Billy and Rebecca were searching the hall, looking for any useful items. They found handgun ammo, ink ribbons, and a red herb and green herb near the table with the typewriter. After getting what they needed, they proceeded through the double doors on the right. They found themselves inside of a dining area, complete with long tables covered in white table cloths, candles and dirty dishes, and chairs stood around the tables; plus, there were candles on the walls, a push tray filled with dishes, and two single doors. Two zombies stumbled toward them.

After killing them, the duo searched the area, and the only useful item they found was handgun ammunition. After collecting it, the duo attempted to open a red door with a service window - large enough for them to squeeze through - beside it. The door was locked, so they decided to try the only other single door in the room. Stepping through the door, they found themselves in a hallway. After traveling through the hall, the duo decided to enter a room with a candle above the door.

Inside of the room were two zombies, cabinets filled with junk, a ladder, and a stack of stools across from the ladder. Once the zombies were dead, Rebecca picked up a black statue from a cabinet while Billy picked up a shotgun from another, ignoring the gas tank which stood near the cabinet where the shotgun was. Thinking he would no longer need the hunting rifle, he unfastened the straps, then removed it from his shoulders. He dropped the gun, which clattered when it made contact with the floor. Meanwhile, Rebecca had moved to the ladder.

She thought about climbing the ladder without telling the convict and investigate the above area alone, but decided not to. Instead, she called him over. Once he reached her, the duo ascended the ladder. They found themselves on a balcony. As they traveled along the balcony, they came across five zombies.

As they fought the zombies, Rebecca paused to reload her pistol. Just then, a zombie grabbed her, then bit into her neck. She cried as she struggled to push it away. Suddenly, blood splattered onto her as the zombie's head exploded into a million pieces. As the headless body collapsed, Rebecca, with widened eyes, turned to see the barrel of Billy's shotgun pointing right at her as smoke rose from it.

Rebecca thanked Billy as she wiped blood off her face, and after he lowered his weapon.

I should have gotten the shotgun, she thought, frowning. I could've handled all of those zombies by myself if I had it. After all, the young woman only had her pistol.

Once they finished reloading their firearms, the pair made their way to the other side of the balcony. After collecting the herbs on the north side of the balcony, the pair went over to a door at the very end. Upon entering, they found themselves inside of a conference room. The room had rows of tables, each had a few monitors in them, an unseen projector displaying an image on a sheet hanging on the wall in front of the tables, a table with a typewriter in a corner, a podium with a monitor in it and a microphone stood in front of the aforementioned sheet, and there were two pair of double doors, with one of them barred by the swords of knight statues. The pair searched the room, and found handgun ammo, shotgun ammo, a note, and ink ribbons near the table with the typewriter.

After taking everything except the ink ribbons, the pair left the room via the unbarred double doors. They were now back in the main hall. Ahead of them was the statue holding the scale. Rebecca placed the black statue on one side of the scale. Afterwards, she and Billy turned to their right, made their way down the hall - still on the second floor - to a door, and then entered the room behind said door.

They were now in the living room, which was decorated with a yellow love seat behind a table that had a dimly lit lamp, a note and tea kettle on top, paintings on the wall near the door, and a vanity mirror near two windows that were across the room. As they searched the room, the pair found more handgun ammo, the aforementioned note, and a crank. They took those items, then they began to wonder how they were going to carry the crank, when the nearby windows suddenly shattered; zombie crows had flown into the room. The duo made a quick dash for the door with the convict holding the crank. Back in the main hall, he suddenly had an idea; he was going to put the crank under his shirt just like he did with the briefcase back on the train.

While holding the crank with one hand, Billy began lifting his shirt with the other. Rebecca's eyes widened, her cheeks turning rosy red as she watched. Billy didn't realize she was watching him as he lifted his shirt, exposing his belly button. Just then, Rebecca believed she had to stop Billy from whatever he was about to do.

