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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 15, 2009 6:30:18 GMT -5
James and Jack had moved aside, allowing Arc to pass down the steps. James had noticed the darkened look in his face and the blood that seeped from his arm before he'd left. That could have only meant one thing... Upon stumbling into this realization, he stumbled down the stairs in an attempt to catch up with the man.
"James! Get back in here! Jack called out, reaching a hand out. He looked down at Lucy and back at the door where James had went. Deciding it was best to give Emily some time, he stood to his feet and carried his grand daughter in one arm ,his shotgun in the other hand.
Emily continued to mourn for the lost child before letting go of her. She'd stared into the small face of the girl and shook her head, sadly.
"I'm sorry Rick...I-I couldn't save her..I didn't know she was infected..." Emily breathed.
"Emily. I think you should speak to the young man who came with you. He needs some sort of closure," Jack told his niece.
Emily half heard him, but didn't care. She was too upsetat this point. "Julie..."
"Emily! She's gone! That child is gone! And as much as I regret saying this, she's better off gone. No child deserves to live through this," he told her.
Emily looked up slowly and then over her shoulder at her uncle who stood tall before her, looking down at her sternly.
"Uncle Jack I..."
"You should go speak with Arcian now," he told her.
Emily glanced back at Julie's corpse and then nodded, gettting up to her feet and descending the stairs, Jack and Lucy following close behind. Once outside, Emily had looked around, but didn't see Arc nor James.
She wiped away the tears from her eyes and sniffled a little before catching a glimpse of James' jacket disappearing behind the barn. She followed after and immediately stopped when she was inches away from James whom also had stood there looking down at Arc.
Knitting her eyebrows together, Emily approached him and knelt down, slowly reaching for his handgun.
"What the hell are you thinking?" she asked him, grasping onto the gun. "Killing yourself? Really?" she said.
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 15, 2009 21:37:09 GMT -5
Arc struggled to stop himself, but he wanted to keep going. His mind was at conflict within his head, battling to make a choice. He didnt notice James standing over him, just watching. But once Emily had come, there was no doubt she would intervien with his choice, and maybe this is what kept him alive. "No!, yes, well... Im not going to put you or anyone around you in danger, it would probably be best if I just ended this now. Theres nothing else we can do but wait, even if I had a day or two. The only thing worse then dying is sitting here just waiting to die."
The pain in his arm was throbbing around the bite, but he could still feel the pressure around it from his own hand now. Arc didnt know what it felt like to be infected, but it was a lot more painful then he imagined it. The only thing going through his mind besides rising tension was how long he had left, but did it really make a difference? "You already have enough troubles on you consous, chika. I dont want a nice girl like you worrying about me. Heh, thats my job, isnt it?" Arc laughed louder then he meant, but then it turned into a sorrow when reality hit him again. "Im... Sorry about Julie..."
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 15, 2009 21:48:27 GMT -5
Emily sat there for a moment as if thinking. She wasn't exactly sure what to do at this point. He was right about being put into danger if he lived any longer, but she couldn't just shoot a bullet between his eyes. It killed her to have to do that to Rick...she couldn't find it in her to do it again.
"Arc...I can't let you kill yourself....and I...I can't bring myself to kill you either," she told him as sincerely as she could.
She began to speak again when the radio began to go off. A familiar voice coming through the other end. "Arc! What the hell's goin on? Your radio cut on and all we heard was growling and Emily screaming....Arc you there? Is everyone alright?!"
"Anna?" Jack muttered, stepping forward to hear his daughter's voice clearly.
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 16, 2009 1:53:25 GMT -5
Arc listened to Emily speak, closing his eyes and thinking about everything that has happened. Once the radio had went off, his eyes shot open, and then held the radio up in front of himself so he could speak and the others could listen easily. "Anna, I read you loud and clear. Everything is..." He wanted to tell her that everything was fine, but he knew that would be a lie. The truth had to be told, but over the radio like this? It wasnt going to happen, that would just stir up the situation more then it has to be. "...everything is fine, I have the situation under controle. Im passing the... Radio... Over to..."
