Uroboros: Resident Evil V
Chapter Twenty Eight: Tick… tick… tick…
Stepping through the old metal doors was like leaping forward in time by several hundred years, but falling just shy of being modern. Unlike the carved stone architecture of the ancient ruins, the walls and ceiling of this old Umbrella facility were made of concrete blocks, while the floor was smooth, and the whole thing was illuminated by old fashioned metal light fixtures, making Chris think of the submarine bases in those old James Bond movies. The place was dusty, though, and as they began to explore the empty rooms that lined the sides of the main corridor, it became obvious that this place hadn't been used in a while.
From the kind of metal desks and tables that were left inside of each room, the Agent could tell that there were once computers and other kinds of equipment placed on them, most of which had probably been plugged into the outlets that were spaced out on the conduit that ran along the walls. Like a lot of secret Umbrella facilities that were abandoned in a hurry during the company's fall, this place had been picked clean of anything useful, but the strange part was that not only were the lights still on, but the air wasn't nearly as stale as Chris expected.
Cool air was flowing out of the room's vent, with the Agent just now noticing that he wasn't sweating for the first time since entering the Kijuju Autonomous Region, and there was no way that such a system could function for very long at all with no maintenance before breaking down. Old chairs and office furniture remained inside of each small room as well, with partially empty supply crates left abandoned in the corridor itself, each one with a faded Umbrella logo on the side, but no useful supplies left inside.
The corridor ended at one last door, which opened into a larger room where some functioning equipment still remained along the back wall. It was old, a bunch of monitoring equipment that beeped and ticked while keeping track of… a bunch of flowers inside of a sealed case? Stepping forward and taking a closer look, the two of them saw that all of the monitors were hooked up to examine those same flowers that had been discovered in the decorative fountain… not much was happening with them, though, at least not anything they could see through the glass.
"I'm getting the feeling that these are no ordinary flowers." Sheva commented as they looked. "I wonder what makes them so special."
"We could probably find out if the place wasn't stripped." Chris replied. "But trust me, it's never a good thing when Umbrella pays attention to something."
There wasn't anything else inside the room, and neither of them knew how to even read the data coming from the old monitors, so the two agents continued their exploration of the old facility. Another door at the other end of the room was the only way forward, so the Agent pushed it open, leading the way into a hallway that was a lot darker than the previous rooms, and there was… a strong smell of rust? A couple of the light fixtures were working, but not enough to see down the corridor, so Chris clicked on the flashlight, causing both of them to gasp at what they saw.
Long gashes were ripped across the wall in front of them, three lines looking like something had dug them right into the concrete blocks with unbelievable strength, and splattered across the nearby wall and floor was a darkened substance that might have been a liquid at one time. Based on the dark red color and the strong smell of rust that he had noticed before, it was pretty safe to say that this was blood… and that he now had a pretty good idea of why they hadn't seen anyone around the base so far.
Rounding the corner, there were more of these gashes in the walls going further down the corridor, with even more splatters of dried blood as the flashlight was moved around, but there weren't any bodies. No signs of the victims, fresh or long abandoned, nor was there any sign of the monster that did all the damage. Was it possible that this had happened a long time ago and the creature was long gone? Sure it was, but the Agent had never been that lucky in all his life, so they were a lot quieter and slower from that point on when it came to checking the side rooms.
"Chris, I don't want to sound pessimistic." Sheva whispered, closing the door once they were inside one of the small side rooms. "But those marks in the wall were huge, and all we have is a flare gun and a spear."
"Don't forget your Swiss army knife." Chris replied, trying to lighten the mood a little, but failing. "Sheva, if we turn back, we'll have to fight our way back through the whole ancient city again, and even if we could, then… then Irving's partner's gonna get away."
She knew that going back wasn't an option, they both did, even though the Agent was having the same doubts that she was. Did he really want to meetup with whatever had caused the massacre that happened in this place? Hell no, especially when they were so lightly armed, but maybe they would be lucky enough to avoid it. Listening with his ear against the door for anything that was moving around in the corridor, Chris slowly pulled it open, and stepped back into the hallway, constantly moving the light around as they rounded the next corner into a larger area that was filled with small cages.
