Darkness Arises: Reborn
By Metal Harbinger
Chapter 35: Doorway to Hell
"Everything looks clear so far," Leon reported from the walkway as he made his descent.
The special door led the two men into an open passage devoid of any threats; still Jake remained on guard as his companion walked over to some flower pots where a few blue herbs had been left behind. His mind taken back to those mutated spiders and what had happened to Officer Burchill back at the library; he made sure the rookie cop took everything, ready to scoop up anything if it were left behind.
"You think these tunnels would lead to anywhere important?" Leon asked looking over to an alcove where a door stood at the end.
Jake knew the young officer came from outside of Raccoon City and probably still didn't have much intimate knowledge of the city or its inner workings. The hitman however remembered what he read in Sebastian's diary and surmised they could be near the research facility he mentioned.
"I'm just as clueless as you, but we probably don't have much choice right now," he replied, slipping into his 'clueless civilian' role.
A slight crumble caught their attention as tiny pebbles rained down from above. The two survivors looked up to see more cracks forming in the ceiling above them.
"Crap! Could that be your friend again?" Leon asked pumping his shotgun.
"I sure as hell hope not," Jake replied readying his rifle.
A slew of large rocks fell as the cracks expanded and a slender figure fell through, amazingly landing on her feet despite her less-than-glamorous entrance.
"Ada!" Leon shouted to the woman.
Ada Wong stood before them dusting herself off, her red cocktail dress now sporting a few stains and her black leggings a few snags. She noticed the two men standing before her and smirked with confidence.
Her womanly charms did not fool Leon, and he quickly admonished her, "What was that all about? Running off like that was reckless and stupid! Those zombies are everywhere, not to mention that thing that got Ben!" the officer growled as he got into her face and waving his free hand around.
"I was there Leon, I know," the woman replied somberly and then looked over to Jake who said nothing.
"Look Ada, as an officer, it's my job to look out for you and Jake alike," he spoke, his tone now softening a little, "but we're not going to get through this alive if we don't work together, okay?"
"Alright…we'll do this your way for now," she replied with a girlish wink.
"C'mon let's go, and stay with us this time," Leon ordered making his way down the narrow hall.
Ada looked to Jake, who shared Leon's thoughts, "C'mon, let's get out of this rancid shithole," he spoke motioning for the woman to go ahead so he could make sure she wouldn't run off again.
She could tell he was keeping a close eye on her and nodded meekly, hoping he would back down in due time. For now, she would play the role of the obedient companion. As soon as she could distance herself from them it would be all over.
The door led to a small office set up like a makeshift boardroom with two folding tables pushed together, a small set of lockers, tables covered with partially consumed food and drink and several control consoles. Leon held a piece of paper in hand reading it to himself and then showed it to Ada as they entered, a fax to the sewer manager regarding Umbrella employees making regular use of the facility.
"Got some more names down," Leon said folding the fax and sliding it into one of his vest's compartments.
Jake meanwhile made his way over to the lockers and searched for anything of use, managing to find two boxes of shotgun shells that Leon could use, an extra can of first-aid spray for Ada, and two boxes of handgun bullets, both of which he gave to his companions as the hitman was still fairly well armed. There was also a Remington shotgun in one of the lockers, but it was broken.
"Hmmm, this is odd," the hitman remarked aloud as the lockers suddenly became unhinged from their supports and began sliding to the side. "Well what do we have here?" he said as he pushed the lockers aside with his shoulder. After a few shoves he had uncovered a rusted industrial door with the word "STORAGE" stenciled in faded red paint, like the room had been neglected for some time.
"We don't have enough time to search every single inch of this area right now. We need to get through here as fast as we can," Leon spoke up impatiently gesturing towards a nearby lift. He could tell from the look on her face that Ada shared the younger man's urgency.
"Fine, you two go ahead. I'll check this room out," Jake said sliding the door aside to reveal a ladder leading down, "I'll meet up with you soon."
"Are you sure?" Leon asked placing a hand on his hip and staring intently at him.
The hitman rolled his eyes, "How many times do I have to tell you I've survived an entire week in this nightmare? If I can make it this far along, then that should tell you that a civilian is capable of caring for their own well-being in a cluster fuck of this magnitude…" he finished with a sarcastic groan.
