A/n: Hopefully this chapter will interest all of you more than the first one did. It kinda explains how the whole Spencer mansion started. Again, if you could leave a review with either positive or negative feedback, I would greatly appreciate it. Oh, and importantly, when you see a row of 000, it means that there is a change in point of view, but the context time is the same. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2

Context Time: Beginning of Spencer Mansion Incident; Location: Raccoon City; Spencer Mansion; Hour: 0412

"Hey man, make sure you close the cage as tight as it goes on your way out," called Dr. Adam Shapiro as he was heading out of one of the larger labs underneath the Spencer estate to get to his bedroom up in the estate itself. He and his partner Ben Rodgers had been up late observing the feeding habits of the Hunter 121 series, and Adam was feeling the stress of staying up until 4:15 in the morning.

"Don't worry about it, buddy. I don't want these guys escaping any more than you do," replied Ben. Although he was expecting an answer from his long-time friend and partner, all he got was a loud, long yawn. "Just be well rested for tomorrow, because I want to send in those reports to the bosses as soon as possible. They might finally give me that raise I've been begging them for."

"Whatever," was all Adam could say. He was truly tired, so tired that the unwritten laws of common courtesy no longer applied to him. He waved to his still-working partner as he boarded the elevator. Yawning again, he leaned back into a corner of the elevator and sat on the rail there, just like he used to do when he was younger. He knew the elevator ride from subbasement five up to the estate's sprawling backyard was a long one, so he began to ponder the near future.

If Ben gets that raise, I'm definitely gonna ask for one myself. After all, I've been in this department longer than he has, so it's only fair that I get paid more…

Yawning for a third time, he stepped out of the elevator into the cool air. Adam took a second to look at the property. No fences ran along the grounds in order to maintain the appearance that the mansion was unoccupied and therefore unconcerned about trespassers. It must have been near dawn, because the sky was slightly pink in the west. Adam trudged up the stone path to the house itself, where a guard, who looked just as tired as Adam himself, got up from his seat to check Adam's I.D. After the guard nodded permission for Adam to enter the mansion, he quickly scrambled up the large stone staircase, jumped into his bed, and fell asleep without even removing his shoes.

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Meanwhile, back in the lab, Ben was also feeling drowsy. He watched from the observation deck as the Hunter ate the last piece of meat from the skeleton lying on the floor in front of it. Half an hour ago, that skeleton was a living, breathing bull, but now it was little more than a heap of broken, glistening white bones and puddles of dark red blood. Letting out a satisfied growl, the Hunter 121 looked up to Ben from the feeding pit it was in, signifying that it was done.

The structure of this particular lab was a little different than normal. It was a large, tall room that was circular in shape and consisted of a large, metal floor, which was where the Hunter and the skeleton were now. There were six thick steel doors in proportionate intervals surrounding the main floor. Five of these doors led to the Hunter's cages, which each held up to ten Hunter 121s, and the sixth door led into the rest of the labs, and was the only was out of this particular lab and back to the mansion. A balcony ran around the top of the room, with a railing in place to prevent careless scientists from falling onto the floor, which was twenty feet below the balcony to provide safety from the specimens. The only way up to the balcony was through an elevator, which led down to the main floor. Of course, the Hunters would be put into their cages before anyone went down there. On a control panel next to the elevator were eight switches. Six opened a respective door down on the main floor; only one was needed to operate the elevator, because it could only go down to the main floor; and the last one electrified the floor in case the Hunters didn't want to go back into their cages.

Ben went to this control panel and pressed the button that opened up the Hunter's cage. The seven other Hunters in the cage looked toward the opening door as the Hunter that just finished eating began to enter. The Hunters were fed at separate times so that they wouldn't hurt each other by fighting for the food. It did minimize their injuries, but was very time-consuming for the researchers. As soon as the door finished opening, three defiant ones ran out onto the main floor. Sighing, Ben hit the floor electrification button. The three Hunters on the floor began yelping in pain and ran back into the cage to nurture their burned legs. Letting out a snort of contempt, Ben turned off the electrification switch as pressed the button for the elevator.

He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the bottom floor. He knew he should sterilize the bull's remains, but then he thought of how tired he was and how the sanitation crew would take care of it in the morning. The elevator went down the single flight and opened. Ben was in mid-stretch as he realized his fatal error. After he turned off the floor electrification, he hadn't closed the Hunter's cage! Gulping, he turned to look at the single open cage across the room, and the Hunters, on hearing the descending elevator, glared back at him. Neither Ben nor the Hunters moved.

Slow, gotta take it slow, thought Ben. His plan was to step backward into the elevator and go back up to the balcony, where he could close the cage. As he took his first step backward, he heard a ding from the elevator, signifying that it closed. With its departure, all of Ben's hopes departed as well.

Immediately the seven Hunters in the cage plus the one that had been eating began running towards him. Screaming for all his life, he ran towards the door that led out of the room and into the rest of the labs. He could the Hunters in the four locked cages banging on the doors because of all of the excitement. Fumbling with his keycard, Ben finally got enough control over his fingers to fit the card into the slot and punch in his clearance code. The door slid out from its place in the wall painfully slowly. This was a precaution so that if a scientist opened the doors too early, he would be able to close them before any specimens escaped. A glance behind him revealed that the Hunters were now only fifteen or so feet away from him.

When the door was open wide enough for him to squeeze through, he did so. He paused to look behind him again to see where the Hunters were. It was a grave mistake. A huge green claw shot out from between the opening door and the wall and raked bloody furrows across the right side of his chest. Coughing up blood and gasping for air, Ben half-stumbled, half-ran into the hallway, hoping to get aboveground and alert the guards.

