V.I.R.A.L - Chapter 276

Gemini found herself awake to screams and other unnatural sounds. Holding her head in pain, she wasn’t sure how long she was out for; the harsh, scaring memories took point as she whispered to herself curled up. “I understand now…”

“Blossom!” Looking up, she saw Jinx and Emil running towards her, pushing through the crowds. Jinx kneeled down, checking her body for wounds. “Are you alright? Are you hurt at all? What happened?”

Gemini turned to Goro’s lifeless body. An empty feeling swept her as she muttered, replying with a damned look. “It’s Gemini… Lying to myself won’t get me anywhere.”

Emil checked Goro tutting. “He’s dead…”

“It was that man, Acceptance. He attacked and tried to snatch me away. Goro tried stopping him… He never stood a chance.”

Jinx comforted Gemini grinding her teeth. “We’ll make him pay; I promise you that.”

“What’s happening?”

Emil stood up, pulling her up, looking nervous. “The Garden is attacking. We need your help; we’re trying to get as many people to safety. Is there anywhere we can take them?”

Gemini gave it a thought before muttering. “The forest, I used to live there with Aoi… There’s a small cabin enough for two dozen people… It’s out of sight; it would take a while for the Garden to find us there.”

“We can set up camps to fit as many people there as possible. That’s the plan. Emil?”

“I’ll start rounding the people up. Although I’m not sure how…”

“Leave that to me,” Gemini muttered, taking one last look at her best friend before getting herself ready to fight.

****

Flocks of people began running from the Garden’s forces as streamers and police tried their best to hold the mass back. As dozens of people ran, the billboards all around began blasting static, gaining some people’s attention. A static figure appeared talking to the nation. “Hear me, people of Rhinefield… Hear me and act! My name is Gemini Fujisaki, and I’m here to say this. The Garden isn’t worthy of our homes, nor will they win. However, we will need you to evacuate before we can act out on any promises. Head for the destination; people will be there to aid you. Hurry, we won’t be able to keep the Garden back for long.” Lamppost in a specific location began flickering, showing a path for everyone to follow. “Hurry and move now!”

With this, people began moving to safety as Gemini opened her eyes, moving away from the TV panting. “I hope that helps.”

“People are on the move; we just need to keep the Moss away from the masses, and we should be good,” Emil stated, looking outside to see it more or less clear. “That doesn’t make sense?”

“Count your blessing while you can, stepbrother.”

“I thought I told you not to call me that…”

As the group made it outside, the dead silence, of course, caught them off guard. Gemini walked on, seeing nothing in the distance. “What happened to everyone we were saving?”

Jinx turned around. Her eye widened as she stumbled back, screaming. “Look out!”

Dozens of rocks flew past, tearing through the streets, killing anything in sight. In the heat of the moment, Emil transformed everyone 2D, managing to avoid the attacks at the last moment. Coming back together, Emil brought everyone up, startled by what happened. Turning around, his mouth dropped, horrified to find everyone they were helping battered to death by the rubble. “No way…”

“We need to get out of the open!”

“Above us!”

Another large boulder crashed down as Gemini threw her hand forward as the telephone wires snapped through, cutting the boulder down. “This isn’t good.”

“Hey, Hey, Hey…. What’s that?” Emil yelled, seeing a giant cloak floating above them, letting out the carnage they were facing. The cape crashed down in front of the streamers as Denial stood with a childish look hiding under her torn cloak. Emil took a deep breath muttering. “Don’t tell me that’s one of the Stages of Grief?!”

Denial clapped her hands together from within the cape, taunting the three. “You survived those? Wow, how exciting. So many new friends to play with. I have a new brother and two sisters. Today is going great!”

Gemini flinched, looking stressed by the little girl. “I recognise you… You’re Denial.”

“Yup, yup. I definably know you guys. Jinx Montague, you took part in my trials, Gemini Fujisaki. I can’t believe you’re still alive, a gold star for you! And umm… Sorry I’ve forgotten your name.”

