Hiya! Sorry for the late update!! Stoopid xmas and new years put me all outta wack! ^___^ Anywho heres chapter 3! Again general disclaimer, I don't own resident evil or hunk or raccon city or anything remotely cool, I own NAOMI though, she is mine, so you steal, you'll get rubber chickens thrown at you ^__^;
My little notes : If you can guess what other game series I am paying homage to in this chapter, I'll give you a present!
My little notes 2: This is dedicated to my Cookie! Wouldn't have got this chapter done without you! You really helped me out on this one, thanks for all your help and most of all your honest opinion! ^___^ wheee again ooooooooon with the shooooow!
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It's been about 15 minutes now. Naomi's still sobbing in the corner. The zombies are gathering outside, soon we'll be surrounded and it'll be hard for us to escape.
"You ready yet? We need to get moving soon…" I don't even turn to look at her, she looks so….fragile at the moment. Sometimes I find myself looking at her reflection in the window, she just sits there staring off into a corner, sometimes silently crying…I've got to snap out of this. I can't let her get to me….
"My…..my dad's not going to be al…alive is he?" Shit. Why me? Why do I have to deal with this? Of course her dads not going to be alive. He's dead, like the rest of this city…
"I highly doubt he's alive." I say it, with no emotion, no nothing. I don't even doubt that he's alive, I know he's dead…
"What?? Everyone's dead! Don't you give a shit? How can you say…." She's screaming at me, hysterical, great and now she's crying again! I can't put up with these mood swings….Or maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt…but it's the truth.
"I don't really care…what matters is that we get out alive, that's all you should be thinking about now, leave the other stuff till later." I've still got my back to her, but I can see her reflection in the window. She's obviously confused, I don't blame her but I think I'm getting through to her. If she thinks, it hurts. Simple really….. I should be taking my own advice really…I turn round to face Naomi, but I still can't look her in the eye…
"Look you want to check on your dad right? Naomi just nods, wiping away her tears.
"Well…..where do you live? If we're lucky we can stop by your place, perhaps clean up, and get you into some more suitable clothes….." I look her up and down again, it will be a shame to get her into some trousers….she's got nice legs…shit am I staring at her again? This has got to stop….
"Uh…ok…its...er do a right here, walk for about 15 minutes and the apartment buildings on the left….its big and looks horrible, you cant miss it…" I've just noticed, Naomi wont look at me….Is she scared to look me in the eye? I can't really judge her…I can't look at her either….Is she scared of me?
"Here…..come on…." I put my hand out, beckoning her to take it. But she doesn't, instead she looks at me…
"Why………why don't you care? If you don't care….then you don't care about me? Do you? Why should I go with you……?" Damn, I can't be dealing with this now, not here. It's too dangerous, the more time we spend here talking, the more time it gives the zombies to sense us…
"Look this is neither the time nor place to discuss this…." She backs away, looking at me...no staring at me. Her usual soft gaze has been replaced with anger. I know anger when I see it, I deal with it everyday of my life… There's a group of zombies slowly shuffling towards the hut…we have to get out of here fast…
"Look…..please Naomi….we have to go now! If we don't we're both dead…" She's still slowly backing away, shaking her head…I turn to the window again, the zombies are closing in, only a few minutes till they get here….I have to get out of here.
"Shit. Naomi….I'll go without you…." I stare at her, hopefully with a serious look in my eyes…She's still just staring at me. Why won't she do anything?
"Why…..why don't you care?!" She's shouting again. The noise will attract more zombies and god knows what else…
"Shut up! Don't shout! Your making too much noise! Do you want more of those things to come in here??!" She's biting her bottom lip, her eyes are watering up again, she's going to cry….and…it's my fault. Shit why am I thinking like this. Just go, leave her, she's dead weight. I pat the G-Virus sample in my pocket, I've still got it. Mission completed, I don't have to help her. I just shake my head and turn to leave.
"I'm leaving, with or without you." I open the door and step out into the cold. Damn it's cold. I should have taken my jacket back…The zombies I saw heading towards the hut turn their attention to me, they're all pretty decayed, no threat to me….but to Naomi…..Shit no don't think about her. She's gone now. I hear the door to the hut open, then shut….
"I'm going home." It's Naomi. She's not crying anymore, and she said it with a strength I haven't yet seen in her….She's already ahead of me, jogging down the road, being careful to dodge any incoming zombies…Damn it.
"Wait!" Naomi stops up ahead, it only takes a few seconds to catch up. She's got her back to me so I can't see her face….is she still angry with me? Why am I following her? What's wrong with me? If I was in this situation yesterday, I would have shot her the moment I saw her….I'm sure I would have….
