I don't own Jonny Quest or Resident Evil. I'm writing this just for fun and am making no money from it.
WHEN NIGHTMARES WALK AMOUNGST US
CHAPTER 6
Hadji was alone. He hadn't seen Dr. Quest since they were abducted from the hotel in Chicago. He had no idea where he was, except that he was locked up in a cell. He had examined the small room and found absolutely no means of escape. He had heard the guards talking outside the cell, but they spoke of nothing of value. He decided it best not to try and speak to them, not wanting to set himself up for any type of retaliation. He just sat and hoped that Dr. Quest was alright and that Race and the others would come and rescue them.
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Jade led Race and Jonny down through the far door and down another set of hallways. They spoke very little, keeping their eyes and ears open for any signs of an attack or of Phil and Jessie. However, according to Jade the hallway that the other two were now forced to take led to a different part of the facility. The likelihood of running in to them any time soon was slim.
"This way to the elevator." Jade said matter-of-factly.
As they turned the next corner they were faced with a new problem, a group of no less then eight people, or what had once been people, stood in their path.
"Zombies." Jonny breathed. The corpses milled back and forth. All wore ragged, ripped, and bloody lab coats. One of them spotted the group, led out a low, horrid, moan and advanced. The other zombies did the same.
Race and Jade fired at the same time. Jade's shotgun blasted the first zombie, once a female that was missing half her face and jaw, in the chest; the blast blew a hole right through the creature and it fell. Race fired numerous shots, hitting another two in the chest, one fell, but moments later got up and continued to advance.
"Aim for their heads." Jade said as she pumped her shotgun and fired again.
Race took aim and hit the first zombie between the eyes, the powerful round blew half of its head off and it collapsed. He took aim on the next one and did the same, blowing out its left eye. Jade continued to fire, her shotgun which was ideal for the close quarters they were in. Within a few moments, all the zombies were down and none got back up.
"What the hell were those things?" Race asked.
"T-virus victims." Jade answered; her face grim. "They must have once been researchers here."
"How did they get like that?" Jonny asked, trying not to look at the corpses.
"I can only imagine that Krumlanski released the virus." Jade said.
"Are we in danger of it?" Race asked.
"Not anymore, at least not from it being airborne. It only survives in that state for a day, two at the most. These people have been infected longer then that, you can tell by the decay; now its blood borne. Don't let them bite you. If you're unlucky enough to survive a bite, within time…you'll change."
"Let's keep moving." Race replied. He thought of Jessie and hoped that she was ok. She was in good hands, but how long could just two people last. He was thankful that Phil had taken the grenade launcher; at least they had some extra firepower of their side.
They continued down the hallway, not running in to any more zombies, but staying cautious just the same. When the reached the elevator they saw the controls had been destroyed. Race grabbed the wires and ripped them out of the wall. "Looks like someone wants us to take the stairs."
Jonny pointed at the door in the corner. "That way I bet."
Race handed Jonny the M9 pistol and extra magazines. He instructed him to only use it as a last resort, but knew that each one of them was better off with some kind of weapon. "Which level are the cells on?"
"We need to go down four flights." Jade answered.
"Let's go then." He said as he pushed his way through the door and into a whole new nightmare. The walls were smeared with blood, but there were no bodies to be seen. He raised his rifle as he headed down. "Keep your eyes open. Jade, take up the rear."
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Phil and Jessie had walked through the door and into another hallway. This one was short, with one door at the end on the right. There was also a large hole in the ceiling, presumably where the creature had come from, however it was too high and there was no way to reach it. If he vaulted Jessie up on his shoulders she would be entering an unknown area without him and she didn't have the strength to pull him up behind her. The only option was the door. They headed to it, found it unlocked and entered. It appeared to have been a small research lab. It was litter with debris, more blood on the walls and floor. Large animal cages lined one wall, but they were all empty, a few of the doors broken off, as if what ever had been inside forced their ways out. A large lab table was in the center of the room, it was covered with blood and instruments. No sign of what had been worked on remained. Up against the far wall was a locker next to another door. Jessie headed to the locker, opened it, but found nothing of value. Just a lab coat and some empty folders. There was a small desk that had a phone. Phil reached for it, but it was dead. Upon further examination he figured out it was just an internal system, able to call other rooms, it gave him some hope, but without knowing where Race and the others were, it would do no good. He started rifling through the desk drawers.
