RESIDENT EVIL: RAILS
CHAPTER 1
It was 06:am in the Nevada Desert.The only light came from a blanket of stars, like fireflies
in the sky. Jill Valentine was anxious. She sat in the passenger's seat of the four-by-four
checking her gun again as they neared the rendezvous. Chris Redfeild gave her a reassuring smile.
''That's the tenth time you've done that in as many minutes." he said.
''Just a little worried I guess. The waiting really gets to Me." she returned the smile.
Worried? She thought. Thats an under statement. I'm so scared I could puke!
'' Maybe you just need to take your mind off it .Why don't you go over the gear again?''
Jill leaned over her seat and unzipped the dark blue hold all in a flourish. Glancing up she
saw the second car. Another four-by-four shadowed them on the dirt road. The headlights we out, it followed close behind in the gloom. Jill waved to Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton.
The two cars travelled parallel to an old railway line, which cut the desert in two.
few knew about its existence, but luckily Barry Burton has lots contacts all over America from his dealings with the many branches of S.T.A.R.S (special Tactics And Rescue Squad.) He had learned that Umbrella bought up the line and the surrounding land
so they can use it to transport their deadly samples of the T-Virus and the G-Virus to and from labs in the East and West of the country.
The break lights flared as Chris brought the lead car to a halt, stopping about ten or so meters from the rail-line. Barry pulled up behind and got out. Chris got out too; Jill replaced the contents of the weapons bag and joined them. Last to disembark was Rebecca Chambers. Rebecca was a genius, a science wizard, she trained as a field medic when she was in S.T.A.R.S.and at eighteen she was the youngest of the member of the team. She had been there during that horrible night at the Spencer Estate and had seen about as much as the rest had, but she was still green.
Jill looked over the little band of ex S.T.A.R.S.Chris wore khaki combat style trousers
and a grey long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of standard issue black leather boots and a digital
watch. He had spiky gelled hair, the casually messy kind that's in fashion at the moment.
Rebecca had a pair of hot pants and t-shirt. Jill saw her shiver a little. She must have under
estimated how cold it gets out here, she thought. Barry was the eldest of the group. He used
to get a lot of stick from the younger guy's while he was in S.T.A.R.S. although he was only
of them who was married. He moved his wife and two young daughters out of Racoon City
because it was no longer safe. Jill would have done the same in his position. Barry was an
avid body-builder and gun fanatic. He was a huge bear of a man with short brown hair and a
neatly clipped beard. He wore a large magnum in a shoulder holster over a brown lumber-
Jack shirt and Wrangler jeans. Jill considered her own outfit. She wore a pair of jeans and
an old hooded sweatshirt. Practical as ever. Jill had joined the S.T.A.R.S. at her Fathers
request. He was Jack Valentine, the infamous cat burglar and had trained her to follow in
his footsteps. After Jack was sent to prison he came to regret teaching his young daughter
to and steal had convinced her to get into law enforcement before she got into trouble. She
had chosen to join the S.T.A.R.S. because of the action, of coarse now that they were on the
run from Umbrella hit men all the time she thinks she got more than she bargained for.
''Hey, Chris, here's the map, why don't you go over the plan again so that everyone one
is clear on what we're doing?'' said Barry in his gruff voice. Chris took the map from the big
man and laid it out on the hood of the car. The group all huddled around as Rebecca lit a
flashlight and held it over Chris's shoulder.
The old, dog-eared map that Jill had bought at a gas station showed the train tracks
wander across the desert, and the road they where on. There wasn't any towns or cities for
several miles according to the map. The line ended in Vegas, however. With Umbrellas
reputation hat could cause a lot of problems.
''Okay, we 're going to attempt entry here. ''Chris indicated a spot near where they were.
''The train will be passing here in about ten minutes; it'll be doing maybe five or six m.p.h.
so it's just a matter of catching it and climbing on.''
Chris took the bag from Jill's hand and opened it. Reaching in he removed four small
backpacks and passed them around.
''These are for anything useful you can find, files, records, diaries, samples, anything
that can help us prove our stories. ''Everyone nodded soberly. They all knew why they
where here. Barry grimaced at the memory of the Mansion. Forest, Enricho, Aitkin,
Sullivan, hell the whole damn Bravo team, and most of the Alphas, killed, eaten alive by
those monsters .Those ZOMBIES! And no one believed them! That was why they had to
prove that they were telling the truth. So that Umbrella can be held responsible for creating
those inhuman creatures and for the deaths of all of those innocent victims.
''Remember, it's best if this is as clean as possible. Hopefully the weapons we packed
will only be a precaution. Stealth is the key. In and out.'' They understood.
Chris looked at his watch. Ten minutes until it was time to go back into the hell of the
Umbrella Corporation...
CHAPTER 2
The S.T.A.R.S. lay hidden by the rail side. Chris could hear the clack-clack of the train as it
approached. His muscles tensed at the ominous sound. He used to know little boy who
loved trains and built models with people and tiny details in them when he was a kid. Personally he could never see the attraction. When he was a young boy he spent his time running and shouting like the other kids in his neighbour-hood.
He shook the memories from his mind, to focus on the job at hand. He glanced to his
Right to see Rebecca. She threw him a shaky smile. He also saw Barry and Jill lying on the opposite side of the dusty old track. Barry rested his hand on the butt of the Smith and
Wesson M629C Magnum. He always kept the six-shooter in immaculate condition, as
with all of his guns.
