Now, I know that it may seem like this shouldn't be the last chapter, and it's not. After planning, I found out I can make at least two more chapters counting this one.
Guess I'll answer reviews too:
Kiojin: They might show up, but only in their real life forms. Characters from VIRUS will show up in the next book though. I haven't decided which.
Helbaworshipper: You have to be the only person who's stuck with the story through my unnecessarily long updates. Thanks.
Blackout
Terry couldn't see anything, and she felt numb. Was what she just remembered true? Was that horrible man, Varuchio, her uncle? How couldn't she put two and two together? She was so stupid. Her thoughts disrupted her concentration, and she dropped the slender disc in her hands.
The emergency lights kicked on. A reddish glow flowed throughout the room, giving a creepy Alfred Hitchcock feel to it. She looked at the floor. She saw with horror the CD rolling along the hard floor on a smooth side; rolling right towards the heating vent on the floor.
Terry made a dive for it, but felt only coldness and a sharp pain course through her elbow as her fingers grasped air. Her stomach felt like it jumped off a cliff when the CD fell into the vent, and slipped through the grates.
"Dammit," she growled to herself. She looked at the CD lying at the bottom of the air duct. She pulled off the lid, and reached down for it.
Terry heard a horrible sound, and gasped when the vent collapsed. All she could do was watch the disc fall into the dark abyss.
"Please tell me what I think happened didn't happen?" groaned Steve, sitting up to get a better view. Terry was thinking of a way to tell him when the intercom crackled to life, and an obnoxiously loud voice blared through it.
"This hospital is know under control of the Society to Restore His Work. The upper levels have been left with power to keep those on life support systems alive. All those able to leave should to avoid injury. We don't want to have to kill more than two people."
"The S-R-H-W?" Terry asked, not expecting an answer. To her surprise, Steve responded.
"Those bastards tried to kill me," he growled.
"How do you…?" Terry started, but stopped at Steve's look.
"Those people will do anything to get their 'master's' work. Their master was Varuchio," Steve whispered. Trying to keep his voice low. "I don't know exactly what's on it, but I know it's their last hope if continuing Varuchio's work."
Terry stared. This group had to be chasing Steve for a good while in order for him to know this much about them.
"You go and grab that disc from the basement. That's were the floor duct would have broken open to. Be careful not to get caught. I'll be there as soon as I can," Steve finished, and started to pull himself up.
A loud moan of pain echoed through the room. Terry looked up to see the full extent of Steve's injuries. Steve's abdomen was wrapped in many layers of bandage, and some blood had still seeped through.
"Steve, are you-?" she was cut off with a wave of Steve's hand.
"Just hurry," he growled. "I'd rather chance this," he motioned to his gut. "Then be caught by those psychotic freaks." Terry nodded, and ran out into the glowing red from the emergency lights hall.
The hall had a few blind spots where Terry saw nothing but complete and total darkness. She really didn't like the fact that those freaks could be anywhere in the halls, especially when they were specifically after Steve and her.
The hall seemed excessively long. She made her way through the sharp turns of the hospital and through the poorly light hallways. Once she saw something that made her jump, but it just turned out to be her shadow. She nearly collapsed with relief when she saw the door leading to the stairwell.
Terry quietly pushed the door open and looked around. To her left was a staircase leading up to the second level; right in front of her was another door labeled "Basement". She went for the doorknob, and felt her heart stop as she noticed the sign hanging from it.
Keep door locked at all times! The file storage room is down here. To retrieve key, ask receptionist at the 3rd floor service desk.
She tried uselessly to open the door, but the lock refused to even shake. Terry heard herself give a moan of despair, and prepared herself for what was up two floors.
The third floor still had power, but only because it was where the people in critical care were kept. They didn't want any deaths on their hands besides that of the little brat's and their former ally.
The guard laughed at himself. How could he call that worm their former ally? He never wanted in on Master Varuchio's plans. As soon as he found out what they were, he up and quit!
"Help me. Please!" shrieked the nurse he was keeping at the desk. She was obviously terrified. Maybe she thought he was going to kill her?
"Now, now," the guard said, patting her on the shoulder. "You'll get to leave as soon as you tell us what room Steve's in and where you keep your files. It'd also be nice if you knew if a little girl was here too." The nurse stared at him for a short while, before yelling again.
"How am I supposed to know if a little girl's here, you'll need a key for the basement, and Steve what?"
"Well, at least give me the key," growled the guard.
"Ow!"
"What?" the guard asked no one. He looked around. "Stupid hospital vents makin' weird noises. Now, where's that key?"
"It should be-!" the nurse looked under the station. "Uh,"
" 'Uh' what?" demanded the guard.
"The, uh, key's gone," muttered the nurse. "One of the doctors must have left with it in their pocket." Her eyes occasionally darted up to the guards face and back down to the station counter.
"Ugh, this is aggravating," growled the guard. "I'm going the bathroom. Don't move!" The nurse watched him walk out of sight, and she heard the click of the bathroom door locking.
