A Ring Story 2: Children of The Ring: Day 2 (Part 2)Nov 06 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Our old friend Zebu, the bounty hunter returns
For the story so far check out: Day 1 and Day 2 (Part 1) And now on with the story...... Zebu Black shivered as he treaded through the landscape. He was way up north, and heading towards the US Depo. It had been about a few weeks ago, and the local american authorities had posted that they were offering rewards for information about the deaths that took place there a month ago. Zebu had decided he should find out a few things for himself. That was how a bounty hunter lived, anyway. If you could call it bounty hunting. Ever since Zebu got out on his own, he barley managed to make a decent living. As Zebu entered the depo, he found the areas to be completley void of... anything. Of course, the dead bodies had been carried away, but something seemed more mysterious, more dreadful, a bit further in. Suddenly, Zebu's foot caught something. He fell to the floor with a loud "clump!" He quickly found himself looking at the backside of a human body. "Why is there a corpse here?" he thought to himself. "I thought they got all the bodies out.." Zebu grabbed the body and twisted it around. Zebu cried out, and stumbled backwards, reaching for his sword, breathing heavily. The face was horribly twisted and deformed, the _expression in a silent scream of terror, the emtpy eyes wide in fright. Zebu's heart was thumping against his chest. Of course! It was obvious! The US stationaries left this job to freelancers because all the soliders who investigated... never came back! But that was the least of his worries. The corpse... it was shockingly similar to the way that Samara and Sadak- Zebu shut the thought out of his brain. "No!" he said to himself. "It's impossible; we stopped him years ago." He got up, his zweihaender drawn in front of him, glancing in every direction. "I'm getting out of this place!" He ran out of the depo, and stopped short when he found himself face to face with a girl. His eyes went wide. The girl had long, very dark brown hair. She stared at Zebu with an icy gaze. It wasn't Sadako or Samara, but certainly a servant of En No Ozunu. Before Zebu could say anything, the girl faded from veiw. Minutes later, Zebu began to question whether he had just imagined the whole thing. ----------------- Mai went with the copied video in her hands to the nearest Music Video store. Her desire to get the filthy thing out of her hands overcame any hesitation she felt about passing it on to someone. She would use her telepathic skills to find out the film another customer was looking for, go to the film first, and replace it with the tape, so that they would take it home and watch it. And Shizuko would be saved. As she walked in she saw about four other people there, she sensed the thoughts of a young businessman who walked next to her. She could hear him say to himself that he was going to find the erotic thriller film, "Snake of June". but she hesitated when she heard him thinking of watching it with his girlfriend that night. She didn't want more than one person to be cursed. So she couldn't do it. He walked out of her field of sensing. She looked around for someone else. then she caught the thoughts of an older man, in his forties. She sensed he was a nostalgic fan of the old 70's series "Monkey". And was looking to complete his collection by finding volume 7. He preferred to watch the episodes alone. But if he was a collectionist, then it was likely he would rather have the video on his cabinet completing the set, that to immediately watch it. And if he didn't watch it tonight, then Shizuko would still die. Here she was eyeing up complete strangers to decide which of them should die. She shook the thought out of her head. She wasn't going to kill them, she was just buying time to destroy En No, so that her daughter and the others could live. It put her conscience at ease enough. And then a woman walked near her. She was looking sad and Mai quickly learned why- her boyfriend had dumped her. So she was searching for a copy of "Bridget Jones' Diary" to cheer herself up. It was perfect. Mai went over to the World Cinema section and picked out the Bridget Jones' Diary video. It was a dubbed copy. She took the video out of the case, watching out for being seen and carefully tore off the label on the Bridget Jones, to keep the stick on it. and put the label on the cursed video. Flatting it out to make it look as authentic as possible. She pocketed Bridget Jones and put the curse video with the false label in the case. She then walked away and waited as the woman came around. Mai tried not to look at her. She sensed the woman's thoughts. She was unhappy that she couldn't find a subtitled version and she was considering going somewhere else for a subbed copy. The woman walked away. Mai breathed in frustration. She could try again with a different film but she didn't want to risk getting caught by security, so she went back to the Bridget Jones case, took out the curse video, replaced it with the labelless Bridget Jones