Stacked up on top of each other in the center of the room like one of those displays in really old pet stores, the cages were almost like a divider wall, but they were all empty just like the offices. The bars on some of them looked like they had been ripped open from the outside, and there was more dried blood, but again no sign of the victims or what did it, even with some of the larger cages around the room's perimeter having been broken into as well. So what was this place? A holding area for research specimens?
Tick… tick… tick… suddenly a new sound reached the Agent's ears, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as a shadow began to approach from farther into the specimen holding area. Motioning for the young woman to follow him, they ducked behind the partial wall of cages, where hopefully they would be get a look at their new companion through the bars without being noticed. Tick… tick… tick… it felt like the approaching shadow was taking forever to come into view, but once it did, the wait suddenly didn't seem so bad.
Walking, or maybe crawling on the ground on all fours, the ticking sound came from the long claws on each of its limbs when they made contact with the concrete floor, and the whole thing was light red colored, looking almost like it had been skinned alive at one point. The head was nothing but a drooling mouth full of sharp teeth; no visible ears or eyes, but the thing's brain was completely exposed, like… it was just sitting there on top of the skull for the world to see. Advancing forward again, the monster had its head stretched upward while breathing rapidly as if trying to smell the world around it, but then the thing hissed and jumped backwards after walking into a loose cage.
Watching the monster intently in order to learn as much as he could about it before any kind of confrontation happened, Chris noticed how surprised the creature had been after bumping into the cage, and he wondered if the thing might have been blind since it had no visible eyes. Apparently, Sheva was getting the same idea, since the young woman was now very slowly and quietly stepping out from behind the cage wall and then aiming carefully before throwing the iron spear.
As if she had been using such a weapon for her entire life, Sheva's aim was perfect as she sent the sharpened tip of the head right into the monster's brain, but instead of dying like almost anything else, the creature reacted by unleashing its tongue. Shrieking and hissing as it jumped back and removed the weapon by swatting at it with a front claw, the monster opened its mouth, sending its incredibly long tongue shooting outward like a frog, but instead of sticking to the section of the cage wall that it came into contact with, sparks flew as the sharpened end cut through the bars like nothing.
Several of the cages were thrown away from the group as a result of this, forcing Chris and Sheva to leap out of the way as the monster leapt forward as soon as its tongue had retracted, destroying even more of the cage wall as it angrily tried to find the unseen enemy that attacked it. Scrambling to get out of the way as the creature knocked down the last of the cage wall, the noise of them collapsing must have masked his location, because the monster flew right over him with its next leap, putting three new tears across the concrete wall when it landed.
Instead of falling to the floor though, the thing stuck to the wall and started crawling along the smooth surface like an insect. Having enough sense not to move again, the creature stopped as well once all the noise had gone quiet, raising its head up to smell the area again, and providing the two agents with an opportunity to escape as long as they could move silently toward the other end of the room. So he got up to his hands and knees as quietly as he could, standing up and then turning around to start stepping over the fallen cages… just in time to see that Sheva was partially buried under some of them.
The young woman wasn't trapped, but with the way that the small cages had landed on top of her, there was no way that she could move without making more noise. Seeming content to sniff the air from its perch on the wall, the Agent changed directions, stepping over the fallen cages on the floor in order to get to Sheva while the monster turned around, and now it was walking back onto the floor while he struggled to lift each cage off her while not making a sound. The cages weren't heavy, but their design was so loose that the slightest jarring movement would rattle them… and now the creature was getting closer.
He moved some of them without noise, but there wasn't any more time since the monster's tongue was starting to move through the air as it got closer to them, so Chris made the only move he could. Taking the flare gun out and aiming at the creature, the Agent waited until its mouth was open again before pulling the trigger, and the monster shrieked so loudly that it almost drowned out the sound of the cartridge exploding. Now that he was getting better at aiming such a weapon, he was able to fire the shot so that it went right down the creature's throat.
Stumbling backwards so quickly that it fell over, the monster flew into a fit of rage while red light and smoke poured from its mouth, leaping in every direction and trying to slash at anything it could get its claws on. Thankfully, this allowed Chris to help the young woman to her feet without worrying about the noise from the cages, and then they ran the only way they could, which was through a larger holding area where the monster was probably contained until it broke out by making that huge hole in the glass.
Now the remains of its victims, both human and animal were found, as if this was the creature's den, but there was a metal door toward the back that… didn't move at all when Chris tried to shoulder it open… and now that the flare cartridge had died out, the monster was heard coming toward them again.