" 'Don't move!'" mocked the nurse. "Screw that," She pushed herself up from the desk and ran towards the stares.
Terry stuffed the key into the lock, pushed open the door, and slammed it shut behind her. She was breathing heavily, and rubbing her forehead. A throbbing pain was pulsating through her head. She hit it kind of hard. How she got back without being caught, she'll never know. Maybe that guard was just stupid.
FLASHBACK
Terry carefully pushed the third floor door open. The guard up there from the SHRW was the only one there, and he was distracted trying to get information out of the nurse. Terry could see the key shining in the light under the desk. She could get it from the other side of the counter without anyone noticing.
She crept into a patient's room, remembering that all the rooms had connecting doors. She went through about three rooms (two out of which were, thankfully, empty) and carefully walked out into the hall. The key was only a few feet away. She dropped on to her hands and knees and continued towards the key.
"You'll get to leave as soon as you tell us what room Steve's in and where you keep your files. It'd also be nice if you knew if a little girl was here too."
Terry shuddered. The guy was talking about her, too. She crept a little closer, and was able to grab the key. She quickly ran through the three rooms again, and walked as quickly as she could to get down to the basement. She went to push open the door to the stairs, grinning at her success, when the door stopped short, and she hit her forehead.
"Ow," she groaned, before realizing what she'd done. She slowly looked over her shoulder.
"What?" muttered the guard. He briefly looked around, but was too stupid to see her holding open the door. "Stupid hospital vents makin' weird noises. Now, where's that key?"
Terry sighed with relief, and ran downstairs.
PRESENT
Terry walked through the dark basement, trying to find the disc. The lights were refusing to work as best they could, and Terry was forced to stumble almost blindly through a barely lit and cold room.
She pushed a couple of boxes out of her way as she traveled, and occasionally jumped at the regular squeaking of what Terry could only guess as the pipes. Finally, she thought she saw a shimmer in the dim light.
Terry looked through a rather large hole that was in the wall dividing the now obviously two-roomed basement and saw that shimmer again. To her relief, it was the CD.
Terry looked for a door to get in the room, for the hole was too small for her to fit through. Just to her left in the over cluttered basement she saw a greenish door. A sign was hanging from it that read:
Keep out! Authorized personnel only!
Terry sighed, thinking it would be locked too, but smiled faintly at the broken padlock hanging from the door.
"Where would I be if someone in this hospital followed the rules?" she asked herself, and pushed open the door.
Thunder clapped, and it rained even harder then before in the cool night.
Claire stared blankly at her computer screen, refusing to believe what she had found. She'd tried running the program, and got a computer virus. It was controlled, and it tried to delete her files before she deleted it. That virus had the same makeup of the one that had tried to destroy "The World". The fatal virus' code was flashing under Belle's account.
Terry bent over to pick up the CD, and saw a dusty folder. It was only a few feet away from the CD, and something about it seemed to call to her. She crammed the CD into her pocket, and picked up the file.
In the upper right corner, it was labeled: Hiyaki, Tsung / Patient file / CLASSIFIED: Unsolved cause of death. Curiously, Terry opened the dusty file. She gave a small whistle. The file was nine years old. She pulled out the pieces of paper inside, and began to read.
Patients name: Tsung Hiyaki. Gender: Male Family: Wife and child
Family names: Shaikya Hiyaki and Ryu Hiyaki; respectively.
Employment: CC Corporation, Varuchio Zespugo's office.
It is believed that the patient had been infected with some type of virus. Recollection of the patient revealed that he had walked in on someone working on a computer virus. When that person saw the patient, they bound him to a chair, and accessed the online game "The World". The patient's recollection after that is hazy.
Symptoms included involuntary twitching of the body, eyes entirely blue, and brief moments of unconsciousness. His dying words to his son were as follows: I need you, to save "The World," and our world. You will understand, son. What he meant is still unclear as is the cause of death.
The other sheets of paper were nothing but graphs and data, and although it would have fascinated Claire, Terry didn't much care. She folded the file absent mindedly, and slid it into her other pocket. She turned towards the door, and froze. The guard from the third floor was standing at the only exit to the small room.
"Be a nice little girl, and hand over that file and CD and prepare to die for what you did to Master Varuchio's plans!" he growled. He pulled out a gun, and showed it off threateningly.
Terry was frozen with fear, and it was while she was so afraid, that she began to remember. A huge bunch of words and moment flashed through her head. She remembered everything.
Who Ryuoku was, what the virus in "The World" did, and that Kate and Dave really were her parents. It was all useless though. She was going to die. That's what she thought until she heard the banging sound of metal. The guard in front of her passed out, and there stood Steve holding a metal folding chair.
"You know how hard it is to find you in this darkness?" he said with a grin. Terry smiled back, but Steve's grin turned into a frown. "We'd better hurry out of here. I hear they're sending in the big one behind this whole cult, and he's packing fire power."
END
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