Chapter 2

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Jill's heart soared as the huge, looming mansion came into her panic-clouded vision. She had dared a single look behind them, and turned back sharply as she saw the rabid, snarling mongrels literally snapping at their ankles as they ran.
The sight of such a safe, solid looking structure to conceal them from these monsters gave her new strength, and she sprinted ever faster towards it, the others in tow, Chris still hanging tightly to her elbow.

Chris shot a quick glance over his shoulder, and shouted, "They'll follow us inside if we don't loose them!" He gulped hollowly as he panted for breath, "I'll get them off our backs! You all get inside and make a barricade!"

Jill stared wide-eyed at him, mouth agape," W-what are you saying!? Where are you - " Chris squeezed her elbow reassuringly,

" I have to get them off our trail! Trust me, everything'll be alright!" He let go of her abruptly, causing her to stumble a little off-balance.
"I'll see you inside!" He shouted over his shoulder as he veered off to the right.
He turned and skipped back a few steps, motioning wildly to the advancing dogs, desperately trying to attract attention.

"Hey, hey, over here!" He screamed, as the dogs snapped their heads in his direction.
"Come on, come on!" He fired a few shots in their direction, causing the dogs to yowl and screech, throwing themselves after him.

"Chris!! Don't -"

But he was gone, the mad howling of the hounds disappearing into the mist, occasional shots echoing blankly in the stillness. Wesker and Barry shouldered open the slightly wedged front doors of the mansion and they burst into the main hall.

The interior was lavishly decorated, with red velvet curtains draping the windows, elegant occasional tables and armchairs lining the sides of the hall. A number of doors led of from the ground floor, and a thick scarlet carpet lined the stairs leading up to a balcony area.
Jill looked around in awe.
She turned back to Barry and Wesker, who stood regaining their breath, Barry looking especially exasperated. She looked at the front doors and winced,

"Chris..." She gulped and started back towards the doors, barging through her team-mates determinedly. Wesker caught her arm roughly.

"Jill, no. It's not safe to go back out there."

Jill pulled at his forearm halfheartedly, "I have to find Chris! He needs our help ...!"

Wesker tightened his steely grip on her, making Jill wince in pain. "It's not safe." he repeated blankly, "Besides, he's probably..." he trailed off, lips pursed. Jill stopped tugging and stared at him.

"No..." Her eyes twinkled tearfully.

Wesker slowly released her, and she clutched at her arm, massaging it gently.

"Do you really think he could have survived that? Alone?" Wesker spoke calmly yet with a disconcerting malice to his voice. Jill opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again slowly, shaking her head.

Barry grunted suddenly, and they both turned their attention in his direction.

"Shouldn't we see about securing this area?" he said, numbly. "What if there are more of those mongrels out there?"

Wesker nodded, replacing his gun. "I agree. Let's see what we can find to block up those doors."

Wesker and Barry pulled over various pieces of furniture from the corners in front of the doors, piling them up haphazardly.

"Hmph. At least this hall looks secure now." grunted Barry roughly, tightening the belt on his red protective vest. He tucked his magnum back into it's brown leather holster, his cold eyes surveying the hall. "So...What do we do now?"

Wesker leaned casually against the wall, arms folded. A single strand of hair had fallen over his smooth forehead, and he brushed it sweepingly back over.

"Looks like we're stuck here for the time being." He pushed his dark shades back up the bridge of his nose, "We should investigate this mansion and try and find anything that could give us any leads on the murders, and try and locate any remaining Bravo team members that may have come here also"
He pushed himself gently away from the wall, "I think that's a good start."

Just as Wesker finished talking, a lone, powerful shot split the silence of the mansion's austere atmosphere. They all flinched and jerked their heads instantly towards the double doors on the right side of the hall.

"What the...?" Barry furrowed his brow and reached for his gun again, "Chris...?" he murmured.

Jill's eyes widened. "Chris! We have to find him!" She began towards the doors eagerly.

"I'm going with her," Barry announced, "Me and Chris are old partners..." He couldn't conceal the worry in his voice,
"If that was him - ..."

Wesker cocked his head to the side and motioned a single nod,
"Right, I'll stay and secure this area."
" Be careful." Wesker added in a low tone as Barry began to follow, "Perhaps those dogs aren't the only things we need to worry about."

Jill glanced backwards, a creeping unease pushing on her chest. Barry placed a hand on the handle of the left-side double door, beginning a gestured countdown of three to Jill.

One - two - three...

Barry shouldered the door open, brandishing his Magnum through the doorway and side-stepping swiftly into the room. Jill followed, edging around the door, eyes swivelling around the room anxiously.
This new room turned out to be a large dining room, a huge central trestle table taking up most of the available space.
Candelabras stood rigidly upright atop the sprawling table, their cold flickering light casting unsettling shadows around the surrounding walls, their gilt handles covered in a thick layer of dust.

