Chapter 9

The Exterminator

Monica thought it was strange how suddenly the lab seemed to turn completely icy. Then, as she began to think about what she was doing, it didn't seem too unlikely that betrayal was too far out of the question. But who? Who would try to freeze her to death in the lab? As far as she knew, there was no one left alive in the desolate experimentation chamber, hidden miles underneath Raccoon City.

Clutching the G Virus embryo in her hand, she raced back from the frozen solid platform to try to turn the heat back on in the control room, a few floors up. Monica knew she didn't have a whole lot of time before she too would become a block of ice with as cold as things had gotten. It seemed as if things had dropped below freezing point in a matter of seconds.

But as she got to running, things started to race throughout her mind. Who had she double-crossed during her time working with Birkin? The man was dead, she was sure of it. But his wife…

"Annette…"

And almost in the same second that she came to the realization of who had tried to seal her fate, the electronic door in front of her slid open, ice falling to the floor, revealing the woman she knew to be the cause of her icy surroundings, with a gun leveled directly at her chest.

…meanwhile, at the Raccoon City Police Department…

Kevin and Cindy opened the front gates and stepped outside into the brisk, but cool night air. Cindy felt chills go down her spine, the sounds created by the monsters in the night making her sweat. She tried to brush it off but she couldn't, and after the chase with the woman with the gun, Cindy didn't know what to expect. She felt bad for slowing Kevin down, and probably keeping him from catching the woman, but she didn't want to feel alone. She had felt that way for long enough.

"We should just keep moving, there's nothing left for us here. There's a small delivery shaft below where we are standing right now that leads into the underground parking garage. We can probably find a car there that we can drive out of the city." Kevin said, sounding confident of their situation, "Maybe if we get far enough away from here, we can find someone who can help us. Sound like a plan?"

He asked as if Cindy had any chance of saying no. What did she have to offer to this pairing anyways? He was the one with the gun; he was the one with the athleticism that provided their small chance of survival. She was just the young waitress who happened to become attached to him.

Attached? You're starting to sound like you're developing feelings for him…

Cindy couldn't deny that she appreciated all the things that he had done for her. He had saved her life, helped her find shelter and therefore kept her alive in this burning city. She owed him her life.

Cindy nodded her head in agreement to Kevin's plan and ran softly behind him, through the oriental courtyard and down a small flight of steps, into a small space no wider than 2 feet.

Into the darkness again, she thought softly to herself, story of my life…

…elsewhere, at the Umbrella Research and DevelopmentCenter, in Downtown Raccoon…

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

David came down hard on the chin of a carrier, blood spraying neatly across an Umbrella logo painted on the wall. With a sudden CRACK, the head of the zombie exploded in an array of guts, and David dropped the piece of timber he had been swinging to the ground. He looked at the man he had just rescued, Carter, and helped him up.

"You alright buddy?" He said, as he picked the man up off his feet. He was an Umbrella Researcher, one of high status, as David could tell from his ID tag.

"Yes sir! Thank you, I owe you one." Carter said, smiling. His dorky glasses and neat hair cut gave David the impression the man didn't get out much, and therefore was pretty much harmless. But still something made him uneasy about his character, and David couldn't help but keep an eye on him.

As David began to investigate the rest of the room they were in, the front sliding doors opened, a rush of cool air entering the room. A black woman came in, and David instantaneously grabbed the timber off the ground and readied an attack.

"Wait!" Carter jumped in front of the woman, "She's a human!"

David stopped.

"Carter!" the woman said, sounding as if she was in surprise he was still alive, "Where were you when the evacuation chopper arrived? I told Rodriguez to wait for me back there. Do you have the sample on you?"

"The Daylight sample? No, I don't… but I'm sure there's another capsule in the lab. We just need to get over there and get it, shouldn't be too hard." Carter smiled, "Then we can get out of here."

She looked at David, "Care to introduce me to your friend?"

David grunted at his new companion, "David." He said, introducing himself and extending his hand.

"My name is Linda. If you want to survive you should stick with us." She sounded confident as she walked past him, and headed for a door at the end of a long hall.

David stopped to look at her, and felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Finally, someone else steps into the role of leader, he thought. He felt like he could finally breathe again.

…high above the city streets, in a helicopter carrying a large package…

"We've almost reached the drop zone sir," the pilot stated, "Dropping the package in 3…2…1…"

The pilot pressed a small button on his console and the hooks carrying the Exterminator released, the package exploding mid air to drop the bio weapon naked into the streets of Raccoon.

