Disclaimer: I own nothing. Most characters will be similar to how they would be in the games, with some embellishments here and there. But due to the nature of this story, some departures will occur.

A/N: Time for a reboot of this. Holy what it's been nearly 4 years? I've been meaning to get around to this for quite some time. It's probably ill-advised for me to start yet another story when I'm juggling a few more already. But it's long overdue and I've had too many ideas surface for this sporadically over the years. Time to corrupt one of the most cheery and relaxing series I know... read, review, and enjoy!

Corpse Harvest, Chapter 1:

Part 1: The Source.

It was just another sunny day on Castanet Island. The citizens of the various agrarian villages were working their fields or their stores as usual, only that it was a weekend, meaning the children were free to play and frolic... or to have more labor forced upon them by their parents.

Taylor was one such child. He was a resident of Harmonica Town: a settlement among the southern tip of Castanet Island. An ambitious young child, Taylor had run away one day after his parents got into another argument. His goal was to start a farm by himself, without all of the fighting. Fortunately for his parents, the authorities found and returned him. Things had been better since then... a strange drought had afflicted Harmonica Town, but thankfully it was over now.

Not that Taylor really understood the drought. He liked to act as what he thought an older boy would act, but he was still just a child. To him, his parents had just stopped fighting and started working more once he was taken back and his older sister came back from her travels.

"Stupid mom..." Taylor grumbled as he tended the fields of Marimba Farm, the farm his family owned. He was currently frustrated with his mother's insistence on certain kinds of crop. Not understanding much about business and profits, Taylor simply wanted as many varieties of crops of possible with some of the seeds he got from the more mercantile of the villages on the northern part of the island (he never managed to run away to the mainland).

Taylor briefly paused working to stand up and wipe the sweat from his brow when he saw his father slowly approaching. Taylor shook his head as he stooped over and resumed working. His dad was probably sad for some reason again. Wasn't he in the Fugue Forest foraging for some mushrooms to cook for dinner later? Why was he back so soon?

As his father got closer, Taylor heard him groaning in pain. Had he been attacked by some wild animal? Taylor dropped what he was doing and walked over to his father in a brisk pace. He seemed to be scuffed up some and was walking weirdly.

"What's wrong dad? Did some animal attack you?" Taylor asked worriedly. Craig continued to groan and move towards his son. Something was not right here. Taylor got a glimpse under his father's hat and saw that his eyes were now white.

"...Dad?" Taylor asked, uneasy, as his father kneeled down, opened his mouth, and lunged forth.

Maya's legs dangled above the floor, a sign of her unease as she sat upon Chase's bed. She lightly gnawed on her lower lip as she watched Chase cut into her pie with trepidation. Maya had always had a passion for food and the culinary arts... but she was abysmal at cooking. Chase, on the other hand, was really good at it. He worked at the Brass Bar now, but when he had a job at the Ocarina Inn that her family ran, he gave her a few pointers. Her initial efforts were bad, but ever since she's been getting tips from her grandma her cooking has improved. The pie was as freshly baked as she could manage, since she had a limited window to get to Chase's house during her break.

"Well... you didn't burn it this time. So already it will be better than anything you've cooked," Chase said bluntly as he picked up a piece of the apple pie. He opened his mouth and slowly moved the piece towards it, Maya leaning forward with anticipation as it inched closer. Chase paused when the pie was a few inches away. "Are you sure you made this? You didn't buy it or have Yolanda make it for you?"

"Of course not!" Maya fiercely exclaimed with crossed arms, an exaggerated pout, and a fierce glare.

"Whoa now, I'm just kidding like usual. Don't bite my face off," Chase said with a smile. That seemed to calm Maya down... until he popped the piece into his mouth without any warning, startling her. She got so cute when she was riled up... and it was so easy to do.

Maya eagerly waited as Chase slowly chewed and sampled the piece of the pie. He hadn't taken an entire slice (a smart move on his part), but the fact that he compared it to a store-bought pie or, better yet, one made by her grandma brought her hopes up. She really tried her hardest to make this pie, and she really wanted to impress Chase. He was more than a mentor and a friend to her... but she didn't know if he knew that.

Chase finished the piece and thought it over. Maya awaited his response with bated breath.

"Well-" he began, but their attentions were grabbed by a sudden scream of pain from outside. Maya sprung to her feet, and the two quickly exited Chase's house to see what the commotion was about.

"OH MY GODDESS!" they heard Ruth scream with shock. Marimba Farm was right near the house, so it didn't take long to see what was happening. Maya yelped with fright, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"What the hell?" Chase uttered in disbelief. There was blood on the ground... Taylor's blood. The boy was lying on the ground with Craig perched over his body. He couldn't tell exactly from this angle, but from Craig's movement and the smacking noises he heard... Craig was eating Taylor.

Chase ran up and fiercely grabbed Craig on his shoulder, throwing the man away from Taylor's body. What he saw in his peripheral vision was... not pretty. But he was looking right at Craig, who had bloodied hands and blood dripping from his mouth. The man groaned as he stood himself up and slowly walked towards Chase.

"Have you gone mad?" Chase asked fiercely, unsure of what else to say. Ruth was now sobbing over Taylor's body. Chase turned around. "Did you check his pulse?" he asked in a half-worried, half-commanding tone.

This only made Ruth sob louder. The boy was dead? What the hell... what the hell was going on?