Chris touched the butt of his own gun, a M92F custom handgun in a hip holster. They all learned a lesson from the Spencer Estate: he also packed Colt Python, a gift from Barry, and three hand grenades. Jill carried the same but also had a shotgun instead of the Colt.
Rebecca had the M16.
The train was here. Barry waved, the signal to go. The engine passed as they all stood and ran along-side the rolling gugernaught. The carriages slid by while they waited for their
opportunity Chris could make-out figures moving about in the few-lit cabins. Finally the end of the mammoth chain was in sight. Rebecca was at the back and so the last carriage reached her first. She grabbed the safety rail and hopped onto the small platform. Next Chris Climbed aboard followed by Jill then Barry. Chris looked over the team. Every-one
was accounted for. Shifting his weight he quietly drew his Custom. Behind him Barry flipped off the safety catch on his magnum and readied himself. He touched the handle,
''Lets hope nothing goes wrong this time...''
The small door to the train opened out into a dark storeroom of some kind. Chris entered silently backed up by Barry. He scanned the shadows with a trained eye, searching
for movement, he found none. Barry followed behind the young S.T.A.R.S, pointing his
Magnum into the darkness. The two women came in last. Rebecca shone a flashlight onto the floor and walls. The beam found a light switch near the door, Chris hit it.
The team relaxed slightly as they saw the room in the light. There were no monsters,
just racks of tall cylindrical containers that stood vertically in two rows against the walls.
Eight in total. Rebecca walked forward slowly examining them.
"They look to me to be for holding some kind of biological samples." she said
The containers were about seven feet tall and could have easily held a man Barry's size with room to spare. A strange bubbling liquid was held behind a thick glass window 2ft wide by 1ft high. The liquid was far too murky to see into but it chillingly reminded Rebecca of the huge vat, which held the Tyrant at the Spencer Estate.
Jill, Chris and Barry began to search the narrow, rocking carriage when almost
Immediately Chris noticed something awful.
''Look!'' he said with urgency. They all turned and raised their guns and covered him as he walked slowly to the far end of the room. The last container on the right hand side was
empty .The viewing window was gone, leaving nothing but a few jagged remains on the floor and in the frame. The dark fluid was drained down to just below the rim of the window
and small droplets made a trail on the ground, up the wall and through a mangled hole
near the ceiling leading into the next carriage.
''My God -'' gasped Jill.
''Another spill, its happening again.'' said Barry, slumping his shoulders.
Chris's grip tightened on the hilt of his gun ''What now?"
''We better find out how bad it is first. It may well be that this is the only creature loose.
They probably already caught or killed It.'' answered Rebecca.
''Thats only a best case scenario.'' Jill chimed in. ''we have to assume the worst, otherwise we may be caught out again.'' There was a long pause as the team thought about what to do.
''Okay, worst case: the G-virus has escaped again and everyone including the drivers is
dead.'' offered Barry
''Where is the end of the line, Rebecca?'' asked Chris. Rebecca whipped out the map.
''Um...this says that the line ends in...Las Vegas!'' A cold terror filled the narrow
carriage. Finally Jill ventured:
''We can't allow a train full of carriers to get to Vegas, Chris. Millions will die.''
The rhythmic sounds of the train filled the space as Chris searched the faces of the rag-
tag team of ex-S.T.A.R.S. and fugitives of Umbrella. "Rebecca how long do you think until we reach Vegas?" The teenager did the calculation in seconds. After glancing at the map then her watch she announced:
"At an estimate I would say about an hour or so." Barry's face came over with a sudden
Determination.
"Damn, that settles it. We gotta stop this train now. Any way we can."
CHAPTER 3
The train, they soon discovered, was much, much bigger than they thought. The second
carriage contained a cramped stair case leading up to a second floor. When they entered
they were lucky enough to have not encountered anyone, alive or dead. Chris and Rebecca
decided to check the up stairs while Barry and Jill stayed down.
On the top floor Rebecca and Chris crept through a low ceilinged office. Two rows
of small single desks ran the length of the room. The two negotiated the narrow isle
to the end of the carriage checking under the tables and behind cabinets for any signs
of movement. They found none.
"I wonder what they did here." said Rebecca.
"I don't know, but it can't have been anything good" Chris replied, "Check out those filing cabinets, I'll look in these. We might find something to prove our stories."
He opened the top drawer of the nearest cabinet and began to scan the file headings searching for some clue.
"Look at this!" called Rebecca, brandishing a leather bound diary. She began to read out
the latest entry:
" August 10...
I inspected the containment vats holding the Lickers this morning. Those
things are falling apart. I'll be glad when we get to the labs in Vegas, then
we can hand the damn things over to the trained security and get them put in
proper tanks. They really give me the creeps. "
"Labs in Vegas, huh?" mused Chris. "Is there any more?"
"Um...oh, here's something scribbled in the last couple of pages:"
"Dam virus is escape...d.... richi dead...lick...ker eat him my friend.
i i...turn zomby soon KILL ME, please. "
"So there was a spill. We better watch out for this 'Licker' creature. "Rebecca nodded "Put the diary in the bag and lets get moving. "
Chris turned to go down the stairs when Rebecca called him back.
"Look, is that a door?" she shone her powerful torch on the far end of the office." It is,
should we check in there first?" Chris drew his gun.
"Yeah," he said
CHAPTER 4
Jill could hear Chris and Rebecca's footsteps on the second floor as she and Barry searched
the small room.There was isles down the middle surrounded by steal shelves,piled high with
stacks of papers and cardboard boxes. Remembering their original plan she began to search
through the boxes. Jill had taken basic science during her S.T.A.R.S. training and knew enough about chemistry to know she as looking at chemistry, but that was as far as her expertise would carry her. She looked at Barry and could tell from his expression that he
was as lost as her. I wish Rebecca was here she thought. She voiced her idea.
