A/N: Anddd our romp through Resident Evil Outbreak continues in comically hillarious fashion. Thanks for reading so far and I hope you enjoy this next installment.


RESIDENT EVIL 7: CASTING CALL

Chapter 7 – A Tale of Two Teams

"Bees!? First spiders and now bees!?" Sherry shrieked as she dodged underneath a mutated and oversized bee that swooped in on her.

The four were now riding a service elevator that ascended through the substructure of an emission tower whose walls were now home to countless hives of wasps mutated by the T-virus.

"Oh, I somehow get the feeling that mutated bugs are gonna be the least of our concerns," Jake grunted as he literally punched a bee that somehow got the fancy idea into its head of trying to sting the veritable Jake Muller.

"Wish I had my gun with me right now!" Helena muttered as she aimed a nasty swing of the iron pipe in her hands at another one of the critters. "What were they thinking?! Creating this stupid four inventory slot system?!"

The agent was no doubt referring to the group, sans Jake, who had already ditched their firearms for weapons of a more makeshift manner.

"In all honesty, that triple-barreled sawed-off wasn't exactly the most practical of weapons to have," Ada said coolly as she sidestepped another wasp. "First off, we're in a university, not a hunting lodge – so why would you think that ten-gauge shotgun shells would simply be lying around?"

Helena frowned. The spy did make a valid point. "Still, I can't believe I had to ditch my Hydra for those stupid jewels. And what kind of a puzzle was that jeweled moose eyes anyway?"

The spy shot her a bemused expression. "You wanted to see Resident Evil in its golden years right? Well, welcome to Raccoon City – silly puzzles and all."

"Damn it, will somebody please give me something to defend myself with?!" Sherry cried out in frustration as she cowered into a corner of the elevator platform. Her wary gaze never once left the particular wasp that thought it would be a fun to sport to constantly hound her. "I've got nothing but herbs and a bottle of bug spray in my inventory!"

"Then use the bug spray!" Jake replied. "After all, it's meant to kill bugs right? And the way I see it, I'm pretty sure these things, mutated or not, are still bugs."

As if on cue, the wasp made another run for the poor blonde. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked, whipping out the bug spray and letting loose with a stream of insect repellant fumes. As soon as the wasp made contact with the chemical mist, it collapsed to the floor like a brick of lead and writhed violently on the ground. Sherry opened her eyes and saw the helpless creature lying on the ground and with it, her opportunity for revenge.

Splat.

Sherry lifted her boot and stomped on it. And she did it once more for good measure. And another – third time's the charm. "And stay down!" she panted.

The resounding ding of the elevator and the stopping of the incessant warning alarms signaled that the elevator had finally reached its destination.

"Finally, time to get out of this deathbox!" Helena sighed in relief as she immediately stepped off the elevator. "Up there, I see the culture storage device!"

"Who's got an empty inventory slot?" Ada called out as she kept a vigilant watch on the oversized wasps circling overhead.

"Not me!" echoed three voices in unison.

Ada sighed. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. "Cover me! I'm going for the culture sample!"

The wasps were content to leave her alone as she dashed up the stairs to retrieve the samples, her less-than-useful compatriots in tow.

"Got it!" She deactivated the machine and pulled the tube which presumably contained the V-Poison sample.

As she dumped out her blue herb to swap for the V-Poison, there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere of the room and the entire tower become alive with the buzzing of wings.

"Uh, we probably should make a run for the door," Helena softly muttered, already backing up towards the exit door.

Helena's fears were well-founded as hundreds of wasps were now crawling out of their nests, no doubt intent on eradicating the four unwelcomed visitors in their home.

"RUN!" Sherry exclaimed, making a beeline towards the door. Nobody needed to be told twice as wasps began divebombing the group.

She was the first out the door followed by Ada, Helena and finally Jake. As Jake dove through the door, she slammed it shut firmly just as countless stingers pierced the doors. The group breathed a collective sigh of relief as they inspected the contents of the tower's main control room that they were in.

"That was way too close," Jake dusted himself off. "That's one ingredient down and two to go right? That just leaves...uh…" he patted himself over and produced a thick stack of papers and memos the group had picked out over the course of their little trip. He started leafing through the pile, "Let's see...nope….nope…why is there so much paperwork involved!?"

