Noah’s already sitting on the sidewalk in front of his house when MC finds him.
“‘Sup.” – he greets them, his hands shoved inside his jeans pocket. They walk in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts.
They still haven’t talked about what happened Saturday night. They both want to, but the words don’t seem to come. MC curses themself for kissing Noah out of blue. Noah curses himself for making things awkward between them.
“So, uh. Good thinking. About going to the hardware store first.” – MC finally gathers enough courage to say anything. – “If Mr. Red is back, we should be ready for anything.”
“Yeah… I don’t want to be an easy prey to him. But I doubt I’ll be able to buy anything. I have like, five dollars.”
“I can lend you some money, Beanie Boy.”
“Really?” – his brown eyes find hers. MC nods. – “Seriously? Thanks, MC!”
“Don’t mention it.” – they give him a small grin.
They both talk a bit about school and other things, not mentioning Dan’s party nor the kiss even once. The awkwardness slowly drifts off. Soon, they reach Westchester’s Main Street and enter Gunther’s Hardware.
MC is greeted by Stacy’s older brother, Connor, who’s behind the counter. He tells them he got a job there. Noah decides to leave them to talk in privately, though he doesn’t like how intimate that blonde dude treats MC.
The beanie boy busies himself by looking at the aisles.
After spending a few minutes talking to Connor, MC finds Noah in the back of the store.
“…Finding anything useful?”
“Not unless you wanna go after Mr. Red with a bunch of duct tape and twine.” – Noah answers back and MC chuckles as they move to scan the shelves on the other side. – “So, ready to face Redfield again?”
“I guess I’ll never be ready for it.”
“Same.”
They both fall in silence again, browsing the aisles. MC lets out an excited squeal.
“Ready to have your mind blown?” – and they show Noah a barbed wire baseball bat, swinging it in their hands. – “Niiiiiice. It clobbers, it shreds, it bashes in dirt monsters brains.”
“Damn… yeah, that’ll work. You gonna get it?” – he asks, his mouth hanging open, impressed by the weapon.
“Hell yeah I getting it! What about you?”
“Guess I was just thinking about how dark it’s gonna be in there. I don’t love the idea of something sneaking up on us…”
“Good thinking.” – they both reach to grab a flashlight on a shelf at the same time, their hands bumping. – “Uh, sorry–” – but before MC can pull their hand out, Noah grabs it, both firmly but gently. They look up to the boy right next to them, his brown eyes already locked on theirs. None of them say anything, they just keep gazing at each other, their heartbeats speeding up… – “Noah, I–” – MC’s eyes darts from Noah’s eyes to his lips, just a few inches apart from them.
“Uh, listen, MC… about Saturday night…” – Noah’s voice sounds husky and his cheeks are a shade pinker. – “Uh, we… I mean, I… Uh, no, we… No, I–”
“Do you guys need some help?” – Connor’s voice suddenly surges near them. The two teenagers practically jump a few feet far away from each other, their hearts thumping now.
“N-no! We’re good. Thanks.” – MC manages to smile at him.
“Okay, if you need something else, just call me.” – and the cashier walks back to his place behind the counter.
“Uh, I guess we got everything we needed.” – Noah murmurs, his cheeks still flushed. “Yeah…” – MC can’t help but feel disappointed. The moment was gone. – “We should be going to meet the rest, anyway.”
Noah nods and he follows MC to the front of the store. Connor rings them up, talking to MC all the time (to Noah’s annoyance), and they both step out into the cool night.
By the time MC and Noah reach the Westchester High’s fountain at six, their friends are already there.
“At least someone seems prepared.” – Ava nods in approvement when she notices MC’s bat.
“Someone’s been playing too many zombie shooters.”
“You’re just jealous of how totally badass I’ll look swinging this around.” – MC tells Andy, who laughs loudly. – “We thought it was a good idea getting equipped before finding Mr. Red.”
“And what you got, Noah?” – Jane turns to her brother. He shows her the flashlight. – “Nice. And what did you get me?”