"Shall I go up and get Rebecca?" Just then there was a thump from above them, then the
whooshing sound of air and the clack-clack of the tracks and another thump.
"There must be a door to the next carriage on each floor," said Barry." Come on put
some of that stuff in your bag and lets follow their lead."
She agreed. Adjusting the shotgun on its shoulder strap she took off her bag and placed
a small ring-binder and some papers into it and followed him into the rushing night air and
to the next carriage.
Chris and Rebecca entered the next carriage via a small articulated bridge spanning the
gap between cars. As soon as they entered the cramped living quarters they both tensed.
The now familiar smell of rotting flesh invaded their nostrils. Rebecca threw a worried
look at Chris, who held his custom out toward the shadows. There were rows of bunks, four
on each side and all with curtains closed. Carefully he opened the first curtain. A neatly made bed confronted him. Rebecca sighed, Chris indicated for her to check the one on her side. She bit her lip and took hold of the curtain closest with a shaking hand. Jerking it open she stepped back as Chris stuck his custom into the space. Their eyes locked on the thing on the bed. The corpse of a man in black fatigues and a flack-jacket lay in a foetal position on
the crumpled sheets. A broad, bloody wound in his belly spilled gore onto the linen.
The body was about a day old and had only just begun to rot. Rebecca held the muzzle of her custom near its glistening forehead, Chris pushed at the mans shoulder with his. He didn't move. They both relaxed a little, Rebecca pushed a strand of her short chestnut hair behind her ear.
"Check the rest of that row, I'll do this one." said Chris. They both progressed slowly
along.
The only evidence, other than the body, that showed anything was amiss were bloodstains
in the last bunk. It was smeared across a mattress that had been pushed askew to expose
a compartment in the bed. Chris reached in and removed its contents. A single shotgun shell was all that was left. He handed it to Rebecca.
"Someone must have survived long enough to try to defend themselves. Perhaps they're
still around, alive."
"Perhaps," she replied. She pocketed the shell. "Its strange that there are no stairs down
from this carriage."
"Hm-lets carry on into the next one." Closing the curtain to the bloodstained bed he
reach out and touched the handle of the door when Rebecca grabbed his arm.
"D-did you hear that?" she gasped
"What?"
Swish...swish
Her fingers made a vice grip of fear around his bicep. They turned in unison to face the
sound. The dead soldier shuffled forward. His right arm outstretched toward the young man and woman.
Gleaming white ribs pushed through the gaping wound that dripped with gunge. The mans smashed intestines tumbled out of the hole, making a sickening wap wap as they dragged across the floor.
Chris raised his Custom instinctively and double-tapped two rounds into the zombie's
throat. Its shambling march slowed for a second then continued. Chris could hear air rush trough the bloody hole as it tried to utter a terrible groan.
"Guh-gurg"
"The head, hit the head!" Cried Rebecca, she raised her Custom and fired a single shot
into its left temple. The thing fell to its knees grunting. Chris fired again imploding the top of its head and splattering the corridor with ragged lumps of brain tissue. He looked at Rebecca who stood in silence. Two droplets of gore landed on her face
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked gently. Her face seemed pale in the moonlight.
"Yeah, I'm fine. "They both did a tactical reload; Rebecca holstered her Custom and unslung the grey M16 from her back. Chris watched her look into the magazine and replace it.
"I don't know about you but I feel safer with this than that little pistol." He had to agree.
He mimicked her, holstering his Custom and brandishing his Colt Python. Flicking out the
Wheel he counted six bullets and snapped it back again with single motion of his wrist.
"Lets get going."
CHAPTER 5
Barry opened the door of the carriage and was about to open the door to the next when he stopped. Jill stepped close behind him in the confines of the gap between carriages.
"Problem?" she yelled over the swirling wind and beat of the tracks. Barry turned to
her, carefully gripping the railing.
"Look, there." he shouted. She gazed in the dark, running her fingers through her hair
to keep it out of her eyes. Then she saw it. A jagged hole was torn through the wall just
under a strange bridge connecting the two doors on the second floor. She tried to see into
the room through it but the lights were off down-stairs. Looking back she could see large
claw marks coming from the roof and down the out-side wall of the carriage they had just
been in. This worried her greatly. She saw Barry cock back the hammer on his magnum
and decided to switch to the Benelli M39 Shotgun she carried. After cocking it loudly she shouted,
"It must be the creature from the broken vat in the last car!"
"Thats what I was thinking."
"Should we go back?"
"Chris and Rebecca are in there with it. We gotta check it out."
"You're right, I'll watch your back." The two stepped into the next carriage, weapons poised.
The room was dark. Illuminated only by moonlight that cascaded through the row of windows along the right hand wall. Jill and Barry had entered some kind of shower room.
Tiled cubicles with glass swing doors lined the left of the carriage. The bodies of two men lay on the floor about ten feet away. One wore blood stained black fatigues, a soldier thought Jill, the other wore a shredded lab coat, a scientist. The scientist's guts were clearly visible behind a mesh of ruined flesh and bone. Jill fought to keep her lunch. They both followed a wide smudge of blood with their eyes down and into the last cubicle.
