Resident Evil 9: Return
Chapter Four: Introduction to the Four Lords
A man in his late forties stepped towards the remaining group of people that didn't follow the others into the woods. He brandished a long gun, pointed at the ground but loaded and ready to fire. Taylor and Carson stood behind Averie, who kept her fingers clenched around the handgun she had pilfered.
"Who are you?" The man demanded, stopping a few feet away from Kai. The older man stepped forward, holding out his hands to prove he meant no harm.
"My name is Percy Henricks, and believe me sir, we mean no harm to you or your village." Percy explained. The man turned his attention to Percy, nodding in the direction of the woods.
"The others went after the bus?" The man asked.
"Yes sir, they wanted to find the bus driver." Percy answered.
The man scoffed, and turned away from Percy.
"They won't make it back alive. No one ever does."
As the man with the long gun stepped away, other villagers took his place and stepped forward, with mixed looks of concern, anger and happiness spread amongst the crowd.
A woman in her thirties noticed Taylor and Carson, and the small smile she had on her face faded.
"They have children." All eyes were now on the orphaned siblings, who grabbed onto Averie immediately. Averie lifted her gun slightly, not wanting anyone to step closer. Except Kai, who in turn stepped in front of Averie and held out his hands.
"Yes, our bus had two children on board. What does that matter?" Kai demanded. The woman looked at him, and smiled.
"We love children."
Alright, that isn't creepy at all. Averie thought, until she noticed movement among the group of villagers in front of her. Three young children appeared at the front of the crowd, looking at Taylor and Carson. None of them could have been older than eight years old.
"Please, we know you are scared and hurt. Let us help you." The woman pleaded, taking a slow step forward. The armoured man, who had remained a few feet behind Kai at this point, stepped forward and held out his gun.
"We need answers." He demanded, scaring the woman into returning back to the crowd. The man with the long gun stepped forward again, this time pointing his gun at the armoured man and Kai.
"We offer help, and you threaten us?" He spat. The man had no fear, walking up until he was only a few feet away from the two men. The armoured man hesitated, but didn't stand down.
"A giant monster attacked one of the people on our bus, after the bus driver crashed the vehicle on purpose. He wanted us to end up here. Why?" The armoured man demanded.
The old man refused to put his gun down, not answering the armoured man's questions.
As Averie listened to the villagers speak in worried tones, she noticed another woman slowly approach the bus group, holding out bandages. Averie decided she didn't want to stand at gun point with the old man and slid her gun into the belt of her pants. She then lowered her backpack onto the ground, and stepped away from it, showing that she had no weapons or means of hurting the woman as she stepped towards her and graciously accepted the bandages. The woman gave a warm smile to Taylor and Carson, who hesitated to return it.
Averie tried her best to bandage her arm as she stared at the two men pointing guns at each other, and rolled her eyes when she realized neither one of them was going to move. Both were scared to.
Averie went back to her backpack, and unzipped the top to grab the old scrapbook. Averie went up to the old man and held out the book, having it opened to the picture of the village.
"This is the same village, right?" Averie asked. The man didn't want to look down for fear of getting shot. Another villager yelled at him.
"Just answer the question Oliver, its clear neither one of you is going to shoot!"
Oliver looked down at the photo, gave it a quick glance, and nodded.
"Haven't seen it in a photo before." Oliver admitted. He became more curious, and slowly lowered his weapon and turned aside to regard the scrapbook. The armoured man didn't look ready to lower his weapon, until Kai held out his hand and lowered the man's arm forcefully.
"This belongs to my dad." Averie explained, pointing at an older photo of her father. Oliver ignored the photo, looking back at the original picture.
"The village has never looked like this." Oliver explained.
Averie was confused, but didn't have time to ask Oliver what he meant. Oliver turned, beckoning for the bus group to follow the villagers into the village.
Once everyone was inside the village, a woman locked the gate behind them.
"What about the others?" Kai asked. Oliver turned to him and shrugged.
"Told you, they're not coming back."