Both of his companions were blown away by the sudden outburst and looked uneasily towards each other, not wanting to leave a comrade behind, "Fine, we'll go ahead, but we're not leaving without you!" Leon looked to Ada and motioned with a jerk of his head to follow him. Together the two stepped onto the flimsy-looking lift and made their descent.
Jake switched on the rifle's flashlight attachment and lowered himself down into the darkened storage area ready for any challenges awaiting him. He tried to move as quietly as possible, knowing that his hands and feet striking the metal would make noises that could attract possible uninvited guests. Straining his ears he listened for any moans, footsteps, clicking or humming noises that could give away possible threats and shined the light downward to see a zombie at the bottom swaying quietly, awaiting its next target.
Listening to the silence around him, Jake withdrew his Beretta and screwed his silencer onto it, firing a single round into the top of the cadaver's cranium, a small puff emitting as he pulled the trigger. The potential adversary sagged to the ground, the thud of its body attracting more footsteps. Staying where he was, another zombie stumbled into his swath of light kneeling down to snack on its fallen comrade. Firing another silenced round, the second creature fell on top of its expired cohort.
No more footsteps sounded and he lowered himself. An icy feeling formed in his gut knowing there were probably more zombies lurking in the shadows and waiting for him to pass so they could tear into his throat when he least expected it.
Touching his feet to the ground, Jake moved along now equipped with his M4A1 and shining his light into every corner making sure there was nothing else waiting for him. Moving cautiously, his light shone upon a sparkling object, another lighter. Trailing the beam along the wall, he spotted a red lantern and carefully snuck up to the lighter, snatching it up and igniting the lamp above.
A large portion of the room was now illuminated and the hired gun found himself in a room that had been converted into an emergency shelter. A few blood-spattered sleeping bags had been pulled out and were surrounded by emptied first-aid kits and food wrappers, as well as some empty soda cans and wine bottles.
"Heck of a time to thrown an 'end of the world' party," he whispered as he took notice of the emptied ammo cases, some of which were large enough for shotguns and assault rifles.
More corpses were present as well.
Near the sleeping bags rested a male and a female, both of whom had been far too torn apart to be at risk of reanimating. In a corner was another man dressed like a sewage worker with a bullet in his right temple. Clutched in the man's hand was a .38 revolver that was likely empty by this point.
Rounding another corner, Jake jumped back as a bony hand reached out from the darkness attempting to grab him by the collar. Raising his rifle he fired a three shot burst into his attacker's rotting face and knocking it backwards. From the muzzle flashes illuminating the darkened area, he spotted another zombie staggering about and guided his light towards its face, firing two bullets through its left eye.
"Hopefully that'll be it," he whispered as he crept along the path and rounded another corner where he found another red lantern and reached up to light it.
Slumped over a desk before him, Jake found another man in a sewage worker's uniform with what looked like a detached tentacle feasting on the back of his head. Nearly gagging in disgust, he fired a shot through the brittle creature and let it sag to the ground with a pained squeal. Upon closer inspection, the beast had the shape of a worm and its end opened to reveal four giant fangs surrounding a hole lined with smaller inner rows of teeth like a shark.
"That's fucking sick," the hitman hissed and knocked the corpse aside, revealing a complete map of the Raccoon City sewer system.
Scooping up the blood-drenched laminated piece of paper, he pointed to a gold star marking where he currently stood and traced his finger along a trail to a larger area marking the main sewage disposal control room and then an area with the Umbrella symbol on it, marking the tram entrance.
"So I'm close," he told himself as he set the map down and searched the nearby shelves, finding some more speed loaders for his revolver. He also found a few more clips compatible with Leon's Desert Eagle and some more shotgun shells. Seeing as the officer would need them, he scooped them up.
"Alright, I think I've found everything I possibly could in here," Jake whispered as he shined his light to the corner near the desk, where he noticed another crack and from within could hear a wet squishing noise. "That can't be good."
From the crack emerged another one of those worm-like creatures, followed by a second, then a third and so on until they were fighting their way through the crack to get at him.
"Definitely not good," Jake choked out while trying to suppress a gag. Quickly leaping back from the enclosed space he fired a napalm round towards the encroaching horde and managed to immolate most of the offending beasts before having to fire another round.