Suddenly the rolling carriage was filled with a terrible hissing and thwack of bone
breaking in razor teeth. Massive claws tinkled on the tiled floor as a man-sized beast stepped into view. Its head held a quivering mass of exposed brain; its face was a parody
of a smile. A long whipping tongue slinked between dagger teeth. Hunched on its back legs that splayed at the toes into huge gripping talons, it stopped to consider the new arrivals Barry watched its 'drunken' movements and could see its fibrous muscles twitch under its pink skin. The thing took a curious step towards them. Its 'hand', a repulsive collection of knife like digits, rested on the soldiers head, squashing it like a ripe melon. It let out a horrendous hissing roar, prompting the two into action.
Jill fired her shotgun at the monster but missed, as it leapt onto the ceiling and scrabbled
after them. The creature covered half the distance between them in an instant. Barry fired
three rounds, two-blasted fist sized holes in the tiled ceiling, the third smashed its gripping claws and dropped it to the floor. The thing yelped but continued its assault from the ground
,wrapping its spear-like tongue around Jill's ankle it attempted to drag her toward it. But, jamming the barrel of the 12-gauge into its soft cerebellum she turned its brains inside out
in a thunderclap of Buckshot and a rain of gore.
Barry looked at her, stunned. Her eyes were locked on the grinning creature. She flipped
the shotgun over and replaced the two spent rounds.
"Are you alright?" he asked. She let out a long sigh,
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." A thin trickle of blood seeped through her jeans were the rough
tongue of the creature had cut her leg.
"You're bleeding."
"It's only a scratch. Come on, you better reload before we carry on." Jill stepped over the
red oozing body and picked her way around the corpses of the two men while Barry
followed, pushing bullets into the empty chambers of his magnum.
"Wait a second." He stopped and drew his custom from the holster behind his back. "Just in case."
BAM! BAM! Two rounds hit the body of the scientist between the eyes, distorting its gruesome face. The scientist groaned and twitched before lying still again.
"Good call." smiled Jill; she turned and led the way into the next carriage.
Colonel Jack Graves paced the floor of the security room aboard Transport train number 6. There were two rows of monitors along the left hand wall, beneath those was a work station covered with flashing dials and buttons. The room its self was about three meters
Long. Beyond it was the commanders office and beyond that the engine.
The Commander was dead though, everyone was dead, he was in charge.
It's all your fault, he thought, staring hatefully at the screen showing a man and a young
girl slaughtering a group of four or five zombies in the dining car. He stopped pacing and
glared hard at the image of the two invaders.
"You won't stop me you know. I'll deliver this cargo if its the last thing I do." He ran to the corner where his M4A1 assault rifle lay against the wall. He paused.
"Heh! I know what I'll do!" Spinning on his heels he dashed in the in the other direction, towards the commanders office. Walking through the small space he ignored the drab decorations and sat down in the padded chair behind the desk. A huge grin played
across his hysterical face.
"Yes, this will do the trick! This will sort them out!" he chortled. Reaching under the desk top he flipped a secret switch, which unlocked the top drawer. It opened to reveal a small fail-safe device. A plastic cover protected a thumb-sized button. Graves pressed it.
In the last car of the train seven tall cryo-stasis chambers burst into life. Slimy, pink creatures inside began to struggle free. The first chamber opened spilling litres of frothing purple fluid onto the floor. The Licker stumbled out and looked around. It spotted the door
and waddled over to it, pushing at the brass handle with inhuman claws. More and
more chambers opened behind it as it grew impatient with the small device blocking its freedom. With a God-awful hissing screech it slammed it's taloned fingers though the sheet metal, breaking the hinges in one easy tug. Another Licker crawled to the first on all fours through the liquid, it's tongue whipped out and snapped at the firsts foot. The first bared its sharp teeth and spun, leaping out of the carriage onto the high roof of the next. The second
followed, then the third and fourth until the entire cargo of brutal beasts hissed and jostled
in the rushing night air.
Graves laughed the laugh of a mad man. He spun around in the chair before getting up
and striding to the engine.
"I better make a good impression when I arrive. It's always good to be ahead of schedule!"
He stepped out onto the narrow gangway; the dry desert wind blew through his short
Cropped hair. Graves aimed his rifle at the walking corpse that was the driver on duty and spread the contents of his chest cavity over a plexy-glass window. Then, kicking the
lifeless body out of his way he entered the cabin and shoved the heavy throttle as far as it could go.
CHAPTER 6
Bratta-att-att! The M16 fire cut though the zombies, coating the tables and walls of the dinning car in a globulus shower of blood and mucus. Rebecca ran out of bullets but one
monster remained. With a stupendous boom Chris disembowelled the dead scientist with two shots from his powerful Colt. Rebecca smacked home a fresh clip but the action was over. She glanced at Chris whom she saw reloading the dark coloured revolver. She took in the room. It was small, like all the rest, and was lined on either side with white acrylic tables. This was the first room they had entered which already had the lights on. Harsh strip lighting illuminated the decomposing bodies of the Umbrella staff, which had previously inhabited it. Men's toilets took the form of a square cubicle in the far corner, and a confined set of stairs was blocked by a locked cage door and was barricaded over, probably by these zombies before they turned.
"There's nothing more in this room, lets carry on." suggested Chris. Rebecca looked at her watch.
"We only have about thirty minutes till we get to Las Vegas."
"Have we been here that long? Wow, time really does fly when your having fun!" She
couldn't help but smile at his joke, even if it was pretty bad "We better hurry up."
They began to walk to the door when the carriage suddenly shook. Chris slid in a pool of
blood, Rebecca caught his arm and he steadied himself on a table top.