Helena stepped to Jake's side and picked out a sheet from the bunch. "Says here we still need a sample of the Progenitor virus sample, the P-base and a blood sample of a host infected with the T-virus, T-blood."

"Well then, once we're done collecting any useful items in here, let's get going," Ada said as she rummaged through the contents on the table and producing a first aid spray. "We've still got two of the components to go."

"Anyone here picked up any ammo for this handgun I found?" Sherry asked, lifting the pistol for emphasis.

"Here, catch," Jake tossed a box of ammo to her.

"Thanks! Now, what should I take out of my inventory?"

Five minutes of deliberation later, the group finally emerged into the back square of the university grounds.

"Finally! It feels good to be out in fresh air at last," Helena breathed in deeply.

"First it was oversized bugs, what are they gonna throw at us next?" Jake scoffed as he absent-mindedly inspected his magnum pistol.

"Uhh…Jake?" Sherry called out anxiously, pointing at something in the distance.

"What – oh come on!" Jake threw his hands up in frustration as he saw what Sherry was referring to.

A huge Tyrant glowered at them from the far end of the square. Standing at almost nine feet tall with a grotesque heart pulsating on its right chest, its chalky-white eyes was literally sizing them up like helpless prey.

"Tch, I've handled guys worse than you in Six. This should be a piece of cake," Jake cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward to meet his adversary. "Come on, let's dance!"

"Jake, I don't think that's such a good – "

Sherry needn't even bother with her co-star. With an almighty battle cry, Jake charged forward as did the Tyrant. The three watched transfixed as the other man barreled at full speed towards the BOW that was twice his size. Their hearts stopped a beat as Jake attempted to replicate his killing blow on Ustanak. As he leapt into the air to deliver a haymaker to the creature's face…

Smack.

A simple swat of its hand sent Jake hurtling across the square and onto the adjacent building's wall. The three women couldn't help but grimace at his predicament.

"We probably should help him out. That idiot is the only one with the gun big enough to take that thing down." Ada sighed. I wonder how Alpha's doing.


"Alright, we'll cover you guys while you push the car into place," Jill called out as she and Claire picked out their targets that were slowly shambling towards them.

Leon and Chris were putting their shoulders into moving one of the police cruisers to form a makeshift barricade against the tide of undead slowly swarming the street in front of the bar.

"That's one down, should buy us some time!" Chris muttered once the car was in place. "Let's get the other one."

"Right," Leon nodded.

The four retreated in orderly fashion down the street as they methodically and effectively mowed down any zombies that got too close for comfort with expertly-placed headshots. It was also worth noting that the four of them were no worse for wear.

"I'm running low here," Claire called out. "Anybody have ammo?"

"Here, take my gun," Chris handed his weapon over as he brandished an iron pipe. "I'm probably able to dish out more damage with this thing anyway."

Claire nodded gratefully. "Thanks."

They fell back into their routine once they arrived at the next row of police cruisers. Claire and Jill kept watch as the two men pushed the car up against the wall to cut the zombies off.

"Done! Now let's get to the alley! Officer Douglas should have the door opened by now," Leon pointed towards said alleyway.

True enough, they arrived to find the door ajar and Officer Douglas already at the far end of the alleyway, struggling with another locked set of doors.

"Keep them back while I try getting the door open!" he ordered as he searched through a keyring.

"Alright, how's everyone doing on ammo?" Chris turned to his group.

"Four in the magazine, one in the chamber," Jill replied as she ejected her gun's magazine.

"I've got one full mag once I'm done reloading," Leon piped up as he manually thumbed rounds into his pistol's magazine. "Jill, I think there's probably four rounds left once I'm done. You can have the rest."

"I think I've probably only got seven rounds left in your gun plus the Molotov in my inventory," Claire replied.

"How about inventory –" Chris's words were cut off by the skittering of feet as numerous grey-shelled insects scurried into view. "Cover Officer Douglas now!" He sidestepped one of the insects that tried lunging at him before bringing his iron pipe down on the insect with a sickening crunch.

"Goddamnit!" Officer Douglas cursed as he gave up on the keys. Shotgun in hand, he fired into the door's locks. The four castmates formed a defensive ring around him, keeping at bay any of the Scissor Tails. It wasn't before long until the undead shambled into the alleyway.

"Officer, whatever you're doing, you better do it fast!" Leon exclaimed.

"Why don't you just step aside and let Jill take a crack at it? She is the master of unlocking after all," Chris couldn't help but smirk.

