Chapter Two: Unfortunate Event
With no warning, one tentacle shot out, hitting the hand holding her grenade gun, sending it flying out of range.
Fuck.
It leaped onto the shelving unit above, and let out another primeval roar. She rose up, and saw the undulating mass open another hole, letting out green poisonous acid in a spray everywhere, the acid splashing near her.
"Shit!" She cried, and dodged the bubbling liquid. Her feet moved quickly towards the second battery, and as she did, she fired several rounds in quick succession, the hot rounds hitting the spongy body of the Nemesis, making sick splats. At the second battery, she pushed the heavy object into the chamber.
"Battery…connected."
Third one…almost.
She fired a few more rounds, but it seemed like that they were having no effect on the quivering blob at all. Pushing the third one in with all her strength, she heard the satisfying click as the third and final battery was in. Another spray of hot acid shot out from Nemesis, splashing the ground near her, a few drops hitting her bare leg. She yelled out in stinging pain, then began to run. The control panel let out a shrill beep, a confirmation.
"Battery…connected. Activating…rail cannon sequence. Rail cannon…operative." The warehouse was suddenly filled with the sights and sounds of bright white light as lightning sparks danced all over the rail cannon. Jill heard the sweet hum of the cannon coming to life, the crackle of electricity a welcome. She ran to the dead Tyrant, looking for a weapon she could use but she saw nothing. The hulking mass watched her every move and began to slide across the steel structures to her position. Draining the last few bullets, she took another clip and slammed it home, then opened fire.
"5…4…3…2…1…fire." A brilliant ball of white energy shot out from the rail cannon, and the sheer force of the blast blew a wide trench, completely obliterating everything in the line of fire. Nemesis fell to the floor as his platform blew out from under him. He let out another splitting roar.
If I can just get him in that path…
She ran from the control panel, and stopped to a position directly in front of the rail cannon, staring at the aberration face-to-face. She fired, the sounds of the Beretta drowning out the sounds of the weapon once again warming up behind her. Each hot slug hit the altered freak, but again had no effect. He lashed out a tentacle at her, but she quickly dodged and made way to the other side of the trench, this time behind Nemesis. She wanted to keep him in there, but as soon as she ran, he began to climb up once again onto the remaining structures. When she got there, she was greeted by another acid rain, stopping her in her tracks. After that, she had one other idea. She ran into the newly-formed passage, baiting Nemesis. His drive for blood made him oblivious to the fact that she was luring him to his ultimate death. Slowly he began to climb down toward her.
"5…"
To avoid another possible shot from his poison, she ran once again in front of the cannon.
"4…"
A primal roar escaped him as he began to slide his way toward his prey.
"3…"
Come and get me, you asshole!
"2…"
She continued firing, screaming.
"1…"
She dove out of the line of fire, and watched in anticipation.
"Fire."
Die, motherfucker.
Another huge ball of energy shot from the rail cannon, and as she watched, time seemed to slow down. The massive energy fireball directly connected with Nemesis, and in a blast of light, she watched in triumph. The impact hit Nemesis in such a force, and finally the S.T.A.R.S. killer caromed violently, exploding in a huge mass of burning flesh, muscle, sinew, bone, and dark purple viscous goo. All this happened in just a couple of seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. A second later, she heard a beep from the rail cannon.
"Rail cannon…overheated. Entering…cool down mode." Steam rose from the cannon, as if it was exhausted. Next to her, the door beeped, and she heard the sound of a lock being released. Rising to her feet, she began to open the door—
--when she heard the low growl.
Oh, no. No! No! No! Why won't you DIE?!!!
She slowly walked towards the gap created by the cannon, and saw a burned, very weak Nemesis, its body reduced to a small blob, swimming in its own precious goo.
"You…" she spoke to the dying Tyrant. Before she could continue, he shot out another stream of poison. Quickly dodging, she found a Magnum on the ground next to one of the dead soldiers, and walked slowly towards the enfeebled creature. She fired one powerful round, and it seemed to have cried out in pain. Her will resolute, she fired another. And another. Finally she stood over the fallen B.O.W.
