Cora pushed one of the doors to the labratory open tentatively. It
fell to the floor with a loud bang, causing Cassandra to flinch.
"It's okay." Cora said. "I don't see anyone inside."
Alexia swept past the two, leaving them no choice but to follow. The halls were empty for now, but bloodstains on the walls and corpses flung about randomly ensured that there were monsters about.
"Do you think any are left?" Cora asked Cass.
"Possibly. But if they were programmed to kill, they might have just turned on eachother." Cass stepped over a corpse as though it was just a log. She was as coldly impervious to the bodies on the floor as Alexia, but the idea of a monster attacking them seemed to terrify her.
Alexia turned into a small laboratory, then smiled. There was a metal table with unbuckled strapas. Cora shuddered.
"Shouldn't we find somewhere else to go?" she asked. "This place gives me the heebie jeebies.
Alexia struck like a snake. She spun smoothly, and there was a loud 'crack!' as Cassandra fell to the groud like a limp rag doll.
"Now that that troublesome worker ant is incapacitated..." Alexia said. Cora was backing away, gun raised.
"What the hell are you doing?" Cora asked. She shook from head to foot. Alexia again struck swiftly, and before Cora knew it there was a needle in her neck.
She let out a piercing scream, which Alexia did not seem to mind. Like her companion, she crumpled into a pile. Yet she twitched violently, her voice rising and falling in gibberish mixed in with pleas and yelps.
Alexia merely lifted her up like a doll, strapping her to a gurney and removing the syringe. She then sat down to wait. She could not help giggling, no matter how foolish it sounded.
"That was ... exhilerating." she whispered.
*
Amelia Merandez had fallen behind the others. Her gear was heavy, her legs felt like lead.
"Cora!" she cried desolately. "Wait for me!"
She turned a corner, hearing soft laughter behind a closed door. She flung her weight at it, enough to throw it open and to break the lock. Ignoring the shooting pains in her shoulder, she darted in. Cora turned her head to the side, it was all she could move, strapped to a large metal table as she was. She had no pupils, and she was soaked in sweat, her skin stretched like parchment over her bones.
"Funcione, hermana! ¡Funcione! ¡Consiga lejos! ¡Por favor!" Cora screamed. Run, sister. Run. Get away. Please. Begging, and begging in her native language.
"What did you do to her?!" Amelia screamed. She had thought that she was out of tears, but more were streaming down her face.
Alexia Ashford stood calmly, ignoring the screams of the Merandez sisters. For a moment, brown eyes met blue one. Then, an enormous blast of fire formed out of Alexia's wrist, knocking Amelia back out into the hall.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
Cora, for a moment, seemed almost about to break free form her bonds. Just for a moment. Then she let out a sob and relaxed, shaking with sobs.
"Amelia?" Cora's voice shook violently. "Amelia?!"
There was no answer except for the blood pounding in Cora's ears.
"She's unconscious." Cora said the words softly, but she knew they were not true. "No. Please, God, no. She was just a kid! She'll never go to the prom ... never get married ... never have a kid of her own ... she could have..." tears spilled out of Cora's eyes as she rambled on half coherently. Then she seized on one thought that seemed to give her life.
"You killed her." the words were a soft murmur, rising quickly. "You killed her you killed her YOU FUCKING KILLED HER YOU BITCH! AMELIA! NO!" The shrieks went on and on, spreading through the halls.
Alexia calmly took another needle out of her pouch, striking Cora again. But the virus in her blood stream fought the sedative.
¡Perra! ¡Asesino! ¡Matanza de I'll usted!" Alexia understood the Spanish as well as she did her native language of English. 'Bitch! Murderer! I'll kill you!'
"¡Ella wasn't que va a lastimarle! ¡Ella era mi hermana! ¡Usted es una mujer muerta, Alexia! ¡Usted me oye?! ¡Muerto!" Cora shrieked, before slumping against her bonds and crying uncontrollably. The virus was reacting, the Spanish was a sign of that. 'She wasn't going to hurt you! She was my sister! You are a dead woman, Alexia! You hear me?! Dead!'
Alexia had been dead once. No more. She would live in glorious radiance. The world would be hers, the Queen Ant.
*
Birkin heard the shrieks first. Pleas for help. Threats. Accusations. Even Hojo and Catherine heard them.
"What's going on in there?"
"Alexia!" scowled Birkin. "It's preposterious! She's ... she's sabotaging the mission!"
"Oh." Catherine didn't seem fazed.
