Biohazard: Resident Evil VII

Chapter Eleven: Into the Basement

After hiding around the couch just in case it wasn't Zoe that was now opening the sitting room door, Ethan sighed with relief when he saw that it was. Being in this place was really starting to make him paranoid; worried that someone was going to jump out at him from behind every corner… but then again, was it really paranoia if someone really was after him? He couldn't help but wonder, as the short-haired woman motioned for him to follow her, if this experience was going to stay with him after he managed to escape… was he going to be fine afterwards, or would he suffer the after-effects of this nightmare and need therapy, or…

"Lucas said the key's in the slaughterhouse." Zoe whispered, interrupting his thoughts as she led him down another, darker hallway. "That's down in the cellar, and… you're gonna see things down there you're not gonna like, but ain't nothin' can be done bout' that."

"I'm fine as long as it gets us out of here." He replied when she stopped to peek around the next corner.

Satisfied that no one was around, she led him around the corner, but then stopped at the first wooden door that they came to. Like everything else in the Baker house, its boards were faded and starting to rot around the very edges, and this made him realize something. Out of everything, and everyone there, Zoe was the only thing that seemed mostly normal. So how was it that she had managed to keep her sanity after…

"Aw shit, this one's locked, too." The short-haired woman said as she tried the door. "Don't worry, I know right where the key is, so you jus' stay outa sight, and I'll be right back."

She vanished back around the corner without even waiting to hear his protest about being left alone again, but now there was little point in doing or saying anything. Doing as she said and hiding in the shadows, Ethan listened to the sound of her footsteps growing softer until they were gone, and then about a minute later he heard them again, this time getting closer. He was happy that retrieving the key to the basement had taken such a short time, although every second in this place felt like an hour, so he stepped out of his hiding place just as her shadow was coming into view.

"I'm glad you're back, Zoe." He said, rounding the corner to meet her. "We need to…

"Guess again, city-boy." Jack Baker replied as he grabbed Ethan, before lifting him off his feet and shoving him up against the wall. "So that's your game, huh? Plannin' to kill me then go runnin' off into the night with my daughter, right? Well, I hate to disappoint you, son, but you'll be spendin' the night with me… now, I know I ain't as purdy as Zoe is, but that's jus' somethin' you're gonna have to live with."

Laughing at his own joke through cracked and burnt lips, the strange man seemed content to simply hold him there while he… regenerated? Ethan couldn't believe what he was seeing, watching wide-eyed as all of the burns, cuts, and even the blown-out part of the back of Jack's skull simply reformed over the next few seconds, healing up to the point where if Ethan hadn't inflicted most of the damage himself, he would never have believed that the strange man had had even been injured in the first place.

"Oh, this?" Jack asked, briefly looking down at himself. "Hell of a thing, ain't it? See, my youngest… my precious little girl, gave us in the family a gift, and I'll tell you what, it sure as shit beats dyin', am I right? Course I am, but I gotta ask you, son… what're you doin' hidin' by that door, there? You tryin' to get to the cellar, city-boy? Think there might be a way out down there? How bout' you go look?"

The strange man suddenly pulled Ethan away from the wall, and swung him around, before tossing him right into the wooden door. Splinters went flying as the impact busted the door into a dozen pieces, but instead of simply landing on the floor, he crashed onto the stairs that came after. Bouncing and rolling backwards into the darkness, Ethan saw the hallway light get smaller after each roll, until the wind was knocked out of him upon hitting the cold, concrete surface of the cellar.

Having landed on his back, he could see when Jack started walking down the stairs after him, and even though the strange man seemed to have lost his shovel, Ethan knew that he had to get up. He wished that he had a little more of Zoe's green medicine as he scrambled up to his feet, since his back was sore and his head was once again throbbing from the impact, and thankfully he managed to get up before the strange man reached him.

Ethan had also tucked the pistol into the back of his belt, which was good since it meant that the weapon wasn't lost during the fall, although it hah caused a little extra back pain each time he had rolled over it. Either way, he still had a weapon, so after backing down the dark hallway a few steps, he drew the pistol, aimed and squeezed the trigger… only to be greeted with a disheartening click.

"Aw, what's the matter, son?" Jack asked, continuing to approach. "You done run right outa ammo, huh?"

Well, that was it for the pistol, but he still had Zoe's knife… although there was no time for him to take it out before the strange man reached him. Pulling the pistol out of Ethan's hands, and smacking him across the face with it, Jack tossed the empty weapon away, causing a clickity-click as it vanished into the darkness. At the same time, the hit made Ethan stumble sideways and collapse against the cinderblock wall, slowly sinking down to his hands and knees, but then he cried out when the strange man grabbed him by the hair.