"What are you doing...?" she asked, flustered.

Billy paused just as his shirt was above his belly button, revealing his abs.

"I was gonna carry the crank under my shirt," he said as he turned his gaze onto her face. A moment passed before he added, "Unless you have a big enough pack to carry it."

As he stared, the young medic's face turned completely red. She quickly shook her head. The convict narrowed his eyes before shoving the rusty thing under his tank top. When he turned away, Rebecca clenched a fist as her eye brows furrowed. She also tightened her grip on her handgun, holding it with one hand. She was angry at herself and was embarrassed from the way she'd reacted to Billy lifting his shirt.

This only lasted for a moment, though. Holding his shirt in one hand while holding the shotgun in the other, Billy led the way as the pair made their way back to the conference room. Once there, they left the room through another door, which they'd skipped earlier. The duo was now in another hallway. Two zombies stumbled through the hall, moaning loudly.

After killing them and reloading their guns, - Billy had shot the zombies and reloaded his shotgun with one hand - they entered a room with double doors. Inside of the room, they found the Training Facility map on a podium with two chairs beside it. A bookcase stood behind the podium, and chandeliers with candles in them hung from the ceiling. To the pair's right was another door with an unlit candle on the wall beside it, a curved desk with two chairs behind it, a cabinet with a microfilm on top, and a painting on the wall beside the cabinet.

There were also ink ribbons on the curved desk. The duo ignored the ink ribbons as they took the aforementioned items, then made their way to an elevator, which was on the other side of the room. The elevator was crank-operated. Luckily for them, Billy had a crank. Beside the elevator were bookcases, a desk, and two chairs.

Rebecca stepped onto the elevator just as Billy removed the crank from under his shirt. Upon placing the crank handle on the device, Billy wondered why someone built an elevator where a person has to turn a crank in order for it to operate. As he turned the crank, the rusty old device rose, sending Rebecca into the unknown. When she arrived on the third floor, Rebecca thought she was alone. Suddenly, a giant roach-like bug dropped onto the floor in front of her.

She gasped in horror, removing her gun from its holster as she realized she only had a pistol. Billy didn't bother to give her the shotgun before sending her up there. What a selfish guy! Just then, the bug pounced her, knocking her onto her back. The S.T.A.R.S. rookie struggled to pushed it off as the bug tried to eat her alive.

After a few moments, she managed to push the bug off. Rebecca quickly got back on her feet. She aimed her pistol at the creature before firing several rounds into it, killing it. As she was reloading her gun, another giant insect appeared. Another tackle to floor and several shots later, the bug was dead.

She investigated the room and found more handgun ammo on the corner of a table beside the elevator, and there was a chair in front of said table. There were a cabinet, a gear, and a hammer on the wall to the right of the elevator. A half wall with gears on it and a grandfather clock beside it were across from the elevator. There were gears on the ceiling behind the half wall. Rebecca also found shotgun ammo, - even though Billy had the shotgun - and a first aid spray while investigating the room further.

In addition, she took note of the clock, which was lacking a minute hand. After collecting what she could carry, she left the room. Rebecca found herself on another balcony. In the middle of it was a large fountain. There were three red and three green herbs on one side of a bench, and a powered down elevator on the other side.

On a nearby railing were crows, and the overall balcony overlooked a bridge that led back to the forest. After picking up one herb of each color and combining them, Rebecca reentered the mansion through another door while being chased by the birds; she'd startled them when she picked up the herbs. She found herself inside a large room. A control panel that was crank-operated was located on a wall in the center of the room with two empty cages beside it. There was an empty pool across from the panel with a cage in one of its corners, and this cage was attached to the control panel via a chain.

Under the cage was a red key. After finding nothing else of interest in the room beside another double doors barred by the swords of knight statues, Rebecca left the room via stairs. As she descended a pair of stairs, she noticed there were two doors in the bottom hallway: one on the left and another at the end. She decided to unlock the door at the end first.

