For the second time in two days, I woke up from unconsciousness. To be frank, I was getting sick of being knocked around like somebody's rag doll. First it was that insane car ride through the city with that skinless monster tearing the car up to get us like a cat on a can of sardines. And now …
Where was I? Somewhere in the distance, I finally took notice of the sound of dripping water. My head continued to throb, perhaps from the sound that had been assaulting my senses for probably quite awhile. And only now I take notice of it? My legs were cold, sending these horrible chills up and down my spine. My body shook for a second, uncontrollably. It was cold here, dark, damp and chilly. The air smelled like a bad rusty bike locked in a shed for decades. I rested my palm on the floor, feeling the dirt. Then I knocked on it, feeling cold metal come into contact with my dry, cracking knuckles. The resounding knock echoed throughout the room – and it sounded like a big room at that.
I rubbed my head painfully trying to recall the events … specifically, what led to me to this place. Ah yes, it was the … what did Ada call it? The Nemesis? Holy shit, Ada! And Billy! Where were they? I twisted my body to prop myself off the ground and my hand accidentally rubbed up against my thigh. Nothing big I know, but the searing pain that erupted thereafter made me wince. It felt like my leg was on fire. Then I remembered the fight with the giant worm, that monster that tried to cut me to into bite sized pieces with the talons that sprouted from it multi-jawed mouth. It only managed to cut my leg, but in this darkness, I couldn't tell how deep the wound was and there was no way in hell I was going to probe it to find out. What if it infected me with its virus? The realization hit me hard. Was I going to turn into one of those mindless, decaying zombies? Thoughts of my family, my friends and my future instantly flashed before my mind's eye and then disappeared as instantly as they came into the darkness. Well, if I was infected, there was nothing I could do to stop it. So I might as well struggle to stay alive.
The lights snapped on suddenly, instantly bathing the room it an intense fluorescent glow. I caught a glimpse of television monitors that covered the entire wall behind me. Every one of the screens displayed nothing but static. As the room curved towards the left, I saw a desk with a typewriter and a large wooden trunk. I had to shield by eyes from the assault of light, but was caught off guard when I heard a voice.
"Who's there?" a familiar voice called.
I looked into the direction of the voice, and I knew it was familiar for some reason. Standing there clad in a blue police uniform, his once perfectly combed brown hair now a disheveled, greasy mess, was Leon Kennedy, the rookie cop. Spatters of dried blood decorated his new, pressed uniform. And the biggest change was the large bandage that wrapped around his upper abdomen and chest. I didn't notice the difference then, I was so glad to see him.
"Leon!" I cried, jumping to my feet. Again, the pain ate into my leg, causing me to stagger for a moment.
"Holy shit, you're alive!" he replied, running over to my aid. "I thought you got were attacked by zombies or something."
"Sorry, I should've stayed in the S.T.A.R.S. office like you told me to but I ran into …" I paused. Billy mentioned several times about his reluctance to entangle himself in the affairs of cops. Now would be a good time to adhere to his wishes, especially since he saved my life on numerous occasions tonight already.
"Ran into what?" Leon asked looking puzzled. "Did you find any other survivors?"
"No," I said. "I … um … I got bored and decided to walk around for a little. Then I saw a couple of … uh … those monsters and freaked out, so I ran."
Leon was looking at me suspiciously as I stumbled over my own words. Now I've done it. I've lied to a cop and he's going to charge me for bearing false witness against a figure of authority. We learned about that in class … how it was punishable by fines that, me, a starving student, couldn't afford to pay. Was jail time involved? I couldn't remember. Now I was wishing I had paid more attention in class.
"So you ran all the way over … here?"
I nodded rapidly. "Yeah, all the way over here. It's big, it's metal, so it should keep all the monsters away until help arrives."
Leon took a step back and stood up straight, pushing his chest out as he frowned at me. "First of all, no help is ever going to come. The entire city itself is in quarantine. Do you think they'll come to our rescue when there's potential for such a contagious virus to spread? Scientists themselves know nothing of it, so the government isn't taking any risks."
"Oh …. Well I …"
"Secondly," he said, cutting me off, "do you have any idea where this is?" I shook my head. "We're in one of Umbrella's underground labs. I had to take a platform elevator to get here. Did YOU take the elevator to?"
"Um … not exactly …"
"If you're going to lie to me, at least do a good job of it," he said sternly. Oh no, he was starting to sound like one of my teachers. Leon heaved a sigh and tenderized his tone. "Look, I'm trying to help you out of this mess. It is my job as a police officer to protect the innocent. But I'm not going to be able to do my job if you're gonna run away from me. Now I want your co-operation. What are you doing down here?"
"Hold on," I said, putting up my hand. "You're not going to charge me for lying …?"
"There are a few more serious things we need to worry about here," he replied. "Now answer my question.
"I don't know," I said. "Honestly, I don't know how I got here. In fact I just woke up right before you got here, inside this huge metallic room."
"You were sleeping?"
"No …" I answered sheepishly. "I was attacked."
"Ah ha! The truth comes out."
"Are you going to let me finish?" I snapped.