The words were soggy, but should be readable. Arc was starting to lose consienceness, using up all of his energy speaking wasnt the best idea. His adreanalin was pumping from contact with Anna, it mustve been a long radio silence, it was good to hear she was making out alright. "...James... Over..." Arc looked at James, he knew that they couldnt tell Anna what happened, not until she was prepared to face it head on. He fell limp against the barn now, closing his eyes loosely, and nearly dropping the radio from his grasp.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 16, 2009 2:05:00 GMT -5
James grasped onto the radio before it hit the grass. Emily had glanced at James then back at Arc, quickly shaking him a little. "Arc, c'mon, snap out of it..." she whispered so as to not alarm Anna and Richard on the other end.
"James? Are you there, sweetheart?" Anna's voice asked through the radio. James cleared his throat a bit when he realized his mother was speaking to him.
"Mom..Mom it's so good to hear your voice! Is Richard there with ya too?"
"He sure is! Say hi Richard!" A little behind her, he could make out his raspy, deep voice. "Hey James."
The little girl had finally began to speak up as of now. Her face beamed brightly, something Jack hadn't seen since Anna had left. "Mommy! Let me talk to her please!" she yelled, reaching up for the radio.
When James passed her the radio, the little girl smiled widely. "Mommy! It's me! Lucy! MommyI miss you alot and I want you tocome back right now, please!"
The radio sputtered and beeped beforeher voice was heard again. "I'll be home soon, sweetheart, I promise...I'll be back to protect you, James and Grampa, kay?"
As they continued chatting, Jack helped Emily lift up Arc and carry him into the home, James, Lucy and the radio following along behind them.
Once inside the house, Arc was laid on the couch and Jack went to fetch some disinfectant and bandages. Emily groaned and sat back in the chair infront of the couch. She burried her face in her hands and silently prayed that this situation didn't get worse.
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 16, 2009 3:50:11 GMT -5
That was the end of my chapter. I could still feel the cold air on my body, but I know my mind has slipped into sleep. I thought my job was done, my life had been used up to its fullest. If this was how things were going to end, at least I could leave this place knowing I did everything I could. I could still remember hearing Emily speak to me, but I couldnt answer, I couldnt even lift my head. The shock had just taken over my body, but my mind was still there for the time being. The room was quiet, nobody was speaking. Or maybe they were, and my mind was somewhere else. Who knows what my body was doing, I thought I had more time.
I thought about my past, everything that had happened to me, leading up to this moment, and everything that had happened to the people around me. The lives ive saved, the lives of put back together. Things had happened for a reason, I realized that much. But I also realized that this couldnt be my time to go, I still had a job left to do. Footsteps all around me, am I still hear? I know those footsteps, it was more infected. They were coming into the house, tons of them, getting louder. Feeling that sharp pain in my arm again, it made me realize most importantly, that I was still alive...
~~ "Noo!" Arc yelled out loudly, reaching for his knife and jumping to his feet. Running across the room, he went for the door, and lay up against it, holding those infected from getting inside. He felt the footsteps getting louder outside, they were filling his head. He yelled, keeping his eyes held shut, he could hear voices speaking to him, but nothing could be made out. They were all just blank and empty, several voices, talking to him, but he couldnt understand. He was back in his cabin, in South America. They were outside his door, he couldnt let them inside. Infected or not, they were coming back to finish the job. ~~
Arcs eyes shot open, he was laying on the couch, nearly knocking the bottle of disinfectant away from him by accident. He was sweating, it was burning his eyes by now, but he was behing held down by several hands. His vision was too blurry to make out anyone in the room, but he was powerless to resist their grip. But he wasnt dead, he was very much alive, and soon felt himsef slowing down, going back into a motionless state on the couch. His eyes couldnt follow anything in the room, and then closed once again.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 16, 2009 7:11:49 GMT -5
"James! Help me hold him down! He's hallucinating!"Jack yelled, holding the younger man down by his shoulders. James immediately followed suit, grasping onto Arc's legs and keeping him pinned down. Emily stood over him, trying to bandage his wound up. "Goddammit Arc, wake the f**k up! Now!" she ordered.
