Chapter 14- Bigger Problems
Outpost Delta had been stationed since before the outbreak started in the south section of the city. Aside from City Hall, which was the main point of interest for Umbrella, Outpost Delta was the second. It was an easy access position for choppers to drop off supplies and troops. It also served as an extraction point for the wounded.
Sergeant Gary Hoff was the on-site commander of Outpost Delta. His orders were to kill anything that approached the entrance to the converted multi-level garage that was Outpost Delta. So far they hadn't had much of a problem with the infected civvies and were able to keep the large steel door open to let wounded soldiers in. Anything not wearing an Umbrella uniform was to be shot on site.
He walked around the main level inspecting his tired troops and wishing this nightmare would be over. This was much more than he had bargained for when he interviewed for the Umbrella Security Force.
One of the men got up as he passed and offered him a cigarette.
"No, I quit about a month ago." He said.
"Oh, come on sir, you could use it." Hoff stopped walking and looked at the tempting roll. He gave in and took it much to the delight of the guard who lit it for him.
"Three months of working at not doing this. Screw it." He said and tasted the comforting tobacco.
"Sir, there are some rumors that we're going to leave soon."
"Six a.m. They are going to nuke the city." Replied Hoff as he started walking again. The private stood there for a moment and then followed Hoff.
"How are they going to cover that up?"
"Meltdown at the power plant."
"Whoa, that's some messed up sh-"
"Don't think about it. It's not your job." Said Hoff getting irritable that the private was even thinking about it. "Get back to your place –
"Incoming!" yelled one of the guards that was watching the entrance. The two looked over to see what the yelling was about and to their horror saw an Umbrella jeep about half way down the street screaming toward them at a very high speed.
Three guards were in the back of it shooting at something and the passenger was reloading his weapon. The jeep got another quarter of the way to the entrance before something green arced out of the shadows and hit the back of it making it explode and throwing the jeep head-over-heel onto the pavement. The bodies had disappeared in the explosion and left only the flaming wreckage.
Another green bolt flew at one of the guards at the entrance and hit him in the face completely burning off his face.
"Shut it!" screamed Hoff. Two guards started turning a large wheel and the heavy steel door started to close. It was almost at the floor when a thick arm stopped them from getting it all the way down. The arm flung the door up with little effort and revealed several creatures.
They were about eight feet tall and were quite large. They had somewhat blue skin and their right arms' seemed to have some sort of wiggling animal grafted on.
The creatures raised their animal arms and the room was filled with buzzing and small orange hornet-like bugs. The Umbrella guards tried to get up and shoot back but the small bugs tore through their armor and into their flesh killing many of them before they got to their feet.
The ones who were already on their feet sent bullets in the direction of the hornet shooting monsters but only harmlessly pinged off their incredibly thick armor.
Hoff shot one of the monsters several times in the head before it finally dropped to its knees and died. The others roared in anger at their comrades' death charged into the garage. Hoff dove behind a car along with the private who had just gotten behind only to catch several bugs, which had sensed him and turned to attack him. He screamed briefly before the bugs killed him.
He looked up to see one of the monsters stab one of his men straight through with its other pointed arm. The other guards were falling back toward the elevator suffering heavy casualties as they did so.
Hoff heard something to his right and looked over to see a small cat size creature leap onto his face and dig its claws into his spinal column and back of his head. He tried to scream but realized he couldn't open his mouth. Gary Hoff then blacked out, never to have control of his body again.
"Fall back goddamnit, now!" was the first thing Hallsworth heard when he turned on the radio to listen to Umbrella's chatter. He wanted to see if they had figured out his team was not following orders from their encounter with Nemesis.
Right now all he could hear was overlapping screaming and gunfire. It sounded like every soldier Umbrella had in the city was fighting something. "What the hell are these things!" "Get down! Fire in the hole!" "Medic!"
"Do they know we are AWOL?" asked Sander tightly wrapping Davis' leg.
"No, I don't think so. But it sounds chaotic, like everyone is fighting."
"Maybe the infected civvies are becoming too much for them to handle."
"Perhaps." He said doubtfully.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen masses of them for hours."
"They're all downtown because they know that there are people in City Hall. Lucky for us they are trying to get in there."
A single shot made them jump and Price lowered his gun upon seeing the zombie drop to the ground.
