Ch. 6- After the Fire
The flames were getting hot and were coming closer to us girls by the second. I looked over at Catie, Mari, and July and noticed sweat rolling down from their foreheads.
I was afraid, afraid that the seven of us were going to be burned to a crisp if we didn't get out. I ran to the door and saw that it, too, was covered in flames. "Let us out of here!" I screamed. I didn't get an answer, but I did hear a scream from behind him, "Mama!" I quickly turned and saw July screaming at a wall.
Standing in the wall was a middle aged woman just a little younger than Caroline. She was clad in a long, shimmering red skirt with a matching blouse. Her long, light brown hair was tied back into a bun and her deep blue eyes reflected the flames around her. She didn't move even as the flames burned her skin and July screamed for her. Finally, the flames engulfed the woman until she was nothing but a bloody, burned corpse. July's unusually large green eyes widened as she screamed, "MAMA!" Tears rolled down her cheeks and she began blubbering. Rather than joining Hazel, Sherry, and Liana on the floor, July just stood where she was, horrified. She was now like Hazel, Sherry, and Liana. Only Catie, Mari, and I were safe…for now.
After the flames went away and the room cooled, another thing came in. The room slightly darkened and rats came out of the walls. Catie screamed and failed to notice that the rats were going through her legs. They were holograms and not real.
"Catie! Calm down! None of this is real!" I screamed.
Catie didn't listen to me. Fear overtook her body, leaving only Mari and myself alone. Whatever Mari's fear was, it would surprise me. So far I had yet to see what she was afraid of. The room lightened and a sea-green convertible came out of the wall. Almost instantly, Mari froze up. The only time she started running was when the car started heading for her. I almost failed to notice that the car was almost twice the height of Mari.
Mari's fear…really confused me. She'd never run from cars before in the time that I had known her. Actually, I'd never seen her run from anything unless it was a game or something. I tried screaming at Mari, trying to tell her that the car, like the rats, were not real, but it didn't do any good. After the car drove through her, Mari was as useless as the other girls.
I was the only one left. All the others weren't moving. Somehow I knew I was going to be the last one left. It always seemed like I was the last. I was the last citizen alive in Marysville. I was the last one seen entering and leaving the girl's locker room the day the gymnasium exploded back in Marysville. I was even the last girl to be kidnapped.
Before I knew it, the room looked and smelled like Marysville…during the zombie invasion. Everything was there: destroyed buildings, broken cars, and tons of zombies.
It's not real. None of this is real. I thought repeatedly, but what good would it do? I was scared to hell of these zombies for that matter. It also didn't help that all my old friends Ben, Maria, Jake, Eli, and Carlee were coming after me in their zombified forms along with my adoptive parents. There was no more fooling myself. I would soon fall victim to my own fear. The last thing I saw before I fainted were the undead faces of the Varns leaning in towards my body.
-------BILLY'S POV-------
It had now been four days since Lilie disappeared. I was scared shitless about what could have been happening to her and the other girls. A sickening feeling filled my stomach every time I thought about it.
The S.T.A.R.S. room in the RPD was completely filled with S.T.A.R.S. members, especially the ones that were the family members of the missing girls. We also had two more people that were in the room. Matt Bright, a S.T.A.R.S. member and oldest brother to Mari, got the rest of us S.T.A.R.S. members to allow his father to work with us in finding his missing daughter. Our other guest wasn't even a cop.
Dean Caden ran into our office about a day or so after Lilie disappeared. He introduced himself to most of the S.T.A.R.S. members(he already knew Chris, Rebecca, Jill, and Barry from the past) as the father of the second youngest kidnapped girl, July Caden. He worked as a trucker ever since he lost his job after his wife died. He was out trucking when the girls started disappearing and heard about his youngest daughter's kidnapping. Without hesitation, Chris, Jill, and Barry allowed him to work in the S.T.A.R.S. office until July and the other girls were found.
