RESIDENT EVIL:

KISS OF THE SPIDER

You aren't like me, you know. Like me and one other person, I mean. Not everybody has an ordinary life; I've waded knee-deep through the waters of the river Styx in my quest to bring down Umbrella Incorporated. I started off as a naïve Rookie cop, then I became a tough resistance fighter, and then…well…   I shouldn't have volunteered for that mission, in retrospect. I shouldn't have decided it was safe to enter the bio-weapons containment area either. We all make mistakes, hell it's part of human nature.   Although I don't think the word 'human' fully or accurately portrays my condition.   You aren't like me. Where does this begin? Well, it's a complex web of stories, but as most of the events of my recent life began, it began with one of the smallest types of organism in the world.    It began with a virus. Dr. Linklater admired the creature in the glass box, smiled at its angry puzzlement, at its apparent helplessness. It was, he recalled Sitticus Palustris or the Jumping Spider as it was more commonly known. Silky threads of its web criss-crossed in the glass case, shimmering beautifully in the low lighting.

  This was to be the first of the specimens for experimentation with the aptly named Arachna-Virus, the latest viral strain customized from scratch by Linklater himself. Umbrella, always on the lookout for new forms of weaponry to sell to the highest bidder, had taken a sceptical interest in Linklater's research. It was possible, he theorized, to enhance a whole new breed of spiders; intelligence, strength, venom…without changing its outside appearance, a great fall-down of the T-Virus infected spiders, which were also cumbersome and stupid. No, the best weapons were the most silent.

    However, despite Umbrella's eagerness to use Black Widows as the initial test batch, Linklater had pointed out the potential problems. The venom might react with the virus, he had explained, it was uncertain until they had tested the virus on the venom independently – the spiders could die very quickly, or it could drive them mad to eat each other. Due to the fact none of these alternatives were very pleasant, Umbrella had relented and allowed him to perform the first of his tests on a group of Jumping Spiders. The Arachna-Virus was a brilliantly designed piece of genetic engineering. It was designed to change an arachnid's genetic structure, although he had insisted on Spiders being the lone contractors of the virus. A human reaction was not one that could be predicted easily, a risk Umbrella was not willing to take after the Birkin incident. So here he was, the first vial of Arachna-Virus synthesized, and the first test subject being anaesthetised – a risk taken by the researchers just in case its bite became poisonous.

    Dr. Bauer approached him from the left, footsteps stealthy and silent, but Linklater's acute hearing picked up his arrival anyway.

     "When will the team be ready?" Linklater asked curtly, running a hand through his short black hair with grey flecks on his sideburns to indicate a certain amount of age.

     "Calm down Fran, they'll be ready; we know this project of yours means a lot to you, but-"

      "Too damn right it does!" Linklater interrupted; he'd never liked the company of people very much.

      "Well, they'll be starting in a minute so don't worry; come on, let's get behind the glass"

    Linklater reluctantly allowed Bauer to lead him out of the test chamber, as a group of be-suited technicians walked in, anaesthetic clasped in the hand of one, and an empty syringe in the other. From behind the thick glass between him and the blue lit octagonal chamber, he saw them ready the creature, its spindly limbs relaxing as one of the men flicked the injection needle, and slowly pressed the needle into the creature, pressing slowly but gently.

       Linklater watched with a dry mouth as they finished the operation. The spider was unharmed, the needle was far smaller and not designed to structurally harm its body. Then, in a blur of fifteen minutes, it was all over. The technicians had left the room, and Bauer and Linklater walked back into the room, to peer tensely at the small spider, which appeared to be waking up.

      Bauer bit his lip; this first test was very important, if this failed to cut the muster god knew what Umbrella would do – millions of dollars and time had been put into Linklaters pet project, and with the arrival of the Nemesis parasite in greater quantities and further streamlining of the G-Virus, the Arachna Virus had to hold its own.

      The spider walked around its box, not aware of what was happening to its body at that moment.

      "It won't be an immediate reaction" Linklater said, in what he hoped was a voice that suggested he believed it "It's not designed to react too quickly."

      Bauer nodded.

      "I'll get a team to monitor its development around the clock, then we can give some results to those pen-pushing assholes in White Umbrella."

      "Good" Linklater replied, turning smartly to walk out of the room "I'll see you later, then I'll check on the Spider myself to see how it is doing."

