Chapter 2
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Jenner removed a small, cylindrical object from his vest pocket and screwed it to the barrel of his gun. He took careful aim at the head of one of the zombies. A tiny red beam of light shone through the fog from the SOCOMs laser-sight. Jenner squeezed the trigger once, and a barely audible thewp sound was heard. The zombie guard went down.
Jenner repeated the process, and dropped the second guard. He shut off the sight, and motioned for Leon and Claire to follow. They kept low, staying out of sight. Leon tried the door handle. It was locked. Claire spotted a small vertical slot just to the right of the door. "Maybe one of the guards has a card?" she said.
She went back and searched the pockets of the dead guards. Eventually, she came up with a small plastic rectangle. The Biohazard symbol was engraved on it. "Try this," the young woman said, handing the card to Jenner.
The young man inserted the card into the slot. The door clicked as it unlocked, and Jenner turned the knob. The door swung open noiselessly, revealing a small staircase. Leon took the lead, while Jenner covered their rear. The three of them crept down the stairs, unaware that someone...somewhere...was watching them.
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"Damn that girl," a voice said, it's face glaring at the security monitor. "She is becoming as much of a nuisance as her brother." The speaker spat the last word out as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. He continued to watch, observing their every move. He looked over to the cages beside him. The beasts inside growled hungrily. He pressed a few buttons on a small remote control attached to his belt. The cage doors slowly started to open. "Here's a small welcoming gift for you, Claire Redfield...."
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Leon stopped, straining his ears to try and hear the shuffling noise he thought he had heard. Jenner crouched low, drawing the knife from his left boot. Claire pressed herself against the wall, hefting a shotgun she had found in the guardroom they had just exited. It was a Benelli seven-shooter with a pistol-grip. It had been sitting in a locker, next to a box of shells. She couldn't have been luckier, she thought.
Suddenly, they heard a low moan, followed by another, then a third, and a fourth. A multitude of moans then joined in. The rookie cop drew his Desert Eagle. Claire aimed her shotgun at the corner. Jenner reached down and sheathed his knife, readying his SOCOM instead. Claire edged closer to the corner and stuck her head around, then pulled it back quickly. "We've got trouble," she said softly.
"How many?" Leon asked.
"I'd say about..." Claire peeked around the corner again. "Ten."
"Let me borrow your shotgun," Jenner said, and Claire handed him the weapon. The young man crept over to the corner. He pressed himself against it, then quickly drew one of his knives and tossed it down the corridor. The weapon struck the metal walls, creating a dull clang that echoed down the hall. A chorus of moans answered the sound, then the shuffling drew nearer. Leon crouched and stuck his head around the corner. "Ready...now!" he said.
Jenner leaped around the corner and fired five shots. The pellet-spread from the blasts riddled the zombies with holes, blowing a few in half. He handed the shotgun back to Claire, then drew his SOCOM. He swept the laser-sight back-and-forth over the heads of the zombie guards, the crimson beam shining like a beacon through the dimly-lit corridor. Jenner saw one of the guards twitch, and fired one shot to its head. Then he dispatched the others in the same fashion.
Thewp! Thewp! Thewp! Thewpthewpthewpthewpthewp---
BLAM!!
Jenner turned to see Leon, his gun aimed at the now-headless torso of the last guard, which was even then trying to crawl toward Jenner, desperate for a last meal. "Thanks, mate," Jenner said, holstering his SOCOM. He picked up his knife, and turned to the others. "Let's go. There's still a lot of work to do."
Just then, Claire heard a soft whirring noise above her. She looked up and saw a small camera mounted on a tank-shaped robot about the size of her head. The camera focused on her, and emitted a red light from above the lens. "What the--" she started to say.
She was cut off by a loud screeching sound. She turned around and saw a short, but muscular creature. It walked on two legs, and looked like a sort of gorilla, except it had scales instead of fur. On the end of its hands, were long, razor-sharp claws. Its fangs dripped with saliva. It lumbered toward her in a slow, deliberate gait.
Leon turned and drew his gun, aiming the weapon right at the monster's chest. He fired, causing the creature to stagger. It regained its posture, and leaped into the air, raising it's claws for a slice at his neck.
Jenner turned and fired, his bullets ripping through the flesh of the monster. It let out a loud screech of pain, then dropped to the floor. A dark liquid pooled out around it. Jenner quickly loaded a fresh clip into his SOCOM, as one thought escaped his lips.
"What the hell?"
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The man in black pulled down his shades to look at the monitor. "That boy," he said to no one in particular, "is going to be a problem. I wonder if he'll enjoy my little 'surprise'?" He chuckled to himself as he flipped a few switches on the control panel.
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The three of them continued on their way down the dark corridor, ever alert for the "watchers," as Jenner had called them. Soon, they came to a T-junction. "Which way do we go?" asked Claire.
Leon shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "Let's split up," Jenner suggested. "I'll go right. You two go left."
"Alright," Claire said. She readied her shotgun and began heading down the left passageway. "Good luck, Jenner," Leon said to the younger man. "You too, mate," Jenner replied. They tapped barrels, then went their separate ways.
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Jenner traveled down a narrow passageway that led him to a dead end. He turned around, and the floor disappeared from beneath him. His arms were flailing, desperately trying to grab onto something, but his fingers found only smooth steel. He slid down a long chute, and landed hard onto a dirt floor. He sat up, feeling the back of his head. Pleased that he didn't have a concussion, he looked around him.
The room he was in had only two exits, a door on the far side of the room, and the chute he fell down. He checked himself for further injury, then slowly got up and dusted himself off.
At least there are no zombies in here...
He drew his knives, just in case. He slowly headed toward the door on the other side of the room. He came to a deep crevasse running horizontally across the room in front of him, cutting him off from the door. It was a good seven-foot gap. He leaned forward slightly, trying to get a better look. All he saw was blackness-- the ravine going deeper than he could see. Suddenly, he found himself reeling backward, trying to avoid the razor-sharp claw that lanced out at him, narrowly missing his throat. He landed on his rear-end, scrambling backward as the claw embedded itself in the dirt floor, pulling something up from the depths of the pit.