Chapter IX
Chris tensed up, his finger finding its way to the safety on the gun, checking it was off. He kept it readied for now, the machete raised in his left hand. If it was a regular carrier, there would be no sense in wasting bullets.
Squinting into the darkness, he waited for the shadows to take form. But it screeched before it became visible, and there was no doubting what they were facing.
"Hunter..." he murmured under his breath.
And as it prowled towards them, he couldn't help but notice that its hide was intact, meaning it couldn't have been the same one from earlier. The place was probably overrun with them, and seven bullets wouldn't get them far.
The creature was poised, ready to strike at any time. Chris and Jill remained perfectly still.
"We need to conserve ammo," he said. "I'm going to slow it down with a shot to the kneecap, then we can get in and start hacking at the throat while its down."
Just ought to avoid the razor sharp teeth and claws. Piece of cake.
But it seemed like a better idea than emptying a clip on it, especially with at least one other confirmed Hunter lurking around in this maze.
With Hunters he had learned the best defense was offence. Fights were inevitable once spotted and it was better to cripple the BOW before the BOW crippled you.
As soon as he lodged one of their seven bullets into Hunter flesh, Jill started to run. She gripped the blade , sidestepped and got behind the monster, hewing the combat knife into less protected skin.
Chris followed up her attack by reholstering his gun, charging like a madman at the reptile. The creature flailed and thrashed, down on one knee but still intent on having its prey. Raising his machete, he began to saw through the hide that covered its throat, hacking with all his strength. The first beads of blood began to appear around his blade. In his triumph he didn't have the presence of mind to dodge a swipe from the Hunter, who sent him reeling backwards.
He was lucky that it didn't follow up with another blow. Jill saw to that. While he collected himself off the ground she garnered its attention with attacks of her own. For an inappropriate moment he had to think of Dances With Wolves before he shook the thought off, much like the Hunter shook off Jill's attacks as if they were nothing but nuisance.
A moment later Chris was back on top of the creature and wrapped his legs around its back as if he were riding a mechanical bull. He resumed his work on its throat. His teeth were bared, a thin sheen of perspiration on his forehead. Once the tenacious hide had been breached, it was just a matter of cutting down to a main vein or artery.
The Hunter kept trashing, swinging its claws at both him and Jill, but his partner did good work at keeping the reptile's attention – and most of its teeth – fixed on her. There was one last gurgle before hot, frothing blood bubbled from its slit throat and the heavy body collapsed in the sewer water.
Jill gave him a breathless nod. "Clean work."
He heaved a massive sigh when he was sure that the Hunter wouldn't rise again. Only then did he realise just how wildly his heart was pounding as he looked down to his blood soaked hands and clothing.
"Nothing clean about it," he said with a grimace. "God damn it, I'd kill for a shower."
He kicked the Hunter's body with a splash of water, and wiped his knife on his already-filthy combat trousers.
"You were great," he told her. "If we can do it like that for every Hunter, we've got nothing to worry about."
Jill had to laugh at his comment, although there was nothing funny about it. "We can take on six more, optimally. Let's get going," she suggested. "Before the blood draws its siblings closer."
There were no more corpses on the way for them to loot. This caused a mix of emotions in Chris. There were a few possibilities. Either the rivaling team wasn't very big – or there was no rival team at all. The man they had found could belong to Spencer's bodyguards, or the guys they had found in the mansion. Option number two did not sit so well with him. It included elite agents with only few casualties. They could be wheel-chairing Spencer out of his fortress by now, while he and Jill fought for their lives in a godforsaken sewer system.
He almost bumped into his partner as she stopped abruptly. Something was wrong. Knowing that conversation was not the way to go, he scanned the area and perked his ears. Jill pointed to their right, to the corner of a passage that snaked behind a heavy brick wall.
Chris disengaged the safety of the gun. There was splashing in the water. Somebody was moving and he knew before he saw the newcomer that it was no monster. Hunters were more agile, those guards were louder. None of them limped.
From behind the corner appeared a man clad in a white labcoat that was soaked up to his thighs. He yelped as he saw them and the gun in his hands dropped into the water with a loud plop.
"Don't kill me!"
Jill put a finger to her lips and hissed, "Shut the Hell up or you'll attract them, you idiot."
The guy took both his hands and placed them over his mouth symbolically. Chris and Jill jogged up to him and while his partner fished for the gun in the water, Chris used his weapon for a little intimidation. He placed the muzzle to the man's chest.
"You do anything stupid, you're monster food, understood?"
Two quick nods showed that the argument was clear,
"Who are you?"
"H... Henry. Henry Cottswald."
"Cottswald, huh? And what are you doing down here?" He waved the gun around to make a point.
"I... uh... I," Cottswald stammered, eyes locked on the weapon. Eventually the mental block subsided and he looked Chris in the eye, visibly confused. "You... you didn't see them?"
Chris narrowed his eyes. "See who?"
The man gasped, his eyes widening. "The sentries, of course! His henchmen. Somebody let them lose." He pointed to a crimson spot on Chris' shirt. "You're lucky you're still alive."
It was Jill who spoke next. Chris noticed she had tucked away Cottswald's weapon. "How many of them are there?"
"If I knew! I'm just the assistant of Lord Spencer's personal doctor. Or I guess, that's what I was, before everything went to Hell." When there was a lack of response, Cottswald felt himself prompted to continue. "Someone infiltrated the Estate. First thing I see in the morning when I look into the bathroom mirror is one of those giant reptiles taking a swipe at my head.
I was lucky to get away. The few security personnel gathered the rest of the staff, but our numbers dwindled fast. That's how I learned about those sentries. Spencer kept them locked up beneath the Estate for years. I really don't know how much truth there is to their story. The others were scared and rumors spread even faster than death.
