Wow…Chapter 10…already! I wasn't really expecting this story to be this long, but it seems to have run off on me! Anyway, here's Chapter 10…which I wrote and rewrote about 6 times and I'm still not satisfied with it!! ::kicks her writers block:: grr…I'm open to constructive criticism on this chapter! Anyway, enjoy! ^.^
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Chris looked around the inside of the manor in awe. It was quite an elaborately furnished room, even for a mansion. As the others slowly wandered around, taking in the scene, Chris examined a nearby painting. It was of a long winding path leading into the woods, which were cloaked in a thick fog of some sort. Scratching his head, he continued to look around, as did the others. At that moment, a frantic voice sounded from the staircase, interrupting the group's examination of the room.
"Help! Someone please, help me!" exclaimed a voice. Startled, Chris did a double take as Rebecca stumbled at the top of the stairs and tumbled down a full flight of stairs as a licker chased her, swiping at her rolling form. "Rebecca!" exclaimed Chris quickly aiming his shotgun and letting of a stream of shots until the gun clicked empty. The licker lay twitching in a pool of it's own gore as it took it's last breath. Jill had already reached the girl as she lay at the bottom of the staircase stunned, but otherwise unharmed. "Rebecca, are you ok?" said Jill shaking the young girl, her eyes closed. Chris quickly pushed Jill aside and pulled Rebecca onto his lap, cradling her head. "Rebecca? Can you hear me? Are you ok? Speak to me!"
Suddenly the girl's eyes flew open and stared at him with cold, amber eyes that were like harden gems...Amber eyes? Chris froze. Rebecca's eyes were blue. Smiling, the girl sat up and quickly stood. "Thank you...those things are dangerous...."
"Who are you?" demanded Chris pointing his gun at the petite, red headed dame. "What are you talking about, Chris? She's Rebecca," said Claire hurriedly putting a hand on his shoulder. "Since when does Rebecca eyes that color?" Replied Chris flatly. Claire froze, as did the others. "Wait...don't shoot. Yes, I am not 'Rebecca'. My name is Rose..." said the girl quickly holding up her hands. "I awoke here at this mansion...I don't know how I got here...or who this 'Rebecca' is...do I look like her or something? And what is with all these monsters?" said Rose, her face taking on a confused look. Chris regarded her with a skeptical look. "Yea...right...I bet you work for Wesker." Rose paled at the name. "Wesker! He tried to kill me! Said I was 'In the way' of this plan of his...he's the reason all these monsters are here, isn't he? Why is he doing this? Why?" exclaimed Rose, her eyes filling with tears. Jill reached up and put a hand to Chris's shotgun and lowered it. "Chris...she's alone and afraid...you're only scaring her more...Rose, what exactly is Wesker's plan?"
Rose shook her head. "I don't know...he didn't tell me...but he said something about destroying the STARS survivors once and for all...is that you guys? What did you do to him?" "Hey lady, we don't got time for all these questions. If you know where Wesker is, then tell us! We gotta stop him before it's too late!" cut in Carlos.
"He's got a point. We're running out of time. This will have to wait... I don't know what the deal is right now, but we're just going to have to trust her for now, Chris. Those things could reach other cities and infect them if we don't hurry...or worse...we could all be nuked just like Raccoon City..." said Leon. Claire nodded in agreement. Jill sighed and looked back at Rose, smiling sweetly. "They're right, we have to get moving...stay with us Rose. You can't escape this city alone. Don't worry, we'll protect you..." she said holding a hand out to the woman. Rose hesitated slightly, then took Jill's hand and smiled shyly. "Thank you...I owe you all my life."
*****
Billy tried the front mansion door, but found it locked. "What in the hell? Locked?" frustrated, he looked around for another way in. David, who had recently caught up to Billy, looked around and spotted a window a few feet away. "There...maybe we can break it open." He said pointing. "Way ahead of you..." said Billy heading over to the window. Pulling out his handgun from earlier, he took aim at the window and fired off 3 shots...
*****
Rebecca continued to follow the girl farther and farther into the depths of the mansion. They had long since stopped going down and were now wandering an ascending marble staircase. As they walked, she attempted to strike up a conversation, in hopes of making things a bit clearer. "What's your name?" "Miki...and you're Rebecca," said the little girl, never skipping a beat. "How do you know me?" said Rebecca. "Because you're Rebecca. How can I not know you? You are the same as me." "You keep saying this but how am I the same as you? I can't do what you do!"
They had arrived in a hallway of some sort. There were windows lined all down the walls leading to the outside. The little girl paused and turned to look at Rebecca. "They're coming." "What?" before Rebecca could say any more, the sound of crashing glass sounded and the room filled with crows. Crying out in terror, Rebecca grabbed Miki's hand and ducked her head, running from the room in terror. Opening the closest door she could reach, she stumbled into a hall and looked around only to discover it was filled...with zombies. Backing up against the door, she watched as bloodshot, caved in eye sockets and gangrene skin turned to her, their mouths letting out hungry moans of greed, their jaws hanging loosely out of disjointed sockets, their feet dragging against the floor like sawdust scraping against a board. They were surrounding her and Miki...and she was trapped. Looking around in panic, she spotted a large fire extinguisher nearby. Moving quickly, she hoisted the thing up and swung with all her might at two nearby zombies. "You're not getting us, damn you!" she shrieked. There was a loud 'thwock' as the metal connected with decaying flesh and the two zombies flew backward into the ground, twitching. Letting out a strangled cry, Rebecca swung at two other nearby zombies, watching as their heads flew off their bodies with a satisfying cracking noise, the heads hitting the ground and rolling away as the bodies slammed into the floor. After about five swings, Rebecca's energy was spent, and she found herself gasping for air. "My God...I can't stop them..." she said as she went to swing once more. Before she could inflict any more damage, she lost her footing, dropped the extinguisher and fell over, dizzied. Looking up in terror she watched as the zombies closed in for the kill. She could smell the musty, rotten death emanating from their decaying mouths. Terrified, she covered her face and screamed in horror.
