The Dreadful End
Chapter 1-3: Run
The night had been difficult. Mario hadn't been able to get much sleep, tossing and turning within his tent despite the warm presence of Peach and Lumalee beside him. The new reality of the world clouded his thoughts. He wasn't afraid, in fact, he had faced great difficulties before. He was concerned, worried for his wife and child. He struggled with the idea that he might not be good enough to protect all of them. Not just them, but Luigi too. Everyone, really. At around six o'clock in the morning, Mario awoke with a quiet sigh, forcing his half-open eyes all the way wide.
Being careful not to make noise that would disturb the sleep of Peach and Lumalee, Mario crept out of the tent and into the dark morning. The sun was just beginning to rise, and while Mario thought he was the first to wake, he found himself wrong. Sitting at the edge of camp, pair of binoculars in his hands, was Parakarry.
"Good morning," Mario said groggily, wiping his mouth and stretching his arms into the above with a yawn. Parakarry turned, not caught off-guard, but a little surprised to be joined so early.
"The sun still rises," Parakarry murmured.
"What?" Mario asked, a little too tired to comprehend at the very moment.
"The sun," Parakarry restated himself, pointing off into the distance. "See how it still rises on the horizon. Our world has come to an end, but nature still moves forward. Oblivious to all of it, she goes on. We live and we die, but every day the sun still rises. Interesting, isn't it?"
"I suppose it is," Mario muttered. He wasn't one for philosophy like Parakarry. Of course the sun still rose, nature was…well it was natural to Mario. For the everyday motions of the world to come to a halt would be stupendous. "What are you looking for?" Mario asked, noting how Parakarry was peering through the binoculars and into the beyond.
"Trouble," Parakarry replied. "We might be far from the castle…but we're never too safe, not in this new world."
Mario had to agree with that. The sun slowly began its ascent, bathing the borders of the camp in slits of golden light as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. One by one, the members of the camp began to stir, and the order of business emerged.
"I'll get some coffee brewing," Tayce told everyone as the last of the group stirred awake. "We can't be thinkin' on dull brains now." She hobbled off to gather up some grounds and set to work boiling them in a water-filled pot over the fire. Meanwhile, everyone congregated around the open back of one of the vans. Before them stood a sea of supplies, the stuff they had ransacked from the castle before making their getaway.
"We managed to scrounge up quite a bit," Plenn T. began, checking off items. "For starters, we've got a lot of canned food. Probably…" his voice trailed off. Yes, they had a lot of food. But there was a lot of them. The amount of cans they would go through in a day would be much more than they bargained for. With the additions of Mario, Tayce and Heff T. (who was certainly going to eat quite a bit), their rations were growing slimmer by the second. "P-probably enough for a few days," he finished, his mustache wiggling in discontent.
Wario didn't like the sound of that. Grumbling, the pudgy brute turned towards Parakarry. "How are we doing on items, weapons, things like that?" he asked the mailman.
"W-well," Parakarry began with a stammer, "we've got just a few odds and ends. Mushrooms, mostly. We left behind a great hoard of fire and ice flowers. There's also more ammunition back at the castle."
"How much?" Mario asked.
"The castle is stocked with a wealth of items," Plenn T. moved in. "We didn't take everything because we didn't want to bog ourselves down in the need of escape. But…if we're camping here, we should be able to take it all little by little once a week or so."
"There's food?" Mario continued.
Peach nodded her head, Lumalee hovering beneath her. "The castle is well stocked with unperishable food."
"Then we should probably try our hand at retrieving some of this stuff," Wario said. "We could make do a lot better with some fire flowers, food, and more ammunition. It'd be nice if we had more guns to put the ammunition in."
Mario had an answer to this. "There's a weapon cache in one of the city sewers," he said at once. "Luigi and I know the place."
"N-not me!" Luigi yelped, shaking his head in cowardice. "I'm not going back to that city for a while! We all saw how many roamers that place had!"
"You're not going either," Peach said, giving Mario a stern look. "We just got you back…y-you can't run off again!"
Mario opened his mouth. "But Peach…" he began.
"I won't hear it," Peach said, moving in. "If you won't do it for me, do it for her." Her gaze moved downwards towards Lumalee. Mario swallowed.
"Then I'll go," Wario offered. "I made it through that hoard once, I can do it again."