"What the-?!"He grunted with distress.
"Something's happening!" cried Rebecca, "We're accelerating!"
"Oh-no! We don't have much time left, let's get going."
Jill and Barry shot two zombies in kitchen whites. They fell blocking the extremely
cramped kitchen area. Stainless steal counter tops, hobs and shelves furnished the carriage, and were populated by greasy unwashed pots and tins and packets of food. A flight of stairs was tucked away in the far corner but was partially hidden by a crude and impassable barricade.
"Can you hear that?" asked Jill. They both listened. The faint patter of automatic fire was barely audible, then came a deeper booming sound.
"I'd know that sound anywhere, that's Chris's Colt," said Barry sagely.
"I wish we could get up there to help them but these stairs are totally blocked off."
"Maybe we can get up from outside. If we go out there we could climb up onto that little
bridge that connects the second floors."
"Thats a good idea----whoa, did you feel that?"
"Feels like were going faster! Come on, we won't have much time till we reach Vegas!"
Jill nodded .She led the way through the kitchen, leaning on the counter and swinging
over the corpses of the two chefs.
She opened the door and stepped onto small platform on the front of the carriage. Barry joined her. The rushing wind blew her clean brown hair into her eyes again.
"Hang on a second" she said to Barry. She produced a little blue bobble to tie her hair
back. After pulling it into a ponytail she signalled to Barry who clasped his fingers together
and held out his hands to give her a boost. His tree trunk arms lifted her easily and soon he had propelled himself up to the second story of the train with her.
Jill put her hand to the window of the room in which they had heard Chris and Rebecca. She saw a brightly lit dinning car smeared with gore and littered with mangled corpses.
None were either of the S.T.A.R.S.
"They're not in there, they must have moved on." Jill smiled. They now, at least, had some confirmation that their teammates were still alive. Barry returned her smile but it faded in a second. Jill searched his face and saw only fright.
Barry Burton stood head and shoulders taller than Jill and so could actually see over the
top of the roof and down the length of the carriage. Jill followed his eyes and had to grab the
edge of the roof and stand on her toes to see what he saw. She uttered a little squeal involuntarily.
Two of the ferocious tongued monsters squatted on the tin roof tearing the body of a
hapless soldier limb from limb. One looked at her. It dropped its clawful of festering
flesh and hissed at the shocked woman. Its companion looked up at the commotion
greasy tongue flicked out of its mouth and it drooled oily saliva on the metal.
"FRESH MEAT!"
"This way!" shouted Barry. He flung the door of the carriage open and yanked Jill inside. Chris and Rebecca spun, their weapons raised.
"Chris! Rebecca! Your okay!" exclaimed Jill with relief.
"What's going on?" asked Rebecca. Just then a crashing sound could be heard. One of the creatures was throwing itself against the steal door. Jill pulled her shotgun that hung on a strap over her shoulder and took careful aim at the cracked window. The group were in some kind of storeroom like the first car they entered only different. It held only one cylinder, which was lying horizontally and could have held three of the Lickers. Racks of metal shelves holding medical utensils and vials took up the rest of the carriage of luminous
green fluid.
A sharp shriek filled the air as bloody claws gouged the door open. The S.T.A.R.S had
Taken up a defensive posture. Jill and Rebecca kneeled in front of the men, the M16 and
shot gun pointed at the door, Chris and Barry trained their revolvers at the slithering
shapes behind the broken glass.
The door was gone, tumbling away from the speeding train. The Lickers appeared in the
doorway crazy with hunger and malice. A cacophony of gunfire was unleashed. The first monster tried to jump through the hail of lead but was felled after a second. Its friend hung back. The sound ceased. Nothing but the twitching body of the dead Licker moved. The silence almost seemed louder than the booming guns. Suddenly the Licker fell from above the doorframe and expertly turned and lunged at its next meal. A blast from the shotgun
struck it on the shoulder, magnum fire hacked the things gnashing jaws, the Colt mashed into its throat and automatic rounds raked across its purple/pink chest.
The thing lay on its comrade spasming crazily.
"Is everyone all right?" said Chris. The group nodded as one. They all quickly reloaded and were ready again.
"Swap with me," Chris asked Rebecca. She handed over the M16 and ammo pouch and
took the heavy Colt. "I'll check if there are any more, cover me, Barry." He walked silently to the door pointing the rifle everywhere he looked. He stepped out into the moonlight. There was nothing below them on the platforms on the first floor, and nothing was visible
over the lip of the roof. Straining upward he looked down the train. Three Lickers fought on the last car. He watched as two of them overpowered the weaker and killed it, stabbing at its
prone body with dripping tongues and sharp claws. They ate it with starved desperation.
Chris ducked. They hadn't seen him. Barry came out and saw the creatures straight
away. Chris followed him back inside. The two men found the women looking at something.
It was a massive vat with a big blue-tinted window. Chris knew it was there but had
taken little notice of it during the battle. The vat was against the wall and left a tight gap for traffic.
The window revealed a man shaped being from waist to head. A tumerous red growth
dominated its chest, with thin cancerous fingers
fanning out from it and onto its face. the thing had a mouth, but no lips, leaving a permanent grin.
Its right hand seemed of normal proportion but the left could have touched the floor and was
composed from the elbow down, totally of bony claws.
"Its another Tyrant," said Rebecca. Jill couldn't pull her eyes away. The being they called the Tyrant seemed almost peaceful sleeping in suspended animation. Pink fluid bubbled about its tough body.
