Chapter 2: Reality Check
Michael groaned as he opened his eyes and slowly looked at his surroundings. The sound of some kind of machinery whirred in the distance as he stood from his resting place. A sharp pain in his neck caused him to wince and reflexively place a hand over his wound. ^I wish I could find some kind of mirror.I want to see what's happening to me.^ All Michael could tell was that the size of the wound had grown significantly since he had blacked out. ^That girl.what had she said her name was? Damn, what's wrong with me!^ He walked slowly, one cautious step after another, towards the door at the other end of the room and pulled the door open. A gust of fresh air hit his nostrils as he was greeted with the sight of a large, open, elevator platform. The platform seemed to have been recalled recently, because the sound of machinery had ceased almost as quickly as he had noticed it. Suddenly, a new sound filled his ears; a sound that filled him with hope. Michael ran to the large open space where the platform should have been and looked out into the night sky as he tried to find the source of the sound. ^There, I can't believe it! A helicopter, two of them!^ The fact that he had found hope was quickly engulfed by fear. There was no way that he could possibly get the two air-crafts to notice him, they were too high up. The sound of the helicopters was suddenly dwarfed by another sound, the horrible crunch of metal. Michael's gaze followed the sound in time to see a metal door being ripped off its hinges and flung across the large gap of the platform loading area. The door crashed into the far wall before the reason for its flight stepped into view. Nothing more horrible could have brought Michael back to the danger at present better then the sight of the same monster that had attacked him in the street and nearly killed him. The lumbering monster in its black trench coat slowly turned towards Michael and stared at him with its vacant eyes.
"Please say this isn't happening to me. I'm not ready yet. I don't wanna die!" Michael reached to his side and unholstered his gun, aiming carefully at the abomination standing besides the railing a floor below him. Only one bullet escaped from the gun before something ran into him from behind, tossing him to the ground. He grunted and jumped back to his feet, turning around to see what had run into him, his gun pointed at ready. The sight of a young, brown-haired woman in a pink vest and shorts stopped him from firing and he lowered his weapon.
"What the hell are you thinking! You could get somebody killed being careless like that!"
"I-I'm sorry, my name's Claire, Claire Redfield. I'm trying to find a way out of this place." The girl looked at him nervously as he whirled around and looked down where the monster was. Or, had been.
"It's gone! Dammit, where could it have gone!" Michael turned back to the girl and frowned at her.
"I hope you're satisfied, we could both end up dead now thanks to you! That thing down there could be anywhere now!" The girl looked past him and down into the abyss behind him.
"Quick, tell me what you saw!" The question caught him off guard, Michael almost felt sorry for the girl. She was young, why did she have to live through this ordeal? Michael shook his head and raised his weapon.
"Don't worry about it, I'll go down there and take care of it. You see what you can do about raising the platform, if I'm not back in five minutes, I'm not coming back." Claire nodded and turned, heading back into the small room to try and recall the platform. Michael watched her retreat before heading to the edge of the huge maw. He found a small lift and took it down to the lower level where the monster had been. There was no sign of it anywhere. ^It's still around here somewhere, I have to take care of it!^ He holstered his gun and pulled the Remington off his back. Only a few short steps later, the lumbering giant came back into view, stepping through the ruined doorway and making its way slowly over to him.
"Die you soulless bastard!" The shells exploded out of the Remington and smashed into the creature's chest, not even fazing it. The relentless pounding of its footsteps began to drive Michael crazy as he fired another shot into the monster. It took the blast and continued forward, not even flinching.
"Damn you! Why won't you just die like all those other inhuman creations!" Michael tossed the Remington to the ground and dove at the monstrosity, brandishing his combat knife. As he reached the monster, he buried the knife deep into its chest. He looked up at it and stared in horror, as he saw no change in expression. A sudden pain slashed through his side as it sent a double-fisted blow into Michael's side. Nothing else registered in Michael's mind, not even the pain he felt as he flew over the railing and across the chasm into the far wall. All that he knew was darkness. Death had finally caught up with him; and Michael wasn't willing to fight it right now.
