RE Armageddon: Part III- Gaining Strength

by striker

Now reformed, the S.T.A.R.S. team is drawn into a deadly trap where they are not the only targets. Please read and review.

6. Who The..?

Disclaimer: Capcom owns the rights to Resident Evil. I am borrowing the characters, monsters, and general overview of the series for my story. I in no way plan on making money from this. Please don't sue me, as you won't get much money from me.

Resident Evil: Armageddon

Part III- Gaining Strength

Chapter 6- Who The…?

Written by: Striker

"Who the hell was that?" Chris said.

"Hell if I know." Jill replied.

The two partners had heard Becky's warning about Lickers, then the scream. They were now heading for the source. They ran into Leon, Claire, Carlos, and Rebecca on the way.

"Looks like we got ourselves a survivor." Leon said.

"That may not be for long." Carlos said. "With zombies and Lickers around, the person may be dead."

Rebecca looked around. "Where are Barry and Ark?"

"They're probably doing what we should be." Chris said. "Trying to find the person before he or she gets killed."

The group ran towards the place the scream had come from, blasting zombies along the way. Meanwhile Ark and Barry had reached the door leading out of the storeroom. Ark caught a glimpse of some woman running past the door. He then heard her slip and fall. Then he saw a Hunter walk past the door, heading towards the girl.

"Shit." Ark ran out into the hall to see the woman lying on her back. She had her hands in front of her. The Hunter was standing over her. Its back heaved up and down as it breathed. It shrieked and reared up its claw. The girl let out a terrified scream, closing her eyes. Ark drew his .45 and pumped four rounds into the base of the Hunters brain. It jerked as it let out a squeal and fell dead at the woman's feet. "Not today bitch." Ark said.

"Leon, behind you." Ark turned to see Barry staring down the hall. Two more Hunters stood watching them. "Let's get rid of these two freaks."

The Hunters charged down the hall. Ark pulled out his Cougar while Barry readied his Colt. They both waited until the Hunters were ten feet away before firing. The bullets tore through the creatures, causing green blood to spout from the wounds. The two monsters withered on the ground before passing away. Ark and Barry turned to the woman. She looked up at Ark, seeing the blood on his shirt.

"Get away from me!" She squealed, trying to back away from him. "Don't hurt me!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm one of the good guys. I saved your life." Ark held out his hand. "Come on, you're safe now."

The others came barreling out of the storeroom. Chris looked around. "What the hell happened here?" He then saw Ark crouched down in front of the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman saw the group, then the weapons in their hands. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed.

"Jesus Christ, she's hysterical. I'm not surprised if she's been running from these things all day." Jill said.

Chris nodded. "Jill, better go talk to her. Everyone else, check to see if there are any more of our rotting friends wandering around here."

Jill walked up to the woman. She looked into her terrified eyes. "Hi, I'm Jill." She said in a gentile voice, trying to calm the woman down. "Who are you?"

"El, Eliza. Eliza Walker."

"Well Eliza, we're here to help you. We came here to shut this place down. Why are you here?"

"I work here." Eliza replied. "I got transferred here around June. Hey, aren't you those terrorists? Are you going to kill me?"

"No we're not." Ark said. "I don't know what you were told, but Umbrella are the bad guys. They made those monsters, "He pointed to the dead Hunter, "And the virus that turned these people into zombies."

"I don't believe you. Umbrella cures diseases, they don't make them. Right now we're working on a cure for cancer. You people are just trying to stop us."

Chris joined the group. "Miss Walker, right? I hate to tell you this, but Umbrella has lied to everyone. I didn't believe Umbrella was making biological weapons until they killed my friends. Umbrella is using you, just like they used others. We are here to stop them."

Claire came walking up to her brother. "So far we don't see any zombies or any more Lickers or Hunters. Best bet is that they may be on the other levels. Chris, we didn't see any holding pens on the floor plans. These B.O.W.s must have been brought in, probably last night or early this morning. My bet is that the virus must have been released last night, judging from the state of those zombies. I think we should find a better place to talk. There are too many places where their friends can come out of." Claire nudged the dead Hunter with her foot.

