Disclaimer - I own no legal rights to any established Resident Evil characters or trademarks.
Dizasteriffic - Thank you for your review! Glad you're still enjoying this! I was relieved the Netflix series at least didn't bring Ashley back just to do something terrible to her, but I'm also disappointed that the biggest bone the franchise has thrown Ashley stans in over a decade was just a still shot of a photograph on the President's desk. Glad I could help fill the void for you, me, and hopefully other fans of Miss Graham.
They'd analyzed, and over-analyzed, every possible item in the hotel suite.
They even spent way too much time looking way too deep into the pattern on the duvets. But it was becoming apparent that if there was a cheat sheet to solving the puzzle with the chairs in the sitting room, it wasn't in this part of the hotel.
Like Pierce had observed, this would be the perfect place for the civilians to spend the rest of the night. But Jill was anxious to get out of here, reunite with Carlos and Ashley, and get back to the reason she'd come to the hotel in the first place.
That left trial and error.
She took a deep breath and grabbed the back of the nearest chair.
"Keep your eyes and ears peeled," she said to Pierce and Rosita. "If you see anything starting to happen, I need to know about it right away."
They both nodded and their eyes began anxiously fluttering around the suite.
Jill kept manipulating the furniture. The painting in the frame scrolled, and she could see clouds, flecked with gold, appearing at the top of the frame. As it scrolled further, winged figures, probably angels, were standing on the clouds.
She heard a loud hum and looked up. A tight grid of bright orange lasers had formed just beneath the ceiling.
She immediately stopped, the angels in the picture still out of frame above their waists, then began moving all the furniture in the opposite direction. Above her, the lasers vanished. In front of her, she could see red horns and the tip of flickering flames.
"Heaven and hell," Rosita said. "Heaven's good and hell's bad, right?"
"Actually, in this case, I think it's the opposite," Jill said.
She kept pushing the chairs along their hidden tracks until the painting of hell was completely centered in the frame. She heard a click somewhere, indicating this was a set position for something.
Jill walked up to the painting and placed her hands on it, sliding them along the smooth canvas until they touched a piece that seemed slightly removed from the rest. She slowly peeled it away, ears perked for any indication it could trigger something else.
She looked at the scrap of the painting, a small cadre of demons and hellish monstrosities playing bizarre instruments propped up by a crowd of damned souls. It made her uneasy, and yet was triggering a memory. It reminded her of the painting back in the conference center that she had thought was too bizarre and sinister for the background of boring business meetings.
"Well, glad that's over," Pierce said.
And he immediately dropped into the nearest chair.
The laser grid above hummed back to life, and then it began to slowly lower towards the floor.
At the same time, the door to the hallway slammed itself shut, pushing the headless half-corpse of the Umbrella op into the room.
"Stupido!" Rosita yelled.
"How many times did I have to say it?" Jill shouted. "Don't. Touch. Anything!"
Pierce had jumped up from the chair and was rocking it back and forth, trying to deactivate the laser, but the grid kept lowering.
Jill kicked the Umbrella corpse out of the way and slammed her shoulder into the door. It held tight.
The laser cut the ceiling fan into pieces.
"Come help me!" Jill yelled.
The others joined her and, on the count of three, they all threw their whole weight into the door. It shuddered a little.
The laser chopped the highest cupboards of the kitchenette into kindling and burst the bulbs of the tallest of the decorative lamps.
The three threw themselves into the door again.
"Do you ever think maybe he's one of the bad guys and trying to get us killed on purpose?" Rosita asked, jerking her head towards Pierce.
"It wouldn't even make the top ten times I've been stabbed in the back," Jill said.
Pierce harumphed indignantly.
They threw themselves into the door again. Again, it shuddered.
The laser grid was now low enough to cut through the top of the frame around the painting of the afterlife.
Jill counted to three again, and again they threw their whole weight against the door. This time, it burst open.
They stumbled in to the hallway. Rosita cleared the doorway just as the laser sliced through her ponytail.
"Oy!" Rosita cried, grabbing the ends of her now significantly shorter hairs as they fell to her neck. "Mi pelo!"
Jill looked at her.
"I used to rock a bob like that," she said. "Don't worry. It looks cute on you."
