Chapter 5
Bloodhound
Bright yellow sparks flew from the metal wheels of the old fashioned and rusted cable car as it raced along its tracks, heading towards the old Clock Tower station. Yoko, Alyssa, Mark and George sat quiet; knowing the possibility that they wouldn't survive this ordeal was growing with every passing second.
Sweat was forming on Alyssa's upper brow and lip. She writhed underneath her tight fitting maroon business suit, anticipation filling her every nerve. Underneath one of the seats Alyssa had found a .44 Magnum Revolver, left probably by a military unit that had obviously used the cable car before they had been there…
You know that from the body in the next car…
When she had gone into the next cable car to check for supplies, she had found the corpse of a young soldier, part of his throat gouged out…the thought made her cringe.
…and the thought that you might not live to see tomorrow, isn't that much worse? Keep calm, Alyssa, just breathe…
But there was a feeling in her gut that told her that she might not make it to tomorrow, and she couldn't shake that. Something was going to happen…she could feel it.
CLANK! CLANK! CHK! CHK! CHK! CHK!
Suddenly there was a noise on the roof of the cable car, and Alyssa immediately sprung to her feet. Desperately frightened, the others stood up as well, bracing for whatever could possibly have latched itself to their means of escape.
You're the only one that knows about Umbrella's concoctions…think about what it could be. A Hunter? Chimera? One of the 'inside out men'? What could it be?
"What is it?" Yoko moaned anxiously. She had retrieved the taser weapon she said she found back home, crackling noises of electricity being omitted from it, "Alyssa?"
"Quiet!" she snapped, thinking to herself.
Another T Virus creation? That thing that came from the capsule back by the newspaper building? A Tyrant?
The noises began again, and then suddenly Alyssa felt some kind of pressure, pushing against her face and her bones and everything around her. She felt like she was on a roller coaster, but…this was different.
Like you're being crushed…pressure…from where though?
Then there was a crack in one of the windows…
Oh God…they're gonna break!
"Get down!"
CSHH! CSHH! CSHH! CSHH!
Everyone dropped to the floor as soon as the first window caved in, glass shards flying everywhere and anywhere. Alyssa didn't know what had told her to hit the floor, but something did…and she was glad. One by one, each window caved in and sent splinters of sharp glass into the interior of the cable car.
"What was that…what did that?" Mark shrieked as the last window was destroyed, unaware of the danger that still lurked above him.
CHK! CHK! CHK! CHK!
Alyssa frowned, "I have a feeling we're about to find out."
With that she withdrew the magnum and braced for attack.
George was stunned as suddenly from the front end of the cable car, this thing appeared from nowhere. Small and hunched over like a cat, it was writhing and glimmering in the passing night air…shining with some kind of slime. Then it yelped and squealed, and stretched its paws out in front of it and put its hind legs up in the air.
"What's it doing?" Mark asked, concerned.
"Wait…" Alyssa responded, not sure what to do. She had her gun leveled at it, so George followed suit and did the same.
Suddenly veins began to protrude from its disgusting skin, and its hind legs began to grow. The skin around its body didn't expand, and so it began to rip and tear as the creature's bones and muscle mutated. Its paws sprouted talons that looked like hooks and its tail extended a few feet and lay limp on the ground.
"Back up…" Alyssa said, and so they listened. They backed up to the far wall, allowing the creature to take up the front space. George was terrified…this thing had potential to butcher them one at a time. They were trapped in the cable car; they had no escape while it was still moving.
It continued to shape shift, now the size of a panther. Its face resembled nothing familiar anymore; instead it was just a heap of tangled flesh and muscle. Its two black eyes were outlined by bleeding sockets, and its hideous mouth was fitted with razor sharp teeth jutting out of swollen gums. There was no nose on the monster, just slits for nostrils…and all down the monsters back was its rib cage and spine, like an exoskeleton.
But then it did something again to shock the group…
What is that…?
Out of the slits for its nose spewed a greenish yellow liquid, steaming with some kind of gas. As it hit the floor of the still moving cable car, it began to erode the surface away until there was nothing left at all, and you could see the moving tracks below.
"Acid…" Yoko shrieked, pressing her back firmly against the wall in terror.
"Alyssa, what do we do?" Mark cried, noticing that the clock tower was only a few hundred yards away.
We won't make it in time…this thing will be on us before we make it to the station…
Without hesitation, Alyssa responded.
"Kill it."
Claire Redfield hadn't heard from her brother in days. It wasn't like him to leave her like this, he hadn't sent his weekly checks for her tuition…he hadn't sent her pictures…he hadn't even called. It wasn't like him to do this.
