Everything Remains (REMASTERED VERSION OF MY SMG4 "WHAT IF?" AU)

Chapter 9 : Impatience

As we crossed the bridge connecting the east side of town to the west, there was something that caught my eye below us. I looked over and gagged as I saw that there were many bodies of Strikers floating along the now blood-stained river. Axol looked at me and saw what was there as well.
"God.. What the hell?"
"I know."
There suddenly was a screech over on the other side of the bridge, right where we were walking to. We just stared into that direction.
"Uhh, are we going to question what that was?" Tari said, shivering.
"Sounds like one of those monsters." Saiko comments. "But.. Higher pitched?"
"Let's not worry too much about it." Three said. "We've got the power and weaponry to take it down if it tries anything."
We continued to walk. Each of us went ahead and got ready to strike if whatever screeched was gonna come after us. We then flinched when Four shouted, "Mario?!"
We each turned to where he was facing, where we each shouted, "Mario?!" as well. Mario seemed to be trying to snatch something from a small Striker. This Striker seemed different. Other than the fact that it was tiny, as small as a child, it looked more.. Human. It had long curly hair, three eyes, and penguin themed pajamas. Mario pulled an apple away from the Striker. Afterwards, he noticed us.
"Oh hey guys."
"The hell are you doing, idiot??" Three shouted.
Mario took a bite of the apple.
"I got impatient. And hungry. Sucks that this monster didn't have any spaghetti, though."
The Striker hissed and tried to attack him, but Four and Three grabbed it, pulling it back.
"I mean, there was food back at that house." Meggy said.
"I ate it all."
"Of course." We all said at the same time. The Striker screeched again, the same screech we heard earlier. Suddenly, the screeching stopped when a hum began to ring out across town. It then tried to run off toward the source of the hum, but Four and Three continued to hold it back. We then saw that many Strikers began to run toward the source as well, which we saw was the hospital we were heading to. We were all confused, especially considering that none of them noticed us even though we were literally right there in front of their eyes. One thing I noticed was that some of them didn't look like a normal Striker would. Like the tiny one, some of them looked more human, they were wearing clothes and everything. I raised an eyebrow. One and Two looked around. "I hate to make assumptions, but I have a feeling this can't be good."
Three butted in. "On the plus side, we don't have to deal with them anymore."
"You know.." Two said. "..Why did Zero even bother to make these guys? We've never seen them in our universe."
"I guess considering they were so willing to hide their avatar from him, he wanted to create extra eyes to find him. That's my theory." One said.
"Makes sense, I think. But what's with the child?"
One pointed at the Striker being held back by Four and Three.
"Good question. It seems weird for him to create a child to be extra eyes for finding an essential part of a universe."
Four then noticed something. "Uhm, I might know why."
Without letting it go, he held up its left hand. There was a bite mark on its hand.
"It was probably bit by one of those Strikers and turned into one of them like a zombie. That's just my theory anyway."
"That mark does look like it came from sharp teeth."
My thought then went back to those contrasting folks that were in the crowd of Strikers. They all must've been bitten as well. This really made me feel sad that some people never made it after all.
"So, what're we gonna do about the child?" I asked with a somber tone.
"I don't know what else to do with it." Three replied. "So, I guess just let it go? Let it go with the crowd?"
Four nodded. "Probably the best idea."
And that's what they did. As they let go of the Striker, it takes off without a moment of hesitation, following the colony. Our attention then turns to Mario, who was still eating his apple. He noticed our states and shrugged his shoulders. "What?"
Four sighed. "Nothing. Just- just come with us. But stick close."