Jill rolled her eyes at her colleague's remark. "You're never going to let me live it down are you, Chris? That was almost fifteen years ago! And besides, I don't have any of my lockpicking tools on me."

"Molotov incoming, stand back everyone!" Claire yelled as she chucked the whiskey bottle stuffed with a burning rag towards the Scissor Tails. The glass shattered on impact, bathing a the insects in burning alcohol. "Guess I made the right call in piecing it together even when somebody," she shot Leon a smug look, "said it was just a waste of inventory space."

"I think I got it!" Officer Douglas exclaimed after firing his last shell into the locks before kicking it open to the tune of splintering wood and creaking iron hinges. "Through here!"

The group backed up beyond the door to find themselves in somewhat of a dead-end. The only object of note was an oil tanker parked at the end of the street.

"Leon!" Jill motioned towards the tanker.

"I'm on it!" Leon was thinking the exact same thing as he took off towards the tanker, his sights firmly set on its control valve.

"Everyone! Get back – argh!" While his back was turned, a zombie snuck up on the unsuspecting police officer and tore a chunk clean off his neck.

"Chris! Weren't you covering him?" Claire looked at her brother reproachfully.

"Don't look at me! That zombie just appeared out of nowhere!" the elder Redfield shrugged. "It's a scripted event; he was supposed to die, Claire."

Despite the zombies now mauling him, Officer Douglas managed to produce a lighter from his pocket and held it upright above the rotting limbs for all to see. "M-make sure they all burn in hell!" he gasped with his dying breath as the zombie continued to tear into him.

A sloshing of liquid from the oil tanker turned everyone's attention to Leon as he unleashed a torrent of gasoline that flooded down the street. Finally realizing the plan, Claire sprinted towards Officer Douglas's corpse and scooped up both his shotgun and lighter. Tossing the former to Leon, she wheeled around and emptied a faceful of buckshot into the zombie that tried taking a bite out of her.

Chris joined the fray as he bodily slammed the zombie behind it to the ground. "You okay?"

"Yeah!"

"Into the sewers! That thing's gonna blow!" Jill hollered to be heard over the chaos.

Ensuring that his friends were safely out of the way, Leon flicked open the lighter and dropped it into the pool of gasoline. As soon as the open flame made contact with the liquid, tendrils of fire snaked down the entire length of the street, drowning whatever monstrosity that was unlucky enough to be caught in the wall of flames. He couldn't help but smile at the satisfaction of watching them burn.

"Jump!"

BOOM.

In typical Hollywood fashion, the four of them got off to a running start and plunged feet-first into the murky waters below just as the tanker erupted in a conflagration of fire and shrapnel.

"Now THAT was an explosion," Claire exclaimed as her bobbed up above the surface.

The excitement and awe twinkling in her eyes didn't escape Chris's notice which was beginning to worry him a bit. Claire might be having a bit too much fun with this.


"That thing really should stay dead after we brought it down the first time!" Sherry exclaimed to Ada who was running at her side. The two were hurtling at full speed down one of the university's service corridors, the Tyrant close behind at their heels.

"If there's one thing you haven't noticed by now, the dead never really stay dead!" Ada panted as she rounded another corner.

"Ugh, I've still got some of that gunk on me!" Sherry wiped away a transparent and viscous liquid that coated her hair and most of her outfit. "Forget Thanatos back there for a sec, those Hunters down in water plant almost tried to eat me!" She shuddered with disgust at the thought.

"For all it's worth, all your shouting did provide a good enough distraction for us to grab the P-Base."

"Yeah well, Jake and Helena better get their hands on the Daylight samples while we're busy distracting the thing that's trying to kill all of us."

Sparks from several overhead electrical wires caught Sherry's attention. "Ada, up ahead, look! If we lead it right under the wires, we might just be able to slow it down!"

"Well, what other choice do we have?!" Ada picked up the pace and pulled ahead of Sherry. "You lead him to it, I'll pull the switch!"

"Alright!"

The spy ground to a halt as she reached the electrical panel mounted on the wall. She turned back and saw their pursuer fast approaching. Three….two…

"Yikes!" Sherry yelped out in surprise as she lost her footing. The saliva had dribbled down to her boots, causing her to slip and slide rather ungracefully across the floor.