"WATCH OUT!" he heard Maya shriek. Chase turned back towards Craig to see the crazed man lunging at him, jaw wide open. Chase kicked him in his gut, sending him stumbling back.

"What's the matter?" Chase heard Cain call out from over the hill. "Is everything okay?" his wife echoed.

"No! I... Craig's gone crazy, I don't know!" Chase responded. "Maya and I will get the doctor!"

Not waiting for a response, Chase started running towards town, grabbing Maya's wrist as he did so. She only snapped out of her shocked stupor when they crossed the bridge exiting Flute Fields. Maya lightly tugged at his hand, signaling Chase to let go. He did, while hoping that Cain had things under control.

"Why... why would he do that?" Maya whimpered.

"I have no idea... this is so crazy..." Chase said, shaking his head in disbelief. The two ran past Angela's farm and continued to Harmonica Town. When they approached the bridge that led to the town, they had to pause in shock.

Across it was Simon's photography store. Simon was in front of it, strewn across the ground as Mayor Hamilton and his son, Gill, tore into his stomach, pulling out his guts and eating them. Maya buried her face into Chase's shoulder, sobbing in fright. Chase only watched in utter disbelief as not only the mayor and his son stood up and walked towards him, but also Simon.

"I don't think the doctor can help us..." Chase said grimly. He grabbed Maya and ran over the bridge, running right past the zombies as one of them lunged at him but thankfully missed. Jin was outside of the clinic, in front of the school. He looked just as afraid and shocked as Chase had when he saw Craig... he imagined a similar scenario as the one back at Flute Fields unfolded, with Jin hearing screams from outside. He must have witnessed the whole grisly scene of Simon being attacked.

"Craig did the same thing in Flute Fields..." Chase said to the doctor. "He got Taylor."

"I... I don't know," Jin said, shaking his head. "What I'm seeing is impossible. Just... make sure that the others are okay."

"Mom!" Maya screamed in fear as she pointed over to a discarded shopping bag on the ground a few feet away. Some groceries had tumbled out of the bag, and there was a trail of blood droplets on the ground leading to the Harmonica Inn. Some sort of altercation obviously had taken place. "She was shopping before I left on my break..." Maya added quietly. She broke from Chase and ran to the inn.

"Maya! Hold up!" Chase called out as he ran after her, but she got too much of a head start to catch up in time. Maya threw open the doors of her family's inn. She screamed in horror, calling out for her dad as she ran in. Chase broke into a sprint and made a sharp curve to enter the hotel in time. Maya was frozen in place, tears streaming down her face.

"Maya..." Jake called out weakly as his body went limp. Yolanda was eating parts of his arm, and Colleen was chewing on his neck. The two women looked up from their meal and made ghastly moans as they walked towards Chase and Maya, clumsily climbing over the front desk instead of walking around it. Sure enough, Jake began moving again, acting just like them, despite the fatal wounds he had suffered. It was at this moment that Chase noticed that their eyes were now white.

Colleen lunged at her daughter, and Chase cried out as he ran in front of Maya to protect her. He yelled in pain as Colleen's teeth sank into his inner shoulder, tearing off a chunk of flesh. He pushed her back, grabbed Maya, and fled to the side wing of the inn before shutting themselves in the nearest room.

"Dad... Mom... Granny..." Maya sobbed. "And now you, too? I'm so, so sorry..."

Chase didn't want to admit it, but she was likely right. Simon had been eaten by the crazy mayor and his son and yet came back from death. It looked like Colleen was attacked outside, ran into the inn, and then went crazy. Jake went crazy after a bite, too. This was some messed-up disease or something equally insane.

Chase sighed. His head already felt a bit funny, but he wasn't sure if that was because of the bite or because of the throbbing pain of his injury mixed with the sudden stress of the last few minutes. "Yeah... I think I'm going to go nuts, too. But no way am I leaving you in here with me. And your family out there..."

"What are you-" Maya began, seeing that Chase was thinking of something.

"I'm going to run out there and distract them. You need to get to a safe place, or hide, or... you just can't go crazy, understand?" Chase said sternly.

"But I don't want to leave you!" Maya cried while shaking her head. "I... I love you, Chase!" Those words, coupled with her sorrowful countenance, wounded Chase so much more than the bite on his shoulder.

"...I love you, too, Maya," Chase said tenderly. "And that's why I'm doing this. Keep safe... keep sane... for me."

"Don't go..." Maya whimpered as Chase straightened himself, turning around to face the door.

"Oh, and your pie..." Chase said as he grasped the doorknob. He turned back at Maya and gave her one last smile. "It was delicious."

Maya sank to her knees as her emotions overwhelmed her. Chase opened the door and quickly closed it. She heard him yelling outside and the moans of her family as they pursued him, but the noises quickly faded, replaced by her own quaking sobs. She knew what Chase wanted her to do, but she couldn't, no matter how hard she could try... she could only ball herself up and cry.

The tears only intensified when she heard what sounded like Chase screaming in pain from outside. Her sobs became wails when it fully hit her that everyone she cared about was now gone. The despair, hopelessness, pain, terror, and heartbreak only escalated when she heard the moans of her family and Chase outside of the room as they pounded on the door, blow after blow...

Despite the urgency of the situation and the threat to her life (or at least her sanity), she was locked in place. Her fear and sadness was too much of a burden for her to even stand.