Chapter Seven: Evil Resident
Disoriented human senses slowly came back into focus. Steam and other gaseous liquids echoed around the dark void surroundings Michael's eyes. A few feet in front of him, he could hear water bubbling inside some sort of container. Below him, bleeps and hums flowed from hi-tech machinery. Ok body…how many times are we gonna have to go through this? When I want something done, you get it done. I want my eyes open…so open them! As his eyes shot open, five large incubation chambers, each with its own unfortunate human and or animal victim, came into view. Michael's eyes caught a glimpse of a shady white figure moving in between the chambers. A hard tug with his right arm revealed his wrists and ankles to be confined by two sets of bulging chains. Whatever. Michael sighed and waited for whoever was approaching to come into view. A white, blood and dirt stained coat filled Michael's vision. The man inside the tattered garment was shriveled and weak with long black hair that extended just below his chin. His green eyes rose to meet Michael's black pupils.
"Where's Linn?" Michael barely had the strength to put his anger behind his question.
"She could be dead." The ragged scientist smiled maniacally. "Depending on which one of these lovely ladies you are referring to." He held his hands up pointing to Michael's left and right.
Michael turned his head to the left and Linn's girlish form came into view. "Mutha…" He gasped at a sudden lapse of pain surging through his body. "What…what the fuck did you do to us?"
"You…I sedated with enough tranquilizer to put down an elephant. The others…well the others are of little value to me." The scientist replied as two undead humans silently stepped up behind him. He smiled again at the small glint of hope in Michael's eyes. "Have you met my friends, Dr. Swanson and his lab assistant, Dr. Ferguson?" The zombies stopped at Michael's host's side and remained silent.
Michael glanced at the two undead men. All of their clothes except for their pants had been removed. "You three plannin' some gayfest later or what?"
"Of course not, I'm a respectable scientist and these are two of my experiments." The scientist grinned. "And…so are you."
Michael didn't bother glancing to his right, he could smell the death in the air and hear what he assumed was blood dripping on the floor. "You know what…?" It was obvious what was going to happen next. "Just get on with it."
Bernard's cackling echoed with the release of the rattling chains restraining Michael's disoriented body. The two undead scientists carried Michael down a set of metal grated stairs to a rusted blood stained steel table. This loud noise stabbed through Linn's ears into her unconscious mind.
Wha…? What's going on? Linn thought as she slowly began to regain consciousness. What's that smell..? An image of herself falling onto a large sharp glass shard on the abandoned factory floor. Wait…I know that smell. Open eyes…open! Oh god why can't I feel my arms or legs! I can't even feel myself breathing! Why? Why can't I feel my body! Slowly, dead air flowing in and out of the young woman's nostrils began to revive her senses and her eyes unexpectedly shot open. Her blurred and disoriented gaze turned from the left and right. I'm alive….where am I? A grotesque crimson image began to form as her eyesight focused.
"…Oh my god! Lisa!" Linn's eyes widened, taking in the full sight of Lisa's deformed corpse.
Over twenty long tubes were connected through hundreds of cuts and tears decorating the unfortunate woman's body. Blood and other fluids shot through the tubes into the many machines spread throughout the second floor of the laboratory. Linn closed her eyes and allowed them to open only after she was sure her head faced the opposite direction. This time, her eyes took in the sight of two large engine powered boats and one small speedboat floating in a small harbor connected to the lab. Once again Linn allowed an emotion she swore she'd never feel again creep its way into her heart. Hope flickered behind the water surrounding her eyes. As quickly as this hope arose however, a close friend's agonized screams shattered her resolve and sent her back into a world she never wanted to revisit. Michael!
Dr. Thompson grinned maniacally as he cut, poked, and probed Michael's wounded body with a wide assortment of scapulas, plastic tubes, and jagged knives. The immense pain surging through Michael's body forced another loud agonized scream from him before the overwhelming shock and stress made him lose consciousness. Bernard continued his work, mercilessly and carelessly cutting open Michael's skin and inserting the life absorbing tubes into his muscles, veins, and bones.
Linn stretched her neck to the far right and barely caught a glimpse of Bernard standing over Michael's lifeless body. "Michael!"
Bernard's sadistic gaze rose from Michael, and the round electric powered saw he held over the fallen warrior came to a halt. "Hmm…and who might that be?"