video, and took the curse video with her, and followed the woman out. --------------- Back in the Arctic Army Depot, Zebu rested his head on the oak bar. He was in the local tavern, and was still reluctant to beleive that En No Ozunu was back. Even if he was, Zebu wanted nothing to do with it. That was in the past now. Done. finished. He refused to beleive he had returned. As he drank, Zebu remembered when he got together with Lani, Schleppy, and the others; that fateful day when they all watched the cursed tape. It was, what, 6 years ago? Zebu was 14 then. He remembered when all his friends ended up lost, and when it seemed like doom was imminent, En No Ozunu was defeated. Zebu also recalled the aftermath, and the wedding of Schleppy and Mai, and just after Chris and Lani. After that, he set off on his own. He was 20 now, and things were finished. En No was defeated. He would never come back. BZZT! The television set above him blared static. Zebu awoke from his trance and looked up at the screen. The blaring static darkened into flashes of black and dark grey. Zebu's eyes widened in horror as a single, circular band of white came into focus. The Ring is continuing the cycle. The other people at the bar were transfixed, and were gazing at the screen in confusion. But Zebu knew better than to wait. He got up and bolted out of the tavern, (without paying) As Zebu got into his car, and sped off, he was almost certain he was cursed. But he hadn't watched the whole tape... if it was the tape... Anyway, all he had to do was wait. -------------------- Mai followed the woman into the next Video Music store. She thought to herself Six years ago I was trying to protect people from this vile thing. Now I'm trying to make people watch it! But this would be an easy one. She could swap them now without even having to change the labels. She quickly ran to the World Cinema section here and traced the videos alphabetically to B... and found the only copy of Bridget Jones' Diary. And it was dubbed. She couldn't use it. Mai cursed "Sh!t" under her breath. She leaned against the wall, still holding the curse video. She could hear the wails and rage of the video's evil in her mind as she touched it. She just wanted to get rid of it. Then the woman she had been tailing came to the section and looked at the dubbed Bridget Jones video. Mai could hear the woman's thoughts. They're all dubbed. This one's cheaper though. I want to see this film tonight. I can't wait for an internet order And with that she picked up the video to Mai's horrified disbelief and went to the till. Mai wanted to smash the whole aisle of video's to the floor. She fought down the urge to scream furiously. she composed herself and then walked past a young rich couple in their mid 20's. They were looking for "Snake of June" to watch together for an erotic night in. It would mean cursing both of them, but Mai was too desperate to care. She rushed to the thrillers section and quickly rummaged for the "Snake of June" video. She looked up to see the couple approaching. She had to be quick about this. She took out the video, and began carefully tearing off the label...... and then a hand restrained her arm. She looked up and saw a stone-faced security guard looking down at her sternly. "come with me please, miss!" He then took her by the arm firmly and took her video and the "Snake of June" video with him. He led her into the basement, where he advised a receptionist to call the police. -------------------- -------------------------- Zebu headed towards the airport. He had made up his mind. He was going to Japan. As much as he he hated to admit it, Ozunu was back. But something still bugged him... He slowly reached into his pocket, drawing out his cell phone. If he was cursed, it wouldn't be long until.... The phone rang! Zebu's heart dropped. He knew it was pointless, but nonetheless, he brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?" For a second, there was nothing, but then- "Zebu!" It took him a while to recognized the voice.... as Schleppy's! "Zebu! Wher've you been? I've been trying to contact you." "Sorry. I've been a bit tied up latley." "It's ok; Listen, I have something to tell you. You need to get over here; It's-" Zebu stopped him. "En No's back. I know. And I'm already on my way to the airport." Schleppy seemed a bit surprised. "You know?" "Yeah, it's a long story. Listen, I'll tell you when I get there, ok?" "Sure, bye." "Bye." Zebu turned off the phone, and sped off. ---------------- Schleppy put the phone down. "Zebu's on his way already. He knows they're back." Chris looked relieved. He had been Zebu's friend even before their adventure six years ago, and he was afraid that he might have died while marauding somewhere. "Listen, you three just get to sleep. I'll wait here for Mai to come back." Lani and Chris made their bed in the guest room- a little piece of architecture that Schleppy had requested or even built, no doubt. They set up the crib that had been left in there ever since Shizuko had moved to a bed, and put Samsy in it. They drifted off to sleep, and there's no doubt with me that