Chapter Ten: Through the tunnel
Lilia was angry, her pace quick and measured through the dark tunnel. It was an old tunnel, dug by hand and basic machinery and held up with only wooden supports. It looked like an old mining tunnel. Leon coughed as some dirt crumbled into his face. Lilia frowned, this wasn't safe. Chris and Jill were staring warily at the wooden supports; the whole thing could collapse at any second.
"Faster" She said, Ada tried to catch up with her.
"Lilia we all knew he'd do that to us" said Ada "It's his way...you shouldn't have got attached"
"Right" Replied Lilia her tone cutting, Ada blanched and backed off slightly at her friend's voice. Falling quiet they continued quietly.
"What the hell?" Leon said as they all stopped, a huge crate blocked their path; it was wooden by the looks of it, inside the glint of metal. What was more worrying was the large hole torn out the side of it and the men lying around it. One seemed to still be breathing, Lilia rushed over and knelt beside him whilst Ada surveyed the damage, at least four men were dead, ripped to shreds.
"What happened?" Lilia asked shaking his shoulder; he looked up at her with dull brown eyes through a mop of dark hair.
"We were meant to bring the crates in" he said and then coughed, blood spraying from his mouth "We didn't know what was in them…we're just workers for Taylor's, this wasn't meant to happen…something broke out,"
"How many crates?" asked Lilia, so far they had apparently faced two of the escaped monsters.
"Three" He said confirming her worst fears.
"Right" said Lilia, grabbing her first aid kit she pulled out a vial of the antivirus and injected it into the man. He winced, his wounds were bad, he had been clawed across the stomach and was losing blood.
"Ada" Said Lilia "Help him" Ada nodded and walked over "I'm going ahead, that things waiting I know it" Leon and Chris frowned at Lilia but she ignored them as she climbed over the crates and dropped down on the other side. Sure enough in the corner was a beast hunched over the corpse of another innocent worker. Angrily Lilia rushed over and gave it a fierce kick to the skull. It roared and jumped back, this creation wasn't as big as any of the others, it resembled a licker in the way it appeared to be inside out, but it had huge claws bursting from his hands and spikes up and down it's spine. It regarded her with red eyes and leapt at her; Lilia back flipped out the way and landed on her feet. It leapt again and this time she rolled away. Running at the cave side she leapt off it and kicked the beast hard in the back, it was flung against the other side.
"Lilia we're coming through!" Shouted Ada, "He's still alive we need to get out" The beast cocked its head to one side, almost showing some intelligence it raced towards the rest of the group. Lila looked at the floor and picked up a piece of the rope from the crates, quickly she tied a knot in it and swinging it around her head almost amused she threw it at the beast, her aim held true and pulling it tight she had the thing on a leash, it's head snapped back and she began reeling it in.
"Ha" said Lilia, and then frowned as it began dragging her, she tried to dig her heels in the dirt of the tunnel but it didn't work, she fell forward and felt the rope burning her hands. Again she cursed Wesker, she needed him…
"No I don't" She said allowed and concentrating she narrowed her eyes, they flashed cat like,
"Are you ok?" Shouted Chris, Jill and Ada was supporting the rescued worker.
"I'm fine stay back!" shouted Lilia as she yanked the rope towards her again, surprised at how easy it seemed. Finally the thing was right by her, it slashed at the rope with its claws but it couldn't reach, it almost caught Lilia in the face but she predicted the blow and dodged it easily. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her knife. Raising it in one hand she held the thing round the neck and plunged her knife into its skull. It whined and then twitched; Lilia felt warm blood streaming down her face. She dropped it and ran to her friends.
"Shit!" Shouted Chris, a loud explosion had just wracked the ground above them, then another.
"What's going on?" Said Lilia "It sounds like a full-blown war out there"
"That's what it is" Said Jill gravely, and then they heard the cracking off the support beams.
"We're going to get trapped!" Jill shouted panic in her voice.
"No we're not" said Lilia, "Look there's the door out" She pointed and sure enough a little way down was the exit ladder.
"But the support's going to collapse before we get there" said Jill pointing to the beam.
"Not necessarily" said Lilia, she walked over to the beam that was collapsing and grabbed onto it. It would stop it for now.
"Now run!" She shouted "Go!"
"Lilia" said Ada "I'm not leaving you" Lilia shot her a look that told her she didn't have a choice and she began to run towards the ladder still supporting the man.
"I'll be fine" said Lilia as Leon moved towards her, Leon sighed and followed the others, Chris close behind, she watched as they made it up the ladder. The pressure was hurting her arms and she felt she couldn't hold up the earth anymore. Closing her eyes she let go of the beam and the dirt came piling in above her. It crushed her to the ground.
"No!" Screamed Ada "No!" Chris had seen her let go of the beams and saw her buried under a tone of earth, he was holding Jill who was crying quietly, Leon swallowed and wrapped his arm around Ada who buried her head in his chest.
"Not Lilia" Muttered Ada refusing to cry "Not her, she's been through so much…she deserved to make it"
"She did" Agreed Leon "She was our best agent…"
"She saved my life" Said the man they had rescued quietly, they all walked past the tunnel entrance and looked over the hill. The town they had just escaped from was up in flames. It stretched out as far as the eye could see, thick black smoke was billowing into the sky and explosions were still going off, shaking the ground they stood on. The sky itself was a deep blood red, the sun slowly setting behind Marstonville. There were no more screams, it was over.
"It's over" said Ada voicing all their thoughts
"It is" said Leon "Come on we need to go home…we need to write everything that happened here down"
"That's going to be one huge report" Said Chris as he brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it with his favorite silver lighter.
"Lilia would have hated writing everything out" Jill said smiling slightly "She never did see the point"
"I can't believe she's gone" said Ada "Lilia…she saved us all" They all stared over the town; they had made it because of her.
"If Wesker hadn't left that might not have happened" Snapped Chris "I'll kill him if the last thing I ever do" They all nodded in agreement as they turned away and began to walk from the scene, they would go home, they would crush Genevieve. For Lilia.