CHAPTER 3
Low to the Ground
There was one thing about Umbrella that you could always count on. Their facilities were all the same, same general layout, same steel walls, and same eerie feeling.
Immediately as they entered the facility through a back doorway, which Adam somehow knew about, Chris knew that this facility wasn't going to be any different.
The group slowly proceeded into the building. It was completely empty and must have long ago been abandoned. The group relaxed a little knowing that they wouldn't be dealing with any Umbrella security guards, but guards was defiantly not what Chris was most worried about.
As they walked deeper into the facility Adam started to fill them in on some background information.
"Umbrella built this place in the early seventies. It's said that Umbrella's first experiments were held here, and it's first accident. Supposedly a group of scientist came in contact with the virus, and bang Umbrella had its first group of mindless zombies."
"Just think guys were walking in a real live hysterical monument here," Carlos joked, though everyone was too nervous to laugh.
They were all silent for awhile. Hastily they checked each room that they ran by, but each one had nothing in it spare old coffee makers and dusty desks.
"And what were we suppose to find here again Agent Skampa?" Barry asked Adam, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
"Evidence against Umbrella," the F.B.I agent replied curtly.
"Skampa, how the hell"- Barry stopped mid-sentence.
They had just entered a large room that defiantly had more then old coffee makers and desk in it.
At first glance the room looked like some kind if torture chamber. On one side dead creatures hung chained to the wall. You could smell their decay as soon as you entered. At the opposite far end where labs. The group ran over to the labs.
"What are we looking at Bec?" Chris asked the young chemist.
"I have no idea. Most of the vials are emptied or shattered."
Chris was about to go look else where when he heard Rebecca speak up again.
"Hold on," she said and bent down under some splintered wood and picked up a fully intact vial. Its contents were a yellow that looked a little too familiar. Out loud Carlos said.
"That looks like piss."
As both Jill and Claire rolled their eyes Rebecca turned the vial around in her hand and said. "You know Carlos I don't think you're that far off."
Carefully Rebecca put the vial in one of her side pouches, and then suddenly ran over to one of the dead creatures. Everyone followed.
Plugging her nose Rebecca took out a syringe and stuck it into the creature, extracting blood that looked more brown then red.
"Were these things once human?" Claire asked, her voice muffled by her hand covering her nose and mouth.
"Possibly," Rebecca said slowly "But actually I'm not quite sure."
Putting the blood sample in a vial of its own Rebecca started to zip up her pouch when she dropped her syringe on the ground. Her entire body froze and her eyes locked on the creature in front of her.
"What is it Rebecca?" Jill asked nervously.
"I.I think I just saw this thing's eyes move."
Nobody said a word; they all just backed away from the creatures and stuck their guns out at them.
Rebecca who was still on the ground didn't move. She stayed stationary her muscles tight and nervous. She continued to stare at the creature until.
"Arrr!!!"
All the creatures in the room started to move wildly. Their bodies began to lunge out away from the walls that they were chained to.
Rebecca jumped back about ten feet while everyone else started to shoot from their firearms. Hundreds of bullets from various guns pierced into the uncontrolled monsters, but it was no good. They continued to struggle against their chains relentlessly.
"Let's get the hell out of here while these guys can't follow us," Chris said to his comrades, nobody disagreed.
They all made a rush for the doors. When they got there Chris tried to push them open, but neither of them budged. They were locked in the room.
"What the hell is going on?" He shouted out in frustration.
A voice from some kind of loud speaker suddenly rang into the room "Why Mr. Redfield, haven't you figured it out? I have you all caught in one of my clever traps."
"Alfred," Chris could hear Claire say through gritted teeth.
While Alfred Ashford started to laugh that menacing laugh that haunted many of Chris and Claire's nightmares Barry had decided to take his frustration out on someone else. Grabbing Adam by the collar Barry threw him against the wall.
"You set us up you little shit?"
Adam didn't say anything as Barry stared daggers into the young F.B.I agent's eyes.
