September 30, 2001. Dawn's rosy fingers crept slowly over the coastline of Eastern U.S. of A. The morning sunlight bathed the land slowly as it slowly made its way westward... bringing a new day and new hope to the majority of the citizens. Curiously, the morning's early light took a detour and circled around a small town located in the State of Connecticut. The sun's rays were unable to permeate the thick unnatural fog surrounding the city... or perhaps it was merely unwilling to do so, as if avoiding the taint that surrounded this cursed town. The town of New Haven. ========= September 30, 2001. 6:02 a.m. "Good morning, Mister President." "Hmmm..." "Are you well, sir? You look pale..." "General..." A pause and a sigh. "...how quickly can we launch our nukes?" "S-sir? W-wha-..." "How *quickly*, General?" "Before noon tomorrow, sir. There are some procedures we need to... but wh-..." "You'll find what you need to know here." Shuffling of papers. Long pause. "Good lord..." "...I sincerely hope He is." ===================================== New Haven ------------------------------------- where tape and dresses are not the only things that are red. Scene 1-4: City Hall by Mark Poa ===================================== September 30,2001. A few hours before dawn... "Greetings, I am Harlukia." Alicia and Karen jumped when Charlie casually walked over to the stranger and extended a hand. Harlukia looked at it curiously before extending his own hand. Charlie grasped his hands in his and shook it vigorously. "I'm glad we found you," Charlie said with relief. "Don't be worried. I'm with the police and we're doing all we can to stop all this madness--well, I am anyway. Rest assured that we're here to help you in anyway we can." He gave him his usual "helpful police officer" smile. Harlukia's look of confusion slowly turned into one of amusement. "Why, thank you, kind sir. I do have some... *needs* you might satisfy." He gripped Charlie's hand *very* firmly. Charlie grunted. "That's some grip you have there," he noted uncomfortably. "Charlie..." Alicia blurted out. Karen seized her arm and held her fast before she could run towards Charlie. Alicia turned to Karen and saw the fearful look in her eyes. Alicia felt she must be sporting the same look, too. Karen shook her head. Alicia nodded reluctantly. Karen slowly pointed to her gun, safely resting at her side holster. Alicia nodded again. Harlukia looked intently at Charlie, who was feeling very uncomfortable right then. He sniffed. He made a face. "Err... could you let go of my hand now?" Charlie asked politely. "Pardon me, but what's your type?" Harlukia asked, puzzled. "Huh?" "Your blood type. Your blood smells... funny," Harlukia explained. "Type AB," Charlie replied, before doing a doubletake. "Hey! What do you mean it *smells* funny?" "I have a nose for these kinds of things." Harlukia grinned, showing an impressive set of fangs. "Ohmigod, you're a vampire!" Charlie shouted. "How observant. A pity, though. You're really not my type," Harlukia said. "Blood type, that is." He lifted a surprised Charlie by the neck and tossed him idly across the lobby and into the front desk. "Charlie!" Alicia screamed and tried to run, but was stopped by Harlukia who appeared in front of her still grinning toothily. "Please, madam, may I have the honor?" Harlukia bowed low and moved to grab Alicia. "Get away from her!" shouted Karen as she drew her gun, shoved Alicia aside, and shot Harlukia three times in the chest. Alicia screamed as she stumbled and fell on her behind. Harlukia staggered back with the force of the shots, but stayed on his feet. Karen gasped as she surveyed the three still-smoking bullet-holes on his tunic. "Now, aren't you a feisty one," Harlukia noted. He smacked Karen with a backhand which sent the policewoman sprawling across the floor. Alicia's eyes widened as Harlukia approached her. "Yes," Harlukia said, satisfied, "you shall be the perfect consort..." Alicia screamed. Harlukia laughed and grabbed her shoulders. Charlie moaned as he stood up. Karen grimaced and tried to get up to a sitting position. A helicopter crashed through the City Hall doors. Everyone stared at the machinery stuck halfway through the City Hall doors. Everyone took a moment to let the fact that a small helicopter appeared to have totally missed the sky on its ascent and *crashed* into City Hall. After all, it wasn't everyday that a helicopter crashed into City Hall... or any other building for that matter. Then again, Alicia found herself thinking, it wasn't everyday that someone experienced seeing the undead, encountering large bone- monsters, almost getting eaten by reanimated chickens, stuck inside a town that appeared to be on a one way trip to hell, watched her significant other being tossed around by an unnatural being from God- knows-where, and being