Chapter 10

When they got back to the lower section of the gardens, they found the fountain had not only split in half, but also had a hidden elevator system in it. The elevator itself was down on another floor. "Should we go down there, or try and find Wesker first?"

"Chris, you and Rebecca have been in the guardhouse before, right? Since you both already know the layout, you two go find Wesker while Jill and I head down."

"Well, I guess that makes sense. Okay, Chris, let's go."

"Okay…" He didn't look like he liked the idea any more than Jill herself did, but he went after Rebecca all the same. Pressing the call button with a sense of dread she couldn't explain, Jill and Barry waited for the elevator. I really hope this isn't a trap. But why would it be? Barry might be acting weird, but he wouldn't betray us. Would he?

The elevator stopped in a utility room with red cylinders up against the wall with 'B1' printed on the sides. Descending the ladder put them in another utility room with nothing but a box, so they passed through it and found themselves in a room with stairs leading down in the middle, and a door in a branching hallway. After killing the zombies, Barry turned to Jill. "I think we should split up again. I'll go downstairs; you check out that door and follow me latter."

"…Okay." Barry headed down the stairs with a wave, leaving Jill standing there. Why do we need to split up again? Something really isn't right here. She almost followed Barry down the stairs anyway, but figured she was being paranoid and turned down the offshoot. Grabbing the slide reel she found sitting on the desk out of curiosity, she entered the door. Inside was a meeting room, with a long table in the center, a white board off to one side, and a slide projector set up at the front. Placing the slides into the machine, she saw almost all the creatures she'd run into so far, as well as a giant shark and a large sexless human-looking thing with long claws on its left hand. I really hope I don't run into that last one. Grabbing the black floppy disk with a 3 on it off of the counter on her way out, she left the room.

Downstairs was a hallway with and immediate branch that looped back around and naked zombies in it. After the first one took three grenades to kill, Jill figured it would be better to avoid them to save her ammunition. The first door led to another hall. The door to her immediate left had what looked to be some capsule thing in the center, and a computer. Seeing that it was still on, Jill shook the mouse and made the screen come back up. A list of all the floors appeared, asking her which ones to unlock, but all the floors she selected were unlocked already. That's weird. Did Barry do this, or is there someone else here? Shutting it off, Jill went back out to the looped hall. The center one had a room full of naked zombies and a disk reader that gave her a pass code when she placed the first disk in it, and the end doors lead to another hall.

Deciding not to go into it yet, she headed back toward the first hall she'd found and entered a pair of doors on her left, which lead to a white room that just had a painting of Adam and Eve and an out-of-place sink with desks lining the walls and, seeing nothing of interest in there, immediately left for the only other door in that area that was open (the end doors were still electronically locked for some reason, though the input panel next to it was probably why). Opening the door to find it holding at least six zombies, Jill promptly shut the door.

Heading back, Jill entered the doors to her left and into the other hall, though this one ended in a T intersection. The door to her left had another box/floor switch puzzle in it to get to an air shaft, so she left it alone. Turning right at the intersection, and around the naked zombies, led her to the power room. Covering her ears from all the noise, she ran straight forward through the aisles to a computer that she used to give power to the apparent blacked-out areas that it mentioned, and almost right into a set of claws that dropped down from the ceiling on her way back.

Getting out of the way, Jill looked up to see the claws belonged to a four-legged black thing with blades sticking out of its bodies at odd angles. Blasting it down to the floor, it tried to get back up on the ceiling, but the second grenade managed to kill it first. Quickly backing away in disgust from the maggots that crawled out of its body, she ran for the door on the other side of the room. It thankfully didn't have any more of those things in it, but other than a desk at the end of the first aisle with another disk machine for pass code 3 and another door at a branch-off aisle, it didn't have anything else.

Door number two did have more ceiling crawlers, which she promptly ran from around the machines in the center of the floor to avoid, just to trip on a battery in the middle of the floor and have to kill them anyway. Cursing her luck as she blasted them all to death with acid rounds, her attention was caught by the computer screen next to her asking if she wanted to reconnect the circuit to activate the elevator leading to the last floor. That might be useful, but why is it disconnected when everything else was already on when I got here? Hitting yes, she headed back to the hall, still wondering what exactly was going on.

Getting back and seeing that the door on her right lead to a room with a cot and a box, she immediately dropped the battery she was still carrying and rushed out of the room when she heard gunshots a couple rooms over.

Running back to the looping hall, she found Barry's body crumpled against the wall by the stairs. "No." Crouching down next to him and trying to ignore the bloody hole in his head, she reached for the piece of paper clutched in his hand. Gently prying it loose, she was just about to read it when the nearby door opened and a gun clicked empty.