       With that, he was gone, Bauer watching him go. He shuddered for no readily apparent reason; it felt odd to him, the fact that this spider seemed so…ordinary ater such a strong dosage of the Arachna Virus. Maybe, like Linklater suggested, it was a slower reaction than the G-Virus. Bauer didn't often feel out of sorts with his experiments, but just for once…well…he did. He allowed his eyes to be dragged to the spider. He watched it spinning its web again, and then he picked up the box it was in. He picked it up, striding purposefully out of the room.

      This spider he thought, watching it jump against the walls gives me the creeps.

THREE DAYS LATER

   Leon S. Kennedy adjusted the harness of his parachute, and made the final safety checks. Much to his satisfaction, everything was smooth and tightly strapped on. He was glad that the plane was still in the air, still thundering through the sky over the red rock canyons and formations of Arizona, where the rebels were heading on yet another mission, this time what was termed an 'R n D' strike, basically to take out a research base before it had even begun its research, information gleaned by Barry Burton and which he had seemed very excited about. He and Claire had decided to infiltrate the facility from above, while Chris and Jill would bust in the front gates in a stolen vehicle to provide a sufficient distraction. It was one hell of a building, all thick concrete, advanced security systems and heavily armed troops. Chris and Jill, it was decided, would rendezvous with them as their escape force. Rebecca was going too, due to the nature of the mission; she was the only one among them who really understood biochemistry.

   He gazed over at the beautiful form of Claire, as she tightened the straps of her 'chute and smiled wanly at him. She was a beauty, he thought, she looked amazing and to top it off she had the type of character and charm that was also utterly amazing.

    "Ever parachuted before?" she asked.

    "Once or twice" he replied, with a shrug "Charity purposes, you know. I know they trained us to hit the spot here, but it doesn't make you a pro overnight…"

    "Tell me about it" Claire sighed, "I don't think we did it enough times"

    "Think we'll hit the spot?" Leon said casually, as he checked his weapons. He'd already checked them three times but he didn't want to appear to be staring at Claire, so he wanted an excuse to do it indirectly.

    "Well, Barry said the bomb would blow big enough to tear a huge hole in the roof, so yeah, I guess so."

 The aforementioned bomb was being dropped from the plane as Leon and Cloaire jumped, the explosion tearing the roof into dusty fragments quickly enough for them to land right in the middle of the base.

     Rebecca sat down, looking decidedly unwell, her face pale and sullen.

    "Not feeling too good?" Leon asked, smiling.

    She shook her head.

     "I got this aversion to heights," she said, embarrassedly "Kind of dumb, huh?"

     "Not really" Claire replied, shrugging "I hate Spiders. They totally freak me out!"

     "For me it's claustrophobia; I hate small spaces" Leon added "Providing you listened yesterday, I don't think you'll have much trouble with the jump"

     Rebecca smiled, nodding a little.

     "Yeah, I guess you're right"

   Leon's radio crackled.

      "Leon, are you there? Over"

      Leon slipped it out of his belt, and clicked the button.

      "I'm here, Chris. Speak now or forever hold your peace"

      "Funny man" Chris replied without humour "We're going to hit the gates in ten minutes, you got that? That's fifteen minutes to get inside the lab and plant the incendiaries, and grab as much gene data regarding Umbrella as you can."

       "We know, we listened" Claire said, leaning over.

       "Tell my erstwhile sister to keep her mouth shut!" Chris chuckled.

       "Not my place to do that Chris, she's a lovely young lady, I can't bring myself to verbally abuse pretty girls"

        Claire grinned, blushing a bit.

        "Wipe the drool from your chin…" Chris replied "…and jump. See you in twenty, over and out"

         It clicked off.

         "Come on" Claire said, clipping her belt "Let's get ready for the biggest dive since the Wall Street Crash"

         They lined up by the hatch-door, cold air whipping at their hair as they looked down at the base, looking like a rather impressive Lego set from this height, if 'Genetic Research Base' existed in the Lego range.

       "I'm dropping it now!" the pilot bellowed.

      They watched the small black object plunge down from the belly of the airplane, and check their watches; the slightest poor timing could ruin everything. The second hand of Leon's watch slowly and laboriously made its way up to the final digit.

        They pulled their goggles down; and then, it was time.

          "GO!" Leon yelled, Claire diving out, then Rebecca if somewhat more nervously and with a wail that aptly presented her fear of heights perfectly. Then he jumped, feeling the cold air pummel him as he almost floated down, arms outstretched as he tried to manoeuvre towards the target, the central dome. From his perspective, he could see Claire sliding into place, with Rebecca flailing a little more but nonetheless getting the hang of moving.

