Chapter 9: Treason In The Strangest Form
Brad looked around the corner. In the distance he could hear the desolate moaning of the zombies, and even the faraway discharging of an automatic machine gun. Rachelle stepped up beside him.
"Raccoon's too big. We'll never find her."
"It's easy. Follow the electric gunshots."
He stopped and listened, then led them along the path again. Suddenly Rachelle grabbed his shoulder.
"Look! St Michael's Chapel!"
Brad shrugged. "Yeah, so?"
"That's where Jill and Carlos were heading. Hey, I hate to love you and leave you, but I'm going to see if they're there. I'll catch up. Just mark your doors and stuff if you change paths, okay?"
"You be careful, alright?"
Rachelle nodded and ran off towards the clock tower. Brad continued on the same road, walking down the middle of the street. It was getting on in the day, and the sky was already turning red as dusk approached. Brad knew he had to try and find Danielle before dusk, as it was around that time that the nastier of Umbrella's beasts showed their ugly faces. Just as he passed an alley, something careered into him from the side. Drawing his gun and firing, he looked in surprise as Danielle pulled her hands away from her head and looked at the wall behind her in surprise, a bullet hole in the bricks. She shook her head and looked at him.
"God damn I'm glad you can't aim when you're scared."
Brad ran over and hugged her.
"Alright.... Brad? I.... I sorta can't breathe."
Brad let go. "I thought you were gone for sure."
"Course not. The S.F.S. got me out, and the Smokies helped us with the Werewolf."
"Smokies helped you too? They helped me and Rachelle out of the warehouse. But I have no idea why."
"Daionera says that they were an 'unfortunate accident'. She had them in a cage. They broke out of the cage just before the S.F.S. busted in. They scared away Daionera. For a while I could have sworn that they were ready to finish what they started at the mansion, but they didn't, they just sat there and let the S.F.S. get me out. Daionera released the Werewolf on us, and Smokey took it on while we got out. It was O'Sullivan who shot at me," Danielle said, putting her hand on her left shoulder. "The damn bitch hit me, too."
Brad took a look. "Well, I hope Smokies got her. I don't know where they went after they got us out."
Danielle nodded. "Those cats aren't so bad after all. I guess the T-Virus didn't affect them as much."
Brad shrugged and started walking. "Rachelle made a detour to the clock tower to see if Jill and Carlos were there. We should wait for her to catch up."
Danielle looked up at the sky as the first stars shone out. "You know, don't you think it's awfully quiet in this part of town?"
"I think they're anticipating something."
"Maybe there's a B.O.W. in the area."
"I hope to God if there is, it's Smokies."
Danielle stood on the sidewalk and looked around. There was not a zombie in sight, but she still wasn't comfortable, due to the night. Brad paced in front of her.
"Perhaps there's somewhere safe we can crash."
Danielle shook her head. "Even if there was somewhere, we'd be surrounded by morning."
Brad looked up at the sky. "Can you give us a damn break, for crying out loud?!"
Suddenly there was a low growl from the shadows, as two familiar creatures melded out of the darkness. But this time they weren't very friendly looking. Danielle stood up slowly as Smokies slinked towards them, snarling.
"I think I just realised the extent of Smokies mutation.... And why it attacked us at the mansion and not here.... Night and day."
Just as she finished her sentence, the twin animals sprang at them, and Danielle ran for the door behind her, opening and slamming it behind Brad, just as Smokies hit it. They stopped on the door and began to prowl outside.
"Oh, God, please. Daybreak come!"
"Like a werewolf. Jekyl and Hyde."
Danielle nodded. "Right. Placid by day, bloodthirsty by night."
Brad shook his head. "Maybe if they're still around in the morning, we can catch them and use them to get out of the city?"
Danielle shrugged. "Perhaps. But we'd have to be careful, otherwise they may still attack us."
Brad nodded. "Good. We'll try to find somewhere we can contact the outside. That way, perhaps we can call someone who can come and get us."
Danielle sat down behind the counter of the shop they had run into. Brad came down beside her, putting his arm around her.