Everything seemed weird ever since they disappeared. I drove home everyday like I always had and I never saw any kids playing outside. I never heard any parties or laughing form our neighbor's houses. The whole town seemed dead both during the day and night. It was creepy.
I missed my sister. The whole apartment was so quiet without her. I had gotten so used to hearing her alarm clock going off at 6:30am on weekdays and hearing her sing songs I've never heard in the evenings and listen to her watching movies and sing along with the songs.
I missed her so much that I even watched some of the musicals she bought. The King and I, Annie, and The Sound of Music were her favorites. I sat through them, hoping to see Lilie come up and sing along or laugh at parts she thought were funny, but she didn't. She was gone and I had no clue where she was or even if she was alive.
------MARC'S POV------
Another day went by and my school life had gotten worse. After Lilie disappeared, school attendance had decreased. So many of the student's parents, especially those of young girls, were scared for their children's safety so they had their children stay home.
Every classroom normally had about thirty students was now reduced to no more than seven or eight. The hallways were unusually empty. Police officers stood around every corner of the school, watching to make sure that nobody else got kidnapped. So far nobody else has. All together about 100 students came to school instead of the 750 that usually came.
Lunch was almost completely quiet. I still sat at the same table with Casey, Adrian, Sky, Hiroko, and Lucas, but this time I was joined by a few more guests: Courtney, May and June Caden, Leo(Hazel's boyfriend) and David(Liana's boyfriend). The lunchroom was quiet, save for the eleven of us that talked amongst ourselves, trying to figure out where the seven girls could be. So far, we had no clue. The other students weren't talking amongst each other.
All the classrooms were quiet. Some teachers didn't even show up and no subs came. May took over the choir room after the teacher stopped coming even though she was only the piano player. She even pulled her fifteen-year-old sister out of her Biology class to be in the choir. Aside from the sisters, only two students were there.
My classes were mostly teacherless, so the remaining students mostly sat around reading, drawing or talking. The only class I had that was actually even remotely lively was my Electronics class. I shared that class with Lucas, Sky, Casey, and David. There was a HAM radio there that Lucas could work. Whenever Mr. Levin, our teacher, was helping the other students with building something, Lucas brought Sky, Casey, David, and I to work on it.
A couple of times before the kidnappings we actually got in touch with someone. Of course, we never revealed our true names, so we just used the names of some of the characters from Final Fantasy VII. Lucas was Cloud, David was Barret, I was Vincent, Sky was Reeve, and Casey was Cid. A few times we got truckers and bored housewives with nothing to do and we had fun goofing around with them. Unfortunately, one day we got caught a couple of weeks earlier when Lucas accidentally got a hold of a male trucker joking around that he just made out with his daughter. The trucker, unfortunately, knew Lucas. "Lucas Brooks!" the trucker screamed. It was the Caden sister's dad.
Lucas never looked so scared. "M-Mr. Caden…" He stuttered before turning off the radio. Later, he explained that the girl's father had been over protective of his four daughters for five years and if he found out that what Lucas just said was true, he'd be after him.
Today, Lucas turned on the radio and spoke into the microphone, "Breaker one-nine. Breaker one-nine. This is Cloud Strife. Is anyone there?" No answer came, but that didn't mean that something wouldn't happen. Somebody was bound to come eventually.
------LILIE'S POV------
I woke up sometime later. I was no longer in my cell. Instead Catie, Liana, Hazel, Mari, July, Sherry, and I were in a new room painted baby blue with two large couches and a chair. A coffee table was in the middle of the room with a vase of daisies and a clock was perched on the wall. The room looked nice and luxuries, but I had a feeling that something was wrong.
All the other girls were no dressed in their original clothing. We were in hospital gowns, but they were all different colors and more comfortable. Mine was red, Sherry's was blue, Mari's was emerald green, July's was yellow, Hazel's was pink, Liana's was orange, and Catie's was violet. The gowns were slightly thicker than our white ones and we were wearing comfortable matching slippers.