The flames began swallowing up anything surrounding them and the hired gun was forced to whirl around on his heel and rushed towards the ladder, bolting up the rungs as quickly as he could before he pulled the door shut behind him.
Before he could fall back against one of the tables and mutter the obligatory curses, more gunshots sounded from below.
"More uninvited guests?" he asked aloud and ran over to slam the call button, waiting impatiently as the platform sluggishly came up to meet him. Once he stepped on he was pushing the button to make his way downward.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Leon Kennedy lay in the dull gray hallway stirring back into consciousness, barely registering the stinging sensation in his left shoulder, let alone the sticky blood staining his uniform.
The last thing he could remember was being in the hall with Ada, where they spotted a blonde-haired woman in a lab coat. They immediately gave chase and she ran into the middle of a T-intersection, proceeding to open fire upon his companion.
In an act he couldn't decide was either heroic or stupid, he dove in front of Ada and then everything went black.
It suddenly registered that he had been shot and looked down to finally notice the blood covering his uniform, the pain throbbing for his efforts and forcing him to jerk his head back.
"Ada…" he mumbled weakly, remembering his companion.
Looking around, the lady in red was nowhere to be found and with his bullet wound he was in no condition to get up and go looking for her.
"Damn…where the hell is she?" he grunted as more pain wracked through his torso. He put his gloved hand over the wound and tried to shut the pain away, but it was no use. The young officer would need to seek urgent medical attention or else he wouldn't survive another day.
The mechanical whirr of a lift sounded from his right and he forced his right eye open to see Claire descending towards him.
"Leon!" the young woman called out and as soon as the lift locked into place she bolted over and knelt down beside him.
"What happened? You're bleeding!" she cried pushing his hand out of the way to get a better look at the wound.
"We ran into this woman who was in trouble. Her name's Ada…" he choked out still in great pain. "Right after that, someone tried to kill me and nearly succeeded too," he said looking down to his wound. "Jake stayed behind to search some storage room and Ada went after the sniper, but I'm worried about her. You gotta find her before something happens."
"But you've been shot…" Claire protested, only to be cut off by the officer raising his hand.
"I'll be okay. It's Ada I'm worried about…"
Another mechanical whirr sounded from their left and the two looked over to see Jake riding the lift down to meet them.
"Leon! What happened?" he called out as he ran over towards the two survivors.
"I'm alright. Ada and I were down here when we spotted some lady. We tried chasing after her, but she pulled out a gun and started shooting at us. I took a bullet for her and now she's gone off to find the lady. Somebody has to go look for her; I'm worried for her safety," the cop grunted.
"Not until we get that bullet wound taken care of," Claire remarked as she reached into her side pack and pulled out an ace bandage.
"You're gonna need some of this too," Jake spoke to her as he pulled out his first-aid spray and handed it to her.
"Thanks. I found some of these too," the woman said raising her hand to show the two hemostat capsules. Returning her attention to Leon, she grabbed a lock of the rookie's reddish-brown hair and titled his head back, popping them into his mouth. "Swallow them down and get ready to grit your teeth," she ordered as she shook the canister and proceeded to spray the wound until it coagulated enough to prevent him from bleeding to death.
"Ugh…thanks…" Leon grunted before he began breathing at a steadier pace. Claire then applied the sterilized bandage.
"Look, I appreciate the help and everything, but somebody needs to check up on Ada. I'm worried about her and I need to know if she found that woman yet or not," the cop spoke calmly as he was tended to.
"Alright, I'll go," Jake said rising to his feet and accepting his first-aid spray, but first I have some presents for you," he said opening his side pack and pulling out the shotgun shells and Desert Eagle clips. "These should help you along the way."
He then turned his attention to Claire, "How are you holding up?"
The college student held her grenade launcher up, "So far I'm doing pretty well for this bad boy. I've got plenty of acid and napalm rounds in addition to all the explosive shells I've been finding littered about. I'm doing pretty well for my Browning too. Thank God I've got the same shooting skills as my brother, must run in the Redfield genes," she proudly chimed.
"Uh huh, well I'll be on my way now," Jake said turning on his heel and running down the hall.
