Author's Note: The Umbrella facility in this story is styled after The Hive in the first Resident Evil movie. Thanks to Jediferret for acting as my beta reader and making sure I don't stray from the RE universe.
Disclaimer info is in Chapter 1. Same review info as the last chapter, please review but absolutely no flaming. Thanks
Italics denotes thought
Chapter 3
Janus turns to the doctor, her features tightly controlled to hide her confusion. "I wanted to look at it."
"You promised not to touch anything." Dr. Marks whines as her panic melts into resignation. "No one touches the sample, not even me, without special permission. The vial is rigged to keep anyone from trying to steal it. By touching it you've set off the facilities defense system."
"It's only an alarm." Janus' forehead wrinkles as she frowns, her confusion increasing.
Dr. Marks realizes something for the first time. "You're not with Umbrella. If they had sent you, you'd know about the failsafe."
Janus shrugs, she wants to continue her mission and this is taking too much time. "True. I was sent to expose your research and destroy this lab."
"You'll never make it out alive." Dr. Marks sighs heavily and explains, "The defense system releases the tG-virus into the facility's ventilation system. By now, everyone here is infected, including you." She shouts with renewed energy, "You've killed us all!"
"Why would they do that?" Janus asks, her brow furrowing again.
Dr. Marks sits on a lab stool and rubs her forehead. "After the incident in the Hive, they wanted to be sure no one could betray them. Solution, unauthorized personnel touch the sample, they kill everyone."
Janus huffs, "Sounds like overkill to me."
"This is a very fast-acting virus. I can already feel the effects." Dr. Marks answers her weakly. Her skin has taken on a gray pallor and she basically looks as if she's at death's door. "Within moments the weaker staff will die and reanimate to feed on those left."
Dr. Marks drops to the floor and her assistant, Gregory, runs to her side.
Janus nods in Dr. Marks' direction and asks Gregory: "Dead?"
He nods in response. Taking out her shotgun, Janus stands over Marks' corpse and fires a round into her head.
Gregory abruptly sits back on the floor with a thump. He and the floor are covered in blood and gray matter. In his shock he manages to stammer, "Why…why did you…?"
Janus doesn't even look at him as she pockets the sample and pumps another round into the shotgun's chamber, ejecting the spent cartridge: "You'd rather I left her to come back and eat you?"
He looks into her cold, emotionless face, searching for even the smallest sign of compassion. He finds none. "You're crazy."
She ignores his comment, "What's the lifespan of the airborne virus before switching to blood transmission?"
Gregory begins shaking in shock and fear. The realization that he's going to literally drop dead at any second has finally dawned on him. He sounds tired as he answers, "5 minutes."
Janus glances at him from the corner of her eyes and asks, "And what's the longest anyone's lasted before succumbing to the virus?"
"7 minutes." Gregory replies.
"So, I guess the question is," Janus responds, her voice is level with a hint of sardonic humor, "do I wait here until you die and shoot you, or leave you and hope you don't come after me?"
Gregory doesn't answer as he surrenders to the virus.
Janus says to no one in particular as she plants a 12 gauge round in Gregory's brain, "It seems I didn't need to ask."
Janus searches the rest of the lab and finds nothing helpful until she gets to the main computer terminal. She reads from the screen:
You're request for a demonstration is approved. The specimens have been released into the arena. As always, you may view the demonstration from the observation deck.
With the required information in her possession, the only thing left is to set the facility's self-destruct system and get out before it blows. Janus leaves the lab to find the computer she needs.
Ada arms herself as she enters the hallway. Sirens and flashing lights in an Umbrella lab usually indicate something will eventually find you and try to kill you. She jogs down the corridor toward the main lab where the sample is stored. About halfway there she begins to hear the all too familiar moans of the undead. Edging around the corner, she finds herself in a long hallway with glass walls on either side. The walls look into four different labs.
In each lab are between five and seven staff members, at least half of the facility's staff. Most of the staff has turned into the zombies she remembered from Raccoon City. A few are still human, lying on the floor, either dead or dying. In one lab, one person is still very much alive and runs to the glass. Her pounding draws Ada's attention and she could see the silent plea for help in the woman's eyes. The marks on the woman's body bore evidence that she had been attacked and Ada considers her already dead. She's infected and will eventually fall victim to the virus. As Ada reaches the end of the hall she hears a crash in the one lab followed by a woman screaming.
Whatever was released, it was done recently.
A familiar feeling begins to form in the pit of her stomach. The sensation is just like the one she experienced in Raccoon when she realized the possibility of her own infection.
I died once before and, as Wesker once told me: Death is unimportant.
She pushes the feeling aside as she moves through the next corridor. She passes a room marked R&D.
Where there are zombies, there are monsters. Let's see what they've been up to.
Ada enters the room and checks for enemies. Seeing none, she goes to the computer and searches for files on their experiments. Unconsciously, she begins humming a song she had heard earlier as she searches. Scrolling through the files, she sees one marked 'Bior'.
Bior for Bio-Organic Weapon?
She uploads the file to her PDA and scans the information.
Usual suspects. Hunter, Cerberus, Licker, and oh goody, a Tyrant.
Reading further reveals a disturbing difference between these BOWs and the ones she's fought before. The virus they used gives these creatures electrical properties. They can shield themselves from most conventional weapons meaning, she's a good as defenseless against them. Only one weapon will work; a charged particle rifle.
Maybe they were good enough to leave one just lying around for me to find.
Searching the lockers inside the room offers nothing useful so she leaves. The thought of being confronted by one of the creatures practically unarmed is disturbing and yet, her mission is her foremost concern.
Sitting around waiting to die will get you nowhere.
She finally reaches the main lab and goes in. She finds two dead bodies, their heads basically blown all over the floor. She scowls as she looks into the empty lab refrigerator.
Someone else has been here and they have the sample.
Her only option is to track down her fellow intruder and take the sample from them, by force if necessary.
To Be Continued…