The bus group split up, with the wounded travelers following the young woman named Kaya into her family home to get medication and treatment for their wounds. Taylor went with Averie into Kaya's home to get a couple of deeper scratches taken care of, while Averie had her shoulder looked at.
As Averie winced while Kaya pressed ointment onto her shoulder, the woman smiled.
"You were very brave to stand up for that girl. I saw what was happening outside of my window." Thankfully, Taylor was in another room, unable to hear the conversation. Averie wanted to give her some space to process what had gone down.
"No one else was going to do anything." Averie said, feeling bitter towards both the travelers on the bus and the villagers. If they had seen a child being held at gunpoint, why didn't they do anything?
The woman sighed, and sat in front of Averie.
"Averie, look at me. We could not interfere. We would be putting ourselves at risk." Kaya explained calmly, quickly glancing out the back window. She was looking away from the village gate, towards another area that led deeper into the core of the village.
"If there were enough of us we could have stopped that woman before she had done anything, and perhaps even saved her from getting her head ripped off." Averie argued, but Kaya shook her head.
"I wasn't talking about the gun, Averie. Or even the lycan."
"What on earth is a lycan?"
Kaya stood up, grabbing more bandages. She quickly peeked into the side room, where Taylor was playing with her young children. She quietly closed the door and returned to Averie's side.
"A lycan is a creature of foul creation. Mutated, deformed, always hungering for blood…it had become used to the scents of the village, and didn't bother with us. For now. But when it could smell fresh blood, and heard the arguments taking place…"
Averie clenched the sides of her chair. The village where her father had travelled to happened to be home to large, mutated creatures that ate humans. Charming.
"How did the lycan get here? How was it created?"
"There are rumours that the creatures were created….from other living things." Kaya hesitated.
"From humans. People of this village, to be precise."
Kai promised Taylor that he would keep an eye on Carson while she had her wounds treated. The two young men followed Oliver and another group of villagers and travelers alike to the largest building in the village, reminding Kai of an old-fashioned church.
The armoured man wanted to go follow Averie so he could question her. Kai had turned around and looked the man dead in the eye.
"Harass that young woman again and see what happens." The armoured man glared at Kai, but didn't follow the girl.
"You two are in way over your head. You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Then enlighten me." Kai suggested, leading the man away from Kaya's house. Kai could see Carson up ahead with a few of the kids, and decided to let the boy be.
The armoured man sighed.
"My name is Arcane, and I work with a special organisation that is dedicated to destroying bioweapons created by the BSAA, or otherwise."
Kai stopped walking, and took in what Arcane had just admitted.
"You're looking for bioweapons?" He asked. Arcane nodded.
"We find them, and destroy them. That lycan back there was a clear example of this village's connection with them. And it isn't the first time this village has experienced something like this. But after what happened last time, I didn't imagine that any villagers would be around…" Arcane stopped talking, as everyone else in the group was looking at him. The villagers glared at him, some clenching their guns and various weapons a bit tighter. Oliver nodded to one of his men, who led the rest of the group away from Arcane and into the church. Carson slipped past the group and rejoined Kai who refused to move.
"What do you know about this village, young man?" Oliver demanded. Arcane stared at the old man.
"Enough. Let's just say my team has had a history with this village. The only question I don't have an answer to is this: how did you all end up here?"
Carson pulled on Kai's sleeve, wanting to look inside the church like the other villagers had. As the two young men walked up the church steps, all of the bus travelers scurried out of the building, some covering their ears while others wept.
"It's all a cult." A woman cried out, shaking her head in anguish.
"All of it!"
Curious, Kai took Carson's outstretched hand and followed the boy inside, where only villagers remained. The building looked far worse on the inside that its outer appearance, with different areas of the room bearing black fixtures and panels as if it had been burned. The pews were scattered around the room, some splattered with what Kai could only presume was blood. Carson clutched Kai's hand as they approached the front of the room, where a small table was set with candles and pictures of several figures that Kai didn't recognize.