"W-wait!" Waluigi cried. "Let me come with you this time!"
"I won't allow that," Parakarry said, cutting in. "You're our sharpest shot, Waluigi. The camp will be at a loss without you."
"Speaking of shots, some of us need to learn how to shoot," Toadette piped up. Behind her, Toad nodded in agreeance.
"We want to learn too," Toadiko said, speaking for herself and Toadbert. Behind them, Toadsworth frowned.
"Stay behind and teach these people how to shoot," Wario said to Mario, his eyes conveying a sterner drive to his words. Mario nodded in understanding, realizing he would have to sit this one out.
"You shouldn't go alone," Toadbert pointed out, adjusting his glasses. "By Boogity! Someone needs to cover your back!"
"I'll go," Heff T. said, stepping up. "I can carry a lot and I owe it to all of you for rescuing Tayce and I off the road. It's the least I can do." From her spot by the fire, Tayce looked concerned for her companion's safety. She was still away brewing the coffee, but she could hear every word of the deliberation by the van.
"Two should be enough," Wario said. "In and out. We'll take a van, enter the castle, fill a bag full of supplies, and be back out in no time flat."
"What about the weapons cache in the sewers?" Luigi asked. Wario grimaced, having forgotten that.
"Where is the cache?" Toadsworth asked. "When we left the castle, we barred the back door. You'll have to reenter by using one of the secret entrances…which happens to be in the sewers. If the cache is nearby, picking up the weapons before entering the castle would be a synch."
"It's right under the Badge Shop," Mario told him.
"Splendid!" Toadsworth cried, perhaps a bit too loudly. "The entrance to the castle is just north of there."
"Then we'll pick up the weapons and then head for the castle," Wario said. "Easy operation. Plenn T., could you lend us one of your duffel bags?"
"Sure thing," the shopkeeper said, motioning with his head to one of the large burlap bags in the back of the van. It was empty, having carried the supplies the survivors had already unloaded the day before.
"Waluigi and I will teach everyone how to shoot while you're gone," Mario said, shaking hands with Wario and then Heff. T. "Be safe out there."
Peach held up a hand to Wario, her face looking troubled. She didn't want to lose the man who had led them during Mario's absence. Tayce and Heff T. shared a tender embrace before the large toad made his way towards the van. He clambered into the passenger's seat with Wario taking the wheel. The members of the camp watched them go as they pulled away, leaving a thick cloud of dust behind them.
"They'll be back in no time," Mario said, trying to reassure those around. Behind him, Parakarry nodded.
"We can only hope," he said, a tinge of grimness to his tone.
"Let's get to work," Waluigi said, shouldering his rifle. "We shouldn't waste daylight. Let's rustle up some of those empty food cans and use them as targets." Mario nodded in agreement. Today, the survivors of this horrible outbreak would learn how to defend themselves.
"You want to keep the gun at eye level," Waluigi barked, walking down the line of posed figures. Lumalee and Diddy had been excused from the lesson, deemed as too young to be involved in such affairs. The world they were living in was harsh, but the adults refused to believe it was harsh enough to warrant a child carrying a gun at all times. Truth be told, they only had a few spare handguns besides Waluigi's rifle. They were poorly equipped for what was to come, so the run Wario and Heff T. had embarked upon was richly needed. At present, just Peach, Toadette and Parakarry held the handguns while everyone else looked on.
A bit of a ways away were a few tree stumps with cans set up on top of them. While the roamers were drawn to noise, the wide radius of empty land around them provided assurance that it would be alright to open fire out here. All three of them had the guns held at eye level. Waluigi grabbed Peach's gun lightly and repositioned it.
"The kickback could hit you in the face if you hold it so close," he warned her. "Try it there." As he fixed Peach's alignment, Mario approved Parakarry and Toadette's stance.
"One eye open, one eye closed," Waluigi told them. "Your good eye can see better that way. Makes aiming a whole lot easier. Keep those eyes on those sights!" he barked, noticing Parakarry's glance waver. The mailman quickly corrected his mistake. Surprisingly, no one needed to correct Toadette. She was a quick study.