"You want stars?" Jill said triumphantly. "I'll give you stars!" She fired the last three bullets at him, his heart finally stopped moving. The still creature was dead, lying in its own pool of "blood."
Accomplished, she looked at her radar. The word "warning" was now flashing on the screen, and judging by the blip, she had maybe another couple of minutes. Racing for her life, she exited through the door onto an elevator. Hitting the down button, it led her back outside to a junkyard, where she heard the sound of Carlos.
"Over here!" He was waving frantically in front of the helicopter. Jill ran to the chopper, feeling relieved. Quickly they boarded. When she boarded the chopper, she recognized the pilot instantly.
"Barry?" Jill said in surprise.
"Hold on!" Barry said, and with a sudden jerk, the chopper flew into the air. Looking outside, she could see the first rays of sunlight as the day was breaking. The scene seemed so wrong—a beautiful sunrise shining on a city about to be destroyed. How ironic. After a minute in the air, Jill saw a projectile coming in, headed for the city.
"It's here…" Jill said softly, watching in horror as the missile bore down on the city's center.
This can't be happening…
When the missile hit, the sky filled with a bright orange light, accompanied by a terrific explosion. Within seconds a mushroom cloud had formed over the city, and the explosion was spreading out in a perfect circle from the impact site, obliterating everything in its path. Bodies of zombies were hurled into the air, incinerating immediately. The Raccoon City Police Department was leveled, the clock tower destroyed…nothing was spared. The shock wave of the blast was heading quickly for the chopper.
"Barry!" Jill screamed and clutched Carlos.
"Hang on tight!" Barry ordered. The chopper suddenly reeled forward, and shook violently, sending Jill and Carlos into the chopper wall. Two seconds later, all was fine. Looking out the window, all she saw was a huge cloud of billowing black smoke…nothing else. Raccoon City had been literally wiped off the map. Umbrella had destroyed their evidence.
Carlos looked at Jill. "We made it."
Jill slumped back down. "All those lives…innocent lives…gone. Men, women, children…massacred…why did we get out alive?" Jill leaned over to Carlos and embraced him for a long time. The helicopter flew away, away from the dead city, away from the obliterated necropolis. It kept flying toward the sunrise. A new day had begun.
That's it. They've gone too far!
* * *
Located in an abandoned Umbrella radio transmission building a safe distance away from town, he was busy furiously trying to find a good reception, an available radio frequency from which he could hopefully locate his comrades. He had found this building partially out of luck, partially out of knowledge. He had heard about it from someone at headquarters, and from their description, the radio building was no longer used by Umbrella—it was abandoned a while ago when they had no longer had need for it. Finding it proved to be the challenge. From Umbrella's predictability, he made an educated guess as to where it could be—along one of the main roads leading to the city. When all hell broke loose and they were forced to disband, he ran headstrong into the fray, determined to make it out of the falling city alive—if not for himself, but for one other person.
Forgive me…I'm sorry it came down to this…
Using the marksmanship he had, he found an abandoned car located on some street, the driver's side door wide open. On the ground below, the dried stain of blood stretched for a length beginning from the driver's exit to obscurity, suggesting that the driver was perhaps taken by one of the virus carriers, dragged to his or her untimely death. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw the keys still in the ignition. He couldn't feel remorse now, not yet. He still had to escape the city first. Turning the key, the motor roared to life, and in one swift motion, placed the car in drive and slammed the gas as hard as he could. As he accelerated, faster and faster, the buildings and few lights flew by in a blur, and it was so until he left city limits. He did not slow down for anyone, not even possible police. There was no reason why he should—most of the precinct's officers had died, and maybe a handful, if that, actually managed to survive the survival horror.
Out on the lonely road, he remembered about the abandoned radio communications building, and slowed down his speed, hoping he didn't already pass it in his urgency to get out of the city. As a result of the night sky, the only lights visible were those illuminating the road, so he tried to help matters by turning on his hi-beams.