Once this door, which led back to the main hall, was unlocked, she headed for the other door. She entered the room cautiously. Upon entering, Rebecca was greeted by loud hissing. Before she could react, two giant insects pounced.

XXX

Billy, meanwhile, was making his way to the room where Rebecca was after killing a zombie in the hall outside of the conference room. She had contacted him via radio that she needed help fighting off the bugs. Billy had no clue where this room was, but after wandering for a while, he found it. By the time he entered, kicking the door off its hinges, Rebecca had already killed the insects. She jumped when the door went straight through a wall, leaving behind a huge hole.

Again, with his wannabe-action-hero antics…

"Rebecca, are you alright?" Billy asked, displaying his usual calm facial expression while using an equally uncaring voice.

Rebecca nodded, wondering why it took him so long to get here, even though she didn't give him any directions to get to the room in the first place. As they searched the room, the pair found a grenade launcher on a green and brown love seat, a white statue on an end table, shotgun ammo inside of an empty fireplace, and napalm rounds on the floor beside the fireplace. Crates and some of the paintings, which were partially covered by a sheet, were stacked in one of the room's corners while another painting, on an easel, stood near statues; these statues stood near the fireplace and there were light fixtures on the ceiling and some of the walls. There were also cabinets and a long table with a candle on top near another door and by the doorway from whence the pair came. The duo quickly checked their pockets and Rebecca's fanny packs – in which Billy shoved his hands down into without warning, causing the young medic to blush and widen her eyes - to see if they had enough space to carry the aforementioned items.

Ooh, Billy. That feels… kind of nice, Rebecca thought, blushing, as a small smile crossed her lips. She wouldn't admit to him or anyone else that she was enjoying this.

The pair soon discovered that they didn't have enough space to carry all of the aforementioned items. After making a quick decision, Rebecca healed herself with one of her herb mixtures to make room in one of her packs to carry the napalm rounds. She also moved the first aid spray to one of her pockets, so that she could carry the handgun ammo Billy had given her in one of her fanny packs. Meanwhile, Billy had left the room to drop off the white statue on the other side of the scale back in the main hall. Before leaving, Billy had dropped his handgun so that he could carry the white statue; that was why he'd given Rebecca his handgun ammo.

When he placed the statue on the other side of the scale, nothing happened. He blinked before examining both statues. Upon closer examination, each statue lacked either a wing or both wings. Great, more item fetching. Billy took this time to make his way back to Rebecca.

Once he was back in the art storage room, - the pair referred to the room as such because of the many art pieces in said room - Billy pocketed the shotgun ammo. Rebecca, while Billy was away, had strapped the grenade launcher onto her shoulders. She also had reorganized all of the items in her medical packs so she could fit more items inside.

"Let's regroup," Billy said.

"Roger," Rebecca replied, nodding.

The duo left the room. They then ascended the stairs, heading for the room with the empty pool. Once there and on their way to the control panel, Rebecca instructed Billy to operate the device via crank handle while she fetches the key from under the cage once it was raised. Billy nodded in response. When they reached the panel, he grabbed the crank with both hands.

The young medic turned, then made her way to the ladder leading into the pool. As she descended the ladder, the ex-marine turned the crank until the cage was high enough for Rebecca to walk underneath and retrieve the red key. After reaching the bottom, she walked over to the key, crouched down once there, and then grabbed it from under the cage. As she began exiting the pool, a giant centipede smashed through the large grate on a nearby wall, then it snatched up Rebecca with some of its many legs because she didn't bother to move; she had frozen with fear.

The beast then reared back on its hind legs, and thrashed Rebecca about like a rag doll.

"Ahhhh! Billy!" she managed to cry.

Billy snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing her cry. Apparently, he didn't hear the centipede crashed through the wall and knock off the large grate, which clattered loudly upon hitting the floor. He turned just in time to see the giant centipede climbed onto the same platform that he was on, holding his partner.

