Kingdom Evil Remake 2.
Chapter Six: Losing Innocence.
Previously in the last chapter.
"Help me…" The dying officer moaned weakly, struggling to get the second man off him, but his actions proved to be fruitless. The second man had a strong grip on him, making it impossible to escape, and he lost a large amount of blood. It didn't take very long for the officer to give his last dying breath as he died from blood loss and getting his neck bitten by the second man.
Not long after the officer died, the second man tore a chunk of flesh away from the neck and began to chew on it nosily, very nearly making both Sora and Claire throw up upon seeing this action. It's utterly disgusting and disturbing.
"C-C-C-C-Claire…" Sora stuttered fearfully, couldn't even properly say a sentence, due to how completely frightened he was at the moment. His Keyblade had long since vanished after seeing the horrifying action the second man did to the previously alive officer. "W-w-w-what i-is t-t-that t-t-t-t-thing?"
A very grim look overcame Claire's features as she looked at the creature who finally noticed hers and Sora's presence. She was having trouble believing what she's seeing as she hoped the terrible feeling inside her had been very wrong. But it seemed fate wasn't on her side at all.
Nonetheless, Claire went to answer Sora's fearful question about what the creature is but raised her gun up to aim at it.
"I'm having trouble believing what I'm seeing, Sora, but that…is no longer a human being. That…is a zombie."
(In the Present; Inside the Backroom; With Sora and Claire)
A zombie.
Hearing that very ominous word made extreme dreaded shivers run down a still completely frightened, very deathly pale cold sweated Sora's spine. He may not know what a zombie is since it seemed to belong a horror category in movies, which he never watches as it would very much give him nightmares – he may be a selfless warrior but he's still an innocent person! – but he can tell this…creature who is now starting to walk slowly towards him and Claire, whose eyes were narrowed as she continued to held up her gun in the air, with arms outstretched to grab them while leaving behind the dead body it killed was one.
This 'zombie' Claire speaks of.
The light from the flashlight Claire picked up illuminated the creature's face, giving both her and Sora a chance to get a good look when they couldn't after entering the medium-sized office moments ago, only to immensely regret it as they reared back in pure disgust upon seeing the most hideous ugliest face in the world, possibly all existence.
The face had a rotten-decay look with white pasty skin, crimson blood splattered over all the mouth, some dripping onto the floor, and ripped away lips that revealed the teeth. Milky white eyes stared back at two pairs of blue eyes, one filled with horror and the other narrowed.
Sora felt extremely nauseous and sick as he stared at the face of the zombie who continued to walk slowly towards him and Claire. Never in his whole life had he ever seen something so disgusting and so hideous before, except that gooey Unversed he, Doanld and Goofy fought in Monstropolis. He could've sworn he tasted a bit of bile in his mouth, which he swallowed to push it downwards, an action that caused him to shudder.
"D-d-don't c-come a-any c-closer!" Sora said shakingly as he raised a hand up, hoping the warning would make the zombie stay where it was. "Y-y-you s-stay r-right w-where y-you a-are!"
'That's not going to work at all, Sora,' Claire thought grimly as she kept her gun aimed at the zombie, ready to fire at it once it gets close enough. She had received firearms training from Chris, and she became so good at it she could hold a flashlight and shoot a gun at the same time. 'While it is a good idea to use a sense of reasoning, it won't work on a zombie since they're completely not human anymore. Their only instincts are to eat any living or dead flesh.'
The zombie ignored the shaky warning and continued to walk slowly towards Sora and Claire. Right when it was about to lunge at them after getting close enough, its mouth open wide, something suddenly happened.
Bang!
Splat!
The sound of a gun being shot filled the air, making two course of actions to happened. The first action was Sora releasing a loud startled yelp as he hadn't expected hearing a gunshot and move backwards, only to accidently fell over to the ground from tripping on his feet.
The second action was the zombie stopping dead in its tracks, its head snapping backwards after receiving a bullet to the head, causing a small amount of blood to splatter onto the ground while creating a wound with the same red liquid oozing downwards.
