-In Love and Death-
A/N Here's my first Resident Evil fic, and I hope you like it. Of course, all rights belong to CAPCOM and not myself, although the characters and plot do. The school is pretty much based on my own and sorry if the whole floor plan is complicated, it's not too important anyway. This is just pretty much the introductory chapter. Tell me what you think of the characters so far. Please read & review! It would make my day ) Plus the next chapter should be up in the next day or two. Thanks.
Part I
Fifty-Two Pick Up
"I cannot emphasize how much I do not want to be here right now," Amy Torres muttered almost helplessly as she and Natalie Moreno approached the door to their least favorite class, also known as Honors English. The only reason they disliked it so much was the fact that they disagreed with their narrow-minded teacher, Ms. Jacobsen, more than half the time and refuted almost any opinion (disguised as fact) that she threw at them.
"It's really sad," Natalie said, "considering how much I love the subject, yet I still abhor the class."
"Abhor," Amy replied, impressed, "Nice use of a vocabulary word. You study?"
"Heck yes," Natalie claimed with faked enthusiasm, "I had nothing better to do,"
Amy laughed as the distance from their current stance to the classroom door shortened, despite how much this fact made her uncomfortable.
The bell rang and students hurriedly gathered books from longed trips to their lockers, in hope that they could make it to class while the bell was still ringing. Natalie was already at the door and her hand was pushing down on the handle, ready to open it. She gave Amy a look of preparation (who knew what mayhem they would endure today) and led the way into their temporary hell.
The class was full and conversation was flying in every direction. Natalie fought her way through gossip and chatter to her seat in the very back, where she was almost isolated from the rest of the class. She noticed that Amy had stopped halfway to her seat to greet her boyfriend, John, but found him engrossed in a - most likely forced - conversation with Ms. Jacobsen. It was common knowledge that Ms. Jacobsen liked younger men. And those younger men just happened to be half her age. Amy waved at John, desperately trying to hold back a look of disgust. John smiled at Amy and her expression but continued his conversation out of courtesy.
As Natalie took her seat she noticed that the back row, where she humbly resided, was not as empty as she anticipated. Normally, Natalie was the only person in the back row, two or three empty seats stretching out from either side of her. Today, however, there was someone in the seat directly to her left. He was hunched over a test she knew she had taken the day before and realized that this person had been absent yesterday. For some reason she had not absorbed the fact that she knew this person, only that it was a someone. His brown hair stood up (this was intentional and was provided by some hair gel) and it was a complete mess, but she liked it that way. He wore a white t-shirt with some sort of insignia on the front and beat up jeans, and not the kind you buy beat up but the kind that you did yourself or actually wore in, because he was that kind of guy. Nonetheless, Natalie knew this boy and his name was Myles Greene. The class had grown silent after she processed that thought in her head but before she started paying attention to Ms. Jacobsen she decided to make a small move.
"Four is B, not D," she whispered.
Myles, startled, turned to see who had disturbed him. Natalie gave him a mischievous grin of which Myles returned.
"Really?" he said, "I mean, number four is really B?"
Natalie nodded and gave a fleeting glance in Ms. Jacobsen's direction. This gave Myles the impression that they should stop talking before they got into any trouble and he immediately got the hint and looked back at the test.
Amy could be distinctly seen from across the room, making faces that looked as if she were agony as Ms. Jacobsen lectured and lectured about how the class didn't grasp the language of Romeo and Juliet, the most cliché piece of high school reading material.
"I am completely abashed at the fact that not one of you in this room really appreciates the heartfelt meaning of this piece of literature," Ms. Jacobsen reprimanded. She also liked to throw vocabulary words into sentences, note the use of "abashed". Not many people would use such a word in daily speech.
Ms. Jacobsen's mouth opened, about to leap into another reason as to why she was so ashamed of her Honors students, when an earsplitting sound broke the birth of her next speech.
"Fire drill!" someone called out.
