New Clues Lead to More Mysteries
Alpha Team
Tiffanie's young face became pale at the sight of the 'lickers' that the members of Alpha Team were now confronted with. Out of all the creatures she had heard about from the stories of Raccoon City, these had scared her the most. While many other creatures were deadlier, the 'lickers' had seemed the most grotesque to her. Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of gunfire as Rick and the others began shooting at the nightmarish grotesques they found themselves up against.
"Tiffanie, stop daydreaming and open fire!" Shouted Rick, obviously in what the team had come to call his 'captain' mode. Rick was usually a laid back person, but in moments such as these, he became deadly serious, and that's why they called it his 'captain' mode.
Tiff quickly snapped out of her fear induced daze and began to fire. They fired round after round, but these monsters were not going down without a fight. So far, they had been lucky, and nobody had been skewered by the lashing tongues of the four 'lickers' they were fighting. After about ten minutes, the battle ended, and the four creatures were finally dead. The battle was over, but the real tongue-lashing was about to begin.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU TIFFANIE!!"
Everyone just stared as Rick began tearing into the young S.T.A.R.S member. Britney was probably the most stunned, as she had never seen this side of the team captain. Tiff just stood there, almost speechless.
"Rick, I...I...I'm sorry, I just freaked."
"You're sorry? Tiffanie, this isn't like you. You are one of the best shots on this team, and you just froze." Rick's voice had softened, and although he was no longer yelling, it was still pretty obvious that he was pissed off.
"I guess I was just scared."
Tiff was on the verge of tears, but Rick wouldn't relent, "You think you were the only one who was scared? We were all scared. Those zombies and dogs we met up with earlier were wusses compared to these things. Everyone was scared, but we didn't freeze up. We can't afford to have anyone freeze in these situations..."
"Rick," Liz interrupted, "Chill out. Everyone's still alive. She came through, so c'mon captain, let it go."
Rick looked at his sister, and relented. "You're right."
After a couple seconds, he turned to Tiff, who had a few tears streaming down her face. When Rick saw this, he remembered that, although she was a valued member of S.T.A.R.S, she was still just a teenager, and he thought maybe he might have been too hard on her, after all, as Liz pointed out, they came out of the ordeal relatively unscathed, and Tiff's brief bout with fear had subsided, and she helped alot in the defeat of the 'lickers'.
"Tiff," he said gently, "I'm sorry. I guess the pressure got to me. I know that's not an excuse, but it's the truth. This is probably the closest any of us had come to death on this field trip to Hell, and I guess I didn't handle it very well."
Tiff didn't say anything, she just looked at him and smiled a little, acknowledging her acceptance of his apology. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last.
"Well," said Ken, standing a few feet away from the group, "I hate to disrupt this little Kodak moment, but we really should get..."
Ken didn't have a chance to finish as he suddenly let out a grunt, as though someone had just punched him in the stomach. The team looked, and they saw his body become stiff, and he looked down, as did everyone else, and protruding from his gut, was the thick, pointy tongue of another licker. Blood spewed from Ken's mouth as the creature withdrew it's tongue, and he fell. At that moment, the Alpha Team saw the culprit. It was indeed a 'licker', but it was larger than the others by at least two feet. It was more muscular, but as they looked, they could see that it was actually a more mutated version of one of the things they had just killed. As they looked on in awe, the old bullet wounds seemed to disappear.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed Joe, who began to fire his M-75 assault rifle. The impact drove the creature back but it kept coming. Rick fired his magnum at the exposed brain, but the creature didn't fall. Instead, it briefly stood up on its hind legs, revealing it's full seven foot height, and swung a well-muscled arm knocking a shocked Rick and Joe back about five feet, and into each other. As they regained their footing, the two men checked for open wounds, but were relieved to see that they didn't have any cuts. They noticed the creature had returned to all fours, and it was poised to strike. Rick fired again, but just like before, the monster still survived. Rick couldn't believe his eyes.
"How the hell is that thing still moving? It just took two shots from a magnum to it's head!"
"It must have mutated somehow, and it must've gained some sort of protection!" responded Joe.
Just then, Tiffanie clicked empty, and as she anxiously tried to reload, the over-sized 'licker' prepared to lash at her with it's piercing tongue. Rick, realizing this, acted quickly. While the monster was distracted, he took careful aim at a different target, the creature's left eye. He fired, hoping to disable the creature, but to his welcome relief, the creature howled in pain as the bullet went through it's eye and into it's brain, finally killing it.