        The explosion was muted, and he knew this was the moment to yank the cord. He did so, just as he thought the wind was going to thump him unconscious. He felt his back jerk, and then Leon was staring down at his feet as the installation, which was now much closer, grew larger, the explosion dying away as he drifted closer to his target zone. He looked to his left briefly, seeing Claire and Rebecca also with their black 'chutes open, as the three of them plunged into the beating heart of the research complex. 

  Bauer felt the explosion, the room shook with the impact as the emergency lighting came on, the warning lights burning brightly as sirens howled the one message; something was very, very wrong.

   He stumbled against the table of the analysis room where he'd been making notes on Subject X1. Subject X1's change had been gradual but definitely noticeable; faster, stronger, more agile…they'd had to get a new glass tank for it in case it was able to bust its way out of the old one. Linklater had been ecstatic, his demeanour filled with a boyish joy and optimism that Bauer hadn't seen for many a day; all was going very well, and they'd have something to show Umbrella's board of Directors – but now this had happened.

     The walls shook, and the ceiling dented downward; Bauer looked up in horror, one of the support struts had been severed, the room was going to cave in soon!

     Linklater ran in, face a mask of fury.

     "What the hell is going on?!" he yelled.

     "I don't know!" Bauer replied, above the sound of the sirens "It sounds like a break in!"

     Linklater thumped the table with his left hand, snarling angrily.

     "Nobody will take my virus!! NOBODY!!"

     He strode over to the wall, grabbing a vial of Arachna-Virus from a wall cabinet that had been recently synthesized, slipping it into his pocket, then turning to the glass box, grabbing it and hefting it under one arm as Bauer looked on in astonishment.

     "What are you doing?!" Bauer asked, incredulously.

     "I am not losing my life's work!" Linklater snapped "Take the results sheets too, we're going!"

     "Aren't you being a little rash?"

     Linklater turned to stare at him ferocious.

     "You can stay if you want to die, Aaron, but I'm going! I am not risking it!"

     He turned and ran out of the room. It took a moment for Bauer to follow, his legs rigid with shock and confusion, but as they ran down the corridor towards the exit, there was a horrendous squeal of metal. Bauer noticed too late, as the support girder twisted then snapped, collapsing down and striking Linklater hard across the back. Linklater barely made a sound, a barely audible grunt as he toppled over.

    The glass case smashed, the spider inside quickly and deliberately making its escape, springing onto a nearby wall and crawling up towards the shattered ceiling.

  Bauer didn't notice, he was kneeling beside his old friend as the lifeblood drained from his body.

     "Fran!" he whispered, urgently.

     "Take…the virus…" Linklater breathed, "…I don't want to…have…died for…nothing…"

     Then he breathed his last, and died under the ton-heavy metal girder. Bauer gently closed his eyes, and then took the vial from the man's outstretched hand.

     "Goodbye old friend" he said, running towards the escape door into the underground train station.

      He did not however, notice the spider. It stayed, waiting at the top of the wall. Watching…and waiting.

    At the same time, Leon had unclipped his parachute and had withdrawn both of his Uzis, pulling the triggers and sending bullets tearing into the four surprised guards running to apprehend him. Rebecca had her Beretta, and Claire was using the AK-47.

    Claire fired accurately, the troops charging at her arching back and crashing onto the floor in pools of their own blood.

     "Now what?" Claire asked Leon.

     "Let's get the documentation then place the charges" Leon replied "Come on, according to that…" he waved his weapons at a stencilled sign on the utilitarian wall "…the Analysis room is that way. Sounds like a ripe location"

     "I'll stay there while you guys place the charges, to see what I can make of it" Rebecca added, as they started to run.

     "Okay, come on!" Leon said, holstering the Uzis and withdrawing the MP-5 Assault Rifle he'd been given as his main weapon.

     He grabbed his communicator, and clicked the button. Outside, Chris and Jill in the truck safely outside the compound gates, received the message.

      "You ready?" Chris asked.

      "We're getting some material now" Leon replied "It's best if you get in, I know they're going to send everybody they got on the payroll after us soon!"

      Chris nodded, clicking the communicator off as Jill loaded her Assault Rifle.

       "We going?" she asked.

       "Yep" Chris replied, patting his girlfriend on the knee with a smile "Come on, let's kick some ass"

      She grinned back at him, leaning over to bite his earlobe.

