Chapter 6
Risky Business
David King wasn't having the best of days. What had originated as an ordinary call into the Apple Inn had ended in a sickening display of gore. His head was throbbing, sweat was pouring off his dusty shoulders, and it took every last ounce of energy in his aching body to push through the inferno that was once Raccoon's premiere lodge.
He leveled his nine millimeter pistol at the rotting skull of the carrier in front of him.
"See you in hell…"
KABLAM!
The decaying human took the bullet between the eyes and a spray of red and globs of pasty brains spattered against the cheap wallpaper behind it. The monster slid down the wall and crumpled to the floor, dead.
David walked forward and pushed the door open to the Security Office. Finally, he felt as though he could take a breath of fresh air. He hadn't been able to feel like that in… well, since before this mess had happened.
David looked around the ordinary room and pulled a broom out of a maintenance closet. In a simple motion, he snapped it in half.
Now…I need something heavy…
His carpentry and handy man skills were coming in handy. Still dressed in his yellow work clothes, David felt dirtier than ever. But it never seemed to bother him. Even in this burning hotel, David still felt eerily comfortable. Tensions were rising and it seemed as though he was the only one still alive in this mess.
But who's luckier… me to still be living? Or them…for not having to witness this shit…
It was a question he had been asking himself for quite some time now, and he was getting tired of it. He knew one thing, and that was he had to get out of this place alive. He wasn't done living yet.
Out of the corner of his eye, David spotted something he could use. There was a small cinder block in the left corner of the room, by what seemed to be a thick sliding door. There was a statue with an indentation in it… and then it hit him.
The red stone I found in the upstairs bedroom…
His past had come back to haunt him in this mess, and the shimmering ruby he had discovered upstairs had found its way into his pocket. But for some reason, his gut told him it belonged in that statue…
David took the cinderblock and wrapped a thick wad of duct tape to attach it to the broken broom handle. He had created a nice weapon for himself…heavy, but still worth breaking a few skulls with. David placed the red jewel in the head of the statue, and to his awe the sliding door began to move, dust falling from the ceiling.
Light and heat entered the room almost immediately, and David found himself in the Apple Inn front lobby. He wasn't the only one who had made it here though…
The red monsters… the lickers… tons of them. Why here?
David took the chance and pressed forward, sweat beads rolling down his temples and dripping down to his shoulders. The evil grin of the monsters were no match for his hammer, and the instant the first licker moved towards him David came down on its exposed brain, and with a loud thud, the licker was alive no more. It's body, nothing more than a mound of flesh and mangled tissue, writhed and squirmed before a gush of blood erupted. The monster slithered into its final pose and died.
"Easy…"
David was getting hot. The entire room was coated in flames. His eyes were burning from the heat and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He coughed and gagged from the intense smoke, but knew that the exit was just a few yards away.
By the time he had made it to the escape ladder, two more lickers had faced their gory deaths and David was feeling more and more relieved.
"Almost there…" he puffed as he made his way to the exit.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
Something up above…
"Fuck it…" he grunted. He had no time to waste; he wasn't going to make it much longer in this place. He trudged forward, the hallway's heat intensifying on his flesh.
Cshhh!
The ceiling tiles above him hit the floor and dust erupted everywhere, to reveal the body of what seemed to be a woman with dark black, singed hair. She was just hanging there…limp…
"What the hell…?" David asked out loud, "Hey! You! Are you okay?"
His voice was raspy, and since this mess he hadn't done much talking. His own voice started to sound strange to him…
"Hey! I'll get you down from-"
-and then the woman's body snapped backwards and David saw what it truly was. It was the mother licker, the reason why all the others were congregating. She was bigger than the others, with the strength and stamina of ten of her children… David cursed himself for being so eager to get out…but he had no choice.
David took his first swing.
…meanwhile, at the Clock Tower…
"Well what are we supposed to do? He's been bit. He can't stay with us."
Alyssa knew the way she sounded came off rough and tough to take…but she wasn't going to keep a carrier with her. George Hamilton was a great doctor. Nevertheless, he would be nothing more than a burden if he was to become a carrier.
