Alone in the Dark
I awoke slowly.
I was aware that I was swaying gently from side to side as my vision slowly adjusted to the gloom. The weather appeared to have died down a little, and while the storm appeared to still be raging up above, only the pattering of rain and the glare of lightning made itself felt. The wind had slowed, which suited me fine. My hands, cold but usable fumbled with the clip on my parachute. It clicked, and I dropped.
I groaned from my recumbent position on the ground; it was damp and grassy, but not in a warm spring day kind of way, this was in an 'every blade of grass feels like the sharp edge of a glass shard' kind of way.
I cursed, and sat up. The trees surrounded me, their black, abstract forms dripping condensation down on me, as I stared up at the sullen sky. I saw smoke rising somewhere in the distance…presumably that was mine and Claire's only exit route obliterated then.
Claire…Claire!
Scrabbling to my feet, I calculated that she'd landed somewhere to the east…I stood up, and looked approximately in that direction.
Through the trees mass of trees and ruined walls, I could see that, ahead and some distance away loomed a mansion. Some of its windows were lit…but not many. I assumed that if she'd landed anywhere, she'd head there. No time to waste then.
I checked to see if my Desert Eagle was undamaged. It was, and my ammo was fine too. Good, so I had something to spare. I hiked through the foliage, brushing fronds and trampling through long damp grass. The storm still raged, even if it was to a lesser extent; but it was raining, and I was now incredibly wet and uncomfortable. The chances of that mansion having electricity and hot water with a friendly man waiting for me at the gates was so absurdly remote I banished all thought of it from my mind.
There appeared to be some sort of a rough path that went through the woods, despite being somewhat overgrown; since I had no other option, I decided to follow it. As I walked through the wet undergrowth, I heard a tinny scratching sound…I was about to draw my weapon, when I realised that it was coming from me; and to me my relief, it was my walkie-talkie. I yanked it out and said into it.
"Claire? Is that you?"
"Leon? Oh my god, at last!" I heard her voice cry with relief "You're alive!"
"Just about hon! Damn I'm glad to hear you alive!" I said, equally relieved "Where are you?"
"I landed on the roof of the house" she explained "Found my way into the attic…Leon, this place is not good"
"Is it abandoned?"
"From what I can gather, yeah" I heard her say "Where are you?"
"In the woods outside" I replied.
"Oh lord…" she murmured "…Leon, you've got to get inside, quick!"
"What's the matter?"
"Stay in the light, Leon…" She was starting to break up, I could barely hear her voice now "…stay…light…!"
"Claire? CLAIRE!" I yelled, but it had clicked off. Obviously her signal wasn't as great where she was right now…Stay in the light? Why was she so worried? Claire was not often if ever wrong, and so I quickened my pace. The path took me around a bend and I found myself standing in front of a set of gates, not rusty and yet looking pretty derelict; obviously they hadn't been closed properly in quite a while, wedged hard up against the walls.
I swallowed, striding through the gates, nervous and yet prepared for what could come up ahead in the manner of somebody who was entering the gates of hell, which as it turned out, wasn't that far from the truth.
The low building was a relief, if anything merely a reprieve from the rain and coldness; I saw it upon entering and ran towards the entrance; before I froze to the spot, my blood turning to ice. A pool of blood dripped down the stairway, dripping slowly and gently down the damp stone steps before pooling at the bottom.
I anxiously pulled my Desert Eagle out, stepping up the sodden steps and into the darkness beyond.
I heard a groan from the darkness; I ran towards the source of the sound, not liking the idea of what could be ahead of me. Flicking my torch on, I saw a man lying against the wall of what seemed to be a shed. Oddments were scattered across the floor, the man himself appeared quite severely wounded, a deep slashing cut to his chest drawing the life slowly out of him.
"Man…" I breathed, running up to him "…are you okay?"
He grunted, turning to look at me with old and weary eyes.
"Nah. I'm gonna die…that's obvious kid…look, don't bother with me, it'll happen soon…"
"What's happened here?" I asked gently.