“Nothing. I wouldn’t even have bought this if it wasn’t for MC’s help.”
“Anyway, I don’t need any weapons or whatever. My fists will do the work.” – Andy positions himself in a fighting pose.
“Okay, Jet Lee.” – they all laugh to Stacy’s joke, the mood lightening up a little.
“Uh, we should get going before it gets too late.” – Dan says, noticing that they’re the last people in the school.
The group follows back roads out of town until they find themselves standing at the edge of the dark woods. Andy, Ava and Jane look pretty confident, talking the whole time. Stacy and Lucas still are a bit skeptical and Lily shakes all the way there, but Dan tells her calming and comforting words, in an attempt to ease his own mind.
“Alright, now I’m ready for anything!” – MC gives a few experimental swings on their barbed wire bat.
“Noah, you go first.” – Jane orders him.
“Why the hell me?!”
“Because you have the flashlight, duh.”
Noah lets out a low curse and enters the woods first, followed closely behind by his friends..
“At least we can see where we’re going…” – Stacy says.
“Well, this place is as creepy as ever.” – the beanie boy states, the bright beam of his flashlight illuminating the path.
“I don’t know. It feels almost like… home.” – MC says by his side.
Suddenly, Lily stops moving:
“Did you hear that?” – her voice is just a whimper.
They all stop speaking, holding their breath.
And then, they hear something moving along with the wind.
“Oh god…” – Dan murmurs as he see something.
Noah grabs hold of MC’s forearm, startling them.
“Don’t… move…” – he murmurs through clenched teeth, paralyzed by fear.
They follow his petrified gaze. Twenty feet down the path, transfixed in the beam of his flashlight, there’s a twisted creature of vines and bone.
“That’s not Redfield.” – Lucas states, adjusting his glasses nervously.
“That’s a skeleton. A walking skeleton.” – Ava whispers back at the same time Andy says:
“Oh hell no. I did not sign up for this.”
The creature advances slowly toward them, a gob of sticky, yellow saliva dripping from its jaws.
“MC, wh-what do we do?” – Jane asks, her brown eyes wider than usual, looking for her best friend’s guidance.
Suddenly, the creature lunged forward, barking at the group of teenagers.
“RUN!”
Panicked, they all start running, crashing through branches and undergrowth on either side. Dodging around a fallen tree, another hulking shape looms up in front of them, blocking their path.
“Aaah!” – MC screams and made a sharp left turn. Howling, the creature fell in beside the first creature, skeletal limbs clicking as they ran.
Noah notices to where they’re heading to.
“MC, we need to turn around! We’re heading straight for the ruins!”
“Crap, you’re right! Come on—“ – they move to the right, but one of the creatures surge forward, blocking they back onto the path. – “I think they’re herding us! They want us to go to the ruins!”
“And they don’t want us to find Samuel!” – Jane shouts back.
Still running, MC quickly glances around, watching the creatures.
“Alright, on my signal… We’ll go right! They obviously don’t want us to go that way…”
“…So that’s where we need to go.” – Noah and MC share a nod in agreement.
“Ready… Now!”
Steeling themselves, they all make a sudden, hard turn to the right, dodging past the mossy creature. Covering their faces, they crashed through a thick wall of bushes, before finding themselves in a quiet, moonlit clearing.
“Yo, we’ve gotta keep moving. Those freaky skeleton things are right behind us!” – Andy says, nervously glancing over his shoulder.
“We need to find Samuel, fast. What if those things are after him too?” – Dan catches his breath.
“Yeah, about that…”
They all follow Ava’s gaze… and see another skeletal creature across the clearing, crouching over a still figure lying in the dirt.
“Oh my god… Samuel?!” – MC screams, recognizing the unconscious little boy.
“Hey! Get away from him!” – Jane screams at the vine creature, who lets go of Samuel’s leg and lifts its head to snarl at them.