"What are you looking for?" Jessie asked.
"I don't know for sure; anything to use as evidence; documents, notes, pictures, anything to bring Umbrella down." He answered, but came up short. He slammed the desk drawer closed and turned back towards Jessie.
"Did you find anything?"
"No, nothing. What now?"
"We keep moving. Maybe if we are lucky we'll find a map or something."
Jessie went and examined the cages. They smelled like dog kennels. "What do you think were in these cages, Mr. Corbin?"
"I hope we don't find out." He responded.
Jessie nodded, "Yeah, me too."
They exited through the far door into a larger room. It was similar to the one they had just left, but off to the right was an operating room, the observation window covered in bloody handprints on the inside. There were two doors to choose from now, one immediately ahead and one off to the left. A low moan came from the operating room, causing them both to turn; Phil had his weapon raised in a heartbeat.
"Stay close." He said as he moved forward towards the room. The automatic door was open, obviously disabled. Directly in front of him he saw a man, or what was once a man. Upon seeing Phil the creature staggered forward, moaning, blood and saliva dripping from its mouth. Phil fired a few shots at the creature, hitting it in the chest, but it continued on. 'What the hell?' He thought and then remembered what Jade had said and he took aim and fired a round into the creature head. The round blew the things head clear off, blood sputtering from its neck. The body fell, twitched and then was still. He slowly approached the door, Jessie in tow. When he reached the door, he attempted to clear the room, but was met by another zombie. The creature lunged for him from the right. Phil pulled back in time, but he had lost his balance and slipped on the blood soaked floor. The creature moved for him again, and he dove forward out of its reach, into the room. "Jessie, stay there!" He yelled, hoping to keep the thing away from her. He jumped to his feet, but the room was small and the thing was on him as he stood. It grabbed for this throat, Phil was amazed at the zombie's strength. He tried to maneuver, to loosen its grip on him; he tried to push away and threw the zombie up against the window, shattering the glass. The thing was back up in a matter of moments, but it held a long shard of glass in its rotten hand. 'Damn, these things use weapons too.' Phil thought as he drew his pistol and took aim. The thing lunged for Phil again, letting loose a load moan as it moved. Phil fired at its head; the zombie's eye exploded as one of the bullets tore into it. The bullet killed the thing, but its forward momentum continued and its lifeless body crashed into Phil knocking him down, with the thing lying on top of him.
Jessie had watched the whole incident, wanting to help, but it was all happening so fast. She saw the thing land on Phil and rushed over to help him get it off. He was pushing the thing up and off of him when she got there and she helped push it to the side. Phil sat up and winced. Jessie looked and saw the shard of glass was sticking out of his lowered abdomen, not good.
"Hold still." She said. She looked at the wound; it didn't appear that the glass had gone in deep.
Phil grimaced, reached down, and pulled the glass out of his body. "Ouch." He said, trying to smile.
"Hold your hand against it to stop the bleeding," Jessie instructed, "I'll try and find something." She ran out and searched the room, coming up short. She had to help him; if he bled to death then she would be all alone. Without asking she went back to the room they had just left, searched all the drawers and luckily came up with a small first aid kit. She ran back and knelt down beside the wounded agent. "It doesn't look too deep. If we bandage it up I think you'll be ok." She said as she opened the kit. She pulled out some antiseptic, made Phil raise his shirt, so she could clean the wound, and dabbed a cloth up against the cut.
He winced as she touched him, "That stings."
"Good, it's supposed to. Guess it lets you know you're still alive." She smiled at him then finished up, securing a sterile bandage over the cut.
Phil stood up, it still hurt, but he'd have to deal with the pain. "Thanks."
"You sure are prone to getting injured." Jessie said, trying to make light of their grim situation.