"So he's let Ada slip her leash again," he thought to himself reaching the door and crinkling his nose as he was struck by the wave of putrefaction. "Mark my words, she'll be the death of him," he told himself before whispering it aloud, "She'll be the death of him," uttering the same phrase he had with plenty of his guy friends in the past. "No time to be a player, especially when you're surrounded by bloodsucking demons."
Beyond the fetid air, Jake listened to the trickling water and blowing fan, accompanied by the light humming noises of those giant spiders. "Damn it. I'm a hitman, not an exterminator," he furrowed his brow and readied the rifle, making sure the attached grenade launcher was loaded as he crept towards the opening.
Barely dodging another cloud of poisonous mist being fired in his direction, the hired gun opened fire on a spider hovering above him. His barrage weakened it enough to send it collapsing to the concrete floor, finishing the disgusting arachnid off before firing a napalm round into its hairy carapace and burning it alive.
"One down," he muttered to himself as he stepped down into knee deep water that was likely tainted by feces, vomit and other forms of waste, both human and artificial. He took a left turn and found another alcove where he went to investigate.
There in the narrow space he found the carcasses of two individuals dressed in combat gear who looked as if they had been skewered by some gigantic blade, the possible work of the mutant encountered back in the waste disposal facility.
Judging by the build of the bodies, he could tell both victims were male. Both corpses were clad in black and gray urban operations B.D.U.'s, polymer elbow and knee pads, fingerless black gloves and black steel-toed combat boots. Over their jackets they wore matte black Level 4 tactical combat vests that held pouches for grenades and other ammo, utility belts stuffed with other important tactical equipment. Their heads were covered by military-grade gas masks equipped with thermal imaging goggles that gave off a glowing red glare that almost made them look like futuristic shock troopers even in death.
Their uniforms bore no symbols of any kind, obviously so they could not be traced back to their employers, meaning that these troopers could have belonged to anybody, but whom?
Were they members of a secret paramilitary unit sent in by the government to contain the outbreak? Could they have been C.I.A. assassins sent to investigate Umbrella? Maybe they were members of a foreign army sent to steal the company's research and take it back to their native land. Heck, maybe they were some of Umbrella's own lapdogs sent in to cover up their own company's accident in order to maintain their 'company of the people' image.
Whatever the case was, they were dead and Jake carefully searched their corpses. Aside from some non-lethal weapons, he did manage to find some extra explosive shells for his grenade launcher and another case of shotgun shells that would have been useful to Leon. Giving the closest body another shake a silver medallion fell from one of its pockets.
"Things just keep popping up from out of nowhere," the hired gun whispered to himself as he picked up the medallion and examined it closely.
The surface contained a Medieval-looking wolf design and then it suddenly hit him. He remembered the last entry from Sebastian's diary, where the researcher talked about the secret entrance to a tram hidden behind a waterfall and how it would require a 'Golden Eagle' and 'Silver Wolf' medallion to bypass the trap.
"Got one piece of the puzzle found. Where the other one is, I'm almost afraid to ask," he thought as he slid the medal into his pocket and then jumped back down into the water.
Rounding another corner Jake found another mutant spider moving into position. Raising his rifle he fired a volley into the arachnid's opened mouth, forcing it to scream wildly before firing a napalm round into its body that sent flames into the air and greenish blood splashing all over.
"More of it," he muttered as he was able to take in the bloodshed surrounding him, noticing the crimson and bullet holes covering nearby brick walls. Through the murky water he spotted another corpse lying in a corner, likely murdered in the same fashion as the two previous victims. There were probably more of the mutant arachnids lurking about and wouldn't doubt if they had a nest somewhere, giving him flashbacks of one of his all-time favorite sci-fi series, 'Hives.'
Continuing on with his mission he made his way through a nearby gate and found another spider looking to be in the process of cocooning a victim and he opened fire upon its backside, spraying more green blood as it turned around to face him. Never relaxing his finger from the trigger, he fired into the beast until his clip ran dry and the creature fell into the water with a mammoth splash. The spatter alerted another nearby arachnid and it too came charging towards the assassin.
"Damn bugs," he grunted as he quickly withdrew his magnum and fired a blast straight into its hideous visage, sending it to the same fate as its companion.
