Dr.William Birkin

David painfully stood up, the adrenaline and blood rushing through his wounded body, he couldn't stand the thought of one of those monstrosities getting at Alex. Opening the door, he swung his flashlight beam wildly around the dimly lit hallway, searching for the source of the screams. And then he saw it...hunched over, and resembling an insect, it skittered at Vanessa, Alex, and Winsor. "DAMNIT...WHAT THE HELL IS THAT..." he said, aiming his revolver at the figure terrorizing the three. Firing twice, he grazed the monsters leg with a bullet. The creature yelled a panic cry, and began tearing down the hallway, noticing David, John, Ryan, and Jarred, and driven into a killing frenzy by the smell of David's exposed wound. "YEAH, YOU WANT SOME OF THIS YOU GOD DAMN SON OF A BITCH! WELL COME AND GET IT YOU FREAK.." screamed David, wildly firing and thumbing the hammer back on the single action army.

Thudding and crashing echoed from the ventilation systems above..the wounded screams of the creature had alerted others of its kind. They were hungry, and they were coming....

Jill Valentine

The four youths gazed endlessly at the trail of tinted-green blood that trickled from one side to the other. David gently knelt down, rubbing the blood between his fingers, an expressionless gaze remaining on his strong, broad face.

"Let's get out of here," he suddenly announced peering up at the ventilation warren that channeled along the upper side of the pale mustard ceiling.

Alex nodded in agreement, as she slowly crept out of the narrow hallway, Winsor and Vanessa following right behind her.

"Are you guys alright? Did you find anything?" Ryan asked, looking up from his crouched position next to John, Nathan, and Jarred.

"We're ok...For now..." David muttered as he stumbled over to the others.

"We didn't find anything resourceful at all!" Vanessa cried in disappointment, followed by a heavy, aggravated sigh from Winsor.

"Then...s...s..omething attacked us..and... and we nearly died...and there are more of them as well!" Alex explained, through trembling gasps of fear.

"It was US who were attacked...you just stood there...not forgetting to mention your knight in shining armor here, who saved you.."

Winsor senselessly blurted out the words, noticing a hurt expression appear on Alex's face.

"It's ok she doesn't mean it Alex..." Vanessa said, lightly patting her on the shoulder.

Suddenly, a majestic shriek pierced the silence of the cold dark room. Before they could hesitate to flee to safety, a large creature vastly swooped down from the ceiling, making a sickening thud at it's heavy landing. It raised it's mutated arms in a forceful sense of anger, another high pitched screech erupting from it's large mutated body.

"Oh...my...fucking..god..."Ryan muttered to himself, his facial expression the same as the other horrified expressions that stared on at the creature.

"RUN!!!" John yelled, being the first to flee the scene.

The others didn't hesitate to follow, Ryan being the last to exit the room, as he allured the others to safety.

The creature continued to follow them, quickening it's pace as Ryan was the last to exit the room.

"Ahhh!!! Get the fuck off me!" came a painful cry from Ryan as the creature hooked it's long sharp claw onto Ryan's arm.

Like the instant Human reflex, Nathan courageously turned back, releasing several shots into the creatures arm; detaching it from the rest of it's body. With the claw still hooked in Ryan's arm, Nathan grabbed the lifeless mutated arm, and vigorously tore it from Ryan's arm.

Screeching in pain, Ryan thanked Nathan for his heroic save. Jarred headed towards the elevator, desperately trying to hold open the double doors for Ryan and Nathan to enter.

"Hurry up guys I can't hold this thing open for much longer!" Jarred yelled. John positioned himself in between the thick metal doors, the weight and strength of his body struggling to keep the elevator open.

"Hurry!!"

Ryan and Nathan narrowly slipped into the lift, as it began to head up to the third floor...

Carlos Oliveira

~ping~

Came the sound as the lift opened at the third floor.

"Ok. What's the big plan now?" asked John.

"Have no idea." responded Jarred.

"Ryan are you ok?" asked Nathan.

"Yeah I'm cool." he answered.

"Ok but if you start to feel anything differently let me know ok? It means you'll need some of this..." said Nathan holding up the syringe.

Walking out the group marched slowly down the hallway looking for a way out. Nathan was getting tired. The blood loss didn't help and neither did the morphine. Walking slowly ahead of the others he scanned the halls with his tac lights from both 9mm's.

Ryan was right next to him with David and Alex behind. Vanessa and Winsor behind them with Jarred and John pulling up the rear.