"You know, when this is over, I'm going to write a very firm letter to the head of Umbrella."
"Like that'll have any effect," Brad said with a laugh. Danielle shrugged and leaned on his shoulder, falling asleep within minutes.
Rachelle wandered down the street the next day, keeping her eyes open for anything extremely unusual, excluding the usual zombie or two. Then she turned a corner and saw a very interesting sight. Brad and Danielle, trying to round up two playful-looking mutant cats. Rachelle strolled over casually, checking her gun to make sure it was loaded.
"Well. Nice to see the child has truly grown out of all three... err, four of you."
Danielle laughed and looked down at the cat nearest to her. "You should try it Rachelle, it's a thrill. You don't know whether or not they want to kill you."
Rachelle shook her head. "You know, I think you put too much trust in those... things. Who knows what they're planning. In those twisted minds of theirs."
Brad clapped a collar around the first cat when it least expected it.
"We know exactly what to expect from them, Rachelle. At night, we cage them up because by night they become bloodthirsty Umbrella B.O.W.s and by day, they're just a pair of giant kittens with big sharp teeth and claws who just want to play."
"Play what? The 'Human Scratching Post Game'?"
Danielle laughed sarcastically and got the second cat. "Funny. No, we plan to use them to get out of the city."
"You do know that you'll have to kill them when you do get out, don't you?"
Danielle grinned. "I know someone who's very interested in Smokey1 & 2. I'm not after money, but I'm sure that McDoughal could do something with them."
Rachelle rolled her eyes. "Trust you to think of him when you look at them."
Danielle held the collar of the mutant cat. "You know Shellie, I'm really proud of the S.F.S.'s resourcefulness. They went looking for a company that specialised in fighting Umbrella, and found one. They now work as Bio-Counter field agents."
"You're not the captain anymore?"
"Not according to them. They wanted me to come back with them, but I said I had to find my friends. So they went back to Bio-Counter Labs without me," she said chirpily. Rachelle looked at her.
"They still in town?"
"They left yesterday afternoon."
Rachelle stamped her foot. "Damn! We've gotta find a way out. Oh yeah, reminds me. I found another office building that strikes interest. Almost zombie free... now. There's one particular room filled with comms equipment. It looks like Brad's alley, so I decided to find you guys, considering that some of the stuff in there really flipped me out."
Brad shrugged and struggled to hold Smokey still. Rachelle pointed to the cat.
"You should get a leash too, you know. Not for the cat, of course, for you."
Danielle reached over and clapped one over the catch on the collar. Rachelle sighed.
"You've thought of everything. What happens when it gets dark?"
"We shut them in a room, and make sure they can't get out."
Rachelle shook her head. "Dani, you're usually the one with your head screwed on properly, perhaps you can tell me where the sense is in this endeavour. Because I'm not seeing it. A door will not hold a B.O.W. Haven't we learnt that from the past?"
Brad shrugged. "Come on, just show us to this office."
Rachelle nodded and took the leash of the boisterous cat from Brad.
"Here. I can handle it better than you."
And she could. Danielle and Rachelle had an effect over Smokey. They put it down to memory. Rachelle led the way to the abandoned office block just down the road from where they were. She shrugged.
"It's not hard to get to the room, it's on the fifth floor."
They followed her inside and into the elevator. Rachelle hit the button, then immediately cocked her gun.
"I suggest you guys do the same."
She wasn't misconceived. As soon as the doors opened, a whole swarm of zombies came at them from the other side. Luckily though, with Brad and Danielle also firing upon them, they were down in no time. Rachelle tore some of her shirt and wrapped it around a fresh wound on her arm.
"Damn it. They got me."
Brad checked her. "You'll be alright, won't you?"
Rachelle shrugged. "I don't know. The virus is passed on through a bite, but I don't think we have to worry, I think it only matters if you're bitten by a zombie if it kills you, huh?"
"We might have to blow your head off, Shellie," Danielle sighed, mocking resent. "It's the only way to stop the process."
Rachelle groaned and walked out of the elevator. "You're a bitch, Danielle."
Brad laughed. "Tell us something we don't know."