There was no time to check on the status of the spiders' cocooned victim as a gunshot rang out from a distance and Jake ran towards the source of the shot, which came from behind a set of metal double doors. Climbing onto the platform he loaded a fresh clip into his M4A1 and crept towards the doors, gripping the handle and easing his way inside.
Hugging his back to the wall he crept beneath a catwalk obscured by the shadows thanks to his dark clothing and listened for any type of movement. The pounding of shoes against metal came from above, followed by the clicking of a gun.
"Don't move," a feminine voice called out, one he had never heard before. "You're the one who was with that cop, if I'm not mistaken. Identify yourself!" the mystery woman demanded of an unseen figure.
"Ada…Ada Wong."
"Ada," Jake hissed and listened intently now that a familiar face was present.
"Ada Wong? I've heard that name before…Ah you're John's girl, the one who came in from Chicago to assist in the development of the T-Virus back at the old mansion," the woman continued.
"How did you know? Who are you?" Ada shouted at the woman.
"Annette Birkin. My husband is the man responsible for the creation of the T-Virus: William Birkin."
"What?" Ada gasped.
"Birkin!" Jake thought to himself, "His wife is still alive and here in the city!"
"John's dead," Annette flatly replied, no trace of emotion whatsoever, "He became one of those zombies, my condolences," she spoke in a patronizing tone that soon took a hostile edge, "Although I regret this, you will be joining him shortly. I won't let anyone take the G-Virus away from me."
"G-Virus?" Ada asked perplexed.
"It's capable of creating the ultimate bio-weapon. Its potential is even greater than that of the T-Virus."
"Then that must mean the creature in the police department is…" Ada trailed off.
"Precisely, my husband William, and it's all Umbrella's fault! None of this would have happened if they hadn't tried to steal his research away from him!" Annette growled on the edge of losing her composure.
"Shit…" Jake gasped, mouth hanging open in disbelief after being bowled over by that freight train of information. His suspicions were correct. The mutated creature he had encountered back in the sewage disposal facility was indeed William Birkin, transformed by his own creation. "Now I know what that punk who knocked me out meant when he said the guy wasn't as dead as I thought he was. I don't fucking believe it." He quieted down to allow the researcher to finish her story.
"Exactly one week ago, a group of Umbrella's hired goons infiltrated our facility. Those murdering bastards shot my darling and left him for dead!" she shouted, her tone turning into a mixture of grief and anger, "I found him lying there near death. I told him that I would go get something to treat his wounds and by the time I came back he was gone. The G-Virus…he had been yearning for a human test subject and he…" Annette again trailed off, all the fury and sorrow disappearing.
"Are you trying to say that he actually injected the G-Virus into his own body?" Ada asked in stunned terror.
"The G-Virus has the ability to revitalize cellular functions. All the damage done was quickly repaired, but it did much more than that. It mutated him; it robbed him of his humanity! He had to make those bastards suffer for what they did to him!" Annette spoke up, the rage returning to her voice at the mention of her husband's attack. Calming herself down, she spoke in a normal tone, "One by one, he stalked those killers through the sewers and butchered them all!"
"Again I was right," Jake thought, making reference to the skewered bodies in the alcove. They must have been members of that unit sent in after Dr. Birkin.
"Unfortunately an accident happened when William went on his tirade," Annette continued, "You see, one of the soldiers was carrying a case containing samples of the T and G Viruses, as well as a prototype antidote for the T-Virus. In haste, the impotent fool dropped the case and the contents spilled into the open. William was so blinded by his own animalistic fury; he crushed some of the samples and spilled their contents. Some rats happened across the green liquid and feasted upon it, thinking it was just some other refuse for them to dine on."
"So those rats were the carriers of the virus?" Ada asked in the disbelieving tone she had held throughout much of the conversation.
"Precisely, rats have always carried viruses with no harm done to them. They carried the Black Death and now this. Within time, they began biting the sewage workers, who in turn passed the disease on to the rest of the community and eventually…a full-scale outbreak!"
"No! What about the G-Virus?" Ada asked in horror at the sudden realization.
"As a result of his virus-induced mutation, William should have lost any prior memories he had as a human by now. Even worse, every G-Virus bio-weapon, including William, has the ability to implant embryos into other creatures…"
"…And create offspring. No…" Ada finished, "There has to be something that can be done about it. Where is the virus?"