He drove on for a few more miles, until he saw what could have been a gate on the other side of the road, to his left. He had driven past it before he realized what it could have been. He slammed the brakes, the sounds of screeching tires cutting through the silence of the abandoned road, the smell of burning rubber filling the car. Putting the car in reverse, he backed up in order to get a closer look. It was a metal gate, its structure worn down by the weather as the metal was almost completely covered by rust. On the gate, there was a series of three combination locks attached to a chain wrapped around the catch mechanism. Looking beyond, he made out a dark silhouette of a possible building.
Won't hurt to try…but I better hide this first.
In case Umbrella had any soldiers or anything non-human running around, he wanted an escape. Slamming the car into drive, he veered onto the grassy median and pulled out on the other side of the highway, spinning around, car now facing in the direction of Raccoon City. He drove a little ways toward the city, maybe about a half mile away from the possible building. Killing the motor and all lights, he stepped out of the car, his gun drawn, anticipating the worst, ready to shoot anything that so much as moved. Ten minutes later, he arrived back at his destination, noticing first a high barbed-wire fence, making it impossible for him to climb, that surrounded this building. His only means of entry would be through the gate. He gave a swift kick to the gate, but the metal held. He tried kicking the locks, but they also held.
Fine. Be like that.
Quickly he fired three bullets in succession, shattering the combo locks on impact. The chain rattled noisily to the black top below. As if scripted, the gate opened slightly.
"Why, that's so kind of you to let me in," he said in mock courtesy, pushing the gate open. In the dim streetlight, his eyes were growing accustomed to the darkness around him. Straight ahead, he could make out the detail of a glass paned door. Moving slowly toward the entrance, he turned the handle only for it to be locked.
Typical…
With one quick motion of his leg, he kicked the glass, shattering it easily on impact. The sounds of breaking glass seemed amplified in this unusual silence, coming across as painstakingly loud. With his free hand, he easily found the lock and released it. Now he stepped inside the decaying edifice, the sounds of crunching glass beneath his boots filled the passageway throughout. Pulling out his lighter, he hoped the dim firelight would provide enough ambience to make sure he was in the place he thought he was. To his left, he noticed a stairwell leading down. Deciding to check that out later, he continued. Looking along the walls for any sign of evidence, he slowly made his way down the hall, scrutinizing the area very carefully for anything amiss. His heart quickening as he headed deeper into unfamiliar territory, he finally saw what he was looking for—the all-too-familiar logo of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, Inc—on the door just a few feet in front of him. He breathed a sigh of relief, and moved in closer to see the words on the metal door.
Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Radio Communications Building #0137
He'd found it, all right. And he almost missed it. His heart beginning to quicken once again, he killed the lighter and he slowly opened the door, expecting a decaying zombie to burst out from the darkness. With his gun ready, he barged in and—
--nothing. The same unusual eerie silence was prevalent throughout. His body in a sweat, he let out another sigh of relief and lowered the gun. Once again, he flicked the lighter in an attempt to reorient himself. He had stepped into a fairly large room, and quickly noticed the room was lined with radio equipment—soundboards, headsets, receivers, monitors, the whole getup. There was a few windows in the enclosed space, places to look to the outside world. The room looked like a mess—strewn papers everywhere, a few overturned chairs, headsets dangling from their respective radio terminals. It looked like whoever was here last wanted to get out in a hurry. Next to the door he came in from, there was a light switch. Hoping against hope, he flicked the switch. To his surprise, a couple of florescent bulbs flickered to life, filling the room with an adequate enough white light, enough to see everything, anyway. Placing the gun back in the holster, he extinguished the small lighter flame and walked around the room, looking for anything suspicious. He took a look at some of the papers lying around, and saw nothing useful, just some computer data, random strings of letters and numbers. His eye caught interest at a sheet of paper that had someone's handwriting on it. Examining the writing style, he noticed that whoever it was, they were in a hurry. On it, he could make out these words:
Workings of man set to ply out historical life
Re-regaining the flower of the fruit of his tree
All awakening, all restoring you
Workings of man crying out from the fire set aflame
By his blindness to see that the warmth of his being
His promise for his seeing, his reaching so clearly
Workings of man driven far from the path
Re-released in inhibitions
So that all is left for you,
All is left for you,
All is left for you,
All is left for you, now.
