HOTD! Busujima's Step Brother-Chapter 84 – Trees

So this time the enemy hid in the warehouse?

"Look, the trail." Private Clark pointed at the blood trail on the asphalt.

It looked pretty fresh, but it had dried under the scorching sunlight.

"It went into that warehouse." I pointed at the trail with the barrel of my rifle. "It stopped at the front door."

The blood trail led to the entrance and disappeared. It was clear that the entity entered the building through the hole in the front. Alright, that didn't look comfortable at all, system. Why did it give such stupid choice anyway? That's definitely not a resting place!

I guess we had no choice but to check it.

Corporal Williams raised a fist up, telling us to stop, before slowly approaching the entrance of the building. He checked the inside and then turned around, signaling to us to follow his lead. We slowly advanced forward.

Private Clark's breathing had gotten faster, and I could see that he was scared. His eyes darted left and right, scanning the area.

"Is it just me or the trees are growing strangely?" Private Clark asked as he scanned the surroundings. "The branches and leaves seem to be moving on their own."

I looked around and realized that he was correct. This warehouse was pretty strange. As if wilderness had been moved inside, trees grew from inside the building, their leaves sticking out through broken windows. There was a smell of grass and rotten flesh in the air.

I heard rustling noises coming from behind me, causing me to turn around and check the source of it. But nothing was there except the trees.

'Damn it. Is it a Tyrant?' I wondered and prayed that it wasn't the monster.

Trying to remember anything related to trees, I advanced slowly with Private Clark and Corporal Williams.

Trees, zombie infection, and missing corpses. Everything pointed at the Plant 42 from Resident Evil 2, but there was no way it could grow this fast, right?

Unless...

No.

I refused to believe it.

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the warehouse, startling all of us. The voice of a young girl resounded from within.

"A girl? Why is a girl here?" Private Clark exclaimed in shock. He was sweating and his eyes widened in surprise as he turned towards Corporal Williams.

"Let's check it." Williams said and led us to enter.

I had a very bad feeling about it. And my suspicion only got worse as I stared at the tree.

This wasn't normal. The trees were unnaturally big and embedded deeply into the concrete. If I had to compare them with anything else, then it would be a gigantic, mutant-like tree growing from the building.

The place was filled with dead branches that reached up high like spikes. The walls had been broken down by roots, revealing a small space inside.

Dangling from the top were corpses. A man, a woman, and what looked like a child.

"Damn it." Corporal Williams cursed as he looked around. His rifle pointed upwards at the bodies hanging above. "I can't believe this..."

"Is that...?" Private Clark asked, his eyes widening as well.

I was speechless.

The corpses had mutated pretty badly. The flesh was bloated and purple veins were pulsing on their skin. Some of them were torn open, showing off the organs inside. Their eyes were rolled up to the back of their heads.

And there were many holes on their bodies, with roots coming out from it.

'Is this... the result of the G-virus infection?' I thought, trying to understand the situation. 'Without a doubt, it's Plant 42!'

Suddenly, I noticed a shadow move in one of the rooms on the second floor.

"Hey!" Corporal Williams called out to the person inside. "Are you okay?"

The figure disappeared into the shadows, and I didn't see anyone else. I quickly grabbed Williams before he could go further and warned him about what we were facing.

"No, don't chase it. And don't rescue the corpses either." I told the Corporal, who frowned.

"Why?" He asked.

"Those things aren't dead anymore, they are just pretending to be unmoving." I answered and pointed at the corpses. "If you get close, they might attack you."

The Corporal looked at the bodies hanging above us and gulped. He then nodded in agreement.

"I see."

"Then, let's move on."

He nodded once more and motioned for Private Clark and me to follow him. We went around and checked another room after that. There was no sign of the mysterious figure.

We went back to the entrance and exited the warehouse through another door.

Suddenly, the girl's voice rang out again, this time much louder.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The words came out pretty clear, making me suspect her intention even more. She was trying to lure us deeper inside. But why?

"What's that voice? Who's calling?" Corporal Williams asked in confusion as he turned his head around, looking around.

"Someone's in here," I said to him. "But we should ignore her."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"She's trying to lure us deeper. I don't think it's wise to go in."

Fuck, I didn't know what to do. If I were alone, I would just burn this building down... right. There was also that option, no?

From what I saw earlier, the roots of this mutated plant weren't growing on the asphalt. So it wasn't exactly an underground plant, but something that rooted from the ground above.

Burn it. Burn everything.

I was sure it was infected with G-Virus.

Private Clark seemed to be shocked at my words and stared at the entrance. Then, after some thought, he nodded his head in agreement.

"That's a good idea. We shouldn't risk our lives." He said and turned his attention towards me. "What now, Busujima?" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

I looked around and decided that the best option was to set the fire now. We exited the warehouse and prepared to burn this place by taking gasoline from the encampment.

But as we stepped out...

Bang!

The door was slammed open with a loud sound, and a girl with a bloated body and pulsating purple vein came out.

Her long hair was messy and her clothes were torn to shreds. Her bloated body part spewed strange liquid, which I could only assume to be the virus that was coursing through her veins. Her eyes were bloodshot red.

She screamed at us with an unnatural voice and ran towards us.

"Shit! Open fire!"

The three of us fired our weapons simultaneously, unloading bullets we had into her head. She fell backward with a loud thud, but not before getting close enough for me to see her mutated face.

"Fuck! What the fuck was that!?" Private Clark yelled out.

"Run! It's dangerous here! We have to retreat now!" Corporal Williams shouted.

As if noticing we were about to run, more of them appeared from the corner, screaming like rabid dogs.

"Fuck!" I cursed loudly.

"Damn it!"

"Run! Retreat inside! Move!"

We quickly ran away from them.

***

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