       "Right behind you" she whispered, with a brief kiss.

   Chris smiled, winking, then he gunned the engine of the jeep and took them roaring up the tarmac towards the solid steel gates. The guards, distracted by the explosion, turned to wave off the speeding vehicle. Jill leaned out , wind streaming through her hair, and she fired a precise shot into the right guards groin, causing him to collapse on his knees in sheer pain. Chris, one hand on the wheel, took the sub-automatic pistol from his holster, and sent six bullets into the man's upper leg and side, giving them carte blanche to crash through the gates.

      "They're way too heavy" Jill remarked, "We're going to have to weaken them first"

     "You read my mind" Chris replied, as Jill withdrew the bazooka from the back seat, waiting until Chris had reversed a safe distance away before climbing out, prepping the weapon, and then aiming.

      "Fire in the hole!" she yelled, Chris ducked.

     The rocket whistled from the barrel, and shrieked towards the gate. The solid iron- gate was consumed by fire, the gates denting hard inward as the indoor deadbolt snapped.

       Jill climbed back in, and Chris put his foot down, a grin plastered across his face. They'd modified the front of the jeep for this purpose, so that the doors flew inwards as Chris took them into the forecourt of the compound. Withdrawing an Uzi, he fired at the troops already raising their weapons. Bullets whistled past Chris's head as he expertly picked off the troops one by one; but there were far too many for Chris or Jill to deal with on their own; it was a large facility. The jeep arced, and Chris did an expert hand brake turn to avoid the rocket that had been aimed at the comparatively frail bodywork of the jeep.

     Taking the jeep screeching into the vehicle compound, he braked hard before they hit the solid concrete at a lethal speed.

      "Come on" he said, lightly punching Jill's shoulder "Let's find the other three"

They'd had to deal with several troops, but most of them were most likely elsewhere at the moment. With the preliminary power out, the security systems were disarmed, as were all electronic door-locks. Everything opened at the slightest push. The analysis room was where they were headed right now, to get some material on Umbrella before they planted their explosives and got out, quickly.

    It seemed to Leon that they were all in a rush; that was understandable, they were moving quickly down the narrow dim hallway. None of them wanted to stay any longer than was absolutely necessary.

     "Whoa, guys!" Claire raised her hand as she called out.

  They stopped, and saw Claire stoop; she was looking at the corpse of a scientist, underneath a fairly hefty girder. Beside him, was a partly smashed glass box, which looked like it had been created to accommodate some kind of insect…

     Leon reached inside curiously, and pulled out strands of silky threads; as he looked at them, he realised they were spider-webs.

      "Why the hell was he carrying a spider around with him?" he mused out loud.

      "Search me" Claire replied, looking curiously at the box.

    Rebecca shrugged, climbing over the girder to get at the man's credentials; she plucked them from a pocket.

      "Let's see…Dr. Francis Linklater, head research scientist. Seems he was a project director of one of Umbrella's new experiments"

      "…Most likely an experiment involving spiders" Leon reasoned "But what sort of experiment?"

       Leon stood up, watching the two women searching for more clues. So distracted were the three of them, that they didn't see the spider gently spinning down from the ceiling, and drop onto Leon's shoulder. It scuttled under the folds of his combat vest and waited.

      "Come on, let's see if we can find out about his 'experiments'" Claire said, nodding at Leon, who nodded back. He followed behind them, bringing up the rear; therefore, nobody saw the spider on his shoulder.

   The Analysis room was lit red with emergency lighting, Rebecca immediately ran over to the wall consoles, jabbing a few buttons.

    "Damn, the computers are down! Right, let's see if there's any printout…"

    She began to rifle through the thick sheaf of papers in a tray by the computer, while Claire looked around the room cautiously, raising her rifle. She had...well…a feeling? A bad one, definitely though; there had to be something here, she hadn't seen any creatures yet, and most Umbrella research bases always had some creatures in it.

    Leon peered around the room.

      "Anything in there Rebecca?" he asked, as his eyes scanned every object, nook and cranny for any movement.

    The spider crawled over to the exposed area of his neck, settling down there unmoving. It was an angry spider; after being cooped up in a glass box for a week it had a reason to be. Leon was sure he felt something; but by the time he registered anything it was too late. The spindly creature bared its fangs, and sank them deep in the skin of Leon's lower neck.

    "OW!" Leon cried, swiping at his shoulder; the creature landed on Claire's left buttock and quickly scrambled up to find cover under her ammo-pack.