"The case contained two samples of the G-Virus, one of which was missing and the other I will never tell!" Annette raised her voice again. The click of a pistol soon followed.
"No! We have to destroy it!" Ada protested.
A fierce scream came from Annette and Jake listened to the sounds of a heated catfight between the two women above. The fight ended with a 'POW' and Annette Birkin was sent tumbling over the railing, landing right before the hitman.
"Guess the old lady wasn't as tough as Leon thought," Jake told himself as he nudged the prone woman with his boot, forcing a pained groan indicating she was still alive. More gunshots sounded from the outside tunnels that caught his attention. "Guess I'll have to deal with you later," he said readying his rifle and rushing back outside.
Making his way through the gate he found Leon Kennedy had recovered and was now firing a shell into the rotting skull of the nearest zombie, painting the walls with its brain matter. Before he could catch a breather, another zombie was just inches away from having its broken fingernails tear into his flesh when he spun around and brought his foot up, shoving the walking cadaver backwards and firing a round of buckshot into its face.
The rattle of machinegun fire rang out from behind and several more zombies were soon dropped in a gory spray of infected crimson. The hiss of an airborne grenade soon followed and a small group of zombies found themselves immolated to death.
Turning around, the cop found Jake rushing towards him and firing another round directly at him.
Flinching and expecting to feel the pain of another bullet striking him in the chest, instead he was greeted by another splash. Looking over his shoulder, he found a zombified woman lying face up in the filthy water.
"Gotta watch your back officer," the black-clad man chuckled bitterly.
"You could've said something you know," Leon snapped, "I've already taken one bullet and sure as hell don't need another," he scolded while motioning to the bandage wrapped around his chest.
"We're gonna have to worry about that later," Jake replied as he slung the rifle over his shoulder and withdrew his dual Berettas.
More of the accursed undead continued to rise from their watery graves, the trash covering them making them look like the swamp creatures from a classic black and white horror film Jake had recalled watching with his older brother as a child. The loud pops of his dual handguns and the deep booms of Leon's shotgun resounded throughout the tunnels.
"I'll give it to you freaks in one way, you guys never give up!" Leon huffed as he dropped one zombie with a point blank blast to the face before swinging the butt of his gun into the head of another; hard enough to snap its neck upon impact.
The rookie officer's shotgun then clicked empty and he was forced to switch over to his H&K, which had now been given an attachment customizing it to fire three shot bursts, taking down yet another attacker with a burst to its rotting face.
Jake stood with his back to the officer firing bursts of his own towards the oncoming viral carriers, dropping three of them in succession before firing another napalm shell into the mass. More of them continued to emerge from the darkened corners, likely drawn in by the gunfire. How many of them there were he did not know, but he had to wonder if there could be just as many down here as there were topside.
"Fuck these freaks. We've gotta get moving," the hitman spat as he fired another napalm round into an oncoming horde and then turned left to fire another burst towards a duo before retreating back towards the gate.
Leon sprayed a barrage into the oncoming crowd before his sidearm clicked empty and he joined his companion near the gate, both of them making their way inside and locking it behind them.
"You think that's gonna hold them much longer?" he asked as the zombies tugged away at the rusted iron bars.
"I don't know," Jake replied as he turned around and his light shone upon the body that had been cocooned by the giant spiders. "What the hell?"
He now recognized the man's face as that of Officer Dustin Burchill, left in a situation similar to the way he was when they had first met, victimized by the gigantic spiders. Furthermore, the man still showed signs of life as his eyes were bulging out of their sockets and his mouth hung wide open, mouthing words that couldn't escape.
Leon had heard the man's convulsions and gasped in horror at the dying man as blood began gushing from his mouth.
They both watched as the trapped man's chest started to balloon and he finally managed a strident shriek as his chest exploded with a sickening shred of flesh and webbing as an entire swarm of newborn spiders roughly the size of footballs emerged from his chest cavity.
Crying out in horror, Jake quickly pumped his attached grenade launcher and fired a napalm round into the mass of webbing, igniting both the dying officer and a majority of the infant spiders. There had been a few stragglers that managed to escape and Leon was on hand to fire upon them with his customized handgun.