"Rebecca!" he yelled, his facial expression depicting anger despite the tone of his voice.

Rebecca let out another cry as the centipede started hurrying away from the pool. Billy gave chase, shotgun in hand. When he got close enough, he took aim, then fired. His shots barely missed Rebecca, who continued to cry for help. After emptying his shotgun, he quickly reloaded the gun.

Too bad he didn't realize the centipede had shifted its direction, and was now heading straight toward him. Just as the convict loaded the fourth shell into the shotgun, the centipede ran into him, causing him to stumble. He nearly dropped his shotgun from the impact. After regaining his balance, Billy chased after the giant insect, firing more shells into it. The centipede stopped half-crawling to give Rebecca a shake.

She let out another cry as she was being shaken. Billy, during this time, fired the rest of his rounds into the back of the centipede's head. He quickly reloaded his shotgun as the ginormous insect hurried away. Rebecca should have given the ex-marine her grenade launcher; he could've killed the centipede a lot sooner with it. Maybe she didn't give the weapon to him because he didn't bother to give her the shotgun when he'd sent her to the room where she'd encountered those giant roach-like bugs.

Billy gave chase again as Rebecca let out another cry while the centipede hurried away. She didn't attempt to break free from the giant bug's clutches; she just pressed her arms against its body while occasionally calling for help. Billy fired his shotgun at the bug while dodging its hind legs. Just then, the bug stopped crawling, then gave the helpless medic another shake. She let out another cry as the ex-marine, now standing in front of her and the centipede, took aim, then emptied his weapon into the insect's body.

The centipede screeched in pain, loosening its grip on the S.T.A.R.S. rookie. Before she could react, she fell. She let out a groan as she hit the floor, landing on her side. Not long after she'd made contact with the floor did the giant centipede collapsed lifelessly beside her. She had anticipated for the giant insect to land on top of her and crush her from under its weight.

Fortunately for her, that didn't happen. A moment passed before the young medic attempted to get back onto her feet.

"Rebecca!" yelled her companion as he rushed to her side. He crouched, grabbed her arm, and then helped her get back onto her feet. "Are you alright?"

They gazed into each other's eyes for what seemed like a moment before Billy let go of her arm; because why not? Rebecca immediately grabbed the arm he'd held. She had hit her funny bone on the cool, concrete floor, and her arm stung from the impact. Plus, Billy's strong grip only worsened the pain. Besides feeling pain from landing on the floor, Rebecca was virtually okay, saved for being nearly scared to death by a giant centipede whom constantly shook her.

The bug didn't try to squeeze the life out of her, or even try to eat her; it just thrashed her about.

"Yes, thank you," she said, tightening her grip on her arm.

The duo turned their gaze onto the corpse of the centipede, wondering if it was really dead. When the centipede showed no signs of life, they turned away from it. Just as Rebecca let out a sigh of relief, her partner broke the silence.

"Did you get the key?" he asked.

Rebecca nodded before reaching down into her front fanny pack to retrieve it. A second later, she pulled out the Fire Motif Key. The duo could now open the two locked doors. One of the locked doors was in the hallway outside of the conference room, while the other was in the dining room. The ex-marine cocked his shotgun before he and Rebecca headed for the exit.

The pair made their way back to the dining room. Once there, the young medic unlocked the red door. Upon entering, the pair found themselves inside of a dirty, old kitchen. The only items there were empty bottles, lighter fluid, dirty dishes, bloody, rotten meat, a cutting board and a red herb on the counters, push trays, ranges and sinks. Billy grabbed the lighter fluid.

He needed it for his lighter, which had been empty all of this time and in his back pocket; not the one with the radio, though. After refilling his lighter with the lighter fluid while Rebecca stashed the herb in her fanny pack, the pair left the kitchen. They headed back to the hallway outside of the conference room. Upon arriving, they decided to split up, and head for two different rooms. Billy reentered the room he and Rebecca had found the mansion map while she went over to the red door to unlock it.