One! Ada pressed down on the power button and the overhead cables crackled nastily with thousands of volts worth of electricity. The Tyrant ran head-first underneath the cables and, safe to say, had a shocking epiphany. There was a flash of bright light as the BOW was summarily electrocuted, followed by the smell of charred flesh. It wobbled unsteadily on its feet, before collapsing onto the ground…where Sherry was still splayed across.

"Uh oh…" Sherry squeaked as the colossal mass bore down on her.

Right on cue, an adjacent door opened to reveal Helena and Jake, a vial of Daylight clutched in the former's hands.

"Woah, what just happened here?" Jake raised a quizzical brow as he saw Sherry pinned beneath the Tyrant's hulking form.

"Just get this thing off of me!" Sherry grunted as she tried rather unsuccessfully to push the prone BOW off her.

"Come on, give me a hand. The sooner we get going, the better. This building's still rigged to blow," Helena said.

With the combined effort of all four of them, it didn't take too long to get Sherry out from under the Tyrant. Bruised, battered and exhausted, the group exited the university building and into the back square where they made it a point to put as much distance between themselves and the building as possible.

"So…how long till the building's supposed to go up in smoke – Jesus!" Jake did a double take as the explosives went off, taking one entire wing of the Raccoon University building with it. With its foundation weakened by the explosives, the structured collapsed onto itself with a groan of metal and crumbling concrete. "Well then, what now?" Jake asked after the dust had settled and only rubble remained.

"Now, wefinally get to leave this obstacle course," Ada muttered in relief as she headed towards a side door beside the square's imposing metal gate.

"Finally," Helena groaned, gritting her teeth against all the cuts and bruises she had sustained over the duration of their little gauntlet run. What I'd give for a first aid spray right about now. She limped along with the group as they stepped through the door and into a side road that ran around the campus, presumably leading to its front entrance where they first entered.

"Hold up, you guys hear that?" Sherry turned her head towards the back square. "I thought I heard something back there. You think that thing could still be alive?"

"You're probably just hearing things. There's no way that BOW could have survived an entire building being brought down on it," Helena replied. As soon as the words left her mouth, a blur leapt skywards from the back square…and a mutated Thanatos landed with a heavy thud in front of the group. It's right arm was missing, but its remaining limb had mutated into sharp claws and it was clearly several feet bigger than it was before – much to the chagrin of the four.

"Motherfu – "


"I got the detonator's handle! Anybody else found its main body – woah!" A zombie managed to latch onto Leon and was now trying to sink its teeth into him.

Claire leapt into the fray and dislodged his assailant with a vicious roundhouse. "You okay, Leon?"

"Yeah, thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it," she smiled. "Come on, I think I saw the detonator's main body somewhere over there. There's too many of them for us to handle. We might need Jill and Chris's help."

Raccoon City's Main Street was literally a walking nightmare. The undead swarmed every corner of the street upon topppling the barricade set up by the RPD bomb squad. Right next to the bomb kit, two police officers lay unmoving on the street as zombies continued feasting on their remains. Jill and Chris were trying their best to stem the horde while Leon and Claire looked around for the bomb's detonator unit.

"You guys got it?" Chris called out to them, feeding more shells into his shotgun. The group was now relatively well-armed, courtesy of the weapons cache in the police van that they arrived in.

"No, but I think I saw it further down the street," Claire pointed and later added, "We're gonna need some extra firepower to clear the way."

Jill reloaded her magnum revolver and closed its cylinder. "Lead the way."

The four formed a firing line as they advanced towards the supposed location of the detonator, taking down any zombies as they approached. Once in the midst of the horde, the formation fell away to an outward-facing ring in order to make sure that all of their quadrants were covered. They moved with surprising efficiency and took care of the incoming zombies with surprising ease.

"I got it!" Leon exclaimed as he bent down to pick up the other half of the detonator. His compatriots were still reloading and firing away to form a defensive perimeter around him.

"Alright, now let's get to the overpass before we rig this street to blow," Chris ordered. The wall of undead was slowly but surely pressing down on them and he was doing his best to thin their ranks.

"Come on, this way!" Jill hollered as she fired her last round into a nearby zombie before following it up with a high-kick to another's jaw. The affected zombie staggered backwards to reveal a relatively clear path behind it.

