Chapter 25 Bury the Light
„I am the storm that is approaching
Provoking
Black clouds in isolation
I am reclaimer of my name
Born in flames, I have been blessed, my family crest is a demon of death
Forsakened, I am awakened
A phoenix's ashes are divine
Descent in misery
Destiny chasing time
Bury the light deep within
Cast aside, there's no coming home
We're burning chaos in the wind
Drifting in the ocean all alone"- Bury the Light, Casey Edwards ft. Victoria Borba
„This is crazy" He says. „ Come on."
She shakes her head.
„You've contacted the B.S.A.A. they will take care of this." He says.
„By the time they get here it will be too late. „ She says. „ I know because i've seen it. But I am here now and i can stop it."
She turns her back to him, runs towards the collage, leaves him shocked, stuck in place. Part of her wonder what she's doing. But then she stops, looks at herself in the glass of the window. She sees them there : The old Alex, Natalia. Standing beside her in the reflection.
„You made your choise." Says Alex.
„We'll help you." Natalia smiles.
She nodds to both of them, takes of running. People are runing past her. Panicking. One drops to the ground, convulses, vomits up something black. Pale flesh slowly covering the mans arm. He screams and tries to shake it but it grows, consumes. Another large blowb creature emerges. Alex dodges out the way. Another student gets smashed into bloody paste. She runs into the building closest. The door looks ajar. The blob is too big to fit inside. There are people hidding in there. Crying, panicking.
„Where is the lab?" She asks
They look confused.
„What building is the lab in?" She asks again.
Somebody finaly reacts.
„The main one, second floor."
„Can you mark it on the map?"
She takes her black lipstic out. The boy circkles the large gothic building in the middle of campus. It's a far from where she is. They try to stop her from going outside but she just runs out the door.
She hears gun shots. Eliot has shot the blob creature down. He runs after her.
„You didn't need to come" She says.
„Have you seen what's happening out here?!"
„I can handle myself. You should escape." She says.
"Handle yourself? You don't even have a gun"
"I can sort of sense them." She says." And I'm invisible to them because of the virus Natalia is infected with. So I'm fine."
He looks at her in disbelief.
"You don't need to play the hero, Eliot. Run. Find safety." She says.
"No. "He says, tone strict, determined.
Something gives a sharp shriek. Another creature. It comes flying in on pale fleshy wings. Figure clearly feminine. Legs grown together, but sharp bird like talons at the end. Eyes are covered by the flesh but the nose and mouth aren't. Eliot aims his gun. Alex touches his arm.
"Leave it. Let's go."
He runs after her. They make it to the main building. But the main door I blocked by something from within.
"I can't get this thing to open." Eliot slams his shoulder against the door.
"We need another way in." She says.
They run around the building looking for anything that could be used as an entrance. Eliot looks strangely calm, focused. She noticed how he was shooting earlier almost like he had been trained professionally.
"There" he point to a metal door in the back.
It's locked.
"Window" she points to a slightly ajar small window.
"Can you give me a lift up? I'll unlock the door for you once I'm in."
"How about we use those instead." He points to some crates. "Who know what could be inside? Better to not split up.
They stack the crates up. It's just enough for her to barely reach the window. She grabs hold of the frame, pulls up. Crawls inside. Opens it wider. Eliot is much faster, jumping up and grabbing the frame, pulling himself up.
It looks like a bathroom. Many stalls with closed doors. They leave the room. The hall is dark.
"What now?" He asks.
". The lab should be here on the second floor. But I need something to extract blood with first. "
"Maybe there's a nurse office or something."
"We should find a map of the building. That might give some ideas. "she says.
The large stair leads down but it's pitch black. Soon they realize why, and why they couldn't get the front door open. It's growing all over the walls, covering the windows, the same pale flesh as on the creatures.
"This is.." She looks in disbelief." A virus can't do this."
"It's consuming the building, like a mold." There is bewilderment in his voice.
It's coming out of a hallway on the first floor.
"You might be right." Alex says." This definitely is something else. And if those strange flowers are involved… this might be plant based. "
"We should avoid contact with it." He says.
