Resident Halo

Chapter Three

Earth Calendar January 25, 2553.
New Mombassa, Earth.
Umbrella Corporation Secret Underground Research Facility "The Hive".

Neo with his pistol drawn, activated a handheld flashlight, and with a strip of adhesive, attached it to his M6C. He swept the area of darkness to make sure it was clear, and listened carefully. No moans, no figures, no bodies; it was clear. He helped Reaver, Kamos, Sparks, and Lockley get down into the tunnels.

"You'd think with an underground facility you'd need more underground tunnels…" muttered Reaver. Neo lifted a finger to his lips to silence him. Sparks looked at her watch.

"We need to move. This is a big base, and we don't know how long it will take to get back up top," she said. Neo nodded, and led the way. As he walked further into the tunnels, he wondered about Sparks: it had been a while since she was bit, and Neo wondered how long it would take the Virus to affect her. Neo shrugged, unless they found an anti-virus or something, they'd have to deal with her eventually. Neo slowed his pace till he was alongside Reaver, and let Lockley lead the way.

"Since you seem to know so much about the Virus, do you know where an anti-virus would be?" asked Neo.

"Why?" asked Reaver. "My fiancée is dead, and I don't think I'll need it for anyone else."

Neo pointed to Sparks. 'That's why."

Reaver slapped his forehead. "Of course," he said. "I forgot she was infected. If we have enough time, I'll try to get the Anti-Virus." Neo grinned. Good, he thought. I might be able to save myself some ammo. A soft moan filled the silence of the tunnels, and the whole group stopped, weapons drawn. Neo examined his surroundings. The tunnel kept on going for what seemed like forever, and there were a few ducts on the side of the tunnels and… Neo paused. He thought he saw some shadows moving in the ducts.

"Lockley!" Neo shouted, aiming his M6C at the duct. "Watch out!" Lockley turned towards Neo with a look of confusion when dozens of hands reached out from the duct and grabbed Lockley.

"Lockley!" shouted Reaver, Kamos, and Sparks, and the three tried to push away the hands that were sticking out from the duct. There was to many, and Lockley was dragged up into the vent, screaming. The remote dropped from his suit, and Neo grabbed it.

"Come on!" yelled Neo. "He's a goner, we need to get out of here!" Sparks hesitated, but Kamos, who was holding Sparks, dragged her with him as he ran. Reaver and Neo chased after Kamos, ignoring the dozens of zombies popping out of nowhere. The three kept running and running until they reached a door that lead upwards.

Neo ran ahead of the group, and kicked the hatch open, and rolled out, pistol ready. Nothing. Sparks, Reaver, and Kamos jumped up, and Neo slammed the hatch shut, and locked it. The zombies moaned angrily and slammed on the hatch. Neo examined his surroundings once more. It looked like a research room, with all the chemicals, computers, and cameras in the room.

"Ah," said a voice. Neo aimed his pistol at the source. "I see your still alive…Well, most of you."

"Shadow," said Sparks.

"Yes," Shadow said from the loudspeakers installed in the room. His figure appeared on a miniaturized projection platform. His red eyes glared at Sparks menacingly. "You are in the Viral Research Room. This is where the T-Virus was kept, and the incident was released." Neo looked around once more, and noticed the bodies of the dogs. He grinned; he knew he had been in here before.

"What!" shouted Reaver. "Then if the virus is here…" and he ran to another chamber of the room, searching.

"You are almost out of this facility, but you are about to meet the most deadly of creatures in this facility," said Shadow. His dark wings were extended from his robe, and he hovered off the platform by an inch. "I can stop the creature, but there is one condition."

"What?" asked Reaver, coming back into the chamber.

"One of your group has been infected," said Shadow. "I can't allow her to leave. Kill her, and I'll let you all leave."

"Give us a moment," said Neo.

"Of course," responded Shadow, and he disappeared. Neo looked around the room, the anti-virus had to be here.

There was a small chamber a few dozen meters away from Neo, but it was in another section of the room, a section where the water hadn't finished clearing out; which was waist deep now. Neo jumped into the water, and wadded over to the chamber. A small viral containment chamber, with holes for to stick gloved hands was in it. Neo peered inside the chamber. Nothing. Neo cursed, and continued searching.

Shadow's hologram flashed to life, and he spoke. "If your looking for the anti-virus, it isn't here," Shadow said.

"How do you know?" asked Neo.