Phil smiled back at her. "Yeah, I know. Why do you think I sit behind a desk most of the time?"
Jessie laughed, she was glad she wasn't alone in this place. As safe as she would feel being with her dad, she felt just as safe with this man here. "I'm glad you're with me. Glad Jonny isn't here, he'd be freaking out. He's a wuss when it comes to blood and wounds."
"Well, then I'm glad too. Come on. We need to keep going." They moved out into the large room once more; found the far door to be locked, so choose the other door to the left.
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Race, Jade, and Jonny had made it down to level four, only to discover the door was locked. No amount of force would open it. Race felt for sure that they were being led somewhere, like mice in a maze. They moved back up to level three, found the door open and entered. The hallway was barely lit, just red emergency lights that flickered down the hall. Race pulled out a small flashlight, secured it to his rifle and moved on. They crept along the passage, hearing more moaning coming from the end.
"Be ready." Race whispered.
They kept moving and were met by another small group of four zombies. Race fired, taking out three, and Jade took out one. They thought it was all clear and went to move on when they heard cracking noises coming from two of the downed corpses. Before they could react, the chests of the two corpses burst open and what appeared to be large spider like creatures crawled out, moving quickly up the walls. They were the size of small dogs.
"Jesus!" Race cried and tried to track them with this rifle, but they were moving too fast. Jade fired and hit one; it fell to the floor dead. The other had gotten behind them and leapt down onto Jonny's back.
He screamed and clawed at the creature. "Get it off!" He hollered as he whipped about frantically, trying to detach the thing from him. Race ran up to Jonny, grabbed the spider thing off of the boy's back and slammed it against the wall. The spider let out a cry as Race dropped it and crushed it beneath his boot, green ooze sticking to the bottom. Jonny was sitting on the floor, tears running down his face.
Jade knelt next to the boy, trying to comfort him. "Jonny, its ok now. It's dead, Race killed it."
Jonny hugged his knees against his chest, traumatized by the attack. Race knelt next to the teenager as well. "Did it bite you, Jonny?" He asked trying to sound calm.
Jonny shook his head, "No." he mumbled. "I want to get out of here; I want to find my dad."
"We will, Jonny. It'll be ok." Race replied. It hurt him to see the boy in such as state; Jonny was always strong, always adventurous.
"I'm scared." Jonny whimpered as he stood, being helped up my Race.
"I am too, kiddo."
Jonny glanced up at his bodyguard. He never knew Race to be afraid of anything. "Really?"
"Yes, but we have to stay strong for each other and for your dad and Hadji."
Jonny sucked in his breath, attempting to fight back the tears. "Ok. I'll try."
Race ruffled the boy's hair. "I knew you would." He nodded at Jade and they continued down the hall. None of them had noticed the small camera in the corner, tracking their movements.
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Dr. Quest sat in the control room, terrified. He had watched as Jessie and Phil were attack by T-virus victims and now he had just seen his son, Jonny, almost killed by some horrid spider creature. He held back his tears; there was nothing he could do for them. He couldn't escape from the room, even if he managed to subdue Krumlanski and Elaim there was still the armed guards that stood watch at the door.
Krumlanski puffed at his foul cigar, he laughed as he turned towards Quest. "I wish there was sound on these cameras. It seems your boy is quite the fraidycat."
"He's just a boy! Those things almost killed him." Dr. Quest growled.
"Yes, I'm glad that the children are along after all. They are quite the handicaps for Bannon and Corbin."
"You sick monster! They're just children! Why are you doing this?" Quest asked, suddenly exhausted.
"I need to convince my superiors that my work here is successful. If we want to make a profit selling our weapons then we need to be able to demonstrate their effectiveness against highly trained and skilled foes."
Dr. Quest finally realized what was really going on. "You had this whole thing planned from the beginning. You lured Hadji and me to conference in Chicago in order to kidnap us. You knew Race would follow. All this for what... money?"