Rebecca moved around to a control panel at the head end of the vat. "Its under some kind of cryo-stasis. I think I may be able to figure out these controls and cut off whatever is
Sustaining him in this state."
"Your gonna wake him up?!" Gasped Barry.
"No, I'm going to kill him." Chris grabbed her wrist.
"There's no time," he said "It'll be sun-rise soon and there isn't much time left until we reach Las Vegas, besides with all of these Lickers crawling around it just isn't safe here."
"I-I guess your right. But what will we do about him then?"
"When we stop the train we'll make sure to come back and deal with it."
"Okay," she agreed, "Lets get going."
CHAPTER 7
Chris looked around for any of the Lickers. There were none. He relaxed his grip on the handle of the M16. The sun inched above the horizon casting long shadows across the desert. In the distance the glimmering lights of the Strip were just visible. They were too close to the city for his liking.
He was out side of the carriage housing the sleeping Tyrant. There were now only two more cars between the S.T.A.R.S. and the engine. The same thoughts were playing on his mind, though:
Who was it that accelerated the train? Did some zombie bump into the controls, or is there a survivor? And if so, does he mean us any harm? Perhaps they think they'll get
help in the city, or maybe they want the virus released onto the population.
He banished the images of a city full of zombies from his brain and signalled for the rest
of the team to follow him.
This carriage was the answer to the group's prayers. There were no more two-story cars
anymore. A set of steep stairs led down to the sheet metal floor. They all filed in and Barry let out a low whistle. There was a door leading back to the first floor of the Tyrant car, and a
ground floor door leading to the next, but what was between made them almost
whoop for joy.
The walls were lined with weapon racks and ammunition. Line after line of M4A1 assault rifles, shotguns and handguns stood on the butts with their handles pointed outwards. There was some-thing wrong, though. The desecrated bodies of fatigue-clad
Umbrella soldiers littered the room. Four of them lay slumped against walls, their heads
lolling in the gentle rock of the train.
The team looked at each other. Suddenly the soldier closest to Rebecca looked up and
blinked. She jumped back with fright but regained her composure and booted it hard in the
face. Now one in the far corner stood. It held an Uzi in a broken arm that hung limp at its
side. Barry mashed its face with a shot from his magnum. The third crawled to the centre of the room groaning. Its left eye flopped against its cheek on a slimy stalk. A booming blast from Jill's shotgun made light work of the pathetic figure.
Now everyone watched the last corpse. Its face was covered by a thick gas mask. A heavy black rifle rested on its lap, its fingers curled around the hilt in a death grip. Unlike
the rest of the bodies the uniform of this soldier was cleaner, with minimal bloodstains. Barry approached it. The silver Smith and Wesson was aimed at the things head as he edged closer. The entire team covered him as he knelt down for a closer look.
In a blur of motion the things hand wicked the magnum away from its head and fired the rifle into Barry's shoulder. He fell backward shouting out in pain. Automatic fire
strafed the rest of the group but they all managed to take cover behind the shelves. The zombie stood with its gun pointed at Barry and pulled off the gas mask.
A manic, triumphant smile was carved on the man's face. He had short blonde hair and a jagged scar, which ran from his right ear to the corner of his mouth. Chris could tell he was nuts but he was holding Barry hostage, there was nothing he could do but stay out
of his field of fire.
"You won't stop me, you know! I've never lost a cargo yet and you wont ruin this one either," the man shouted hysterically.
"You've already lost it,'' said Chris, trying to talk him down. "The virus has leaked and the Lickers have escaped! Its over."
"Not by a long shot, the Tyrant is the real prize, those Lickers were just a little on the side. Huh. I expected those to have taken care of you by now, but I guess we have to work on the formula a bit more, hmm?" He laughed and fired again at Chris's position.
Chris heard running footsteps. He stepped out of cover and fired a few rounds at the mans back as he disappeared out of the door but he was gone.
They all ran to Barry. He sat up, groggy from the pain.
"Are you hurt badly?" asked Rebecca as she rummaged through her medical bag.
"I think it's just a flesh wound. Missed the bone completely and came out the other side." Rebecca produced a syringe and stuck it in his thick forearm.
"This is morphine. It'll help the pain. Your a lucky man, Barry Burton." she started
wrapping his shoulder with a bandage. "Another few centimetres and it would have hit the bone."
"What will we do now Chris?" asked Jill.
"I'm not sure." he answered helping Barry to his feet."
"What's in those crates?" said Rebecca. She nodded toward a pile of wooden crates by the far door marked 'DANGER explosives'. Jill went to see.
"Use this to open them," suggested Barry tossing her a combat knife from his ankle
sheath. She jammed the blade under the lid and prised it of in a fluid motion. The crate
was packed on one side with plastic explosives and on the other with remote detonators.
She turned to the group grinning.
"I think I've solved our train problem!'' she said with glee.
CHAPTER 8
Rebecca's backpack bulged with plastic explosives. Jill's bag was full of the remote control
detonators needed to set of the bombs.
"Now, your all clear on the plan?" said Chris. They all nodded.
"Jill and I run back through the carriages, setting up the explosives while you and Barry go ahead after that soldier." recounted Rebecca. Chris smiled.
''Here, "he said handing her back the M16. "You guys will probably need this more than
me with the Lickers crawling around back there."
"Thanks, Chris." she took the lightweight rifle and gave him back the colt. Chris and
Barry watched their two teammates leave the car and then began their own job.
Chris carried some explosives as well and planned to plant them in all of the carriages
leading up to the engine ,as well as the ones they had already passed.
