Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or House of the Dead. Resident Evil and all RE characters mentioned here are the property of Capcom. House of the Dead and all HOTD characters are the property of Sega. This is a work of crossover fiction designed for entertainment purposes only.
The House Of The Dead
Chapter 7 – Paths
By Bhamv
*****
Culkin Spiriter regained his consciousness slowly but steadily, gradually becoming aware of his surroundings. The first thing that came back to him was the pain, searing pain everywhere in his body. His right lung felt punctured, and every breath was agony, while the places on his abdomen and legs where he had been stabbed by the branches of that tree were throbbing with hurt. Forcing his eyelids open, he gazed up at the full white moon surrounded by black sky, his eyesight hazy due to blood loss. Slowly lifting his head he realized a giant body, a body with possessing a pair of gigantic wings, was covering him and pinning him down.
Slowly his mind registered the fact that it was the remains of Hangedman atop him. The black-colored manbat was dead, a neat bullet hole over where its heart was located. Its reddish-purple ichor mixed with Culkin's own dark red blood, staining the soil beneath them.
"How long… how long have I been unconscious?" Culkin thought to himself. He tried to lift the body of Hangedman off of him, but as soon as he moved his right arm pain lanced through the arm and shoulder, making him squeeze his eyes shut in torture. Opening his lids again, he turned his head to inspect his ruined shoulder, where Hangedman had grabbed and lifted him earlier that day. Several large wounds were located on his upper arm and shoulder, some deep enough to see bone. It was unlikely he would ever be able to use the arm again.
Pulling his left arm free instead, he grabbed Hangedman around its wing and heaved as hard as his failing strength allowed him to, barely managing to lift the dead weight off. Pushing the corpse to one side, he shoved it as far away from himself as possible with his booted foot. He then shut his eyes and laid flat on the ground panting, exhausted by even that simple task.
His own tortured breath masked the sound of flapping wings until they were very close, almost right on top of him. Culkin's eyes flew open in disbelief and looked to his left, confirming the Hangedman he just threw aside was still dead. Looking straight up again, however, he saw the unmistakable silhouette of a Hangedman-class bio-weapon flying in a circle above the courtyard. Giving a loud high-pitched laugh, the creature swooped down and hovered over Culkin, the wind from its flapping wings blowing bits of dirt and dust into his eyes.
Blinking away the intruders beneath his eyelids as best he could, Culkin suddenly felt a pair of talons grab him around his waist, not injuring him severely but cutting deep enough to draw blood. He gave a gasp of pain then passed out again. The talons lifted him up in a flapping of wings, jerking his wounded body painfully into the air and over the roof of the mansion. This second Hangedman flew quickly and steadily, soaring over rooftops until it came across an open duct. Still carrying its human payload the creature dived into the shaft, flying nearly straight down until it emerged into a large laboratory, with computers and machinery everywhere. It then spread its wings wide to stop its descent, dropping Culkin onto his side on the metal floor with a loud clang.
The impact of landing jarred Culkin awake and he gave a low moan. Forcing his eyes open, he found a pair of human feet before his eyes. One foot lifted up and pushed him onto his back so he could look upwards. Blinking the last of the dust from his eyes, Culkin realized he was looking at the face of his employer, Curien.
"Ahh, excellent! You're still alive, Spiriter." Curien said, his lips curling into a malicious smile. "I had hoped you would be all right… although looking at you now I'm not certain your condition qualifies as 'all right'."
Curien sneered and turned back to one of the computers, typing a series of commands into the keyboard. Hangedman, still hovering in the air, gave a wail of acknowledgement and rose upwards, flying back out the passage it had entered from and back into the night. Curien then pressed a button on another bank of consoles, and several of the machines nearby hummed to life.
"Now, Spiriter, I am certain you recognize the machines in this room. After all, you helped to design and build them." Curien said, slowly turning around to face the man lying prone on the floor. Culkin slowly turned his head and stared at the machines, his muddled mind unable to process what he saw for several moments. When he realized what he was seeing though, his eyes went wide with alarm and fear, and he gave a soft squeak.
"Yes, precicely, Spiriter. These are the machines that implant the bio-chips into the brains of corpses." Casually Curien flicked a switch on the machine closest to him, and a conveyer belt rolled to life, moving a cadaver into the machine. Culkin could not see much from where he laid, but he could hear enough. There was a loud buzzing sound, like a drill or a saw, and then a series of wet sounds intermingled with periodic humming of the machine. Less than a minute later the sounds and humming stopped, and a loud crack, like an electric spark, echoed through the lab. A second conveyer belt rumbled into action, pulling the body out of the other side of the machine. The body twitched and shook on the belt, before giving a low moan. It then sat up, and then stood, coming to life before Culkin's very eyes.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Sheer brilliance, this thing. I must say you did well, Spiriter." Culkin said, walking up to the newly created zombie. Now that it was erect Culkin could see it used to be a woman, her light brown hair cascading over her shoulders. The zombie turned towards Culkin and he received another shock, recognizing the face and the three bullet holes in the undead woman's chest.
"Hmm? Why the shocked expression, Spiriter?" Curien asked, looking back at the zombie standing beside him. "Oh yes, I believe you were acquainted with this girl before she died? Miss Laura Chevalle, wasn't it?"
Curien then walked up to Culkin, kneeling down beside him. "Oh don't look so surprised, Spiriter. I've been sending Hangedman to harvest bodies for several hours now. No point letting them go to waste when we have bio-chips to spare, wouldn't you say?"