Rachelle led them down the hall. Danielle cheerily kicked the dead zombies in the head as she walked past, beaning one of them so hard that she knocked its head off. Danielle kicked the removed head at Brad.
"Zombie soccer!"
Brad turned around and kicked the head with its gaping, bloody mouth away from him.
"Dani, you must be insane."
"Danielle's been insane for years, Brad."
Danielle started walking again, forgetting about the head. Rachelle opened a door a little way down the hall.
"Here we are."
Brad looked around. "This is the telecommunications building, isn't it?"
Danielle jolted as though remembering something, but didn't say anything. Rachelle nodded.
"Right. I figured I might be able to find something we can contact the outside world with, so that's why I stopped off here...." She checked her watch. "Lunch hour. Heh. I wonder if anyone plans to visit us for lunch."
Danielle shrugged. "Who knows. Hey, let's try and get some of this stuff working."
Brad nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. The room was filled with security monitors and comms equipment. He hit the power switch for the radio. Nothing happened. He flicked it on and off a few times.
"Hey Brad, I think the comms breaker is gone."
"What?"
"Look at this," Rachelle said, pointing to a black computer monitor. The cursor was at the DOS prompt, but above it was a list of recent commands in white text. Brad stood up and walked over.
"Let's see. Radio equipment operated. Broadcast attempted. Radio equipment failed. Breaker dysfunctional. Radio equipment attempted operation. Breaker inoperative. Radio equipment attempted operation. Breaker inoperative........And so on." He shook his head. "Someone's going to have to go down and reset the breaker."
Rachelle shook her head. "Count me out. I went down for a look earlier and got chased right back out by a Hunter. Besides. With that wound on my arm, I can't handle my gun."
"Well I'm not going, I'm lucky I'm still walking straight."
They both turned and looked at Danielle who was sitting in a chair nearby, bringing up maps and floor plans for the building on a terminal. She didn't look up.
"Figures. Alright I'll go, but make sure you keep me wired, okay," she stood up and adjusted a headset she had found. She tossed a small radio to them. Brad caught it. "Because I don't have eyes in the back of my head and I don't like the unfair idea of being attacked from behind."
She hit print on the terminal and the heavy-duty printer in the corner printed two copies of the map that was on the screen. She handed one to Rachelle.
"Keep me posted, okay? Catch ya."
She pulled her gun from its holster and crept cautiously out the door. Brad turned to the monitors.
"Okay, let's get cracking."
Danielle turned the next corner gun-first as she cautiously made her way through the lower levels of the building. Somewhere down the hall she could hear the clicking of claws and she began to wish she hadn't left the Smokies with Brad and Rachelle. In fact, the thought had never even occurred to her to take one of them with her. She froze in her tracks when she heard the familiar sucking sound that the most recently discovered monster, the Drain Deimos and its other form, the Brain Deimos, made. Checking the roof and walls before she walked any further, the absence of the creature she knew was in the hall somewhere made her more anxious.
Suddenly it sprang out of an air duct above her head. Flailing backwards, she fell on her back, shooting up at the monster. It dropped from the roof with a screech and fell on her, dead. Quickly scrambling to her feet and kicking away its slimy body, she let her heart rate return to normal and leaned against the wall. The receiver on her headset crackled.
"Dani! You alright girl?"
Danielle nodded and looked up into the camera near her head, saluting to show she was fine.
"Yeah, I'm alright. God damn. Have you ever touched one of those rotten bugs?"
"Never had the displeasure."
Danielle nodded and kicked it, walking past. "You don't wanna." She tapped a door just next to her. "Can you see me, Shellie?"
"Yeah."
"What's this room?"
There was a pause as Rachelle checked the map she had. "Ahhh, I believe that should be the maintenance room."
"Is that what I'm looking for?"
"Sure is."
She undid the latch and pushed open the door with her gun. Quickly springing to the side, she sidestepped two Cerberus dogs that were in the room. They yelped and jumped for her, but she had them both down almost instantly. She wasted no time getting in the room and closing the door behind her. The maintenance room was well lit, and she could see the breakers from the door.
