CHAPTER 3
The five of us stood staring up at the enormous plant that dominated the huge towering room that we found ourselves in. There was a door on the opposite side of the room, which looked very inviting. However, in order to get there, we had to pass the G-Plant, a writhing mass of vines, which seemed to me to have a mind of their own. It was quite a frightening sight.
"Ooh!" Ami squeaked and pointed. We followed her finger with our eyes.
On the floor, not too far away from us lay a few strips of torn clothing, a briefcase and a pair of glasses. It didn't take us long to work out whose possessions they once were.
"Looks like our diary friend." I observed. Rei and Makoto nodded in agreement. Some vines stirred. I could practically hear my heart race.
"Let's get out of here." Usagi suggested. It was the best idea she'd had in a while. We started to creep past the plant on tiptoe. There was a gentle breeze in the room, I assumed that it was to keep the air circulating and thus keep the plant alive. It wasn't cold in the room but the breeze felt cold on my bare legs and ankles. The others were suffering in the same way, having dressed in a similar style to me. Who says I'm not a role model?
We reached the door without incidence, which surprised us all. We'd had a few near misses with vines. One had brushed my leg and I froze mid step. It left me alone but I was on edge for a few seconds afterwards. We kept our MP-5s at the ready just in case. Rei gently tried the door handle. It was open! A few relieved gasps escaped our lungs. Rei shoved open the metal door to reveal a small corridor, nothing special. It looked like a typical laboratory corridor only designed for people going for one place to another.
I stepped through the door to lead the way. I was barely through the door when I heard a scream. I spun around to face the others and fought the urge to panic. Usagi was on the floor and was struggling against a vine that had a firm hold around her right ankle. Makoto closed in to help but before she could assist Usagi, a vine shot out from the mass of limbs and encircled her waist. I glanced at Rei, who nodded.
With war cries we charged into the middle of the room, firing our weapons at the G-Plant. We might as well have been throwing peanuts at it for all the damage we did, but it distracted the G-Plant's attention. It threw vines in our direction, which we dodged.
"Missed!" Shouted Rei, but she soon regretted that comment as a vine grabbed her ankle and pulled her to the floor.
"Help!" She screamed. I ran over to her and shot the vine, which broke as a hail of bullets thudded into it. I helped Rei up and we glanced quickly at the others. Ami had freed Usagi and was now helping Makoto. Ami had seen what I had done to free Rei and followed suit, shooting the vine holding Makoto, who was now held up in the air. Makoto fell to the ground. She turned the bad fall into a shoulder roll and was quickly on her feet again.
Rei and I took our cue and headed for the door, running backwards whilst at the same time shooting. Rei went through the door and got behind it in preparation to slam it shut.
"Come on, Minako-chan!" She shouted at me. I didn't need to be told twice. I dived through the door and crashed into the opposite wall. I heard the slam of the door as Rei shut and locked it.
"That was fun!" Makoto dryly observed.
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world." I sarcastically replied, getting up from my crumpled position on the floor.
"Have fun, guys?" A voice asked us. It was Artemis. He and Luna sauntered down the corridor towards us, smug grins on their faces.
"How did you get here?" Usagi asked them incredulously.
"Oh," Luna replied, matter-of-factly. "We just followed you and took the turn that you didn't take. We followed the corridor round and wound up here. What's your story?"
I could have strangled them both on the spot. Usagi's state of mind was similar.
"Be careful what you say." She told them. "I don't like having a vine grab my ankle."
"Likewise." Put in Rei.
"What shall we do now?" Asked Ami, desperately trying to change the subject. "We have to find some way to kill that thing."
"You bet." I agreed. "If Haruka or the others need to find us, they'll have to get past that thing."
I looked at the others. They knew what I was thinking. "And besides, Hotaru-chan wouldn't make it, not in the condition she's in right now."
"They could always go the way we ca-OW!" Artemis tried to say before I hit him.
There was an ominous rumble from the corridor, followed by a crash, followed by a cloud of dust. It didn't take a genius to work out that the corridor had collapsed.
"That scuppers your little scheme!" Usagi grinned at Luna.
"That settles it." Makoto said. "We kill the plant."
"Yes, we kill the plant." Rei replied enthusiastically, then paused. "How?"
It took quite a bit of wandering around the corridors before something caught my eye. Another diary. I picked it up, the others leaning over me curiously. I opened the book and thumbed through the pages. I quickly found the last few entries.
