The Wrong Man
By: Caliwood
Disclaimer:
I don't own Resident Evil etc or its characters etc but I do own all the original characters featured in this story. This story is rated 14A because of vulgar language, violence and whatever else my sick mind can come up with. Please review or I'll die and stop updating. This next chapter is so long that I decided to split it up into 3 parts (for each of the 3 days Gunn is on the bus to Raccoon).
Chapter 2: Highway to Hell (Part 1)
"So are you ready to go?" a familiar voice called to me as I lit up a cigarette for the first time in 10 long years. See I had quit when I was just a young kid of 15 who had started a few years earlier. My dad had died of lung cancer cause of the things. I wanted to better myself back then but you'd be surprised how quickly things changed. After my shitty marriage ended, I got fired, and sent on a "special assignment" with the coffee boy I needed a good smoke to calm my nerves down before I killed somebody.
Looking over my shoulder I saw Dennis standing a few feet away from me nervously looking at the clock. We were at the bus terminal and already had all our bags loaded onto the bus. I was just stalling as I wasn't exactly "thrilled" to be on a bus with the kid for three days.
"Are you smoking?" Dennis called out to me with a look of disgust on his face. I tell you as the days went by I was going to get used to seeing that face. Anyway I was about to give the kid the "No shit, Sherlock" speech when I got a rude tap on the shoulder.
"Excuse me sir, you're going to have to put that out before entering the bus..."
"God dammit! Quit twisting my damn nuts lady...can't you see I'm trying to have a god damn smoke here?" I yelled at the rather large and chunky female bus driver as he shook her head and waddled over to the bus to let the other passengers on. Dennis quickly strolled over to me with his same nerd ensemble on and a really awkward fanny pack.
"Come on we gotta get on the bus. The boss said-"
"I know what he said Dennis. And I'm still pretty pissed off about that little wake up call of yours this morning..."
"You were oversleeping..."
"IT WAS FOUR IN THE GOD DAMN MORNING! For Christ sake the bus doesn't even leave till NINE!" I nearly ripped Dennis' head off as I turned my back to him to continue my smoke. I'll tell you not even the smooth toxic nicotine in my throat could make me feel any better at that point. To make matters when I answered the phone and told him to go fuck himself he came over to my place and nearly knocked the door down and dragged me out here at 7 AM. I'm not a bad guy...you can understand my frustration of being woken up at 4 in the morning, then dragged out of bed several hours later to arrive at the bus station 2 hours early. I know the kid must have been nervous being that it's most likely his first field assignment since he is the coffee- boy. We both needed the job but frankly it was all just ridiculous.
"You don't need to be so cranky about it...you want some tuna?"
"No thank you I already vomited this morning" I shuddered as the boy offered me his special "tuna fish with extra mayo" sandwich for the fifteenth time. Talk about a nerd and a momma's boy. The kid was 18 and he still ate sandwiches that looked like they were made by ma. I was sure that he probably lived with his parents still being that he's only an intern at a tabloid.
"Alright now boarding" the bus driver called and dropped my cigarette on the pavement and followed the line of ugly people into the long grey-hound bus. Upon entering I noticed the long stream of seats and elderly people that filled them up along with several small children. Not a hot ticket in the lot of the ugly freaks. It was definitely official...it was going to be a VERY long trip. Also considering that one of the first things I noticed was there was only one bathroom and so many elderly people that probably couldn't control their bladders it was probably gonna smell something fierce pretty soon.
Dennis and I took a seat near the middle of the bus and I stuffed my duffel bag full of notes and other personal belongs in a compartment above my head. My short yet clean cut black hair a mess as I pulled out a comb and tried to make it a little less wavy. I hate my hair.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom"
"Yeah good idea; do it before the old people get to it" I called out to him rather loudly attracting a stare or two from the crowd of senior citizens that surrounded me. Not like I really gave a rat's ass. But in the few moments that Dennis left his seat available to my luck another senior citizen who had just gotten on the bus waddled over and sat next to me. In my 25 years of life I've always been tolerant of others. Yeah I know you're thinking "Yeah right" but seriously I was a good guy before everything in my life went to shit.
Anyway already feeling particularly angry with the early wake up call I kind of said some things that I now regret.
"Hey gramps, why don't you sit somewhere else you smell like tuna fish and gold bond powder" I had snickered as the old guy with a rather gentle face turned rather sour.
"What did you say?"
"What you didn't hear me the first time? I said beat it before your bladder starts acting up and you have an accident"
"Why you!" the old guy tried to shout as his face turned red and he gripped his cane rather tightly like he was holding back to urge to beat me to death. His eyes began to bulge and wrinkly old skin began to tighten.
"Whoa don't have a heart attack, pops" I had replied smugly pretty much ignoring how angry I was making the poor old guy. He just stared at me like a bear stares at a fish before he eats it while I just looked out the window as the bus began to move away from the New York terminal and off to country bumpkin road.
"Don't you kids have any respect for your elders?" He began to shake his fist at that and more old people began to stare at me. I turned away from the window for a second really wishing the old guy would just go away or at least shut up.