"You're on a catwalk, am I right?"
"Sure are. There's two sets of stairs at either end and they lead down to the control panels. There's four panels."
"Go down and check them. I'm pretty sure it's the third one, but they should have their names on them."
Danielle walked down the stairs to the platform with the breakers. Underneath the grating she was standing on, wires and cables were intertwined, leading from the breaker boxes and out of the room. Approaching the third breaker, she nodded.
"I reckon it would be the third breaker box. It's the only one with the insides torn out of it."
"You're kidding. Is it beyond help?"
Danielle shook her head and looked around for the security camera. She found it at an angle just above the breakers. She waved into it.
"Hi mum."
Rachelle laughed. "I see you, Dani. Can you read the fuses?"
Danielle ran her finger down the side of the box where the names were written just opposite their corresponding fuses.
"Let's see. Satellite Controls: West Wing, Satellite Controls: East Wing. Telecommunications, Internet Communications, Global Communications, Radio Communications, Visual Data Archives, Security Network... the others are illegible."
"That's alright. The breaker that needs to be reset is the Radio Communications fuse. You know how?"
"Yeah... but there's a problem."
"Don't tell me it's screwed."
"Well, it's not screwed... it's missing."
Rachelle went silent.
"Shellie? You still there?"
".....Yeah. Dani, can you see the fuse anywhere?"
Danielle looked around and shook her head. "No. I'll bet one of those dogs tore it out. I'll go and check them."
"Be careful, Dani."
Danielle climbed up the metal stairs again and back onto the catwalk. Opening the door slowly, she stepped outside. She looked at the dogs. It seemed obvious that they were the ones who messed up the breaker box, as their snouts were charred from electric shocks. Leaning over them, she inspected each dog. The headset crackled again as Rachelle laughed contemptibly.
"You've gotta be kiddin'. I'll bet they ate it."
Danielle shook her head. "No, I don't think they even busted the breaker. The damage is too... centered, to be from these dogs. If they did it, the whole box would have been smashed up because they would only have gotten small areas at a time. They've probably just been sniffing the cords and got shocked. The damage on the box was from a single hit. Something else took the fuse."
"We'll have to find another one."
Danielle stood back up. "Good luck. You need a specific fuse for it to work."
"You said there was also a telecommunications fuse. Will that work?"
"It may, but I doubt it."
"Try it."
Danielle shrugged and went back in. Approaching the breaker box once again, she removed the Telecommunications fuse and replaced it in the Radio Communications slot. Hitting the reset switch on the breaker, the connection sparked and spat at first, but then the generator started running and the lights on the box came back up. Danielle looked up at the camera.
"Great job! The radio's working!"
"You're the one who suggested using the other comms fuse, Shellie."
"Yeah well, you're the one who went down there to fix it. I salute you, Dani!"
"People seem to be doing that a lot lately," Danielle smiled up into the camera, but suddenly she whirred around and looked into the shadows beneath the catwalk. She stepped back against the generator.
"Dani? What's up?"
"Ahhh, my pulse rate and blood pressure."
"Dani? What is it?"
"I... I don't know."
Danielle looked up at the hanging light above the breaker box. Reaching up and pulling it down a bit, she flashed it into the cavity under the metal catwalk. The creature hiding in the shadows made a futile attempt to cover its face with its spindly arms and screeched as she shone the light on it. It was a lanky creature, not similar in frame to any of the monsters created by Umbrella so far. It had long fangs protruding from the bottom jaw of its beakish snout that were almost as long as its needle-like claws. Its skin clung so tight to its body you could see its bones, it had flailing arms and crooked legs and a short, bony tail and a longish, vulture-like neck. Danielle backed up as it stepped out of the shadows and turned to camera, spraying acid from its mouth over the lens. Then it turned to her.
"The monitor went blank! Did you see that thing?!"
Brad nodded, already untying Smokies. The twin cats were agitatedly pulling at their leashes. Rachelle took one of them, and the cats practically dragged them out the door and down the hall. Rachelle put her weight into keeping them under control and checked her watch.