"I might already know a few things," she said with a sly smile. "Our Dad didn't want Toad and me traveling around without a handgun. I learned a few things about it before we left home." She noticed the mention of home caused Toad's face to droop. Shaking her head clear of emotion, Toadette affixed her gaze back on the can in the distance. At Waluigi's call, the three of them opened fire. Peach missed, and while Parakarry hit his, it was wide to the left. Toadette hit hers dead center.
"Looks like we might need to open an advanced workshop," Waluigi said with a grin, cocking his head back at Mario in between a glance at Toadette. Mario nodded, approving of Toadette's skill.
The morning continued like so. Plenn T. already knew how to shoot, so he gave pointers here and there.
"It's so heavy!" Toadiko complained.
"Well, you're going to think it feels just fine when a roamer is coming at you with his arms outstretched," Plenn T. told her. Looking abhorred, Toadsworth voiced his detest for such talk around his children.
"We're not kids," Toadbert pointed out. "Plenn T. provides a reasonable point. That's why we're learning how to shoot after all, by Boogity!" They were each getting the hang of it, but without an abundance of guns, their training couldn't be put to use. They'd have to hope Wario and Heff T. would return with the needed supplies. If not…they'd all be in deep trouble.
"Sewer hole is just beyond the castle grounds," Wario said, circling a zone on their fold-out map with a red marker. "We enter here, find that cache, enter the castle here, and then we're out." He detailed each part of his plan with a stroke of the marker. Heff T. nodded in understanding.
"Sounds good," he said. "We just have to make it to the sewer cover in one piece."
"You ready?" Wario asked, raising his magnum revolver. Heff T. nodded, cocking the barrel-action rifle in his hands. With a nod of understanding between both of them, the portly men swung open the doors of the van and dropped down into the wide area behind Peach's Castle. Banding together, they crept towards the right side of the building, thankful the horde still hadn't circled around to the back of the complex. Peering out to the side of the castle with his revolver raised, Wario quickly doubled back upon sighting a straggled bit of roamers peppered throughout the streets of the town.
"The horde's broken up a bit, but there's still quite a few surrounding the square," Wario hissed, hoping he hadn't been spotted by any of the zombies.
"How are we going to get to the sewer entrance?" Heff T. asked, his voice laden with worry.
"We'll have to hoof it through," Wario told him. "Keep your gun up and don't stop. If any of them sons of bitches draw near you, put a hole in their head."
Heff T. gripped the stock of the gun, nodding. They rose from their crouched position, and on Wario's signal, trotted into the square.
The walkers were immediately drawn to them. Spaced out from one another, the closer ones shambled forward, raising their arms quickly as they smelt fresh food for the first time in a few days. They dragged their ankles and crawled forth, clawing at the open air in hopes of latching onto either of the men well out of their reach. Moving quick and heading for the manhole in front of the Badge Shop, the two of them gritted their teeth and hoped for the best.
As they continued along, one drew near Wario. He fired his gun, blasting a hole in the zombie's head. In a matter of a moment it crumpled to the asphalt, red leaking out of its head and onto the street. Shortly after that, Heff T. steeled himself and fired a bullet into the skull of an approaching zombie, cringing as brains splattered all over the tile of the square. This process repeated itself, with two or three walkers going down before the two men reached the manhole. Wario covered Heff T. as he struggled to open the sewer entrance.
"It's stuck!" the fat toad complained.
"Twist harder!" Wario commanded, emptying two slugs into two nearing zombies. They dropped to the ground, but they were quickly replaced by others. Wario swore as he realized they were closing in.
"I can't get it open!" Heff T. wailed, desperation clinging to his voice now. Wario spent his last two bullets on two more walkers. Frantic, the strong man reloaded his weapon as quickly as he could. The distance between the two of them and the horde was growing thin now. Reloading completely, Wario quickly spun the chamber and fired four shots into the square, dropping a cluster of zombies. To his left, Heff T. struggled with the manhole.
"Any day now!" Wario hollered, pointing his weapon at an approaching zombie. With a creak of metal and rust, Heff T. finally opened the manhole and threw the cover aside. He hollered at Wario and then clung onto the ladder, shimmying into the darkness below. Moving quick, Wario grabbed the manhole cover and slid after Heff T., sealing off the sunlight just before the herd toppled into the sewers below. Clambering down the stairs, Wario dropped into the muggy sewer beside Heff T., panting for breath.