Poor bastards, the pilot thought to himself as the gargantuan creature began it's descent on the city, God bless the souls of those who have to face off against that thing…

…meanwhile, on the city streets outside of the Hospital, near the Park…

"What do you think that chopper was for?" Mark asked, still gazing at the sky. He was losing hope fast. That was the fourth chopper he had seen that wasn't meant for rescue. He was almost positive that he wasn't going to make it out of the city alive. He had made it through Nam, but a city crawling with mutated beasts and monsters that feed on the flesh of the living? He didn't think so…

Thud… thud… thud…

"I have a feeling we're about to find out." George mumbled, stepping backwards towards the park. There were footsteps, and a large shadow descending on them. It was coming from the hospital's direction.

"Shit…" Alyssa said shakily, becoming increasingly uneasy.

Mark grabbed a hold of his pistol and aimed.

"You folks get a move on, I'm gonna-"

Sssssss! THUD!

A high pitched slithering noise was heard and Mark's voice cut short, his group stood around him mortified. A tentacle had shot long range from around the corner and lodged through his skull, slamming hard into the brick wall of the Clock tower behind them.

"Oh God!" Alyssa screamed.

Mark stood still, blood trickling down the middle of his face where the tentacle was still suspended. He stood perfectly still, and then the gun dropped from his hand. The thick tentacle didn't move, instead it just writhed inside of Mark's skull, holding him up.

And then, in what seemed like a fraction of a second, it retracted and flew neatly back around the corner of the Hospital. Mark stood still, and then suddenly dropped to the ground, blood and gore spewing from the thick hole in his head.

Alyssa and Yoko were screaming; George was standing still. All of them were staring at the elderly man's slumped over body in the middle of the street. The silent assassin that had gotten him, the Exterminator, had taken its first victim. Mark was dead.

…just a few feet away, still on the RaccoonCity streets…

Alyssa stood in utter shock. But she knew that her life depended on getting out of there as fast as she could. She ducked and rolled for Mark's fallen pistol and stood up again.

"Let's go! Into the park!" She screamed, and suddenly she felt a WOOSH of air. Instinct told her to drop, and she did, just in time to see three razor sharp objects fly through the air and smack against the same wall that the tentacle had lodged. The bricks crumbled on impact, and Alyssa knew it was time to move.

She grabbed Yoko's arm and motioned for George to follow. She raced up the marble steps, and grabbed the metal door handle to the gated Raccoon City Park. She swung it open and rushed inside, Yoko and George at her sides. She felt terrible leaving the dead security guard behind, but if she wanted to live she knew that she had to keep moving. Whatever that thing was back there, it was out for blood. Her blood.

They turned a few corners of a dirt path and Alyssa came to a rickety old suspension bridge.

KACHANK!

"Shit! It's here!" Yoko screamed, and Alyssa turned around to see a huge creature come barreling around the corner at incredible speed.

It was at least seven or eight feet tall, obviously of some kind of Tyrant origin. It was completely muscle, his ripped torso coated with bullets and ammunition for the array of guns strapped to its legs. It was wearing what looked like a pair of thick, black cargo pants and combat boots. It was completely pale, its skin a dark gray shade with purple veins and bulging muscle. It was bald, with beady black eyes and thin lips. The strangest thing about the creature was a pair of wings on its back, giving it the ability to fly. The thick tentacle thing seemed to be wound up in a cavity in its chest, still bleeding from taking the life of Mark.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Alyssa screamed, holding up both pistols.

She didn't care. She just knew it needed to die.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

She let off about ten rounds into the creature before it leapt into the night sky. Alyssa turned her head up just in time to see it extend its wings, spreading them about ten feet wide as it glided through the air, doing a helix with a backdrop of the moon. As it was finishing the loop, Alyssa felt she knew what it was going to do next.

"Get out of the way! Now!"

It headed straight for the ground, arms pointing downward. It smashed into the dirt just as the trio leapt onto the suspension bridge. The posts holding the bridge up ruptured and sent the group sliding down into the river. Alyssa felt as if time was running out, because on top of everything now they would have to wade through waist deep water to the river's edge to get out. The Exterminator would have plenty of time to plan and execute it's next attack.

But then something miraculous happened. Just as Alyssa thought everything was over, the ground that the Exterminator had smashed began to rise again, and another one of Umbrella's bio weapons emerged from the earth. The Grave Digger, a large worm like monster, rose to full height and opened it's giant mouth. The Exterminator had awoken it from it's deep slumber, and the Grave Digger would have no mercy.

The Exterminator jumped to the side as the Grave Digger slammed it's teeth into the dirt in hopes of taking a bite out of its prey. Alyssa, Yoko and George wasted no time. They emerged from the water and climbed out onto the other side of the river. Leaving the demons to fight, they raced against time to the other side of the park and headed into the darkness, unaware of the terrors that lie ahead. The Exterminator wasn't finished with them yet.

TO BE CONTINUED!