CHAPTER 30: RAIDING THE SHRINE

Clayton, Pete, Ann and I were in the school basement, right in front of the elevator. With the execption of Ann, we each had weapons to defend ourselves. Who knew what we were going to run into down there. "You sure you don't need a weapon?" Clayton asks her. "It's probably going to be dangerous down there". "Trust me, I don't need a weapon for what is going to happen", she replies. Clayton looked at me in disbelief about what she just said. I wasn't particularly happy about it either, but could we do? Force her to hold one? She probably never had to use one during this own outbreak. If she says she can handle herself, then I'll just accept it.

I took a good look at both Clayton and Pete. We were about to go into the depths of Hell, so I was worried about if they would survive or not. Clayton would most likely. He basically lead a group of survivors before I came back. He's aware of the situation and is always watching his back as well as those of others. Pete on the other hand did not have to do much before and after I came back. Clayton has always kept a good eye on him, but I wasn't sure if he would be able to help him and Ann at the same time. Luckily, I have been protecting people since my first day at this school, so I am sure I'll be able to protect everyone in the shrine.

I took a deep breath and looked at my friends one more time before approaching the elevator. I went up to the elevator, then pressed the button to open the doors. Once the door opened, we walked onto the elevator and then started our decend.

"You know, how is this possible?" Pete then asks. "What?" I asked him. "How the hell is it possible that there's a shrine underneath the school basement?" he asks out-loud. We then looked towards Ann, who remained silent. "Aren't you a tad-bit worried or scared about what we'll be coming across down there?" Clayton then asks her. But before he could say anything else, the elevator stopped and the doors opened up. Ahead of us was a dirt tunnel going straight into darkness. "Damn. Luckily, we have a flashlight", I said as I pulled out the flashlight and turned it on. "Alright, let's get going", Clayton says.

We began our trek down the deep dark tunnel. During the walk, Pete asks Ann again, "Okay, so why is there a tunnel down here and why does the elevator link to it?" "It was meant to be an expansion to the school basement. A storage area, nonetheless", she tells him. "I've been here for years and I have yet to know about this abandoned part of the school", Pete says. "No one knew about it except for me and my sister", she says. "Whatever happened to her?" I then asked her. "She died, years ago", she tells me. "Do you know how Gary got word about the necklace and it's curse?" Clayton then asks her. "He must have found my sister's diary. She had issues, so she recorded alot of her thoughts down in it", she says. "You had something to do with the curse, didn't you?" I then asked her.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and looked at me. "That's a huge accusation that you're throwing, Jimmy", Pete says. "When I touched that necklace back at the church, I saw twins in my vision and one of them was wearing the necklace. Was this necklace your sister's?" I asked her. She looked at me and said flatly, "No, it was mine". "So you had something to do with this curse, didn't you?" I asked her. She hesitated to speak for a moment, then she started to cry. "She put the curse on it", she started to explain. "I killed myself and so, she decided to get back at everyone by cursing my necklace and putting it in a shrine that she made down here". "You killed yourself? So you're a ghost?" Clayton asks her. She nodded yes. "That doesn't make sense. How are you a ghost? I can clearly see you alive right here and now", Pete says. "So ghost girls looking for jewelry doesn't make sense whatsoever, but yet zombies roaming around threatening to eat our flesh makes absolutely perfect sense?" Clayton says to Pete. Pete turned towards Clayton and gave him the stink-eye. "Just saying", Clayton tells him before they turned their attention back to Ann.

"My sister would bring the people that bullied me down here and then put the necklace on them, turning them into such monsters", she continued. "And how did your sister know how to put a curse on that necklace?" I asked her. "We're...we're part Aztec", she tells us. "Makes sense, especially from the journal", Clayton says. "Now are you sure that once we put this necklace back in the shrine that everything will go back to normal?" I asked her. "I'm sure that will happen", she replies. "Alright then, let's keep going", I told everyone.

We continued our way down the tunnel. The further down we went, the more the air started to stink. "Oh God, what's that smell?" Pete says out-loud. "It's the smell of moisture. We are underground and there has been alot of rain lately", Clayton answers. "I'm guessing you smell that a lot in New Orleans?" I asked him. "My parent's basement would always flood since our house was built below sea level. There was like a crap-load of mold growing down there. I never went down there unless I had to get something. Even then, I usually didn't have to get anything from down there", Clayton answers. After some more walking, we started to smell something rotten. "Okay, this I can't handle", Clayton says out-loud. When we turned a corner, we found a zombie blocking our path. Only this zombie wasn't like any of the others on the surface. It looks like it's been here for a long time. "Mummies", Clayton says before wacking it in the head with his baseball bat, killing it in the process. "Mummies?" Pete says. "These were the victims of my sister's vengence", Ann then tells us. "No offense, but your sister is a homicidal bitch", Clayton says to her.

"None taken", Ann tells him. We then continued down the tunnel, having to breath in more of the rotten air. After a while of walking, we went around another corner and came across a horde of about seven Mummies. "Oh, crap", Ann says while running away from the horde. "I thought ghosts were immune to death", Pete says. I was about to tell them both to keep quiet, but the moment the Mummies noticed us, they started charging at us. I took out my Spud Gun and aimed at the first Mummy, but because of the close quarters three of the Mummies pretty much grabbed onto me and tried to bit me. I kicked the first one off me and then threw the second one off of me. I grabbed my metal pipe and smacked it right in the Mummy's head, shattering it to many pieces.

The other two Mummies then got back onto their feet and then charged at me again. I again smashed my pipe in one of the Mummies' heads, killing it. The last one got onto me and tackled me onto the ground. While on the ground, the mummy tried to bite me on the neck. But with the strength that I had, I pushed the monster off my body right into the cave wall. I quickly got back onto my feet, walked up to the Mummy and then stumped on the creature's head. I stumped on the Mummy's head about five times until all that was left of the head was a puddle of blood. "Punk", I said right before I spit on the Mummy's corpse. "Get off me", Pete says. I turned around and saw Pete struggling with a Mummy. "Pete", I said. I raced towards him, but then saw Clayton struggling with the three other Mummies.

"CLAYTON!" "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME", he yelled back. "HELP PETE". "JIMMY", Pete yells. I looked over at Pete and from the way he was handling the Mummy, he was stuggling to keep it from biting him on the neck. I then looked over at Clayton and saw that he was handling the three Mummies well. But since there was three Mummies that he was handling, anything could go wrong. What should I do? Should I help Pete with his one Mummy? Or should I help Clayton with his three Mummies? With both of them at risk, I don't know who to choose. Their lives are at risk, but I could only choose to save one. Who do I choose?