An ancient looking grandfather clock stood alone on the right side of the table, it's loud ominous ticking echoing throughout the room. Jill and Barry proceeded towards the other end of the table, stepping lightly but surely, senses ever alert to every flicker and breeze.
Barry suddenly put out an arm to stop Jill.
She froze, looking over to what Barry was staring at. In front of a heavily decorated marble fireplace, an unmistakably fresh pool of blood lay on the polished floor.

Barry edged carefully towards it, and knelt down next to it.
He placed a finger in the substance and brought it to his nose. Jill looked on in a horrified silence.

Barry shook his head slowly, "Its blood...I hope it's not Chris'..." Jill moved over next to him, looking down, stunned.

"But...Where did it come from?" She began shivering in spasms: She'd been so sure this mansion would be safe... but how could she have been sure? It was clear something was wrong with this whole area, how could she have kidded herself it was an ordinary mission?
Just a precautionary check!?

Bravo team were in trouble, serious trouble. If they had even survived this long... Chris had been right to have had a bad feeling about his place.

Chris... She shuddered to think of the state he could be in by now, what those hounds could have done to him... Why did he always have to be the hero?

Barry was surveying the ground around them carefully, and coughed quietly to get Jill's attention.
"Look, there's a trail leading from this spot." Jill followed Barry's gesture, and saw a thin trail of scarlet drips leading away and to the single door on the wall beside the fireplace.

"Whoever was hurt certainly got away okay." Jill's heart was fluttering uncomfortably.
"I'll go check it out."

Barry nodded in agreement. "Okay. I'll be examining this. Go steady."

He uttered the words with little emotion, and turned his attention immediately back to the blood pool.
Jill frowned slightly and started towards the single door. She proceeded through with caution, closing it behind her.
It had led her to an adjacent corridor, more doors to her right and a corner to her left.
Almost immediately she heard a disturbingly close crunching sound. This was followed by several splatters and a low, tortured moan. Jill could hardly breathe with fear.

She clutched her Beretta handgun tightly and took tiny, pained steps towards the corner where the sounds were eminating from. She reached the corner and peered with utmost caution around the edge.
She was met with a horrific sight. She could see the back of a person, their clothes ripped and bloodstained, their hairless head mangled and literally dripping with decay.

They were bent down over another figure, who was twitching and juddering underneath them. The rotting being was feeding on them like an animal, bending and ripping flesh from the body with it's bare teeth, it's ghastly fingers grasping at the corpse obsessionally.
Jill's mouth dropped open, and she fell backwards onto the wall behind.

The creature stopped it's depraved activity and raised it's rotting head slowly. Jill watched in terrified silence as it sluggishly turned to face her, uttering a low, pained moan. It's face was a mangled husk, the skull broken inwards in several places, eyes glazed over with white sheen.
It's flesh, what was left of it, was the colour of sour milk, with spots of brown and black decay eating into it.
The clothing it wore suggested that had once been an ordinary human being, it's green felt jacket and brown corduroy trousers implying a particularly well-to-do background.

The creature stumbled clumsily to it's feet, it's arms reaching out almost blindly, shuffling awkwardly towards her. Jill gasped and scraped sideways along the wall, leaning as far away from the creature as possible. Her left hand felt for the doorknob of the door she came through, and she threw it open, stumbling backwards and slamming it shut.

"Jill! What's the matter? Are you alright?" Barry stood up sharply, hand wavering towards his gun.
Jill turned to face him, eyes wild, breath exhaling in short gasps. Before she could answer him, the door banged open behind her, revealing the shambling, decaying creature. It's hands reached out hungrily towards Jill, it's lipless mouth open in a malicious snarl. Jill squealed and fell backwards, clinging to Barry's arm.

"Barry! It's a monster! Oh God, God, what is it!?" Barry stared mutely at the creature, eyebrows raised, fear and uncertainty creeping into his hardened eyes. He pulled out his Magnum fluidly, and pointed it solidly at the travesty.

"Stay back!" Barry barked loudly at the advancing creature, who shuffled ever closer to them, moaning gutturally, "I'm warning you, don't come any closer!"

The creature groaned loudly as it attempted a lunge at Jill, it's blackened fingers grasping at the air. Barry fired his magnum point blank at the creatures head, and it shattered in a burst of mangled brain and matter, dark brown blood splaying onto the nearby wall and table.
The creature seemed to stop still for a moment, swaying slightly, before it fell abruptly backwards with a loud thud onto the polished, chequered floor.
Jill looked down in disgust as the thing's broken skull leaked blood and pus in a rancid puddle around it, a revolting smell beginning to plague the air around them.

