Chapter 4-2
Ambush
Beneath the Umbrella Management Training Center
(Enter REBECCA CHAMBERS)
The elevator turned out to be uninhabited. Using it, they had made their way down into what seemed to be the seedy underbelly of Umbrella's operation. The structure they now stood in was rust covered and worn, even more so than the rest of the facility. It was almost like Umbrella took pride in the disrepair of the area…
Billy introduced two zombies to the shotgun; the only opposition they met when they arrived. All the same, Rebecca felt like there were eyes on her from the shadows, and she was sure she'd seen something small and dark slithering around in the darkness.
Rebecca looked around at the small room they now stood in. It had hallways branching off in both directions, and there were no signs to point the way.
"Now what?"
Billy shrugged. "Flip a coin?"
Rebecca closed her eyes, spun on her heel, then pointed in the direction she stopped in. "That way" she said, opening her eyes.
"I don't think we'll get far through there" replied Billy, and Rebecca realized to her embarrassment that she was facing the elevator.
"Maybe not" she said. Then she saw Billy tense up beside her. "What is it?"
"Shhhh! I heard something, just now." Billy pointed down one hall. "That way, I think."
Rebecca squinted into the darkness. "Down there? I can't see any-"
"I know, but listen. You can hear someone running."
Rebecca paused for a moment. "You know what? You're right. Sort of. Doesn't sound like running, though. More like…Shambling?"
"Well, however you want to describe what they're doing, there's someone down there. Question is, what do we do?"
"There isn't really a whole lot to think about here" Rebecca said after a moment. "There's someone down there. They might be a survivor, or-"
"Or they might be someone in the know on this nightmare" Billy finished. "So I guess that means we go play bounty-hunter and chase the luckless SOB down?"
Rebecca nodded. "Sounds about right."
"Okay. Then let's get to it."
A few minutes later…
Rebecca leaned over the railing. Below she could hear the river (the mighty Arklay) as it flowed through the bottom of the facility.
"They must be using the River for power" Rebecca said over her shoulder to Billy. "Makes sense. Why have all that natural energy and not use it, you know?"
Billy stood at the edge of the platform. He too was peering over the edge. "I don't know where he could have gotten off to. There's nothing but a sheer drop here. I doubt the guy was suicidal, if he was running away. But where'd he go?" He gestured behind him. "Umbrella must have used this elevator thing to get across. I guess we will too."
Rebecca walked over to what had to be the control panel; a single raised console with unlabeled levers and knobs. She pressed a button, but nothing happened. "Looks like we'll have to figure out how to activate it."
Billy groaned. "Why does it always have to be the hard way?" he complained.
"At least there is a way" replied Rebecca.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with."
Then the ground shifted under them, and the platform was in motion.
"The fuck?" muttered Billy, looking around. He shot Rebecca a look, but she didn't know what was going on either.
She gestured toward the console in front of her. "I didn't do that. It's still not responding."
"Looks like someone's trying to move us on our way."
Rebecca nodded. "I wonder why."
Billy shrugged. "After the way things have gone today, it can't be for anything good, I'll bet you that." He hefted the shotgun, flicked off the safety, and racked the pump. "Let's be ready."
There was a loud plop and Rebecca saw something dark and glistening land on the floor behind Billy.
"Watch out!" she called, but Billy was already turning, looking at whatever had just joined them.
"What is this?" she heard him mutter. "The 1960's? First zombies, now the Blob? C'mon!"
Rebecca leaned around, craning her neck to see what Billy was talking about.
There was a…blob puddling on the platform in front of Billy. As she watched, it slowly began to grown taller, its shape getting longer. It stretched arms out from its sides, shaking them as if they were wings, and Rebecca gasped. She could see in the dim light what the thing was made of.
Billy raised the shotgun. "Not today, buddy. Not today." He fired a blast into the center of the leech mass, causing it to double up, clutching at itself where the blast had hit. "Not so fun now, is it?" Billy shouted, firing again.
The mass sank back to the floor of the platform, holding itself erect with its arms, looking for all the world as if it were doing push-ups.
Billy pumped the shotgun. "Had enough, or do you want some more?"
But the leech mass ignored him. It began to slowly expand, like a balloon.
"What in Hell-"
Rebecca had stood watching the spectacle in silence, but now she knew what was coming. "Billy, it's going to-"
The leech mass bursting cut Rebecca off in midsentence. Leeches flew in all directions. Rebecca felt one cold, wet creature land on the bare skin of her arm. With a cry of disgust, she yanked it off and ground it down under her green high-tops.
Most of the leeches had found their way to Billy, though. She could see him on the ground, rolling around as he tried to crush their bodies with his own. He had his hands over his head, trying to keep a few of them from getting to it.
"Billy!" she shouted, rushing forward. Then she felt something slam into her stomach, and was sent sailing backward. She struck the platform's large, rusted metal cabin and felt the air leave her body. She slumped against the cabin, dazed.
When her eyes finally refocused, she saw Billy on his feet again, plucking out a leech that had somehow found its way into the pocket of his jeans. He threw the creature away, then looked around for his weapon. A few feet in front on him, the leech mass began to reform, slowly growing taller, its long arms and legs making it look like some sort of caricature of a basketball player.
