Ch.3-Find the Others Then Lose Them All

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"How could Wesker still be alive? I crashed him through a wall and pushed a spear right through him." I asked after I got home, "And we didn't see anything else but us leave Marysville after it was destroyed."

"I don't know, Lilie. He was supposed to have died a few other times already. Once in the Spencer Mansion two years ago, then a few months later in Antarctica, and then finally back in Marysville." Rebecca answered while placing three plates on the table. I was happy she was around.

Billy invited Rebecca over for dinner and whenever Rebecca was around, my brother acted normal. He didn't play any sick jokes on me or put anything I hated in the food I cooked…except for the time last month when he put jalapeños in this beef stew he made.

Remembrance of that day always made me smile. On that day, he put way too many jalapeños in the stew and made both me and Rebecca gag, not because it tasted horrible(which it did), but because it was way too spicy.

Rebecca and I got him back, though. The next time Billy invited her over for dinner, Rebecca dumped a butt-load of salt in his beer while I added a bunch of sugar into his bowl of soup I made for him when he wasn't looking. Man, the look on his face was priceless. He had this weird, sickly look on his face as he looked at me and Rebecca. I simply grinned and said, "Payback is a bitch, big brother." Since then, Billy hasn't made anything both me and Rebecca didn't like.

Dinner tonight was beef stew minus the jalapeños. It actually tasted good, but I couldn't stay for dinner for very long because at 6:00, an hour after my conversation with Rebecca, I was expected to be at Liana's house to do some babysitting.

I left at 5:30 and followed Liana's directions to her house. Liana looked so relieved when I got there. Apparently, she had some last minute plans and needed someone she knew to watch her little brother and baby sister. She explained when her siblings needed to be put to bed and what they liked to eat, but my attention left her when I saw an envelope with the name "Liana Mary Mackey" on it and a manila folder.

"Liana," I asked her, "Did you get those today from a guy named Albert Wesker?"

Liana paused and slowly turned to me. "How did you know that?" she asked me.

I explained to her about the letters I had gotten along with Sherry, July, Mari, and Hazel(although I hadn't yet seen her picture or read her letter). As far as I knew, six people already had their letters. Rather than ask to read Liana's letter(since I already knew what the letter said), I asked to see her picture.

Liana opened the manila folder and handed me the picture. In the picture was a woman with long, black hair. She was staring surprised in front of a smoking machine. On the back, it said "2. You honestly think she can help you?"

A loud honk came from outside of the door. Liana jumped and said, "I gotta go and raise some hell around town." She rushed out of the house and hopped into a black corvette, where a senior was waiting for her. The car quickly drove off.

I spent the next three and a half hours running around the house after three-year-old Timmy and calming down a crying one-year-old Betsy. The work was tiring, but I managed to get them both in bed by 8:30 even though Betsy woke up twice before Liana finally came home. It was a tiring night, but I was paid $30 for my baby-sitting services. I was also given earlier that day and the boy in the black corvette, Liana's boyfriend, gave me a free ride home.

When I got home, I noticed that Rebecca's car was still in the driveway, but when I walked into the house, all the lights but one was off. The only light that was on was the light in Billy's room, but I ignored everything around me as I walked passed his room to my own, because for all I knew, Billy and Rebecca could have been making "the beast with two backs." So, if any noise was made, I didn't hear it. In fact, I didn't hear anything except for the noises in my dreams that came around ten minutes later.

I met up with Hazel at school the following morning in the locker bay. She was straightening her mini skirt and applying some make-up by using a mirror installed in her locker.

"Hey, Hazel?" I asked her.

"What do you want, Coen?" she asked as she applied some eye-liner.

"Did you get some letter from a guy named Albert Wesker?"

"Look, if you want to get your hands dirty and beat up your little friend that happens to like that weird little Caden girl, then be my guest."

"Sky didn't write those letters!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever."

"One of my best friends would never write threatening letters to five people he cared about. By the way…did you get a picture along with your letter?"

Hazel put down her eyeliner and picked up a photo and some blush. She handed me the photo.

I looked at the photo. It was of a man and woman screaming at each other. I turned the photo over and read silently, "3. You were ignored then, let's see if they notice you when you're gone."

Hazel reached into her locker and handed me the letter that caused her to beat up July the day before. It was opened and on the back of the paper was the name "Hazel Anne Mackenzie." "You can have it if you want. I don't need it and tell you friends that they'd better not try doing this again or I'll see to it that my boyfriend and his friends get them."

"Fine." I answered.

"Now get out of my sight, Coen." She commanded.