As the family attempted to help the him, some rather familiar pounding could be heard on the boarded up windows and on the front door. Those hungry groans began to fill the silenced atmosphere with a bone chilling cry.
Emily looked over at the door as it shook and quaked. This wasn't good. This couldn't be happening. Not now! She gritted ehr teeth together and shot a look at her uncle whom reached over and grabbed ahold of his shotgun.
CRASH!
"AHH!" came little Lucy's scream as she covered his small ears and huddled up in a corner. James went to her aid and held his sister tightly. "Shh, shh, it's alright, everything's gonnabe alright Lucy.."
The door came bursting open, several corpses lying on the floor of the home as three others came shuffling in behind them. Before they couldeven move, Emily began taking pot shots at them. Jack ran over to the crushed window where his grandchildren were and started blasting away at the incoming zombies.
Emily couldn't believe what she was seeing. Those zombies...they came from nowhere. It was almost as if they smelled them out..Or maybe the noise attracted them. Whatever the eerie case may be, they were surrounded.
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 16, 2009 18:50:52 GMT -5
Arc opened his eyes, and bent himself upward, lifting himself from off the couch. Emily and James had been focusing on the infected to even notice. His eyes moved around the room weakly, almost like he was searching for something. Then out from behind Emily, he stretched out his arms, and then finally grasped...
But I fought it, I fought the infection. The hallucinations werent something I expected to have, my memory wasnt even that great to go back in time all the way to South America. I was alone in the room, and the infected had gotten into the house now. I knew that I could run out the back exit, or take the window, but they seemed to have come from there, too. Before anything, I could hear that voice again, it yelled to him. It yelled at him.
"Arc no!" He stumbed forward, holding his arm on the table, grasping the .45 in his other hand. Arc raised it up, and fired off rounds, he could see the infected. And he wasnt alone, everyone was still here. Getting to his feet, he tried to keep himself steady, but found it difficult. Hitting two of them with stray shots, he fell against the wall, holding himself up and struggling to aiming toward the infected. Blind-firing down the hallway to the undead at the back door, he managed to drop them to the floor, emptying his magazine in the process. Holding the gun loosely in his hand, Arc looked back at Emily, who looked at him with an unidentified face. "Help me up, we can get out the back door!"
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 16, 2009 19:45:12 GMT -5
Jack was the first to act. He grabbed Arc's arm and pulled it around his shoulder and helped him towards the back door. James had Lucy by the hand until Emily scooped her up and held ehr tightly in her arms. "Lucy, shh, shh, don't cry, don't look okay? We're gonna be alright, I promise," she told her.
James began picking shots at some of the undead that wandered into their home. Once they were outside, they were near safe, heading towards the pick-up truck parked beside the home. Jack helped Arc up into the back of the pick up truck and then rushed to the driver's side. Emily leapt into the passengers side with Lucy and slammed the door shut behind them.
James climbed in the back with Arc and closed the latch, firing another round off at an incoming threat. The truck started and Jack pulled the truck into reverse, a head splatting beneath the weight of the tires. They were safe! For now...
As they drove along the dirt roads, Jack looked over at his granddaughter worriedly. The six year old was grasping onto Emily tightly and crying. Emily tried soothing her, stroking her head and whispering to her that her mother would be coming soon to help. Her and Richard.
In the back, James sighed and brushed a hand through his messy hair, glancing at Arc. "You're conscious. That's good. But that bite on your arm...it should be properly cleaned and bandaged. Otheriwise the infection might start taking a more deadly toll on you. Trust me, I'm a med student...er, was a med student for four years."
