Ch. 9-The Wild Ride to School
Disclaimer-Dammit, I still don't own Escaflowne and One Piece so I don't own Resident Evil.
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When trying to survive form zombie infested animals, probably the #1 place you would not want to be in is a pet store. Unfortunately for Chris, Jill, and Tom, that's right where they happened to be after they left the playground.
Every animal inside the shop was infected with the T-2 virus. The little mice, rats, and gerbils chewed at the plastic walls of their cages, trying to escape. The guinea pigs and rabbits paced around their cages and most of the birds were gone from their cages.
Thinking quickly, the three walked to the other side of the shop to where the dogs and cats were. Every dog and cat was released from their cages and eating at two figures, most likely workers: the dogs on one, the cats on the other.
Quietly, Chris placed his arms behind him and in front of Jill and Tom. Without saying anything, he began to back out of the pet shop with Jill and Tom, careful not to get the attention of the infected animals. He hated backing away from fights, but he had no choice but to do so at this time. There were just way too many animals for them to fight of alone.
They were able to speak to each other without grabbing anything's attention when the three of them were two streets away form the pet shop. Ahead, they saw Barry, Billy, Lilie, Rebecca, and Carlee. They headed towards their friends.
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Leon, Claire, and Michael were having a much harder time in the funhouse than Chris, Jill, and Tom were in the Pet shop.
The first floor was mostly an educational floor covered with graffiti from idiot teenagers and immature adults. It was creepy though, when they pictures were moving around them, but they weren't hit, so it didn't really matter to them if the pictures were moving.
The second floor, like Lilie said, was a haunted house. Moaning, groaning, cackling, and screaming echoed from every direction on the floor. A rancid smell found its way to the noses of the three intruders, but what was worse was that not one of them was sure that a zombie was actually on this floor or even in the funhouse.
"Don't let your guard down." Leon said to Claire and Michael, "God only knows if there are even any of these things in this place."
There was so much blood covering the walls and floor and so much clanging, screaming, and moaning that not one of them risked the chance of letting their guards down.
The moans grew louder as the three made it closer to the exit of the second floor. No zombies or monsters were on the second floor, but the third was a different story.
The third floor, as Lilie said, was a house of mirrors. Mirrors were hung on the walls, the ceiling, and the floors. Right in the middle of the room was a mirror maze with the mirrors at least seven feet tall.
"Let's go." Michael announced, stepping into the mirror maze. Leon and Claire nodded and followed him.
The journey through the maze was extremely confusing and creepy. There were so many mirrors around them that they had to walk around with a hand in front of them just to feel if a mirror was in front of them or not.
A zombie was wandering around the middle of the maze, walking aimlessly into a mirror with its arms hanging limply by its side. Actually, it was funny to look at, but sooner or later the zombie would notice Leon, Claire, and Michael standing four feet to its right and the three intruders knew that, so Michael took it out with five quick bullets to the head and walked with Claire and Leon to the exit.
The fourth floor was literally a jungle. Plastic trees, stuffed animals, and plastic bushes were everywhere. A trail of blood led to a decapitated body in the corner of the jungle, halfway hidden in a patch of plastic bushes. Bite marks covered the body and a trail of bloody footprints led down to the house of mirrors.
No emotion found its way onto the intruders faces as they walked by the decapitated man up to the fifth floor of the funhouse: the entertainment floor.
The entertainment floor was much more trashed than the entire amusement park. There wasn't any blood in the room at all nor were there any zombies or monsters walking around, but there were so many machines ripped out of the walls by living, breathing people, not zombies. The tables that were originally bolted into the floor were ripped out and broken into many pieces as were the karaoke machines, and television screens plugged into the walls and floors.
There was so much destruction that it was literally impossible to walk to the opposite door without stepping on the pieces broken and discarded on the floor. The door was ripped form its hinges also, but instead of becoming suspicious, Leon, Claire, and Michael walked up to the top floor.
The top floor was nothing special. The only things around were stair cases and slides leading to the exit of the funhouse, nothing else really.
"So, which do we take? The stairs or the slides?" Claire asked. Leon and Michael took the stairs. Claire took the slides, but it really didn't make any difference. The stairs and slides led to the same exact exit and there weren't any zombies or monsters to get in their way. There weren't even any zombies when the three left the amusement park.