"It was rusted down," Heff T. said between hot breaths of air. "T-that was hard…"
"We almost became lunch!" Wario cried. "We have to be more careful from here on out."
Heff T. couldn't agree more. Catching their breath, the two of them stood still with their hands on their knees for a few minutes before moving on. Shouldering the burlap bag Plenn T. had leant them, Heff T. leaned into the circumference of light that came from the end of Wario's flashlight. They studied the map Wario laid out before them.
"It should be right up ahead," Wario said, pointing at the encircled region on their map. Agreeing, Heff T. moved on, Wario behind him. They weren't sure if any zombies had made their way into the sewers, but they couldn't see how. The manhole had been sealed, so they assumed the others had been as well. They shuffled along the grimy walk of the sewer before coming to an alcove.
"It should be right around here…" Wario said, his voice trailing off as he looked for any sign of a cache. None could be seen.
"It's probably hidden," Heff T. surmised. "There'd be no use to keeping a secret weapons cache if any common sewer vagrant could snatch it up. Let's look around for clues."
"Jinkies, Velma," Wario joked. "I wonder if we'll figure out the answer to this puzzle."
They scoured around the alcove for a bit before returning to one another with inconclusive results.
"Perhaps it's not here?" Wario asked.
"No…wait a minute," Heff T. whispered. He moved forward, spotting a place on the wall where one of the bricks was lightly discolored. Giving it a light push, the hefty toad was surprised to see part of the wall sink back.
"Guess this cache really is secret, huh?" Wario asked his companion as he entered the small crack in the wall. Sure enough, inside were a bunch of guns and ammunition. Eyes shining, Wario loaded up the burlap bag with rifles, scopes, extra packs of ammunition, clips, handguns, and a few semi-automatics. Once they had depleted the cache of supplies, Heff T. zipped up the bag and shouldered it, groaning under the new weight of it.
"Got it?" Wario asked him. Heff T. replied with a nod.
They continued along, creeping through the dark and dank alleys of the sewer together. They took Toadsworth's word, eventually arriving at a set of doors. Thinking this may be the entrance to the castle, they heaved open the doors and stepped inside. Sure enough, they were under the castle. In fact, this is where they wanted to be. The basement of the castle is where all of the supplies were kept.
After walking along in grim silence for a bit, the pair reached the stockroom. Entering, they soon found themselves perplexed.
"What's wrong?" Heff T. asked, noticing Wario's confused look.
"I swore we had left more behind than this," Wario said, noting the large lack of supplies. While the shelves were still stocked well, Wario could tell stuff had been taken. "Perhaps we just took more than I thought," he said, chalking it up to that. "Oh well, there's still plenty. Grab some of those cans. I'll look around for the fire and ice flowers."
As Heff T. did that, Wario scoured the shelves and soon found the flowers. He brought them back and started helping Heff T. load up the bag with supplies.
"Is that everything?" Wario asked. Heff T. sighed as he placed the last can in.
"I think so," he said. "Come on, let's get out of here. Are we going up through the castle?"
"We need to unlock that back door," Wario said. "Plus, that's where the van is parked."
Agreeing, Heff T. followed Wario up the short flight of stairs leading into the heart of the castle. As they left the stockroom, neither of them noticed the face peeping out from behind one of the shelves. Clad in a red robe, a Shy Guy watched with careful eyes as the two pudgy men left the room. Turning to a Shy Guy draped in yellow, he whispered something the other found funny. Giggling, they retreated into the shadows, swallowed by the darkness of the basement.
Emerging into the resplendent courtyard of the castle, Wario and Heff T. breathed heavily as they sighted the exit door. The operation had moved along exactly as they had hoped. In and out. No fuss at all. Shuffling over to the door, Wario undid the bar locking it in place and opened it to let Heff T. through. They poured out into the light of the sun, hoping to soon be inside the van and on their way back.
Their hopes were crushed as they noticed the van was gone.
"W-what the hell!?" Wario barked. "Where's the van?"
Heff T.'s jaw began to clack. "U-uh…I-I think we have bigger problems than that," he said. Wario turned to follow his gaze, freezing at the sight of the advancing horde. The zombies had roamed to the back of the castle now. Whirling around, Wario hoped to go the other way, but another horde was coming from that direction too. It looked as if the large horde in the plaza had divided into two smaller ones that now flanked both sides of the castle.