"It's 6:30. We have to be fast, these two are going to turn in about an hour."
"They went docile about quarter to 8 this morning. My guess is twelve hours."
"An hour and 15 minutes then."
Brad pulled hard to keep Smokey1 from pulling him off his feet while he ran along.
"You know, I'd bet that we could ride them."
"That's getting a little bit too adventurous."
They came to the stairwell and ran down the flights of stairs till they got to the sub level. Rachelle opened the door and practically flew out, being almost dragged along by Smokey2. Rachelle reigned it in and tried to run alongside the cat. The faster she went though, the faster and stronger Smokey pulled.
"We've got 45 minutes left before they go!" Rachelle called back to Brad.
"These two are really excited about something!"
They turned the next corner quickly. Rachelle almost tripped on the body of the bug-creature that Smokey merely leapt over. The door to the maintenance room was clearly marked by the bodies of the Cerberus dogs out the front. Smokey bashed the door in with help from its other half, not giving Rachelle or Brad a chance to show them that using the handle tends to be an easier way of getting in. As soon as they got through the door, they ran down the stairs to the lower level, where they began to smell the floor near the breaker boxes. The two animals stopped and checked the floor. Rachelle looked up at the camera.
"Look. That's why the camera went off."
Brad looked up at the melted lens and nodded. Rachelle watched the cats carefully, shaking her head.
"It's no good. She's not here."
Suddenly the creature they saw before the monitor went off sprang from the shadows with a squeal and went for the first cat, spewing acid from its mouth. Smokey1 ran to dodge to the right, but the creature slashed out with huge claws and tore deep gouges in Smokey1's side. The cat jumped away squealing, and came at the monster with a limping gait. Smokey1 leapt at it like a panther and clawed at it. The creature spat acid up into its face and the cat fell back, clawing at its face in a frenzy to get the burning acid away. The second cat leapt to its aid, gripping the back of the monster's neck in its jaws and biting hard. The monster rammed it backwards into one of the breaker boxes; the shock causing Smokey2 to let go.
The monster ran at the first cat again and rammed it onto its side. The monster immediately came at the cat, biting at its underbelly and clamping its jaws around the tender part of its stomach, sending its huge tusks into the cat's white fur, staining it red and the beast tore its head upwards, taking a huge section of Smokey's flesh with it. The monster continued to tear at Smokey. Rachelle ran down onto the next level, firing at the beast.
"Get the fuck away from it! Get the God damn fuck away!"
The beast raised its blood-covered head and snarled at her, fresh blood dripping from its tusks and talon-like claws. It had puncture wounds along its neck and gashes in its chest, exposing the bones beneath, like so many of the zombies they had seen so far. Its eyes were like black holes in its head. Rachelle noticed something else, too.
On its chest and along the side of its head were bullet wounds, as well as charred flesh. She knew this was the monster they had seen go for Danielle before the monitor went blank. She realised what a mistake she had made by interrupting the horrible monstrosity, but it did little to phase her. She aimed her gun directly at its hissing face.
"You killed my cat."
She pulled the trigger and the bullet hit the beast's head right in the snout. It faltered backwards, but came back to a standing position and charged at her, head down. She fired again twice, before she was dragged aside by Brad, who had run down and managed to pull her away. The monster missed and turned to take another charge.
Luckily by now, the second cat had recovered, and took the monster from the side before it could charge again. The cat was enraged, and continued to relentlessly claw at the monster. Suddenly it hissed and squealed in pain, and the monster gave one last twitch, and lay still. Limping slightly, the cat came away from it and hazily wandered around in a circle, as though confused. Rachelle looked at Brad.
"Okay, Mr Scientist, what happens now that one half is dead?"
"The other half is probably very open to anything.... It's like losing half of your brain. Smokey will probably be somewhat different now, perhaps even reversed."
"You mean hostile by day, friendly by night?"
"Or even not hostile at all. This could work out alright, except for the fact that we just lost half of a great asset."
Rachelle nodded and walked over to the body of Smokey1. "You know, I feel somewhat sad."