"Naomi…I'm…" I'm what? I don't know what to say. Five seconds ago I was ready to let her die and now I want……shit I don't know…
"What? You're sorry? Sorry you made me cry? Sorry you're an emotionally retarded bastard? Sorry that you don't care?" She's shouting again. This really isn't helping my head ache. She is really starting to piss me off….
"Yeah ok I'm sorry. Sorry for everything I did or didn't do. Are you happy now?" I think she was a bit surprised that I raised my voice, and said sorry! I don't think she expected me to say that…Ha! Not that I meant it.
"Your just…..I'm……its…shit! I don't know. You scare me ok?" I scare her? I don't get it, I haven't done anything to scare her….well except pull a gun on her but that was right at the start….
"Why……." I'm confused. I thought I had done everything right…I mean, I haven't shouted at her…that much. I haven't threatened her, all I've done is help her and she's scared of me? Ungrateful little…
"Why? Why not? You act like today is just like any other day! When you fight those things you….you've got this scary look on your face…its...evil like you enjoy what you're doing! This whole city's dead and you admit that you don't give a shit! That's why! Your not….normal." I look in her eyes…and she is scared. She's scared of me….I don't want her to be scared….
"I'm….I'm not going to lie to you, I don't care. But….You…..shit…" I turn around, running my hand through my hair again, I do it when I'm nervous…shit, when I was young my old commander used to tell me that I'd make myself bald if I carried on doing it…
"I don't know why…..but I want to help you. Please believe me Naomi…just…let me help. I don't care about the city, I don't care about the people, I can't….it would make my job unbearable…this is how I've been taught to think, taught to act……." I can't believe I just said all that, it goes against everything I know…goes against my way of living. But…something inside me tells me that I had to say it. A few minutes go by, just us standing here, still, silent. I can hear zombies shuffling towards us and Naomi breathing…She's stepped towards me and put her hand on my shoulder…
"I….ok…I'm sorry…I understand….I think we should move….I live down this way…." She squeezes my shoulder and I nod. I turn round to face her, and she's smiling. Its…its hard to explain. God, when she smiles she….almost glows, and everything around you just seems to melt away, like she's the only thing there, the only thing worth being there. You can't not be happy when she smiles at you. No ones ever affected me like this before…Shit, those zombies are getting closer. It'll be best if we move now….
"Let's go…lead the way…" Naomi shakes her head….
"Hell no you got the gun you go in front!" She smiles again and takes my hand, waiting for me to move. She's happier now, making jokes as per usual….
"We'll run….if that's ok?" I look at her, I don't know if she'll be able to keep up with me or not, she just nods so I start to jog forward. We jog in silence, dodging the occasional zombie. We're lucky, there's no road block's to get past, just the odd abandoned car here and there, of course all unusable. The cars were all damaged, not by humans…Now I'm sure most of Umbrellas bio-weapons have got into the city. I've got to have my guard up….
"There…that's it!" Naomi's pointing ahead to a large grey building. Naomi was right in saying it was ugly, it looks like a prison. There's a few lights on here and there, but thankfully no fires.
"I live on the fourth floor, number 16…..I don't have my keys…." Naomi's slowing down, lagging behind me….
"What's wrong?" Naomi won't look at me….she's turned her head away, I think she's crying again…
"I…….my dad….he wont be……." I squeeze her hand. I don't like it when she's upset, and it just slows us down anyway.
"Come on…you want to check to make sure yeah? And don't tell me you're not tired? It should be safe up there….you can rest." She wipes her face with her free hand and nods…She doesn't say anything though so I just carry on walking towards the apartment building. It's not hard to get in because the main door just isn't there anymore, the doors just been completely ripped out….
"What….what could have done that? That was solid steel…I have trouble just opening the thing…" Naomi's whispering, staring at where the door used to be. I'm not going to tell her what I think did it….I'd just scare her again.
"I don't know. Let's get inside…." We walk into the building, there's a zombie roaming around at the back of the lobby. The staircase is on our right so I push Naomi up the stairs quickly. Its no use wasting bullets on zombies, I'll only kill them if I have too….
"Fourth Floor right?" I better check with Naomi but she's just staring at that zombie…
"That's Mr Mason…Really nice guy, he had a cute kid as well…she's only little, do you think she's…youknow?" What can I do but nod my head? The week are always the first to go, the elderly, children, even babies….They cant really protect themselves, if they're trapped in a room with a zombie....or even worse…Well, we all know what would happen…Naomi just nods back at me, and starts up the stairs. It doesn't take long to get to the fourth floor, there's just a fire door to push open to get to the apartments.
"Wait, I'll go first, which way is your apartment? Left or right?" Naomi points to the left, and I nod. I push open the door to hear the sounds of quite a few zombies eating…something. Unluckily they're on the left….great I'm going to have to waste a few bullets. I move out into the hall, Naomi's close behind me, I don't think she wants to be left alone….