Barry allowed Chris to lead the way to the next car and followed close behind as he opened the door and scanned the area with his Colt. It seemed as though none of the
Lickers had made it to this end of the train, or maybe they had enough to occupy them at the rear. Either way it would probably make Jill and Rebecca's job harder if they have to deal
with them.
The last carriage before the engine was some kind of monitor room with walls covered with screens showing the goings on in all of the cars. Chris smiled when he saw Jill dumping a big lump of Plastique on top of the Tyrants chamber. He looked across and saw
Barry eyeing the door, his injured left arm held against his chest. The monitor room only
took up half of the space in the carriage, the rest was occupied by some sort of office, judging by the sign on the dirty window. He nodded to him to check it. Barry turned the
handle. It was locked.
"Kick it in." said Chris. Barry stepped back and slammed a heavy boot onto the thin metal lock.
The door swung open with a crack and smacked into the wall. Barry stood away while Chris stuck his Colt into the room. The soldier was there. He shouted out in surprise and dived for the exit. Chris fired and the man yelped out in pain as the bullet struck the heel of his foot, but he managed to hop through the door and out into the morning light. The S.T.A.R.S. chased him. Chris opened the door and leapt over the gap between the carriage
and the engine and took cover as a hail of bullets peppered the door way. Barry tried to follow his friend but was pinned down inside
the office. The mad soldier was in the drivers cabin at the very front of the train. Behind him Las Vegas loomed close in the distance.
"Barry, take this!" Chris shouted throwing a bomb to his companion. Barry caught it and strode to the far wall of the office, sticking it to the floor. He set the timer for a remote
destruct.
The engine of the train was very big, almost as long as the carriages it pulled. Two narrow gangways flanked the length of the powerhouse, which was painted yellow and had
big rumbling ventilation slats along either side. The cabin was slightly raised and held a small map table and a mess of levers and dials.
The noise was incredible. The pound of the diesel engines, the clack-clack of the wheels
and the rushing wind made it difficult to hear anything else. Chris couldn't help but think
about how much he hated Steven Segal!
More bullets pinged against the steel. Barry returned fire from the door, giving Chris the
opportunity he needed.
CHAPTER 9
Jill hopped over the corpse of the Licker in the shower room. The blood had pooled about its body almost covering the entire floor. She stopped and indicated the spot on the floor where
she wanted Rebecca to stick the plastic explosive. The grey lump behaved like clay and squashed into neat easy to manage shapes quite well.
"There." said Rebecca. Jill bent down and stuck the detonator into the pliable
substance. They had left bombs of varying size along the length of the train which
could be set off using a remote device carried by Chris. She remembered the massive amount they had left on the top of the Tyrants Stasis-chamber. He won't be causing them any trouble, that's for damn sure!
They hurried on. Jill opened the door to the file room and gasped at the Licker that
greeted her. Papers flew as the Licker pounced. Jill jumped back and slammed the door
in its face.
"Quickly," she shouted to Rebecca, "The roof." Rebecca grabbed the articulated bridge
above her head and dragged herself up. Jill followed her.
"Gimme some Plastique!" she said. Rebecca handed her a block wrapped in brown paper
from her backpack. Jill stuck a pointed detonator through the paper and opened the door to
the office on top of the file room. The Licker scuttled up the stairs as the bomb was tossed under a desk. Jill slammed the door again and it buckled as the creature charged it.
"Go !Go!" She helped Rebecca climb onto the curved black roof and they both ran to the
rear of the train. Behind them the metal door succumbed to the mighty claws of the beast
and was thrown to the desert floor. Jill led Rebecca to the end of the second last carriage and
daringly leapt to the lower platform. Rebecca hesitated at the long fall but soon jumped
after a glance over her shoulder.
The women darted through the torn doorway of the 'Licker Room'. The Licker followed. Jill shoved Rebecca out of the far door as the Licker fell into the carriage, slobbering on the ground, already soaked in stasis fluid. Jill gave the teen a boost to the roof again but paused in the door way. The Licker roared. Jill produced three palm sized hand grenades and tugged the pins from them. The Licker stepped toward her. Jill heaved the grenades at it
and they plopped into the fluid.
She slammed the door and grabbed Rebecca's outstretched hand and was pulled onto the
roof. The creature butted the door as the two women sprinted across the roof of the carriage
and leapt over to the next.
A deafening boom knocked the S.T.A.R.S. to the floor. Jill looked back at the rising fire
ball. The explosion had broken the clamps holding the carriage and Jill watched as the train rapidly left the burning shell behind.
CHAPTER 10
Barry fired his powerful magnum. The window of the drivers cabin shattered, cutting Graves' face. Chris was crouched at the back of the engine, he leapt up and grabbed the top of the chest-high yellow train and climbed up. Graves saw him; he leaned out of the window
and shot at Chris, but he stayed low and dodged the blast.
"Damn, DAMN!" Barry shouted. This was his first clean shot of the soldier and he was reloading! The last bullet slid home and he snapped the wheel back but he had gone back
into the cabin. There was a step-up before Chris was on the cabins roof proper. He paused here. The soldier was reloading. Chris drew his Colt and rolled down onto the hood of the train. Graves was taken by surprise again and only managed to cock his rifle before two mighty rounds smashed the windscreen and obliterated his chest.
Chris climbed over the roof of the cabin and jumped down onto the gangway. Barry joined him and they went inside to try to stop the train.
As Jill and Rebecca slowly made their way across the rooftops, Jill tried to think about how many Lickers there were.