"That sounds like Cora!" Hojo said. There was shock in his voice. Shock and fear. He bolted inside of the lab. "Cora! Cora!"
"That cretin!" Catherine muttered, swiftly following him. Or at least, she would have been swift if she didn't keep on stumbling.
*
Chris and Claire followed their guide. He seemed to take great pride in telling zombies that they were ugly and disgusting, as well as the fact that he wouldn't lay them even if they were human.
"Why are we following him, again?" Claire asked.
"So we don't get lost in the the forest and killed by a monster?"
"I think I'd prefer the monsters to him. He tried to grab my ass."
Chris' face steadily darkened, and he raised his gun. Before Claire could stop him or before Chris could shoot Salven in the back of the head, screams burst through their conversation.
"Woah." Salven said at the Spanish that was echoing down the halls. "She's pissed."
"What is she saying? What the hell is going on?" Claire asked. She had moved slightly closer to Chris and there was fear battling determination on her face.
"Eh, the regular 'you killed her so I'll kill you you bitch.'" Salven shrugged it off. Then slow recognition dawned on his face. "Hey! That's Cora! I can't screw her if she's dead!"
And with that, he bolted off. Chris and Claire hurried after him.
"What ... the hell is this ... all about?" Claire gasped.
"I don't even want to know.
*
Catherine and Hojo burst through the doors.
"Aha!" Hojo said dramatically, pointing a finger angrily at Alexia, who was sitting there patiently. Catherine was staring at Cora.
"That's fascinating." she whispered. "The way you have injected her with ... a new virus? A variation of the T-Veronica?"
"Catherine!" Hojo hissed. "She's EVIL! As in, you shouldn't be marvelling over her scientific achievements when she IS KILLING PEOPLE LEFT AND RIGHT!"
Catherine's only responce was a cool glare. Alexia stood up, smiling slightly. Not a friendly smile either, a malicious, comtemptious smile.
"You entertain thoughts of ... rescuing your friend?" The look on Alexia's face said that she would not do the same thing. "It is too late. I would continue on with your little mission." she smiled again, an even nastier smile.
Hojo opened his mouth, but he never got the chance to finish. William Birkin, face flushed with the exertion of running her so quickly, entered the room.
"Spencer. Hojo. Leave." he said in the voice that had made him infamous as 'Slavedriver Birkin' so many years ago. "Now. I will settle this trifle with Miss Ashford."
"It's okay." Cora said. "I don't see anyone inside."
Alexia swept past the two, leaving them no choice but to follow. The halls were empty for now, but bloodstains on the walls and corpses flung about randomly ensured that there were monsters about.
"Do you think any are left?" Cora asked Cass.
"Possibly. But if they were programmed to kill, they might have just turned on eachother." Cass stepped over a corpse as though it was just a log. She was as coldly impervious to the bodies on the floor as Alexia, but the idea of a monster attacking them seemed to terrify her.
Alexia turned into a small laboratory, then smiled. There was a metal table with unbuckled strapas. Cora shuddered.
"Shouldn't we find somewhere else to go?" she asked. "This place gives me the heebie jeebies.
Alexia struck like a snake. She spun smoothly, and there was a loud 'crack!' as Cassandra fell to the groud like a limp rag doll.
"Now that that troublesome worker ant is incapacitated..." Alexia said. Cora was backing away, gun raised.
"What the hell are you doing?" Cora asked. She shook from head to foot. Alexia again struck swiftly, and before Cora knew it there was a needle in her neck.
She let out a piercing scream, which Alexia did not seem to mind. Like her companion, she crumpled into a pile. Yet she twitched violently, her voice rising and falling in gibberish mixed in with pleas and yelps.
Alexia merely lifted her up like a doll, strapping her to a gurney and removing the syringe. She then sat down to wait. She could not help giggling, no matter how foolish it sounded.
"That was ... exhilerating." she whispered.
*
Amelia Merandez had fallen behind the others. Her gear was heavy, her legs felt like lead.
"Cora!" she cried desolately. "Wait for me!"
She turned a corner, hearing soft laughter behind a closed door. She flung her weight at it, enough to throw it open and to break the lock. Ignoring the shooting pains in her shoulder, she darted in. Cora turned her head to the side, it was all she could move, strapped to a large metal table as she was. She had no pupils, and she was soaked in sweat, her skin stretched like parchment over her bones.
"Funcione, hermana! ¡Funcione! ¡Consiga lejos! ¡Por favor!" Cora screamed. Run, sister. Run. Get away. Please. Begging, and begging in her native language.