I shrugged and left for my own locker. I wasn't there for more than a minute when an opened note with the name "Catrina Josephine Mayfield" written on it and the photo of a dark skinned man holding a small, dark skinned baby were placed in my hands. I turned the photo over and read "1. He was there for you and little Danny, but he won't be any longer."

I turned to the person that handed me the items. It was July. I was surprised at the things she had. "How did you get these?" I asked her.

"My biggest sister's best friend, Catie, got this yesterday. She brought it to the house and she gave them to me when I told her that I got the same letter and picture and would give it to the S.T.A.R.S. members." She answered.

All through school, I thought of all the things the seven of us got. I had to know what those pictures and numbers meant. Could they have been in some sort of order? Or could it have been for something else? And the pictures? How could they have been taken?

A week passed and the letters and photos stopped coming. Billy and the other S.T.A.R.S. members worked really hard to try and find out where the letters were coming form, but until they found the answer, they suggested that all of us stay together at all times.

Mari's cousin, Cara, offered to keep us at her house since she could protect us because she was a S.T.A.R.S. members, too, but she was taking a year off work to take care of her newborn daughter, Carolyn. Mari, Sherry, and I took up the offer. Hazel didn't really care about the letters since she believed they were just a stupid prank. Liana had to watch over Timmy and Betsy. Catie, who I had finally met, was too busy with work, her nursing classes, and her own one-year-old son to come. July's father was out on a business trip so she couldn't ask him and her oldest sister, April, didn't want her to stay with people she didn't know.

Everything was peaceful for another two weeks. I hung out with Sherry, Mari, July, and Liana whenever I could. I finally got around to actually getting to know July, but that still didn't mean that I still didn't think she was the weirdest person on the planet. She was talkative as hell. It seemed that she never wanted to stop talking. Amazingly, she didn't take what I said about her being the weirdest person on the planet offensively…because her three sisters thought the same thing about her. I thought that was funny and she was a nice person to have as a friend. I invited her, Sherry, and Mari over for a little sleepover during those two weeks and I don't think Billy got along with her all that well mainly because she would not stop talking and laughing. He thought she was too loud for a fourteen-year-old, but she didn't really care. As long as I liked her as a friend, I didn't really care what Billy said about her.

Finally, something horrible happened that disrupted the peace of our two weeks. The S.T.A.R.S. members got a frantic phone call from April Caden and someone named Ronald Harrison. Apparently, two days ago, Catie didn't come to her classes so April went to her house to see if Catie was okay, but she wasn't. Ronald, her fiancé, went to drop off their son, but she wasn't around.

The next day, I noticed that Liana wasn't at school. I asked her boyfriend where Liana was and he didn't know. The night before, she was supposed to meet him at a nearby park, but she never came. Two days passed and Liana still didn't return. I met up with her mother, who was with S.T.A.R.S. and she said that she didn't come home. She was gone.

At this point, the remaining five of us decided that it was best that we didn't be alone. Well, Mari, Sherry, July, and I decided that. Hazel still didn't really care. She wasn't even affected by the threat in her letter. She just went about her business, beating up younger or smaller students and prancing through the hallways in mini-skirts and sleeveless tops and combat boots. Then, she was gone. Strangely enough, school was peaceful without her walking around.

I had a feeling that Hazel's disappearance had something to do with the disappearance of Liana and Catie. I also had a feeling that the disappearance was happening in some sort of order, so I looked at the photos and on a piece of paper, I wrote down all the numbers and names next to them:

1-Catie

2-Liana

3-Hazel

4-July

5-Mari

6-Sherry

7-Lilie

I brought the list home and looked it over. First Catie disappeared, then Liana, and then Hazel. A thought popped into my head. If this was what was happening, then the next person to disappear would be July.

My prediction was correct because two days after Hazel disappeared, July did too. Not only did she disappear, she was taken and we had a witness. Sky was with July, walking her home from school. According to Sky, a man came up to them and hit him. He fell over and a black van came up. A group of men came out of the van. Two of them began to beat up Sky while a man in sunglasses ran after July.

The small girl tried to outrun him, but the man moved at an insanely fast speed and caught her. He put a cloth over her mouth and waited for her to faint. Then he carried her to the van and was joined by his companions before driving away, leaving Sky bleeding on the ground. He was found by Jill's friend, Carlos, and was driven to the hospital.

I visited Sky the next day when I went to visit him at the hospital. The fourth girl was taken by a blonde man in black sunglasses. He spoke in a deep, cool voice and he ran with such velocity that it was unbelievable. Sky didn't know the man's name, but I did. It was Wesker that took her and it was likely that he took Liana, Hazel, and Catie, too.