"Don't worry Sherry, I'm sure that man is still alive. He must have found some way out but didn't have time to come back for us. That's okay, we still need to find Leon anyway."
"Leon." Michael muttered as he heard the soft voice from somewhere below. How long had he been out this time? More importantly, how was he still alive? He grunted as he felt the pain in his arms and the tingling sensation in his neck. His legs were dangling out into the darkness. The girl, Claire, was at least twenty feet below him. Somehow, he had managed to grab onto a steel support beam as he had dropped. How, he didn't know. The turntable was below him and he could make out the roof of the sub- train. Michael watched in silence as Claire led the little girl through a small air duct. The turntable must have come to an emergency stop. As the two vanished from Michael dropped down, grabbing onto another support beam as he fell. As he made a desperate attempt to climb onto the beam, his grip failed and he plummeted down. The loud groan of bending metal was the only response he got as his back impacted with the sub-train. ^Fifteen feet, not bad. I can still move anyway.^ Another drop from off the train brought him to his knees beside the thing. Somebody cried out from through the air duct and Michael watched as the little girl came scrambling back through the opening.
"Hey, over here!" He caught her attention and waved her over. She ran over to him, her features very pale and frightened.
"Help, Claire needs help! It's Mr. X! The monster's going to kill her!" It took Michael a moment to make the connection between this name and the trench coat wearing abomination. Michael took a minute to catch his breath before standing and making his way toward the small vent. Sherry had left and came back a moment later, dragging his Remington. A faint smile crossed his face as he took it from her and opened the vent. A loud clank brought his attention back to the turntable as it began to lower again, leaving Sherry alone on it. ^I can't leave that kid on her own, I only hope Claire will be okay.^ Michael dove back onto the turntable as it lowered, rolling and landing against the train. "Sherry, do you know where this platform goes?" She nodded and knelt down beside him.
"Claire said it would take us down into the Umbrella Research Facility." ^Umbrella Research Facility! They willingly created these monsters right here beneath the streets of Raccoon City?^ Sherry nodded as she reached behind her and picked up a map from the floor. She unrolled it and pointed out which floor the platform was supposed to stop. He heaved a sigh of exhaustion and looked at the little girl. ^She's Birkin's kid. But where's Birkin? I've got to find him and get some answers.
"Sherry, When this platform stops, I'm going to head back up and see about helping Claire, I want you to find a safe place in the lab and stay there until somebody comes for you. Can you do that for me? I want you to make it out of here." The little girl nodded and looked around as the platform stopped, three skinless zombies were in the immediate area. Michael raised his handgun and took all three down, one shot for each straight through the brain. Only masses of flesh remained where their skulls had collapsed inward from the force of impact. There was a small office room directly across from the platform, Michael instructed Sherry to go in there and lock the door.
"I'll be back shortly with Claire, just be patient and wait." Sherry did as she was told, running into the room and locking the door as he started up the platform again.
The ride back up to the surface was impossibly slow. Michael had no way of stopping the platform, so his hopes of saving Claire had been blown to hell. All he could do now was wait for the platform to stop so he could head back down.
"Alpha One here, I've got the virus and I am prepared for extraction." The muffled voice brought Michael back from his thoughts, he raised his gun to the ready and flattened himself up against the door on the back of the train car.
"Yes, I'll wait here. Rendezvous in under 0100 hours. Affirmative, but my team-" The voice cut off as the sound of the platform stopping caused the operative to jump. Michael peered around the corner at the person wearing a black stealth suit it looked like and a gas mask. The Umbrella member carried a submachine gun that was pointed in Michael's direction.
"Umbrella Special Forces! Identify yourself or I will not hesitate to shoot!"
