Ch.9- In Which the Call For Help Goes Through

-------LILIE'S POV-------

Catie, July, and I almost didn't make it to July's old room. Aside from running, July and I were both half carrying an injured Catie, who was not light. Thankfully, Hazel was not fast and the room was just a little down the hall and unlocked. As soon as the three of us got inside, July ran and locked the door so Hazel couldn't get inside.

I helped Catie walk over to the child-sized bed in the room. As Catie rested on the bed, I took the time to look around the little room. Honestly, it had to be one of the most pathetic-looking rooms I had ever seen. The walls were a gray-ish white, cobwebs were everywhere, the one shelf was bare, a small television sat in the corner of the room, and the small window had bars on it. I couldn't see any heaters or air conditioners and the room was cold. "You actually had to spend time in here?" I asked July.

July frowned and nodded, "Yeah. I spent months here during the two times I was sent here after Mama and Uncle Forest died." By the tone of her voice, I could tell she was really upset, but a question was on my mind that I wanted answered, "How did your mother die anyway?"

July froze. At first I thought she was going to cry, but she didn't. Instead, she walked to the window and said in a voice I had never heard before by her, "A fire killed her. When I was nine, she died. I was upstairs sleeping while Mama, Daddy, and my sisters were downstairs. Somebody was outside smoking and threw their cigars into Mama's garden and the house quickly got on fire. Mama, Daddy, and my sisters ran outside. Mama then ran back inside to get me. I woke up when I felt my room get hot. My room was on fire, so I ran outside of the room. I heard Mama calling my name and saw her down the stairs. I ran down three steps and fell down the others.

"The smoke got really really thick and my arms caught on fire. Mama and I could barely breathe. Finally, a fireman came in and started to drag Mama out because she could barely breath, but Mama handed me to him and he got me out. I was saved and she wasn't."

I couldn't believe it. The two of us had something in common for once. Both of us had lost someone due to a cigar fire, or at least Billy told me that my parents died from a cigar fire.

"Hey, Catie. How're ya doing?" I asked Catie.

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt anymore." She said. Catie lifted her hand from the spot Hazel attacked her. Blood was on her hands, but no wound was seen. It was as if...

"Wow, Catie! You healed yourself!" July said cheerfully.

Healed herself? It didn't seem possible. She was injured only five minutes ago, but I guess it could be possible. I never believed in zombies or being able to mutate into gruesome creatures, but thanks to the Umbrella Corporation, I now believe that anything is possible.

"Hey, do you think that TV still works?" I asked.

"I don't know. Let's find out." Catie said.

-------MARC'S POV-------

School was out. Mr. Levin kicked all the students out of his classroom and the principal kicked everyone out of the school. He said that the school was closed until further notice, which probably meant until the girls were found.

Everyone that was in Mr. Levin's classroom moved to the S.T.A.R.S. room, but only Lucas, Casey, and I were allowed to stay. Sky, David, and the Caden sisters had to go home. At first the sisters were allowed to stay because Chris said they could, but their father refused.

It was only 1pm, a few hours after Lucas and I chatted with the girls. Lucas was on the radio along with Matt. So far, they had not picked up any signals from the radio.

"Rinoa Heartilly? This is Cloud Strife. Are you there?" Lucas called into the radio. No answer from Mari, Lilie, or the other girls.

Everything seemed lost. None of the girls were responding and we didn't know where they were. Honestly, because they were taken by Umbrella, it was possible that they weren't even alive anymore. Then, we heard something that sounded like the best thing in the world.

"Cloud Strife? This is Rinoa Heartilly."

Mari was back. "Mari!" Casey shouted from next to me.

From across the room, Rick asked, "Wait a minute. How do we know it's actually her?"

Matt grabbed the microphone from Lucas and spoke into it, "Mari? This is Matt. Can you tell me what happened before Dad died in his most recent police chase?"

I blinked. What the hell was he saying? Mari's father was fine. In fact, he was standing right next to Leon with no injuries on his body.

"WHAT? Dad died?" A surprised cry that sounded a lot like a mouse's squeak came from the radio.