He then straightened and walked back to his keyboard, saying, "Now I suppose you're dying to know why I've brought you here, Spiriter, and I'll put you out of your misery and tell you now. As you no doubt know, I don't enjoy betrayal very much; in fact, I rather abhor it. Under normal circumstances, someone who has betrayed me has to die. You fall under this category."
Curien tapped a command into his computer and the Laura zombie jerked, shuffling towards the prone Culkin on the ground. "However, I found myself with a minor dilemma. You had provided me with years of dedicated service, with constant devotion to my vision and goal, until that final bit of disloyalty near the end. And to be honest, I have to say I cannot blame you entirely for your desertion, being aware of what you were up against. However, a betrayal is still a betrayal, which left me wondering what to do with you, Spiriter."
The zombie stopped when it reached Culkin's side, heaving him onto its shoulder with unnatural strength. His consciousness fading again, Culkin barely heard Curien's words as he felt himself being carried towards the bloodstained machine Laura had just gone through. "Well, I'm certain you would delighted to know I came up with a solution. You're going to die, that much is certain, but I decided to keep you alive for as long as possible. To grant you life when you should be dead…"
Slowly the implications of Curien's words began to sink in as Culkin was dropped onto the conveyer belt. "As you know, this device was only meant to work on bodies that were fully dead. Well, now we shall see what happens when we use one that's only half dead." Curien said before flicking the switch of the machine again. The conveyer belt jerked then started rolling, pulling Culkin into the machine. Culkin was too weak to struggle, too weak to stand up and escape, and could do nothing to stop himself as he was drawn into the monstrous device that made zombies. And he didn't think he had the energy to scream either, but when he disappeared fully into the horrific machine he changed his mind.
*****
Chris Redfield led his team through another set of double doors, following the small and simple map in his hand. Glancing to his right, he double-checked before putting the map away, staring at the door he was at. Behind him his sister Claire gave a low hmmm, also pondering the large metal portal they had stopped at.
"So we're supposed to go through here?" She asked, looking at Chris.
"That's what the map says." Chris replied.
"Let me guess, it's locked." Came a voice behind both of them, a voice belonging to Leon Kennedy.
Chris nodded. "Yep."
"And we don't have the key?" Said another voice, this time that of Jill Valentine bringing up the rear of the foursome.
Chris nodded again. "Yep."
"All right, get out of the way." Leon said, drawing his gun and firing at the electronic lock of the door. The lock remained intact, however, and the bullet ricocheted off with a bright spark. The three remaining STARS members ducked out of the way of the wayward bullet as quickly as they could, taking cover on the ground.
"Yikes, don't do that, Leon!" Claire said, standing back up after making sure there was no further danger. She then looked around her, spotting a dark plastic rectangle on a console nearby. Grabbing it, she found her hunch confirmed as it said KEYCARD in red letters on the back. "Shall we try this?"
Leon shrugged sheepishly and nodded, stepping back to allow Clare to slide the card along an electronic groove to one side of the door. With a hiss of expelled gas the two metal panels slid to either side. Loud zombie moans and growls immediately started coming from the newly accessible area. Lifting their guns in their hands, the STARS team cautiously filed through the door. On their left were a series of three cages, each filled with shuffling zombies. The creatures spotted the foursome walking on the other side of the bars and snarled, charging at them only to be stopped by the cage walls. Undeterred, they backed up and slammed themselves against the cage again and again, rattling the metal bars ominously.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Chris suggested, breaking into a jog to reach the second set of metal doors opposite. Pushing them open, he led the way through, turning back to make sure his teammates were all right. He suddenly heard a clicking sound coming from the room they had just vacated, and he looked upwards to find two metallic creatures crawling over the ceiling at them. They resembled the apes the STARS had fought earlier, but these were covered in gleaming metal armor, until they resembled robots or cyborgs instead of animals. One of them pointed an arm at Chris and suddenly a three-pronged claw flew out of an opening in the forearm, barely missing his cheek as he ducked to one side. The two creatures dropped from the ceiling and gave their distinctive screech as they hurled themselves at the STARS.
Chris raised his gun and fired twice in quick succession, hitting both creatures and throwing them backwards. They tumbled head over heels several times before landing on their feet, immediately charging forward again, unfazed by the gunshots.
"Uh oh…" Jill said, grabbing one of the doors while Chris pulled on the other. They shut the heavy metal doors just as before the creatures leapt up at them, closing them against the armored chimps' attacks. Through the thick panels they could still hear the screeching of the monkeys and the clicking of their armor and claws, and in unison the four STARS members backed away from the door.
"Looks like they've been making improvements." Quipped Claire. She jumped in surprise when there was a loud bang against the doors. "We'd better get going."
Chris whirled around and led the way across their new surroundings, stopping at two sets of elevators at the opposite side of the large round room. One of the elevators appeared to be broken, so he cautiously pressed the button beside the operational one. A low hum emanated from the elevator shaft, stopping abruptly when the doors of the lift slid open.
"Well, I guess we go through it now." Chris said, glancing back at his teammates. They nodded and followed him into the darkness of the elevator car, further into the unknowns of the house of the dead.
*****
Two paths taken, and yet will their fates remain different? Anyway, thanks for reading this far, please indulge me with your comments and reviews! -Bhamv