The zombie was momentarily stunned, but it won't be very long until it starts to slowly walk again, which will happened after it moves it's still snapped backwards head back to the previous position.
Apparently, whoever fired that gun thought the same thing as well and decided to take a tactical course of action to ensure the zombie never moves again permanently.
Bang!
Bang!
Two more gunshots filled the air with each bullet impacting the zombie in the head, making it stumble backwards while releasing loud groans, more blood splattering onto the ground. It wasn't until a third bullet impacted that it finally died and collapsed backwards on the ground with a thud.
Sora, still lying on the ground from tripping on his feet and breathing shakily, stared wide-eye at the zombie's dead body for a few moments before looking upwards to his right to see Claire holding her gun in front of her, the barrel at the end releasing smoke. It was she who had been the source of firing those gunshots at the slowly approaching zombie.
Claire stared at the zombie for a while to check and make sure it was actually dead to begin with. There is a chance it could be faking to be dead since it always happens in the zombie apocalypse movies. It's a strategical tactic, one that every human survivor in the movies completely falls for when scavenging for supplies and usually ends up of being either killed or turned into a zombie. But it's mostly the latter than the former since it is a zombie apocalypse.
Once Claire deemed the zombie really was dead and not getting up ever again, she slowly lowered her still smoking gun before turning towards Sora, who was still staring at her with wide eyes.
"Are you okay, Sora?" Claire asked as her blue eyes scanned over Sora's entire body carefully to check for any sign of injuries. He looked fine on the outside, but she was worried about his mental being on the inside. "You're not hurt or harmed, right?"
"I'm…" Sora struggled to form a sentence. He was no longer frightened thankfully, and his very deathly pale face was returning to its original fair skin color, but he's still horrified as his mind kept flashing to the officer's gory death. He had seen a couple deaths before during his journeys, but not as gory as this one. The screams and the sick sounds of flesh being torn apart were even more horrifying and it was definitely going to haunt his nightmares whenever he goes to sleep. "I'm…I'm alright, Claire, thanks for asking."
'Okay, he's no longer frightened and not going into shock, which is an extremely good thing,' Claire thought with relief as she continued to scan over Sora's entire body carefully. 'But he's still horrified at seeing the gory death and probably already thinking about it in his mind. I'll keep a close eye on him in the future and give him immediate comfort if he does go into shock upon seeing something truly horrific.'
Claire offered a hand to help Sora up from the ground and he took it almost immediately while noting how delicately soft it was, along with her skin. Now standing upwards instead of lying on the ground after accidently tripping on his feet, he looked over towards the zombie's dead body and stared at it with a grim expression on his face.
Claire followed his gaze and stared at the zombie's dead body as well, a frown crossing her features as she wondered how the hell a zombie came back from the living dead. It shouldn't be possible at all. Nothing can bring the dead back to the land of living, not even those lightning pole tricks people in the movies place on dead people's graves.
But somehow, a zombie managed to do the impossible of coming back from the living dead and wander around the land of living where it killed its first victim who didn't even know what it was. He thought it was a rather sick person who needed both physically and mental help, due to releasing all those loud growling noises.
"Hey, Claire?" Sora asked after a long period of silence as he continued to stare at the zombie's dead body.
"Yeah, Sora?" Claire responded, still retaining the frown on her face as she also continued to stare at the zombie's dead body.
"Moments ago, you said this thing is a zombie but…what exactly is a zombie?"
The frown Claire had on her face was replaced by a look of great surprise upon hearing the question. She did not expected it at all. Did Sora really not know what a zombie is or is this his first time seeing one? Judging by the curious, yet still grim, look on his face when she turned to face him, she can definitely confirm it was the latter, which is quite shocking since nearly every die-hard horror-fan knows what zombies are.
The explanation of what a zombie is will prove to be rather difficult for someone who hasn't even seen one in the movies and doesn't know what they are, but Claire is going to give Sora, who was staring at her, the short version instead of the long one because she didn't want to stand any longer than necessary in the backroom. It was giving her the creeps and seeing the zombie's dead body wasn't helping matters.
