle until now, but Krystal felt like they were forced a bit.

"So...how come your brother didn't come?" Terry asked. She had always thought that Falco was a bit cute, but like most students at the high school, believed that he was weird.

"Ah, didn't want to. Simple as that, really," Krystal admitted, waving her hand as if to blow the topic off.

"Well, if he did come, he'd have a better chance at getting to dance than me!" shouted Julius, making the three girls laugh.

"Yeah, it's a shame your stepbrother is so...strange!" Olivia said.

"He's not that strange, Livy," replied Krystal. "And please, lay off the insults. I get enough of that from our bimbo president and her bimbo friends."

"Ya got that right," muttered Terry, a spark of anger ignited in her attitude.

"Think I should ask them one of those bimbos to dance?" asked Julius.

Heather had overheard this, and replied with, "Go ahead, Julius. That may be the best you can get for tonight!"

Krystal playfully punched her friend's shoulder, as Julius looked down at the floor, somewhat embarrassest.

"Hey, Krystal!" Sally called to the blue-haired girl. "Spikers at two o'clock!"

Falco's stepsister looked around to where Sally was pointing, and saw three snickering boys pouring some kind of liquor into the punch bowl. She smirked and chuckled triumphantly. Score one point for her report on this dance.

"I guess punch is out of the question now," Julius grumbled. "And that's so depressing. It was cherry flavored!"

The song that was blaring over the loud speakers ended just then, and a slow song played. The lights were changed to blue and white hues, as couples started to slow dance. That reminded Krystal of something that had been on her mind.

"Hey, guys? Have you seen Mandy Sabrina here yet?" she asked her friends.

"Yeah, once. She was with her friends," replied Julius.

"Why on earth would you want to know if she was here?" asked Sally. "She's no trouble-maker!"

"Well, you know my brother has a thing for her, so I thought I'd see if she was here or not!"

The girls giggled, and Terry snickered, "I so cannot believe your brother likes Mandy Sabrina. She is one of the most popular girls, and he's...well-"

"My brother, and let's leave it at that, please," Krystal requested, almost sternly.

"Think I just ask Mandy Sabrina to dance?" joked Julius. "The slow dance is on, ya know!"

"Do you even know how?" said a familiar voice behind him.

It was Mandy Sabrina, smirking at Julius and standing right behind him. She was wearing a long-sleeved, green shirt and blue track pants, and her blond hair contained a red headband. She giggled as Julius cried out in mock horror, and hid behind Olivia.

"Hey, Krystal?" she then approached Falco's stepsister, and asked, "Have you seen Shaun around lately?"

"Uhhhh...no, I haven't!" admitted Krystal, still in mild shock as to what was happening right now.

"Thank God!" Mandy rolled her emerald eyes and shook her head in what seemed like annoyance. "But is he here?"

"Yeah, we saw him earlier, Mandy!" replied Heather, who was looking somewhat excited. What had happened earlier was Shaun looked at Krystal, called her something quite foul, and then walked off.

"Okay then. Thanks, girls!" Mandy smiled at them, then started to walk off, then stopped when Julius called to her.

"Why are you asking us, huh?"

Mandy smiled at him, then replied, "So I could ask you to slow dance, big boy!"

The girls all laughed, while Julius looked half excited, half mortified. Mandy, after done laughing, added, "Really though, I just wanted to know if you all had seen him. Plus, I do believe Krystal is going to be making a very unflattering review about this party when we're done, so I think him showing could add to the worst things that happened!"

This surprised the group of friends, and Krystal tried to act innocent. "What...what makes you think I'd do that?"

"Well, ever since you lost to Imogine for High School President, you two haven't been acting all that friendly towards each other," she raised a eyebrow, then added, "Not that I disprove, I hate her too."

She then smiled in a friendly way, and added, "Well, see you all around. And Krystal? Say hi to your brother for me, will you please?"

"Don't drink the punch!" Julius called, then looked at his friends with an astonished face when she was gone. "Can you believe that?! One of the most popular girls chatted with us like if we were worthy mortals!"