There was an uproar of cheers as the fire drill siren rang, the teachers failing miserably in an attempt to calm them down. The class began to line up single file out of the classroom and to the nearest exit. Amy was all the way at the front with John so Natalie decided to stay back and hang out with Myles, not that she considered this a bad thing.
"You don't think you could tell me what number seven is, do you?" Myles asked her as they headed outside. He flashed Natalie a playful smile.
Ms. Jacobsen shushed them as they passed. Being the last people out of the room, Ms. Jacobsen closed the door after they stepped foot into the hallway and hurried to the front of the crowd.
"Probably going to hit on John again," Myles joked to Natalie.
"Wouldn't doubt it," she replied, "You know about that, too?"
Myles nodded, almost solemnly. "It's gross," he said.
Close by were the double doors that led out to the side of Raccoon City High School and Myles and Natalie walked out into the chilly September air. Most of the some odd two thousand students that attended RC High were already outside, chatting up a storm as if the fire drill were a social gathering... in which to the students it was.
"Thank God I don't have to sit in that class for another ten minutes," Natalie said, teeth chattering.
"Are you cold, or something?" Myles asked.
"No," Natalie responded sarcastically.
"I'd give you my jacket if I had it, maybe it might've helped... but as you can see..."
"Aw, how sweet," Natalie said, playfully punching Myles in the arm.
"Y'know, you're eyes look a lot greener than usual when you wear the color green?" Myles told her.
"Uh, thanks? That was a bit random. But then again, it's you I'm talking about."
"Of course, always trust Myles to be random. Although you can be more so than I am at times," Myles said in a very matter-of-fact tone.
"I'm not too sure whether that's a compliment," Natalie said.
"Just forget it... so, how's life?" Myles asked. He slipped an arm around Natalie, rubbing her arm with his hand, to keep her a bit warm.
"All right, I guess. Not that anything interesting happened since fifth period when I last saw you," she said.
Myles laughed. "Yeah, that was only two periods ago,"
"Hey, guys," said the voice that belonged to Abram Zachary, Brom for short. His voice lessened in enthusiasm when he came to the word 'guys' in his sentence, perhaps realizing he might've walked in on something private.
"Brom!" Natalie said, relieving herself of Myles' grip, "Haven't seen you in ages,"
Natalie said all of this in a rushed voice and Myles looked away awkwardly. Brom gave them an odd look.
"Yeah," Brom said strangely, "so how 'bout them Yankee's," he continued, jokingly trying to change the subject.
The siren was still going off and Staff personnel were still inside the building, they all noticed.
"What the heck are they doing?" Myles said, bewildered.
"Yo tengo ni idea," Brom said.
"Speaking of Spanish," Natalie said, "how was that quiz? Hard, right?"
"It was the easiest thing I ever took, I-…" Brom began but he was rudely cut off by a loud voice.
"I need everyone's attention!" came a powerful voice, reeking with authority. "Yes, even you Mr. Connelly. Attention!"
The trio recognized this voice as Dr. Muhammad's, the principal of the school. She was located near the flagpole holding a megaphone with the vice principles standing at her side. They were conversing among themselves worriedly and suspiciously as Dr. Muhammad waited patiently for the crowd to become silent. Myles and Brom ignored Dr. Muhammad's request and continued to talk but Natalie was completely subdued by skepticism.
"Guys," she said to get their attention. They both stopped and looked at Natalie who had her index finger over her lips. The three of them looked in Dr. Muhammad's direction and she began to speak.
"Please, I would like all of you to behave for your teachers and staff while you are out here. I'm afraid to inform you that you will be outside for some time and all I ask of you is to cooperate and don't get into any trouble. I wouldn't count on an early dismissal either, Connelly, so please..."
"How long does she expect us to be out here?" Brom complained.
"It's not like it was a planned fire drill," Myles reasoned, "Teachers usually tell us if there's a fire drill once the bell rings."
"Do you think it's a real fire then?" Natalie inquired.