"Dr. Quest, you are a bright one!" Krumlanski said clapping his hands. "It's just an added benefit that Agent Corbin is along for the ride. I figured that he would come after me if he knew my whereabouts, so I made it known to his contacts that I would be in Chicago. I knew he couldn't resist the temptation to come after me. I did not expect the other children, but I am glad they came along for the show."
"What about, Jade? You didn't expect her to be here, helping them track you down so they could destroy you." Dr. Quest retorted.
Krumlanski laughed again and Quest knew he was wrong. "You fool, Quest! You think I didn't know about Jade and her relationship to Bannon and Corbin? You think I would really be careless enough to let some woman take advantage of me and escape here with all that knowledge. No, doctor, I let her go. I gave her just enough evidence to run back to Agent Corbin and bait him into tracking me down. Women are so easily manipulated. And men who are allured by a beautiful woman will believe anything they say and follow them anywhere. I knew that if Race didn't try and enlist Corbin's aide, then Jade would bring him here herself."
"You are insane."
"You keep saying that, doctor, but I am the one in control here. This is my game and I will play it as I see fit."
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Phil and Jessie pressed on; they had come across more zombies and were successful in taking them down. They had moved up in the building, being led somewhere by a series of locked doors and blocked passages. They soon found themselves on a catwalk above a large warehouse facility. Upon looking down they saw that the warehouse was filled with large crates and off in one corner were boxes shaped like coffins. Neither of them wanted to know what was inside. At the end of the catwalk was what looked like a control room, obviously to work the crane that hung from the ceiling. They continued forward and heard a noise ahead; three more zombies blocked their path. Phil raised his rifle and fired; as the last one fell they heard a screech from above and another hunter monster fell from the ceiling onto the catwalk. Phil opened fire again, pelting the creature with bullets. Soon he heard the audible click and knew he was in trouble, his weapon was out of ammo. Jessie stepped next to him and fired her pistol, the weak 9mm rounds hit the creature, but did little to stop it. The thing whipped its tongue at her and knocked her down; she slid off the catwalk, but grabbed on at the last second.
"Jessie!" Phil yelled as he reloaded and fired at the creature again.
"Help!"
"Hang on!" The creature advanced on him and he knew he was in trouble. "You want this," he mocked. "Fine." The creature reared up on its hind legs, preparing to leap in for the kill. Phil saw his opportunity and took it; he reached forward and fired the M203 at the creature, the distinct pop as the round left the tube was like music to his ears. The round hit the creature in the torso and exploded, blowing the thing in half. After he watched the creature explode into pieces Phil ran to the edge where Jessie was hanging on for her life. He reached down and grabbed her wrist.
"It's ok. I got you." He said as he pulled her up and back on to the walkway.
Jessie was breathing heavily. "Thanks. But I dropped the gun."
"We'll find you another one." He would have given her his .45, but he knew that the large and powerful handgun was too much for her. She wouldn't be able to wrap her hands around to grips, depress the beaver tail, and fire at the same time.
They heard moans coming from the warehouse floor below and saw a mass of zombies, staring up at them, moaning, hungry. He popped the tube of his launcher open, let the spent casing fall to the walk, and reloaded another. The M203 worked best when fired in the air at an angle; however he didn't have that kind of space to properly aim. So he leaned over the railing, pointed it down at the center of the group and fired. The round popped out and shot down, exploding in the center of the group. Zombies were blown apart and the few that had survived scattered into the corners.
Phil turned towards Jessie and smiled, "I really love this thing." He said as he patted the launcher, ejected the round, and loaded another one.
"I can see." Jessie smiled.
"Let's go check out that control room. Maybe we can find you a weapon."
They crossed the rest of the catwalk without incident. Upon entering the control room, they found a dead worker. He hadn't been torn apart like the rest, he had a gunshot wound to his head and a pistol lay on the ground by his side. He had killed himself to escape a fate worse then death. Phil felt sorry for the man. He reached down picked up the pistol, saw it was the same kind as Jessie had dropped and handed it to her. "Easy come, easy go." They searched the room and found some more ammunition which Jessie shoved in to the pockets of her jeans.