"She must think your brother is someone else though," Sally added, looking at Krystal. "There's no way she's interested in Falco."

Krystal shrugged neutrally. Maybe that was right, maybe Mandy was just being polite, or maybe Sally was wrong and Mandy was interested in Falco. But Krystal, deep inside, believed it to be the first or second thought, even though the third one would make Falco very much elated.

The slow dance was coming to an end, and suddenly, she felt the nudge of an elbow on her arm. It was Julius, who was blushing slightly and looking at her. "Hey, wanna dance to the rest of this song, Krystal?"

She smirked playfully at him. "I'd be delighted."

They slow-danced to the rest of the song, which was only about half a minute left. When it was over, Krystal's girlfriends were calling out to them in a teasing manner, whistling and the like. Julius chuckled, then muttered, "You're not bad, Krystal."

"Neither are you, Julius," she replied, then walked back to the others, who teased them more.

"So, you two have a wedding date or what?" joked Sally.

"Har har, very funny!" Krystal replied sarcastically. "Hey, I'm going to the ladies' room now, so keep an eye out for me, will ya?"

"You're not going to the gym's bathroom, are you?" Olivia called to her, but Krystal didn't reply. She just walked away, trying to keep her face down but not bumping into anyone.

Truth was, Krystal didn't need to go to the bathroom, and she didn't care that the gym's bathroom was rumored to be haunted; that was were the two students who had been kidnapped had last been seen going. Her face felt hot, and she wanted to splash some cold water onto it. For some strange reason, it was like this just when she started dancing with Julius.

She left the gym, and walked down the hallway, where the bathrooms were. Krystal almost burst into a spirit as she headed for the ladies' room, and almost threw the door open. She ran for the sink and ran the faucet, cold water spilling down; so much for this place being haunted.

Splashing the water on her face, she breathed deeply to get over whatever it was that was stressing her out. Maybe it was the atmosphere at this stupid dance, maybe she was worried about her younger brother too. Whatever it was, she never felt this way before, and she was now pretty sure she didn't want to go to any more dances.

Then there was a moan from deep within the building. It was so quiet and muffled that she had just barely heard it, but she was positive of it. "Hello?" she called out.

Looking around, she noticed the slightly ajar janitor's door swaying back and forth. She exhaled, and wiped her hands on her shirt. Was she losing it? It was probably the building settling, or the plumbing, or an extra-loud base note from the music at the dance. She shook her head, and wiped the water from her face with her shirt.

"Back to the disaster known as a dance," she muttered, leaving the bathroom.

*Umbrella's Underground Pathways*

The zombies shuffled through the long pathway. They did not tire, they did not rest. The scuffling of their feet echoed loudly, as did their hungry moans. The bodies were shredded, either by fellow humans, zombie dogs, by Hunters or by some other monster that Umbrella created without thinking of the consequences.

In one pathway, they heard music. Loud music. No thought entered their mind that it was music, for they could not remember what music was. All they knew was that meat was up ahead, and the noise most likely meant that food was up there. They stumbled across into a room that they would have considered a janitor's room, if they were not the walking dead.

In another, they stepped out of what looked like an abandoned shack. No one had bothered with it, since not many people saw it in the inner depths of the park. And when someone did find out about it, they ignored it, or failed to notice the door that was disguised as a wall. The leading zombie knocked it open with its outstretched arms, and stumbled into the night.

Its lab coat was stained with blood, and there were huge slashes on his chest. Most likely, the man had bled to death, and then was resurrected by the virus. Blood stained its mouth from a fellow scientist that it had eaten, but that did not satisfy its hunger.

With a loud moan, it stumbled toward a house, which smelt heavily of the living. A dim light gleamed outwards, signaling the presence of someone home. No zombie is intelligent, but they know when food is about.

It staggered to the house, practically dragging itself. Food was close...so very close...it would soon feast again.

Inside the house, Falco Alfred was reading, unaware of what was stumbling towards him outside...