claimed as a consort by said unnatural being. She wondered why the helicopter didn't arrive sooner... or if a flying saucer wouldn't have been more appropriate. A young man, probably around his late twenties or early thirties, wearing a simple navy blue uniform scampered groggily out of the crashed machine. Seeing the other people, he flashed a calm grin and gave them a thumbs-up. "Everything's fine, folks," he assured them. "Just made a wrong turn trying to avoid a flying bus. Don't let me stop you from what you were doing." He turned towards his downed vehicle and nonchalantly surveyed the wreckage. The three other normal humans stared at him in disbelief. Their attention was diverted from the interesting intrusion and returned to the present problem by a gruff "ahem" from Harlukia. Harlukia coughed and turned to Alicia once more. "Where were we? Oh, right! I was going to take you to my lair and make you my queen." "Noooo!" Alicia protested. "Leave her alone, you monster!" Karen screamed. "Stay away from Alicia!" Charlie dashed out from behind the ruined front desk and placed himself in between the vampire and his girlfriend, extending his arms to block the villain's path. Looking at his back, Alicia momentarily blushed. She noted his hard features as he stared down Harlukia. Inwardly, she thought, "I didn't know Charlie could be this brave, this manly, this dashing, this--" "Sir, I should warn you that you are in direct violation of the Penal Code of this State," Charlie stated authoritatively, "for offenses, including but, not limited to, two counts of assaulting an officer, conduct inappropriate within a government office, attempted kidnapping, attempted vampirism--which while I'm sure is not illegal, is pretty darn bad anyway--and various violations of the Public Dress Code." He tightened his jaw in defiance. "--idiotic," Alicia's thoughts finished as she sighed. Watching from the side, Karen smacked her forehead with her palm. "You're proving to be amusing, albeit irritating, little man," Harlukia said, much in the same tone one would use to say, "Ask me if I care." Harlukia felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. "Excuse me," said the man behind him, "but I found this on the ground and I think it's yours." He handed Harlukia a small object. "I--" Harlukia's reply was cut short by the burning sensation on his palm. He looked down to see the smoke rising from his hand where his skin touched the golden Nativity Cross. Harlukia screamed and threw the object away. He clutched his injured hand and howled, stumbling aimlessly across the room. "Oh. Guess it wasn't his, then," the stranger noted and shrugged. "Who--?" Alicia started to ask, but stopped as Harlukia turned to them again. And boy, was Harlukia furious. "Enough games!" he shouted, waving his arms upward. Twin balls of fire formed above his hands and swirled over him. The balls circled before crashing in the area around Alicia, throwing Charlie, Karen, and the stranger away from her. Wasting no more time for the others to recover, Harlukia was at Alicia's side within seconds. Alicia screamed aloud as she felt herself being picked up by strong hands. She turned her head and saw Harlukia's face, staring deeply into her eyes. Then, she saw nothing else as her consciousness left her. Charlie fought to stay conscious, but eventually lost the battle. Before his senses left him, however, he dimly saw Harlukia facing him and carrying Alicia. He also heard him faintly in his mind, even if no sound traveled the distance between them to his ears. "If you wish to regain her, I will await you within the halls of the dead. Bring that which I seek most..." Charlie managed to make out an image of an orb in his mind, before losing himself to the void. ========= September 30, 2001. Between midnight and morning... Outside town, disaster continued on. The underground subways were horrifyingly changed. Its interior was reminiscent of the home of its current inhabitants. A casual observer would have probably remarked about the need for better air- conditioning, what with the smell of brimstone all over the place. On the plus side, he would have also commented that the subway looked far cleaner than it ever did since its inauguration in 1927. Over at the New Haven Country Club and Golf Course, near the Ritz Cultural Center and 12th, several young monsters were feeling well at home. It had taken them hours to move from the burning dockside warehouse to this secluded paradise and several more hours to properly defend the place from approaching fish monsters, but it had been worth it. Already, several hours-old cubs were frolicking in the golf course waterholes or digging burrows in the sand traps. The main country club building, encircled by a moat that was deep enough for the young budding kaiju to swim in, made a fine nest for