As the team recovered from it's latest ordeal, they were joined by Dan and Mike from Bravo Team.
"Jesus, what the hell happened down here? We heard gunfire, and yelling, and more gunfire."
"It's okay now Dan, we met a few new 'friends'."
Mike noticed Ken's corpse. "Holy crap! What did this?"
"Lickers," responded Rick. "We ran into a dog that had just lost it's owner. Apparently, victims of the monsters themselves. Next thing we knew, we were being attacked."
To everyone's surprise, Rick left out the part about Tiff's freeze-up, as he explained the details of the past 20 minutes. The subject of the yelling Bravo Team had heard was apparently forgotten.
"So, did you guys find anything else?" asked Mike.
"No." Joe answered.
"We did. While we were waiting for some info from you guys, we did a little exploring, and about 50 yards away from the rope ladder, there was a large lift, you know, the kind used for raising and lowering equipment to and from a gorge, like this one."
Liz looked at her cousin Dan and asked, "Why would anyone need such a lift around here?"
"Well, Ken said this place was used for a TV show, right?" asked Tiff, "So maybe that's why it was here."
"It's possible," said Dan, "But what TV studio uses equipment from a place called Gen-Tech, short for Genetic Technologies?"
"Gen-Tech? You think this mysterious company may have something to do with this problem?" asked Rick.
"Perhaps, but I've never heard of it." Responded Dan.
"Alright. Dan and Mike, go back up to your team, and head up the trail. We'll explore down here, and see if we can find something about this Gen-Tech."
"No way, cuz'. We're not leaving you guys this time. You guys almost got killed down here, and you did lose Ken."
"Look, Dan, I understand your concern, and it's appreciated. The thing is, Bravo Team needs it's leader, and if something happens to us Alphas, then you guys need to continue this investigation."
"Understood. We'll contact the home base as soon as we return to the top, and let them know what we found. Maybe the sheriff can shed some light on this matter. In the meantime, take care of yourselves. If, at anytime, you feel the need for back-up, contact us, and we'll high-tail it back here to bail you guys out."
"Deal." Rick responded, and the two shook hands, then Dan and Mike headed back.
"Alright Alphas, let's move. We've got an investigation to run."
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A/N
Alright! Another chapter finished. Let me know what you guys think!
Alpha Team
Tiffanie's young face became pale at the sight of the 'lickers' that the members of Alpha Team were now confronted with. Out of all the creatures she had heard about from the stories of Raccoon City, these had scared her the most. While many other creatures were deadlier, the 'lickers' had seemed the most grotesque to her. Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of gunfire as Rick and the others began shooting at the nightmarish grotesques they found themselves up against.
"Tiffanie, stop daydreaming and open fire!" Shouted Rick, obviously in what the team had come to call his 'captain' mode. Rick was usually a laid back person, but in moments such as these, he became deadly serious, and that's why they called it his 'captain' mode.
Tiff quickly snapped out of her fear induced daze and began to fire. They fired round after round, but these monsters were not going down without a fight. So far, they had been lucky, and nobody had been skewered by the lashing tongues of the four 'lickers' they were fighting. After about ten minutes, the battle ended, and the four creatures were finally dead. The battle was over, but the real tongue-lashing was about to begin.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU TIFFANIE!!"
Everyone just stared as Rick began tearing into the young S.T.A.R.S member. Britney was probably the most stunned, as she had never seen this side of the team captain. Tiff just stood there, almost speechless.
"Rick, I...I...I'm sorry, I just freaked."
"You're sorry? Tiffanie, this isn't like you. You are one of the best shots on this team, and you just froze." Rick's voice had softened, and although he was no longer yelling, it was still pretty obvious that he was pissed off.
"I guess I was just scared."
Tiff was on the verge of tears, but Rick wouldn't relent, "You think you were the only one who was scared? We were all scared. Those zombies and dogs we met up with earlier were wusses compared to these things. Everyone was scared, but we didn't freeze up. We can't afford to have anyone freeze in these situations..."
"Rick," Liz interrupted, "Chill out. Everyone's still alive. She came through, so c'mon captain, let it go."
Rick looked at his sister, and relented. "You're right."
After a couple seconds, he turned to Tiff, who had a few tears streaming down her face. When Rick saw this, he remembered that, although she was a valued member of S.T.A.R.S, she was still just a teenager, and he thought maybe he might have been too hard on her, after all, as Liz pointed out, they came out of the ordeal relatively unscathed, and Tiff's brief bout with fear had subsided, and she helped alot in the defeat of the 'lickers'.