"Dunno," Brom shrugged, "I guess. Why else would we be out here?"
"It could be a bomb threat, y'know," Myles suggested, "We haven't met our quota yet,"
"We had a record total of eleven last year. How many bomb threats have we had so far, two?" Natalie said, "And it's September 29th for Christ sakes!"
"Tell me about it," Myles said.
"Yeah but if it were a bomb threat, wouldn't they have kept us inside our classrooms like they did last year?" Brom asked.
"I guess not,"
"No one actually confirmed it was a bomb threat, or a fire drill, even," Natalie stated.
Natalie, Myles and Brom were not the only students discussing the oddness of this "safety drill" as people began calling it, since there was no specification as to what is was. Dr. Muhammad and the other vice principals had been seemingly missing for at least thirty minutes and students began to get restless. The bell rang for eighth period but no one moved. Teachers stood at the entrances to the school, urging students that there was nothing wrong even though they had been held outside for an entire class period.
"This is definitely a first," Natalie said.
"Where do you reckon Dr. Muhammad went?" Myles asked.
"Could be anywhere really," Brom said, "I could care less, I just don't want to go to class,"
"I was near B commons when it happened...and it sounded like there was a fight so I thought that might have had something to do with it," they heard someone say loudly.
Myles and Brom gave each other suspicious glances and turned to the conversation.
"What the-" Natalie said.
"Shh," Myles hushed her and directed her towards the conversation.
Raccoon City High was crowded, despite the four floors they had. All four floors had a label; A, B, C, or D. Each floor had a common area, a common center between three different wings or hallways. B floor was by far the most crowded, what with the cafeteria and the gymnasium, and fights often spurred between classes in this area.
"Iwas on B common when I saw it happen but my brother was on D and said that he saw someone down there do it at the same time so I don't know if it was intentional, or a prank or something," an adjoining person in the conversation stated.
The group that they were eavesdropping on consisted of about seven people and none of them noticed that Myles, Brom and Natalie were standing there listening with great interest.
"I was in the hallway in my study hall on C floor. I think that's where someone pulled it, or maybe they just jumped 'cause of the fucking screeching air-raid fire alarms," another said.
"Wait, my friend said she saw a few kids pull it on C, I also heard someone say a 'female janitor' bumped into it and then tried to fix it when she accidentally pulled it on C floor."
"Actually, what happened was that someone bumped into the alarm by accident and the security guard tried to take the lid off and it sounded the alarm,"
"Okay, so we have a fight on B, a group of kids on C, another person on C (and a security guard), a kid on D, and a "female janitor" on C floor. Sounds real fishy to me..."
Brom turned away from the crowd of people with a pondering expression on his face.
"I don't get it," he started, "Is this really an important situation... like, for serious?"
"Sounds like it's 'for serious'," Natalie replied.
As soon as she said this another bell rang. This was acknowledged as the bell that told them it was safe to return into the building. Everyone headed toward the class they had been called out of and Myles and Natalie said bye to Brom as they headed back to Ms. Jacobsen's classroom.
As Natalie bent down to get her bag, she could feel Myles staring at her oddly. Terrified at the reason, she shot up and gave him a reprimanding look. This was apparently not the reason he was looking at her. He had a questioning expression on his face.
"Is it just me, or did that safety drill seem a bit... off?" he said to her.
Natalie shrugged.
"I'm just glad I didn't have to sit through English. But now that you mention it..."
"I mean, I could've cared less if those kids hadn't mentioned anything," Myles said, "but they had a point."
"I don't know, you're probably getting worked up over nothing," she pointed out as she slid the strap of her backpack onto her shoulder. "What do we have now anyway?"
"What period is it now? Ninth? Then we have..." Myles looked up at the ceiling as if his schedule were written on one of the tiles, closing one eye in concentration, "study hall, C floor."