"Quickly!" Wario cried. "Back into the castle!" Not wasting a second, Heff T. followed after Wario. Grabbing the handle, Wario made to pull the door open, but he struggled to do so as he found it was locked. "W-what's going on!?" he cried. "I just unlocked this!"
"Pull harder!" Heff T. screamed.
"What do you think I'm doing, tubby!?" Wario yelled, pulling with all of his might. "It's locked!"
Turning around, they both widened their eyes in alarm as the hordes drew closer. "We've got to head towards the camp!" Wario cried. "The land out there is sparse!"
"There's so many of them!" Heff T. whined. "We won't make it!"
"We've got to try, dammit!" Wario hollered. He grabbed Heff. T's arm, dragging the large toad along with him. Removing his revolver from its holster, Wario fired into the horde to their right, dropping two zombies. He turned to the left, hitting two more. Deciding to fight past his fear, Heff T. raised his rifle and shot a nearby zombie clean through the head, a spurt of crimson soaring from its skull and into the blue sky above.
"Go, go!" Wario screamed, trying to be supportive. They tried to pick up the pace as they realized the zombies were closing in. Breathing heavy and hot, they tried to outrun the sudden crowd. Wario wracked his brain for answers in the chaos, completely unsure of how the door had locked behind them and where their van had gone.
"The bag is too heavy!" Heff T. complain. "I've got to drop it!"
"Don't you dare!" Wario scolded him. Crying out, Heff T. struggled to maintain the pack. "Give it here!" Wario said. They stopped for but a moment, Heff T. taking the time to transfer the heavy bag to Wario. The moment was a moment too much. The horde was upon them.
"RUN!" Wario screamed, going as fast as he could. Behind him, Heff T. moved quicker now without the bag on his shoulders. They could hear the starved moans of the zombies, the cacophony of the damned reaching their ears and splitting their minds wide open. Outstretched limbs clawed for their flesh, narrowly missing. Fear propelled them forward. The hot breath of death was on the back of their necks.
"We won't make it!" Heff T. shouted between labored breaths. "We get tired, they don't!"
Wario knew this. He had seen it since the beginning. While they would slow down, the horde would keep going. Eventually, they'd tire out and be devoured by the crowd. Wario knew there was only one way.
No! There has to be some other way! Keep running!
"Gah!" he heard Heff T. shout.
You can make it!
"Come on!" he heard himself shout.
There's another way!
"They're upon us! We'll never make it!" Heff T. boomed.
D-don't do it…d-don't…
"We'll make it!"
Believe! You have to!
"WE NEVER WILL!"
H-he's…he's right…
"I'm sorry, brother," Wario said, looking back at Heff T. with water brimming in the bottom of his eyes. He raised his revolver, pointing it at the toad's head. He didn't want him to suffer. He just wanted him to be bait.
Heff T. looked into Wario's eyes as the horde surrounded them. He understood what was going to happen. He dove forward, snarling and growling like a wild animal fighting for its last moments alive. Wario looked ahead, steeling himself, and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out clear as a bell, whistling into the afternoon for miles. The bullet rotated through the air, slicing through it like a knife to butter. It lodged itself into Heff T.'s skull as the zombies finally latched onto him. Falling back into the horde, Heff T.'s corpulent corpse began to be ravaged by the zombies. The horde diverted its attention from Wario, averting their commands to the body. Ripping entrails from within Heff T. and onto the road below, they feasted upon him.
Wario wasted no time. Not looking back, he trudged off into the wilderness, pack on his shoulder. Tears fell to the earth beneath him. His only thoughts were of escape.
The sun was beginning to set. Mario and Waluigi had spent much of the day training everyone on how to shoot, but Tayce hadn't removed herself from the fire's side.
"They should be back by now," she told Mario as he and Waluigi neared the campfire.
"Y-yeah…" Luigi mumbled. "What's taking them so long?"
"They might have run into a bit of trouble," DK hypothesized aloud. "Should we go looking for them?"
"We don't need to send out more people," Mario replied, his leadership shining through. "It could only result in more trouble."
"So you think they're in trouble?" Toadette asked, ensnaring Mario in his own words.