Her instincts told her that it was the right thing to do…to get him as far away from them as possible, or possibly even…
"-look…I'll be fine. Back at the hospital there's a supposed cure for this cannibal disease… it's in one of the basements. There's a base formula and a few other ingredients, but they're all in the Raccoon Hospital, not far from here. If we make it there, we can fix this mess…" George pawed at the wound in his neck.
"Fine." Alyssa agreed, trying to sound optimistic, "But George… if things get bad…" she stepped closer to him, "I won't hesitate to kill you."
…elsewhere, at the Dead Factory…
Ada Wong slithered down the side of the Raccoon City Dead Factory. She was trying to collect data samples for Wesker, but in her attempt to be stealthy and agile she had accidentally released the Drain Demon's and Brain Suckers…
Smooth move, Ms. 007…
She cursed herself for her inane actions prior to this little excursion. Dressed in a black cat suit with weaponry strapped to every inch of her, Ada knew that she would be prepared for anything that would get in her way. But the business at hand… Wesker's plan was deceitful, wicked and wrong… but it was cold hard cash. Should she feel guilty? She didn't. Work was work, and money was money. That's what she cared about, after all.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Her radio was receiving a transmission. She pressed the receive button and listened carefully to her instructions.
"Have you collected the T Sample."
Wesker…
"I've got the T Sample. I'm still working on obtaining the G Sample, the T-Blood and Nemesis parasite…"
"I've just gotten word that old bastard Spencer has activated the Eliminator program, so be on your guard."
"Wesker, dear, do you really have to tell me to be on my guard? After all, this isn't my first mission for you, is it?"
"I knew I could count on you."
Ada landed on bridge near the dead factory. Water gushed below her and she was distracted by the cool night air. After Wesker's 'death' at the Spencer Mansion, she had felt an uneasy alliance grow between them. For some reason, she felt like he really trusted her, and she felt the same way about him.
"Don't worry about the Nemesis parasite, unless for some reason the project is aborted or slain. It would be too dangerous to try to obtain."
"Alright, then I'll keep working."
"Good. I'll contact you as soon as word comes in about the status of the G Virus. Contact me as soon as you discover that reporter, Ben, in the Raccoon Police Station basement holding cells. I'll be waiting."
Ada put the radio back in her side pouch. In her backpack was a form fitting red dress she would wear when she made it to the police station. Her cover up story was that she was looking for her boyfriend John, but in all truth she needed information out of the reporter, so that she would be able to document more on the T Virus. Everything seemed to be going as planned.
Retrieving a semi automatic pistol from her hip, Ada loaded the weapon and opened the steel double doors to the Dead Factory, unknowing of the dangers that lie in the days ahead.
…meanwhile, at Birkin's Laboratory…
Annette Birkin finally made it back to her husband's laboratory. She stepped into the Resting Station near the turn table. It had been a hike after the spies had nearly gotten the virus. She lay down on the crunchy, plastic coated black bed in the dank, empty room and drifted slowly to sleep. Her head was killing her. She held the dangerous G-virus close and prayed to God that her daughter, Sherry, was safe. That's all she wanted, truly. That, and for her family to be together again. Dreams filled Annette's mind and her troubles disappeared.
…meanwhile, in the RaccoonCity streets…
The hospital was close enough to the clock tower that they would make it in a few minutes. The clock tower was empty for the most part. They had seen nothing, but Yoko felt that there were monsters lurking around every corner. She had found a pistol in the hands of a dead soldier, and a packet of bullets which she put in her backpack. Together, Mark, Alyssa, George and Yoko trudged forward to the hospital.
Once outside, they walked through an alley way full of fuel canisters and dangerous gas tanks. To the left was the Raccoon City Hospital, still lit up with the luminous sign in front. The sign read "hospital", but as typical as it was to feel safe when one heard that word, for some reason Yoko felt uneasy. There seemed to be something haunting about this place.
To the right was the Raccoon City park, and Yoko could only dream of the terrors that hid in the trees. The howls of monsters in the night began to eat at Yoko's soul, and she began to feel extremely uneasy. She stopped walking.
"Hey there…" Mark stopped, his burly figure illuminated in the night sky, cold wind blowing against his face making him shiver, "Let's get going."
Pressured into continuing, Yoko moved. Something about this hospital though…something felt disturbing. She knew they were getting themselves into something terrible…but she didn't have the heart to tell her comrades.
TO BE CONTINUED!