Eliza was confused. "What do you mean by B.O.W.s? What are they?"

Jill looked at Eliza. "Bio Organic Weapons. This Hunter Ark must have killed is one of them. There are others, much more dangerous and harder to kill."

"Walker, is there a place we could go to talk." Chris nodded to the Hunter. "I don't feel like having one of these things interrupting us."

Eliza pointed down the hall. "There's a cafeteria down that way. I'm not sure if it's safe, but it's the best place I can think of."

"OK, wait a minute." Chris stood up. "Come on guys, we're moving. There's a place we can go to regroup. Let's move it."

Ark held out his hand again. "Come on, you can trust us." Eliza reluctantly took his hand. He pulled her up. He noticed she was shaking. "Here, wear this." He took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

When the others had gathered, they started to move. Eliza gave the group directions, telling them where to turn. Carlos and Leon took point, blasting several zombies that were in their way with their shotguns. As they past a hall, a Hunter rushed them. A well-placed grenade by Claire took it out. A Licker tried to sneak up from behind. A few rounds from Chris and Jill's MP5s dropped it. Another Licker burst from a room to the groups' left. Barry blew its head off with his Colt. After a while, the team reached the doors to the cafeteria.

Chris slinged the MP5 and pulled out his shotgun. He approached the doors, standing next to Leon. "Let's go." Both men kicked the doors open and stormed in. The other followed, filing in. What was waiting for them was not pleasant.

"Zombies, Lickers, and Hunters, oh my." Leon said.

The room was full of B.O.W.s. Some Hunters were helping themselves to food on the buffet table. Four Lickers were picking clean some bodies along the left-hand wall. Several zombies shuffled around, trying to find a meal. Some other Lickers were clinging to the right-hand wall and ceiling while other Hunters milled around. In chilling unison, all creatures' eyes turned on the S.T.A.R.S.

"Let's make this fast." Chris said. "Scatter."

Chris rushed at a group of Hunters. He fired into one, spending it flying into its companions. He then grabbed his MP5 and fired furiously at the creatures. Jill, meanwhile, began shooting the Lickers that had been feeding. She caught one in the head and another she nailed in the arm, wounding it. The remaining two advanced on her. She switched to her MP5 and began to fire. She hit one, dropping it. The other one got to her and prepared to swipe her leg. Barry blew its hand off with a well-placed shot. It screamed in pain before Jill silenced it with a rain of bullets to the head. Chris loaded shells into his shotgun and walked up to the wounded Licker that was trying to move. He leveled the shotgun and obliterated its head.

"Hey, save some for us." Claire said as she and Rebecca fired a few grenade rounds at the buffet table. The table exploded, impaling two Hunters with pieces of wood and sending another flying into the far wall. Its head cracked open from the impact.

"Take about a splitting headache." Leon joked as he blasted a Hunter that had survived the blast.

"Very funny. Oh!" Claire saw a dead security guard leaning against a table. He had a pair of Uzis in his hands. "You won't be needing these anymore." Claire grabbed the Uzis. The guard suddenly sprang back to life. "DIE!" Claire opened fire with the Uzis, decapitating the corpse. "Time to have some fun." She turned to some zombies and began to cut them down.

"Looks like you have a new toy too." Leon said, unloading a shell into another zombie, separating its torso from its legs.

"You got that right." Rebecca said. She fired a flame round at a small group of zombies, sending gore and flaming body parts flying everywhere.

Ark and Carlos had their hands full with the other Lickers. Ark turned to Eliza and handed her his magnum. "If anything comes at you, point and pull the trigger." Eliza shook her head yes and gripped the gun. Ark pulled out his .45 and his Glock. "Ready Carlos?"

"Let's kick some ass amigo." Carlos pumped his shotgun and advanced.