After they were half a mile away from the amusement park, Leon and Claire spotted Billy, Lilie, Chris, Jill, Rebecca, Carlee, Barry, and a man they didn't recognize. They led Michael to their friends.
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Tom and Michael were introduced to the group as soon as everyone met up. Neither Michael or Tom said very much although they did say why they came to Marysville: Michael for revenge and Tom to get an interview with Lilie before the outbreak.
Lilie introduced herself to Tom and explained the situation to everyone else and said where they were going.
"So, where is the high school exactly?" Chris asked, turning to Lilie and Carlee.
"Ummm…about two miles west of here." Carlee answered sheepishly.
Lilie looked around and grinned, "But I know a quick way to get there."
"Really? How?" Claire asked her.
Lilie walked over to a nearby van, opened the door, and grinned, "Get in, everyone." She started fiddling with the wires to hotwire the van.
"Lilie, what are you doing?" Jill asked from outside the van. She stared at the younger girl as she tampered with the wires.
"what do you think I'm doing? I'm getting us a ride over to the high school. Now get in." Lilie shouted as she finally got the van going.
"Move over. I'm driving." Barry told her, standing on the outside of the door.
Lilie stared at him and roughly shook her head. "Forget it! You don't know the way there and I do!" Lilie shouted.
"Then navigate me while I drive." Barry argued, placing his arms over his chest.
Lilie again shook her head, "No way! I don't play Miss Navigator. Now come on! Everyone get in the back!"
Everyone let out a sigh and piled up in the back seats of the van. Billy moved into the passenger's seat.
As soon as all the doors were closed, Rebecca leaned forward and asked, "Lilie…you do know how to drive, right?"
Lilie halfway turned and answered, "Rebecca, if I can hotwire a car then I sure as hell know how to drive. Now hold on tight, everyone!" She slammed her foot on the gas and began driving off.
From the back, Claire, Jill, and Rebecca were screaming. Tom, Chris, Leon, and Barry were tightly clenching to anything near them. Carlee was wide-eyed and Michael was pale.
The van slammed into multiple zombies and over a good amount of Cerberuses. It took many sharp turns before it stopped completely.
"We're here." Lilie announced.
Slowly, the ones in the van piled out. As the passengers waited for their feeling to return to their legs, they stared at the driver.
"Lilie, how long have you been driving?" Leon asked when he got his breath back.
"My adoptive father taught me how to drive cars when I was twelve. I've been driving dirt bikes, go-karts, and speed boats since I was six." Lilie answered.
Barry turned to Billy and loudly whispered, "Billy, when we live through this, don't ever let her drive."
Billy nodded, "You don't have to tell me."
"Lilie, Carlee? Where is the locker room anyway?" Chris asked the youngest girls.
"This way." Lilie answered, leading them to the gym. As she led the others down a hallway, she came across the crumpled body of the Marysville High School's choir teacher. A bullet was impaled in his brain and his skin was covered in bites.
Lilie walked up to his body and noticed the gun in his hand and a turquoise book in the other. Carlee lifted up the book, opened it up, and read it aloud:
June 1
I was asked to bring my best singer to perform at the graduation on the thirteenth. Unfortunately, since Lilie has been arrested, I'm stuck using the second best.
June 8
A large group of scientists came by today. They originally worked at the prison, but refused to tell me anything when I asked about Lilie. What the hell are they keeping from us?
June 10
Things are definitely getting weird around here. Some small children have been kidnapped, just picked up of the streets. There are no witnesses, but the police are searching for any clues.
June 11
The kidnapped children have not been found. Mayor Boyer has announced that everyone continue with their lives while the cops search for them.
June 12
The performance is ready for tomorrow although the girl who'll be singing isn't as good as Lilie, which reminds me that I haven't heard from or about her since her adoptive father's last visit a month ago. The scientists are really creepy me out. They hide 24/7 in a lab and never come out anymore.
June 13
I knew it! I knew that when the scientists came to Marysville, something bad would happen and this proves it! During the assembly, the singer was performing when these…monsters attacked. There was so much screaming, moaning, and running. Only a few got out and very few of them left without bites. I'm fortunately one of them so I'll barricade myself into my choir room until this mess is over.
June 15
I thought about playing the piano today just to keep my hopes and spirits high, but stopped myself for fear of attracting those things patrolling the halls.