"Alright, I'm sorry. Continue, please."
"I left the precinct through the front doors and made my way over to this clock tower." I was careful to try and refrain from mentioning Billy. "There were people there."
"There are more survivors?"
"Yeah, and we should go and get them," I suggested.
"No," Leon shook his head. "The clock tower is far from here and we're in a pretty desperate situation ourselves."
"We?"
"Oh, that would be me, Claire, Sherry and Ada."
"Ada?!" I cried in instant recognition. "You know that woman?"
"You mean, YOU know her?" he asked me, equally surprised.
"Yeah," I said. "She was the woman that helped me and Bill … I mean she helped get away from the chapel. Not that I wanted to leave the other survivors but there was no time. We were in the middle of a zombie attack. And then there was the giant worm, and the Nemesis …"
"Jesus, what the hell kind of monsters are out there?" Leon said in amazement. "This hellhole just doesn't let up does it? And who's Bill?"
"Nobody, I just bit my tongue." Leon just glared at me.
"If whatever you're hiding is serious enough, you know I'm not gonna hesitate in charging you, right?"
"Alright," I sighed, giving in. "His name is Billy Coen. He's a convict on the run and the only reason he came into this city was to rescue Becky. But she's not here, she's in Europe. So the two of us teamed up and tried to escape the city."
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know. I'm trying to find out where I am, even. After the Nemesis attacked us, I just blacked out, probably knocked unconscious from the blast. The thing had a freakin' rocket launcher on its arm."
"Heh, sounds like something a kid would make up," Leon scoffed. Then he looked at me strangely. "Nevermind."
"Hey, you've seen the bullshit out there," I said in defense. "You know that in this place any fucking thing is possible."
"I guess. But you know … this is a survival mission we're on. Anything goes here, so do you really think I'm going to arrest you people? Even this … Billy you speak of. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be too busy uncovering Umbrella's plot to the government, than be worried about some man who's wanted elsewhere …"
"Umbrella's plot?" I asked. "The pharmaceutical company has a plot?! Ha! You make them sound evil or something."
"You're not going to believe this, but I think it's for your own benefit that you know. Umbrella is responsible for spreading this virus."
"What was it? An experimental antibiotic that kills people?" I joked.
"This is serious," Leon said. "I'm searching this place for evidence … and a way to escape. There's a train platform if you go through these doors in the room next to this one. But the doors won't open without a MO disk, and I'm trying to find that disk. I'm gonna go look for it now and I want you to STAY HERE."
"Alright," I replied, "scout's honor."
"Good." He began to walk away, his feet clanking on the metal floor. The echoes they produced made me feel like I was going to be alone again. The only company I had in this world of monsters was leaving me. There was a sinking feeling in my gut, but I pushed it down, putting my full trust in Leon. He and his gang of survivors were gonna come back for me, and we would get out of here alive. The door closed with an electronic hum and I was alone once again in the cold metal room. Click!
"You told him about me."
"Holy shit, Billy!" I jumped. "It's good to see you're …" It was Billy alright, coming inside the room from the opposite end near the typewriter just as Leon was heading out. Only this time, he wasn't so friendly, holding a handgun aimed at my forehead. "Listen, I had no choice. He was a police officer! I can't lie to them! I'm even lucky he's letting me off and …"
"The point it, he knows about me now," Billy said walking closer with his gun. I instinctively put my hands up. He pressed the barrel of the handgun, to my forehead and leaned in closer to face me. "Bang."
I jumped, realizing then that my eyes were closed tightly. I opened them, to see him with a childish mischievous grin spread across his face. "You're such a wuss."
"What? I don't understand."
"I heard it myself, he's not going to arrest anyone. Besides, I was beginning to realize that if want to make it out of here alive, we need to stick together. Ada told me about Leon. I'm beginning to think this cop is our only hope out of here."
"Where is Ada?"
"Right here," she said, walking up from behind Billy.
"What happened to us? How did we get here?"
"We took the sewers to get here," Billy said. "We narrowly escaped the Nemesis. And the only person to be injured was you. Knocked out cold from the blast. So we hauled you over here."
"But why here?"
"I need to be here. I'm looking for my boyfriend," Ada replied.
"Leon, he's …"
"It's not Leon and he's here, I know," Ada nodded.
"Then why aren't you with him?"
"I have some things to take care of," she replied quickly. "Take this." Ada held out her hand and presented a disk to me. "I want you and Billy to use this disk and get out of here."
"What about you? And Leon?"
"I'll get us out of here, don't worry. There's more than one MO disk, you know."
Billy took the disc out of her hand and pocketed it. "Come on, squirt, we're getting out of here."
"But Jill and Carlos are at the clock tower."
"Listen, if this Jill is the same S.T.A.R.S. member you speak of, then don't you think she's got a better chance of surviving than we do? Come on, this is our best shot we've got at getting out of here alive!" He grabbed me by the collar – typical Billy style – and dragged me out of the room, the same way Leon exited.
I looked back at Ada who glared back at us with an evil smile on her face, holding her pistol close to her chest, rubbing the barrel with her well manicured fingers.