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

Chapter 10 : Entering Another Path

We followed where the Striker colony was heading to. We kept a good distance in case they decided to come after us after the hum stops. Mario decided to speak to fill the boring silence.
"Are we there yet?"
"I think we're getting close, don't worry." Four reassured him. We continued to walk for more minutes, until finally, we reached the hospital. Except, you couldn't even recognize it anymore.. It was covered with this thick, glitchy goop that burrowed its way into the concrete below for it to stay there. The colony ran toward the building as a wide door opened for them. I raised an eyebrow.
"Are they going into hiding or something?"
Axol looked at me. "I'm not sure." The door shut as soon as every Striker in the county came through that door. We walked up to the hospital.
"Watch your step." One said. When we reached the doors, we all stared at the building for a moment.
"So how do we get in? I don't see any windows." I asked.
"And I doubt this door would open for us." Meggy replied.
"Melony, try using your sword."
I pulled out my sword before asking, "What for?"
"Try to cut it."
I nodded and stabbed the goop. It was a struggle, but I was able to move my sword downward to pave a way open for us. We all just stood there as the heat from inside blew at us at a sudden pace. The smell of metal and decay came along with the heat. We each stared at each other, just now realizing our anxieties.
"Let's just get this over with." Three stated as Four led the way inside. I tried my best not to vomit as I not only felt my socks get wet from the floor being made of goop, but also the smell. The heat never went away either. Felt like we were walking outside during summertime but somehow much worse. I guess it was a good thing that the lights were still dim. We tried our best to be quiet despite our anxieties. Mario struggled the most, but at least he was trying. Even outside our group, things were quiet. And then, our movement came to a halt when there was the sound of something running in a hallway nearby. Everyone drew their weapons in case it was a Striker. It was, but it was that child that we came across earlier that was bitten along with a few others.
"That kid again?" Mario whispered. The child stopped when it saw us. It looked.. scared. I was the first to lower my weapon once we noticed this. The others were hesitant.
"Melony, what are you doing?" Axol whispered.
"Axol, look at it. It looks scared."
"It could be trying to deceive us. Just.. be on your guard, alright?"
I nodded to him. The child then proceeded to sit down, covering its head in defense, as if it's afraid of getting hurt. We all just stood there.
"Why isn't it attacking us?" Four raised an eyebrow. Meggy then spoke up. "This may be just a hunch, but remember when we found Mario trying to get an apple from it?"
Everyone nodded.
"That Striker could have had every chance to attack Mario, but it never did. It only wanted the apple. I'm gonna guess that when a person gets bitten and turned into a Striker, they still have some semblance of humanity left in them, however that doesn't change the fact that they're still being controlled. Like what happened earlier, when all those Strikers came here."
"You might be right. That's probably our best bet here." Axol said. The child ignored our conversation. Then came our next question: why is it scared in the first place? Mario looked over to another door that was burst wide open and loosely swinging.
"Smg4, Smg3, you two are coming with me."
"Wait what?!" Three and Four said at the same time, trying not to be too loud. Four turned to us. Mario grabbed their wrists and pulled them toward the door, humming happily. We reached toward them, but they already went through the door. Meggy turned to us.
"Well. Should we go after them?" She asked.
"Probably a good idea." Saiko replied. We all nodded in unison and began to jog after them. Just as I was about to move, I felt a tug on my hoodie. I stopped and turned to look at what it could've been. It was the Striker child, it had a worried look on its face and it began to hiss. Axol looked at me as he noticed that I wasn't moving.
"Coming?"
"The kid wants to tell me something."
"I doubt they can talk."
"I don't think so either. It's just growling and hissing at me."
The child pointed to the door. The others, who had noticed our stop after Axol noticed, looked toward the door as well.
"What about the door?" I asked. The child hissed again.
"Is there something bad behind the door?"
Meggy asked. The child nodded. Just as the child nodded, suddenly, a wall of goop begins to push the others away and block them away from me, Axol and the kid. I grabbed my sword and tried to cut at the goop, but it just deflected my weapon no matter how many times I hit it. Axol also tried to hit the wall with his Inkweaver, but to no avail. We eventually began to grow numb in our arms after quite a bit of hits.
"Jeez.. Why did that even happen?" I asked Axol, hoping he'd have some sort of theory at the very least. He shook his head. "No clue. Although, I do suspect that Zero knows we're here."
"Yeah, no kidding."
I huffed out some air as I put my weapon away.
"Now what?" Axol said, looking around.
"I guess we just move the other way. It's obvious that we aren't going that way anymore."
"Yeah." Axol nodded. "But what about the kid?"
"She can come with us if she wants."
The kid seemed to get excited as I said that. It nodded pretty quickly. I turned to it and knelt down to its level.
"Alright, if you're wanting to come with us, be sure to stay close to us at all times, okay?"
The kid nodded to show that it understood the task. I stood back up and looked at Axol.
"Okay, let's get going."