Brad nodded and kept his eyes on the second animal, which had now dropped to the ground, watching Rachelle and its dead half with jaded eyes. Brad shook his head.
"I think someone else is a little more upset, you know."
Rachelle looked up at the cat and shook her head. "I thought Umbrella B.O.W.s didn't retain feelings or memory."
"Haven't you seen enough of these two to think that maybe something went wrong with the experiment and so they aren't like other B.O.W.s?"
"Yeah maybe, but all the same."
Brad looked around. "That reminds me. Didn't we come down here to rescue someone?"
Rachelle stood up and left the body of Smokey1, walking over to the other cat and kneeling down next to it.
"I didn't see her when I came in, did you?"
Brad looked around and shone a torch into the cavity under the catwalk. There was nothing.
"She's not here."
Smokey rolled over and stood up slowly, padding cautiously over to something on the floor. There was a shred of fabric on the floor, in a pool of strange liquid. Rachelle came over and picked it up. The clear substance on the floor stuck to it, and Rachelle had to break it away. Brad made a face.
"What is that shit?"
Rachelle looked down at it, and waved Smokey away when it tried to lick the puddle.
"Don't do that Smokey, you don't know what it is."
Brad crouched down and touched it, pulling his finger away in disgust, the goo sticking to his finger like stringy glue. Rachelle shook her head.
"I dunno, it looks like some sort of secretive resin."
Brad looked at the dead monster that had attacked them. "Secreted from that?"
Rachelle shrugged. "Who knows. Probably."
Brad looked at the fabric. "What about that?"
Rachelle held it up. It was a piece of beige cotton.
"Danielle's overcoat."
Brad held the leash tediously, hoping to God that Smokey didn't turn on them. Rachelle opened the door and walked into the corridor.
"Great. A one way passage."
Brad nodded and continued on. Rachelle stopped at a door along the side of the hall.
"You keep going. I'm going to check this room."
Brad shrugged and walked on, gripping the leash tightly. The cat at his side suddenly went ballistic, charging forward full force at the door ahead of them. Brad wasted no time in throwing open the door and letting the cat drag him through. They had been using it as a tracker, and now it seemed to have found something. It was late, and Smokey still hadn't gone hostile, and they were thankful for it. Brad sighed and pulled on the leash.
"Come on Smokey, calm yourself buddy."
The cat stopped at the next door. Brad wrapped the leather leash around his hand a few times as he opened the door. Smokey followed slowly, her head down as they walked into the room. Brad sighed with relief as he laid eyes on the figure standing still as stone at the end of the hall. Brad loosened his hold on the leash as he took a step forward and patted Smokey's head.
"Good girl, Smokey."
The woman in the minorly tattered and stained overcoat didn't turn around. But she lifted her custom gun and cocked it where he could see. Brad watched with concern. Suddenly she spun around and aimed the gun directly at his head, her overcoat flying out at the same time. Brad could only stare in shock.
Danielle glared at him in that stone cold stare she reserved for those she was about to annihilate. But those times she was armed with a voice. This time she was armed with a very powerful firearm that was loaded and cocked.
"Dan... Danielle? Wh... what are you doing?" Brad asked shakily, holding up his free hand. Danielle didn't move a muscle. Smokey growled lowly and glared at her. Danielle shifted her aim to the cat and it slinked backwards slightly, still growling. Danielle returned her aim to Brad.
"Danie-"
"Shut up and get against the wall, Vickers!" she spat, taking a step forward and thrusting the barrel of her gun towards him. Brad jumped and quickly stepped back, his back to the wall. Danielle didn't move.
"Danielle, what's wrong with y-"
"I said zip it, Bradley!"
She had never called him that before, come to think of it, he couldn't remember anyone but his parents calling him Bradley, and only ever when he was in trouble. Brad raised his hands, still holding Smokey's leash.
"I know why you managed to get those cats under control, you work for Umbrella, don't you!" Danielle accused, pressing the barrel of her weapon against his chest. Brad was terrified now, and she could tell. She leaned right forward.
"Bang," she whispered in his ear, and backed up, a sinister smile crossing her face. Brad shook his head.