"It's kind of hard to respect someone who wears an adult diaper" I smirked and watched as the old guy in complete shock got up out of his seat and wandered away angrily cursing and muttering looking for another seat. My mission to get the old guy away from me was accomplished and I'm afraid I was guilty of feeling good about hurting the old guy's feelings too.
Just then Dennis arrived back from the bathroom looking at all the old faces staring at me angrily and sitting down with a look that just said "You know, I don't even want to know".
"I can't believe it...my first field assignment. This is going to be great!" Dennis squealed excitedly like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time. His eyes seemed to light up and I could tell he was really looking forward to the chance to prove himself and become a real reporter.
"It's not that great kid. It's just interviewing a bunch of rednecks in this mid-western hick town Raccoon City. I assure you it's going to be long...it's going to be very painful...and it's going to be boring like a root canal" I sighed as I looked away from the happy kid. Even my remarks didn't seem to bring him down. Little did either of us know I was right for the most part about what was going to happen. Yes, it was going to be LONG. Yes, it was going to very painful. But boring? Oh I wish.
"Hey what do you got there?" Dennis asked as his curiosity seemed to peak after watching me pull out a little silver canteen. I opened the lid rather quickly and brought it to my nose as I sniffed the sweet aroma of alcohol.
"It's scotch kid"
"You're not supposed to have alcohol on board!" Dennis nearly shouted like a big moron as I covered his mouth with my hand.
"Jesus will you be quiet. What are you trying to do get me kicked off the bus?" I exclaimed as I let my mouth drop from the kid's mouth and began taking rather large sips of my scotch. Meanwhile poor Dennis kept staring at me like I was some sort of zoo animal in a cage before I finally turned to face him again.
"What are you looking at? Did you think I was really going to spend three days on a bus with you sober? I'd probably kill myself and you for that matter before we even left the city limits," I sighed as I began to slouch in the rather uncomfortable bus seat and tried to close my eyes and fall asleep. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Dennis' face turn into one of sadness. The kind a puppy gets when he gets yelled at for the first time. For the first time in weeks my nice guy nature finally reemerged again even if only for a little while.
"You want some?" I sighed as I opened my eyes and offered him some scotch.
"No thanks...I don't drink" He paused and began to look down and twiddle his thumbs in nervousness.
"Listen kid I'm sorry it's just I've had it kind of rough for the past little while..." I paused as Dennis looked over a small look of sympathy on his face mixed with curiosity.
"What happened?" He asked slowly as I wondered about whether I should tell him or not bother. He was 18 so he probably wouldn't understand. Still I felt bad for being kind of an asshole to him regardless of his rather annoying wake up call. He was a good kid and he was just excited...I could understand that. I can still remember my first field assignment...but that's another story.
"Well my wife cheated on me and we got divorced. She got everything and I got nothing thanks to her rich daddy and his team of high priced lawyers. To top it off I'm sure you heard that I got fired from Time magazine too. Frankly the only good thing that's happened to me in awhile is this job. With the money I'm getting for this I'll be able to get my life back on track and maybe some of my stuff back from my ex-wife too" I smiled and thought pleasantly about the future.
"Yeah I understand. I don't blame you for being a little bitter. Frankly I need this job too...I've always wanted to be a reporter but nobody would ever give me a chance or read any of my stuff. This is really the only shot I got" Dennis sighed and for the first time that day and for that matter that whole week did I feel generally good without the buzz of alcohol or cigarettes. Even though Dennis and me were completely different, and every now and then he'd start talking about how classic Spiderman villains are way better then this new crap, and even the fact that he ate tuna so much I thought he was going to turn into a fish could stop him and I from actually connecting. Truth be told once I started being bitter and cynical I lost all my friends pretty quickly and Dennis was the closest thing to a friend I had at that point.
"So what do you think we're gonna find in Raccoon sir?"
"You don't have to call me sir, Dennis. This isn't the military. You can call me Gunn"
"I thought only your friends called you Gunn?"
"Well I'm willing to make an exception" I smirked jokingly as I turned away from Dennis again and looked out the window. Yep, I was thinking that things were going to be alright. Maybe the trip wasn't going to be so bad after all.
"So seriously don't you think that villains like the Vulture and Electro are SO much cooler then the new 'ultimate' Spiderman villains. I mean Carnage is SUCH a lackey and-"
"Oh God not this again" I moaned as I quickly dug into my pockets and pulled out my CD player and jammed the headphones into my ears so tight they were about ready to pop. Then turning the volume up I pressed play and hoped to God the bus was struck by lightning as the AC/DC song blared on. I really was on the highway to hell...
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Closing Comments:
Well that's the end of the second chapter, part one. What will happen to our pseudo anti-hero and big time grouch Gunther on the second day of the bus ride? Will he go mad and start killing people? Will he ever stop being such a cynical bastard? What happens to him to turn him into the nice guy he will become before the story is over? And will Dennis and Gunn kill each other along the way? Remember to review if you want to see part 2!