"What did you do to her?!" Amelia screamed. She had thought that she was out of tears, but more were streaming down her face.
Alexia Ashford stood calmly, ignoring the screams of the Merandez sisters. For a moment, brown eyes met blue one. Then, an enormous blast of fire formed out of Alexia's wrist, knocking Amelia back out into the hall.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
Cora, for a moment, seemed almost about to break free form her bonds. Just for a moment. Then she let out a sob and relaxed, shaking with sobs.
"Amelia?" Cora's voice shook violently. "Amelia?!"
There was no answer except for the blood pounding in Cora's ears.
"She's unconscious." Cora said the words softly, but she knew they were not true. "No. Please, God, no. She was just a kid! She'll never go to the prom ... never get married ... never have a kid of her own ... she could have..." tears spilled out of Cora's eyes as she rambled on half coherently. Then she seized on one thought that seemed to give her life.
"You killed her." the words were a soft murmur, rising quickly. "You killed her you killed her YOU FUCKING KILLED HER YOU BITCH! AMELIA! NO!" The shrieks went on and on, spreading through the halls.
Alexia calmly took another needle out of her pouch, striking Cora again. But the virus in her blood stream fought the sedative.
¡Perra! ¡Asesino! ¡Matanza de I'll usted!" Alexia understood the Spanish as well as she did her native language of English. 'Bitch! Murderer! I'll kill you!'
"¡Ella wasn't que va a lastimarle! ¡Ella era mi hermana! ¡Usted es una mujer muerta, Alexia! ¡Usted me oye?! ¡Muerto!" Cora shrieked, before slumping against her bonds and crying uncontrollably. The virus was reacting, the Spanish was a sign of that. 'She wasn't going to hurt you! She was my sister! You are a dead woman, Alexia! You hear me?! Dead!'
Alexia had been dead once. No more. She would live in glorious radiance. The world would be hers, the Queen Ant.
*
Birkin heard the shrieks first. Pleas for help. Threats. Accusations. Even Hojo and Catherine heard them.
"What's going on in there?"
"Alexia!" scowled Birkin. "It's preposterious! She's ... she's sabotaging the mission!"
"Oh." Catherine didn't seem fazed.
"That sounds like Cora!" Hojo said. There was shock in his voice. Shock and fear. He bolted inside of the lab. "Cora! Cora!"
"That cretin!" Catherine muttered, swiftly following him. Or at least, she would have been swift if she didn't keep on stumbling.
*
Chris and Claire followed their guide. He seemed to take great pride in telling zombies that they were ugly and disgusting, as well as the fact that he wouldn't lay them even if they were human.
"Why are we following him, again?" Claire asked.
"So we don't get lost in the the forest and killed by a monster?"
"I think I'd prefer the monsters to him. He tried to grab my ass."
Chris' face steadily darkened, and he raised his gun. Before Claire could stop him or before Chris could shoot Salven in the back of the head, screams burst through their conversation.
"Woah." Salven said at the Spanish that was echoing down the halls. "She's pissed."
"What is she saying? What the hell is going on?" Claire asked. She had moved slightly closer to Chris and there was fear battling determination on her face.
"Eh, the regular 'you killed her so I'll kill you you bitch.'" Salven shrugged it off. Then slow recognition dawned on his face. "Hey! That's Cora! I can't screw her if she's dead!"
And with that, he bolted off. Chris and Claire hurried after him.
"What ... the hell is this ... all about?" Claire gasped.
"I don't even want to know.
*
Catherine and Hojo burst through the doors.
"Aha!" Hojo said dramatically, pointing a finger angrily at Alexia, who was sitting there patiently. Catherine was staring at Cora.
"That's fascinating." she whispered. "The way you have injected her with ... a new virus? A variation of the T-Veronica?"
"Catherine!" Hojo hissed. "She's EVIL! As in, you shouldn't be marvelling over her scientific achievements when she IS KILLING PEOPLE LEFT AND RIGHT!"
Catherine's only responce was a cool glare. Alexia stood up, smiling slightly. Not a friendly smile either, a malicious, comtemptious smile.
"You entertain thoughts of ... rescuing your friend?" The look on Alexia's face said that she would not do the same thing. "It is too late. I would continue on with your little mission." she smiled again, an even nastier smile.
Hojo opened his mouth, but he never got the chance to finish. William Birkin, face flushed with the exertion of running her so quickly, entered the room.
"Spencer. Hojo. Leave." he said in the voice that had made him infamous as 'Slavedriver Birkin' so many years ago. "Now. I will settle this trifle with Miss Ashford."