After the Spencer Estate mission though…its not like Chris to be like himself period…
Claire had made up her mind. After her finals this week, she would take a trip down to Raccoon City to see her brother. She wanted to make sure that everything was okay. She had tried to call into town but there had been no answer. It was always…busy.
And the news reports hadn't said much about Raccoon City lately. She was in New York, and Raccoon was only a few hundred miles away, but ever since earlier that year the news had been covering the cannibal reports pretty frequently. Except lately Raccoon City had seemed to have just…fallen off the earth.
Shaking the thought off that her brother wasn't okay, Claire went back to her studies. In a few days she would go to Raccoon. She wanted to see Chris. She was sure he was okay. Raccoon City was okay. She was sure of it.
Sure of it.
The cable car was slowing. Yoko didn't know what to do. The monster in front of her, this Eliminator, was coming fast. Every time it seemed to breathe, the acid would shoot from its nose and litter the floor. It was literally disintegrating its surroundings as it moved, bathing the walls and the seats in the steaming liquid.
Oh god…I don't want to die here, not like this!
Just as the thought left her cluttered mind, a brilliant idea sprung into her head.
There were oil canisters, for refills to the main tank, sitting underneath one of the seats. Yoko crouched down and grabbed the closest canister as Alyssa and George were peppering the monster with rounds.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The monster wasn't even being phased. It kept creeping forward. Yoko assumed its slow speed was due to its recent transformation from the small cat creature to this massive, lion-like thing that now was upon them.
Don't assume…you'll be lucky if this works…
She untwisted the cap, and suddenly the stench of gasoline filled the air. Alyssa saw her but didn't have time to ask what she was going to do. Yoko started to cover the floor in gasoline, trying so hard to coat the floor in the region the monster was coming. The Eliminator still didn't slow its pace as it continued its stead fast approach. In just a few seconds it would be on top of them.
The cable car suddenly came to a screeching hault. Mark bolted to the door and frantically tried to get it open, but it wouldn't budge. The outside lock had been jammed, and there was no way of opening it except to get past the monster or find another way out.
And we don't have time to find another way!
"Hey! The door won't open!"
Alyssa stopped firing for just one second, and threw Mark the broken broom handle that Yoko had made her back in the newspaper building, "Use this!"
Mark caught it, and immediately jammed the butt of the stick into the large glass window of the door, sending glass chunks flying outwards. Mark started to clear the shards off of the pane as fast as he could.
Not fast enough…!
"Hurry, Alyssa! Go!"
Taking her gaze off the Eliminator, she quickly headed for the door a few feet away and with Mark's help, she was able to hoist herself out and fall to the pavement on the opposite side. Yoko could see through the shattered windows as Alyssa stood up quickly and grabbed the latch on the door and slid it open. Mark instantaneously leapt out, gasping as he did.
It was just Yoko and George and the Eliminator in the cable car now.
"George! Go! I know what to do!"
"Are you sure?" George said, slamming his other clip into the pistol.
Yoko nodded her head.
George left without another word. It was just a foot away from Yoko now…
Now it's just you and me…
Yoko stared at the monster. It was looking at her, almost in admiration. Its beady black eyes were bleeding with black and red fluid. It slid forward, its claws grinding on the floor that it had nearly entirely wiped away in its wrath. It seemed to be sweating; a glaze soaked all over its body gave it a glistening feel. It slowed down, making its first real attack on the group…
…on me.
She had no more time to think. This was her only chance.
"Burn in hell," Yoko shouted without a hint of hesitation. As its claw came down, she ducked to the right and hurled the activated taser into the river of gasoline right under the Eliminator. She had a split second to throw herself out the open door as the entire car ignited into an inferno, engulfing the monster in its fury.
Screaming, it was dead.
Kevin burst through the wood double doors that led into the library, and instantaneously he heard gunshots ring out from the third floor balcony over looking the library. He raced for the stairs that led upwards, and just as he did he caught another glimpse of the woman who had attacked them.
Blonde…white coat…black pants…handgun…
He felt as though he was flying as he raced up the steps, and out of the corner of his eye he could see the woman open and shut the door to the wrap around balcony that over looked the main hall. Kevin was going as fast as he could, and when he finally reached the door he could already hear the woman going through another door on the other side.
Im losing her!
Cindy was far behind, probably just coming through the double doors. He had no time to lose, so he continued pressing forward and raced through the doorway; out onto the balcony that over looked the hall. The tile floor underneath him clicks against his flat soled shoes as he ran as fast as he could. This woman knew her way around, he assumed, as she seemed to have a clear pathway that she was following.