“Seriously…”

“Oh right, you’re another Montague, right? The one Team Rhapsody took in. Usually, I don’t like going up against serval people at once. But for you three, I’ll make an expectation.” Opening her cloak, nothing but endless darkness was seen as she gave off a sadistic giggle staring each of them down. “Because you are all weak.”

More rubble burst out, hammering the three on the spot. Emil threw down an origami train as it came to life, turning into a large passenger train blocking the onslaught. “This girl, I swear… If we don’t hold her back here and now, she’ll just kill more innocent people. If we work together, we can take her.”

Clocking her pistols, Jinx nodded. “Nothing, a handful of bullets, couldn’t solve. Gemini?”

“I’m with you. Nobody else has to die.”

Collapsing the train back into a paper origami, Denial looked on to find the three streamers gone. Tilting her head lost by this, she walked ahead, looking at where they once stood, confused. As she turned her head, she saw graffiti of the three, soon realising what Emil’s powers were. Before she could respond, the three bursts from the wall, ambushing her. Holding Denial down with serval electrical wires, Emil rush past, kneeing Denial in the face stunning her as Jinx flipped over, unhanding all her rounds. To her utmost shock, each round was sucked into the cloak vanishing from thin air. Denial kept looking around as Emil went in for another attack. As he made Denial open her cloak again and dozens of identical rounds, Jinx fired blasted back from within the darkness. Emil held his arms up, taking each of the shots falling on his back, bleeding. Jinx was protected by Gemini forced to break her have on Denial.

“Silly bullets won’t hurt me, big sis. You’re so funny.”

Emil pulled himself, upholding his arms grumbling. “There’s no way…”

Gemini twisted her hand as electrical wiring ripped from the ground, wrapping around Denial like a snake squeezing tighter and tighter. Pulling her hand back, the wires burst into flames burning everything around her. The cape snapped out, hovering in the air as Denial reappeared, still completely covered in her cloak hiding everything but her head. “That didn’t do anything?!”

The three began to question if they could win, and with that, each of them felt a sharp pain in their head. Denial started giggling to herself, her eyes glowing yellow. “You did it, you did it, yay, you did it! You doubted yourself in front of me. For that, all of you will now die.” The cloak opened up as a pair of purple eyes appeared within the darkness. No one could move, taken back with fear and as Denial went to attack, she curled back into her cloak as a bus was dropped on the girl.

Scarlett dropped down as dozens of Syndicate members appeared surrounding the robes. “She’s right about one thing; you three truly are weak. I’ll take over.”

“Scarlett. Always showing up in the nick of time, eh?” Emil chuckled. “Come on.”

“You sure miss Explodealot can handle Denial alone?”

“She’ll do a better job than us,” Emil whispered, walking past Scarlett. “Be careful, Scarlett… I can’t put my finger on it, but if you begin to doubt yourself for a moment in her presence, she powers up like crazy.”

“I have nothing to doubt. I’m stronger than this brat no matter what.” She insisted on watching her former allies fleeing. “Don’t let her break eye contact. We’re dealing with a Stage of Grief. Any wrong move, and she could kill us all.”

The bus was thrown aside as the cloak hovered back up and Denial appeared hidden away. “Hello, big sister Scarlett. You always seem to get in the way of our games. Everything it’s about to get good. It’s so annoying I might just cry… But now you’ve come to play with me, everything will be alright now.”

Scarlett closed her eyes, unleashing all her power as blood trickled down her face before turning into smoke. Opening her eyes, they were completely red as she exploded, blasting everything around her back. The Syndicate members behind her had their guns at the ready to fire. Holding her hand forward, a gigantic explosion lay waste behind Denial for show; this only put a giant smile on Denial’s face. “Playtime is over, Jehovah. I’m going to burn all of that pride and false power to the ground.”

The explosion tore through the streets sending off a shockwave that even knocked her own men back. Denial’s cloak blew in the wind as she was wide-eyed. As the dust began to settle and the mushroom cloud towered over them, Denial turned back around, giggling. “Bargaining was right about you, big sis. You are something else. This is going to be so much fun.”