"Hey, I know where we are." Said Davis as Sandler helped him up. "We're not far from Ashford's daughter's school." He said. All of them turned and looked at him.
"Where is it?" asked Price.
"About half a mile up the street."
"Well let's go then."
"What about Trina and the rest of them?" asked Sandler to no one in particular.
"Sheffield's a Marine, I'm sure they'll be fine." Replied Hallsworth. "For now." He added. On that note they started down the street toward the school.
It had taken Sheffield about fifteen minutes to finally get his group out of their shock. Sarah had recovered the fastest since Sheffield had already told her about the aliens and Black Mesa, but she was still in some disbelief.
Trina had quietly led them up the street as not to alert the Mercs to their presence, and stopped in front of a bland looking building with the extremely familiar red and white Umbrella logo.
"The lab goes ten levels underground." She said. "I don't know what's down there though. Never actually been in there."
"If that's the case I'm guessing that the elevator is not going down unless we have a pass or something." Added Brandon.
"Retinal and fingerprint scan." She replied. "All Umbrella labs require those to gain access."
"Great." Said Nathan. "Maybe we can catch one of them by surprise and get in that way."
"I doubt it. They're not that dumb." Replied Trina.
"It's worth a try." Said Sheffield as he got up and ran across the street in a half crouch and making sure his MP5 was ready.
Brandon and Trina exchanged looks and followed him leaving Sarah sitting behind the car by herself. She watched them stealthily open the door and disappear inside the dark building. She reached back and pulled her pistol from her back pocket and moved across the street the same way the others had done. She was beginning to get the hang of this soldier stuff.
Sarah entered the building and quickly moved into the shadows to the right. Sheffield reached into his backpack and pulled out a weird looking gas mask that only had one nozzle on the right and two big green lenses. He put it on and Sarah thought he looked like an alien with it on.
Nathan activated his night vision mode from his mask and motioned for the others to stay where they were. He raised his gun and crept into the dark hallway that led down to the main elevator.
Something came out of the shadows to his right and hit him in the face. He fell back rolled to avoid a second blow from landing on his face. Sheffield then kicked at what was assaulting him and sent him into the wall. He quickly got up and moved his arm to block a punch from the enemy and swung his own fist around landing it in the man's jaw.
The man slumped to the ground and dropped his head unconscious. Sheffield quickly retrieved his gun and made sure the rest of the hall was clear for the rest of his group. It looked as if the Merc he had just fought was merely there as a guard and that the rest of them had been in the labs below for a while now.
"All clear." He said loudly. The other three came down the hall and joined him at the elevator. Nathan replaced his mask in his backpack.
"How do we get in?" asked Sarah noting the thickness of the door.
The elevator door flew open in many different pieces and fell down the ten-story elevator shaft. Sheffield leaned in and looked down. Blue wall lights illuminated the shaft.
"Told you a Det-Pack would work." observed Nathan.
"Okay," said Trina trying to keep Sheffield from being totally right. "How do you propose we get down?"
"How do you think?" She gave him an irritated look. "Ladies first." He said. Trina leaned out, grabbed the elevator cable, and swung onto it. She attached her zip line clamp to the cable and held down the tension trigger.
"Smart ass." She said and released it. She plummeted nine stories before stopping herself.
"Well, we get to climb down the old fashioned way." Said Nathan. He extended his arm signaling Brandon to get on and start climbing down. The officer did as he was told. Sheffield turned and kneeled down next to Sarah. "Can you climb down yourself or do you want to hold onto my back?" he asked.
"I think I can do it myself." She replied sweetly. "I've been with you all day, I'm starting to get this whole soldier thing." Sheffield smiled.
"Okay, but be careful. I'm going to get on first and then you follow. That way if you slip then I will be able to catch you." She frowned at him.
"I'm sixteen. I can do this without you looking out for me." Sheffield looked into her eyes.
Ever since Nathan was a kid, he had been able to almost see what people were thinking. He had never been able to explain it, but it was almost as if he could become them and feel what they were thinking.
As he looked into Sarah's eyes he saw that she was really starting to get tired of everyone treating her like a child and that she really could take care of herself when it came down to it. She was very strong and mature for her age, and that was now clear to Sheffield.
"Okay, go down first." He said. She nodded and without hesitation, grabbed the cable and climbed down. Sheffield followed her down and they all dropped into the elevator through the top escape hatch.