"Umbrella?" Michael growled, ^How could anybody willingly work for those monsters? He must know the truth, why work for them?^ Michael spun out from behind the train and fired off one shot. The bullet skinned the hand holding the gun, causing the gun to fall to the ground with a loud clatter.
"I don't think so. I want some answers, now!" A look of pain crossed Michael's face and he winced as the pain in his neck intensified. The umbrella operative held his hands up where Michael could see them, not making any sudden moves. Without saying anything, Michael waved his handgun, signaling the operative to kick his gun over towards him. He complied and Michael nodded.
"Now, take off the mask." Hesitantly, he removed his gas mask to reveal something Michael hadn't expected. He was a woman, not a man. She had bright blue eyes and long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Don't shoot sir, I know you're very frightened because this situation but don't-" She cut off as Michael groaned and fell forward, landing on his hands and knees. His chest was heaving heavily and he broke out in a cold sweat.
"The. Virus. It's starting to grow inside me! I can't concentrate, what's happening to me!" The woman strode confidently over to him and sent her combat boot across his face. It was only a matter of seconds until Michael's world went black again. This time, he wouldn't be waking up soon.
"This is Alpha One, I have encountered a survivor. What should I do with him?" She held her radio to her ear and waited for a response.
"Check the body Alpha One, what stage of mutation was the specimen in?" After kneeling down over him and checking the wound on his neck she responded.
"Alpha One again. Sir, the wound is still fresh, only a few hours, but the virus is already spreading. The wound is too light, the T-Virus can't work that quickly with such a light wound." Silence filled the air as she waited for orders.
"Hmmm, a living G-Virus specimen perhaps? Bring him with you, this will be perfect for Project Juggernaut. Your transport will be there momentarily. Be careful with that subject Alpha One, we need him alive and human. Keep him sedated, it will slow down the transformation." She smirked and began checking her gun.
"Don't worry sir, he's heavily sedated and won't be waking up anytime soon." She cut off the radio and strapped it to her waist before securing Michael's wrists in handcuffs.
"You belong to Umbrella now, whether you like it or not."
Michael groaned as he opened his eyes and slowly looked at his surroundings. The sound of some kind of machinery whirred in the distance as he stood from his resting place. A sharp pain in his neck caused him to wince and reflexively place a hand over his wound. ^I wish I could find some kind of mirror.I want to see what's happening to me.^ All Michael could tell was that the size of the wound had grown significantly since he had blacked out. ^That girl.what had she said her name was? Damn, what's wrong with me!^ He walked slowly, one cautious step after another, towards the door at the other end of the room and pulled the door open. A gust of fresh air hit his nostrils as he was greeted with the sight of a large, open, elevator platform. The platform seemed to have been recalled recently, because the sound of machinery had ceased almost as quickly as he had noticed it. Suddenly, a new sound filled his ears; a sound that filled him with hope. Michael ran to the large open space where the platform should have been and looked out into the night sky as he tried to find the source of the sound. ^There, I can't believe it! A helicopter, two of them!^ The fact that he had found hope was quickly engulfed by fear. There was no way that he could possibly get the two air-crafts to notice him, they were too high up. The sound of the helicopters was suddenly dwarfed by another sound, the horrible crunch of metal. Michael's gaze followed the sound in time to see a metal door being ripped off its hinges and flung across the large gap of the platform loading area. The door crashed into the far wall before the reason for its flight stepped into view. Nothing more horrible could have brought Michael back to the danger at present better then the sight of the same monster that had attacked him in the street and nearly killed him. The lumbering monster in its black trench coat slowly turned towards Michael and stared at him with its vacant eyes.
"Please say this isn't happening to me. I'm not ready yet. I don't wanna die!" Michael reached to his side and unholstered his gun, aiming carefully at the abomination standing besides the railing a floor below him. Only one bullet escaped from the gun before something ran into him from behind, tossing him to the ground. He grunted and jumped back to his feet, turning around to see what had run into him, his gun pointed at ready. The sight of a young, brown-haired woman in a pink vest and shorts stopped him from firing and he lowered his weapon.
