Chapter 7: Elevator to Hell

As Pedro and Matt made their way back to the elevator from which they had descended they couldn't help but feel a bit depressed. They had searched through all of the documents and had found nothing more than what Dr. O'Neal had told them.

"There were six test subjects and there is six of us, and we are all looking for someone. What do you think the odds are of that being just a coincidence are?" Pedro asked as they stepped onto the rickety looking elevator.

"I don't think that they are very good, but why would Umbrella use its own people as test subjects? Maybe the lower level ones, but these are the top ones," Matt argued.

"I don't know, but I do plan on finding out," Pedro said as he pushed the "up" button on the elevator.

The elevator began its slow ascent to the top, and again Matt looked as though he expected it to fall with each heave it gave upward. Now that Pedro thought of it the elevator did seem to be having a lot of trouble bringing the two to the top. No sooner had Pedro thought it than a large snap sounded from somewhere above them, and the small elevator turned lopsided as if shot by some unseen foe.

"What the hell was that!" Pedro yelled even though he already knew the answer.

"We have to get out of here," Matt said as if had been expecting this exact thing to happen.

"Alright, how do we do that?" Pedro said trying to regain his composure.

"Well, you could start by helping me pry these doors open," Matt said as if he had the whole thing planned out.

Pedro gingerly walked over to the door as if he were walking on eggshells. The thought of having their combined weight on the same side of the elevator didn't seem too smart, but they didn't have any other choice. It didn't take the two of them long to pry the rusted doors open. They both gazed down to the black abyss not being able to tell where the ground was.

"Tell me we are not going to make a leap of faith," Pedro said with a slight chuckle.

Matthew lowered his night vision goggles over his eyes. Seeing in different shades of green, he saw the ground barely 9 feet down. But he didn't see a door awaiting them down there, but then again all elevators usually had an exit at the bottom. Why start assuming things about Umbrella now a voice in Matt's head said.

"It's only about a nine or ten foot drop, so we should be alright just to make a leap of faith," Matt said without a smile on his face.

"Rock, paper, scissors to see who goes down first," Pedro asked jokingly as he made a jump hoping that he didn't break both of his legs.

Even as Pedro hit the floor he heard Matt silently hit the floor behind him. Surprised at how silent Matt had been in his descent seeing as Pedro weighed less than him and he had made a hell of a lot of sound. In front of them was an opening in the floor that looked as though it was descendible only by the ladder that looked almost as rickety as the elevator had. It must have been a service ladder, Pedro guessed, but made no movement towards the ladder.

" I say we look for a safer route," Pedro suggested as he turned around to find that Matt was looking up towards the elevator.

"Run," Matt said whispered so quietly that Pedro hadn't heard him.

"What did you say?" Pedro said as he strained to hear him.

Before Matt could even tell him again there was a loud snapping noise from above them as the last safety wire broke.

"DOWN THE LADDER," Matt yelled as the elevator tumbled toward them like a freight train.

Both men didn't waste any time, they both lunged for the ladder that had been a few feet away from then, knowing that it had to be safer than where they were right now. Not bothering with the ladder they both jumped down the hole, and landed hard against the cement at the bottom as a resounding boom was heard from above as the elevator hit the floor blocking them from the way they had come.

"You okay?" Matt asked as he gradually got to a sitting position.

"Well, I wouldn't say wonderful, but I'm not fatally injured," Pedro said as he rubbed his head that he had hit moments ago.

As they slowly came back to their senses they realized that they had fallen into what seemed like an old fashioned bar room, complete with a full bar and pool tables.

"Well, this is a nice change," Pedro said as he looked over the choice of liquors.

"I wouldn't open up a bottle just yet, this place is dangerous enough without being drunk or with a hangover, Matt said as the voice of reason, I suppose one little drink won't hurt though, but not any more.

"You're the boss," Pedro said playfully as he opened the bottle he had selected and poured two shots of whiskey into the shot glasses.

The bar had two doors; one behind the bar and one to the left of where they had fallen in. Both of the doors were decorated with various names of people who had been there and had wanted to leave their mark. The bar itself looked as though everyone had left in quite a hurry seeing as all of the tables had been wiped off but all of the chairs had been scattered around the room.

"You want to try the bar door first?" Pedro asked as he made his way over there.

"Alright, since you've had such a sterling record with picking the way to go," Matt said as he stifled a laugh.

As they walked through the door they smelled the rotting corpse before they actually saw it. The once human being might have been the bar tender, he was dressed in casual clothes and had a nametag attached to his shirt that read Jim. He might have once been a handsome man, but now lumps of rotting flesh covered the man's body and his scalp was mostly covered in open wounds. Without hesitating, Matt shot one shot that landed right above the thing's left eyebrow, sending the zombie sprawling backwards into a pool of its already collecting brain matter.

"I hope that wasn't the alcohol fooling with me," Pedro said still looking down at the thing that Matt had just killed.

"That is a zombie, just like the ones that you have probably seen on the late night creature features," Matt explained as if he were talking about the weather.

After searching what had once been the bar tender's room, they came up with nothing but a pile of letters to the bartender's girlfriend and some old whiskey. As, they came back out to the bar room, they hurriedly strode over to the only door that was left, both of them silently hoping that it led somewhere besides where they were now.

"What do we have for our contestants behind door number two," Pedro said as they stepped to the door.

Before Matt could even attempt to smile the doorknob began to turn, and out stepped the last person they thought they would see.