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 17, 2009 4:08:56 GMT -5
Arc had wished he wasnt, then this pain wouldnt be so rough. But this meant he was alive, he wasnt going to let the infection take him over this easily, he was going to fight till his last breath was gone. His gun was holstered onto his side, and he could see his bag tucked away behind James. It was a good thing they took it along, he couldnt afford to lose any of his equipment, even if he was dead and gone.
Arc closed his eyes, and then started to unravel the loose bandages on his arms from before, they needed concentrated treatment while his body was active. He didnt want to look at the bite, he always went on feeling. "Alright, I have a container of medical bleach in my bag, fish it out and then I think you can figure out the rest..." Arc waited as James got the container, and then he took a deep breath. This was going to hurt more then the bite itself, but it might even be his only chance of cleaning out the little trace of infection.
Julie was still at a very early phase, and she might not have even plagued her mouth with the toxins before biting him. Arc knew this sounded stupid in his mind, but unless everyone was down with putting a bullet in his head, he could only hope that this was the case. James could see the wound, too, so he would be able to tell more then Arc could, if his medical expirience was as great as he said it was. "Alright, go for it."
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 17, 2009 5:24:57 GMT -5
Inside the truck, Emily had looked into the rear window at the two sitting in the back. It was probably a good idea to try to send a message out to Anna and notify her that they were moving on somewhere else. As she searched her pouches, her eyes widened.
"Lucy? Do you have the radio still?" she asked. The little girl looked up and shook her head. "No, I put it on the table."
Emily swore a little and frowned. Jack glanced at his niece before sighing. He never got the chance to talk to his daughter. "Relax, James should have it," he reassured her. Emily looked back and tapped on the window. James looked back at her as he cleaned out Arc's bite.
"James, do you have the radio,by chance?" she asked.
James raised an eyebrow and looked around the truck and over at Arc. "Uh, no!" he replied, warily. The woman could be seen muttering something before turning back around and burying her head into her hands. This was gonna lead to some trouble if Anna comes back and they're not there...
In the back of the truck, James had been at work on Arc's arm. He went through the pack Arc had handed him and pulled out some gauze, bandages, the medical bleach and some wipes.
Taking a tight grip on the soldier's arm, he began wiping the blood off the bite which was swollen and reddish purple now. As he cleaned away at the dried blood, he put the blood stained towel aside and reached for another clean wipe. He uncapped the bottle to the bleach and pressed the cloth against it, turningshaking the bottle back and fourth to dampen the towel with it.
Screwing the cap on tight, he put the bottle aside and started to wipe and dab at the bite until it seemed to have bubbled up around the wound. Intrigued, he raised an eyebrow and looked up at Arc.
"I've never seen medical bleach foam up like peroxide before..." he muttered. Shaking his head, he decided it was easier to just pour a little more from the bottle. As he did, he saw Arc's face scrunch a little.
"Sorry, dude," he apologized. When he was finished disinfcting it, he reached for the gauze and pulled the plastic from over it, firmly pressing it down on the bite and reaching for the gauzes now.
Wrapping it around tightly, he tied the loose ends up and bit down on it, ripping it off the reel. As he put away Arc's medical case, he noticed Emily watching the entire time. She seemed pretty worried.
((I left the radio behind for plot reasons.))
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 19, 2009 3:45:36 GMT -5
Damn, the pain hurt like mad crazy. But that was good, the infection wasnt even that bad. The fact that he could feel that pain was a good indication that his nerves havent been taken over at all. Same with temperature, his arm wasnt cold, the blood was still pumping normally. Plus, there were no symptoms, no vomiting or anything. After putting up with the ain, Arc smiled at James, and then closed his eyes once again. "Hurts like a b*itch, but ya know what? That means im still alive..."
After relazing, Arc felt the bumps from the road under him, they were nice and fluent with the shocks of the truck. He was sure they would be going offroad, especially in the country enviornment like this. It seemed like time was drifting away slowely, the breeze passing over him as the truck moved along. Arc found himself nearly falling asleep, but he couldnt risk his body going inactive, in fear the infection would get the better of him. Opening his eyes, he spoke to Emily through the window, and James who was listening. "How did you realize that mankind had won the war against the undead in 2006?"