"What the hell are you thinking! You could get somebody killed being careless like that!"
"I-I'm sorry, my name's Claire, Claire Redfield. I'm trying to find a way out of this place." The girl looked at him nervously as he whirled around and looked down where the monster was. Or, had been.
"It's gone! Dammit, where could it have gone!" Michael turned back to the girl and frowned at her.
"I hope you're satisfied, we could both end up dead now thanks to you! That thing down there could be anywhere now!" The girl looked past him and down into the abyss behind him.
"Quick, tell me what you saw!" The question caught him off guard, Michael almost felt sorry for the girl. She was young, why did she have to live through this ordeal? Michael shook his head and raised his weapon.
"Don't worry about it, I'll go down there and take care of it. You see what you can do about raising the platform, if I'm not back in five minutes, I'm not coming back." Claire nodded and turned, heading back into the small room to try and recall the platform. Michael watched her retreat before heading to the edge of the huge maw. He found a small lift and took it down to the lower level where the monster had been. There was no sign of it anywhere. ^It's still around here somewhere, I have to take care of it!^ He holstered his gun and pulled the Remington off his back. Only a few short steps later, the lumbering giant came back into view, stepping through the ruined doorway and making its way slowly over to him.
"Die you soulless bastard!" The shells exploded out of the Remington and smashed into the creature's chest, not even fazing it. The relentless pounding of its footsteps began to drive Michael crazy as he fired another shot into the monster. It took the blast and continued forward, not even flinching.
"Damn you! Why won't you just die like all those other inhuman creations!" Michael tossed the Remington to the ground and dove at the monstrosity, brandishing his combat knife. As he reached the monster, he buried the knife deep into its chest. He looked up at it and stared in horror, as he saw no change in expression. A sudden pain slashed through his side as it sent a double-fisted blow into Michael's side. Nothing else registered in Michael's mind, not even the pain he felt as he flew over the railing and across the chasm into the far wall. All that he knew was darkness. Death had finally caught up with him; and Michael wasn't willing to fight it right now.
"Don't worry Sherry, I'm sure that man is still alive. He must have found some way out but didn't have time to come back for us. That's okay, we still need to find Leon anyway."
"Leon." Michael muttered as he heard the soft voice from somewhere below. How long had he been out this time? More importantly, how was he still alive? He grunted as he felt the pain in his arms and the tingling sensation in his neck. His legs were dangling out into the darkness. The girl, Claire, was at least twenty feet below him. Somehow, he had managed to grab onto a steel support beam as he had dropped. How, he didn't know. The turntable was below him and he could make out the roof of the sub- train. Michael watched in silence as Claire led the little girl through a small air duct. The turntable must have come to an emergency stop. As the two vanished from Michael dropped down, grabbing onto another support beam as he fell. As he made a desperate attempt to climb onto the beam, his grip failed and he plummeted down. The loud groan of bending metal was the only response he got as his back impacted with the sub-train. ^Fifteen feet, not bad. I can still move anyway.^ Another drop from off the train brought him to his knees beside the thing. Somebody cried out from through the air duct and Michael watched as the little girl came scrambling back through the opening.
"Hey, over here!" He caught her attention and waved her over. She ran over to him, her features very pale and frightened.
"Help, Claire needs help! It's Mr. X! The monster's going to kill her!" It took Michael a moment to make the connection between this name and the trench coat wearing abomination. Michael took a minute to catch his breath before standing and making his way toward the small vent. Sherry had left and came back a moment later, dragging his Remington. A faint smile crossed his face as he took it from her and opened the vent. A loud clank brought his attention back to the turntable as it began to lower again, leaving Sherry alone on it. ^I can't leave that kid on her own, I only hope Claire will be okay.^ Michael dove back onto the turntable as it lowered, rolling and landing against the train. "Sherry, do you know where this platform goes?" She nodded and knelt down beside him.