Part of Ashley wished Leon could have been at that hotel with her tonight. Not because she was scared like she had been as a college kid who got kidnapped during her spring break and he could easily run in with guns blazing and rescue her with ease, even though she was and he could. But as a mentor who had taught her so much, first through keeping them both alive through that horrible night and then intentionally when she'd asked for some survival tips.
Seeing how proud he was the first time she'd hit the bullseye at the gun range, and then when she was able to more and more consistently hit it after that, she could just imagine the look on his face as he saw her taking down all these moving targets. She could practically see him standing back, cheering her on, pumping his fist excitedly in the air while she took the monsters on instead of freezing in fear each time they came at her.
She wondered what he'd think of Will.
As comforting as the fantasy was, this was no time for daydreaming. This wasn't target practice. One of her closest friends was in danger somewhere in this hotel, and Lee was also counting on her to survive right now.
They ran into the fitness center. Ashley quickly took the room in, peering beyond the free weights and exercise machines to try to find a suitable hiding place. She spotted a large hamper.
She lifted the lid, immediately hating the smell of the sweat soaked towels lining the bottom. But it was their best option. And it was at least an improvement over the trash dumpsters Leon had kept hiding her in during her time in Spain. About the same dimensions, too. She climbed in and signaled Lee to do the same.
"Watch where your hands go," Lee said as she climbed in on top of Ashley and pulled the lid closed. "I know you bleeding hearts swing every which kind of way, but I . . ."
"Oh, calm your tits," Ashley said. "Even if I did like girls, you wouldn't be my type."
She lowered her voice, listening for the sound of the boss monster that was pursuing them.
"Besides," she added. "I have a boyfriend. I mean, kind of. Sort of. I was looking for him when I found you instead."
Lee's eyes were sympathetic for once.
"You mean he's somewhere in this hotel with all these things?"
Ashley nodded.
"I hope he's okay," Lee said.
"So do I," Ashley replied.
She held a finger to her lips.
She could hear heavy footsteps entering the fitness center, then growls and heavy breathing.
She peered through the gaps in the wicker of the hamper. Minos was standing in the center of the room, its deformed snout sniffing the air.
It charged into each corner, swinging its head from side to side, then walked right up to their hamper.
She and Lee both had their mouths sealed so tight not a single breath was escaping. They could feel each other's heartbeats in the cramped space.
The monster lingered just a moment before retreating. It disappeared through the fitness center entrance. Then its footsteps grew softer and softer until they disappeared entirely.
Ashley waited another minute before taking a breath, and then another before she gently pushed on Lee's shoulders, silently signaling for her to get up and out of the hamper.
Lee went to the door, peeking out and aiming her rifle at the ends of the hallway.
Meanwhile, Ashley couldn't stop looking at the exercise machines.
"The dust on the floor," she said.
"What about it?" Lee asked, walking back towards her.
Ashley pointed. There was a clean, dust free square stretching past the front and back ends of a small treadmill.
"That's not where that machine's supposed to go," she said. "Someone moved it."
"So?" Lee asked. "What's it to you?"
"This hotel is a front," Ashley said. "It's actually a secret lab where they've been experimenting with bioweapons."
"You mean like the things that killed President Bad-son?" Lee asked. "I mean, President Benson?"
"Exactly," Ashley said. "And there's all kinds of secret compartments and passages everywhere. I think there might be something hidden in here."
"Can't we just leave it alone?"
"I've got these Gen X friends," Ashley said. "They're trying to find a way to shut this all down, and I need to see if this is something that could help them."
She began pushing the treadmill.
Lee joined her.
"But with your bullet wound . . ."
"We're in this together," Lee said, and she helped Ashley push.
With the treadmill off to the side, they looked for the machine that most closely matched the dimensions of the clean space on the floor. They selected one, then dragged it until it was where the treadmill had been. They continued rearranging the machines until they found a hatch in the floor, and when they placed the final machine the lock on the hatch clicked.
Lee went to the hatch immediately and pulled it open, even as Ashley tried to yell at her to wait a moment and be careful.
A small ball of fur jumped up from below the hatch, briefly appearing before disappearing again.
Then a mutated doberman jumped up and sank its teeth around Lee's ankle. She aimed her rifle and fired, putting it down with a whimper.