Once inside of the room, Billy went over to the unlit candle in the wall beside the other door. Using his lighter, he relit the candle. The door beside him suddenly unlocked. Raising his weapon, Billy cautiously entered through the door. Once inside, he stopped walking upon noticing two zombies, ahead, were crouched down, eating a corpse.

Without saying a word, the ex-marine blasted away the two undead fiends with his shotgun. How rude of him to interrupt their dinner! Once the zombies were dead, Billy climbed onto a platform. He walked toward the end of it. To his left were bookcases.

One of them was out of place, standing in front of the others. He pushed the bookcase away, until another bookcase was revealed. His eyes scanned the shelves as he tried to find a book that would be interesting to read. All of the books were covered in dust, however. Suddenly, his eyes landed on one particular book.

Billy removed it from the shelf, then blew dust off of it. The front cover read, "The Book of Good."

This better be good like its name implies, he thought.

As he opened the book, an object fell out of it. Billy turned his gaze onto the object, which was now on the floor. It was a pair of angel wings. He needed it for the white statue back in the main hall. After scooping up and pocketing the angel wings, Billy discarded the book, then left the library.

XXX

Rebecca, meanwhile, was inside of a dimly lit study. There were a pile of books, little lamps, handgun ammo, a note and other unidentifiable objects on two tables, which were across from a fireplace. An object was wedged on an antler of a moose head, which was located above the fireplace. There was a chair behind one of the tables, some cabinets with one of them that had objects on top, potted plants, and unlit light fixtures on the floor and ceiling. There was also a small end table beside one of the larger tables.

While navigating the dark, Rebecca found the note, which she stashed inside one of her medical packs, and the handgun ammo. Instead of turning on her flashlight, the young woman stumbled around the room, until she found a light switch. Once the light was on, she pushed the small end table, until it was underneath the moose head. She stepped onto the table, then reached up to retrieve the object from the antler. The item was an iron needle, which was actually the minute hand of that grandfather clock back in the room where Rebecca had first encountered those roach-like insects.

After putting the minute hand and handgun ammo away, she headed back to the hallway. Once there, she reunited with Billy, whom was reloading his shotgun. The pair then returned to the main hall. Back in front of the statue with the scale, Billy attached the angel wings onto the white statue before placing it back onto the scale. Now they needed the other wing for the black statue.

Afterwards, the duo made their way to the clock room – running into the crows on the third floor balcony on their way there - with Rebecca leading the way. Once they were in the clock room, the pair went over to the grandfather clock. Rebecca placed the minute hand on the clock's face. Now she had to turn the hands to manually set the appropriate time. After a bit, she set the time to 8:15.

Suddenly, the clock dinged loudly. Two doors, one in a hallway while the other was in the main hall, were unlocked. The pair went back to the main hall to check out the newly unlocked door. Inside of this room, they found only two useful items: another microfilm on top of a cabinet, and a note on top of a long table which had a few chairs on either side of it. A chandelier hung above the table, and three windows with curtains on them were on the wall beside the cabinet.

A small end table stood in between two of the three windows. Unlit candles were on the walls and the larger table, and there were also books and a sheet on top of said table. In addition, bare, framed canvasses hung on the walls. The room was being barely lit by an unseen light source. After collecting the note and microfilm, the duo left the room, then headed for the other newly unlocked door.

Once inside of that room, they were immediately greeted by the moaning of a zombie. After killing it, each survivor inserted a microfilm into a projector, which was located on a table in the center of the room. Beside this table was another, which had an opened book on top, and a chair behind it. Behind both tables, on a wall, was a large map of the world. In front of the tables were a desk with three chairs behind it, and a large sheet on the wall.