"Wait. I need a sample of it." She moves down stairs to the first floor.
There are black veins on the flesh, it also resembles a layer of membranes. There are blackish bulges in some areas. She notices one burst open releasing into the air a silvery mist, same as the flower. She takes a napkin from her bag, attempts to catch it. Feels the sticky substance inside the cloth, puts it back in. Eliot has flowed her.
"You saw it?"
"Yes." He says" Same as the flower he was inhaling."
"They're spores." She says.
"Like a fungus?"
"Possibly. I need one of those flowers. I need to know what it is and how it caused all of it."
"Using it a recreational drug might have something to do with it." He suggests.
"True. But to what end? Who benefits from it?"
There are sirens outside- an ambulance.
"I think I know where we can find medical supplies." Eliot says.
The sound is close.
"You're right. They will probably have all we need. "She says.
"There's monsters out there. I can get it. You stay here" He says.
"Will you know what to get?" she wonders.
"Of course. "
"Alright. I'll try to locate the lab." She says.
He goes out the window of the girl's bathroom. She turns on her phone light and looks around. She can feel them all around the outside. Pulsing, drumming, the beat of wings. But there is something else. A different beat, more like a heart. And it's coming from beneath her feet, somewhere underground. She wonders. This place had no connection to Umbrella, she was certain. Somebody else did this.
There were rumors of Umbrella reforming. That is was not completely dead. But she didn't think much of it. There was no hope for them, not after the truth has been exposed. Nothing they do could ever make people trust them again.
She manages to find the lab but there is no power. Most of the equipment requires it to work. Impossible to look under a microscope without proper light. Unable to do anything she begins inspecting the rooms. Looking for a circuit breaker or something that could turn the power back on. Finds something in the janitor's closet. A notice on the maintenance of the generator. Wonders why the Collage even needs a power generator. It is mentioned it's somewhere in the basement. She sends Eliot a message. Hopes he will manage to get back safely.
The first floor is being slowly consumed by the fleshy substance. Alex looks around for a way downstairs. The left side is still untainted. She goes to look. Feels a pulse from the corrupted side. Perhaps some monsters got in. She isn't too concerned.
Still wondering why she is doing this. Part of her wants to know what is going on. Get to the bottom of this. She doesn't care for publicity. Becoming famous for stopping it. No. it just feels like something she needs to do. Defy her old self? No. Defy Spencer and all he stood for. She can make her own choices now. All of this just reminds her of it. Of this mess. Viruses, bioweapons, and greedy old men wanting power, all the things that ruined their lives. All these things that got Him killed. She hates it, deep down she always has. Realizing how pointless it all was, only blind destruction, not true power. That was why she changed her research to something else. She had realized it's true nature, it's limit, while Spencer and many others remained blindly believing in its power. Believing it to be Godlike when it was pathetic, monstrous, wild and untamable. A beast, a calamity, chaos. Nobody could truly control a virus. It spreads, mutates, adapts kills, infects, and destroys. It's all it will ever do, it knows no masters. It's not like a dog that can be trained to do tricks. It is a beast savage in nature. And that nature has limits. It will never do anything outside of it. It will infect and reproduce, corrupt, destroy, kill and mutate. It's an old dog that cannot learn new tricks. She knows how to manipulate it within the rules of its nature. Albert knew too but in the end even he was consumed by it.
Finally finds what looks like the stairs down. The basement is large. Dark. But she isn't afraid. She sees Natalia standing there in the dark. A strange new thing that's happening to her.
"This way." She says.
Past some shelves and around another set of stairs. A dead end. A metal door. The sign reads "Generator room". She wonders how she knew.
"Close your eyes." Natalia says.
She does but she can still see. See herself standing there. Pass through the wall, into the room. Sees the generator.
"Too bad the door is locked" Natalia says. "That's something I can't do for you."
This will take some time to get used to. She knows this power doesn't come from a virus. It's something else. Something unique to her.
"Can you find the key?" She wonders.