"I think Wario's a competent man," Peach said, answering for her husband. "He wouldn't let anything bad happen."
"What if it's out of his control?" Plenn T. wondered aloud.
Mario's brow furrowed in worry for Wario. Wario had stayed behind to wait for him when he was lost out in the badlands. He owed it to Wario to make sure he made it back safe and sound. He and Heff T. had left early this morning, but now as the sunset approached them, Mario truly felt the first pang of worry resound within him. Was Wario ok? Heff T. too?
While he and the others pondered these questions, none of them noticed the intruders on the border of camp. A Shy Guy clad in red and his companion in yellow crept along the line of trees, a pair of scissors in each of their hands. Snipping away here and there, their task was soon done, and with a quiet pair of giggles, they retreated into sunset the way they had come.
Back to the castle. Back to a van they had hid behind a thicket of bushes. Snickering all the way back, the two of them made sure to stay far from the main path so that Wario wouldn't see them. They knew he was trudging along into the night. They knew because they had caused it. Far from their van, Wario plodded forward, coming upon the camp. He had been walking since the morning, since that dreadful event. In his hand was the limp revolver, on his back the bursting pack. He neared the camp, the pain of memory searing in his eyes.
Eventually, he neared the site. Parakarry spotted him through the lenses of his binoculars.
"H-hey, Mario!" Parakarry hissed, calling over the plumber who happened to be nearby.
"What is it?" Mario asked.
"J-just take a look," Parakarry said, handing Mario the binoculars and pointing into the distance. Feeling reproach creeping up inside of him, Mario looked through the lenses and into the dark. He saw Wario, moving forward with the pack, breathing heavy. He saw blood on his clothes.
"W-where's the van?" Mario asked.
"Better question," Parakarry said, "why is he alone?" The two shared a confused look as Wario neared the camp. Rushing out to meet him, they took the pack and watched as he dragged himself forward.
"W-Wario!" Mario cried. "W-what happened?"
Wario looked up at Mario, meeting his large blue eyes with his own bloodshot ones.
"We got ambushed," Wario said, his words coming out dead and monotone. "A whole herd of them, coming from both sides of the castle. The van was gone. The entrance to the castle was locked."
He looked between Mario and Parakarry.
"The herd grabbed Heff T., took him right out of my arms," he lied. "I-I…I barely got away with the pack. H-he…"
"I-it's ok," Mario said. "It's ok. You're here. You're safe." He led Wario into camp, Parakarry flapping close behind. They reached the blazing campfire, shocking the inhabitants of the camp.
"Are they back?" Toad asked, noting Wario's presence. "Where's the van?"
"Where's Heff T.?" Tayce asked, standing up rather quickly for her age. Mario's lips scrunched up and he gave Tayce a troubled look.
"O-oh no," she nearly mouthed, hardly unable to form words. "Oh Grambi no…oh-oh no…he h-he can't be…"
"Heff T. gave his life so I could make it back," Wario said, taking the pack from Parakarry and throwing it on the ground by the campfire. "It's full of guns, ammo, food, and supplies."
He swallowed.
"We traded Heff T. for all of that."
The weight of his words knocked a sucker punch into Tayce T.'s chest. She sunk to her knees, moaning like a ghoul into the onset of the night. Toadsworth patted her back, bringing her to her feet and leading her to her tent. Her wails petrified the group, their gaze turning to Mario.
"We use this supplies in homage to Heff T.," Mario told them. "It's because of him we have these things. He sacrificed himself so that…so that we may live."
Wario nodded. He nodded again. He just kept nodding.
"W-what do we do now?" Toadiko asked.
"We do what Heff T. would have wanted," Wario told her. "We survive."
His ominous words hung over the camp like a thundercloud. They all nodded, eager to make good on that promise. But little did they know, not far from the camp, was the groaning horde of zombies. Heff T. had been a mere snack for the zombies by the castle. They followed the scent of the blood clinging to Wario's clothes. They followed their next meal, shambling across the plains of the expansive wilderness after the flesh they eternally craved.
The survivors at the campsite hunkered down into their tents. On the horizon, the zombies drew near. Surrounding the camp, the line they had erected, complete with attached cans to alert them to the presence of tripping roamers, was gone. It had been cut away with a pair of scissors.
In just a short amount of time, the herd would be upon them.