Natalie nodded as they left Ms. Jacobsen's classroom and started to make their way down the hallway. The C house hallway was anything but inviting as they sidled passed students with oversized book bags, clique's of girls comparing purses, kids who are making yet another stop to their locker, or the rude groups of people who think it's cool to crowd by the door of a classroom where somewhere there are 30 other kids trying to get into that class; or simply random couples making out conveniently in front of your locker or destination. Myles and Natalie defied the ways of the hectic hallway and maneuvered successfully to their 9th period study hall having mastered the art of reaching this journey unscathed.
A teacher was not present in this room but the students who were already there didn't seem to be making much trouble. The art room/makeshift study hall consisted of wooden tables with mismatched stools scattered around them for seats. At one table in the far right corner were two people who had already arrived, leaving plenty of seats open for others to join. Natalie immediately made her way to this particular table for that reason, and also because it was the table they always sat at during study hall.
"Still annoying the hell out Muhammad, Connelly?" said Myles, his way of greeting the two others who were there.
"Never fails," Jonas Connelly responded with a mischievous grin on his face, "I've been doing it since September of '95, why stop in my senior year?"
"I wouldn't doubt you're part of the reason Dr. Muhammad is leaving soon, Jonas," Michelle Anderson told Connelly in a mothering sort of tone.
"Why do you call him by his first name?" Myles asked, "Everyone else calls him Connelly..."
"I'm not everyone else if you hadn't noticed. Besides, I happen to like the name Jonas," Michelle answered.
"Yeah, and I know why," Natalie laughed, "because Michelle is obsessed with Weezer, just as much as she-"
"As if you don't like Weezer," Michelle said cutting off the end of Natalie's sentence. Natalie laughed and Myles smiled, both of them knowing what Natalie was about to say. Connelly had no clue whatsoever.
"So," he said, "what about that stupid drill before, huh?" Connelly quizzed them.
"We were just talking about that before," Natalie said.
"Yeah, we were listening to a bunch of people speculating before," Myles added.
"Speculating?"
"There were a bunch of rumors about the drill. They really think someone pulled it, but it's probably a bunch of codswallop. They all had a different story, like there was a fight, someone bumped into it, or this group of kids pulled it or whatever," Natalie continued.
"Well, I did find it extremely suspicious," Michelle interjected, "They never announced it. And I asked Mrs. Cohen what it was about and even she didn't know. She always knows."
"You can't count on Mrs. Cohen to know everything, she's only human," Connelly said.
"It still made the whole thing all the more peculiar,"
"I guess so," Natalie agreed, "I'm surprised they haven't said anything yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Dr. Muhammad hasn't come over the PA to say what happened, like she usually does and-…"
The presence of a person appeared behind Connelly and Natalie who were sitting together one side of the wooden table with Myles and Michelle on the other. Myles and Michelle however were staring at the person who had appeared to them.
"Hey, Jack," Myles said.
Michelle gave Natalie an odd look and Natalie sank into her seat covering her face.
"Do any of you happen to have a scientific calculator?" said Jack in a deep voice. Natalie hadn't heard this boy speak since the year before and it was obvious that a chill ran through her as she blatantly shivered when he started his sentence.
"Sorry," Michelle said.
"Well, do you at least have a number two pencil?"
"Yeah," Michelle said optimistically. She reached across from her, picking up a lone pencil that was residing in front of her on the table, and handed it to Jack.
"Thanks,"
Jack walked away but Natalie was still slumped in her seat.
"He asked her for a pencil, not her virginity," Connelly reasoned to Natalie, then he suddenly looked at Michelle, "... you are a virgin, right?"
"What's the matter with you?" Myles asked Natalie, laughing bewilderedly.
"Nothing," said Natalie's muffled voice.
"Natalie used to be good friends with Jack, so to speak... you can figure out what happened there..." Michelle explained.
"Thanks for reminding me,"
"All's clear, you can come out of your foxhole," Connelly teased.
"Thanks for the affirmative, Mohawk Man," Natalie retorted, messing up Connelly's mohawk when she sat upright in her seat again.