I looked at the other girls who all lay up on the couches in sitting positions. They were clean. Their hair, like mine, was scrubbed clean and carefully brushed while a few were tied up in certain hair styles. Only Sherry, Mari, and my hair were not tied up in a hairstyle. Liana's blue-dyed hair was up in a ponytail, July's brown hair was up in Chinese buns, Hazel's curly brown hair was in a braid, and Catie's black hair was in a single bun. None of us were wearing make-up, but our skin was scrubbed clean and smelled like roses.
As I woke, the other girls opened their eyes and slowly began to move. I could see in their eyes that they were still scared about what they'd seen hours earlier. I couldn't blame them. I was still scared from all the zombies I saw.
"Guys…what happened?" Mari asked in a scared voice. Nobody answered her. I think that nobody knew what was going on. I didn't say this out loud, but despite the fact that we were basically dressed in nice clothes and relaxing in a nice room, something bad was going to happen.
The door opened and two identical petite Asian women stood in the doorway. The one on the left smiled and asked, "Catrina Mayfield?"
Catie stood up and turned to them with a fearful look on her face.
"Please come with us, Miss Mayfield. We are here to get you out. Besides, your fiancé is here to see you." the one on the left said.
"What about the other girls?" Catie asked.
"We can only get one girl out at a time. Don't' worry. We will come back for the others soon." The woman on the right said.
Despite the fact that Catie was hesitant, she followed the women out of the room. The door was closed behind her.
I turned to the clock in the room and watched it. It was 6:00, but I couldn't' tell if it was the morning or evening.
At 6:05, the door re-opened and there were the Asian women.
"Liana Mackey? We are here to get you out." the woman on the right announced. Liana followed her and like before, the door closed behind her.
I was starting to get suspicious. I just couldn't put my finger on what was going on, but if it only took five minutes to get one girl out, then they should have been able to get all seven of us out at the same time.
At 6:10, the doors opened and the same women asked for Hazel. Unlike the other girls, Hazel actually didn't hesitate to leave.
The walls in the room were thin and I just now realized that. Plus, Hazel was not brought out of the building, but into the room next to ours. At 6:13, she screamed bloody murder. Something was wrong. I could feel it and judging by the looks on Sherry, Mari, and July's faces, they could, too.
At 6:16, the screams stopped. At 6:20, the doors opened and the same women stood in the doorway. "July Caden? It's time to go." the one on the left said.
July shook her head, "No! I'm not going!"
"But your sister is here to get you." the woman on the right said.
"Which one?"
I smirked. That was actually a good question for somebody with more than one of the same sexed sibling to ask. That way, they could tell if somebody was lying.
"Ummm…" the one on the left said before the right answered, "May." July still refused to move.
Suddenly, with an unexpected boost of speed, both women rushed forward and drug a screaming July out of the room. Inside, I kicked myself. I was so shocked at the speed that I couldn't help her.
The screams continued from the hall up to one of the nearby rooms, "NO! NO! LET ME GO! OUCH! STOP IT! GET ME OUT OF THIS THING! NO! KEEP THAT AWAY FROM ME! NO! NO! AAAHHHH!" The screams stopped at 6:27. Okay, now something was definitely wrong.
At 6:30, the doors opened and the same women stood in their original spots. Now both looked tired. "Marianna Bright?" the one on the left asked.
"What happened to July? Why was she screaming?" I asked.
"We took a simple blood test to make sure she didn't get sick. Don't worry, she's fine." the right said.
Mari leaned into me and Sherry and whispered, "I'll go with them and if something happens, I'll fight back. Casey and I have been learning how to fight since we were three and are experienced in both clean and dirty fighting." Sherry and I nodded and Mari left the room.
I then heard Mari screaming, "I'M NOT GOING IN THERE! NO! STOP PUSHING ME! GET ME OUT OF HERE AND GET THAT NEEDLE AWAY FROM ME!"
I then heard a woman scream, "Ouch! She bit me!" More screams came from different people.