As he kept running, he finally heard the Hunters get out from behind the door. They each let out a rasping scream, and then they set out to do what they did best, which was what they were named for: hunt…

…for him.

Thinking of the quickest way out, Ben ran to the T-Virus storage bay. In essence, it was just a big room, with only one door in, and the only elevator up to the surface. Also, there was a phone in there, in case of an emergency; specifically, a T-Virus leak. His plan was to run in, lock the door, call up for guards, and ride up to the surface.

He heard rapid, multiple clicking noises behind him, which were growing louder by the second. He knew that this sound was a Hunter 121 running on all four limbs, which gave it extra speed. Hunters were a strange breed. They each hunted alone, and if another Hunter came to its aid or tried to take some of its glory, they would attack each other. The good news was that there was only one Hunter on his tail.

The bad news was that there was a Hunter on his tail. There wasn't much of a difference between the good and the bad.

Finally, Ben came to the doors he was looking for. His momentum didn't allow him to stop, and Ben went crashing right into the closed doors. Clutching his already bleeding chest, Ben opened the door and hopped inside, slamming it shut right behind him and securing the deadbolt. Breathing a sigh of relief, he started for the emergency phone at the far end of the room. To his horror, the muffled cries of the Hunter on the other side of the door were attracting the rest of them. He could only hope that they would kill each other outside. The next noise that he heard dashed all of those hopes to pieces.

They were banging on the door, trying to get in. The scary part was that he heard the door cracking under the might of their combined blows. He made up his mind not to call the surface, just to get up there and tell them himself. He quickly searched his pockets for the key necessary to make the elevator. He started to panic when he realized he didn't have it on him, and so he looked around the room to see if he had dropped it. There it was, right next to the door.

That's when his frightened eyes saw what had happened to the door. Huge dents were all over it from where the Hunters had been battering at it. Then, as he was taking all of the information in, the metal door shattered, and eight Hunters came pouring into the room. Screaming, and therefore alerting them to his presence, he tried to hide behind one of the vats filled with the T-Virus. The closest Hunter came and batted at it with one of its giant claws, breaking it on impact. This filled Ben with a new fear.

Brown-tinged air was leaking out of the vat into the room. Because the T-Virus had never been tested on humans before, Ben didn't want to be infected with it and die a death possibly worse than the Hunters. Ducking out from behind the vat, he ran to the telephone, hoping to call for help. Another Hunter, seeing him through the slight haze of the T-Virus, made its way towards him, swinging its claws in preparation for his death. As it passed by another vat, its claws accidentally slammed into it, causing it both surprise and pain. As it cradled its bleeding claw, Ben was able to pick up the phone, which directly connected him to the supervisor of the mansion, Daniel Griffith.

"Hello?!" Because this line was for emergencies only, Griffith's voice was alert and loud.

"Daniel, it's Dr. Rodgers. Help me! Please, I'm stuck in the T-Virus storehouse, and eight Hunters are chasing me and there's a T-Virus leak, it's small, but still, it's leaking and I'm-" He couldn't finish his sentence, because at that moment, a Hunter brought its claws down on him, severing the phone line and silencing Dr. Ben Rodgers forever.

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So, there was a T-Virus leak. This definitely depressed Daniel Griffith. Because he was in charge of the Spencer estate labs, he, and only he, was given all of the safety and emergency protocol orders, directly from the White Umbrella Board, themselves. He knew now that the labs were to be sealed, and no one could enter or leave the mansion.

What depressed him the most was his imminent death. The most important of the orders that was given to him was that if there was a spill or escape, Daniel should alert White Umbrella, and then call every few hours for an update and observations about whatever had happened. It was meant to be a risk-free research project for the brass, while everyone in here died to prevent the release of the virus.

In Daniel's opinion, this should never have happened. Although he was prepared to accept death in the name of science, he felt that it wasn't necessary in this instance. The spill was in the lab, so it should have been safe for all those above ground to leave to somewhere safe. However, the builders of this facility were smarter than that. The ventilation system for the labs worked in an exchange system, which constantly circulated air between the labs and the mansion, meaning that the contaminated air was bleeding to the mansion, even as he was sitting there.

On the other hand, possibly nothing would happen. The virus was not meant for humans, so maybe the only thing that would happen is that the men got coughs or allergies or something like that. Daniel could only hope…

He picked up the private phone to the right of his desk. It immediately connected him to the secretary of the White Umbrella Board. "Hello, this is Daniel Griffith, Head of Affairs in the Spencer Estate Labs in Raccoon City. I need to speak to the Board immediately."

"I'm sorry, but they won't be in for another 45 minutes," said the secretary. Damn! He had forgotten about the time-zone difference between Cleveland and Raccoon.

"This is a Class-1 emergency," explained Daniel, in a fast tone. "It's really a matter of life-or-death. Please have them respond as soon as they get in."

The secretary, on hearing the problem, began to act more seriously. "Don't worry, you'll get a response as soon as they arrive."

Daniel hung up as soon as she said this. Breathing heavily, he got up from his desk to begin to issue orders to the crew. He knew the deal: order the guards not to let anyone leave under any circumstances, rip out all of the phones except for the one in his office, and have all of the people in the facility put on a hazmat suit to avoid infection. But, unbeknownst to him, it was already too late. He didn't see the slightly brown air leak into the house from the vents…

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End notes: So now we come to the traditional Resident Evil storylines. Also, sorry about the whole crappy 00000 thing, the stupid document manager wouldn't read any symbols. Until next time.

Kompressor