Jumping to her feet, she just barely dodged the gun barrel swinging at her head as she shoved the grenade launcher into her assailant's gut and pushing him against a wall. "Wait! I'm not a zombie! I'm sorry I attacked you, I just thought you were one of them!"

While she didn't pull the trigger, Jill still didn't move the laucher away from the man either; the name S. Hall was on an umbrella nametag on his lab coat, and after what she had learned, she had no intention of trusting him. "You and your people caused this. Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm not the one betraying you here! See that man right there, I can tell you who killed him. I saw the whole thing."

While her curiosity and need for revenge made her waver, she still didn't lower her weapon. "OK, who was it then?"

"Your captain. Hear me out a minute!" Jill, while pinning him down harder, didn't' pull the trigger yet. "Can you say for certain he's not up to something? That him disappearing without a trace after you left wasn't suspicious at all? If you don't believe me, read that memo. It should explain quite a bit about his behavior."

Against her better judgement, she took her eyes off of him to read the memo in her hand.

Top Secret July 22, 1998 2:13

To A. Wesker:

"X-Day" is approaching. Complete the following orders within

the week to receive lost benefits.

1. Lure the members of S.T.A.R.S. into the lab and have them

fight with the B.O.W. in order to obtain data of battles.

2. Determine status of sleeper and collect two embryo's per

B.O.W. type of all species except Tyrant.

3. Destroy the Arkley Lab including all researchers and lab

animals in a manner which will seem accidental.

InGen

Jill reluctantly lowered the grenade launcher. "Let's say I believe you. Which way did Wesker go?"

"I saw him head this way." Looking to the door at the end of the hall, she noticed that all the lights by the door were green. "Don't move."

Once again keeping her weapon trained on him, Jill slowly made her way toward the door. Finding it unlocked, she shot one last threatening look his way before going through it.

Inside was a curved hall that lead to a prison door. While it was too dark to see, she could make out at least two humanlike shapes collapsed on the floor on the other side. Alarm bells going off when she found the door to be unlocked, all that faded when she saw the two people in the cell. Rushing toward one of them, Jill was shocked to find that the man in front of her was wearing a familiar red bandana.

All of a sudden, the light coming through the door cut out as the door slammed shut. Rushing to it, she found it locked. "Hey! Let me out!"

The only reply she got was the door she came through shutting, cutting off the lights.

After failing to find Wesker in the guardhouse, Chris and Rebecca made their way down the elevator and into the labs. Checking every room as they went and not finding anything but a slide reel with names for all the creatures they've seen so far and one they hadn't (though Rebecca seemed to recognize it; Chris decided that he'd ask her later), they made their way down to B3. Seeing all the different doors, Rebecca turned to Chris.

"Should we split up?"

"Only for this floor. You check this side, I'll go left. Meet back here in 10."

"Yes sir."

Watching Chris leave, Rebecca took a minute to lean against the wall. If it wasn't for the train, I might have been fine, but… Shaking her head, she got back up and headed through the door next to her. Inside, she looked into the first door and was swarmed by zombies. Backing into the wall, she pulled out her berretta and started shooting. Other than the two that almost managed to bite her, she somehow managed to kill them all without getting bitten. Checking her ammo and realizing she only had one reload left, she walked into the room. Hope there's something worth it in there.

Inside was a large room bisected by a bookshelf, with several raunchy posters hanging on the wall. On the other side was a small device that seemed to take floppy disks. Placing it inside, she got the passcode two.

Remembering the rear door in the hall with the lights, she went back out and checked. Just as she thought, the number of lights next to it had changed from one to two. That's good. Still locked, though.

Seeing as the other door lead to a pointless room, Rebecca returned to the stairs. Seeing as she still had a few minutes, she tried the center door but only found a similar disk reader that had already been activated.

Chris met her at the door on her way out, bandage on his shoulder. Seeing the look on her face, he smiled a bit. "Don't worry. I cleaned myself up, just stay clear of the power room; to many bladed creatures in there. Did you find anything?"

"Just a few zombies and a reader for the disk we found. You?"

"Other than those things? Only a medical room, some shotgun shells, an empty room with stairs leading to an airshaft, and an elevator someone used to go down to a lower floor. I guess that's where everyone went."

"Okay, let's go then."

Heading back, Chris was surprised to find the elevator now stopped on their floor, doors wide open. "Weird, I thought it was on the floor below."

"Maybe someone came up?"

"I don't know, we should have run into them if someone did come up, and we would have heard a door open even if the person was trying to hide. I did touch the button, so maybe I called it by accident."

"Maybe." While she didn't seem convinced, Rebecca still followed Chris inside anyway.