"Shit! It's Mrs Peterson….they're eating Mrs Peterson! I think I'm going to be sick….." Naomi turns away from the scene, and presses her head into my shoulder. She's holding on to me so tight…This is uncomfortable…I don't usually have people this close to me…
"I….I can't shoot them with you holding on to me like that….." I say it softly, hopefully I'm not going to make her cry again or something…who knows…Naomi just nods and lets go, still not turning round, but still close to me….Well at least she's not hanging off my arm anymore. The zombies still haven't noticed us yet, they are too interested in their meal. The woman's body looks fresh….Maybe people have been able to survive….Maybe Naomi's dad is still alive…If he is, Naomi will stay with him, leaving me to get on out of this city with no extra grief…There's 5 zombies in total. I shoot each one straight through the head, easy. Naomi's looking at me, a little shocked, maybe she didn't think I was that good a shot…
"Number 16, right?" Naomi nods and points down to the end of the hall, we have to walk past the bodies of the zombies. I just step on them, Naomi's a little more careful, trying to step around them. Every now and again she mutters about how "gross" it all is…
"Here….my apartment….How we gonna get in? It's locked…" I can see a faint light coming though the crack at the bottom of the door…
"I'll kick it in." Before Naomi can protest, I kick it. One good kick does it and the door swings open.
"Dad………..Dad you here?" Naomi's calling for her dad. This is only a small apartment. I can see the lounge up ahead, the kitchen next to it. I guess the bedrooms and bathroom is through the doors in the small hallway….Naomi's walking forward, towards the lounge, a small lamp's on in the corner…..
"Dad…….." I follow her, I can see someone sitting in an easy chair, facing the window…There's blood on the floor and on the walls. Shit.
"Naomi…don't.." I'm too late Naomi's already got to the chair and she looks like she's going to throw up….
"Dad…….no….why?" Naomi runs past me, and into one of the doors, I guess it's either her bedroom or bathroom. I walk up to the chair and look at the corpse in it. This must be her dad. A gun has fallen to the floor beside the chair, I check the chamber, no bullets, he must have had only one. He blew his own head off. All this must have been too much for him. There's bite marks on his arm, probably got chewed on by one of the zombies outside, he knew he'd soon become a zombie, so he killed himself. There's no note anywhere….Usually people leave a suicide note don't they? Oh wait, what's this? There's something stuck down the side of the chair….It's a piece of paper, half covered in blood. It's for Naomi…It's a note from her dad. I can hear Naomi throwing up, she must have gone into the bathroom then. There's a blanket on the sofa at the end of the room, I throw it over Naomi's dad. Out of sight, out of mind. I go over to the bathroom door and knock…
"Naomi….you ok?" All I get in response is hearing Naomi throw up again….I guess she's going to be a while. I almost forgot about the front door, since I kicked it in, it's broken and wont shut properly. There's a dresser next to the door, various picture frames and crap are on top of it. I push the door closed then put the dresser in front of it. That way nothing can get in now. Most of the pictures fell off the top of the dresser on to the floor. There's one of Naomi graduating high school. She's got this big grin on her face, hugging her dad tight….There's a few more of Naomi growing up, weird, she's got jet black hair in these, yet now its reddish brown, she must dye it. I look back to the now crumpled note from Naomi's dad. It is a suicide note…
""Naomi. If you're reading this, then I'm sorry you had to see me this way. I want you to know that I love you with all my heart.....I couldn't bare to see you like those..... things..... if you were infected... and I couldn't imagine what it would be like for you, if I was one of them....... Please understand that I didn't intend on hurting you.....If you are reading this, that means you're still alive. I want you to live Naomi. Get out of this town, start a new life, forget about what you have seen here. Please just do one thing for me? Remember me, not like this, not how you see me now, but how it used to be. Remember me when you get that amazing job you've always wanted. Remember me when you meet the love of your life. Remember me when you get married. Remember me when you have your first child. Remember me always, remember how much I loved you and please don't ever forget how much you loved me....I haven't got long now, I can feel myself turning into… I don't want to become one of those things....I have to do this Naomi, I know you think its weak but believe me it takes a lot of courage to do something like this. I want to wait for you, I want to hold on just a little bit longer...for you. But I know I cant, I have to go now, I'm sorry Naomi. I love you." That's it. Naomi should see this…
The bathroom door just opened and I turn round to see a very pale Naomi….
"Sorry……….." Her voice cracks, she's holding back the tears…
"Don't be…It looks like he was infected, before he turned into a zombie he decided to end it…" Naomi sniffs and nods. She slowly walks to the door opposite the bathroom.
"This is my bedroom….I'm gonna get cleaned up and change…." She walks in and turns round to shut the door.