"All clear." said Nath as he swept another hallway.

"So Nath....your old man was really CIA?" asked Jarred.

"Yeah. He was."

"So what else do you know about what's going on?" asked John.

"Nothing. You guys know as much as I do now." he answered.

Ryan tugged on a door.....locked, "For a hospital they sure do lock a lot of these doors."

John's eyes searched the dark behind them, looking and listening for anything. Jarred right next to him was doing the same. He felt Vanessa's hand slip back and take hold of his giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting it go. Jarred smiled at the thought of her, but that though was cut off by Nathan's shout.

"Hey check this out!" he said pointing to another computer.

Hopping the desk Nathan landed in front with Ryan right next to him. Everyone crowded around.

"Let's see if we can't find out what's going on here. Something about the hospital isn't right!" said Ryan as he and Nath started to pull up files on the computer.

Joker

As Ryan checked over the wounds he had taken during the course of this ordeal, he had reached an obvious conclusion in his mind.

"This is not my day."

Ryan watched as Nathan worked furiously at the keyboard, punching up programs here, shutting down documents there. It all seemed a bit of a blur to him, almost as if Nathan knew what he was doing before he did it. That struck Ryan as odd, no matter what government agency Nathan worked for. He wondered awkwardly if Nathan was a plant for observational purposes...

Ryan quickly shook his head to dismiss that thought.

"Since when did I become so fucking paranoid?", Ryan thought to himself angrily as he got up and started walking down the halls.

"Where are you going?", Jarred asked.

"I've got to clear my head. I'll be back", Ryan replied. Technically, it was true. He did want to clear his head, but he also wanted to check the place out a little more and it wasn't worth endangering anyone else. Besides, he could only be wounded so much, right?

Jarred considered objecting, but thought better of it.

"Well, don't go too far. We have to stick together here...", Jarred called after him, but Ryan was already focused on the halls.

With Beretta held low, Ryan wandered around the halls for a moment, wondering if any of the dark denizens had infiltrated this bastion of safety.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Nathan's hacking skills were the center of attention.

Encrypted... Enter 5 digit access code... Access denied... Access denied... Access granted... Security Level Alpha in effect...

The jargon flew across the screen like a spiel from a tele-marketer, extraneous and uninformative to someone who doesn't know much about the product. But Nathan knew enough about the product to realize maybe he wanted what this computer was selling...

After some decryption, the memo read...

Memo

Date: 18 Apr 2001

To: Hospital Administrator Jerome Horton

From: Director of Security Brian Markenson

Subject: Codename: Reciprocity

We have received word that some of your staff have been somewhat inquisitive of our activities. Need I remind you that this operation is of the highest classification? Dispose of these threats immediately, but be sure to cover any trace of a link to our corporation, otherwise we will ensure you find out how it is done first-hand.

Attachment: List.txt

Nathan checked the memo attachment. It appeared to have been edited since it was sent, almost as if someone had been keeping a tally of how many on the list were killed and when.

Subjects marked for termination:

José Ortéga (DECEASED: 19 Apr 2001)

Peter Robertson (DECEASED: 19 Apr 2001)

Terry McNamara (DECEASED: 20 Apr 2001)

...

----------------------------------------

Ryan continued looking, seeing nothing unusual, or at least on the provision that seeing patients and staff alike with blood-sprayed apparel was not unusual. What was unusual, however, was the distinct lack of any movement. Ryan laughed softly at that idea.

"I know I'm being paranoid now. I'm expecting corpses to move..."

----------------------------------------

The list went on until Nathan spotted a familiar name.

...

Joanna Bartlett (DECEASED: 22 Apr 2001)

...

"Bartlett?", Nathan thought, realizing Ryan's family name...

"If Ryan knew about this, he'd go insane and I'm not sure he needs a lot of help there...", John quipped.

"Still, does he even have any idea? Maybe it's best not to say anything", Alex suggested.

"If it were up to me, I'd tell him. He has a right to know", came an unexpected reply from Winsor. The group looked at her, stunned, wondering whether she actually gave a damn about something for the first time since she joined them or if she just wanted to have a front-row seat in case Ryan lost it.

At that point, Ryan returned to find a lot of people looking at him, not knowing what to say.

Noticing the awkward moment, Ryan said light-heartedly, "What? Did I miss something?"

As the group continued to look at him awkwardly, Ryan realized there was something wrong. He reiterated the observation in his mind...

"This is not my day..."