Biohazard: Resident Evil VII

Chapter Twenty Six: Happy Birthday

"City-boy, you are one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?" Lucas asked as he dragged Ethan by the ankles. "Yeah, we got ourselves off to a bad start, with us fightin' over Mia, and you goin' and bangin' my sister like you done… but that's all in the past. You an' me're gonna start over, and buddy, I got me a little somethin's gonna perk you right up."

After the bald man had finished pummeling him after Zoe's escape, Ethan had been released from the clamps and bolts that held his arm down to the table, only to be thrown onto the floor, and tied up once again. This time Lucas used a series of zip-ties to bind Ethan's wrists and ankles together, not that he was left in any condition to fight back, and then the bald man dragged him out of the room by his ankles.

Turns out that the game room had only been a short distance from where the barn fight had taken place, but instead of being moved toward the open area where he had fought the remains of Anderson and Travis, Lucas took him in the opposite direction. There was no straw on the floor as they entered a long hallway, so Ethan felt every inch of the rough concrete as his partially exposed back was dragged across it, but thankfully the bald man stopped when they reached a door off to the left side.

There were other doors around, mostly made of wood, but this one was metal, and Ethan found his mind returning to the similar doors that he had seen in both the main house and where the lantern scale was. I keypad was mounted off to the side of the door, and when Lucas pushed the buttons, it made a similar sound to the one that ADT had supplied when Ethan and Mia had decided to buy a home security system a few years back. The bald man pushed a few numbers, and the panel made a sharp beep before the door's lock clicked, but all Ethan could see inside was darkness when the door was pushed open.

"It's taken me weeks to finish this, Ethan." Lucas said excitedly as he started dragging Ethan inside. "You know, I actually envy you right now… really, I do… promise."

"You're sick, Lucas." Ethan replied weekly. "Why do you…

But his words were interrupted when the bald man suddenly dropped his ankles, grabbed Ethan by the shirt, and forced him to stand. Lucas then slugged him in the stomach, making Ethan cough as he doubled over in pain, but he was immediately pulled back upright so the bald man could shove him up against the wall.

"What, you don't fuckin' believe me?!" Lucas screamed, getting right in his face. "You see the joy on my face, Ethan?! Do you?! Can't fake joy like this, I don't care how gooda actor you are! So you better get you a damn positive attitude, city-boy, cause' this here's all for you!"

The bald man slugged him again, this time pushing Ethan down to the floor when he doubled over, and then taking out a knife. Gasping and trying to get away for fear of being stabbed, Ethan was surprised when Lucas cut the zip-ties around his wrists and ankles instead… before walking out of the room and slamming the door, leaving Ethan lost in darkness. No, wait… there was a light. It was flickering like a candle, and coming from a nearby table, so he groaned while pulling himself to his feet, and headed toward the light.

Turns out that it was a candle, so Ethan picked it up in the hopes of exploring his surroundings, only to cry out in horror when raising the candle revealed a monstrous figure standing right in front of him. Wait, no… it wasn't a monster… it was some kind of dummy that was molded after what had to be the creepiest clown that he had ever seen. The abomination had faded red hair that stuck out to the sides, partially exposed skeletal ribs, and a wide, toothy grin with wild eyes to match.

The dummy also seemed to be missing some pieces… like its finger, and there was a deep impression in its torso where something could be inserted. In front of the dummy was a faded old book that had been covered in black ink, scribbled over so many times that it was impossible to read the words. There didn't seem to be anything else on the table, there was only so much that the candle allowed Ethan to see, so he decided to do some more exploring… well, at least nothing had jumped out to try and stab him yet.

As he moved around the area, he discovered that this place was probably someone's half-assed attempt to convert part of the barn into an apartment. There was a partially finished bathroom where the toilet bowl was filled with something horrendous, as well as an almost completed kitchen that had an over and some cabinets… and not much else. Figuring that the oven's stove-top might give him a little more light, if it worked that is, Ethan turned on the burners… and they worked.

The light from the four burners lit up the surrounding area, allowing him to see… not much beyond the kitchen, but then he turned around and saw another flickering light coming from down a short hallway. It looked like a couple more candles were burning, and he figured that spreading them around the area would give him a better picture of what he was dealing with, so Ethan started down the hallway, only to gasp as he was suddenly sprayed with water from all directions as if he had walked into a sprinkler system or a shower… and the candle went out.