"Well…to answer your question, Sora," Claire said, getting Sora's complete attention as she struggled slightly to find the right words to provide an explanation of what a zombie is. "A zombie is basically a previously alive human being from the living dead. The zombie you just saw may look like a human being, but it really wasn't since it has been releasing those loud growling noises, having that hideous rotten-decay face with the white pasty skin and taking my three gunshot bullets to the head until the fourth finally killed it."
Claire could've added the only instinct of what zombies does in her explanation, which is devouring any living or dead flesh, but she chose not to because Sora was already horrified of seeing the officer's gory death. She didn't want to give him any more horrifying thoughts, especially since there's a chance he might go into shock, which would be a very bad thing.
"I see…" Sora said quietly as he processed Claire's explanation of what a zombie is into his mind. After he finished doing that, he couldn't help but wonder something. "How did a zombie get here if it's from the living dead, Claire?"
"I have no idea, Sora, but that is a very good question. It shouldn't be possible for a zombie to be here at all since nothing can bring the dead back to the land of living. But somehow…it managed to do the impossible of coming back from the living dead."
Sora and Claire turned their gazes away from each other and back to the zombie's dead body where they stared at it in silence, both thinking the exact same thing in their heads. How did a zombie come back from the living dead when it shouldn't be possible at all? More importantly, how did it even get here to the gas station?
"Come on, Sora, let's get out of here," Claire stated a few minutes later, not wanting to stick around the backroom any longer. She was already creeped out from being in the backroom, despite having a new friend with her, and giving out that explanation of what a zombie is have only made her more creeped out. "I don't want to stand in the room, the convenience store or the gas station anymore."
Sora agreed, not wanting to stay in the backroom, the convenience store or the gas station as well. He wanted to leave and never come back. "Alright, let's see if there is a door around here because we can't go back through the way we came from since that guy locked us in."
Sora and Claire set off in the medium-sized office to find an exit, being careful not to get close to the zombie's dead body. The latter gave the former a brief explanation some zombies can fake being dead even after being killed by gunshots and it's best to keep your distance away without the risk of a zombie faking to be dead on the ground suddenly springing upwards to not only get the jump on you but bite you.
After hearing that brief explanation, Sora made absolutely sure to stick close to Claire while keeping his Keyblade, which he resummoned to his hand right before the two set off in the medium-sized office, aimed at the zombie's dead body. He did not want it to suddenly spring upwards where it could get the jump on them and bite them.
Sora and Claire noticed two pathways in the medium-sized office with one being near them and the other on the opposite side where the officer's dead body was. They took the pathway near them and instantly spotted a metal door that will take them back into the main part of the convenience store, much to their relief. But…the relief completely vanished when they discovered a problem.
The door was currently locked.
"Oh, come the fuck on! This door is locked as well?!" Claire exclaimed angrily, giving the locked door a harsh kick with her foot, which didn't do anything at all. After taking a breath to calm herself down, she turned towards Sora, who was looking slightly afraid of her anger. She couldn't blame him for that since she does have a bit of a temper, along with Chris. It's a Redfield trait. "We're going need to find a key, Sora, if we want to leave the backroom. There should be one around here somewhere, probably in that other pathway we saw."
"We don't have to go look for the actual key, Claire," Sora stated, getting Claire to become highly confused. What did he mean by that? "We already have a key to unlock the door."
Sora's statement made Claire even more confused than before. How could they possibly have the key to unlock the locked door when they actually don't have it? "W-we do?"
Sora nodded his head a few times before lifting up his Keyblade to emphasized his point of having the key to unlock the locked door, causing Claire to stare at it. "Yeah, the very weapon I'm holding in my hand is the key to unlock the door. Here, I'll go ahead and show you."
Sora walked past Claire, stood in front of the locked door and aimed his Keyblade at the small keyhole where blue magical energy began gathering at the end of the tip. Once fully charged, a thin blue beam shot out from the tip and headed towards the small keyhole, causing the sound of already lock mechanism becoming unlock to fill the air.
The previously locked door was now unlocked.