For some reason, the verses he recognized held a sort of familiarity. He took the paper and folded it into his pocket. His mind decided that the room was, in fact, safe, so he moved on to his next thing to do…try to establish radio contact. He sat down in a chair to the closest terminal by the closest window, and took a look at the setup. He looked out the window to see the night sky beginning to fade away, the horizon slowly becoming a lighter shade of blue. Dawn would be here soon. Looking down at the control panel, he noticed that for the most part, the controls looked fairly obvious—tuner, talk, graphic equalizer, volume, etc. Placing a headset to his head, he pushed what seemed to be the power button—a noticeable red button—and his ears filled with the sounds of radio static.
Good. At least the radio equipment still works. Maybe I can actually establish contact.
He turned the black tuning dial to some of the frequencies used back in the precinct, the familiar frequencies used to intercept transmissions from aircraft. With every notch of the dial, he got static. Finding the most common aircraft frequency, he could hear the squelching sounds of the static, possibly indicating that it was an active channel. He picked up the receiver and pressed the button to talk.
* * *
"Hello. Hello? Can anyone hear this transmission? If anyone can hear me, please respond!" He waited a few seconds for a response. Nothing but radio silence was returned. Trying again, he spoke into the receiver.
"Hello? Hello? Can anyone read me? If there is anyone that can hear this transmission, please respond immediately. Is anyone there? What's going on? Respond!" As if on cue, suddenly a male voice came over the radio, his voice crisp and clear as the man conveyed a message.
"Attention. The Raccoon City project has been abandoned. Political maneuvering to delay federal plans has failed. Missiles will be launched at daybreak. All remaining supervisors evacuate immediately. This message is being broadcast on all available channels and will repeat again in 5 minutes."
No…no. They can't do that…would Umbrella resort to such drastic measures to cover their tracks? To destroy the city…but that means…they still could be in the city!
He looked at his watch, and took a guess that dawn would arrive in about half an hour.
I have to find them now! Immediately he went to work. He knew the exact frequency to turn to.
He kept at this for a few minutes, moving forward along the dial one frequency at a time. The little digital screen display slowly climbed up and down as he moved the dial back and forth between familiar frequencies.
Come on, I know you're there. Respond.
"Can anyone hear me? Can anyone read me? Someone, anyone, please respond immediately!" Suddenly he heard a voice crackle through the static.
"Chris, is that you?" said a deep husky voice.
"Barry? Barry, it's me, Chris! Thank the gods you're still alive!" Feelings of relief and elation swept through him.
"I have to say the same for you," he said, his voice crackly over the airwaves. "What's your current location?"
"I'm located at an abandoned Umbrella radio communications facility about 15 miles out of town. Where the hell are you?"
Barry chuckled. "I'm flying a helicopter around the city, looking for any survivors. It is a nightmare down here. Glad to see you made it out okay. I got a distress call from someone. From the quick message, this person said he was located just outside the warehouse, an Umbrella lab close to Raccoon Park. I'm actually on my way there now."
Chris felt a sense of urgency welling up in him. "Barry, you better make it quick. The city is about to become ground zero. Umbrella has all intentions of wiping out their handiwork. You probably have no more than 20 minutes."
"Yeah, I know," Barry began. "I heard the same message you did. Listen, keep it here and I'll get back to you soon."
"Okay, friend. By all means, don't die on me now," Chris said firmly, as if giving a command.
"I have no intention of dying. Over and out," With that, Chris was once again plunged back into the realm of radio silence, and as he looked down at his watch, he noticed the sky slowly becoming lighter. Time was running out, fast.
Author's Note: Damn…I never knew I could write this fast. I amaze myself. Anyway, if you like it thus far (or don't like it for that matter), send me a review! Any and all feedback welcome. Soon I will post Chapter Three: Time is of the Essence.