Lani had some pretty freaky dreams. --- -------------------- Mai was sat at a desk with a TV fitted with an inbuilt video player facing her. The Security guard sat down facing her. He told her sternly, (in Japanese) "We had a call from another video store who caught a woman on camera who matched your description, tampering with videos there. That's how I knew to keep an eye on you." He was telling her this to let her know that the security officers round here weren't stupid. He kept a controlled authoritive voice, but secretly he was a little bewildered. This woman was just a petty vandal, yet she seemed too old, mature and prosperous to want to bother doing something like that. "So why did you do it? You seem well off enough to just pay for it like everyone else." Mai decided to take a chance on telling a little bit of truth. "I wanted someone to see the video" The man took the video- "So what is this video then?" Mai "it's a student made film, made by a family friend" He then put the tape in the video and played it. Mai smiled briefly, then felt guilty for doing so. The images came on, and at the end of it, the security guard's mobile started ringing. -------------------- As Baby Samara slept in her cot, she had a dream. A Dream where she was older. Maybe 15 or 16. Her long black hair whipped around her face, and she tried to keep it out of her dark brown eyes and she was wearing her usual outfit, jeans, a t-shirt, her leather duster, and her boots, but she was standing by the ocean. "Hello?" All she got was the wind whistling past her. "HELLO? IS ANYONE HERE?" Then she saw him. He was wearing clothes that weren't normal for anyone to wear and seemed to have started pulling her towards him. Something registered in her mind. En No... -------------------- Officer Itawa entered the office, walked with the manager and saw Mai there. He just about recognised her from six years ago where she had publically gone berzerk in the street on a walk from the Mental institute. Her composure now suggested she was largely fine, yet it was clear from her odd reported behaviour that she was still a bit loopy. The Security guard looked a little nervous. Itawa gestured for him to come forward and talk to him privately. The guard came to him and Itawa whispered to him. "So what has she said?" Guard: "She said she was trying to sneak a video some students had made into one of the cases. Trying to promote it or something." Itawa "But she didn't actually steal anything?" Guard "Well I caught her before she could run off with it." Itawa- "It's just that the other place said that she hadn't actually taken the video. They went to where they'd seen her tampering and checked it out, but all the video's were still in their cases- except one of them was missing an inner label, but that's all." The Guard thought for a moment "I think she's an odd one." Itawa "Well I think I've seen her before some years ago, and if she is who I think she is, then I think she's wrestling with some mental health problems." ---------- when they weren't looking, Mai pressed the eject button, and slowly pulled out the video, and with her fingers she snapped the tape. She then put it back in. ---------- Guard: "The video she showed me was freaky- I think it might be a witchcraft cult." Itawa "Well I'll check it out then" Guard "It's still in the machine." The manager interrupted "Now about having her charged." Itawa "I wouldn't press charges if I were you. She didn't even take anything, so you've lost nothing right now whereas a court case would cost you a lot of money. Besides, she'd get off with her mental health problem. It wouldn't be worthwhile. It's up to you of course, but the other store said no." The manager thought a moment "well we're trying to do a zero tolerance thing. If you let her go, it had better not get known to the press that we're being easy on shoplifters." Itawa smiled "I think I can manage to keep it under my hat." The manager then said finally "Alright, I won't press charges." Itawa came out and said to Mai "Well they've decided not to press charges. You're free to go." The Manager spoke sternly "But you're not allowed here anymore. Should you set foot here again, we will press charges!" Mai nodded and then stood up. She went for the video. but Itawa held her arm off. He said to her "Excuse me, but I must confiscate your video and look at it." He took the tape out and watched Mai leave. He looked at the film of the tape and saw it had been ripped apart at this point. "Oh dear." The Guard looked at it- "It was fine a moment ago. guess it must be old film, or maybe she wripped it." Itawa shook his head "It doesn't matter. Someone back at the office can fix this up. Then we can look at it" ----------- It was later in the evening when Mai got home, feeling emotionally numb. She had done it. She had brought a death sentence on another man, to save her daughter. She didn't know whether to cheer or to cry. When Schleppy asked her how it went, she told him she wasn't ready to talk about it, safe to say that their daughter was now safe.  |
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