Answering growls can be heard from all around them, and suddenly the woods are full of burning amber eyes and glinting teeth…
“Get ready… we can’t let them take Samuel.” – MC says, their fist tightening around the baseball bat, barbed wire glittering wickedly in the moonlight.
“This is not the way I thought today was going to go…” – Andy grins as he crack his knuckles and bounces on the balls of his feet. – “But hey, beats homework.”
“Heh, I guess so.” – Dan agrees with him, cracking his knuckles too.
Jane picks a vine from the floor.
“Guess this will do. It’s better than nothing.” – she says, giving it a few testing swings.
“Let’s just get this over already.” – Stacy stands up after filling her purse with rocks, swinging it threateningly. Ava stoops down to pull a long knife out of her boot.
“What the— where’d that come from?!” – Lucas asks her, his eyes going wide by the sight of it.
“Given that knives at school are an expulsion-level offense, let’s say ‘the hardware store’.” – she calmly answers him.
“Glad you came prepared.” – MC says and then turns to Lucas and Lily. – “While we fight these, uh… moss creatures, you try to wake Samuel and bring him back, okay?” – they both nod, determination shining in their eyes. – “Noah?”
“I’m ready.” – Beanie Boy mutters, as his knuckles whiten as he shifts his grip on his flashlight staring at the mossy creatures in the woods.
“Then let’s do this.” – MC takes a deep breath before yelling. – “Witness me!”
At the sound of their voice, the plant creatures spring into action, closing in from all sides.
While their friends fight the monsters, smashing their ‘weapons’ against the creatures heads, Lucas and Lily sprint to where Samuel lies unconscious.
“I’m sick… of these freaking… WOODS!” – Noah wails on the last creature, already on the floor, after hitting it square in the jaw with his flashlight. MC and Jane reach him just as the creature gives a final twitch before going limp. The boy puts his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. – “That’s right… you stay down.”
“Woohoo, you look like a total badass, Noah!” – his sister squeals, smiling proudly at him. They high five.
“We’re… okay?” – Stacy looks around the still clearing. It seems like nothing else wants to kill them.
“Don’t know if I’d go that far. I mean, we just got attacked by zombie plants skeletons.” – Andy observes, while Ava gives the pile of bones at her feet a few more stomps for good measure.
“I’m good.” – she says.
“I’m fine. It’s him I’m worried about.” – Dan points to Samuel, whose head lies on Lily’s lap.
They all approach Lucas, Lily and the unconscious boy. MC kneels down next to the him, gently brushing leaves and dirt from his face.
“Sam? Sam, can you hear me? It’s MC. You’re going to be fine now–”
Suddenly, the boy jerks into wakefulness, startling the group.
“MC?” – he whimpers, his voice to weak. – “Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here!” – he repeats frantically, grabbing MC’s shirt tightly. – “He’s coming! He’s here!”
“WATCH OUT!” – Lucas yells, but it all happens to quickly.
Suddenly, the woods come to life, all around them, with tangling vines and brambles.
“Help me!” – Samuel cries as vines wrap around his legs, dragging him toward the trees. MC dives forward, managing to grab hold of his hands.
“AAAAAAAH!”
“JANE!” – Noah yells, taking Jane out of the vines way. They wrap around his legs instead. – “Get off me!” – he tries to kick it off, but they’re already tightly around his ankles.
“Noah, give me your hand!” – Jane tries to pull Noah, but the vines are stronger. Andy and Dan quickly are by her side, helping the Marshall twins. MC, Lucas, Lily and Stacy try to free Samuel too, while Ava swings her long knife wildly and hisses threateningly to any vine that dares to get closer to them.
“Jane, this isn’t working…” – the redhead feels the grip of her brother’s weakening on her hand.
“NO, NOAH!” – she screams stubbornly, pulling even harder. – “We’re getting you out of th–”
“I’m sorry.” – he whispers, his brown eyes, the same color as hers, finds her face.
And then, he let goes off her hand.
“NOAH!” – Jane cries out at the same time as MC screams Samuel’s name.
And a second later, both boys are gone, swallowed up by the dark undergrowth.