In that instance, the zombies burst into flames and fell to the floor, the smell of rotten, burning flesh filling the air. Removing her hands from her face, Rebecca looked around in disbelief. Her eyes then settled on Miki, who was staring down at her, one hand placed on Rebecca's shoulder "You let it go..." said the small child, smiling an eerie smile.
*****
Wesker turned away from the monitor, an evil smile on his face. The fun had only just begun...and the best part was the fools had no clue what was going on...but they'd learn soon enough. Not after he enjoyed watching the fruits of their pathetic efforts, of course.
*****
Chris was searching a hall on the first floor not too far from the entrance with Rose. Upon Carlos's suggestion, they had all split up into three separate groups in order to cover more ground. Leon with Claire, Jill with Carlos, and he with Rose. Chris hadn't been too thrilled about being paired with the suspicious woman, but it couldn't be helped. Besides, he had to keep an eye on her anyway...something about the coldness in her eyes told him she couldn't be trusted...and who was she anyway? She could be mistaken for Rebecca's twin sister almost immediately if it weren't for those amber eyes. But as far as Chris knew, Rebecca didn't claim any family at all, and she had been an only child anyway...so who was this girl? And what was she doing here in this mansion all by herself? Something was wrong about this whole thing. Glancing at the map he had picked up for the first floor, he didn't notice the hunter sneaking up behind him and the girl...
*****
Billy watched in mild amusement as David struggled to remove his foot from the slimy substance in the toilet. Upon climbing in through the nearby window, the idiot had landed directly with one foot stuck in the foul smelling stuff while the other had slipped on a tissue dispenser and had rendered the hapless fool in a tangled mass on the floor, his boot firmly stuck in the slop. Not knowing whether to shake his head or bust a gut laughing, Billy fought the strong urge to let out a chuckle.
Finally freeing his foot David let out a despairing cry. "Man...these were my favorite shoes!" "Are you finished making a fool out of yourself yet? And clean that shoe off for the love of God...it reeks." Said Billy turning to head for the bathroom door...
He didn't make it far as a drop of steaming saliva dropped from the ceiling to the floor in front of him. Freezing, he slowly looked up, a grim look crossing his face. David half limped over to his 'partner's' side and stood staring at him. "What's the problem? Finally tired of pickin' on me?"
Lifting his shotgun, Billy didn't respond, nor did he relinquish his stare. "Run...go...now." he replied in a low voice. "What? Why what's...HOLY SHIT!" exclaimed David following Billy's gaze. At that exact moment, a brain sucker dropped from the ceiling directly onto David...
*****
Chris looked up from the map at the sound of the scream. "In the hell...?" Before he could react, Rose's shriek of terror filled his ears. Spinning around, he watched in horror as a mutated hunter fiercely slammed its claws into Rose's midsection and sent her flying into a nearby wall. "What the hell is that thing?!" thought Chris, suddenly speechless. The thing had to be twice the size of the hunters he was used to. Was it some kind of new breed or something?
Ready to finish the job, the thing advanced on the defenseless girl, its fangs glistening in the dull light of the hall. Snapping out of his daze, Chris raised his shotgun and let off two well aimed shots, knocking the thing over temporarily. "Go! Run, NOW!" exclaimed Chris. Rose didn't hesitate as she leapt to her feet and half staggered, half sprinted down the hall, disappearing through a door on the far end, leaving a thin trail of blood behind...
*****
Billy aimed his handgun carefully and shot at the brain sucker just enough to make it loosen its grip on the terrified man. Switching to the shotgun, Billy almost felt bad for the poor guy...almost. In reality he was actually more disappointed at the fact that he'd have to shoot the thing for the idiot...he had found David's high pitched shrieks and flailing dance rather amusing. Aiming the shotgun, he let off three on mark shots and watched as the thing fell to the floor, twitching. "Come on..." said Billy turning to leave...then pausing. Someone or something was moving in a nearby stall...and it didn't look too inviting. Not wanting to stick around any longer, Billy motioned for the still recovering David to follow as he made a quick dash for the door.
Running out into the bright light of the hall, Billy barely had time to stop as he crashed into something. Quickly aiming his shotgun, he glared down at the small creature only to discover it was...Rebecca. ...No...it wasn't her...or was it? She wasn't wearing the same clothes she had been wearing when he saw her earlier. The girl was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a torn silver tank top. A red stain was steadily spreading on her shirt as she bled from a fresh wound on her belly.
"Rebecca?!" exclaimed Billy lowering his gun. "Rebecca?" said David rushing up behind Billy and looking over the girl that half sat, half lay on the ground in front of Billy clutching her side. Getting down on his knees, Billy dropped his gun and placed both hands on the girl's shoulders. "Look at me...are you ok?" he said with urgency. The girl opened her eyes and Billy quickly let her go. Her amber eyes stared back at him like frozen glints of fire. Who was this girl? "That's not Rebecca," said David.
Before Billy could respond, a purple light surrounded the girl and David and Billy watched in astonishment as the blood on the girl's shirt disappeared and her wound closed up and ceased its bleeding. "…What are you?" Standing, the girl rubbed at her stomach, then looked at Billy and David, her expression unreadable. "I don't know...it just happens...I don't know what it means. My name is Rose...and what's that horrible smell?" she said wrinkling her nose and looking over at the muck splattered David…