The four made for the opening, weaving their way around the rotting clutches of the undead. Leon had to improvise, swinging his shotgun like a makeshift club since there was no time to reload given the circumstances. It didn't take too long for the four to retreat to the general safety of the overpass. Out of harm's way for the time being, Leon combined the two components together to produce a working detonator unit. He exchanged looks between the detonator, the undead-laden streets and Claire.

"Would you like to have the honor?" he handed the detonator over to Claire.

Claire looked taken aback for a moment before she broke out in a mischievous grin. "Gladly," she took the detonator off Leon's hands and twisted its handle.

The effect was explosive to say the least. A huge ball of flame erupted from beneath the street at a distance followed by another until it became a chain of explosions that rocked the entire length of Main Street. Zombies, rubble and asphalt rained down from the skies as the explosives ran its course and Claire stared transfixed at the fiery display of destruction before her.

"I-it's beautiful," she muttered, her voice stricken with awe.

As the dust settled, a slow clap was heard from behind them. Kevin Ryman emerged onto the set, flashing the group an impressed grin. "Woah, you guys were awesome! I think you even cleared the course in record time!"

"Yeah, I think we did pretty alright, all things considered," Jill smiled in satisfaction. "I've got to say though, this whole obstacle course pretty much took me back to when we were making One and Three."

"Hah, you could say that again. Limited inventory spaces and ammo, I felt the exact same way when I was doing Two," Leon chimed in.

"Uh…excuse me?" Claire gave Leon a playful jab on the shoulder. "You meant when we were doing Two, right?"

"Alright, alright, break it up you two," Kevin interjected. "You guys did good, so pack up and let's get going. Hell, you guys should celebrate, I know this one good bar outside the Capcom lot if anybody's interested," Kevin said as he ushered them to a side door which led them off set.

*break*

"That's it, I've had it with this thing!" Helena exclaimed, murder evident in her eyes and for good reason too. She took a knee and hoisted the rocket launcher that she found lying by the corpse of a dead Umbrella soldier onto her shoulder. "Get clear you two!" she hissed at Jake and Ada that were now trying to bring the mutated Tyrant down with nothing more than melee weapons. Ammunition and healing items had run out in their previous encounter in the side street but somehow, Thanatos was stubborn enough to get up and pursue them even to the front square. Sherry was propped up against a nearby wall, looking worse for wear and clearly in no state to move.

"Jake!" Ada called to get his attention and motioned to Helena.

"Woah!" Jake dove to the ground to avoid a brutal swing of the Tyrant's claws before raising his head to see Helena pointing the rocket launcher at the trio. "Seriously?!" he exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet to get clear.

The Tyrant could only chance one look at Helena before she squeezed the trigger. A plume of smoke exited the launcher as the projectile raced through the air towards the BOW.

BOOM.

Her aim proved true as the warhead detonated on impact. She even had to shield her eyes against the intensity of the blast. As the smoke cleared, the Tyrant was slumped unmoving on the ground, hopefully dead for good this time. Just to be safe, she cautiously inched her way over and prodded it with her feet. It didn't seem to stir, much to her relief.

"And s-stay dead!"

Helena wobbled unsteadily on her feet and collapsed to a sitting position on the ground. She was panting heavily and could feel every single fiber of her being aching from the injuries.

"No seriously, are we done yet?" Jake asked, doubled over with exhaustion and pain.

As if to answer his question, Yoko Suzuki arrived on set and she looked pleased. "Congratulations everyone, you've arrived at the end of the obstacle course. Mr. Takeshi will be pleased," she smiled all business-like.

"Yeah, and I bet you can't wait to inform him of our performance," Ada rolled her eyes as she helped lift Sherry up. "Do you know where the infirmary is by any chance? Ms. Birkin here is probably in need of medical attention."

"Oh sure, right this way," Yoko gestured towards the production stage's door where they first entered before turning back to everyone, "Everyone's done a great job so you're now free to go for the rest of the day. Also, Mr. Takeshi expects to see you all bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Well, you can go…you can go tell Ed to," Helena slurred her words as she struggled to stay conscious, "T-that he can go fuc…" before she could even finish, she collapsed to the ground as fatigue finally took its toll.


A/N: It's a longer chapter than what I'm previously used to writing but I just wanted to get all the good bits and scenes that I had in mind out on paper. I hope you guys will enjoy the added length.

Once again, thanks for reading and thanks to those for taking the time to leave a review. I really appreciate them! Well, I'll see you guys in the next chapter.