Kevin pushed through the only other door on that floor and found himself in the cog room. There was a flight of stairs that had been retracted into the ceiling from the second floor of the room.
She climbed the stairs and while I was chasing her she raised them…
"Damnit…"
She was gone.
Annette gasped.
She had managed to evade the two spies. She had made it to the cog room and jumped through the air chute back into the basement sub levels. She was coughing. She was choking. She was…
…alive! And I still have the G Virus…
Somewhere she had dropped her gun and so she didn't have that anymore, but if she had managed to get away from the Umbrella spies she could surely out run a pathetic zombie. She assured herself that she would be okay.
There was a safe room to her right. She stumbled to her feet and entered it.
The room was undecorated, littered with gardening tools and cleaning supplies, a large chest and a type writer. Annette shrugged off her surroundings and sat on the floor, putting her head in her hands. Her head pounded, and she ached for another shot. But she was too far away from the lab now. She couldn't go back anytime soon. She needed to find William, she needed to find Sherry, she needed to protect the G Virus and she needed to activate the fail safe program…
All before the end of this month. I need to make sure everything goes well, and I only have a few days to do it.
Again Annette fell asleep. This time she prayed she wouldn't wake up.
Paris, France (September 26th)
Deep within Umbrella headquarters, Spencer, the owner and operator of half of the Umbrella Corporation, sits with his hands folded in a dimly lit room. He is disgruntled, old, and grim. Wrinkles line every edge of his pale, oval face. His lips are cracked and he looks unsettled. He should be, as much, since the city in which most of the American based Umbrella operations took place had been officially placed under Martial Law.
A personal assistant approaches him, carefully…
"Mr. Spencer, the government is ready to begin working out the plans for Raccoon City."
"Fine." He grunts.
"Sir…there is a problem…"
"A problem?"
"The first of the Eliminator series is dead."
"What?" Spencer seems shocked.
"It seems that there were survivors of the infection."
"Survivors? Other than the police officers?" He begins to move from his chair.
"Civilians…yes."
"Fine…activate the Exterminator plan. If they make it past those silly blockades the military set up, then Umbrella is finished."
"Done…anything else?"
"Monitor the Nemesis Project; make sure it doesn't end up like the Eliminator."
"Yes Sir…it's all taken care of."
With that Spencer sits back in his chair, and closes his eyes. Everything had fallen apart.
They were in a large courtyard, filled with trees and a large, ornamental statue of a goddess. The water that had once run through it and dripped into the huge pool before the group had dissipated, operating on the electricity that had been cut from Raccoon City.
Crows lined the roof top of the Clock Tower. Cawing in the wind, Mark scowled at them. They're endless cries, no purpose behind them whatsoever.
Stupid bird…
"Listen…" Alyssa said, holding her hand for the group to pause, "Can u hear that?"
Faintly, in the distance, there was the sound of gunfire. Like machine gun fire…
Tattattatataattaattattatatat!
It seemed to be getting louder…
"It's coming from inside the clock tower!"
Just as the words left Alyssa's raspy lips, a barrage of tiny holes burst through the rooftop where the crows had been perched. Bullets came crashing out from somewhere inside and the screams of men could be heard.
Jesus…
Caw! Caw! Caw!
The crows immediately left their perch, some of them dropping like a ton of bricks to the pavement or grass below. Flying randomly around the night sky, the birds began acting erratically and instantly Mark knew they had to get out of the courtyard before…
"Ahhhk!"
A male voice, behind him…!
"Get off of me!" George screamed, and Mark turned and saw one of the birds had come down on his back, pecking deeply into his neck. Mark rushed to George's side as Alyssa and Yoko darted for the large, ornamental doors leading into the interior of the clock tower.
The black bird had pushed its beak and claws deeply into George's skin, blood gushing from a few separate cuts. Mark grabbed the bird by its neck and threw it to the concrete and proceeded to take George by the shoulder.
"Move it!"
Together, the two men rushed for the double doors, held open by Alyssa and Yoko.
God damn crows…what in the world?
George threw himself inside and crashed to the floor, collapsing and grasping his neck, gasping. Mark pushed the doors shut, and stood in pure awe. He pressed his back against the door and slid to the floor, closing his eyes.
Just a bite…or a scratch…that's what the news said…
And George was bleeding.
He was bleeding.
A bite or a scratch, penetrating the surface of the skin and getting into the blood stream. It was a viral infection, infecting the blood stream…
And George was bleeding.
No…he couldn't be…
To Be Continued Soon!