"Went an' got yourself all wet, city-boy?" Lucas's voice laughed as overhead lights suddenly came on throughout the makeshift apartment. "Well, now that you're focused, let's go on and get started. Now, I call this game 'Night of the Screamin' City Boy', and believe-you-me, it's a darn sight better than the last title. All you gotta do is light that there candle, an' put it on the cake with the others… jus' be careful you don't go settin' yourself up on the way."

Lucas started laughing again as if he had just told a really funny joke, but Ethan didn't get it as he moved past the wall-mounted shower system and into the room beyond. It was like a small living room, with some chairs and a desk, but it had two distinguishing features. The first was a large wooden barrel that had what looked like a tap for pouring drinks, and the other feature was a cake, just like the bald man had said. It was a large birthday cake with two lit candles on top, an obvious spot for a third, and a card on top that read:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

GOT A FUCKING LIGHT?

Okay, so looking back at the shower system and the candle, it was clear that he needed to light the candle using the stove-top, and then somehow get it through the water without getting it wet. So he went to the stove, and made several attempts; hiding the candle under his shirt, jumping over the pressure plate, and even setting a small cabinet in front of the nozzles to block the water… each attempt ending in failure. It got to the point where Ethan was so frustrated that he walked across the room, picked up the apparently full wooden barrel, and tossed it at the shower system in an attempt to break it.

The barrel missed completely, instead hitting the kitchen floor, where it broke open. A large amount of black fluid was spilled out onto the tile, where it started slowly flowing into a nearby floor drain, but this left Ethan in the same place, with nothing… until he took a closer look at the tap that had landed near his feet. In fact, it wasn't a tap at all, but a large winding key that looked… like it would fit inside the clown dummy's torso. So was that it? Was he supposed to put that creepy thing back together?

"This is fucking stupid, Lucas!" He yelled, looking around for cameras, but seeing none. "Is this what you did while Zoe went to college, huh? Sat here in your parent's barn coming up with stupid shit that'll…

"You jus' keep focused on the game, city-boy!" Lucas's voice yelled, interrupting him. "Don't worry, I'll let you out after the cake is lit… let's see how much Zoe's wantin' you 'then', buddy."

Even more frustrated now, Ethan resumed searching around the apartment, eventually coming across a wooden door that he hadn't noticed until now. It led into a sort of walk-in closet, and the first thing that he saw was a large metal valve handle hanging on the far wall. This looked like just the thing to shut off a shower system, if he could find the valve it fit onto, but it appeared that this was going to be a problem, since the handle was attached to a metal hook-ring with a large padlock.

There was no keyhole, just a set of five spinners that had letters on them instead of numbers… and there were a lot of choices, meaning that guessing the right combination was unlikely at best. This whole game that Lucas rigged up was getting more and more aggravating by the second, so he took a step back to calm himself, when a sudden pop made Ethan jump. It was only then that he realized that the room's floor was covered in balloons, and now he had absolutely had it with this whole ridiculous fiasco.

"What the fuck?!" Ethan screamed, kicking several of the balloons. "Lucas, I swear to Christ, I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna choke the life out of you with my bare hands, and then I'm gonna have a…

This time stopping himself from talking, Ethan didn't even hear the bald man's reply, since he had noticed something on the floor, hidden underneath all the balloons. It was another balloon, but this one was bigger, and sturdier looking than the others. He could also feel something hard inside after reaching down to pick it up, so he bit the rubber until it tore open, revealing a… quill pen?

Yes, it was a quill pen, and attached to it toward the pointy end was something that looked like… a finger! This was it! This was what he needed in order to put that stupid clown dummy thing back together, so he left the closet, and made his way back through the kitchen, all the way back over to where the creepy thing was still sitting. The finger easily screwed into a slot on the clown's hand, tightening to where it was now holding the pen as if to write something.

The only thing left to do now was put the large winding key into the slot on its torso, and hope that the stupid thing actually did something when wound up. So he leaned forward, shoving in the key and turning it several times, causing the dummy to start twitching once the key began to turn the opposite direction. Some worn-out ice cream truck music began to play as the dummy raised the pen, and then Ethan gasped as its other arm came forward to grab his wrist.

The clown dummy's grip was incredibly strong, leaving him unable to break free as the tip on the quill pen began to spin around at high speeds as if it were a drill. Before Ethan knew what was happening, his wrist was pulled sideways, putting him so far off balance that he had to grab onto the table with his free hand, and then he shrieked when the clown dummy stabbed the drilling pen into his forearm, causing a light spray of blood as the tool started to drag across his flesh.