"My sensors do not indicate the anti-virus, it must have been taking away earlier when the incident was released." And as Shadow finished his sentence, Kamos pulled out an M6D pistol. It was different from Neo's that it fired stronger bullets, and had a small scope attached.

"Your right," Kamos said. Neo's hand motioned for his pistol; Kamos aimed his pistol at Neo. "Don't even try it. You maybe a former crack Marine, but you won't be able to dodge bullets." Kamos grinned. "Yeah, I released the T-virus. Caused all this." He motioned all around him with his free hand.

"Why!" demanded Reaver.

"Because," said Kamos. "I'm part of The Organization, just like you. Your methods weren't enough. The press wouldn't believe it if you gave them a sample of the virus. So me, and the others, we decided to do the most direct action possible. Right now, the other two Hives are suffering similar outbreaks. Umbrella will have to take direct action, and the UNSC will bring them down."

"Why were you still here then?" asked Neo. "Why were you on the train?"

Kamos' face was flushed with anger. "This bastard here detected me before I could get out, and gassed me on the train. But it doesn't matter. Soon, I'll be out of here, and the only other witnesses of this will all be dead. Consider yourself fired, Reaver."

"Where," stammered Sparks. "Is…The…Antivirus?" Sparks felt the life, and will, drain out of here.

"On the train," said Kamos. "With a few samples of the T-virus, just incase." And Kamos exited the room, through the only other exit, and a flash of gunfire sparked outside the room. Reaver ran up to the door.

"Dammit!" he shouted. "He shot the locking mechanism out. I can't believe he's going to get away with this!"

"I don't think so," said Shadow. Reaver turned around in surprise. "What? Forget about me already? He's about to get some company."

-

Kamos walked out of the main Hive entrance, a look of victory and triumph on his face. He was about to climb onto the train, and unlock the doors when…movement caught his eyes. He turned, and aimed at the source with his M6D.

A massive brown-red creature that looked like a cross between a giant human and a dog leapt down from the ceiling, and with its massive claws, sliced open Kamos' chest. Kamos screamed, and fired the entire magazine into the creature. It recoiled, but bit Kamos in the chest. Kamos screamed again, and fell to the ground, blood oozing out of his chest.

-

"Did we really need to see that?" asked Reaver, looking away from the view screen on the wall.

"What the fuck is that?" asked Neo.

"It was one of our earlier experiments," said Shadow, sounding pleased. "Produced by injecting live Flood cells, and the T-virus directly into living tissue. The results were unstable… Now that this creature, codenamed 'Licker' by the Hive, has fed on fresh DNA, it will mutate into a stronger, faster being."

"Great," muttered Sparks.

"If you knew it was loose," said Reaver. "Then why didn't you warn us?"

Neo glared at Shadow's hologram. "Because," he said, "he was saving it for us. Right?"

Shadow laughed. "'You are a smart human indeed. If you weren't going to die, I might respect you. I didn't think any of you would make it this far. Not alive that is."

"Why didn't you mention the anti-virus to us earlier?" asked an angry Sparks.

"Because, after being infected this long, I didn't think that the process could be reversed."

"But it can, right?"

"I don't deal in chances."

Sparks pulled out her pistol, and aimed it at the glass window, that was riddled with ax marks. "Fuck it," she said, and she fell to her knees, and glanced at her watch, which read less than 20 minutes. Reaver ran up to the door, and typed away rapidly on the keypad.

"You require the access code," said Shadow. "I will give it to you, but I still cannot let this woman leave here. The chances the anti-virus will work are small, and I am not allowed to take that chance. Kill her, and I'll give you the code."

Sparks tossed Neo her pistol. "She's right. You're going to have to kill me."

"No," said Neo.

"Otherwise we all die!" Shouted Sparks. The Licker, blood still fresh on his hands, walked up to the weakened window, and started ramming it with his face.

"The glass is still strong, but it won't last forever," said Shadow.

"Kill me!"

"No!"

"You have no choice."

And these three lines were shouted over and over, as the Licker pounded into the glass. Neo aimed his pistol at Sparks, then at Shadow's hologram projector, and fired three rounds into it. The hologram flickered twice, and died. Reaver grabbed the remote that Neo had, and slammed the button down. The power in the facility died, and the lights shut off.

The three looked up to the window, as the ramming sound stopped; the Licker was gone. Reaver opened the door, and the Licker had rammed the window once more. "Move!" shouted Neo, raising Spark's pistol, and pulling out his own.