"Well, I can't go far from you." She says. "But I can try looking"
She waits. Wonders what going on outside. Feels the gentle presence of Natalia nudge her. Closes her eyes again. A piece of paper in some room. Notice about the spare key being in the Chancellors office.
"This is kind of tiring." Natalia says.
Alex does feel her breath become shallow like she had been running. She is not used to this power or how to use it. Heads back to look for the key. She is approaching the turn, hears something walking. Doesn't sense anything but still slows down. Keeps quiet. Turns of her light. Waits. Somebody emerges, the light blinds her a little.
"Alex?"
"Eliot?"
He lowers his gun.
"I almost shot you." He says concerned.
"Sorry." She says. "I wasn't sure who it was. "
"You couldn't get the power back on?"
"The key is the office somewhere. I'm trying to find it. "She says. "What about you. Did you get what we need?"
"
Got something better." He takes out a syringe full of blood.
"You got blood from one of those things?! Great. Now we just need the power back on." She puts into her bag.
"Look, forget the key, it will take too much time." He says. "It's getting crazy out there"
He aims his gun at the lock and shoots. The door opens. The already generator is fueled as per the instructions.. Eliot turns it on.
"It's working." She says.
"But there is no power." He says looking at the dark room.
She flips the switch, but still no light.
"There are cables from the generator." She says.
They go into the wall.
"Whatever it's powering is not the building," Eliot says.
"No. it's something else." She agrees.
"So what now?"
"There is something down there. "She says, feels it.
He stops looks at her.
"What do you mean?"
"I can feel it. I can't explain it. But it's big. Somewhere underground."
His face is cold, emotionless.
She is almost certain she knows what they will find.
"Hey, look at this. Doesn't in look familiar? "He says.
She look at the crate he is pointing to. Sure enough she has seen it before, many times. It's the same one as in that building.
"Agricultural research institute." She reads the name on the box.
"There's a few of them here." He says looking over the crates. "You think they are behind this?"
"I don't know." She says." But looking into that might be a good idea."
Eliot begins to search on his phone.
"The institute was founded by Harris Freedman in 1978. In 1990 is moved here to Autumn Creek. In 1992 it closed. Freedman became the Chancellor of the collage soon after."
"Interesting. " Alex said.
Eliot shoved her a picture of an old man, which reminded her of Spencer a bit. Same long grey hair but he wore glasses.
"It says they did research into making crops grow in difficult locations, such as Africa and Antarctica. But their projects were met with little to no success. "
"Well they were trying to make crop grow in impossible location. The only way to do that is thought heavy genetic modification." Alex said.
"So this is the result?"
They were back upstairs. But Alex could tell something was wrong. There was a strong pulsing. She motions for Eliot to get down. They are about to exit the hall into the main entrance area. But there is a creature emerging form the corrupted hall. Eliot aims, shoots it in the head. It stagers back. Alex wishes she had a weapon to help.
"They must have broken in somehow." Eliot says." It's not safe here anymore."
She can feel the heart beat grow slightly stronger in the direction of the hall. Eliot shoots the monster again. This time it doesn't get up. Reloads the gun. She runs forward before he can stop her.
"We need to go this way."
He follows, displeased.
"Wait. It's dangerous."
She knows. Lifts up her sweater to cover her nose and mouth. The hall is full of the silvery mist floating in the air. Eliot is covering his lower face with his hand. There is a membrane covering the path forward but it's been torn, likely by the creature. Alex parts it and squeezes thought.
A feeling that is unfamiliar to her hits. It's rapid like the ticking of a clock but there are several. She sees something move along the walls, the ceiling. Too fast to react. Eliot shoots, pulls her back by the shoulder. The looks like centipedes, but white and about 6 feet long.
"Let's get out of here." He says, tries to pull her back.
Alex doesn't now how to explain it to him.
"I don't see a breach in the walls. But they must be coming from somewhere." She says.
He stops pulling her.
"If we go this way." She pauses, sighs." There is a good chance that there is something underneath the collage."
"You mean a lab." He says.
"Yes. That probably what the generator is powering. It will have equipment and records. Documents on how all this happened. I need to get down there."
