Author's Note: Hello, loyal readers. Once again I have gone too long without a new installment, and as such I offer my sincere apologies. Hopefully with the release of RE6 in less than two weeks, I will be able to get the creative juices flowing again, and get more done in a timely fashion. Without further ado, here is the next chapter. I made it slightly longer than usual, but as it's been 4 months since my last chapter, I think you've all earned it for your patience.

Chapter 10: The Search Begins

"I can't believe this is happening."

President Graham checked the magazine to his newly found Walther PPK 9mm. It had been located exactly where the mysterious, disembodied voice of his assumed kidnapper had told him it would be. It all seemed very strange to him. He suddenly began to understand how his daughter Ashley felt.

"Please God, let them be alright," he thought out loud, referring to his family, who were hidden away somewhere in this horrible place. The mystery man who revealed this to him seemed to delight in taunting him about it less than fifteen minutes before.

He cautiously traveled down the once dark corridor (He had found the breaker that operated the lights of the facility, in the same room that his weapon had been located in) that led to who knew where. He noticed that the lights glowed rather dimly through their dirty coverings. The effect was quite eerie, as this added a dingy, yellowish tint to his cave-like surroundings. Apparently, all the rooms in this facility had been carved into the rock walls of a natural tunnel-way. He realized it must have taken several years to dig the place out and build it into the underground landscape. He couldn't help but respect the work put into this place, in spite of the fact that it was currently being used for nefarious purposes. Only one thing was certain: whoever decided to do this was intent on keeping the place hidden from any unsuspecting visitors; "Hmph, quite the contrary" he thought, "stay hidden from suspicious authorities, more like."

Arthur made his way through the many creepy hallways in the facility. He stopped only briefly from time to time to assess his surroundings, and to explore the other rooms in the hope of finding the antidote he was informed of by his faceless captor. The search had been fruitless up until this point. President Graham could see a faint light ahead of him now, which told him that he was almost out of this unwelcoming prison. As he approached the end of the final tunnel, he saw another silver door, the last one of many. There was no doubt that this had to be the place to look. The door was adorned with faded red letters that read "INFIRMARY".

As he opened the door, he was assaulted by a strong, very foul, odor. He entered the room with his gun at the ready. Suddenly, he heard heavy, seemingly padded footfalls, which were accompanied by what sounded like thick nails tapping the floor. The lights in this room were burned out, and the dim light of the outer hallway wasn't much help. His heart was now pounding at seemingly super-speed as it tried to climb to his throat. If the antidote was in this room, he would have to fight to claim it. All at once he heard a terrible, guttural scream that rent the air and chilled his blood. Something lunged at him, and he barely managed to dodge a strong swipe that was clearly meant to sever his head.

"Damn! That could've taken my head off," he thought, as he quickly whirred around to face his would-be-killer. The creature wasn't much larger than a child, but it was heavily muscled. At the end of it's slightly longer than normal arms were huge claws that could've been human hands. Its appearance was not unlike a reptilian, skinned gorilla. Its yellow eyes gleamed in its newly lit surroundings, which seemed to disorient the creature, however briefly. But that was enough time for Graham to unload three bullets into the creature's chest. The impact knocked it back, and off its clawed feet, but only for a moment. Arthur readied himself for a new attack, but it never came. Two shots rang out, and the monster's skull was halved, as its blood spattered the dirt floor.

"Artie! Are you okay?" Jim called to him, as he lowered the pump-action shotgun in his hands.

"Jim? Damn I'm glad to see you. Thanks for the helping hand."

"Don't mention it. You're one lucky sonuvabitch, you know that? That thing could've taken your head off, literally."

"Yeah, what the hell is it anyway?"

"Well, I'm not sure. But from the looks of things..." Jim was looking in the room and pointed to the floor, "You're not its first meal."

Arthur looked, and saw that the once white floor was littered with the headless corpses of at least a dozen victims. However, his eyes wandered to the lit up refrigeration unit at the back of the room. He hadn't noticed it before because of the attack, but there were at least four empty test tubes. There were also two that held some sort of purplish liquid. They were labeled "T-Vaccine".

As he made his way to retrieve the two samples, Jim called out, "Hey Artie, look at this."

The President grabbed the tubes, and two syringes, then made his way to a computer where Jim was reading some sort of report. There was a photograph of the creature that had attacked him.

"Hunter," he said, "So that's what that thing is called."