Another soon jumped up to take its place.
Then something smaller, some kind of hideously deformed poodle, jumped up and bit her leg. She pulled the trigger again, right as another small dog jumped up and bit into her wrist. The rifle slipped out of her fingers and down through the hatch.
Ashley's heart broke. A wide variety of breeds had been turned into the zombie dogs. Big dogs like dobermans, smaller ones like schnauzers, and every size in between. Ashley couldn't help but be reminded of her own precious canine friends she'd had throughout her life.
But they weren't dogs anymore, in the same way the zombies were no longer humans. Muscles and bones were exposed, teeth and nails were unusually sharp, and wherever fur was remaining it was all matted with blood. If animals could possess souls, then the souls of these animals had already departed for someplace better.
"I'm sorry," Ashley said, partly to Lee, partly to the dogs that were mauling her.
She aimed her shotgun and fired at one of the bigger dogs that was biting Lee, successfully picking it off the other woman without hitting her. But the others were smaller targets, and it was hard to figure out where their bodies ended and Lee's began.
They overpowered her and pulled her down through the hatch.
Another dog jumped out and charged at Ashley. She fired and it flew off its feet, whimpering as it slid back towards the hatch.
Ashley made her way closer to the hatch, shooting the zombie dogs as they ran at her, and then she aimed down through the hatch and fired until all the monsters stopped moving completely.
Ashley dropped into the pit, landing on her feet just over what was left of Lee's chewed up body. She tried not to look at it as she grabbed the bottle of First Aid Spray that had dropped out of Lee's pink fanny pack. Then she stepped over the dead zombie dogs. She was in some kind of kennel, all the cage doors wide open and now empty.
There was another body in front of the cages. He was dressed in an armored uniform marked with the Umbrella Corporation logo, and there was something shiny in his hand.
It was a long, thin silver whistle, etched with the same logo as the dead man's clothes. Ashley put it to her lips. No sound when she blew it.
Training a living dog was hard enough. Did they actually use a dog whistle to train zombie dogs? Had she gone through all that, had Lee sacrificed her life, just for this?
Yet, Ashley felt compelled to take it with her. She pocketed the whistle. There was a retractable ladder right beside the mouth of the gap. She pulled it down and clambered up it. She climbed back up to the fitness center floor, and the ladder retracted behind her again.
"When is Daddy coming home?" Joseph asked.
"And how much longer do we have to stay with Aunt Fernanda and Uncle Danny?" Ariana added.
Maria had one arm over Joseph's shoulder and the other over Ariana's as she held their favorite picture book open in front of them. Carlos Jr. was fidgeting nearby.
She gently kissed Ariana's forehead.
"Soon," she said. "I'm sure."
She turned the page and began to read aloud, only to stop suddenly at a loud sound from somewhere deeper in the house.
All three of her children stood stock still and silent, picking up on her fear.
"Stay right here," Maria whispered, trying to sound as calm as possible. "Nobody move. I'll be right back. Everything's going to be okay, all right?"
She crept down the hallway, and a gasp escaped her when she saw the bodies. Danny and Fernanda were both crumpled up in a huddle on the floor. She knelt down and checked their necks. Unconscious, but not dead.
She stood up and spun around when she heard someone come into the room. They were wearing body armor and holding a gun. Pointing it at her.
Maria seemed to stumble, then began swaying back and forth, dancing to unheard music.
It confused the gunman enough that the weapon faltered in his grip. She moved down low and knocked him to the ground with a capoeira kick, then got back to her feet and switched to a jiu-jitsu stance, reflexively employing the moves her husband had taught her.
She tackled the next gunman to the ground, putting him in a chokehold until he fell unconscious. Then she ran back to check on her kids.
Major Meloni was pointing a gun at them.
"Mrs. Oliveira," he said. "I suggest you put your hands up, if only for the sake of your children."
"How did you find us?" Maria asked.
"That's not important right now," Meloni said. "The good news is this can all be over quickly if you'll come quietly. We just need you."
Maria was trying to not let him see her tremble.
"Need me for what?"
"Insurance."
She took a step closer and he raised his gun at her.
The tranquilizer dart stuck her right in the neck, and she slipped into a pool of darkness.