"Now, I been doin' me some thinkin', son." Jack said, dragging Ethan along behind him as he started down the corridor. "See, the way I figure it, maybe you jus' don't understand how lucky you are… for some strange reason, Eveline's wantin' you to be part of the family, so maybe you need to see what happens to assholes like you who go around tryin' to reject that gift."

Grabbing onto the strange man's wrist in an attempt to break his grip, Ethan kicked and struggled, but could do nothing as he was dragged around a corner. The basement there was even darker than the one where he had found Mia in that cage, with several feet of dark space in between each solitary lightbulb that hung from the ceiling, and this caused him to worry that he would end up locked in a cage himself. However, instead of putting Ethan into a cage, Jack simply opened the next door they came to, moved Ethan so that he was in front of him, and booted him in the rear.

"Remember, son, this is for your own good." The strange man said, shutting and locking the door as Ethan fell on his face. "The key's in the drawer over there when you're wantin' to come out… but my little girl demands we show our dedication, so you gotta want it real bad, you hear?"

"Wait!" Ethan called, jumping to his feet as Jack walked away. "Hey! Don't leave me in here!"

He was gone, and no matter how hard Ethan pulled on the partially rusted, barred door, it wouldn't do much more than rattle. There was a keyhole on this side of the door just like Jack had said, and apparently the point here was for him to find it, so Ethan turned around, and suddenly felt even more uneasy. There was a hanging light in the center, allowing him to see that there was a long metal table in the center of the room, surrounded by two chairs, and along the far wall, there were a series of cupboards built into stacked rows and columns.

Everything was stained by what looked like dried blood, leaving a heavy smell of rust in the air, and… and then Ethan's mind froze as he realized that this place had been built like some kind of morgue. It was like on CSI, where they had victims' bodies in storage units along the wall, and performed autopsies on the long table… but why in the hell would anyone have one of these in their basement?!

Was this where all of the others that Zoe had mentioned ended up? Were the people from Sewer Gators stuffed into these lockers after having been… no, wait, all of the lockers were open, and thankfully there were no bodies inside. Well, there was one that was closed, and if Ethan were a betting man, he would have put everything on the line that this was where the key Jack mentioned was located.

"You probably don't want to do that." A new voice said from behind. "You aren't ready for what's in there… not yet."

Turning around, Ethan saw that there was someone standing on the other side of the door. It was a little girl, maybe age ten or eleven, with long black hair, but what he noticed the most about her was that she didn't look, or even sound like the Bakers. She smiled when he looked at her, and then motioned for him to come over to the door, which Ethan found himself doing, since maybe she could open the door for him.

"Hey, uh… little girl." He said, momentarily feeling like he had seen her somewhere before. "Could you open this door for me?"

"Yes, I can." The little girl politely replied. "But first, I have a gift for you, Ethan… then everyone will be happy, and we can all be a family? Doesn't that sound nice?"

At first Ethan was confused by her choice of words, but it was so hard to think, because for some reason it was really hard to keep looking at this little girl for long periods of a time. It was like his eyes were straining to see something that was out of focus, even though she was right there in front of him… and then he remembered what Jack had said about his little girl having giving him a gift… one that was with him always.

"You mean… be like the others?" He asked, taking a nervous step back from the bars. "Are you… are you Eveline?"

"Stop looking at me like that!" The little girl yelled, suddenly making Ethan feel off balance as if everything had shaken. "Stop looking at me like the doctors did! I'm not a freak, God damn it! I'm a little girl with a family that loves me, and if you… if you… if…

Suddenly her grip on the bars loosened, nearly letting her fall down as she leaned on the door, and now her breathing had become labored as if she were exerting herself. The little girl's eyes closed for a second as she let out a long, loud yawn, and it seemed to be a struggle for her just to get them open again. For Ethan, it was now even harder to look at her, and his eyes strained nearly to the point of tears with the effort.

"I can't… so tired." She said, sleepily stepping back from the bars. "I need to… finish my nap. "Get the key by your… yourself, Ethan. We'll talk later."

Her breathing became more labored as she turned and slowly walked away from the door, once again leaving Ethan alone in the morgue. Now it looked like he had no choice but to get the key the way Jack wanted him to, so he turned around, and looked nervously at the single, closed locker on the wall.