the majority of the monsters... most of the flying ones had, in fact, started building nests on its roof. There was also an adequate food supply from the trapped club clientele, though most of the young foreign monsters found the food too rich for their young tastes. Prior to finding his way into the alley between Mayfair and Alexander, Michael Lime was climbing out of the hotel fire escape while the inside of the said structure was slowly being infested by giant blind three-headed rats. Some of the other tenants didn't notice. They had already ran away or fainted from the explosion of ghost and poltergeist activities earlier. The hotel cleaners would have been worried about the mess accumulating if they weren't already on their way down Armstrong Street in a borrowed Chevy. They nervously passed a giant hole in the middle of the road and breathed a sigh of relief when they did pass it unharmed. Unfortunately for them, the Chevy couldn't outrun the white light coming from a floating disc that materialized above them. Inside the Green Clover Pub, a trio of the vampires under Harlukia's command went on a wild drinking spree and left the pub seriously inebriated on alcohol-laced blood. The threesome hurriedly flew back to the hospital in an attempt to escape the rising sun, which was what their drunken brains interpreted the streetlights to be. They missed the hospital by about ten blocks and holed up inside a different building. Coincidentally, they ended up in the building where the AA meetings used to take place... not that there was anyone there left to lecture them on the perils of alcohol though. ========= "--o, c'mon. Wake up." "Maybe we ought to just leave him, he's--" "Shhh! He's my brother, you nitwit! 'Side's I--" "Hey, hey! He's coming to." Charlie groaned and tried to stand up. Succeeding, he almost wished he hadn't. His head throbbed like that last time he drank a shot of tequila. Groaning seemed to help alleviate the pain, so he groaned some more. "Easy. Take it easy, Chuck," Karen warned him, supporting him as he tried to stand up. "How-- how long was I out?" Charlie asked. He shook his head to try to get himself thinking straight again. Unfortunately, it only made him feel as if his head was a pair of maracas. "An hour. Hour and a half tops." Charlie looked at the speaker. It was the stranger from before. The stranger was pointing at the clock in the middle of the lobby which dutifully reported the time to be 3:27 a.m. "Alicia?" Charlie asked softly, though he knew the answer already. Karen shook her head. "Gone. Seems like the vampire took her. Her and that body we found earlier. We don't even know where he is..." Charlie paused for a while. His head stopped hurting. "I know." Noticing the look he got from Karen, he continued, "Harlukia told me. He spoke... I can't explain it, but it felt like he spoke to my head." He shook his head again. "He said to meet him at the hall of the dead. Or something." "Hmmm... in a city like this, that could mean only two things. A cemetery or a morgue," said the stranger. Charlie turned to the strange man. "Excuse me, but... who are you?" The man flashed a brilliant smile and extended a hand. Charlie took it immediately and shook it, mostly out of reflex. "Johnny Basquain, at your service. Your sister knows me." "Huh?" Charlie turned from Johnny to Karen. Karen shrugged. "Weird coincidence. I met him in a chat room session and we've been exchanging email for two years now. I had never met him face to face before." "Oh." "Hehe... yeah," Johnny agreed. "Weird coincidence that." "Forgive me for asking, but... what were you doing with the helicopter?" Charlie asked. "I was on a job." He flashed his FedExpress I.D. to the two officers. "Then, I got wind of trouble brewing here in New Haven and immediately thought of my friend Karen here. So, I rushed over with that, hoping to play rescuer." He jerked his thumb at the crashed helicopter, which was still smoking. "Well, that plan failed. It also looks like I'm out of a job now." Karen gave him a strange look. "How in the world could you have known what was happening around here?" "New Haven's been on the news since early last night," he explained. "They've quarantined the entire city. No one gets in. No one gets out. Only way was through the air." "That fast?" Charlie said in disbelief. He recalled how fast the Chief and the others had quit. "Isn't the government sending help?" Johnny shrugged. "Don't know. Best course of action right now is to hightail it out of here. Don't you agree, Karen?" "I guess... but Alicia's..." Karen said hesitantly. Johnny's smile wavered a bit. "But we don't even know if she's alive..." "She is," Charlie declared. "I know." "Excuse me a moment," Johnny said. He turned his back on them and paced forward ten steps. Then, he raised his fists into the air and screamed