The hallway gets blacker the further they go. It almost looks like it's wilting it places. Some windows are uncovered and the wall right in front of them. She sees Natalia again, Eliot doesn't seem to notice her.
"This way." The girl points to a door.
The door is one of the few things unconsumed. It's the library. The room completely clean of the substance covering everything. Large windows let in some light outside.
"So what's in here?" He wanders looking around.
"I can feel something. And that feeling is very strong here."
"You mean the monsters?"
She nods.
"But there don't seem to be any in here. "
"The room next door?"
She looks around. There is blood on the floor, like something had been dragged. The trail ends at one of the book cases.
"Or secret passage." She says. "Now to get it open."
She tries pulling books from the shelf. They all seem to be regular books.
"What's up with all the masks?" Eliot calls out.
There are several tribal masks decorating the walls the walls of the library. Along with pictures and paintings of several African landscapes. Alex examines the ones closest to the shelf. One has a wide mouth. She feels inside it. Something feels like a switch. There is a click sound. The shelf moves aside.
The path down is lit. Stairs make a sharp turns at a 90O angle, blocking the view of anything further. The shelf moves into place soon after. The stairs lead to a small room with an elevator that is metal bars like one used in mines. They get in. there are only two buttons on the panel. It begins to descend.
She knows it will probably be teeming with creatures. Wonders if it was a good idea to bring Eliot. He holds gun forward before the door opens, prepares to shoot anything that might be there. She wants to ask him about it but he looks so focused, she decided against it.
The area looks like a tunnel, a sewer. There are red light flashing along the path. She can feel the beat of something here.
"A security room." He points to the door. "Might be worth checking out. "
She nods. The small room had screens from the monitoring cameras. Eliot begins pressing buttons.
"There is some old footage stored here. I think I can playing back. Maybe it will give us some clue to how it all started."
The footage shows a room that looks more like a cave. Torches light the walls, cave paintings decorate it. Black flowers grow in troves. A man walks in. she recognizes him- Freedman. He kneels over the flowers, bands down to them. Somebody else enters the room. A young man with a black leather jacket and a red head band. Freedman turns, surprised. The boy stabs him in the chest, he stumbles backwards, knife still imbedded. Falls unto the flowers.
"There's more" He says.
Another camera shows the boy with the red headband in a cell. He moves, pounds his fists against the bars. Screams something.
"Looks like they were keeping prisoners down here. " Alex says.
"Explains all the missing students." Eliot says.
It caused more questions than it answered. Some cameras were giving off static. One was pitch black. Some were showing halls.
Eliot keeps typing. A map comes up on the computer screen. He takes a picture.
"The lab should be here" He points to the top of the screen.
Traces his finger across the maze looking for the shortest route.
"I've got it. Let's go."
There are a few creatures that get in the way. Alex avoids them. Eliot shoots them down. They arrive at the lab. It's not a technically advanced as Umbrella was: simple locks that can be shot open. Not key cards or fancy locks.
The equipment is a little basic as well. Alex notices something. A leather bound book on the table, papers scattered. Somebody has been making something. Blood and black fluids on the floor. Eliot notices as well. Smells the chemicals.
"Ethanol" He say. "Somebody was going to burn something"
Alex looks thought the papers. The leather bound book turs out to be a journal.
"I've overheard them talking today. But they wouldn't let me in on the conversation. While it's true I am not as rich as they are but my family is still noble. Ever since university I have admired him and yet I feel him look down on me as I was some maggot. Damn them. Spencer. Markus. Ashford. I will prove my worth yet.
They spoke of a flower discovered in Africa. One that held some remarkable power. But I did not hear where they found it. No matter. I have planned my own expedition to the continent and I will not stop until I've found it. "
"I've done it. After years of searching I've found something remarkable. On the coast of the Middle Eastern Africa. A primitive tribe is like a legend. They say that the youngest of them are over 200 years.