They left the room and continued on, exiting the warehouse on the other side. They entered what appeared to be a break room. There was no blood and no bodies. It appeared they were relatively safe for the time being. "We should take a few minutes to catch our breath." Phil said. He found a soda and vending machine. Phil was apprehensive about consuming anything from this place, but they would need water or else they wouldn't last much longer. "Got any change?" He asked.
"What?" Jessie inquired as she looked at the man. "Ummm, no, sorry."
"Oh well." He said and raised his leg and planted his boot through the soda machine, smashing the front open. "I didn't want to pay for them anyway."
Jessie laughed as the man pulled out two small bottles of water and handed one to Jessie. "Think its safe?"
He shrugged, "I hope so." He opened the bottle and drank. It tasted like regular water and he sure hoped it was. Jessie saw that he didn't turn in to some wild, crazy monster, so she did the same.
"Mr. Corbin, what do you think of Jade?" Jessie asked sitting on the edge of the table.
Phil was taken back by her question, of all places, of all situations, she asked him about Jade. Maybe it was her way of blocking out what they were experiencing. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure how to take her. At first, I hated her because I thought she was trying to take over for my mom. But, then I got to know her and she was ok. Then, one day she up and tells my dad that they are through." Jessie shrugged, but continued. "Now she's here, helping us get Dr. Quest and Hadji back."
"She's a unique person, I'll say that much. Sometimes I don't know what to think of her, either, but I know that she, when she could, would always try to help. Sure, her motives are usually somewhat self-centered, but I think we can count her as one of the good guys."
"Do you like her?" Jessie asked.
"How so?"
Jessie shrugged, "I don't know. You know, just like her. Like how men and women are supposed to like each other."
This girl was wise beyond her years. "I used to, I guess. But not anymore, at least, not like that."
"Why? What happened?"
"Well…" He couldn't believe he was standing here telling a teenage girl about his love life. He felt pathetic. He was cut off by the ringing of a phone. They both turned their heads towards the sound. They walked over to it as it continued to ring.
"It could be my dad." Jessie said.
Phil hesitated, but then he hit the speaker phone button. He didn't say anything.
"Ahhh, Agent Corbin, young Miss Bannon. So good to see you two are still alive." It was Krumlanski. "I really did not expect you to make it so far, but that is ok, it has been quite entertaining."
"Where are you, you slimy little bastard?" Phil said, "Come out and face me like a man, instead of sending your sick little freaks after us."
"No, no, no. That wouldn't do at all. I do have a present for you though. I'm sure you will meet him soon."
"Where are Dr. Quest and Hadji? Give them up and I will come to you."
"They are fine, for now; they are enjoying my show for them. Too bad I can't say the same about Agent Bannon and his little crew."
Jessie gasped and Phil turned to her, shaking his head. 'Don't believe it.' He mouthed. "You're lying."
"Am I, Agent Corbin? Guess you'll just have to keep moving to find out. They were not as successful against my pets as you have been. It was most enjoyable watching the boy die, he screamed like a little girl…"
Phil snatched the phone off of the receiver, killing the speaker, "You sick bastard, when I find you you'll wish you'd never been born."
"No, Corbin, it will be you that wished you had died six years ago, alongside your darling wife."
Phil felt anger and rage brewing inside him, but also despair. They were trapped in this lunatic's madhouse and had no choice but to keep moving, looking for him, as he watched them knowing exactly what they were doing. "I swear I am going to make you pay for this; for all of this."
He heard Krumlanski laughing through the phone. "Oh I'd love to see you try."
Phil slammed down the phone. Not wanting to hear any more of that man's voice. He was so angry that he ripped the phone out of the wall and threw it up against the far wall; it shattered in to numerous pieces. He looked around; saw the camera in the corner and walked up to it. He glared at it, knowing he was being watched on the other end, gave Krumlanski the finger, then pulled out his pistol and blew it apart. He turned back and saw Jessie, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Jessie, you can't believe anything he said." He said as he knelt down in front of her.
"How can you be so sure? What if he was telling the truth? What if my dad, Jonny, and Jade really are dead? Killed by those monsters."
