Lost Survivor: Thank you for your encouragement! You're not good for my ego, but I don't mind. I've thought about professional writing before, but I've pretty much concluded it's not something I want to do for the rest of my life. And I have written my own novel, actually – not to brag or anything because it's really no best seller. It can me found on my webpage. The link is in my profile. Thanks again. I hope you will continue to enjoy this story.

E-Z B: Why the long wait? I lost inspiration for this story awhile back, and I'm trying to pick it up again by playing Resident Evil games and reading other people's fanfiction. I don't like starting a story and not finishing it so I'm forcing myself … and trying to inspire myself at the same time so I can get through this. Also, reviews are useful ;) I'm simultaneously working on another story, also on ff.net so that's why I don't update this one as often as I should.

Res1kna4: As above, I will definitely finish this story. I hope you will continue reading and enjoying it.

Flamestrike: See E-Z B.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The ride up the platform elevator was quiet. The electronic hum of the machinery was the only sound audible, save for mine and Billy's calm steady breathing. The MO disk that Ada gave us worked, as she had told us. The disk opened up large metal doors about half a foot thick. It led us to a hallway glowing with red lights, something you'd see in an emergency situation on T.V. At the end of the hall was another pair of doors, this one not as high security as the first, leading to a room full of giant capsules, big enough to fit two grown men inside. They were empty, save for a mysterious clear fluid filled about halfway. I think it was water.

The room had an elevator behind to sliding doors. And it took forever to come pick us up. My stomach was somersaulting waiting for the thing to arrive. I heard something big and heavy walking above our heads, probably between floors, its footsteps sending a little shower of debris onto us. Billy, on the other hand, stayed strangely cool and collected, clutching his handgun like it was his only possession.

So now we were in the elevator. We hadn't said a thing to each other after escaping. I didn't feel good leaving the others back there and I wanted to voice my concerns, but I couldn't quite put them into words. I mean, I was glad to be leaving the joint, but leaving Leon and the others back there didn't sit tight with me. Why would Ada encourage us to go first? I don't trust that woman, I really don't. There's something sinister about her, about the way she walks, acts and talks in this kind of a chaotic situation. She seems too out of place … like she knows what she's doing, like the source of order that does not belong with everything we've experienced so far. And that freaky look with rubbing her gun, grinning like a devil as Billy and I were leaving. Something was really off about that woman.

Finally, after the long, silent ride up to the train platform, the elevator reached its destination. We went from a metallic environment to a stone one. My feet made hardly any sound walking on cold concrete. There was a large train in front of us. Not the high class, passenger kind of train. It was more like a refugee freight train, orange on the outside with black paint along the bottom and a black roof. The escape vehicle looked like something ripped out of Halloween. To the right, the platform expanded to maintenance area separated from us by a gate. To the right, the platform led to a small computer panel. I walked up and inspected the device. It looked like it opened up the gates of the platform that closed it off from a connecting tunnel. A breeze engulfed by body, chilling me once again.

"It smells like fresh air," I said, rubbing my hands together. "You think this tunnel leads outside?" I motioned to the direction of the circular opening in the cracked cement walls.

"I'm betting on it," Billy replied. "Come on, let's get this thing moving."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," I countered. "Ada and Leon will have to use this thing to escape. I say we walk the tunnel."

"There's no telling how long it is."

"I don't care. When they make it out of there, at least they'll have something to ride."

"And what about us? What if we're still walking and they smash us with that train?" Billy was clearly against my idea of walking the tunnel.

I inspected the width of the tunnel, mentally estimating the width between the track and the wall. There was about five feet of space. It looked dangerous - there was no doubt about that. But if we were careful, we'd live. And that's assuming IF the train hit us.

"Come on," I said, jumping down onto the track. "We don't have much time." Billy frowned at me from up on the platform.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he mumbled under his breath. "If anything happens to us, I'll be seeing you in hell." Then he jumped down and joined me on the track. The moment he touched down, the both of us broke into a jog, hoping to reach the end quickly. It was dark in the tunnel, turning quickly to pitch black as we got farther in. We had to slow down in case of debris that we could trip over lay in our path. Our only source of light was what I saw at the end of the tunnel, about the size of a pinhead. But now it was about the size of a dime. We were slowly reaching the end.

"Follow the breeze," Billy ordered. "That'll tell us which way to go."

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, feeling a rumble beneath my feet. "Earthquake?"

"It better not be," Billy said, "after all the shit we just went through we don't need an earthquake."

But our answer came quickly. The breeze stopped blowing directly in my face, but I could still hear it howling through the tunnel. Something was blocking it, something big. I could make out a humanoid figure in a trench coat and instantly my guard went up. The last guy in a trench coat was a fucking monster that tried to blow all of our heads off. This one didn't look as threatening but it was hard to tell in the darkness.

Unexpectedly, I felt a rush of air and I instinctively dropped to the ground and rolled off to the side, feeling airborne bits of stone scrape my cheek. Not a second after I dodged, I could make the outline of a massive fist embedded into the wall where my head used to be. "FUCK!!" I screamed, scrambling to my feet. "Shoot it!"

I didn't even have to tell Billy, he knew what to do. Even as I was screaming, the gunshots were going off, pumping lead into the oversized man's body. My hand brushed up against something cold and hard, like steel. I felt for it desperately, happy to find that it was scrap metal, perhaps leftover from the construction of the rail. Making sure to keep my head below Billy's hail of bullets, I picked it up like a baseball bat and guessed where the giant monster stood. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and swung at the creature's legs. It felt like I was hitting a steel pole with a steel bat. The vibrations ran through my body so violently that it hurt. The monster was going to counter the attack, I knew it. So rolled backwards quickly, wincing as the gravel on the ground dug its way into my back. My instincts were right. The monster stomped down hard, sending a spray of rocks in every direction, rocks that were now not only embedded into my back, but also pelted me in the face. But it was better than being stomped to death I suppose.

"This thing won't die!" Billy shouted over the gunshots. He was right. Come to think of it, the gunshots were still ringing. He never stopped shooting and the monster ate the bullets like it wasn't feeling anything! And then, the bangs were replaced by clicks. My heart simultaneously sank. "Please say you've got more bullets," I prayed quietly.

"I'm out," he announced. "Run for it!" I felt Billy zip past me like a horse and I took off not far behind. I could feel the breeze again chilling my body. I never thought I'd be so happy to feel cold. We'd left the monster behind, but there was no telling how fast it could run if it really wanted us dead. The searing pain in my leg hindered my speed as I struggled to keep up.

"Hold on!" I cried. "My leg …" But Billy paid no heed to my pleas. I glanced behind me to see how close the monster was to catching up. To my surprise, I saw nothing but black, heard nothing but the howling of the wind. The thing wasn't coming after us. I kept jogging for a little bit until I felt it was safe to slow down, until I was sure we left that thing far behind. "It's not coming after us, Billy," I said. By then, he was already a few yards ahead of me. He slowed down and turned to look.

"No shit?" We both looked at each other and laughed nervously.

"Let's not jinx ourselves," I suggested, picking up pace again. The light at the tunnel was now the size of a dinner plate. Freedom was only a few steps away.

But the wrath of the doomed city refused to  let us go, surprising us yet again within a few seconds of our escape. A computerized feminine voice spoke robotically through speakers in the tunnel, rendered invisible by the lack of light. "The self destruct system has been activated. Repeat. The self destruct system has been activated. This system cannot be aborted. Please proceed to the emergency car at the bottom platform."

Billy and I exchanged horrified looks. "The self destruct system?"