"I wouldn't put all my anger on him my gruff fellow," Alfred's voice continued on "It wasn't he who set you up, at least not intentionally. I had some inside sources in the F.B.I feed the young agent. Believe me it was all too easy."
"Barry let go of Adam, but didn't help him back up as he fell roughly to the ground.
"What do you want Alfred?!" Chris shouted out randomly, not knowing where he should speak.
"That's a question with a much too complicated answer Mr. Redfield, but let's just says I want my sister back."
"Alfred you sicko, why don't you just go dress up like her again and leave us all alone?" His sister yelled out angrily.
"Claire my dear, you have so much fire. I might have admired you if I didn't despise you as much as I do."
"Cut the shit!" Claire shouted.
To this Alfred didn't respond, at least not with words. Instead the wall that contained the controlled creatures lifted. Everyone cringed as their bodies were squeezed between the wall and the ceiling. They all listened as the creature's brown blood splashed on the ground.
The horror, however, was no where near over. From behind where the wall once was came five hideous monsters, all a little smaller then a tryant, and all holding assault rifles.
"Holy shit," said Carlos, his voice barely higher then a whisper.
'Holy shit,' about covered it too. Everybody was backed against the door; utter horror had taken over all their hearts.
Waking them up from their troubled trance was Alfred's heinous voice.
"I hope you like my new toys. There an upgrade from anything you've seen before. What I have affectionately named Assaults have intelligence. They can even operate firearms. You Creighton's enjoy yourselves."
As soon as Alfred's voice went away the Assaults wasted no time in living up to their name.
They immediately started to open fire on Chris and the others. Everyone scattered, shots fired back and forth, and everyone became wrapped in a mad chaos.
Chris had just offed one of the Assaults heads with his double barrel shot-gun when he took the chance to look around the room.
Everyone was behind an object, it was either a metal experiment table or a crate that really didn't provide that much cover. Despite the horrors that had unexpectedly been thrown on them everyone was handling themselves quite well. Though Chris shouldn't have expected less, his friends were the best.
Continuing on Chris started to fire at the next assault when he heard a cry; Chris felt his heart stop beating. He would recognize that cry until the day he died.
Ducking low to the ground Chris spotted Jill hunched behind a crate, she was laying flat on the ground her right hand holding her left arm.
Wasting no time Chris did something incredibly brave, and incredibly stupid.
He ran through the open fire to where Jill laid. He held his breathe while he checked her body over.
"Don't worry," she moaned "One of their bullets caught my arm."
Checking her wound Chris let out a small breath of relief.
"Well I think you'll live," he told her.
Jill smiled weakly "Well I guess I should bless every miracle."
The two grinned at each other, but their moment of bliss didn't last long as the Assaults firing suddenly same right over their heads.
"Oh shit," Chris yelled, covering Jill with his body.
Looking up over the crate Chris took quick aim and fired. His shot- gun shell catching the monster right in the chest, but that didn't seem to halter it as they proceeded closer to where he and Jill laid.
"The bastards are getting closer," he told Jill as he frantically reloaded his gun.
Painfully Jill sat up with her 9mm in hand. They weren't going to go down easily. Throwing each other one last look the two of them simultaneously stood up.
The Assaults, however, weren't there. Instead to everyone's surprise they were walking away.
"What the hell happened?" Jill asked as the two of them stood there dumbly.
Chris looked around the room. He watched as Leon and Adam were running after two of the Assaults firing blindly at them. The creatures paid no attention; they just continued to return to where they came from. The wall that shortly ago had lifted up had suddenly slammed down right in Leon and Adam's faces.
Making sure that Jill was able to walk Chris ran over to the others.
"Why did they suddenly retreat?" Chris asked everybody, suddenly noticing their dead expressions.
"What happened?' He asked apprehensively.
Nobody seemed to want to answer; it was then that it hit him that they had somebody missing.
"Where's Claire?" He asked anxiously.