The Lickers flicked out their tongues in a threatening fashion. One leaped at Carlos. He fired, sending the Licker backwards. It was dead before it hit the floor. Carlos then fired at one Licker that was clinging to the wall, not giving it a chance to attack. It fell; squirming as death took its life. One started across the wall. Ark aimed and put two .45 slugs into its brain. One more dropped down in front of him. He began firing simultaneously at the Licker as it crawled towards him. Bullets ripped through the body, tearing away decaying tissue and muscle. He continued until his pistols ran empty. The Licker was now twitching spasmodically.

"Burn in hell." Ark ejected the used clips from his guns. He caught movement in the corner of his left eye. He turned to see a Hunter standing in front of his. Its left arm was missing; blow off when Claire and Rebecca had blown up the buffet table. Blood was pouring from the wound. It let out a low growl. Then, Ark saw the left side of its head explode and the headless body crumple to the ground. Ark looked back to see Eliza. She held the magnum in front of her, her hands still shaking. He smiled. "Thanks."

She managed a weak response. "You're welcome."

"Damn, are you sure you never fired a gun before?" Carlos eyed the Hunter, admiring Eliza's accuracy.

"I did what Ark said, point it at the monster and pull the trigger." Eliza said, lowering the weapon.

Chris had just finished ventilating the last zombie's skull with his Berretta. He looked around at the room. "Good work. Over here." He pointed to a table in the middle of the room. Everyone gathered around. "Kill count. How many of these things did we take out?"

"We killed eight Lickers here, plus I got one in the warehouse." Barry said, looking at the corpse.

"I killed another one in the warehouse too." Rebecca said.

"We got two more on the way here." Carlos added.

"That makes twelve. Claire, Rebecca and I got four Hunters." Leon said. "How about you guys?"

"Chris took out four, Ark, Claire, and I took out four in the hall. Eliza killed one more. That's thirteen of them. Who knows how many more could be around here."

Chris scanned the room. "These must have come here because they smelled the food. I'd expect more company soon. Barry, you, Carlos, and Leon check these bodies for ammo. Claire, you and Becky guard the doors. Blast anything that tries to come through. The rest of us will talk to Eliza; try to figure out when this happened. Hate to say this, but this has just turned into a rescue mission."

"Right." Claire walked to the door, taking up position. "This is too easy. Nicholai should have sent something harder to kill."

"Don't say that." Rebecca snapped. "With our luck, a big huge monster will come bursting through these doors."

While the girls were having their little talk, and the guys were collecting whatever ammo they could find, Ark brought Eliza over to Chris and Jill.

"How long has this been going on? We need to know." Chris said.

"First, who are you?" Eliza asked. "I won't answer any questions till I know."

"Very well. I'm Chris Redfield. This is my partner Jill Valentine. He's Ark Thompson." He pointed to his sister. "The girl over there is my sister, Claire. The girl next to her is Rebecca Chambers." He pointed to the other men. "The big guy with the red hair is Barry Burton. The Hispanic man is Carlos Olivera. The other guy is Leon Kennedy. Now that you know who we are, you can answer my question."

Eliza swallowed. "You're the people who are trying to destroy us." Her face changed into a scowl. "Why should I trust you?"

"Cause we're trying to stop Umbrella from making any more of these monsters." Jill said. "Now we have to know how long this place has been like this. We need to know if there are any more people alive."

"I don't know when this happened. I came into work this morning and there were monsters everywhere. I didn't think about when it happened, all I thought about was staying alive." Eliza was starting to shake again.

Ark looked at Chris. "That means that Umbrella must have released the virus during the night. These B.O.W.s must have been brought in early this morning. By that time most of these people were zombies."

"So the Hunters and Lickers were hungry." Jill finished. "You're right Chris, these things did come here to get some food."

Chris scratched his head. "Nicholai must have had this all planned out. The sick thing is even if we do survive, we're going to blow this place up and destroy any evidence."

"Yeah, but that bastard didn't count on us finding someone alive." Jill looked at Eliza. "Her."

Ark tapped Eliza on the shoulder. "Tell us your story. How did you get involved with Umbrella?"

"Well, I graduated from collage when I was 20. I had a bachelor in Microbiology. I got hired by Umbrella soon after to conduct research on gene therapy. I was sent to a lab in Northern Pennsylvania. Our aim was to find out how to reverse damage done to cells by cancer. Around May I was transferred to this facility. I've been here ever since. But you know what, today was really weird."