Linn gasped as Bernard and his two undead assistants stopped in front of her after quickly climbing the metal staircase. "Those…what? How are you not being eaten right now?"
Bernard ran his bloody hand along Linn's arm. "Your skin…so soft."
"Hey!" Linn struggled with her chains. "Get away from me you sicko!"
"Sicko?" Bernard mockingly laughed at the insult. "Take her to the second table!" His commanding glare centered on the two undead scientists behind him.
"Wait! No!" Linn screamed.
Thomas's consciousness quickly returned to him at the sound of Linn's screams. "Wha…what the hell?" His arms strained against the tightened chains.
"No! No please…no!" Linn begged.
Infuriated from what he heard, Thomas continued to struggle with his restraints while frantically searching for something he could use to free himself. "Hey!" Unable to find anything, he hoped that a distraction would be enough to give Linn enough time at a chance for survival.
"Listen you ugly pencil necked troll nosed freak!" Thomas challenged.
Bernard glared at the brave but foolish man chained to the wall in front of him. "Are you expecting some form of help to arrive? I have captured all of you…and unfortunately for you…I'm all out of operating tables." Bernard backed away towards the stairs, giving each one of his undead slaves a bloodthirsty glance. As he vanished down the metal grated passageway, the zombie scientists both growled as they stepped towards the helpless human.
Linn managed to get her breathing under control and slowly turned her head to the right. "Oh my god…." The same as Lisa, Michael's body was littered with tubes and his bodily fluids were being run through a large super computer.
"Incredible, isn't it?" Bernard stepped up beside the two operating tables. "I looked over the documents you've all collected so I'm sure you must know by now what our friend Michael is."
Tears built up behind Linn's eyes as she gazed out at Michael. "Yes…but…what does that have to do with anything?" She glared at Bernard. "Why are you doing this to us!"
"To you?" Bernard smiled. "Because I can my dear…but…" His gaze turned to Michael. "He…is a different matter. He is my greatest creation. But unfortunately he is one of a kind. I was never able to reproduce my creation. They thought they had me on a short leash, but my experiments continued and with one failure after the next…I became impatient."
Linn's eyes widened and her latent tears sparkled. "It was you! You caused all of this!"
"Yes, yes it was! But I don't think you realize how deep my involvement in your activities has gone." Bernard's maniacal grin centered in front of Linn's shocked gaze. "Your escape from the prison was no chanced fate and your travels through the island were directed by me! It was my assistant who blasted your bio-engineered boyfriend back in Harborville Town! Since then my undead agents have been helping me monitor your progress."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Linn shouted.
"I'm going to find the secret to his strength. My dear I don't think you realize just what it is lying next to you!" Bernard chuckled.
"Yes I do! His name is Michael! And he's my friend! And if you don't let us go right now he's going to kill you!"
"Yes he will be killing many…perhaps even you, but not me. Michael's D.N.A somehow merged with the T Virus and the G Virus. No…it took control of them and made them his own. He would be dead now like that woman upstairs if it weren't for that. His strength is beyond that of any human…"
"He is human you freak!" Linn snapped.
Bernard laughed loudly at the statement. "Maybe I should inject him with one of the viral antidotes and we'll both see how human he really is."
"You monster..." Linn's tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Hey what the fuck do you smelly bastards think you're doing! Get away from me! No get away!" Thomas's shouts echoed from upstairs into Linn and Bernard's ears.
"No…" The scientist gazed up at the grated floor. "Those are monsters."
"Thomas!" Linn gasped. She felt her world of friends crumbling around her and she knew there was nothing she could do. "Please stop this!"
"Why the hell would I want to do that?" Bernard laughed.
"Because if you don't." Richard's voice flowed viscously into Bernard's ears. "I'll put a hole way more useful than your mouth on the back of your head with this gun!"
Bernard turned and hissed with an evil frown covering his face.
"Whoa what the fuck!" Richard flinched, taken aback by the inhuman hiss.
"Just shoot him already!" Frank ordered.
Bernard darted across the room while several bullets from Richard's gun ricocheted off of his equipment. "You won't stop my work!" He slammed a steel door behind him after exiting the laboratory.
Thomas's eyes widened at the site of the two undead scientists reaching out for him. "No!"
Two gunshots from Richard's gun silenced the zombies and put Thomas's fears at ease. "Get him down."