Leon, who was leaning helplessly against the wall with his face buried in his hands answered.
"They took her."
* * *
Everything was groggy; Claire knew that whatever drugs they had given her they had really done a number on her.
Trying to focus herself Claire took in her new surroundings.
She was in a very elaborate office. The curtains were all a deep crimson as well as the furniture which was cushioned in rich velvet.
The only exceptions would be the mahogany desk that rested in front of a large open window, and the simple wood chair that Claire now found herself tied to.
"Where the hell am I?" She asked herself out loud.
Not expecting an answer Claire jumped when Alfred Ashford's whiny, unforgettable voice replied.
"You Miss Redfield are at my estate in Cairo."
Claire couldn't believe she had missed him. There sitting on one of the velvet couches was Alfred. His back was leaning lazily against the couch, and he had his legs crossed. His face bore a bored and eerie expression.
"What the hell do you want with me you psycho?!" Claire spat, she couldn't even stand the presence of the sicko.
"Claire my dear, projecting violence is only going to get you know where."
Alfred suddenly got up from his couch and walked over to Claire. He knelt down next to her, his ugly face inches away from hers. Putting his skinny fingers on her chin so their eyes met he whispered to her.
"I only want my sister back."
With that he snapped his fingers, two zombies suddenly stormed into the room. Claire let out a scream, but for some reason the zombies didn't attack. Instead they stood at attention, as if waiting for instructions.
"Take Miss Redfield downstairs," Alfred ordered the zombies, and without a second of hesitation the zombies obeyed.
Claire shouted and screamed as the zombies picked up her chair and started to carry her out of the office and down to the basement, but it was no use. Claire realized there was nothing that she could do, and that made her more scared then she had ever been in this damn war against Umbrella.
AUTHORS NOTE: Since my last story was mostly centered on rescuing Chris I promise Claire's rescue will not take as long. Anyways.thanks to all that are reading, and a special thanks to tek, ScoobySnax1 and Shakahnna. Always, Leah
Low to the Ground
There was one thing about Umbrella that you could always count on. Their facilities were all the same, same general layout, same steel walls, and same eerie feeling.
Immediately as they entered the facility through a back doorway, which Adam somehow knew about, Chris knew that this facility wasn't going to be any different.
The group slowly proceeded into the building. It was completely empty and must have long ago been abandoned. The group relaxed a little knowing that they wouldn't be dealing with any Umbrella security guards, but guards was defiantly not what Chris was most worried about.
As they walked deeper into the facility Adam started to fill them in on some background information.
"Umbrella built this place in the early seventies. It's said that Umbrella's first experiments were held here, and it's first accident. Supposedly a group of scientist came in contact with the virus, and bang Umbrella had its first group of mindless zombies."
"Just think guys were walking in a real live hysterical monument here," Carlos joked, though everyone was too nervous to laugh.
They were all silent for awhile. Hastily they checked each room that they ran by, but each one had nothing in it spare old coffee makers and dusty desks.
"And what were we suppose to find here again Agent Skampa?" Barry asked Adam, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
"Evidence against Umbrella," the F.B.I agent replied curtly.
"Skampa, how the hell"- Barry stopped mid-sentence.
They had just entered a large room that defiantly had more then old coffee makers and desk in it.
At first glance the room looked like some kind if torture chamber. On one side dead creatures hung chained to the wall. You could smell their decay as soon as you entered. At the opposite far end where labs. The group ran over to the labs.
"What are we looking at Bec?" Chris asked the young chemist.
"I have no idea. Most of the vials are emptied or shattered."
Chris was about to go look else where when he heard Rebecca speak up again.
"Hold on," she said and bent down under some splintered wood and picked up a fully intact vial. Its contents were a yellow that looked a little too familiar. Out loud Carlos said.
"That looks like piss."
As both Jill and Claire rolled their eyes Rebecca turned the vial around in her hand and said. "You know Carlos I don't think you're that far off."