"It's her. She always overreacts with that weird squeak in her voice." Casey told me.

"No, he didn't. I just made that up." Matt said to Mari.

With that weird squeak, Mari answered, "You son-of-a...don't scare me like that!"

Lucas took the microphone back and spoke into it, "Okay, Mari, this is Lucas. Do you know where you are?"

"Yes." Everyone in the S.T.A.R.S. room took a breath of relief.

"Where are you?"

"At the Westside Psychiatric Institution."

Almost instantly, Lucas and Dean froze. I didn't know why and now wasn't the time to ask.

"You're sure about that?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. We saw some papers here talking about July being committed here twice." Mari answered.

That energetic little girl was committed to a madhouse? It couldn't be true, but after looking at Lucas' face and then at Deans, I had to believe it.

-------SHERRY'S POV-------

"How could you be there? That place was abandoned almost a year ago." Lucas' voice said.

"What?" Mari asked.

"Yeah, it was abandoned a year ago after some of the mentally ill started murdering the doctors and each other."

"Well, that would explain why everything is all dusty and broken."

"Mari, where is everyone else?"

"Sherry and Liana are here with me. Lilie, Catie, Hazel, and July went to walk around this place to see if they could find a good way out."

"You split up? Why would you do something like that!"

Hmmm...maybe I should have told Lilie not to split up when she suggested it like I wanted. But nooo...I just had to let my shyness overtake my body and not say anything.

My thoughts stopped when I heard Mari do some muffled coughing.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked through the radio.

In a sort-of raspy voice Mari answered, "Yeah. I'm fine and so are the others as far as I now. No more mutations from us girls."

Mari then moved her head from the radio and began to cough into her hand. Her coughs got a lot worse and wouldn't stop. She sounded like my friend, Karen, who got infected two years ago back in the old Raccoon City. She began to cough heavily then not more than six hours later, she was a mindless zombie. The coughing was just stage one of Karen's G-virus infection.

Mari lifted her hand from her face while still coughing. Blood was covering her palm...like Karen.

Liana quickly moved the still coughing Mari from the radio. I let out a scream as I saw her chin covered some of her own blood.

"Mari! Marianna! Are you okay!" Matt screamed.

"She coughed up blood! Get here and save us, please!" I screamed into the radio.

Not more than three seconds after my request, the door to the office opened and the giant of a man stood in the doorway. His skin was gray and his eyes white. I knew he was an experiment.

"Sherry! Move!" Liana screamed as the man headed towards me with his arms swinging.

Just in time, I ducked and ran right under the arms. Rather than turn and go after me again, the man attacked the radio. It was now broken.

"Mari, can you move?" Liana asked Mari.

Mari stopped coughing and nodded.

"Good. Now the three of us are getting out of here." Liana announced. She quickly grabbed my left and Mari's bloody right hand and ran out of the room.

-------END SHERRY'S POV-------

Wesker was watching in amusement at Hazel's mutation and the releasing of the tyrants that once were the insane patients of this madhouse. He was even smirking when he saw Mari coughing up blood. "Hey Jen?" he asked Miss Scarlet, "What experiment did you give Marianna Bright?"

"Emerolix. All it's supposed to do is tighten her muscles to give her strength." Miss Scarlet answered.

"Hmmm...then why is she getting sick?"

"I have no idea."

Suddenly, two figures, the Japanese twins, walked into the room with a hand bandaged. "Mr. Wesker, they have been released." The one on the left, Sakura, stated.

Wesker looked at their hands and asked, "What happened to your hands?"

"The little brat, Marianna Bright, bit us until we bled before we injected her with the liquid." The one on the right, Mae, said.

Wesker nodded and said, "Good work. Try and make sure that at least a few are still held in their cells so we can release them later when the S.T.A.R.S. members show up." Sakura and Mae nodded and left. Wesker then turned to Miss Scarlet and asked, "Jen? You told me earlier that they were injected with something. What are Sakura and Mae injected with?"