loud and long. Satisfied, he returned to them, once again sporting his lazy grin. "Sorry. Nerves. You were saying something about Alicia?" The two siblings looked at each other in that way they always did when someone was acting strange and they wanted to be assured that it wasn't just one of them who thought that way. Karen shrugged and continued, "You were saying something about a hall of the dead, Charlie..." "Yes," Charlie continued, "Harlukia spoke to me and told me to meet him at the hall of the dead if I wanted to save her." He paused and reflected. "He also told me to get something he desired and bring it to him. But I can't remember what." "He didn't tell you or you don't remember or--?" "No, no. He didn't tell me," Charlie clarified. "He showed me-- inside my head--this image..." He formed an orb with his hands. "I couldn't make it out, but it seemed very important." He paused and closed his eyes. "And probably powerful." "Has to be, if he wants it that much," Johnny agreed. "Hall of the dead. Like I said, it's got to be either the morgue or a cemetery. Any of those around here?" Charlie thought for a moment, consulting his extensive knowledge of all things New Haven. "There's the St. Ios Cemetery over at Dairy Drive and the morgue in the basement of Central Hospital..." Charlie snapped his fingers. "And Chief said something about vampires infesting Central. That's got to be where Alicia was taken!" Karen nodded. "It's our best bet anyway. But what do we do when we get there? That place is bound to be full of vampires by now and Harlukia is not exactly a pushover." She took out her gun and removed the cartridge. "I've only got two spare cartridges left, aside from the bullets in this gun. That gives me a maximum of 37 bullets." "We also have this," Johnny said, tossing Charlie a .45 Magnum. "I found it inside a drawer at the front desk." Charlie examined the gun and found that it was fully loaded. "Funny there should be one in the City Hall front desk. Guess you learn something new each day." "Yeah, you do," Karen agreed, giving Johnny a suspicious look. "Actually, there was two," Johnny corrected. He took out the Magnum's twin and checked it himself. It was also fully loaded. "There were also two spare reloads in there. You better hold on to one." He handed Charlie the cartridge. "Thanks," Charlie replied. "But, this might not be enough..." "You're thinking of the orb thing, right?" Karen guessed. "Yeah. It must be something important if Harlukia wants it." Charlie sighed. "But, I don't know where to start looking or, for that matter, what I'm supposed to find, anyway!" Johnny thought for a moment before answering. "I might know of someone who might have an idea." ========= "Where are we headed?" Karen asked. "Kramer's Antiques," Johnny replied. "That old place? Why?" Charlie piped in. "He's an old friend of mine. I happen to know he knows this occult shit," Johnny explained. "For someone who's from out of town, you sure know a lot of people around here," Karen noted, a slight disbelieving tone in her voice. "Hehe... You meet a lot of people working for FedExpress," Johnny explained. They stopped in their tracks as they spotted a pair of creatures with large fangs walking across the street in the distance. "Shhh..." Johnny whispered to his side. He placed a finger to his lips and then pointed to a nearby alley. Karen and Charlie nodded. They followed as Johnny led the way. Once they were in whispering distance, Karen couldn't suppress a giggle of relief. "Good thing they didn't spot us." Charlie chuckled, but fell silent for a moment. He looked back at the City Hall they left, with the helicopter still in front. In his opinion, the new addition ruined the artistic flavor of the monument. He saw the two creatures moving farther away from them and toward the City Hall. "I've been wondering..." Charlie whispered. "Shouldn't your helicopter have blown up when it crashed?" Karen and Johnny stopped sneaking away and turned to Charlie. "You know what? I didn't think about tha--" Johnny's sentence was interrupted by the loud boom of his helicopter exploding. Parts of the blazing machinery flew in all directions. One managed to hit one of the creatures, who immediately thrashed about in vain as it burned. The other creature merely ran away, abandoning its helpless companion. The three stared at the blazing conflagration in awed silence. "Know what?" Charlie finally said. "Forget I asked." ========= The trio didn't stay to watch the fire gradually destroying the City Hall. Lucky them. IF they had stayed a few minutes more, they'd have been surprised by the evil energy that slowly rose from the burning building, freed from its bindings of mortar and old world knowledge. An unearthly scream rose out, announcing that "it" was back... back to do what "it" did best. And as the