"Hey! Don't! I actually spent time on it this morning!" he complained.
"You never do," Natalie said, given up on her mohawk-ruining pursuits, "but there's nothing wrong with that,"
She laughed and glanced at Michelle. Myles was now feeling left out of things, but didn't say anything regarding that particular subject.
"So, what were we talking about before?" he asked.
"Eh... the drill," Michelle accounted, "I still think it's strange."
"Hey, maybe Dr. Verona knows... he used to be the vice principal. And Dr. Muhammad always lets him in on this sort of stuff. I'm staying after with him today anyway, I have to finish my lab project," Connelly suggested.
"That's something..."
The rest of the period, the four of them discussed the means of the safety drill, proposing ideas of its purpose and motive but none of them came up with any sort of logical idea with evidence to back it up. After ninth period study hall however, they did not see an ounce of one another until the bell after 12th period rang, announcing the arrival of the time day also referred to as 'after-school'.
After-school activities didn't begin until 2:10 and the busses left at two o'clock sharp, leaving a set of four seemingly brunette students of Raccoon City High School in the cafeteria, where all students anticipating after-school activities waited.
"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen this place so empty," Myles' voice echoed.
The only other people in the desolate cafeteria were two boys in the far left hand corner and a blonde girl buying a bottle of iced tea from a vending machine.
"No sports today?" Natalie asked.
"Nope," Michelle answered, "I heard them say they were cancelled on the afternoon announcements."
"Anything about after-school activities all being cancelled, possibly?" Myles questioned.
"I don't think so," Michelle said as she combed her memory.
"I'm surprised you heard anything because you wouldn't shut up to me," said a new voice.
They all looked up to see that the girl that was at the vending machine was Amy Torres.
"Yeah, yeah," Michelle said, dismissing this thought.
"Why are all you guys here?" Amy asked, sipping her iced tea.
"Wanted to ask Dr. Verona about the 'safety drill'," Connelly replied, making quotation mark signs with his fingers.
"Don't blame you. That was weird," Amy said again.
"Don't look now, Natalie, but it's your favorite person," Michelle said with strong sarcasm.
"Hey," said Brom, "what are you all doing here?"
Brom and another student had come up to the table in which the five were situated at. At first, Natalie thought Michelle had meant Brom, whom she had been friends with for over five years now, but then she noticed that Jack made his second appearance that day. He smiled at her awkwardly, while Natalie tried to draw her attention elsewhere. Myles watched her with interest, and also out of mirth.
"Mind if we sit?" Jack asked.
"No, sit wherever," Connelly told them. It seemed among this group that if anyone were to be a leader it would probably be Connelly, considering he was, by far, the oldest. And seniors always maintained to uphold some sort of respect from the lowerclassmen, whether the seniors deserved it or not.
Brom sat next to Michelle and they almost looked like they could be related in some distant way, as they looked fairly similar with their dark hair (although Michelle's was a very dark brown and Brom's was a distinct jet black) and their eyes of somewhat Asian proportions. Jack almost had no other option but to sit right next to Natalie and this made her seemingly uncomfortable.
"So Jonas," Michelle addressed Connelly, "When are you supposed to go see Dr. Verona?"
Jonas Connelly briefly checked his watch, eyes widening.
"Shit," he muttered in almost disbelief, "It's 2:25, I was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago,"
Connelly got up and grabbed his backpack, heading for the cafeteria door.
"I'll go with you," Michelle said, following Connelly in a hurry.
"Oh, thanks, Michelle, thanks," Natalie called after her.
"We'll be here, if for any odd and abnormal circumstance that you may need us," said Myles as he watched Connelly and Michelle near the exit.
"So, guys..." Jack said awkwardly, as they all stared at each other from around the table, when thankfully this silence was broken.
"You've got to be kidding me," Connelly could be heard yelling from across the room.
"What is it?"
"Damn door is locked! I forgot you can only open them from the outside after 2:00," he answered.