June 16
The power died. Now all I have is my flashlight. Almost out of food.
June 17
Food's gone. I'm so lonely. I have to get out. Maybe I can make it to safety.
June 18
I was stupid. I ran out and Jonathan bit me, so I shot him. I know I won't make it out safe so I'll end it all here. Damn those scientists. Damn Umbrella. Damn them all to Hell.
Lilie didn't cry, but instead continued leading everyone to the gym.
There weren't as many zombies patrolling the halls and gym as everyone thought there'd be, but of course, that didn't mean that there wasn't any wandering around. In fact, all together they killed about twenty zombies, both teenagers and adults.
When all the zombies in the gym were cleared out, Lilie began explaining what happened the day of the explosion:
"Carlee, a few friends, and me used to hang out at the mayor's house and play on his piano with his daughter, Hannah, before the explosion despite the fact that we were told not to. Hannah always had the key with her and kept it in her purse the night of the dance.
I saw the key fall out of her purse and since she was dancing with her boyfriend, I left it in the wall of the locker room, in a little cylinder-shaped case. My friends and I always left notes there and as I walked out, my cell phone rang. It was my adoptive mother telling me to come home.
Before I entered the locker room, somebody must have placed a bomb in there because fifteen minutes after I left, the explosion happened. Hannah died that day."
Lilie and Carlee led the others to the locker room and a partially broken wall. Lilie removed a brick from a wall and pulled out a red cylinder case and handed it to Billy.
Billy opened the case and pulled out the contents inside: a key and a note. He read aloud the note written in a girl's handwriting:
Hannah,
You dropped the piano key. I'll see ya at the mall tomorrow at 3:00 with Carlee, Ben, Maria, Jake, Eli, and Aaron.
-Lilie
"Ben, Jake, Eli, and Aaron? Friends of yours?" Billy asked his sister, raising an eyebrow.
Lilie shrugged, "Friends and boyfriends." She turned her attention to the key in her brother's hands, "That's the key to the piano in the Mayor's office. Now, let's go back. I'll drive."
"Oh no you're not. I'm going to be the one that drives." Billy told her.
"The Hell you will!" Lilie shouted, running towards the van. Billy ran after her and though he was faster than she was, Lilie knew more shortcuts in the high school than Billy and made it to the van just a split second before he did and plopped herself in the driver's seat. Luckily, the car was still running.
"Ha! I beat you!" Lilie shouted with an extra-large smirk on her face.
Billy smirked back at her, picked up her thin body, tossed her in the passenger's seat, and sat in the driver's seat as everyone else walked up to the van.
"You bastard." Lilie grumbled from her seat.
Billy laughed and motioned for the ones outside to enter the van, which they did with relief on their faces.
With Carlee's navigation, Billy made it to the Mayor's office quickly and without scaring the hell out of the people in the back although he wasn't as fast as Lilie was.
The Mayor's office was still untouched, which was still quite strange, but everyone was either determined to leave Marysville or get revenge on Umbrella for the damages they caused and didn't really notice or if they did, they didn't really care.
"Who's playing the piano?" Chris asked, looking at Jill and Billy.
Billy stepped forward, "I am." He walked to the piano, unlocked the top, and sat at the piano bench, doing some quick sight reading over the music sheets in front of him.
As he read, Lilie walked over to the stage and turned on the microphone. "You ready, Lilie?" Billy asked from the piano. Lilie gave him a thumbs-up and took a deep breath.
Billy placed his muscular hands over the black-and-white keys and softly placed a soft, classical-type tune.
Lilie counted fourteen measures before she actually started singing the words to the Bright Eyes Minuet. Her voice was so magical, so beautiful, so…perfect that it touched everyone's hearts and nearly brought tears to their eyes.
Billy and Lilie finished the song tow minutes after they started. The others cheered and applauded. Tom was smiling widely. Before anyone could say anything, a loud creaking noise was heard all over the room but was loudest on the wall opposite from Billy. The wall creaked and very slowly opened.
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A/N: Okay, that's chapter 9. I originally started writing down the words for the song, but decided not to, so I might mention the song later on in the story and I'll let anyone they want pick the words, so if they want to make up the words, let me know and send them to me in an e-mail. R/R if you want, but don't flame me.