"W-w-what was that just now, Sora?" Claire stuttered out, extremely shocked to see the locked door becoming unlocked, thanks to Sora's unique, yet still peculiar, weapon she definitely wants to learn more about ever since she first saw it. "That didn't look like a magic spell."
"It's another special feature about my weapon," Sora explained, lowering his Keyblade and turned around to look at Claire, who stared back at him with shock written all over her face. "It can allow me to unlock anything that's locked like a door for example. The first special feature you saw was me casting those healing spells on that guy. The second is what you just now saw."
"Wow," Claire breathed out as she stared at the Keyblade in Sora's hand with incredibly awe and amazement in her eyes, the shocked look on her face vanishing. "Your weapon is really amazing and fascinating, Sora, even though the appearance is still peculiar."
"That's what I thought as well when I first received it three years ago until I learned what it does and how important it is. But that's an explanation and story for another time. Right now, let's get out of this place because I don't want to be in here anymore longer than necessary."
Right after ending the conversation, Sora turned around from his spot and pushed the metal door open to enter the main part of the convenience store.
'Just who exactly are you, Sora?' Claire thought curiously as she followed behind Sora while staring at the back of his head with sharp eyes in a non-threatening way. 'There's clearly more to you than meets the eye the moment we laid eyes on each other in the driveway and it's peaking both my interest and curiosity. I want to know more about you. I also want to know more about that amazing weapon of yours and see what other special features it can do.'
Claire is determined to learn more about Sora and his unique weapon. This was a mission she's going to accomplished without failure whatsoever. But after leaving both the convenience store and the gas station.
Right after Sora and Claire entered the main part of the convenience store, they became greatly startled when a mighty crash sound suddenly pierced through the eerily quiet atmosphere. It was coming from their left. Quickly recovering themselves, they looked over towards the source of the crash with Claire offering light with her flashlight and saw…another zombie on top of a big cart it knocked over!
"Another zombie!?" Sora exclaimed, shocked to see another zombie in the convenience store. It was currently struggling to stand up after knocking the big cart over. "Where did it come from?!"
"I don't know, Sora, but we need kill it!" Claire yelled as she quickly aimed her gun at the downed zombie while still providing light with her flashlight. She had fully reloaded her gun with the extra bullets she brought with her when she was heading towards Raccoon City before she and Sora set off in the medium-sized office to find an exit. "Once I shoot it at the head once, you'll finished it off with your weapon! Get ready on my command!"
Upon hearing Claire giving him the order to finished the zombie who was still struggling to stand up, Sora became extremely hesitated and unsure. Can he really do it? Kill a zombie that was once a previously alive human being? He wasn't sure if he can do it because he has slain many Heartless, Nobodies, Dream Eaters and Unversed while defeating numerous bad people during his journeys but…he had never in his whole life killed a human being before.
If Sora really does kill the zombie, this would be his very first time of killing a human being, despite the fact it wasn't one anymore since it's a person from the living dead. But if he doesn't kill it, then Claire will have to do the killing deed with her gun before giving him a stern lecture for not listening to her.
What choice will Sora choose?
And done! That's the ending of the chapter! Sora's innocence, which had already been starting to lose after witnessing the officer's gory death, is losing even more and he now has to make the choice on whether or not he can kill the zombie in front of him and Claire. Will he be able to take the life of a previously alive human being or not because he's extremely hesitated and unsure? Find out in the next chapter.
I'm extremely sorry it took three months to write this chapter. I had been pretty busy with other things and didn't mean to make you guys wait this long. I hope the chapter makes up for it.
Next chapter will be Sora's decision if he can kill the zombie or not, meeting Leon and escaping the gas station from the hordes of zombies. I know I did say Sora and Claire will meet Leon and escape the gas station in the previous chapter, but I didn't feel like writing those things in the chapter because it's been three months since I last posted a chapter. I promise I will write meeting Leon and escaping the gas station in the next chapter.
Also, I changed the details of what this chapter is going to be about in the previous chapter.
Anyways, here is a new chapter for you guys to enjoy and I hope you like it.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: Decision and Escape.