I've actually met them. They are not as primitive as one might think. And after many talks and offerings to was able to gain their trust. They took me to the cave they held sacred. It could only be accessed once in a couple weeks for few short hours during low tide. There inside the cave were dozens of black flowers. They grow in complete darkness without any sunlight. The men pick them and boil them. Drink the mas a tea. They are said to hold medical properties that can heal any sickness and it can prolong one's life and youth. I was permitted to drink. But not permitted to take even a single flower out of the cave. Sunlight as I was told kills them. "
"The grief I feel knows no bounds. I went back for another visit to the tribe. I have continued to visit when I can. The tea I have been permitted to drink during my visits seems to be working. I haven't had been sick in the past three years. My hair isn't turning gray but in fact starting to regain color.
But sadly upon my return I found all the men women and even children – the entire village slaughtered. Who did this? A rival tribe? Or someone else?
I made my way to the cave but found traces of fire. The flowers were all gone. Burnt. I managed to save some spores that remained on the cave walls. I will protect this ancient legacy. I will not let be lost."
"I've come to a dead end. It seems that growing these flowers outside their native environment is near impossible. But I will not give up. I've already began my attempts at enhancing its chances of adapting by cross breeding it with some of the local species.
While the seeds have sprouted I have my doubts. My hair turns gray once more. The effects are not eternal. The tea must be consumed regularly to maintain effect. And yet as I drink from these flower I fell no different. Something is not right. Something is missing. I must figure it out.
I have noticed some bacteria resides inside the flowers, the spores specifically. This latest batch of flowers, mixed with the Solanum gene has a great amount of them. I was never able to study the original ones but what is it is not the flower but these bacteria that cause the effects?
Tests on animals show some promise but they are inconclusive. To further my research I will need human subjects. But perhaps some good will come from this as well. I have noticed a while ago that this young generations hold no respect for knowledge and discipline. Treating this esteemed institution of learning like some playground of frivolous activity. Lazy, ignorant, undisciplined, I will cleanse this place of those unworthy.
I am so close to perfecting my research. And once I have my accomplishments will rival even those of Spencer. I will create a cure for all diseases and grant eternal youth to whom I choose. And I will see him grovel before me and beg before long. How he will regret rejecting my friendship. "
Alex sighs heavily:
"Well know we know how this mess happened."
Eliot looks over the other papers.
"There is something else here."
"For the effects to take place the bacteria must be inhaled along with the spores of the flower. Notice: exposure to sunlight after results in mutation."
"So that's what started it." Alex sighs again. "All this because of some arrogant old fool."
Disgust creeps in her veins. Freedman was from the same generation as Spencer. Even claims to have known the man, resented him, and rivaled him. Somehow, even without being aware of it Spencer was able to cause another tragedy, even despite being dead.
Her thought are interrupted. The heartbeat grows stronger almost like a quake, and it takes her a moment to realize the ground is indeed shaking. Something is coming, something big. Eliot grabs the vial to keep it from breaking. Something roars outside the door. He readies his gun aims. A giant hand bursts in thought the door. The creature cannot fit inside. He fires, the shot hits. The arm retracts back into the hallway. Replaced by a head with one giant eye and a red headband. Broad, muscular shoulders of the creature try to squeeze into the room. The wall cracks, begins to break. A giant arm bursts in thought the top of the door. The arm seems to be coming from the creatures back. It's two arms are like bags of flesh, no fingers. It moves leaning on them, legs short and stubby. It manages to squeeze into the lab, breaking the door out of the wall. Eliot shoots and then the gun clicks- the clip is empty. The massive hand reaches for Alex. Eliot jumps in front.
She wants to stop him. Tell him that it's okay. She can hold it off. She can feel it in her blood, releasing. Like a current of electricity in her body. Alex closes her eyes, half expects to feel the blood and guts hit her. But it doesn't come. She looks. Eliot is holding the giant hand with both of his, somehow keeping it from crushing him. And then he seems to change. Muscles expanding, bulging out, tearing the shirt and jacket. He becomes taller. She looks uncertain of what she is seeing.
"Eliot?" she calls out hesitantly.
He turns, looks at her. His eyes are read and orange with small black pupils.
"I'm sorry dear heart, but he's gone."