"Let's just get the fuck out of here," the hitman shouted as he tapped the cop's good shoulder and motioned for him to follow, climbing onto the platform leading to the double doors and stomping one of the baby spiders into mush along the way. "As if I needed to be further reminded why I hate spiders so much," he thought with a shudder.
The two men entered the main sewage control room and slammed the doors hard behind them.
"That was just too fucking messed up," Leon gasped as he collapsed against the nearby wall, breathing heavily and struggling to calm his nerves.
"Don't have to fucking tell me twice," Jake replied, fighting the urge to vomit as he looked off to the side and halted.
Much to his shock, something was amiss right away.
"Where is she?" he asked himself.
He looked to the very spot where Annette had landed only now to find she had disappeared.
"But how?" he mentally asked. That fall had to have broken a few bones with the angle she landed at, at least something that should have knocked her out cold for a few hours. Again the questions came flooding to his mind. Did something or somebody come along and snatch her up, or was she just driven by some kind of weird psycho power?
"Wonder if she could have had this 'G-Virus' in her system as well," Jake thought to himself, remembering what he had overheard from her conversation with Ada.
"Looks like there's no way to reach the higher level," Leon said examining a nearby hole on a control panel, "We'd need a valve handle or something to lower that bridge and let us cross."
"Maybe we can find another way," Jake said as he pointed to a plain looking door with a green light overhead, "Wonder where that leads to?"
"Guess we won't know until we try," the cop replied as they made their way over to the door and Leon made his way in first.
An empty, yet sinister-looking tunnel awaited them on the other side and Jake looked over to Leon, "How are you holding up? Is your bullet wound still bothering you?"
"A little, but I think I'll manage," Leon replied with a thumbs up gesture.
"If you want, I'll take the lead," Jake suggested.
"Sure," was all the rookie offered and motioned for his companion to continue forth.
The two men made their way around the corner and approached another blast door and Jake pushed a nearby button to raise the door.
"Phew! Stinks worse than that fat pig Irons in here," was the hitman's first response upon opening the door and staring into a dump area where layer upon layer of drenched garbage piled together like two separate islands. At the opposite side of the room was a platform where they spotted another familiar face firing into the water.
"Ada!" Jake shouted to the woman, who quickly stopped what she was doing.
"Jake, watch out!"
Looking down, the sullied water suddenly began to bubble and an oblong shadow materialized beneath. What almost sounded like an underwater explosion emanated from the depths.
"Leon, get back!" Jake ordered and went to slam the button that would lower the blast door.
Before he could do so, a titanic-sized set of jaws rose from the depths and massive incisors attempted to clamp down upon the human morsel, but Jake had managed to throw himself backward and barely managed to avoid being swallowed whole.
"As if things couldn't get any weirder," he grunted as he hugged his back to the wall, feeling himself pushed back even farther as he was met by a deafening roar and a putrid wave that forced him to gag.
Emerging from the dump was a gigantic alligator about the size of a battle tank or even bigger at about 50 fifty feet in length. The blood of previous victims still stained its teeth and it was now looking for its next meal.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Jake cursed as he fired a volley into the mutant's snout. Small splotches of infected blood dotted the alligator's hide, but didn't faze it at all. Unimpeded, it began crawling out after the fleeing hitman, who kept firing at it hoping to lure it back towards the entrance, long enough to buy Ada some time in her escape.
The world shook around Jake as the creature roared behind him and easily advanced with every step it took in spite of the confined quarters. It was just inches away from biting into his back as he rounded the corner, where a perplexed Leon stared at the abomination chasing after his companion.
It was also here that he noticed a gas canister attached to the nearby wall and a button over it labeled "CANISTER RELEASE." Diving towards the wall, he threw his hand out and slammed the button down, hoping the creature would be stupid enough to think it was a snack.
"Leon, when that thing bites into the canister, shoot it! Please, just do as I say!" Jake ordered as he threw himself behind the rookie cop and fumbled to reload his assault rifle.
The stalwart rookie stood tall trying to disguise his anxiety as he shared his companion's idea, hoping they weren't underestimating the kind of intelligence it could have possessed. Remembering his days of target practice from the academy, the officer withdrew his customized VP70 and focused on the cylinder as if a huge bull's eye had just appeared upon it.