"Ah ha!" exclaimed Billy, picking up the shotgun. "Here we are." He loaded in a few more shells, then pumped the weapon. "Now, how's about we-"
The leech mass, which was now towering over Billy, struck him across the face with the end of one arm.
"Oh, you did not" said Billy angrily. He fired a blast into the leech creature's middle. "How's that feel?"
The leech mass seemed to think about that for a moment. Then it raised its fist like arm and slammed it into Billy's stomach, hard enough to send him into the air. Rebecca heard him groan in surprise, then winced when the monster slammed Billy down with its other, whip-like arm. It raised the arm to beat him again.
Then it started as the arm suddenly exploded. It seemed unsure what had become of its limb, and stared at the stunted arm for a moment. Then Rebecca shot it again with the Samurai Edge, and it turned its full attention toward her.
"Come on!" she shouted, surprising herself a little. "Come and get it!"
The monster turned away from Billy and began to shamble its way toward her, its odd rolling stride making it look as though it were some kind of marijuana-high piece of modern art, all long wiggling limbs and instability.
The arm it hit Rebecca with was anything but. For the second time Rebecca was airborne, flying backwards. She landed with a groan on the floor of the platform, but was back on her feet in a moment, ready to keep fighting.
Except the leech mass wasn't. It still stood in the same place it had hit her, stretching its arms out in the arm like it was giving an oratory. Then Rebecca saw the droplets falling from above, looked up, and realized what was going on.
The entire ceiling of the room was covered in a slick coat of leeches, which were steadily dropping down onto the massive form before her.
Rebecca holstered the Samurai Edge and unslung her MP5. She aimed at the leech mass's center mass, and pulled the trigger. A steady stream of 9mm bullets tore into the monster, which wobbled uneasily. But still it stood, growing steadily bigger, until Rebecca was unsure how it would support its own weight. Then it did something she had only seen cells do. It divided; where there had been one leech monster there were now two.
It wasn't exactly the same as cell division, the scientific part of her mind told Rebecca. If it had been, then the two forms would have been the same size as the parent. As it was, they were only half as big. Not that that wasn't enough.
"Up the well known creek" Rebecca muttered, opening fire with the MP5 on one of the monsters.
Her magazine ran dry, and Rebecca released it, going for a fresh one. The nearest leech mass took the opportunity, snaking one of its whip-like arms forward. It knocked the SMG from her hands, then wrapped itself around her waist, lifting her high into the air. It swung her about for a moment, squeezing tightly, then threw her down to the cold metal deck plating. Rebecca landed face first, and was again a bit dazed. Through her blurry eyes she could see the two shapes of the leech monsters as they slowly advanced on her.
Then there was a flash of light, and one creature burst into flames. It began to flail about, the leeches that made up its body dropping as they were immolated.
"You don't like fire, do ya?" Billy shouted, aiming the grenade launcher at the second monster. It seemed to silently plead with him not to pull the trigger for a moment. Billy ignored the monster and fired anyway, the grenade striking it in the chest. The leech mass threw up its hands and rushed forward, tumbling over the edge of the still moving platform and into the Arklay River below.
Billy stepped toward her. "You okay?" he asked, his voice sounding concerned.
Rebecca blinked, trying to clear her vision. She still had streaks in her eyes from the sudden fire in the darkness, and they were making it hard to see… "Behind you!" she shouted the minute she realized what she was seeing wasn't temporary eye damage, but the fist leech mass Billy had incinerated.
It was shambling toward him, its body still faintly smoldering. Billy tried to raise the grenade launcher, but the leech mass knocked it aside with one of its springy whip-arms. Then it wrapped itself around Billy, drawing him into it.
"Billy!" Rebecca shouted, drawing the Samurai Edge and lining up her shot.
Just then something slammed into her back, and Rebecca smelled an old familiar reek that she'd hoped she'd never encounter again. She staggered, feeling claws slash eagerly at her back, and sank to her knees, crying out in pain.
Her old nemesis, the zombie baboon, stood chattering before her. Rebecca wasn't sure whether it was the same one that had nearly killed her early, but she wasn't in the mood for a tearful reunion. The monster was between her and Billy, and so it would have to go.
The little monkey leapt at her, screeching in homicidal glee. Rebecca bulled the trigger twice, shooting the monster out of the air. It thrashed once, then was still.
All the same, it had cost her time.
Rebecca heard Billy cry out in dismay and rushed forward, but she was too late. Both Billy and the leech mass toppled over the edge of the platform, into the dark abyss and the roaring Arklay below.
"Billy!" Rebecca shouted, her voice echoing in the pit. Her mind registered the platform as it stopped, felt it shift under her feet, and knew that it was at its destination. A few seconds later she realized that if Billy had fallen a few seconds later, he would have landed on the loading dock, and still been-
It took a minute for the reality to set in. Billy was gone, fallen into the darkness, her one companion in this nightmare dead before her eyes, while she was helpless to stop it.
"No. Billy's not dead" Rebecca said aloud. She picked up his shotgun and racked the pump. It was still warm from his touch. "He's alive. And I'm going to find him."