"Wait. I found a note. Here." I walk up to her and hand her the suicide note. She nods and shuts the door. I'm surprised she didn't break down and faint….Maybe she's just too tired to do anything, she certainly looks tired now…
"If you need me I'll be right here…" I hear her muffled reply, I think it was an ok. I walk into the bathroom, hopefully I'll find some pain killers so I can get rid of this head ache. It's got worse again, like someone's constantly pounding my head in. It's a small bathroom, like the rest of the apartment. There's aspirin in the bathroom cabinet, well at least its something. I take a couple and put the rest in my pocket as I walk back into the lounge, god I don't know how 2 people could live here, it really is tiny. There's a bookshelf on the wall full of detective novels. Naomi doesn't look like the type to read these sorts of books, I guess they're her dads. Photos of Naomi and her dad are everywhere…..I wonder what happened to her mother? Naomi and her dad look so happy in these pictures…..Guess I missed out on shit like this. I've been property of Umbrella since forever……
"What you looking at….?" Shit, Naomi scared me. I didn't even hear her come out of her room…..
"I was just….your pictures, with your dad. You always look happy in them…." Naomi's tied her hair back, and she's now wearing a grey sweatshirt and jeans….tight jeans…
"I was happy…….." She's staring at the back of the chair, at least she can't see anything, the blanket I put over her dad covers everything.
"Can I take some stuff with me? Just a few pictures and stuff….." I didn't notice before but she's holding a backpack, it looks half full up already…
"Yeah, course…" I watch Naomi walk around the room, picking up pictures and taking them out of their frames. She takes nearly all of them, and puts them into her back pack.
"I'm done, there's nothing else I want here. Let's go." There's something wrong with Naomi. She's not crying any more, she doesn't look sad….I look into her eyes and there's nothing. Its like someone drained all the emotion out of her….I should be thanking god for this, no more crying, no more whining….but its not right. She shouldn't be like this.
"You sure…..You ok Naomi?" She turns away for me and heads towards the front door…
"I'm fine. I just want to get out of here." The dressers in the way, she just stands there waiting for me to move it, she knows she won't be able to on her own. I nod and move over to the dresser next to Naomi.
"Move back a bit so I can shift this thing ok?" Naomi steps back, without a word. I can move the dresser easy enough, but I step on one of the pictures that fell on the floor….
"Shit…sorry…" Naomi leans down to pick it up…
"It's me and my dad…my first day at kinder garden…I remember, I was so scared I cried all morning, I didn't want to leave my dad alone……" She looks back towards the lounge, to her dad…
"It's…it's all my fault…I should have never left……" I can see tears running down her face, she's trying to cover it up by turning away from me, but I can tell…
"Naomi…it's not your fault." She shakes her head as she turns to look at me.
"It is! I should have stayed home! He wanted me to! With all these murders going on he said it wasn't safe, he knew, but I didn't listen to him! If I stayed here with him then maybe we could have…." She breaks down, it looks like she's going to faint or collapse…She would have broken down sooner or later, at least its now and not while we're being attacked by a horde of zombies….
"If you stayed you would probably both be dead now. He wouldn't want you to be thinking like this, he would want you to survive, to live. Like he said in his letter…." I doubt she's going to stop crying any time soon, at least my head ache has let up a bit. I'm not really sure of what to do…should I hug her? I don't want to give her the wrong idea though…
"You……you won't let me die? Will you?" Naomi looks up at me, biting her lip. Damn she has beautiful eyes, they're brown with specks of gold….you could fall into them if you wanted too…
"I….no, I promise." What? Shit what did I just say! It's like my brain no longer has control over what I say or do anymore. Maybe it's just because I'm so tired, I've been through so much this past day…I have to get a grip on myself though. I can't fall for her…She's smiling now, still silently crying though. She takes a few steps forwards and hugs me, she did this last time, and again I freeze. I cant let her touch me like this, it'll get too complicated for me….But part of me doesn't want to let her go….Maybe I can let this one slide, it's just a friendly embrace after all…I wrap my arms round her and hug her tightly. She sigh's against my chest…..
"Can we go? Find somewhere else to rest…I…I cant stay here.." I can't really blame her, who would want to rest up next to your dead dad….
"Sure, you want to go now?" Naomi nods, but doesn't let go yet. We stay like this for a few minutes, just holding each other. I never realised before, but she's got really long hair, even tied up it reaches her lower back. I fiddle with the end of her hair. I wonder how it's stayed this soft after all she's been through these past couple of days. Naomi suddenly lets go of me and heads back into her bedroom. Should I go after her?….No she's come back out, holding my jacket, nearly forgot about that. She's also got herself one as well, a simple jean jacket. She picks up her back pack and hands me my jacket.
"I don't want to be in this building…" I take back my jacket and put it on.
"Let's get moving then. Come on.." I head out of her apartment, I can hear Naomi close behind. We silently walk down the stairs back into the lobby, that zombies still roaming around, not near us though. We both walk out the main door, back into the cold street…….