bloodcurdling scream rose in intensity, there was a certainty that what "it" did best was *not* small town governance. ========= As they made their way through the back alleyways towards Kramer's Antiques, Basquain was feeling a little guilty. No, he wasn't feeling guilty about lying to Karen about his identity. Part of his job meant that he had to keep his name a secret. He wasn't losing any sleep that, while Karen thought she had never seen him before, he had come into contact with her a few times on cases. The first one was when he was called to bail out an undercover alien whom Karen caught for streaking in the middle of a street and shouting incantations. Karen hadn't known that the alien was merely saying his prayers to his native gods, but Basquain found her attractive enough to coincidentally "meet" her in IRC. The last face-to-face meeting he had with her was with her inspection of a local cult the week before, but she knew him then as Johann Borkovsky. He wasn't even concerned about lying about what he really. They had to make it out of the city within the next day... hopefully earlier. There was no telling when those guys in Washington were going to launch that nuke. Which means he also wasn't feeling guilty about conjuring up plans to get out of the town, with or without Charlie's girl Alicia. He knew that the government would not be sending any help. He *was* feeling guilty about having thoughts of Karen... impure thoughts that he really shouldn't be thinking while they were running from back alley to back alley and fighting for their lives. It wasn't going to help him out if he was to help them get out of town alive. More likely, it was going to foul up his concentration during a crucial moment. "But, goddamnit, did she look sexy in that sweater and blue jeans," Basquain thought. Karen slowed down as she neared the end of the alley. Basquain stopped a little behind her. "Tired?" he asked, making sure to add a note of concern in his voice. Karen smiled back and shook her head. "We're almost there," Basquain said, reassuring her. "We're going to get out of this." Karen nodded and looked at him quizzically. Basquain felt slightly uncomfortable. "Johnny, tell me something," she finally said, "we've met before, haven't we?" "Met? Good god, no," Basquain lied. He really felt uncomfortable. "I have never been here in New Haven before. My boss always made me deliver to the West Coast." Karen frowned. "You never told me you work in FedExpress. I thought I remember you saying you were a traveling insurance agent..." "Curse this woman's memory," Basquain thought. "I... did. But I quit last month," he explained. "I wanted to switch jobs and travel..." "...by changing jobs from a traveling insurance agent to a delivery man?" "That is, er... this new one has a lot of job benefits," he corrected himself. Karen still looked at him suspiciously, but let the matter drop. Charlie had caught up with them. "You know something, Karen?" he began. "What?" Karen asked. "I just realized we forgot something." "What do you--?" Karen's eyes widened as she remembered. "Ohmigod... Casey!" ========= September 30, 2001. Around 2:00 a.m. Casey was confused. He was also feeling lonely. And while he was at it, he felt very, very worried. It all started when he ran outside and started chasing the chickens. Casey was excited by the very appearance of those fouled fowls. It reminded him of his days in the Greenberry Hill Farm where, as a puppy, he used to chase the chickens around the henhouse. So he gamely leaped outside through the pet door when he first spotted them coming up the street. It had been fun. But the stench became unbearable after a while. Casey disliked bad odors and so, after carefully disposing of the decapitated chickens in the backyard compost heap, he returned inside the house... only to find his masters gone. Casey's little doggie mind raced with questions. Where had they gone? It was still nighttime, so his masters weren't out hunting. His male master was always at home at this hour of the night. At least, most of the time. Casey felt that something wasn't right. First, there were all those smelly humans that came out. They smelled worse than those humans who carried different things whom he chased away on a regular basis. That had always pleased the female master. Then, his masters left without saying goodbye to him. They never did that. The male master never left the house without giving him a snack or patting him on the head. Something was wrong. Casey was worried. He was also getting hungry. But, he would grab a bone outside later. Casey sniffed around the garage. The big smelly metal thing they rode was not there. He sniffed out traces of the pungent liquid it drank moving away from the house. Casey barked and followed the scent, stopping only briefly to pick up a snack from the