Chapter 9
Their fingers and hands shook as if they had been caught in a blizzard, their hearts pounded in sync with one another. For a moment it was like basic training all over again.
'Load! Load or die, recruit! Do you wanna die! Do you?! Because you got no rounds! Just a soft bellied lead catcher now! You got no rounds, you got no life, you get me, maggot?!' The big meat shield of an instructor shouted from inches away. 'Oh, am I distract'in you! Well guess what you little shit! Gunfire is a lot more distract'in than ah am! Now load or die motherfucker! Load or die!'
The memory flashed through Chris's mind as two of the undead came on faster than his fingers could fly, out of the corner of his eye he caught Rebecca doing the same… 'Too late!' He knew it, the open mouths and groans were feet away, the clawing fingers were reaching out, he tried to step back, but against the wall there was no space to be had. He heard Rebecca cry out.
"Rebecca!" He yelled as loud as he could, and then a tell tale bang rang out in the confines of the room. The zombie going for Rebecca fell limply on its side and skidded across the floor. Before Chris could identify the source, the sound repeated itself, and the one drawing in against him dropped in just the same way.
His heart was already slowing down, and Chris saw their rescue in the doorway. "So… you tryin to die or what?" The speaker was relatively young, of moderate but strong build, with dark, slicked back hair, a gray tank top, tattoos running down his right arm, and sharp, narrow eyes. But the truly interesting part was that he held a double barrelled shotgun. With the danger passed, he'd raised his weapon up to rest on his shoulder, and cracked a smile.
"And… who are you?" Chris asked with a raised brow, "You don't look like security here."
"That's a funny way of saying 'thanks'." Their rescuer said with a little swagger in his step as he entered the room.
"Right, well… thanks." Rebecca said after taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from her brow. "That was close, we might have both been killed if you hadn't come along."
"That's better." Their rescuer said with a subtle nod, "The name is Coen, former 2nd Lieutenant Billy Coen. And no, I ain't security. You might say I'm a force for vengeance against the ones who own this place, and you might say I came here to fuck it all up, and you might say I was doing just fine until someone went and did a better job than me at it." He said going from a wicked smile to downright grousing and putting a sharp frown on his face.
That had both Chris and Rebecca alarmed, and after a quiet exchange of looks, their now reloaded weapons turned on their rescuer.
Billy raised his hand to stop them. "Hold on now, I said I didn't do any'a this. You get me? Umbrella did me wrong, but I wanted to wipe their data, destroy it, not kill a bunch of innocent people. I did get in here dressed as security and all, but… see there's a problem."
"The monster." Rebecca and Chris said in unison.
"Right. I caught a look at it on security cameras before the batteries for those went down, see she, and it's very much a she, well, she's got a real grudge against security guards and white coats. I figure if I looked like neither, she might not bother me." Billy said with a shrug. "I'm still alive, don't know if I'd stay that way if we ran across each other though."
"Right… well, what can you say?" Chris asked.
"I can tell you where she took the power panel, which I'm guessing you're looking for. How's that for starters?" Billy said with a cocky southern smile on his face.
"That's a start, yeah, we need to rescue the scientists and the data, can you help us?" Rebecca asked with her lips tight shut when she finished speaking.
"Scientists…?" Billy rubbed his chin with thumb and forefinger and thought it over, "Yeah, I mean I don't mind, but that data? Nope, that's gotta go, that made monsters like her, you get me? You want to rescue that?"
It made them pause, before Chris replied, "That's the mission."
"Said the SS Stormtrooper." Billy chuckled, "You wanna play around with yer gun and pretend you're the good guy while rescuin some scientists? Hey fine, I don't care about them, most of'em are diggin their own graves anyhow, just like you. But everythin they made, that's gotta go, you get me?"
Rebecca was the first to answer, she lowered her weapon coming over to Chris, she placed her hand on his rifle and gently pushed it down from the top of the muzzle, pointing it away from Billy. "Listen, a lot of that data is medical, it could save lives… but not if it's all lost."
"Uh huh, whatever lets you sleep at night girlie, but look, for now, I need yah to get out of here, I'll help yah get the power back on, but after that?" Billy said and shook his head with vigorous denial, "I'm not helpin you with shit."
"Deal, lets get what we need from the armory first. One of us has got to go up through the vent, get down into that room, then open the door for the rest of us." Chris said and looked at the small vent, then at billy.
"What you lookin at me for?" Billy asked and stared at Rebecca, a moment later, Chris's eyes went to her as well. The light of the flashlights scattered about the room from the dead cast shadows against the wall that reflected off the clean steel, giving them all dim light that would be all but gone in the dark vent.
Rebecca looked at them, "What are you two looking at me f-" She looked at the slender vent, "oh fuck me… and fuck you two." Her shoulders drooped, "Fine, help me up." She slung her shotgun and went over to stand beneath the vent.
Chris approached, climbed on top of the corpse of the snake, steadied himself with one hand against the wall, and then held his other hand out to her. The smooth scales threatened his footing until he set his back against the wall and pressed his feet against the heavy body. It didn't move away from him an inch.
"This, is disgusting." Rebecca muttered and accepted his hand up. When she reached him, he crouched down a little and then laced his fingers together so that his arm was shaped like a stirrup. She put her left foot on it, and he hefted her up, as if to show her annoyance, she stepped off his head when she pulled the vent cover aside, and pulled herself up.
She was easily able to fit through the thoroughly damaged vent that the massive snake had moved through, and for a moment she thought, 'They could have done this…' Until she got to the slender vent. 'Damn it! They were right.' She was the only one who would fit through it.