Carefully Rebecca put the vial in one of her side pouches, and then suddenly ran over to one of the dead creatures. Everyone followed.
Plugging her nose Rebecca took out a syringe and stuck it into the creature, extracting blood that looked more brown then red.
"Were these things once human?" Claire asked, her voice muffled by her hand covering her nose and mouth.
"Possibly," Rebecca said slowly "But actually I'm not quite sure."
Putting the blood sample in a vial of its own Rebecca started to zip up her pouch when she dropped her syringe on the ground. Her entire body froze and her eyes locked on the creature in front of her.
"What is it Rebecca?" Jill asked nervously.
"I.I think I just saw this thing's eyes move."
Nobody said a word; they all just backed away from the creatures and stuck their guns out at them.
Rebecca who was still on the ground didn't move. She stayed stationary her muscles tight and nervous. She continued to stare at the creature until.
"Arrr!!!"
All the creatures in the room started to move wildly. Their bodies began to lunge out away from the walls that they were chained to.
Rebecca jumped back about ten feet while everyone else started to shoot from their firearms. Hundreds of bullets from various guns pierced into the uncontrolled monsters, but it was no good. They continued to struggle against their chains relentlessly.
"Let's get the hell out of here while these guys can't follow us," Chris said to his comrades, nobody disagreed.
They all made a rush for the doors. When they got there Chris tried to push them open, but neither of them budged. They were locked in the room.
"What the hell is going on?" He shouted out in frustration.
A voice from some kind of loud speaker suddenly rang into the room "Why Mr. Redfield, haven't you figured it out? I have you all caught in one of my clever traps."
"Alfred," Chris could hear Claire say through gritted teeth.
While Alfred Ashford started to laugh that menacing laugh that haunted many of Chris and Claire's nightmares Barry had decided to take his frustration out on someone else. Grabbing Adam by the collar Barry threw him against the wall.
"You set us up you little shit?"
Adam didn't say anything as Barry stared daggers into the young F.B.I agent's eyes.
"I wouldn't put all my anger on him my gruff fellow," Alfred's voice continued on "It wasn't he who set you up, at least not intentionally. I had some inside sources in the F.B.I feed the young agent. Believe me it was all too easy."
"Barry let go of Adam, but didn't help him back up as he fell roughly to the ground.
"What do you want Alfred?!" Chris shouted out randomly, not knowing where he should speak.
"That's a question with a much too complicated answer Mr. Redfield, but let's just says I want my sister back."
"Alfred you sicko, why don't you just go dress up like her again and leave us all alone?" His sister yelled out angrily.
"Claire my dear, you have so much fire. I might have admired you if I didn't despise you as much as I do."
"Cut the shit!" Claire shouted.
To this Alfred didn't respond, at least not with words. Instead the wall that contained the controlled creatures lifted. Everyone cringed as their bodies were squeezed between the wall and the ceiling. They all listened as the creature's brown blood splashed on the ground.
The horror, however, was no where near over. From behind where the wall once was came five hideous monsters, all a little smaller then a tryant, and all holding assault rifles.
"Holy shit," said Carlos, his voice barely higher then a whisper.
'Holy shit,' about covered it too. Everybody was backed against the door; utter horror had taken over all their hearts.
Waking them up from their troubled trance was Alfred's heinous voice.
"I hope you like my new toys. There an upgrade from anything you've seen before. What I have affectionately named Assaults have intelligence. They can even operate firearms. You Creighton's enjoy yourselves."
As soon as Alfred's voice went away the Assaults wasted no time in living up to their name.
They immediately started to open fire on Chris and the others. Everyone scattered, shots fired back and forth, and everyone became wrapped in a mad chaos.
Chris had just offed one of the Assaults heads with his double barrel shot-gun when he took the chance to look around the room.
Everyone was behind an object, it was either a metal experiment table or a crate that really didn't provide that much cover. Despite the horrors that had unexpectedly been thrown on them everyone was handling themselves quite well. Though Chris shouldn't have expected less, his friends were the best.