"Tiff," he said gently, "I'm sorry. I guess the pressure got to me. I know that's not an excuse, but it's the truth. This is probably the closest any of us had come to death on this field trip to Hell, and I guess I didn't handle it very well."
Tiff didn't say anything, she just looked at him and smiled a little, acknowledging her acceptance of his apology. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last.
"Well," said Ken, standing a few feet away from the group, "I hate to disrupt this little Kodak moment, but we really should get..."
Ken didn't have a chance to finish as he suddenly let out a grunt, as though someone had just punched him in the stomach. The team looked, and they saw his body become stiff, and he looked down, as did everyone else, and protruding from his gut, was the thick, pointy tongue of another licker. Blood spewed from Ken's mouth as the creature withdrew it's tongue, and he fell. At that moment, the Alpha Team saw the culprit. It was indeed a 'licker', but it was larger than the others by at least two feet. It was more muscular, but as they looked, they could see that it was actually a more mutated version of one of the things they had just killed. As they looked on in awe, the old bullet wounds seemed to disappear.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed Joe, who began to fire his M-75 assault rifle. The impact drove the creature back but it kept coming. Rick fired his magnum at the exposed brain, but the creature didn't fall. Instead, it briefly stood up on its hind legs, revealing it's full seven foot height, and swung a well-muscled arm knocking a shocked Rick and Joe back about five feet, and into each other. As they regained their footing, the two men checked for open wounds, but were relieved to see that they didn't have any cuts. They noticed the creature had returned to all fours, and it was poised to strike. Rick fired again, but just like before, the monster still survived. Rick couldn't believe his eyes.
"How the hell is that thing still moving? It just took two shots from a magnum to it's head!"
"It must have mutated somehow, and it must've gained some sort of protection!" responded Joe.
Just then, Tiffanie clicked empty, and as she anxiously tried to reload, the over-sized 'licker' prepared to lash at her with it's piercing tongue. Rick, realizing this, acted quickly. While the monster was distracted, he took careful aim at a different target, the creature's left eye. He fired, hoping to disable the creature, but to his welcome relief, the creature howled in pain as the bullet went through it's eye and into it's brain, finally killing it.
As the team recovered from it's latest ordeal, they were joined by Dan and Mike from Bravo Team.
"Jesus, what the hell happened down here? We heard gunfire, and yelling, and more gunfire."
"It's okay now Dan, we met a few new 'friends'."
Mike noticed Ken's corpse. "Holy crap! What did this?"
"Lickers," responded Rick. "We ran into a dog that had just lost it's owner. Apparently, victims of the monsters themselves. Next thing we knew, we were being attacked."
To everyone's surprise, Rick left out the part about Tiff's freeze-up, as he explained the details of the past 20 minutes. The subject of the yelling Bravo Team had heard was apparently forgotten.
"So, did you guys find anything else?" asked Mike.
"No." Joe answered.
"We did. While we were waiting for some info from you guys, we did a little exploring, and about 50 yards away from the rope ladder, there was a large lift, you know, the kind used for raising and lowering equipment to and from a gorge, like this one."
Liz looked at her cousin Dan and asked, "Why would anyone need such a lift around here?"
"Well, Ken said this place was used for a TV show, right?" asked Tiff, "So maybe that's why it was here."
"It's possible," said Dan, "But what TV studio uses equipment from a place called Gen-Tech, short for Genetic Technologies?"
"Gen-Tech? You think this mysterious company may have something to do with this problem?" asked Rick.
"Perhaps, but I've never heard of it." Responded Dan.
"Alright. Dan and Mike, go back up to your team, and head up the trail. We'll explore down here, and see if we can find something about this Gen-Tech."
"No way, cuz'. We're not leaving you guys this time. You guys almost got killed down here, and you did lose Ken."
"Look, Dan, I understand your concern, and it's appreciated. The thing is, Bravo Team needs it's leader, and if something happens to us Alphas, then you guys need to continue this investigation."
"Understood. We'll contact the home base as soon as we return to the top, and let them know what we found. Maybe the sheriff can shed some light on this matter. In the meantime, take care of yourselves. If, at anytime, you feel the need for back-up, contact us, and we'll high-tail it back here to bail you guys out."
"Deal." Rick responded, and the two shook hands, then Dan and Mike headed back.
"Alright Alphas, let's move. We've got an investigation to run."
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A/N
Alright! Another chapter finished. Let me know what you guys think!