The next day, our fifth girl was taken. That girl was Mari…and she was taken at school. She was around for the first three periods, lunch, and part of fourth period. During the middle of the period, Mari asked to use the bathroom and walked out into the hallway. She didn't come back. In fact, she basically disappeared from school.

When she didn't show up for PE, Casey and I started to get nervous. We spoke to Courtney and all she said was that Mari most likely went home early. She didn't. She didn't even come home that night.

The next day was Saturday, so a group of officers, S.T.A.R.S. members, and Casey's brother, Mike, went searching for her all throughout the city all day. Sherry and I wanted to go, but we were turned down by our guardians. It probably wouldn't have mattered. All the nearby cities and our entire city were searched and still she wasn't found.

We found out what happened when she disappeared by watching the school surveillance camera tapes. Mari did leave to go to the bathroom, but before she made it there, a man in black snuck up behind her, put a cloth in front of her face, waited for her to faint, and carried her unconscious body out of the school and to a black van and drove away. Strangely, nobody was around to see him and stop him.

The day we found out about Mari's kidnapping, the sixth girl disappeared. Sherry was taken after school on Monday. Casey volunteered to walk her home since he knew how to defend himself and Sherry. He went inside the school to use the bathroom while Sherry waited in the front of the school. When Casey came out, Sherry was gone.

Adrian was out there, too, and claimed that he saw the same blonde man drive up, place a cloth over her face, and quickly stuff her into the black van and drove off. He was so fast that Adrian couldn't stop him.

I was the last of the seven left that wasn't taken. Billy was extremely concerned for my safety. He made sure that I was with someone at all times. At school, I was with my friends. During the afternoon, I was either with Marc(which was most of the time) or hanging around the RPD or in the S.T.A.R.S. room.

Since the six of us were taken, everything seemed creepy. The streets were quiet because parents found out about the recent kidnappings and refused to let their children outside for fear of them getting kidnapped.

School was creepy because ever since Mari got taken in school, students were afraid of the same thing happening to them. Even the macho men of the school were afraid. May, June, Courtney, and Casey were starting to look like they hadn't slept since their little sisters disappeared. Sky, who finally came back to school after being released form the hospital, was looking stressed. I was afraid…afraid of what happened to the kidnapped girls and what would happen to me.

Billy and the other S.T.A.R.S. members changed, too. Nobody was laughing or making any more jokes like they used to. Instead, they were quiet and pale. In fact, the only sounds I heard when I stayed in the S.T.A.R.S. office were sighs, pen scratching, and a few "beeps" from the computer. It seemed as if a few simple kidnappings caused the entire city to die or something.

About four days after Sherry's kidnapping, Marc walked me home from school. We took the quiet roads and, to my request, stopped at Casey's house. It was my choice to be there because I didn't want to be alone and Casey and Courtney were also home so I wouldn't be lonely…plus the house was closer to the school.

The house was silent except for the sounds of screaming from the living room TV. Marc and I shrugged and took seats on the couch next to Casey and Courtney, who were staring mindlessly at an episode of Jerry Springer (I think the topic was "I'm sleeping with my niece," but I can't remember now).

At 5:00, Mr. Bright came home, so I assumed that Billy was home, too. Marc walked me home so I wouldn't be alone. Once I was in front of my apartment door, I gave Marc a good-night kiss and walked inside.

The lights were on, so I had a feeling that Billy was home, but the house was freezing. I walked to the heater and found out why the house was so cold. The heater was turned off. I moved my shivering hand up to the dial, but before I could touch it, a person grabbed me from behind.

I turned my head slightly and took a look at the person. It was Wesker. I opened my mouth to scream only to have a cloth smelling heavily of chloroform placed over my mouth and nose. My body felt dizzy and weak, but I still attempted to put up a fight. I weakly lifted my hand and slapped Wesker as hard as I could. The only thing I did was knock the sunglasses to the ground. I stared deep into his unnaturally red eyes before I went out of the world of consciousness.

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A/N: Okay, that's chapter 3. The next chapters will be when the good stuff is going to happen. I know that my last chapter might have been a little confusing with the school stuff, but that schedule and what happened at the school actually DID happen to me in high school. In fact, Lilie's schedule is a mix of my schedule from my Junior year. The race also happened. It was really funny. A little girl from another class challenged eight people from my PE class to a race. She was the smallest person there, but she won the race. The burn marks, however, is something I just made up. R/R if you want, but if you hate it, don't flame it.