Continuing on Chris started to fire at the next assault when he heard a cry; Chris felt his heart stop beating. He would recognize that cry until the day he died.
Ducking low to the ground Chris spotted Jill hunched behind a crate, she was laying flat on the ground her right hand holding her left arm.
Wasting no time Chris did something incredibly brave, and incredibly stupid.
He ran through the open fire to where Jill laid. He held his breathe while he checked her body over.
"Don't worry," she moaned "One of their bullets caught my arm."
Checking her wound Chris let out a small breath of relief.
"Well I think you'll live," he told her.
Jill smiled weakly "Well I guess I should bless every miracle."
The two grinned at each other, but their moment of bliss didn't last long as the Assaults firing suddenly same right over their heads.
"Oh shit," Chris yelled, covering Jill with his body.
Looking up over the crate Chris took quick aim and fired. His shot- gun shell catching the monster right in the chest, but that didn't seem to halter it as they proceeded closer to where he and Jill laid.
"The bastards are getting closer," he told Jill as he frantically reloaded his gun.
Painfully Jill sat up with her 9mm in hand. They weren't going to go down easily. Throwing each other one last look the two of them simultaneously stood up.
The Assaults, however, weren't there. Instead to everyone's surprise they were walking away.
"What the hell happened?" Jill asked as the two of them stood there dumbly.
Chris looked around the room. He watched as Leon and Adam were running after two of the Assaults firing blindly at them. The creatures paid no attention; they just continued to return to where they came from. The wall that shortly ago had lifted up had suddenly slammed down right in Leon and Adam's faces.
Making sure that Jill was able to walk Chris ran over to the others.
"Why did they suddenly retreat?" Chris asked everybody, suddenly noticing their dead expressions.
"What happened?' He asked apprehensively.
Nobody seemed to want to answer; it was then that it hit him that they had somebody missing.
"Where's Claire?" He asked anxiously.
Leon, who was leaning helplessly against the wall with his face buried in his hands answered.
"They took her."
* * *
Everything was groggy; Claire knew that whatever drugs they had given her they had really done a number on her.
Trying to focus herself Claire took in her new surroundings.
She was in a very elaborate office. The curtains were all a deep crimson as well as the furniture which was cushioned in rich velvet.
The only exceptions would be the mahogany desk that rested in front of a large open window, and the simple wood chair that Claire now found herself tied to.
"Where the hell am I?" She asked herself out loud.
Not expecting an answer Claire jumped when Alfred Ashford's whiny, unforgettable voice replied.
"You Miss Redfield are at my estate in Cairo."
Claire couldn't believe she had missed him. There sitting on one of the velvet couches was Alfred. His back was leaning lazily against the couch, and he had his legs crossed. His face bore a bored and eerie expression.
"What the hell do you want with me you psycho?!" Claire spat, she couldn't even stand the presence of the sicko.
"Claire my dear, projecting violence is only going to get you know where."
Alfred suddenly got up from his couch and walked over to Claire. He knelt down next to her, his ugly face inches away from hers. Putting his skinny fingers on her chin so their eyes met he whispered to her.
"I only want my sister back."
With that he snapped his fingers, two zombies suddenly stormed into the room. Claire let out a scream, but for some reason the zombies didn't attack. Instead they stood at attention, as if waiting for instructions.
"Take Miss Redfield downstairs," Alfred ordered the zombies, and without a second of hesitation the zombies obeyed.
Claire shouted and screamed as the zombies picked up her chair and started to carry her out of the office and down to the basement, but it was no use. Claire realized there was nothing that she could do, and that made her more scared then she had ever been in this damn war against Umbrella.
AUTHORS NOTE: Since my last story was mostly centered on rescuing Chris I promise Claire's rescue will not take as long. Anyways.thanks to all that are reading, and a special thanks to tek, ScoobySnax1 and Shakahnna. Always, Leah