The pair used the projector to display two images of an aerial view of the conference room onto the sheet after inserting the microfilms into it. Once the slideshow of the images ended, the projector ejected a MO disk and the images. Baby, you turn my floppy disk into a hard drive. The duo took the disk and images, then stashed them away. The duo then left the room, making their way back to the conference room.

Before reaching the conference room, however, they entered another room in the hall, which they had skipped earlier. Turns out, this room was the only bathroom in the entire training facility. Sinks, mirrors, urinals, and stalls lined the walls. There were green herbs and red herbs, a gas tank, and some empty bottles scattered around the bathroom. After picking up and combining the herbs, Rebecca rushed over to a stall.

She, all of a sudden, had the urge to urinate. Billy turned in time to see the young medic open a stall door. What she saw inside of the stall made her gasp and cover her mouth with a hand. Billy rushed over to her as she took a step back. Once there, he turned, then followed her gaze into the stall.

Inside of the stall was a sight most foul; the toilet was sparkly clean! There was a roll of clean toilet paper in the dispenser on the wall beside the toilet. The duo found this strange since the rest of the bathroom was dirty and some of the walls had its paint chipped off in certain spots. Even the stall where this clean toilet was had filth on its walls and door. Who cleaned this toilet and replaced the toilet paper in the dispenser?

Rebecca turned to her companion as she lowered her hand. He didn't return the gaze. After a moment of silence, Rebecca entered the stall. Billy watched as Rebecca closed the stall door. He let out a soft sigh as he waited for her.

Suddenly, he heard the bathroom door open. Someone – or something – had entered the bathroom. The person who entered the bathroom was a humanoid creature, similar to the one Rebecca had encountered on the train. Billy turned just as the creature stumbled into view. Since it was blocking his path back to the bathroom door, he had no choice but to fight it.

Billy took aim, then fired. The gunfire startled his partner, who snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing the shot. She leaned forward, bringing a hand to her face.

"Billy, are you okay?" she asked, calling out to him. "What's going on?"

He didn't reply. Rebecca heard groans and gunfire, which worried her. Outside of the stall, the creature continuously slapped Billy with its outstretched arm as he fired his weapon at it. This lasted for the entire battle, especially during moments when Billy was reloading his shotgun. After the creature was killed, Billy began wiping the slime off himself; the creature had, apparently, exploded on him, covering him in slime.

As he wiped himself, the stall door opened. He turned just as Rebecca rushed out of the stall with an expression of concern on her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked once she reached him.

Billy nodded. Rebecca grabbed his arm just as she gazed up at his face. Eww, she didn't wash her hands! Sure, she was wearing gloves, but Rebecca should know better since her fingers were exposed; she most likely had traces of urine and bacteria on her fingers from wiping herself. She was supposed to be practicing good hygiene, especially since she's a medic.

"I heard shooting. What was attacking you?" Rebecca asked.

The convict was about to point to the body of the humanoid creature he'd killed when he remembered that the creature had exploded, leaving nothing but slime behind. After he explained to her what had attacked him, the young medic's eyes widened in horror. She realized, from her companion's description of the creature, that he had fought a creature similar to the one she'd fought earlier. She gasped, letting go of his arm before lowering her gaze. Rebecca's eyes immediately stopped on his abdomen, and what she saw made her blink repeatedly; Billy was injured.

XXX

Author's note: That's the end of this chapter. Even though I'd wrote in the last update that I would post a new chapter on the 15th day of every month, that doesn't mean that I would do it without receiving feedback. Seriously, folks, if no one leaves a review, favorite and/or follow this story, then why should I continue to update it? It would seem like a waste of my time to do so if no one is reading this. So, as much as I'd hate to say this… if this story doesn't receive any new feedback, then it would end up like Admiration of a Witch; discontinued, but unlike the latter fan fiction, it would most likely be deleted after a while.

So, if you don't want to see this story abruptly end, – and deleted – please show me a sign that you are (still) reading it. Anyway, see you later.