A Series Of Unfortunate Events. The Fateful Fungus.

Chapter 4

Quagmires and Baudelaires POV

So the Quagmires and the Baudelaires put their suits on and exited the submarine. They walked up a small hill and the rickety trolley tracks were still there so the Baudelaires and Quagmires started following them to the city. Once the orphans got to the city they saw a major change.

"There are mushrooms everywhere," Klaus said wearily.

"Medusoid Mycelium the thing that wiped out the population of the city," Quigley said in a hushed tone.

As they were walking there was silence as they were just trying to take in their surroundings of broken glass windows, crashed automobiles, overgrown weeds and debris on the street. They found little food but stopped at Frickle Fountain for a quick rest. What had once been a beautiful, polished, well-kept fountain was now an untidy, unpolished pile of rocks.

"Do you think we have enough food for the next couple of days until we get to an unquarantined zone?" asked Violet.

"I don't think so. There are two adults, five children and two under fives. I don't think a couple loaves of stale bread, wasabi, and a small bag of apples would do" replied Klaus in a loud frustrated voice.

"I need the wasabi" called a wheezing voice from around the corner. The Baudelaires and Quagmires stood up instantly and ran over to the wheezing voice. The Baudelaires were shocked when they discovered who it was. Ishmael was sitting there wheezing and coughing. Without even thinking of all the terrible things he did to the Islanders and that he caused the Medusoid Mycelium to get to the mainland in the first place the Baudelaires grabbed a piece of metal to use as a spoon and gave him a spoonful of wasabi. But it had no effect on the spores growing in his throat.

"Just as I feared," Ishmael said in a wheezy tone "the Medusoid Mycelium has evolved to become immune to horseradish or any of its substitutes"

The Baudelaires had a scared look on their faces when they realised what Ishmael said.

"Sorry Baudelaires, for causing all this," he said even more wheezy tone like his hour was almost up "but there's one thing that might be able to stop it". Ishmael had a massive coughing spree and his eyes were closing. His hour was up but he managed to say two more words before he died and those words were "sugar bowl". The Baudelaires gasped and stepped back. Ishmael's muscles collapsed flopping onto the ground and his skin turned pale. The Baudelaires started to cry but the Quagmires stood there still. Unlike the Baudelaires the Quagmires never saw death take place in front of them and Hector was only a quick glance, they were shocked with their skin just as pale as Ishmaels. Then the Quagmires felt soft hands on their shoulders and it was the hands of the Baudelaire's. 

Then Violet spoke, "I know we have limited air but we need to take him to the graveyard and bury him". Violets hair was already tied up in her helmet so she started thinking about how to carry him. "Isadora pass me that automobile hood," said Violet while pointing at a hood that broke off a crashed automobile. Isadora complied and brought the hood over then passed it to Violet. "Ok Duncan, Klaus, Isadora grab a limb and Quigley push the hood under as we lift him. Ok on three. One. Two. Three" They lifted Ishmael and pushed the hood underneath. They then laid him down on the hood. "We now need to lift the hood up and take him to the graveyard," Violet said with a hush quivering voiced while pointing down the street to where the graveyard is. They lifted him up and then carried him to the graveyard which wasn't a far walk at five minutes even if you were carrying a body on your shoulders. The orphans got to the graveyard where there was already an open grave. So the children placed his body in the grave and started dumping the dirt to fill it up. They were completely silent the entire time. When they were done the orphans decided to visit their respective parents' graves. They eventually found the grave of their parents as they've never been there before and started to mourn. The orphans then noticed something on each of the tombstones. A symbol. The one that haunted them ever since the start of their misery. An eye made out of letters that spelt out V.F.D. When Klaus noticed it he screamed into the sky. "Why?!". His shouting caught the attention of the Quagmires. "Why would you leave us here in this cruel treacherous world. Your goal was to make the world quiet but no, you left it louder than ever with the cries of everyone you left behind!" The Quagmires were next to the tombstone now and Violet stopped them from trying to help Klaus knowing just to let him burn out. Violet was used to this because of all the times he did it at the dead of night on the island but she was still heartbroken that Klaus would blame their parents. "Why would you leave us to fight for ourselves. Why didn't you tell us about V.F.D." Klaus' eyes were twinkling with tears now but Violet saw another eye twinkling. It was the eye on their mother's tombstone. She looked closer and saw a small metal button on the where the pupil should have been. Violet pressed it and a small door flipped open where inside was a small note and a Vernacularly Fastened Door. Klaus stopped yelling and looked at Violet along with the Quagmires. Violet started reading the note.