"Keep your back straight, take a deep breath and loosen up before you aim for the center," his training officer had always told him and he repeated it to himself over and over again to recapture the more relaxed mood of the training course, which was like Disneyland compared to this hellhole.
Like Jake had assumed, the alligator grabbed the canister with its vile teeth and tried chewing on the flammable object, denting its surface. With the canister stuck firmly between the gator's incisors the cop made his move.
Taking a deep breath he pulled the trigger and struck the canister head on.
A resounding boom followed that knocked both men backwards and in a bright flash of reddish-orange light, the upper half of the mutated alligator's head was blown to pieces, leaving the rest of its limp smoking carcass taking up the tunnel.
"Damn, I don't think I'll ever eat southern cooking again after this ordeal," Leon coughed as he rose into a sitting position. Jake was next to him slowly rising back to his feet and holding his head to settle his nerves.
"Come on, we'd better see if Ada made it out alright," the hired gun replied as he brushed carefully past the gator's smoking remains and rushing back to the dumping area.
"My goodness, you're both alright," Ada cried out in joy as the two men stood side by side.
"Yeah, thanks to Jake and Claire," the cop smiled as he looked down to his bloodied bandage before turning to the hitman, "You really saved my life back there. I owe you once we get out of this mess."
"Don't mention it. We've gotta stick together however we can and do whatever we can for one another," Jake replied, also looking to the bandage wrapped around his companion, a testament to the noble sacrifice which his job called for.
"I just found out; John's dead, he became one of those zombies," the woman reported, sadly looking down to her own reflection in the murky water.
"What?" Leon gasped. Jake silently bowed his head.
"Never mind, there's nothing anyone can do about it. Let's just get out of here. The sooner the better," Ada spoke and then leapt into the water trudging as quickly as she could towards the two men and within seconds they were walking past the alligator's remains, through the main control room and were back in the main sewer system standing before a waterfall and a weird contraption on the wall near it with the engravings of an eagle and a wolf beneath those two slots.
"That wolf engraving looks exactly like the one from this medal," Jake told his companions as he withdrew the 'Silver Wolf' medallion. Taking a deep breath, he gently slid the medal into its designated slot and nothing happened.
"Hey, I found a medal just like that on the body of the sewer manager in that control room," the woman spoke as she pulled out a gold medallion with an eagle engraved upon its surface. Approaching the console she slid the medal into the remaining empty slot and this time, a loud beep was heard.
Looking to their left, they watched as the waterfall gradually began to dissipate and behind it, a rusted red door stood alone.
"Here goes nothing," Jake whispered to himself, knowing he was one step closer to the Umbrella research facility.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Unbeknownst to the survivors, they were being watched from a distance again by the ever resilient monstrosity that was formerly William Birkin, fresh off the heels of battle with an unknown woman who carried the scent of his daughter.
"Sher…" the beast tried to grunt, but the mass of warped flesh surrounding its mouth prevented it from uttering the girl's name.
He also recognized the scent of the one who had murdered one of his offspring.
The scars of battle decorated the former researcher's already mangled hide as large portions of his skin had been blown away by her grenade launcher and only now had they slowly began to regenerate. A constant tremble flowed throughout the mutant's body, indicating it was closer to yet another transformation.
Soon, he would become even more animalistic; losing what traces of humanity had remained.
Thoughts of primordial rage clouded the pernicious entity's mind and it could only think of the mysterious human it had battled back in the waste disposal plant, the same man who had managed to wound and seemingly knock it to its death. That was his scent he inhaled, the fragrance of an insolent being who would soon meet Death at his massive claws.
Stepping out of the shadows, the beast stomped on the corpse of a Licker who had previously attacked it and moved down the tunnel slashing through anything that stood in its way.
The creature could sense the path the three humans were taking and it would use its remaining human cunning to perform a surprise sneak attack.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's Note: The reference I make to 'Hives' is meant to be a spoof of the 'Alien' series and the scene where Dustin Burchill's chest explodes due to the baby spiders is also homage to that series as well. Come to think of it, I also did make somewhat of a classic 'Star Trek' reference when I had Jake saying "Damn it. I'm a hitman, not an exterminator," all I was missing was somebody around named Jim.
Well that's it for now so until then read and review! This is Metal Harbinger saying SPREAD THE SICKNESS, ONE MIND AT A TIME! \m/