Zombe Nightmare [KH/FF]: Thesis Turned Reality

[6] The Generators

"So Yuffie said it was dark and scary down here?" Roxas questioned with a shiver as we walked down the stairs to the basement.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Its not scary down there, at least, I don't think so."

Bullet was running ahead of us, tongue hanging out all along the way. He seemed quite content with his surroundings, and if he wasn't he wouldn't be acting like that. Bear had been passed off to Sora who seemed to be enjoying the pup's happy company. They weren't afraid because they knew they weren't in immediate danger. Dogs are smart, they have something like a sixth sense and they can sense when something is coming.

"Well if you're not afraid then neither am I." Ventus said confidently.

"Good to hear it." I said as I smiled, "Because we have arrived." I added as I held open the basement door for all three boys to peer inside.

"Wow. It does look dark and scary in there." Roxas mumbled.

I shook my head, "There's nothing to fear. At this rate, the thing that will scare you the most is your imagination."

Both Sora and Ventus nodded in agreeance and I think I even noticed Bullet give a little head nod.

"Alright, so here is what I want. Ventus, you are going to stay here and keep this door open. Sora, you are going to go up to the first level and hold that door open and after I flick a switch on the generators I want you to tell me what happens in the mall. Got it?" I asked both boys.

"You got it, Maggie!" Sora chirped happily as he set Bear down and began to sprint up the steps, but a little whine from the pup made him stop dead in his tracks and turn back to the dog.

I smiled, "Go ahead and take him with you. He seems to be getting attached anyways."

Sora walked back down the steps and scooped up Bear, "But shouldn't he be attached to you?" he asked.

I shook my head, "They haven't really gotten the chance to attach themselves to me. They could attach themselves to Cloud or Yuffie for all I know. Kairi was right when she said they weren't my dogs. I found them in a back room in the pet store. I gave them a chance to take off, away from the mall, but they both decided to stick around. They don't seem like harmful creatures so who am I to kick them to the curb just because Kairi says." I explained.

"Oh, okay!" Sora said happily before he ran back up the stairs with Bear in his arms and Bullet following behind him. If they were going to get attached to anyone, it seemed they were already attached to each other.

"So what about me? Where do I go?" Roxas asked.

I smiled, "You are coming with me to the generators."

"Lucky." Ventus muttered as he held the door open for Roxas and I.

"W-we can switch if you want." Roxas stuttered to his brother.

"Just go!" Ventus silently snapped.

I paid no mind to the brothers as I walked ahead into the gloomy looking basement and up to the generators which seemed to be working at full power. But we can't have none of that because if they run on full they will be dead sooner.

I stopped and felt someone bump into my back. Spinning around quickly, I found a shivering, wide-eyed Roxas standing behind me.

"Just relax, okay? Everything is going to be just fine." I tried to soothe his nerves.

"I-I-I'm fine." he uttered as his teeth chattered.

"You sure?" I asked, "I could always ask Ventus to come with me and you can hold open the door and play telephone with Sora."

"N-No, I'm fine." Roxas repeated.

I nodded, "Alright." I knelt down at one of the generators and saw it had many buttons on it. Some for back-up water supply. Yeah, we're gonna want to leave those on. Imagine the bathrooms after just two days... Gross!

I found the grid for electrical and smiled as I flicked off a switch. "Hey Ventus! Ask Sora what happened in the mall!" I shouted.

I heard Ventus relay the message to Sora and I could hear Sora's faint reply, but the words were hard to understand.

"Sora said the lights in the individual stores went out!" Ventus called back to me.

"Fantastic." I muttered as I left that switch off. Didn't need any of those lights on anyways. They would just waste the power.

I flicked off another switch and Sora and Ventus were already on top of their game as I heard Sora shout something, but I still couldn't understand him.

"He says most of the main lights in the mall went off!" Ventus shouted.

I turned off a third switch and Ventus relayed the rest of the main mall lights went off. The darkness also caused a faint scream from who I guessed was Kairi and Sora having to shout to someone who had a deep muffled voice like Cloud that everything was alright and I was just screwing with the generators.

I smirked to myself as I turned the third switch back on and was given word half of the main mall lights were back on.

I flicked off a fourth switch and called out to Ventus, "What now?"

A moment later Ventus replied, "Sora said Kairi says that one turned off the tvs!"

"Oh whoops." I said with a smirk before I turned the fourth switch back on. "That one stays on." So the fourth one is for all the electrical appliances inside the individual stores. Got it.

I turned to Roxas and could nearly plainly see his bright blue eyes shining in the dark. With a small smile painted on my lips I stood back up, "Well, now we know what the switches on the generators control we don't have to use all the power all the time and it will last at least a month longer."

"That's good." Roxas said as he smiled, "Does that mean we can leave the basement now? I think the walls are starting to bleed."

"Yes, we can leave now and remember what I told you about the imagination running wild thing." I said and before I could even get the whole sentence out, Roxas bolted toward the door where Ventus was waiting.

Damn. Dude does not like the dark.

I giggled as I followed after him and met up with Ventus. "Did the scaredy cat cause you any problems?" he questioned.

"Naw. He handled it quite well actually, Ventus." I answered. I was going to say more, but he interrupted me.

"You can call me Ven. Everyone else does and it feels kind of awkward to be called my full name any more."

"Oh, cool beans." I said as Ven, Roxas, and I walked up to the first level where Sora was still holding open the door. I could see Bullet and Bear playing on one of the benches inside the mall ahead of us.

Sora had a huge smile on his face, "You should have heard Kairi shriek when all the lights went off. It was great."

I couldn't help but laugh along with Ven and Roxas. Kairi seemed like the kind of girl who didn't get caught off guard very often, but she had managed to two times already since I met her.

"So what now?" Ven questioned.

"Let's go see if Leon and Cloud want to be relieved or if anyone else has showed up." I said as I walked out of the basement stairwell and toward the front of the mall.

As we neared the front entrance, I noticed there were two new figures, one male and the other female, standing with Leon and Cloud and talking with them as well as there was a motorcycle parked next to my truck.

"Oh hey there Maggie." Leon said as he smiled when he noticed the four of us walking in their direction.

Cloud's head swiveled around along with the two new faces.

The guy walked up to me and stuck out his hand, "Hi there, I'm Riku." he said as he smiled.

The girl followed in suit, but didn't shake my hand. I didn't find it strange because I wasn't very fond of shaking people's hands either, "I'm Namine." she answered in a whisper.

I smiled at the two of them, "I'm Maggie, but it seems you two already knew that." I said as I eyed Cloud and Leon who both seemed to be interested in something on the wall rather than make eye contact with me.

"Yeah, the 'guards' here wouldn't stop talking about you." Riku said as he smiled, "They said you were the zombie expert."

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[A/N: I would love some feedback on this story. Do you like it, do you hate it, who are you waiting for me to introduce, ect. It makes me smile to read the words of anyone who takes the time to type them and post it. So please, for me?]