chicken corpses on the ground. He would find his masters. He was sure of it. Oooh... but first, he had to take a quick stop at that shiny red rest stop. ========= "...we have to go back and save him!" Charlie said after Johnny. Johnny stopped walking and counted to ten. Then, he counted up to fifty for good measure. It wouldn't make a good impression on Karen if he were to strangle Charlie then and there. "How would that have looked?" Johnny thought. "'I know I murdered your brother, but I love you and want to make your babies.' No way, damn it." Charlie continued, oblivious. "...Casey would never make it out of New Haven alive. He can't even read! How would he know whether he's on the 37th Street or 73rd Street? He's liable to take a wrong turn at Alby Corky Lane and find himself..." He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Karen shaking her head. "Charlie, I'm pretty sure Casey can take care of himself," Karen reassured her brother. "He's a smart dog." Karen's confidence was rooted on the fact that this had happened before. Casey had always been so well-behaved that whenever they left and planned to take him along, Charlie would assume he was following behind them closely. To date, Charlie had left Casey at the vet's office, the country club, inside the police station multiple times (where Casey would have been promoted to sergeant by now if he were human), the local butcher's store, and an island resort. She thought back to that time when, having left the dog inside their room at the resort, they found him happily bounding up the lawn two weeks later. He was also carrying a suitcase of souvenirs which, weirdly enough, appeared to have come from Paris. "...I guess you're right," Charlie admitted. "Alicia is the one who needs our help most right now." Johnny thanked heavens for the respite, then remembered he didn't believe in an afterlife. Old habits were hard to break. He turned and smiled at Charlie. "That's good to hear," Johnny said. "We must prioritize if we're to get out of this mess." They continued walking, eventually reaching the exit of the alley. Charlie and Karen followed Johnny across the street and into an unkempt backyard. They were grateful that, so far, there were no signs of any weird creatures around. Except for the large overgrown weeds growing around them... "Where are we anyway?" Charlie asked. "I was so worried about Casey and Alicia that I lost my bearings." "We're almost to Kramer's Antiques," Johnny pointed out, shoving a large vine out of the way. "Damn, these things are sticky. Anyway, we only need to cross this park and we're only two more blocks away." Karen paused. "Park?" Johnny turned. "Yeah, this park. Where we are right now. Though, I must admit, your city could use better gardeners." Karen and Charlie looked at each other. "We're in Coltrane Park," Charlie finally said. Karen nodded. "Didn't you say there was something here?" "Chief Renoir mentioned something about the park being full of something," Charlie answered. "But I can't remember what." "Eh?" Johnny said. A thick white vine lowered itself between them. The siblings and Johnny slowly looked up... ...and found themselves looking at four pairs of eyes and a pair of mandibles. Four very large pairs of eyes and a pair of very large mandibles... dripping venomous juices. "Okay, " Charlie spoke up, "now I remember." "...you're not helping, Charlie," Karen said with a gulp. ========= Scene 1-4... END ========= Author's Notes: My first new impro series in a long time. And it was fun! ^_^ Mad props to the following people: black dub - for prereading comments and suggestions. Plus, pointing out stuff I missed. S.D. Ryukage - for suggestions and prereading. And for the encouragement support. zerosum - for prereading comments and suggestions. I thought long and hard, but can't give up the pun. Gomen. Wanderer and MMK - for starting this series. The first chapter entertained me to no end. Mervyn - for the reminder early on that I signed up for this. ^_^;; Almost forgot. I was a bit worried about skipping. There were three skips before me and the pressure is on to live up to the series' expectations... which was a bit difficult until I saw the RE movie. Then, it was merely a matter of trying to include the "ambience" of a survival horror game, albeit with comedy, into my chapter and voila! Chapter done. :) I also felt that aliens would be a good addition to the New Haven Invasion and Demolition Force... especially after remembering that Silent Hill ending where Harry Mason walks up to aliens that had just landed. First thing he asks: "Have any of you seen a little girl, around this tall--?" The aliens zap and abduct him. The poor poor fool. :) Up next: black dub to continue. :) Okay, I'll shut up now... Mark Poa markpoa@edsamail.com.ph ^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^