Chapter Two: Bumps in the Night

We walked down the winding metal staircase to an open room with cameras covering the walls. My hand found the gun in my pocket, and I slowly drew it out. Everyone else had there's out as well. I walked out of the pack, and stood next to a mirror. I saw my flustered reflection, and even through all the shit I was standing in, I smiled. I smiled just as I smashed in the first camera with the bottom of my magnum. It shattered to the ground, almost peacefully.

No one stopped me as I made my way to the second camera, but I could feel their stares piercing into my back. I felt a hand touch my shoulder. It was warm and comforting. I put my gun to my side and looked over at whoever it was. It was the redhead, Sarah. She wasn't smiling, but she was looking sad. And to break the moment's silence, Richard's booming voice filled the large storage room. "Let's go. I don't want to have to bust out every camera on this island."

I touched the hand on my shoulder and politely pushed it aside. My eyes never left hers. She looked almost like she knew what I wanted to say. All twelve of us started off to the end of the room. I knew they were all gazing into the depths of their shoes... completely lost in thought. I just didn't want to die like this. Not like this.

We reached a door, but before Richard could reach out for the handle, a desperate moan filled the air. The noise and the smell hit us even before what ever it was scratched across the door. It almost seemed everyone jumped backwards at the same time. We stood there, listening to the scratching for minutes it felt like. No one said anything. It felt like they weren't even breathing.

I gripped my gun tighter and stepped forward. I pushed past the silent people, making them jump again. I took a deep breath, held it, blinked, and kicked the door in violently. Everyone regained their senses and walked into the hallway. "What the fuck?" a man said. No one was there. Nothing was there.

That very man who uttered the words that rang throughout my mind that night, stepped forward into eternity. He chuckled slightly and turned around to face us. He said while laughing, "There isn't anything in here." Everything slowed down. We all breathed, and our grips loosened. Yet, in that very instant, the man took a step forward, and his throat left his body in red chunks and mucus.

Something had swooped down from somewhere high above the rafters in the room. The man gurgled and started shaking. The blood from his neck soon covered his entire body. He just fell to his knees, and the thing flew down again. His stomach was no where to be found. I just looked in his eyes and saw the absolute fear. The pain in his eyes made me want to look away from them. I looked down at his underbelly, where I found his intestines and some other organs spill out onto the floor rapidly. His head came crashed down into a pool of his own insides.

"Fuck this," I thought, as I lifted up my magnum and fired the first round up into darkness. Sarah had caught along, too, and fired her berretta twice up in the air. A shrill scream filled the air with rage and fury. But something hit the ground and struggled to its feet. One clear shot to the head from my magnum took this thing out. It stopped moving and wrenching around. I finally got a clear view as to what it looked like. The beast was human like, but with fierce talons and what appeared to be large, purple suction cups on its hands and feet.

"Jesus. So that's what they've been cooking up. Well, we can't be too careful. Let's keep the guns out the whole time, shall we?" Richard spook soothingly. He seemed like he was always a spokesperson. We pushed away from the gruesome man lying on the ground, and the viral infected lab rat. Lab rats were all they were. They were the first to be tested. It reminded me of the first monkey shot into space. All this… evil, is for the good of science?

We found a door to the right of where we came in, and a door to the left. We never looked back at the man and beast lying together. "Which one do we take," asked Richard, almost to himself. We looked at one, then the other. We heard someone in the group of eleven mutter, "Typical horror movie." I turned and looked at the girl that had spoken. Her eyeglasses were broken and she was ghastly pale. Her hair looked like a poorly groomed wig. Richard frowned, and stepped towards the door on the right.

His ear was gently placed upon the center of the door. No one breathed while he tried to investigate what was on the other side of the door. I looked at his facial features, and I could tell he enjoyed playing the role of the hero. I found myself slightly jealous of his constant spot in the limelight, but I then thought, "The leaders in all the survival movies died first. Yet, he didn't die first. That heap of body over there did. This isn't fiction. This is real." My thoughts ended abruptly as Richard took his ear off the door and approached us.

"There isn't anything over there, but I want to check the map, anyway." He reached deep into his pocket and pulled out a map. Everyone seemed to crouch down when he did. I crouched as well, but my attention was drawn to one camera. It seemed to be focused on me. It had a small green light on it. I turned my head slightly, and my eyes grew wider as the green light turned red.

A loud bang shook the room as the door on the left burst in with viral infected zombies. They weren't fast, like the other one we encountered in this room. These were the ones that I met up with in Europe. Everyone was caught off guard, but I seemed to be expecting it. I opened fire before anyone else had a chance to lift their guns out. Within mere seconds, I had three down on the ground with bullets in their head. A moan of pain and hunger was release by the remaining five zombies.

I put my gun down to my side, and let the rest of the team take the remainders on. I stepped back a few steps, and the shots rang out. I looked at the creatures, and I realized what they were. They weren't zombies… they were people. Confused people that were here during a spill, I assume. Before they all fell to the ground as mush, I also thought that maybe this wasn't a spill. Maybe this was intentionally done, just to fuck us when they brought us here. I will kill that Michael Birkin who brought us here. I will take down Umbrella… if I could only get off this island!

The virus carriers were down, each riddled with bullet holes. "I think we should take the door on the right," commented Sarah. I nodded an agreement as she glanced over towards me. No one argued with her, we all just wanted to go. Sarah seemed to have taken the lead and she tried to turn the brass doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. She tried again but it wouldn't work. "Shit," she whispered under her breath. Everyone knew what was wrong.

I flashed her a crooked smile, and walked up to the door. I coughed aloud and bashed the door off its hinges with my boot. I walked to the spot I was just in, feeling slightly taller and older. "Okay, then," Richard said, eyeing me with gratified eyes. I felt everyone's eyes on me, but I liked it. They all stumbled into the room with me following behind. My feet fell up and down like a monotone voice. I was lost in the thumps of my feet.

My eyes wandered around the room we were in. It seemed like a narrow hallway with cameras surrounding it. Umbrella must have invested millions in this place. Fancy portraits with cameras sticking from the middle of them covered the walls. It was so dreary, and our silence didn't help. The hall had a dead end, but the end was rounded, with four doors. The doors were different colors. Red, blue, purple, and black were the different colors that the doors had. My brain thought to myself, "Aw fiddlesticks! Now where do we go?"

A few muttered their "fucks, shits, and damns." I, however, remained silent… like always. Richard took a deep breath, as if he was going to make another of his famous speeches, and as it turns out, he did. "I no you all aren't going to like this idea, but I strongly think we should find out what is behind each of these doors. We will split into groups of…" he looked around at our startled faces and continued, "Four, but one will only have three." His voice echoed slightly in the narrow hallway. I nodded, think that it wasn't the best idea, but it was an idea.