May 19th
What with Jones having released the T-Virus and the news of the problems in Racoon City in America, I worry about my job. The company hasn't managed to get hold of those idiots that wrecked the operation. Who were they? Redfield somebody and this Valentine girl? I don't know and I don't care. I just hope that nothing causes that type of mayhem here. We just need to contain this latest outbreak.
May 22nd
This just keeps getting better and better. The G-Plant is out of control and to make matters worse, rumour has it that the Sailor Senshi from Tokyo are coming here. Do they know about this operation? They must do. However, we know their true identities and can kill them at our leisure. A Nemesis has been released with specific orders to kill them. I hope he succeeds.
May 23rd
That's it! I have had enough. I gotta get out of here, this place is going haywire. The creatures are out and I don't know whether I'll survive. If I don't, whoever finds this diary…please activate the self-destruct system. You'll have ten minutes to get out of here. My security clearance is high enough and you'll find my pass card in the second drawer of my desk. My computer username is BRADSHAWJH and my password is MAPLE. Please, save yourselves.
We all looked at each other with pure fright. The people here knew of our true identities? How could this be? I didn't care how they knew, they just did.
"What do you suppose a Nemesis is?" Rei asked nobody in particular. She was met with blank stares from the others and I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Why don't we use the computer?" Ami suggested.
"Ami-chan, you're a genius!" Makoto exclaimed. Ami sat in the chair next to the terminal and looked over her shoulder, smiling.
"I know." She said and got to work.
A few moments later and we were in. Ami had used the security clearance that the diary had given us and was now roaming around the system trying to find some information. A file caught my eye and I pointed it out to her. She nodded and opened it. 'Summary of Umbrella Created Creatures' it read. Ami browsed through, ignoring most of the content, but taking a note of the names. I saw the creature that had attacked Hotaru, an MA121 'Hunter.' That meant nothing. As far as I was concerned it was a lizard with a serious aggression problem.
"This is interesting." Ami muttered and clicked on something. The title 'Nemesis' appeared, along with the picture. We all took in a huge amount of air in our joint gasp.
"I do NOT want to fight that!" Usagi exclaimed and I nodded in agreement. Words cannot describe the revolting creature that was the Nemesis. It might have once been human, then again it might have been constructed, like Frankenstein. It certainly looked the part. It carried a large black object in its right hand. It was obviously a weapon of some sort, but I didn't like to guess what.
"Are we likely to meet that?" Makoto asked us. There was a loud crash from a door not too far away. I ran out into the corridor and looked. And screamed. And ran. The Nemesis followed me. I charged back into the room where the others were.
"I think it's time to go." I said to them quite calmly.
"How come?" Rei asked. The Nemesis crashed through the wall and Ami had barely enough time to dodge it.
"I see what you mean." Makoto said to me as we ran out the room.
"Now what do we do?" Artemis asked me, leaping onto me and clinging on for dear life.
"I have no idea. Just keep running!" I yelled. The Nemesis was following us at top speed.
We opened a door and charged into a room. It was the large room with the plant in. We stopped running, knowing that we were trapped.
"When perched between two evils, the best thing to do is run." I quoted. Artemis sighed.
"You mean 'the best thing to do is to stay still?'" He asked.
"Not in my case." I replied and charged across the room, dodging vines that tried to grab me and managing not to drop the rifle that I was still carrying. I somehow reached the other side and looked back towards the others. They looked hesitant and I didn't blame them.
The Nemesis crashed through the door behind them and that made their decision. They followed the route that I took, however not as successfully. A vine managed to grab Ami and started to reel her in towards the plant's base. I lined up my rifle and fired, missing everything but hitting the Nemesis – which didn't even flinch! The others followed suit, bringing their weapons to bear and firing.
One of Rei's shots freed Ami and Makoto ran over and helped her up. The bullets thudding into it did not amuse the Nemesis, but it still didn't die. It opened its mouth and a single word was spoken in such a way that it made my hair stand on end – and that's a lot of hair!
"Scouts!"
Scouts was the translation of Senshi into English, which made no sense to us whatsoever. Makoto and Ami rejoined us and we ran out of the room. I looked back towards the Nemesis, which was making its way across the room. A whole pile of vines grabbed it and drew it in. We watched, hoping that the plant would kill it for us. Fat chance.
The Nemesis raised the large object it was carrying to its shoulder. A split second later it fired the weapon into the plant, which fell to pieces, spraying parts of it everywhere. The weapon that the Nemesis carried was so obviously a rocket launcher.
"Now what?" Usagi asked.
"Run!" Luna suggested. "Let's get back to the others and tell them what's going on."
"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Rei replied, slamming the door to the plant room.
"I just hope that our dear friend doesn't follow us." I commented.