Reaver grabbed Sparks, and got out of the room, Neo close behind. The Licker penetrated the glass, and roared. Neo closed the door, and locked it. The Licker jammed its claws into the door, and attempted to smash his way through.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted Neo. And the three ran.

-

After a short sprint, the group arrived at the train. Blood decorated the wall next to the train, as Kamos' mangled body lay on the ground, next to the case with the anti-virus. Reaver entered the train, and placed Sparks body on the ground, stepping over Kamos' corpse. Neo reached over to pick the case up, but Kamos' eyes opened, and he reached out, trying to claw Neo. Neo backed off in surprise, but leveled his pistol at Kamos head, and pulled the trigger. Neo stepped over his corpse, and took the silver case, and walked onto the train, and sealed the doors shut.

The train sputtered to life, and moved. Neo opened the case, and pulled out an injector, and loaded up the green anti-virus. He injected it into Sparks' neck, and she fell asleep. Neo gasped, and slowly, in surprise, reached out for the M6C pistol, that he had deposited next to the case. He hesitated, and put a finger around the trigger, but Sparks grabbed for it suddenly.

"I'm not dead yet," she said. Reaver, who was watching the two, grinned, and suddenly, large claws ripped off the part of the train he was standing next to. He rolled to the left, and pulled out his pistol. Neo aimed his pistol at the Licker, who was jumping from side to side on the train, ripping off pieces of armor. Reaver jumped back into the compartment that Neo was in, and slammed the meter thick door shut.

The Licker, which resembled a dog, more than a man now, ripped of the roof of the car, and jumped down. Neo pulled out an SMG as well, and fired from both guns. The bullets penetrated the head, but the Licker seemed more irritated than hurt. The Licker extended his two-meter long tongue, and grabbed Neo's leg.

Reaver ran to the back of the train, and pulled open the cargo doors, which dropped open, and the Licker, tongue still attached to Neo, fell down. Neo pulled out a small hunting knife, and stuck the Licker's leg into the armor of the train, and scrambled away. The Licker caught on fire from the friction of being dragged at rapid speed, and it's corpse dropped away on the tracks.

Reaver heaved a sigh of relief, but was quickly grabbed around the neck by Sparks. Reaver put an arm around Sparks', but was bit. Reaver yelped a scream, and back-kicked Sparks away. Her face was pale now, and her eyes had turned bright blue. She hissed. Neo pulled up his hunting knife from the train, and threw it at Sparks. It hit her squarely on the head, and she fell back, dead.

Neo dropped to the ground, and sighed. Reaver ripped of a piece of his shirt, and tied it around the wound, and pulled out a fresh injector from the case, and injected himself with the anti-virus. "I hope this works," he said. "Because it sure didn't work for her."

Neo smiled grimly. "She had been exposed for hours. You've been exposed for minutes. It might work."

"I hope so," said Reaver. "Because I plan on having kids sometime." Neo laughed. The train came to a halt, and Neo and Reaver, with the case in hand, walked off the train. They ran the stairs, which lead up to the mansion.

The timer on the walls clicked off numbers: 14, 13, 12… Neo and Reaver made it up the stairs, and inside the mansion as the numbers reached 0. Twenty-meter thick blast doors descended down, and sealed the Hive entrance from the rest of the world.

The two had just walked ten feet when dozens of guns whirled and were pointed at the two. A man in white ODST encounter armor approached the two. "I'm General Ackerson of the UNSC Special Forces, you two are now under arrest."

-

The two were taken outside the mansion, where dozens of Warthogs with the Umbrella Corporation logo waited. A man in a black suit walked up to Ackerson. "We'll take over from here, General." Ackerson nodded, and walked away.

The man walked up to the two. "Well, well. I see two of our employees made it out. I assume the ODSTs were killed?" he asked; Neo, his face contorted in anger, managed to nod. "I see. A tragedy." The man gestured for another man in a sharp black suit, and he nodded, and walked inside the mansion, dozens of armed men following him.

The man in the suit, with Neo and Reaver in tow, walked over to a Warthog -its primary weapon removed-; a man in a type of armor that Neo had never seen was in the driver seat. The suited man got in the passenger seat, while Reaver and Neo got in the back seats. The Warthog's engine sputtered to life, and the car drove off, away from the mansion.

"Where are we going?" asked Neo. The suited man grinned.

"Why, you're going to Boot Camp, of course."