Barry wrinkled his nose, stepping forward and peering down at the seeping husk of decay. He curled his lip in repulsion,

"Jesus...What the hell is it!??"

He kicked the corpse lightly, causing the skull to pool out even more. He turned away, leaning against the table for support, a hand against his forehead. Jill stood meekly back from the creature's corpse, staring back and forth between it and Barry.

"This place...This mansion...There's something really, really wrong with it..." Barry's voice stuttered a little as he spoke, his steely facade faltering. Jill surveyed him worriedly, approaching him and peering up at him.

"I know... I can't figure out what's going on, it's like some sort of nightmare..." Lightning pierced the sky, flickering through the windows as if emphasizing her statement, followed by a short burst of ominous rumbling thunder. Barry looked up, his face blank and void of emotion.

"We... have to report this to Wesker," he stated matter-of-factly, and moved off hastily back towards the main hall, without even looking back. Jill glanced at the felled creature briefly, the pool of fluid still spreading gradually from underneath the corpse, before running after Barry.
She followed him through the door to find him alone in the main hall, gazing around in a puzzled manner.

"Wesker!?" Barry called uncertainly, pacing over to the opposite side and looking around to the back of the hall. "Wesker!!?!," he repeated, louder, and turned to face Jill again.

"Christ, where's he gone? Not him as well... Everyone seems to be disappearing... Go and have a look upstairs, would ya?"

He disappeared around down an adjacent small corridor at the back of the room.
Jill looked around, confused, and proceeded cautiously up the decorated, crimson-carpeted stairwell.
The stairs broke off into two either side at the top, and she edged up the right set to reach the stair balcony above.

Several doors attached to this hall too, but there was no sign of Wesker.

She returned downstairs and found Barry standing alone also in the middle of the hall.

"Anything?," he asked inquiringly.

"Nothing," she replied, "The whole balcony area is empty."

"Damn...Looks like we're going to have to investigate this place by ourselves for now..."

"Mmmm..," Jill mumbled incoherently, fiddling with her Beretta.

Barry squared up to Jill and grasped her shoulders firmly but gently.

"Look, Jill, I know this is a really serious situation, and the pressure's bound to get to us, but we're here on a mission, and we have to stay professional. For our own sakes, and the sakes of any of the surviving Bravo team. They'll need our help badly, and it's our job to stay cool and do what we can. Okay?"

Barry's little speech inspired Jill, and she pushed her fear as far to the back of her mind as she could.
"You're right," she nodded, "They're depending on us."

Barry gave her the smallest hint of a smile. "Okay. I'll check the dining room and the surrounding rooms, you take the other side." He motioned towards the right side of the hall,
"If either of us run into trouble, let's meet in this hall. This mansion is gigantic... It'll be easy to get lost in here, so watch yourself, and keep track of where you've been."

Jill nodded determinedly, backing off towards the opposite side of the hall. Barry flashed a thumbs-up. "Be careful. I'll see you back here later."

With that, he turned and marched over to the dining room doors, disappearing through them. Jill was left alone in the cold silence of the hall. She took a deep breath and headed over to the set of double doors nearby.

Locked.

She approached a mahogany single door a way up from it. Locked also. She frowned to herself.

Who keeps locks on this many doors? Something tells me this mansion's purpose is more than just a residence...

She glanced over at the stairs, and, without any other options, proceeded to climb. There were two more doors on the right side of the balcony, she tried the one nearest to her, and it creaked open noisily.
She sidled cautiously into the room, which turned out to be a long, dusty corridor, with occasional tables and thin shelves lining the edges. Dated antiques lay gathering dirt atop them, long forgotten.

She kept her gun drawn as she took small, cautious steps along the corridor, her feet scuffing small clouds of grit and dust from the grey, mucky carpet. A muffled noise made her jump as she passed a bluish door to her right, like a distant door closing.

She paused in front of it, dithering.
Her hand shook as she twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door slightly, peering round hesitantly.
A simple, almost empty room faced her, with a single wooden pillar splitting the room and obscuring view of the sharp corner.

She edged carefully through and proceeded slowly. A much louder, sudden bang of a door startled her, and she hopped backwards a step, gun raised in front of her protectively.
Light, unsure footsteps followed the bang, and a figure appeared from around the invisible corner and threw itself heavily against the wall in front of her.
In the dim, subdued light of the room, she could just make out a tall, lean frame and orange tight-fitting padded t-shirt, with a familiar blue and black logo stitched onto the sleeve...

Her eyes widened, and her lips parted dryly,

"Richard!"