"Claire said it would take us down into the Umbrella Research Facility." ^Umbrella Research Facility! They willingly created these monsters right here beneath the streets of Raccoon City?^ Sherry nodded as she reached behind her and picked up a map from the floor. She unrolled it and pointed out which floor the platform was supposed to stop. He heaved a sigh of exhaustion and looked at the little girl. ^She's Birkin's kid. But where's Birkin? I've got to find him and get some answers.
"Sherry, When this platform stops, I'm going to head back up and see about helping Claire, I want you to find a safe place in the lab and stay there until somebody comes for you. Can you do that for me? I want you to make it out of here." The little girl nodded and looked around as the platform stopped, three skinless zombies were in the immediate area. Michael raised his handgun and took all three down, one shot for each straight through the brain. Only masses of flesh remained where their skulls had collapsed inward from the force of impact. There was a small office room directly across from the platform, Michael instructed Sherry to go in there and lock the door.
"I'll be back shortly with Claire, just be patient and wait." Sherry did as she was told, running into the room and locking the door as he started up the platform again.
The ride back up to the surface was impossibly slow. Michael had no way of stopping the platform, so his hopes of saving Claire had been blown to hell. All he could do now was wait for the platform to stop so he could head back down.
"Alpha One here, I've got the virus and I am prepared for extraction." The muffled voice brought Michael back from his thoughts, he raised his gun to the ready and flattened himself up against the door on the back of the train car.
"Yes, I'll wait here. Rendezvous in under 0100 hours. Affirmative, but my team-" The voice cut off as the sound of the platform stopping caused the operative to jump. Michael peered around the corner at the person wearing a black stealth suit it looked like and a gas mask. The Umbrella member carried a submachine gun that was pointed in Michael's direction.
"Umbrella Special Forces! Identify yourself or I will not hesitate to shoot!"
"Umbrella?" Michael growled, ^How could anybody willingly work for those monsters? He must know the truth, why work for them?^ Michael spun out from behind the train and fired off one shot. The bullet skinned the hand holding the gun, causing the gun to fall to the ground with a loud clatter.
"I don't think so. I want some answers, now!" A look of pain crossed Michael's face and he winced as the pain in his neck intensified. The umbrella operative held his hands up where Michael could see them, not making any sudden moves. Without saying anything, Michael waved his handgun, signaling the operative to kick his gun over towards him. He complied and Michael nodded.
"Now, take off the mask." Hesitantly, he removed his gas mask to reveal something Michael hadn't expected. He was a woman, not a man. She had bright blue eyes and long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Don't shoot sir, I know you're very frightened because this situation but don't-" She cut off as Michael groaned and fell forward, landing on his hands and knees. His chest was heaving heavily and he broke out in a cold sweat.
"The. Virus. It's starting to grow inside me! I can't concentrate, what's happening to me!" The woman strode confidently over to him and sent her combat boot across his face. It was only a matter of seconds until Michael's world went black again. This time, he wouldn't be waking up soon.
"This is Alpha One, I have encountered a survivor. What should I do with him?" She held her radio to her ear and waited for a response.
"Check the body Alpha One, what stage of mutation was the specimen in?" After kneeling down over him and checking the wound on his neck she responded.
"Alpha One again. Sir, the wound is still fresh, only a few hours, but the virus is already spreading. The wound is too light, the T-Virus can't work that quickly with such a light wound." Silence filled the air as she waited for orders.
"Hmmm, a living G-Virus specimen perhaps? Bring him with you, this will be perfect for Project Juggernaut. Your transport will be there momentarily. Be careful with that subject Alpha One, we need him alive and human. Keep him sedated, it will slow down the transformation." She smirked and began checking her gun.
"Don't worry sir, he's heavily sedated and won't be waking up anytime soon." She cut off the radio and strapped it to her waist before securing Michael's wrists in handcuffs.
"You belong to Umbrella now, whether you like it or not."