"Look, there's something else." They read the short file together:

April 21, 2005

The introduction of "Las Plagas" to the T- Virus has managed phenomenal results. As the parasite assimilates with the host, the T-Virus spreads through the host at a much slower pace, enabling said host to bond with the virus, and become more controlled as a result. The full process takes only a few hours to complete, and is reversible if the antidote is applied within two hours of injection. Anytime after that, the antidote will have no effect. Four of our six subjects have been tested, and there seems to be no lasting side effects. However, Subject 4 was put down when he threatened to expose our experiments to the United States President. Subjects 1, 2, and 3 have all been given false backgrounds in an effort to infiltrate the White House. We will see Saddler's plan through to success. Los Illuminados will rise back to prominence, and once we have the first family under our control, this will become much easier. Only the enlightened can truly rule.

"Jim, let's go. I have less than two hours to find Jennifer and Ashley, otherwise, they'll become one of those things."

Leon, Rebecca, and Hunnigan had been searching the underground lab for at least a half hour or so. Luckily, there had been no trouble from B. , and Leon and Rebecca were both getting more suspicious by the minute. Hunnigan, on the other hand, was rather relieved. She certainly knew how to handle firearms, and was possibly better than Rebecca in hand-to-hand combat. She wasn't a field agent however, so she had no real experience outside of a training facility, where she trained in a controlled environment. She had certainly never come face-to-face with any type of bio-weapon. Rebecca, and to a much greater extent, Leon, were used to long periods of eerie, uncomfortable silence. This usually happened just before all Hell broke loose.

They'd been searching room after room, hoping to find some clue as to how they were going to get out of this place, to no avail. Rebecca and Hunnigan had worked together to hack into the system, and were able to unlock all the rooms, but they had no luck in discovering an exit, or any type of blueprint or map of the facility. The pristine, white walls of the hallway showed no signs of abandonment, despite reports to the contrary. This only solidified the evidence that the labs had been used in recent months. There was also overwhelming proof that WilPharma had a good idea of what to expect from their experiments.

Various reports found in the lab rooms had hinted at the need to put down some less than ideal specimens. Hadn't history proven that B. were dangerously unstable? However, there was no denying that the discovery of the Las Plagas parasites had greatly increased the ability to enhance and utilize bio-organic weapons for military applications. The challenge of destroying the creatures Leon and Rebecca had met since the beginning of this investigation was proof enough that there had been some modicum of success. The prospect of running into more of these things was rather unnerving, even to a seasoned pro like Leon Scott Kennedy. This made it very gratifying when the trio found themselves in a weapons depot. This was definitely not the norm, but since when have these investigations ever been normal?

Leon and Rebecca each grabbed extra 9mm ammunition, and they also grabbed a pair of Glock-17s, one for each of them. Hunnigan picked up a Beretta, and managed to find a small submachine gun, which she loaded and strapped on for extra firepower when needed. There was also a small tactical vest for her that looked pretty awkward with her business outfit. When they were finished, Leon said to Hunnigan, "Give me your shoes."

"Why, thinking of trying them on?"

"Maybe when we get out of this, you should take that comedy act on the road," he responded sarcastically.

She gave them to him and he promptly broke the three-inch heels off of them.

"Leon, what are you doing? Those are expensive!"

"Yeah, they're also noisy, and impractical. We don't know how far we're going to be walking, and running. A little stealth can't hurt either."

Hunnigan just glared at him, but she wasn't dumb. She knew he was right.

"Welcome to life in the field, Agent Hunnigan."

As they exited the room a distorted, disembodied voice came over the previously unnoticed speakers:

"Well now this is annoying. Strangers have broken into my lab."

"Who the Hell are you?" Leon responded.

"I don't think I want you to know just now, Mr. Kennedy."

"How do you know me?"

"Oh, I have my sources. I also know a good deal about Miss Chambers. But, that's enough with the niceties. I've actually contacted you with a warning."

"Yeah, I'm sure this warning is being given to us in plenty of time."

"Ah! There's the great Kennedy wit that I've heard so much about. You have about thirty minutes to secure yourselves an exit from the lab."

Leon responded, "Or what?"

"I'll let you ponder over what might happen if you aren't fortunate enough to make it. Good luck, Agent Kennedy."

"You heard the man," Rebecca said, "We'd better move."

Unfortunately, they didn't know how big the lab was, or which way to go.