"Danielle, you're not well. I think maybe you've contracted the virus. You have to get help."
Danielle stopped smiling and cocked her head to the side. "Virus? What? This virus?"
She reached into the inside pocket of her coat and produced a sealed vial filled with some sort of blue substance. Brad looked at it in shock.
"Where did you get-"
"You obviously know what this is, right? This isn't just any virus, no. This is the Z-Virus. This is why those monsters have been chasing us around the city."
"What are you talking about?! You're insane!"
Danielle laughed slightly and rubbed the side of her head with her gun.
"Aren't we all?"
"Where'd you get that vial?"
Danielle pointed the gun at him. "From Annette Birkin. It is the prototype specimen of the Z-Virus; the most powerful virus created by Umbrella to this day. Annette got in my path yesterday. She caught that pretty purple coloured virus and wasn't happy about it. Of course, she didn't tell me this, it was my assumption. But I talked her out of the vial and gave her the vaccine to that pretty purple virus."
"Purple?"
"G-Virus. Anyway, as I said I organised a trade. Annette was very interested in the G-Vaccine I had and I was equally interested in this new virus. You can imagine."
Brad shook his head disbelievingly. "You made a deal with Umbrella?"
Danielle shrugged. "So? I got what I wanted."
Brad looked away. "Danielle, come on."
He looked at her and dared to take a step forward. Danielle pointed the gun at him viciously and edged her finger towards the trigger.
"I wouldn't try anything Vickers, I will not hesitate to shoot you."
Brad reached out and touched her arm. "Danielle, come on. Trust me. I'm not with Umbrella. You know me... I'm not like that."
Danielle stepped back and kept her gun trained at him, but something in her eyes changed, as if she was slowly becoming aware again.
"Danielle, put down the gun."
She shook her head quickly. "No, you're trying to trick me."
In a last effort to get her to calm down, Brad carefully grabbed the hand she held the gun in and pushed it away.
"Calm down... just, get a hold of yourself."
.....In the room down the hall, Rachelle heard a gunshot and instinctively bolted out the door and down the hall......
Brad looked up as Rachelle came through the door. Rachelle looked over at Danielle, who was looking down at the ground, her smoking gun pointed at the roof. She slowly dropped to her knees, and dropped her gun on the floor with a clatter. Rachelle turned to Brad.
"What happened?"
Brad shook his head. "I think maybe we should see if we can find some sort of countermeasure for the G-Virus."
Rachelle looked at him in shock. "What are you getting at?"
Brad shook his head. "Danielle's either going insane, or she's somehow got the virus."
Rachelle shook her head. "Dear God."
Brad walked over and put his arm around Danielle's shoulder. "It's alright... We'll get something for you."
Danielle closed her eyes and shook her head. "You go find Annette Birkin then. I'm not going anywhere."
Rachelle nodded and mouthed 'I'll be back'. She took the leash for Smokey and led her out of the room. Brad looked down at Danielle and held her closer.
"Don't die on me."
Rachelle ran down through the building until she couldn't go down any further. She turned to Smokey as they ran.
"Okay. Seeing as you're on our side now, I will teach you some Umbrella logic. Nearly every conventional building in this damn city has a path or tunnel that leads to an Umbrella lab, such is the irony of it all. The path down is usually some sort of stairwell or security elevator programmed to do certain things in times of emergency. This is what we're looking for. So Smokey, let's see you win my trust."
The cat, as if understanding, pulled hard on the leash and dragged her through the corridors until they reached a service elevator. It was out of order.
"Well done Smokey, now what?"
She pulled her inside and nuzzled at the buttons. Rachelle shrugged and, to humour the animal, pressed one of the floors. The elevator, to her surprise, started to move down. It jolted and then the doors opened. Rachelle laughed and shook her head, turning to the animal.
"As I said, Smokes, such is the irony of it all."
Will they get out of Raccoon City in time to save their necks or will Umbrella finally defeat them?
Can Rachelle get back before it's too late?
Will they ever see Jill and Carlos again?
Wait and see in Chapter 10: Escape From Raccoon…