I heard they were some failed experiments, and I heard that they were researchers of their own once upon a time, accidentally succumbing to infection whilst retaining some of their intelligence. Spencer keeps them as his watchdogs and throws an unfortunate soul down there every now and then, to observe them slowly rip their prey apart. Somebody else told me that they escaped and it was impossible to catch them, so in order to do away with them Spencer ordered a pack of those reptiles, those... Hunters? to be unleashed to kill each other in the sewers. I don't know what I want to believe, or if any of this is true. But I know that I don't want to wait for them to find me and running has kept me alive so far."
Jill asked, "Where are the other survivors?"
Cottswald shook his head. "There are no others any more. We were three in the end, Smith, Ketner and I. They were with security and they thought to know of an escape passage through the sewers. But once we got there..." he shook his head. "It is impossible to access. The sentries made sure of that."
"They destroyed the escape route?"
"Not directly. It requires a special mechanism to open. But some pieces are missing. Hunters caught Smith during our search and one of the sentries got Ketner."
Why wasn't he surprised at the prospect of more puzzles? Spencer was pathologically obsessed with these things. Jill tapped him on the shoulder. "Chris, the crank."
"What?"
"It could open that passage. It might be the missing piece."
His mouth formed a small 'o'. But of course! The other crank had opened a gate too, this one might just have the same use.
He nodded to Cottswald. "Do you remember where that place was? Can you lead us there?"
"I can try."
Their new companion took the lead, something that neither Chris or Jill objected to. If he wanted to play the bait, they weren't going to stop him. But they encountered neither monsters or corpses. Cottswald's escape route turned out to be a metal ladder locked behind a row of solid steel grates, much like they had seen earlier at the entrance to the basement.
"This has to be the same mechanism," Jill announced hopefully. She took out the crank and showed it to both men. "Look for a hexagonal hole."
They set out in search of the proclaimed mechanism. Five minutes and two false alarms later Chris' nerves were on edge. There was nothing they could stick that damn crank into. Spencer had been creative once again: he had implemented another kind of puzzle.
Beside the metal grates stood a stone platform with a decorative emblem on top. Round-shaped and made from bronze was a fancy looking plaque that missed one of its four parts. Chris swore under his breath. But at least the exit was in sight. They just had to find one stupid artifact, and between Arklay, Rockfort, Russia and today, Chris had spent half his life playing Umbrella's unique and twisted versions of Easter egg hunting.
"What do we do now?" Jill asked.
"We look for it," he said. "Knowing Spencer there will be no way of getting around it. We need that piece."
They were ankle deep in murky water, and the fragment of emblem could be anywhere. It was not an appealing prospect and the impatient part of him was raging at being thus delayed. But there was no other option.
Jill explained the upcoming procedure to Cottswald. "We split to search the perimeter, eye-contact at all times. If we're lucky, the piece is around here, somewhere in the water close to the exit." It was evident from her voice that she didn't place the slightest hope into such a scenario. "In case of enemy sighting, regroup and do exactly as you are told. Understood?"
Cottswald nodded, but then gripped at his empty waistband. "I have no weapon."
"Believe me, any weapon is more effective in our hands than it is in yours," Chris told him.
"Ready?" Jill asked.
Chris touched his knuckles to his forehead in a mock salute.
"Ready," he told her. And there was a moment when he felt a brief, cocky rush of exhilaration at the latest impossible situation they found themselves in. They'd killed three of those sentries with barely any ammo. They'd just taken out a Hunter with their bare hands. They might be stuck in a dead end sewer hunting through monster-infested crap-water for a piece of emblem, but they were stronger, faster, and more agile than they'd ever been in their lives. Every mission that cropped up, they were that bit better trained, until Chris could honestly say that here and now, today, he and Jill were in their prime. And that counted for a lot.
So Chris Redfield, the eternal optimist, set out, scuffing through the water in search of that fragment of artefact. Let the monsters come, he thought with a manic little grin. They'd take them all down.
An interminable and very unsuccessful while later he could hear Jill groan in frustration.
"This is a waste of time. There must be a way to circumvent that puzzle."
Chris agreed with her from all his heart, but knowing Spencer this was the one and only possible option.
"I don't think-"
"Hey! Over here!" Cottswald called. Chris could have snapped his throat for making such a fuss. That had just been a straightforward invitation to all resident monsters: Fresh, live dinner – first come, first serve!
Cottswald pointed to a small hole in a wall farther away from the exit. It wasn't hard to figure out what it was designed for. Jill inserted the crank. The two agents exchanged a dubious glance, then Chris moved forward and grabbed the crank, starting to turn.
First there were only creaks and crunches coming from inside the wall. Then, suddenly, a part of the floor started to rise and Chris kept turning the crank until they lifted it to the ceiling. The underside of the platform consisted of a number of spikes, most of them rusty and coated in layers of dry blood.
He let go of the crank and the platform crashed to the ground with frightening speed. It impacted with a splash and he wiped murky water from his face. What remained was a beaming grin, mirrored on Jill's expression.
"All we gotta do is find them, and lure them back here," he mused. "We can press on, explore the place, try to get our bearings, and as soon as we hit trouble, we high-tail it back here and hey presto... monster panini!"
Of course, if it were that simple, they'd be laughing. They'd just have to hope that they didn't come across something that could outrun them.
A great many thanks to Ultimolu, donatien1740, Skriptix, Avalon, cjjs, Veronika115, rivendellelve, Lime Rickey, Romipen, yume girl 91, Shortey and Claire Redfield for reviewing! Your continued feedback help me improve greatly and fuels motivation!