"That crazy Dr. Morton…he's done something really stupid this time…" the man sighed "…I don't know what it is exactly that he's done…but if ya look at me, it doesn't take a genius to work out the sort of stuff he's been doin'"
"Does a company named Umbrella ring any bells?" I asked.
"Uh…" he frowned, wincing as he did so "…no, not at all"
"Look, I gotta do something for that wound" I said, reaching inside my jacket.
"Don't bother with me!" the man snapped, suddenly grabbing the lapels of my jacket, much to my surprise "Look…this place is haunted, it's very dangerous…if you go into that mansion, you're going to get…killed" he managed, sinking back as the pain started to overwhelm him.
I watched helplessly as he died right in front of me. This place was severely starting to creep me out; and Umbrella didn't even appear to be involved at the moment…but why would Umbrella be interested?
A key lay on the floor, near to where he lay; I picked it up, considering it might be of use to me, as keys generally did. I turned around, offering up a silent prayer for the guy before heading back outside into the storm. I quickly decided to follow the path that had been going past the building, discovering a large iron-gate at the end. I smiled to myself, despite my poor mood and uncomfortable feeling in the pouring rain, removing the key and inserting it in the lock. There was a click, and I forced my way through the gate and beyond. I prayed Claire was okay as I ran…
CLAIRE
A SHORT TIME BEFORE
High up and Far Off
The roof was ominously close as I descended, landing on the sloped surface in a slightly clumsy way. I got some footing, my 'chute descending behind me like a deflated balloon. I quickly disconnected myself from the harness to prevent myself from being pulled off the roof, and stumbled along its tiled expanse in an attempt to find a way in.
I was breathing heavily, still reeling from my sudden change in situation. This was without a doubt Shadow Island, in name and reputation so it seemed. I could see across the island from where I was, dense forests and swamps…but the other side I couldn't see, at least not yet.
I hoped Leon was okay as I stumbled towards a window which I thought would be useful…Hell, I was panicking about him. I assumed he bailed out too, but how did I know that? He could have crashed and burned with the pilots – I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, no that wasn't true, he was alive. He was alive.
The window was open, oddly enough. I scrambled inside, and closed them behind me, shutting out the wind and rain. Now it was the time of the silence. The darkness seemed to swirl around me with no discernible form, attempting to keep to the window to avoid stepping too far into the trackless dark.
I could hear something…something faint…a low growl…or maybe it really was my imagination…but in my experience, if you heard a noise it wasn't something you made up. The faintest of faint footsteps could be heard, as if a spirit was treading the boards ahead of me.
I wish you were here Leon…
I pulled out my torch and clicked it on, the beam piercing the darkness. I could see it. A creature, crawling crab-like through the darkness. I held my breath. It didn't appear to have any real solid colour, black and spindly although impossibly to me, it was partially translucent. It didn't seem to like the light…
It chittered at me, and with astonishing speed it sprung at me, claws and spines pointed directly toward me.
Oh Christ!
I hurled myself to one side, and withdrawing my Colt I fired again and again into the creature. I pulled the trigger five times, and each shot somehow hit the spot. It squealed, flailing its limbs before it dropped dead and bleeding unspeakable juices onto the ground.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…!
It was no Umbrella creature I recognised; despite knowing the Umbrella creature menagerie off by heart, this one drew a blank. It was like an upright spider of some kind…
I grabbed my walkie-talkie, in an attempt to contact Leon.
"Leon, please receive me! Is that you?"
A crackle. Then a voice;
"Claire? Is that you?"
"Leon? Oh my god, at last!" I managed with great relief "You're alive!"
"Just about hon! Damn I'm glad to hear you alive!" I said, equally relieved "Where are you?"
"I landed on the roof of the house" I explained "Found my way into the attic…Leon, this place is not good"
"Is it abandoned?" he replied.
"From what I can gather, yeah" I said, looking around at the cobewebbed corners of the attic "Where are you?"
"In the woods outside" he said.
"Oh lord…" I murmured "…Leon, you've got to get inside, quick!"
"What's the matter?" he asked, a little confused. I could hear the rain in the distance.
"Stay in the light, Leon…"