"I bet you all after-school activities were cancelled, Michelle," Amy joked.
"Seriously!" Connelly shouted, "Doesn't the security guard even think that there may be people in here? Or to even check if there were, if activities were really cancelled?"
"Jesus, Connelly, calm down. What did you have to do anyway?" Jack asked, as Connelly pulled and tugged on the doors that left the cafeteria.
"Make up a lab... otherwise I have to come during a lunch period or miss hockey," Connelly replied, throwing his book bag down in defeat. He sat cross-legged on the floor now with an irate expression on his face.
"Crap!" Brom suddenly said, "We're all stuck in here... it just occurred to me,"
"Too true,"
"Now what?" Brom continued.
"What is there to do?" Amy said, "There's nothing to do."
"So we just... wait here?"
"That's pretty much what I just said,"
"But you said there's nothing-..." Brom started.
"Shut up!" she snapped.
"Oh, God," Natalie buried her face in her hands, shaking her head.
"Well, what should we do while we wait?" Myles asked.
xºxºx
"Royal flush," Jack said mercilessly laying out his cards.
"There is no beating you!" Myles complained, gathering up everyone's cards, "I'm not stopping until I do,"
"You do that," Natalie said, yawning, "I'm not playing anymore. Six games is enough for me,"
Jack and Myles ignored this comment and began playing again anyway.
"Dang," Natalie exclaimed, "It's 3:40. And no one has come by."
"I just can't believe that none of us have cell phones," Michelle said.
"It's not my fault that I left it in my locker," Connelly said to this.
"Actually, I would say it is your fault," Amy said.
It had been a little over an hour and the seven of them were still locked inside the cafeteria, with no idea of how to get out. Brom had occasionally been looking out through the glass panes in the doorway to see if anyone happened to be passing by but so far there had been no one in sight.
"Of all places to be locked, I am extremely grateful that it was the cafeteria," Brom said, mouthful of chocolate from a nearby vending machine.
"Lovely," Michelle said, commenting on Brom's chewing and talking, which allowed everyone to see the chocolate melt in his mouth.
Michelle was sitting on the floor with Connelly and Natalie right by the door, Brom standing in front of the door itself, gazing out of the window again.
"Whoa, guys," Brom said suddenly.
"What, what is it?"
Brom didn't answer but started banging his fist on the door fiercely.
"Hey! You!" he seemed to be trying to get the attention of someone out in the hallway.
Everyone but Myles rushed to the door to see.
"Dr. Verona!" Connelly shouted, "Dr. Verona! Open the damn door! Dr. Verona! Why the heck is the man walking as if he's ninety? He's only thirty-four for Christ's sake," Connelly complained
Everyone else started banging on the doors, shouting for Dr. Verona's attention. Eventually he turned his gaze onto them and began to slowly make advances towards the cafeteria. Despite this, they all continued with their banging and shouting as if it would speed up Dr. Verona's pace.
"Dr. Verona! Hurry up!"
"Stop taking your sweet ass time!"
"Come on!"
Finally Dr. Verona reached the door, groping at it as if he were blind or the lights had gone out, but it was clear to them that the lights were as bright as they usually were...
"Dr. Verona?"
"Hah! Beat you, Jack!"
"We're not playing anymore, Greene," Jack called back.
"You're just saying that because I won,"
"Bet you cheated,"
"Did not,"
"Shut up!"
There was complete silence as the anticipation mounted, Dr. Verona opening the door.
"Dr. Verona, are you all right?" Connelly asked.
"Oh my, God," Natalie said loudly, without much thought of what she was saying.
Dr. Verona's eyes were a milky white, his white lab coat ripped and shredded near the bottom and a long gash and stain with blood all down his front made them all stare in shock. Myles stood up, glad that he finally beat Jack, with the deck of cards ready for shuffling. They all fell to the floor.
"Don't... move..." said a voice.
All seven of them stared in the same shocked horror as they looked behind Dr. Verona to come face-to-face with a gun.