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 19, 2009 4:00:56 GMT -5
Emily had barely heard what he was saying but managed to understand what it was he was asking her. She actually couldn't recall how she found out, it just sorta happened. She was on active duty with her partner, Rick when it was announced over the news that the city of Raccoon had been contained and was in the process of being rebuilt.
"Well," she began, pulling open the latch of the window and lifting it up. Lucy had been fast asleep on her lap at the time. Jack was listening in as well.
"I was on patrol with my friend Rick, that was Julie's father, anyways, I was on patrol back in Louisiana. We'd been called in to go see about some disturbance in one of the local neighborhoods. Just a buncha kids banging their bass too loud outside... And the next thing I knew, the operator was announcing to the squadron around the city that Raccoon had finally been sucessfully quarantined," she explained.
Shifting around in her seat, she adjusted the holsters on her arm and the straps of her tank top that were dirty and didn't look blue anymore.
Jack took the time to muse into the story. "I remember hearing about that. It was announced the very same day Anna had gone into labor with Lucy, here. So it was two good things that coincientally happened at the same time. The hospital was buzzng with news broadcasts about it."
James decided to butt in now as well. He was eager to remember how happy everyone was. How people celebrated, even he did. After all he didn't like the idea of people suffering there the way he, Anna and Richard had.
"Yeah, I'm glad it was fixed, I remember at the same time, Umbrella was convicted and finally had a giant stock drop too. Good times..."
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Post by OompaLoompaFan75 on Oct 20, 2009 3:04:46 GMT -5
Arc had listened to Emily speak, this kept him awake, he was very interested. Not even a month after that, the rest of the world had returned to the way things were. Only six years of rebuilding, it was hard to believe things couldve ever been this easy again. Arc remembered being inside of the city when the missiles were heading for the city, and how he had barely escaped alive. But that was sheer luck, he hated luck ever since that day. It only happens once, everyone is given one chance to redeem themselves for what they are.
But then James had said that word, Umbrella. Arc nearly jumped just hearing it being spoken again, it was a startle to him. He didnt want to make it stand out, but it was hard not to. Thinking quickly to get off the topic, he spoke. "...And I can remember just waiting for the government to launch another missile..." Did he just say that out loud? What would these people think? That information hadnt been released to the public. The only reason he knew about it was because of previous plans during his work with the corperation.
Once Umbrella was gone, he had no job, and he had to live in fear that whoever was left to fight against theyre downfall would find him. Why did they think he stayed around Raccoon City once the infected hit again? Running and hiding would make him a coward, he had to stay and help the people still alive, it was all his fault, in a way. Taken advantage by the company right from the very beginning, what would people think of him if they knew the truth about his past? "...I mean, if they had a backup plan, wouldnt the rest of the world be completely fine right now?"
But I couldnt play sides, Louis was always good at that...
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 20, 2009 14:42:57 GMT -5
Emily shot a glance at Arc when he mentioned someabout another missile. She furrowed her eyebrows together and slightly turned her head to look back over at James. "Didn't you tell me that you, Anna and Richard had seen some Umbrella work before?" she asked.
James nodded and thought back. Shivering a little, he shook his head and scratched at his hair a bit. "Yeah. Well, we sorta assumed it mainly because one of those things had it's logo and badge around it's neck. Why do you bring that up?" he asked.
Emily glanced back at Arc again and scoffed. "I was just wondering. Either way, what's done is done. The world's not gonna be getting any better anytime soon, so all we can do is try to survive the best we can."
"Look, there's a market. It looks alright, maybe we should stock up on some food and water now," Jack said, nodding ahead. The parking lot seemed clear. Who knows about the inside though.
"Good idea. Maybe we can find some antibiotics for Arc too," Emily mentioned. Looking back at the man she raised an eyebrow. "You well enough for us to make this quick stop?"
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