     Claire and Rebecca spun around.

     "Leon, you okay?" Claire asked, concerned.

     "Something bit me!" Leon replied, wincing a little.

     "What was it?" Rebecca asked, thinking that she already knew the answer.

     "I don't know!" Leon snapped "All I know is that I brushed it off my shoulder, and god knows where it is now"
     "Spider-bite…" Rebecca murmured, feeling worry creep into her voice.

     "Is there any chance of it being poisonous?" Claire asked, raising her rifle; the spider sped up her back towards her shoulder.

      Leon raised his rifle, looking around on the floor for the thing, idly rubbing his bite every now and then.

      "I doubt it…" Rebecca said, peering at the sheaf of papers she'd salvaged "…apparently, their one and only test subject was a jumping spider, essentially harmless in every way"

      "Could they have made it poisonous?" Claire asked, as the tiny spider scuttled toward her wrist.

      "Hmm, I don't think even Umbrella could synthesize venom for a harmless spider" Rebecca said, doubtfully "Its bite might have effects, but nothing lethal"

      "It could be anywhere" Leon said, "Do you think it could be on one of us…?"

      The spider bit hard into Claire's wrist.

      "JESUS!" she exclaimed, shaking her hand in surprise. They all watched the spider tumble to the floor, and saw it try to scuttle off.

      "Oh no you don't!" Leon spat, and tried to shoot at it, but it was too late, the spider already having already disappeared into the shadows behind a console.

      "Damn, we lost it!" Claire said, kicking the ground in annoyance.

      "Whoa, guys" Rebecca raised her hands "Enough, come on; I'll just grab these sheets and disks, then we can go and lay these charges. We'd know by now if the bite was lethal, so just relax and I'll take a look at you when we get back"

         Leon and Claire nodded, albeit reluctantly. Claire rubbed her wrist irritably, staring at the two tiny holes in her skin. As she followed Leon out, she could see, close up, the puncture wounds on his lower neck.

        "Let's lay these explosives then" Leon said.

Six explosive devices later, they were gathered around the final one as Leon set the timer.

   His radio crackled.

   "Leon, have you guys set the charges, over?"

    It was Chris, Claire took the receiver.

     "Nearly done; we're almost out of ammo, you guys had better hurry up! We're in Storage Room B"

     "Perfect, that's near the vehicle pool. We'll be with you shortly"

     "Okay, over and-"

     "Uuh…" Leon groaned, rubbing his eyes.

   The two of them turned to look at Leon in horror, as he stumbled back groggily, face a pale, waxy colour.

    Leon didn't feel well, his eyesight was slowly losing focus and was shifting into an uncomfortable double-vision mode. He shivered, he felt cold all over.

     "Leon!!" Claire exclaimed, as Leon staggered onto his knees.

     "Feel…cold…" he mumbled, lying on his side.

     "It's a fever" Rebecca stated "Claire, help me-!".

    She never finished, because as she said it, Claire too was taking on an ill colour, her knees folding up as she clutched her head.

      "Don't feel so good…" she moaned.

       Rebecca grabbed the radio, and spoke quickly.

      "Chris, Jill! Leon and Claire are sick, a spider-bite I think! You've got to help me get them to the jeep!"

      At that moment, Chris and Jill burst in through the door of the storeroom to take in the scene.

      "What the hell…?" he began.

      "They've been bitten by a spider!" Rebecca explained, as Jill ran forward to haul Claire up, slinging her arm around her shoulder "We've got to get them out of here so I can have a look at them!"

       "Well, let's not waste any time then!" Chris exclaimed, pulling Leon up and supporting him "Come on, let's go"
   The party moved slowly, Rebecca nervously picking off any troopers as Chris and Jill pulled Leon and Claire into the motor pool, and then lay them down in the back of the jeep.

    Rebecca leapt in the back, pulling out the medical kit as Chris and Jill leapt into the front, this time Jill in the driving seat.

    "I'll drive" Jill said, without any protest from Chris. He pulled out his AK-47, and loaded it.

      Leon and Claire didn't hear much of what came next. The squeal of tyres, the ethereal echo of gunfire, the feeling of movement, the knowledge they had escaped…Leon's last blurry vision was of being hauled into a helicopter, Barry's voice yelling as Rebecca looked over him…and then nothing.

    He descended into a dark, uncomfortable sleep, just as Claire did.

    They both dreamt about the same thing.

     Spiders.