"You can't think that way. You need to stay strong, stay focused. I know your dad and I know that he wouldn't be so easily overcome by these things."
Jessie looked into his eyes, but said nothing.
"Hey, if I can handle these things, then I know Race can. He can whoop me in just about anything we do. And I'm sure when this is all over he'll be bragging about his body count, which will blow mine away."
Jessie smiled through her tears. She knew he was just saying things to encourage her, but it helped. "Yeah, and so will Jonny."
Phil smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure he will, but I know you're kicking ass way more then him."
Jessie snorted out a laugh; once again she was glad that Phil was with her, even in the darkest and scariest of places he was able to make her laugh. She hugged him around the neck, "Thank you. Thanks for looking out for me."
She smiled as she pulled away from him and he stood. "No problem. Besides, if I didn't I'd have to worry about your dad killing me and that is hell of a lot scarier then any of these monsters combined."
"That's for sure."
"Come on, you ready to get going?"
"Yeah, let's go."
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"That was a stupid thing to do." Dr. Quest stated. "All you've done is enrage the man even further and make him more determined to find you and kill you."
Krumlanski sneered, he hated being spoken to in the manner that Quest was and wanted to kill the man, but he couldn't. Umbrella wanted him and the Indian boy alive. "We will see, doctor, we will see. Kyle, prepare the Hades program. If Corbin or Bannon make it here alive I want to be ready for them."
Dr. Elaim gulped down the lump in his throat and began to enter sequence codes into the computer console.
Krumlanski was starting to get annoyed. He hadn't expected things to go this way and he wanted to end it all as soon as possible.
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Race, Jonny, and Jade continued on. They had entered a large, circular room that appeared to be an autopsy observation room. Down at the bottom was where the autopsies were performed, a glass window separating the room from the observers who would sit in the stadium style seating. Race moved along the top row. The room was silent, but he saw signs that something had been here before them. There was blood on the walls and some of the seats. A corpse down one of the aisle was missing its head.
Jade and Jonny stood at the door they had entered. "If we go through the door at the bottom we can get to the cells." Jade said. "This is where…" she glanced at Jonny, but continued, "they brought their prisoners. To…do things to them."
Jonny was clearly upset, but he stood tall. "Well, let's go then. I want to find my dad and Hadji. I also want to take some of these things out myself."
Race grinned, he knew Jonny was tough and the attack by the spiders had at first scared the young man, but now he could tell it was hardening Jonny's spirit.
Suddenly there was a crash and a creature leapt through the glass of the autopsy room. It landed on some of the seats, crushing them under its weight. It was another hunter, but Race had not faced off with one yet. "Get down!" He yelled and opened fire on the monster. The thing turned and swung one its huge clawed paws at him, Race lunged backwards, the claws scrapping against his Kevlar vest. If he hadn't of been wearing it, he'd have been torn in half. Jade moved down and fired at the hunter with her shotgun, aiming for its head. The thing squealed and leapt out of the way. Race had regained his footing and continued to fire at it as it flew threw the air. The bullets tore into its flesh, spraying blood across the room. It landed in between Jonny and Jade; she turned to fire and hit the thing in its backside, which made it shrieked in pain. Jonny aimed his pistol at its face, he felt the little handgun wouldn't do anything, but he kept it aimed as the creature slowly crept towards him. Jonny backed against the wall and fired, hitting the thing in the face and brain. It howled, but Jonny kept firing. His last shot blew the thing's brain apart and the hunter collapsed dead, only a few feet from him. Jonny lowered the gun, and sighed.
Race ran back up the steps to Jonny. "You ok?" He asked concerned.
"Yeah." Jonny replied, and then he looked up at Race, a huge smile across his face. "Looks like I got my first one."
Race patted him on the shoulder. "Yeah, sure does. Come on; let's go before any more show up." They all reloaded their weapons and headed for the door that Jade said would lead them to the cells. Jonny glanced back at the monster one last time, glad he had gotten to take one down, but scared as hell that it had gotten so close to him.
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To be continued…