Frank nodded and grabbed a large remote device hanging on a wire by the chained prisoners. With a push of a button the chains retracted, freeing the once captive humans. Lisa's corpse hit the ground with a wet thud while Cynthia's pale form stumbled to the metal floor. Thomas hoped down from the wall and gave Frank and Richard a brief glance before running over to Cynthia.
"She's still alive, but we should inject her with the antidote just in case. Same goes for me. Where did that nasty freak put the green cure stuff anyway?" Thomas asked while lifting Cynthia up into his arms.
Linn gently pressed her body against Michael's and caressed his forehead with her right hand. "Everything's going to be ok…I don't know how but it has to be…" She couldn't help staring as Michael's wounds began to heal before her eyes.
Michael's eyes shot open suddenly and another loud agonized scream escaped him as his body pulsed with pain, pulling against his restraints. It hurts…
"Oh my god! Michael!" She stared up the metal stairs. "Someone help! We have to get these restraints off!"
Thomas, Frank, and Richard who was now carrying Cynthia ran down the stairs and spread out around the two tables.
"There has to be some kind of release button on that computer!" Richard shouted.
"Yeah but which one!" Linn screamed.
"Push them all!" Thomas ordered.
The metal restraints holding Michael were retracted into the table and the shockwaves of pain surging through his body forced him off the table and onto the bloodstained floor, ripping the tubes from his body. "Mutha fucka!" He screamed. "Mother fucker!" He stood to his feet. "Where is he!" His infuriated glare shifted around the entire facility. "Where is that rat faced dick licking goat humping piece of shit!"
Linn wrapped her arms around Michael's neck and firmly pressed her body against his. "You're ok!"
Michael's anger instantly subsided as he slowly wrapped his arms around Linn. "Linn I…he didn't hurt you did he?"
Linn smiled up at Michael. "Nope I'm fine."
"I couldn't…I couldn't protect you." Michael's hold on her loosened as he began to pull away.
"Michael it's ok." Linn slowly loosened her arms from Michael's neck.
"No it isn't. I told you I wouldn't be able to protect you. That following me would get you killed." Michael backed away from her.
"Hey…" Thomas turned around scanning the room. "Where's Jacob?"
"Get away from my experiment! All of you!" Bernard's hi-pitched voice echoed from several speakers constructed throughout the laboratory.
Michael glared at the walls of the establishment. "Where the fuck are you! I'm gonna…"
"Kill me in some grotesque fashion? Oh spare me your baseless threats." Bernard gloated.
Frank and Richard reminded the survivors of the three boats in the harbor behind them with several obvious bodily gestures then began running towards them. Before they reached the harbor, a massive metal wall slammed into the ground, cutting off their only escape from the island.
"No! God damnit!" Frank kicked the wall and then twitched and screamed as an electric jolt from the wall surged through his body then blasted him back eight feet.
Michael glared at the speakers as Bernard's loud cackling echoed throughout the laboratory. "Fucking lunatic…" He ignored Bernard's continued taunting as the door the mad scientist escaped through came into view.
Four seconds of Bernard's endless chatter continued until the locked steel door he escaped through blew back off its hinges from the force of Michael's fist slamming into it. Another hiss escaped the disturbed man as he again faced the few humans who managed to survive his island of nightmares. He stood in front of them on a slightly elevated steel floor that harbored more super computers similar to the ones in the harbor.
"I think it's time you fools finally realized just who it is you're dealing with!" The palm of Bernard's right bloody hand slammed down onto a bright red button.
The room the survivors entered was large and square shaped. The button Bernard pushed set in motion a series of loud clicks and clanks. Linn and Michael stepped back as a large section of the floor beneath them slid open and from it a rectangular platform rose from below. Three unsteady figures swayed from side to side on the steel platform. Two undead men dressed in torn and ravaged laboratory clothes snarled at the live humans in front of them along with an unfortunate undead woman with long dirt filled blonde hair.
"Two more of Umbrella's…top minds in the bio genetics field joined by my late supervisor, Alyssa Morgan." Bernard stepped around the computer to its front center. "She…like the rest of the workers here all thought they had me under control…under their control." He moved closer to the zombies as he spoke until he was directly behind Alyssa's corpse. His hand stroked the back of her head as she glared a hole through the small group of survivors. "As you can see…my revenge knows no bounds. No one escaped my wrath not even the company heads. But…as sweet as my victory was my revenge is still unsettled. I plan to spread my fury across the globe destroying everything Umbrella has ever touched."