"There were eight tanks, right?"
"Yeah." Rebecca replied.
"Barry and I killed one in the shower room, then two in the Tyrants room one was eaten
and we just blew one up, right?"
"Yeah, but, that's only five. There must be three more. "Jill drew her shotgun, Rebecca drew her M16. They proceeded carefully along now. The wind beat at their faces. Jill ran her fingers across her hair and accidentally loosened her bobble. It flew from her hair in a gust of wind and tumbled along the train.
A Licker clung to the side of a carriage sleeping. The blue scrunched bobble struck it on the head. It woke with a start. A strange scent hung in the air. It breathed deeply.
"Human."
The thing clambered upward to look around for the meal. It saw it. Two of the humans were walking along the train. They could not see him yet. Easy dinner. It took off in full sprint.
Heavy claws chinked heavily on the metal.
Rebecca spun at the sound. The ferocious beast threw itself at her. She unleashed a volley of auto-fire. It fell at her feet and Jill stepped in and shot it in the head. The buckshot spread the Lickers purple brains across the roof, making it slippery. Rebecca stumbled in it and fell hard on her knees. The M16 slid off of the curved roof and disappeared at the trackside.
"Ah Jeez!" she grunted. Jill helped her up.
"Don't worry about it." she reassured her. The two women continued along, Rebecca now held her custom. In a blur another Licker sprang up from between two cars. Rebecca fired, hitting it square in the face. Another appeared. It skilfully dodged Jill's shotgun blast to slash at her. She turned away reflexively and the talons cut into her backpack. Papers flew everywhere. All of her remaining shotgun ammo spilled out of its cardboard box and
was lost. The evidence she had collected was gone. Rebecca shot it twice in the shoulder.
It squealed and whipped at her with its tongue. Jill planted her boot solidly in its throat.
It fell off of the carriage and under the wheels of the train.
Jill and Rebecca caught their breath.
"Come on. Lets catch up to Chris and Barry." Jill said. Rebecca discarded the empty cartridge and smacked a fresh one into the butt of her custom before jogging after Jill.
"Where are the damn BRAKES?" shouted Barry in a desperate voice.
"I dunno!" replied Chris, equally desperate. The searched the array of levers and valves with dismay. Gauges were all in the red, and an automated alarm played the same warning
over and over:
"YOU ARE GOING TOO FAST. SLOW DOWN NOW."
Las Vegas was clearly visible now. The train was on a straight stretch of track heading directly into a busy train yard. The dead body of the soldier lay slumped next to the
body of the dead driver. Chris had noticed that his flak jacket had the name 'Graves' printed on it
"Now what?" asked Barry. Chris turned to look out of the side window and saw Jill and Rebecca climbing down from the roof of the first car.
"We've gotta jump!"
Jill appeared in the window. "Hey, can't you stop the train yet?"
"No," said Chris. "We're jumping!" Jill stepped aside to let Chris and Barry get out of the cabin. A short way off on the platforms of the train yardmen went about their work. One man in overalls screamed and ran. His workmates looked up and ran with him at the
sight of the colossal train hurling toward them.
The team holstered their weapons, Chris felt for the detonator in his cargo pocket. The wind beat at them as they steeled themselves for the leap. Rebecca went first. he landed
on her feet and tumbled along in the dust. Chris jumped next, then Barry, then Jill. They all rolled out of control, at the very boundary of the yard. Chris righted himself quickly and
yanked the bulky remote from his pocket. The switch clicked.
The last carriage burst in a glorious ball of flame. Then the next occurred, obliterating each car in succession. An almighty boom signified a spectacular chain-Reaction and the
destruction of the Tyrant. The track was littered with the burning remains of the smashed
cars which had detached from the main. The engine continued on its kamikaze run for the yard, though. Chris cursed himself for not remembering to rig it as well.
Relieved of its load it began to pick up speed. It zipped between idle trains and empty crates in a blur of speed. Men dived in all directions to avoid it. The end of the line loomed.
The engine crashed through several wooden barricades until there was no longer any track
left. The dirt was ploughed up in a rain of mud. The S.T.A.R.S. watched it, helpless, as it
tore through a chain link fence and skidded across the tarmac road. The smoking heap came
to rest there, in a deep ditch. There was silence except for the hissing of steam and the tick
of metal.
Jill stood next to Chris, her clothes were dirty. She held her shotgun limply by the strap. It was light; there were now more shells to load it with.
"What now, Chris?" she said. Rebecca joined them. Her bare legs were scratch and bleeding.
"We better get out of here before the authorities arrive." she suggested.
"Yes." Chris replied. He led the group away from the wreck. Before they had gotten to far, however, there was a crashing sound from engine. The battered door fell to the ground and Graves stumbled out of the cabin. Two gapping wounds gushed in his chest, his eyes
were blank. He moaned and hobbled toward them.
"Here, Jill." Rebecca took a single shell from her pocket and tossed it to her. Jill pushed it into the shotgun, cocked it loudly and took careful aim. Trembling workers looked on as the woman fired at the zombie. Its head disappeared in a hail of gore and grey matter. The
headless corpse took another step before falling to its knees, then to the ground spattering the dirt with crimson blood.
In the distance there were sirens. The police would be here soon, closely followed by
Umbrella agents, no doubt. The S.T.A.R.S. ran away down the road and into a side
street before the squad cars rounded the corner. Barry knew people in Vegas. They would
find a safe house. Then they could look through the files they had all picked up. For anything that would put Umbrella down for good.
.
17