Each photo frame was cracked and dusty, but were placed on the table in such a delicate manner that Kai wondered of their significance. One photo frame was larger than the rest, and sat on the middle of the table, surrounded by candles. A figure in a dark mask stared at Kai with bright yet devious eyes, the beak of their mask reminding him of a raven with its dark feathers. Someone had carved a name into the top of the frame: Mother Miranda.
"She is the one who runs this village." A man from behind Kai spoke.
"So we have been told. None of us have ever met her, but the Lords, they speak fondly of her…for the most part."
Carson regarded the other pictures that sat on the table. The one that grabbed his attention was of a man who looked very similar to a fish.
"Who are the Lords?" He asked curiously. The room fell quiet. Quiet enough for Kai to hear Arcane arguing with Oliver outside, followed by a set of footsteps becoming quieter and quieter. Oliver entered the building, shaking his head.
"That armoured fellow has taken the rest of your group over to where those two girls are." Oliver explained, sitting down. Carson approached the old man, not nearly as shy as the other travelers were.
"Oliver, who are the Lords?" He asked innocently. Oliver gave the boy a worried look, glancing at Kai. Kai merely shrugged in response, as clueless as Carson was about this subject.
Oliver scratched the back of his head, sighing.
"I must remember that you are new fellas to this village. Well, you've come to one of the best places to learn about them, seeing as their photos are set up beside Mother Miranda's."
"Is that the lady with the beak?" Carson asked, causing Kai to chuckle. No one else in the room found the comment very funny, however.
"You better watch that tongue, boy." An old woman from the back stated coldly.
"You wouldn't want to upset her, she could cause you real hell."
"Alright that's enough, he's only nine." Kai said in defense, standing close to Carson. He turned to Oliver.
"Please Oliver, tell us a bit about the Lords."
As Oliver began to explain who the Lords were, a light wind began to rustle the leaves of the trees beside Kaya's house. Any of the windows that were open brought into the home a cold breeze, causing Kaya's young daughters to shiver. They grabbed their arms to warm themselves, clinging to each other in the end. Hearing noises outside the closed door, Taylor quietly stood up and approached the door.
"Averie?" She called out in fear, grabbing the handle of the door. She opened it slightly, and peeked into the room. Feeling a slight push from behind, Taylor fell into the main room as the door behind her shut. Taylor rose from the ground slowly, watching what was happening around her.
More of those creatures from before, the one who had attacked the woman trying to kidnap her and Carson, had entered the house, grabbing anyone they saw. Averie was nowhere to be seen, and Taylor could hear screams from outside of the house.
One of the creatures spotted her, and ran towards the girl, snarling and screeching. Taylor screamed in terror and crouched to the ground, not knowing what else to do. She felt something scratch her back, then heard a large howl, as if a wolf was only inches away from her.
Kaya had come back into the house, having been dragged outside herself, carrying a gun.
Averie's gun, which she pointed at the lycan and opened fire. The creature fell to the ground, not rising again.
"Come on, we need to get you somewhere safe." Kaya explained.
"I thought this was safe." Taylor argued, but allowed Kaya to bring her outside.
Several lycans were dead on the ground, but dissolved as Taylor and Kaya approached them. In the distance, Taylor could hear a mix of humans screams and the creatures howls, and could see them disappear in the distance.
A large howl could be heard from above them. Taylor looked up to see a lycan jump from the roof of the house, carrying someone. Averie was unconscious as the creature slung her over his shoulder, racing away to catch up with his comrades.
"Averie!" Taylor screamed.
Kai could hear Taylor down the road, and left the church immediately. Carson followed suit, and the two boys stepped outside as the creatures ran by. Some of the people that the creatures carried were dead, while others screamed in fear as they were carried off.
Kai focused on the last creature, recognizing Averie as the creature ran past. People from the church reached out the open doorway and pulled the boys back inside before the creatures were able to notice them.
"They took Averie." Kai yelled, wrenching himself free from their grasp. He noticed a gun laying on a nearby pew, and grabbed it, running out the door before anyone could stop him. Carson stomped on Oliver's foot and followed after Kai.