"You fucking retard! Can't you take down Umbrella without destroying the world in the process?" Frank shouted.
Bernard's eyes sharpened and the pure evil reflected from him sent a chill down Linn's spine. "The world is of no concern to me…it's far more evil than I am. Whatever rises from the ashes of my destruction will be whatever fate has decided it to be." His yellow teeth flashed in the dim light as a maniacal grin spread across his face. "But in the meantime." His left hand pulled a small cylinder device from his bloodstained lab coat. "Witness the dawn…of the reaper age!" His thumb firmly pressed down on the button constructed on the top of the device caused a small computer chip implanted in each zombies' skull to glow bright red. The undead humans snarled at the living people across the room. "Destroy them!" Bernard ordered.
Michael slowly turned his cold emotionless gaze to Thomas who was searching for a way out of the room besides the dead end harbor. "Yo. …Get her out of here."
The zombies charged the group of scattering humans. Michael stepped forward and fiercely planted his fist on Alyssa's left jaw and sent her flying halfway across the room. Thomas grabbed Linn's arm and lead her to the far right side of the room towards a black metal door. Frank, Richard, and Cynthia all followed them as the zombies' surrounded Michael.
"Come on you fucking muck mouthed…" Michael leaned back, nearly dodging a lethal lunge from one of the scientists then slid his foot off the ground spinning his body and roundhouse kicking the undead man into his undead colleague.
Alyssa remained perched on one knee silently snarling at the group of men fighting in front of her. Blood dripped down through her teeth onto the floor. Her eyes shifted from left to right with each movement Michael made. They kept watching him even as he broke apart one undead scientist and then used its remains to break open the other. Then her soulless eyes met Michael's soulless eyes and with another silent snarl her skin torn legs lifted her body up onto its feet.
Michael stared down the former Umbrella executive as he circled the room with her. "Hurry up bitch, I got freaks to kill. Freaks that are still alive and need to be dead."
Michael kept his defenses down as Alyssa darted across the room towards him. Hurry up…whoa what the hell! Michael found himself guarding against a well-placed left hook intended for his right jawbone. He ducked then sidestepped to the right keeping his body low dodging a perfectly formed roundhouse kick.
"Bitch what the hell have you been smokin'?" Michael shouted as he backed away blocking move after move. My moves…but how? How the fuck is that possible! I don't even have any moves! I don't follow any styles…but she still…she can still copy me. Michael titled back slightly and caught Alyssa's fist firmly in his hand. "Alright then." His own fist broke off several bones inside of Alyssa's face pinning her body tot he ground.
Michael took a step back as the undead woman slowly rose from the floor. Several crackling sounds echoed from beneath her skin, as her broken bones and flesh mended before Michael's eyes. "Ah…shhh…"
Michael's words were cut short by a hard fist formed from Alyssa's right hand. The young man flew across the room and slammed hard into the steel wall. Before his body slid down to the floor Alyssa's hand wrapped firmly around his throat and held him up against the wall.
"O…ok bitch." Michael stammered while gasping for air. "Now you done gon' and got me pissed off." His right leg shot forward, slamming his foot into Alyssa's face, removing her head from her body. The zombie's grip loosened and Michael hit the floor with a thud. He grabbed his throat while coughing, taking large amounts of air into his lungs. Michael slowly rose to his feet then walked over to the zombie's head and picked it up. "Company head huh? I wonder how much head you gave to get where you're at." Michael's gaze turned to the decapitated corpse at the loud echo of bones crackling. The body twitched to its feet. "Oh come on!" Michael growled. "Bitch I'm holding your fucking head!"
Alyssa's body formed a new head identical to the one in Michael's hand and she shrieked at him with murderous intent.
"Right…" Michael turned and dashed towards the door the other survivors used.
"Wait…wait!" Linn forcibly removed her hand from Thomas's hand. "Stop!"
Thomas slid to a halt then turned to Linn. "What the hell for!"
"We have to go back for him!" Linn screamed.
"Are you crazy?" Frank shouted.
"There were only three of them! He can handle three!" Richard pointed out.
"What if they were infected with the R-Virus!" Linn turned towards the room they all escaped.
"The what?" Frank and Richard asked in unison.