Chris waited and listened, the faint bumping sound of weight on aluminum gave him indications of her progress, and then the pounding thunder-like noise stopped, for a moment he felt his heart skip a beat. Then he heard a loud repeated sound of a fist pounding, a loud clattering sound, and the sound of shuffling and rustling cloth over metal.
"I made it!" He heard the call and shouted back.
"Good, get the door open, and we'll get what we need to get the hell out of here alive!"
"Well, that's good then, let's go." Billy quipped and went over to the heavy armory door.
Chris followed, and from within came the small sound of locks being worked and then… the heavy groaning sound of bolts being slid open.
Billy clapped his hands together sharply and rubbed them. "Alright, let's get to it." The door swung open and Rebecca stood there with hands on her hips.
"That sucked." She said with a snarky voice.
"Yeah, I'll bet, but… being without ammo, that's worse." Billy said definitively, and with that none could argue. Around the armory were guns aplenty, M16A2s, AK-47s, military shotguns, pistols, flashbangs and explosive grenades alike. Along with copious amounts of ammunition for all varieties of weapons.
Rebecca began snatching up shotgun ammo as well as pistol rounds. Chris loaded up with additional ammunition for his rifle, then two pistols for himself along with ammo to spare. Billy began to load a bandoleer with shotgun shells, then finally the quick snap of the breech loading of two replacement rounds capped it off, and they were done. They snagged a few medkits for good measure, and started to move.
"Come on, let's get that goddamn panel back and get the power on." Billy groused and led them out of the room to a world bathed in green as they set aside the flashlights and flipped their night vision goggles down in one single smooth motion.
"What can you tell us about what you saw?" Rebecca asked quietly as they reflexively took up a diamond formation with Billy front and center.
"Not a lot, but I think it was definitely human, and it had 'some' degree of intelligence. This thing wasn't aimless, it… 'she' I think, was definitely after something." Billy replied.
"What do you think that is?" Chris asked.
"I don't know, but if you want my educated guess? She doesn't just wanna wreck this place, she wants to wreck the people here. Think about it, she knocked out power, that locked the place down, the internal batteries could only last so long, but she moved around easy till then. She let all the experiments out, all her little bitch monster buddies. If she were a normal human you'd say she wanted everyone dead. What's gonna change about that since I tell you she's a monster?" Billy asked rhetorically.
Chris grunted in a noncommittal way, their feet echoing lightly off the walls. "So, just in case something happens to you along the way… where are we going exactly?"
"To listen to me till I get a chance to get clear, that's where." Billy replied, "Look, you're loyal to Umbrella, enough so that you're going to give them bioweapons because it's your job. That means I can't trust you for shit to not put a bullet in my brain the moment I'm no longer useful. I'll help you, but we ain't friends, you get me bucko?" Billy snapped, and Chris grunted again.
"Not as helpful as I hoped but… listen we just have your word for this." Rebecca reasoned.
Billy gave out a bitter laugh, "Yeah, just my word, like you haven't seen the goddamn dogs? Or weren't attacked by the undead, or a goddamn undead snake?! What do you think those were? Wesker's fourth grade science fair projects? Get the fuck out of here."
That was enough to silence Rebecca, and they followed Billy Coen until they reached a set of stairs.
Billy reached for the handle while Chris and Rebecca stepped back a few feet from it, ready to blow away whatever passed through the gap when it opened.
A soft click from a turning handle was the only noise, though each was sure they could hear their own heartbeats through the tomblike silence. Billy held up his hand, then counted out with his fingers closing into a fist with each shake of his hand. 'Three...two...one…' And then he flung the door open toward himself, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Billy didn't bother to give the pair orders, 'Damn fools, of course, who am I to criticize? I didn't know any better myself, once.' He kept from cursing out loud to minimize the risks, and felt no need to say anything to the pair anyway. 'If they have any space in between their ears for something other than 'Yes sir' then they'll reach the same conclusion I did.' He wondered if it was idle hope or not, but then set that aside as they rose from one floor to the next while wreathed in darkness. They strove to avoid making noise on the steps in the echo chamber that was the stairwell. Beyond some doors, they heard the rhythmic slapping of hands on thick, heavy wood. 'The undead, trying to break through.' Billy recognized, and to their credit, he recognized that both Chris and Rebecca understood as well and didn't do anything as stupid as try to talk to them.
Billy reached the floor he wanted at last, stopped on the landing, went to the door and pressed his ear against it.
The pair following him, 'Wait, I didn't get their names, did I? Ehhh… fuck it?' He thought dismissively, 'I'll ask their names when power comes on, that gives us a chance at not being walking corpses.' Billy thought, but was at least grateful that they had the sense to remain at the stairs ready to fire into the hall at need.
The countdown for the opening was done again, and Billy turned the handle, then yanked it in toward himself. A distant growling was their only answer. 'Fucking dogs… even up here…' Billy cursed, and they slowly made their way into the hall of the upper floor.
The smacking sound of lips closing on lips, was not far away. Joining the sound was the noisy ripping sound of flesh being torn apart from bone and the drip… drip… drip of droplets that could be only one thing. 'Blood, judging by the metallic smell of blood and organs in the air. Chris mentally cursed.
"This way." Billy whispered and led them to a simple store room, he flung it open, and there it was. Panel and all. Chris exhaled in relief, reached in, picked up the panel and some stray rope within, and began to secure it to his back.
"Chris…" Rebecca said anxiously. "You're going to want to hurry up…" She whispered.
"I'm going as fast as I can, we should be able to handle a few of these undead fuckers easily enough. Give me a minute." Chris whispered hoarsely.
"You ain't got a minute, man…" Billy said roughly as the giant spider leg stuck further out of the elevator down the hall.