"Oh my God! It's bleeding!"
"Put some pressure on it and somebody hold her head back!"
"Ah! The little bitch bit me too!"
"Somebody hold her head back!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
Sherry turned to me and said in a scared voice, "They're going to do experiments on us."
"Are you sure?" I asked her.
"Positive."
I didn't believe her, but it wouldn't be much longer when I realized that I really should have.
The screaming stopped at 6:43 and was followed by frantic shuffling. At 6:45, the door opened and instead of the women, a young, hunky, Asian boy about two years older and six inches taller than me stood in the doorway. "Sheryl Birkin?" he asked.
"Where are the two women?" I asked.
"The last girl bit Sakura and Mae's hands and forced them to get into the infirmary. Don't' worry. I'll get both of you out. All we're going to do is get blood drawn to make sure you didn't get sick from the cell the damn Umbrella Corporation threw you in."
I didn't believe him, but Sherry did. It might have been because his voice was so persuasive or because of the way he smiled at us. He looked so good and safe. That might have been why she did, but I never knew. All I knew was that she followed him willingly out of the room. Strangely enough, I didn't hear any screams.
I was now very afraid of what was going to happen to me, the last girl. I watched the clock tick on in anxiety.
At exactly 6:50, the door opened. I was about to ask the boy where Sherry was, but paused as I looked at the doorway and the person in it saying, "Hello Lilie."
The boy wasn't there. Instead there was a young woman with wavy blonde hair and striking blue eyes that I hadn't seen in almost ten years, "Miss Scarlet?"
The woman laughed and said, "Yes, it's me. Boy, it's been so long, Lilie. Last time I saw you, your beautiful hair was tied back in little pigtails and you were splitting graham crackers with little Carlee Winters and Ben Torrence. On the last day of class, I remember you three had a contest to see who could finish their strawberry Kool-Aid and graham crackers the fastest." She laughed.
I laughed, too. "You remember that?" I asked.
"Of course. How could I not? I remember all three of you had their faces covered in graham cracker crumbs. Ben won and as a showing of your anger, you and Carlee splashed your remaining Kool-Aid in his face." We both laughed before Miss Scarlet continued, "Now look at you: a beautiful teenager and no longer the cute little girl. Oh, where does the time go?"
I smiled at her. Maybe she was going to get me out of here. She turned around and when she came back, she was holding a syringe filled with a red liquid, "Now, let's get this over with. Like Lily in my old story, you get the red potion."
I looked around at my surroundings. I was now in a room, strapped to a chair. I spent so much time talking to Miss Scarlet that I failed to notice that I was brought to a room and strapped to a chair. Dammit, how could I have been so stupid?
"Miss Scarlet, please." I begged.
"Don't worry, Lilie. It will only hurt for a moment. Oh, and don't' bother calling for help. Nobody's going to come." She quickly stuck the syringe into my arm and put the liquid in.
I began to feel dizzy and sick as soon as the liquid came in. I knew Miss Scarlet said that it was pointless to call for help, but that didn't stop me. I screamed for the first person that came to my mind before blacking out, "BILLY!"
------BILLY'S POV-----
BILLY! I heard my sister's scream. I jumped up from my seat. Rebecca, who was sitting next to me, turned to me and asked, "Billy, what's wrong?"
"Lilie…" I told her, "I heard her scream my name. I think something happened to her and the other girls."
A/N: If some of you didn't notice, I decided to fix up the story a little bit as a request from my sister. Nothing major, just a personality change from July. My sister read the story and she said that when I called her energetic, she expected July to be like Rikku from Final Fantasy X or Yostuba from Yostuba&, but I made her depressed. She said that it didn't make sense to have an energetic person be depressed, so I changed it.
If any of you readers read something in my stories that doesn't make sense and explain it to me, then I will do my best to change it so that it does make sense. Do not hesitate to point out my mistakes. If I know my mistakes, I can fix them and become a better writer.
I'll try to get up to my next chapter when finals are through.