"How so?" Ark asked.

"Today was supposed to be my day off. But my supervisor, Mr. Spindlier, told me to come in today. He didn't say why, only that it was important."

Chris had his head down. He was talking to himself, thinking about what Eliza just said. Jill put her hand on his back. "What's wrong? Was it something she said?"

Chris looked at her. "It's just that I have an idea where she might have been assigned. I also think that explains why she was told to report to work. I think Nicholai wanted to get rid of more than us. For some reason, he wants her dead."

"What could she possibly know or has seen to make her a target. It doesn't make any sense."

"Nothing has made sense over the past couple of months. Who knows what the hell Nicholai, Spencer, or even Wesker have planned? It seems to me the deeper we get into this, the more fucked up it gets. Like it or not, we're playing by their rules. All we have to do is try to figure out what those rules are."

Barry came over to the group. "We found all the ammo we could. It's not much, but it'll help. So, what did you find out?"

Jill shook her head. "All we found out was that the virus must have been spread around sometime last night. Aside from that, we learned nothing."

"All right people, here's what we're going to do." Chris got everyone's attention. "We'll split into pairs. We'll do a sweep of the top floor first. If you find anyone or get into any trouble whatsoever, return to the storeroom. When you're done with your section, rendezvous here." Chris pulled out a map of the top floor. Chris paired up with Jill. Claire and Leon paired up. Carlos chose Rebecca. Barry got Ark and Eliza. Chris gave everyone a section of floor to search. When all was settled, they set out.

The team got off the elevator and went their separate ways. Each pair searched the rooms. All they found were zombies or Hunters. Chris and Jill completed their sweep first.

"There's no reason to stay here anymore." Chris said. "The sooner we set the self-destruct system, the better."

Jill looked at him. "I just can't understand how Nicholai could do this. It's like Umbrella will do anything to kill us, even if that means turning other people into zombies."

"That's just one more reason to destroy that company. I can't imagine what Spencer plans to do. He's a psycho that has to be stopped. The only problem is that he has some group of elite soldiers after us, and he has God knows what going in a test tube. It's going to take all we got to survive this."

"If we survived all the things that we had to go through, we can live through this."

"I hope you're right Jill."

After a while, the others came back down. They gathered around the same table and reported on what they found.

"We found nobody." Carlos said. "This place is a graveyard. The only things we found were zombies and a Hunter."

"We killed two Hunters and a whole lot of zombies." Leon said.

"We found three Hunters." Barry said. "If you ask me, Eliza is the only survivor."

Chris looked at the group. "Jill and I got two Hunters ourselves. That makes eight. Combined with the Hunters on this level, that makes twenty-one. We'll make a sweep of this level just to make sure if there are any people alive. We then go to the warehouse and follow our original plan. Now let's see who goes where."

While the S.T.A.R.S. worked out their plan, a helicopter approached the plant. In the cockpit were Jeff and Nicholai. He turned to the others. "Get ready, we are almost there. Soon our enemies will be eliminated." He turned back and stared at the plant. 'Soon Umbrella's enemies will be dead.' He thought to himself. 'All of them.'

Author's Comments: TA DA! That's right! Eliza Walker is in this bitch. While other stories I've read have her in different roles, this is my version on who she is and how she acts. Basically she's just someone who got caught up in Umbrella's little war with the S.T.A.R.S. team. However, it seems that she isn't so innocent. Is Chris right? Does Nicholai want her dead? Her involvement in this will remain a mystery to be solved later. Now, however, Nicholai and his group have arrived. Could this mean trouble for the S.T.A.R.S.? Wait and see.

In the next chapter, the intensity picks up. Hunk's team encounters Chris' team in a series of brutal confrontations. But the question remains, will the doubts that Hunk's group have against Umbrella be an advantage that Chris and his crew can exploit? See for yourself in the cliffhanger of RE Armageddon: Part III, Chapter 7- Enter Death.