"Lisa…" Cynthia whispered.
Frank stepped into the center of the group. "Look! We have to…"
Michael suddenly appeared running around the corner away from the square room. "Dead woman won't die! Dead woman won't die! Dead woman won't die!"
Alyssa appeared next, chasing down her prey growling and shrieking. Michael came to a sliding halt in the center of the survivors.
"Why the fuck won't that bitch die!" Michael shouted.
"It's the R-Virus!" Linn screamed. "You can only kill them by completely destroying their brains!"
"That a fact?" Michael's eyes locked onto a small monitor blipping with useless information. As Alyssa leapt into the air towards him his body glided to the side and his leg flew upward and slammed into the undead woman's face sending it crashing into the glass monitor. Electrical currents surged through the poor woman's head causing her entire body to violently convulse until finally orange flames consumed her, finally silencing her shrieks. "Dead now you fucking…" Michael turned his back to the ashes. "Forget it."
The six survivors all stepped through another steel door that lead out to an enormous catwalk that allowed them all a clear view of the tower's entrance lobby.
"Oh my…god…" Shock pulled all of the air from Linn's lungs.
Over one thousand undead citizens of the island crowded into the lobby of the tower. Hundreds of men and women above and below their teenage years groaned silently bumping into one another. Each of their white milky eyes scanning the area for any signs of live warm flesh.
Linn hugged into Michael, hiding her face from the death below her. "Why is this happening?"
It took all of the willpower Michael had left to resist putting his arms around the warm woman pressing her body against his. "It doesn't matter why. The only thing that matters is getting the hell out of here."
"Help!" A familiar voice echoed inside the survivors' ears.
The six humans stepped over to the edge of the railed catwalk and Jacob's form came into view. His hands tightly gripped the rails of the catwalk while the rest of his body hung over the immense crowd of zombies. Dirt sprinkled down from his clothes and shoes landing onto a few undead humans below him. The alerted dead men and women gazed up at the live flesh above them then reached out towards Jacob. The remaining corpses mimicked their undead kin and soon the entire zombie infested lobby was reaching out for Jacob who was quickly loosing his grip on the rails. Thomas and Richard grabbed Jacob's forearms and pulled him up onto the catwalk.
"Where the hell were you?" Thomas asked after Jacob began breathing normally again.
"I woke up before the rest of you did and made a break for it while those two zombies were carrying us towards the harbor. That weirdo told them to let me go and chain the rest of you up before you escaped too." Jacob explained.
Something caught Thomas's attention, movement in the corner of his eye. "Cynthia!" He darted to the edge of the catwalk and wrapped his arms around the unstable woman's waist.
"No! Let me go!" Water poured from Cynthia's eyes. "Lisa!" She stopped struggling and fell to her knees.
Michael sighed in annoyance then yanked Cynthia to her feet. "Look…" His eyes centered on hers. "Your sister's dead." He shook her violently. "Dead! That sick freak in a lab coat murdered her. And do you know what her spirit's doing right now? Frowning at you because you aren't trying to rip his fucking head off!"
Cynthia trembled in Michael's grip for a moment then suddenly, something happened to her. "Bernard…he killed her…" An uncontrollable rage burned behind her eyes. "That bastard killed my sister!" She glanced at the other survivors of the group, still restrained by Michael's grip. "What the fuck are you all staring at!" She wrestled herself free. "You get your hands off me! Let's go find that son of a bitch!"
Jacob stared at Michael. "Where did all that come from?"
"She was pissing me off so I just gave her a reason to live." Michael replied while watching Cynthia storm off towards the door at the other end of the catwalk.
"I didn't peg you as the spiritual type." Richard commented.
Linn grinned while holding back a giggle. "He's not. He doesn't even believe in spirits."
"How do you know?" Jacob turned his gaze to Linn.
"Well when we were trapped in that office room back in the factory we made love. And in the peak of our passion I saw deep into his personality through his eyes." Linn smiled adorably.
Michael stared at Linn for a handful of moments as everyone else remained silent. "…." His lips cracked and slowly formed a smile and then suddenly, a loud burst of laughter escaped him.
Linn began laughing as well and followed Michael as he started towards the end of the catwalk.
"…What the hell?" Thomas asked himself.
"Let's just get the hell out of here." Frank suggested.
The other survivors all nodded and walked off towards the end of the catwalk.