Miss Scarlet flipped through the papers on her clipboard and answered, "Sakura and Mae were injected with what we call the GT-virus. It's a mixture of the T and G virus. It's supposed to make one's life longer and make the user look like they're really young. Sakura and Mae are really sixty-five years old, but thanks to the GT-virus, they look in their early twenties. The liquid could be dangerous, though if it is mixed with another liquid or if the body doesn't like it. Marianna must have only taken a few drops into her system otherwise she would have gotten violently sick before she even woke up."

"Did you make any cures for the virus?"

Miss Scarlet nodded, "We only have one cure, so if something happens, then we have to pick one of the twins or Marianna to get it."

-------MARC'S POV---------

"Marianna! Marianna!" Matt screamed into the radio. Nothing but static came.

"Okay, S.T.A.R.S. members. Get your gear ready. We're going to save those girls." Chris shouted in the room.

Instantly, Chris, Jill, Barry, Billy, Rebecca, Leon, Claire, and Matt began packing up with bullet proof vests, radios, and weapons. The other S.T.A.R.S. members began doing that, too, but they weren't leaving with the first group. They were the back-up group in case something happened. I began to pack up, too, but Chris stopped me.

"Marc, Lucas, and Casey. Go home. We don't want any non-S.T.A.R.S. members involved in this." he said.

"What about Dad? He's not a S.T.A.R.S. member and he gets to stay here." Casey asked.

"He's a cop and his daughter is one of the missing girls." Jill answered.

"What about Mr. Caden? He's not even with the police and he gets to stay here." Lucas asked.

"His youngest daughter is over there and he also knows how to work a radio." Chris answered.

"Casey and Marc, go home. Take Lucas with you." Marcus ordered.

I grumbled and left the RPD. It wasn't fair. I wanted to see Lilie so badly, yet I wasn't even able to go. I frowned as I saw the van filled with S.T.A.R.S. members drive by with Chris in the driver's seat.

I was mad, but I was not about to give up. As far as I knew, David had a van and my theory was that if I told him where Liana was and asked if he would drive to the hospital, he would take us. I was right.

Rather than go home like we should have done, Casey, Lucas, and I went to David's house. I told him where Liana was and he chose to drive us.

Before leaving the city, I asked David to stop by the apartment Sky shared with his sister. He did. I climbed out of the van and knocked on the apartment door. Sky's sister, Mickey, opened the door dressed in a blue maternity dress and a pair of sandals. "Can I help you, Marc?" she asked.

"Ummm...yeah. Is Sky home?" I asked her.

Mickey nodded, "He's been home for about an hour."

"I was wondering if he could hang out at my house for a couple of hours. You know, so we could play some video games."

Mickey looked passed me, at David's black van and placed a hand over her large stomach. A scared look was on her face. "I don't know...after his last injury that was from the people in the black van..." she said.

David then honked his horn and rolled down his window. He waved at Mickey and called, "Hey, Mickey!"

Mickey blinked and waddled up to the van, "David?" Sky followed behind her.

"Yeah, it's me. So, how's Adam?"

"Still in the coma."

"Oh. And how far along are you?"

"Seven and a half months."

"Ah. I can tell because you're looking pretty big."

Mickey let out a gasp, "Jerk."

David began to laugh, "Come on, Mick. You know I'm kidding, but seriously. Can we take Sky out? You know I'll be careful with him. Plus, with him out of the house, you can finally take some rest."

"Well, okay then. He can go. Just bring him home when you're done."

"No problem. Okay Sky and Marc. Into the back." David shouted.

I jumped into the van quickly while Sky turned and gave his sister a hug.

"Uhhh...Sky. Watch the baby." Mickey told him as he began to squeeze.

Sky quickly let go of her and climbed in after me. He closed the door behind him.

"Okay, guys. Let's roll." David shouted to the passengers in the car. He slammed his foot onto the gas and began to drive down the roads, in the direction of the hospital.

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Okay, that's chapter 9. I know it was probably boring, but I'll be working my butt off to make the next ones a whole lot more interesting. The GT virus was just something I came up with as was Mari's medicine.