22: Eight-Legged Freaks

The first thing that Lisa heard when she opened her eyes again was the sound of running water. She couldn't see a thing – the sewer tunnel was pitch black. But she could hear the rushing sound of the sewer water and the insistent drip, drip of moisture from the tunnel roof.

The next thing that hit her was the cold. The air underground was damp and chilly, and she was sitting in knee-deep, icy cold sewer water. Which brought her to the next thing; the smell.

It stank down here. She expected that it was the sewer water. The sewer water that she happened to be… sitting in…

"Ugh!" Lisa shrieked, standing up suddenly. Her hair, her clothes – all drenched in disgusting, smelly sewer water. "Oh my God, this is vile! I stink!"

"Better smelly than dead."

Christina's voice came from nowhere. As Lisa's eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, she could just make out the faint outline of someone standing in front of her.

"I'm not sure about that," said Lisa. "It smells awful down here."

"Well, if our young and pretty heroine wants to go upstairs and sing a duet with sweet little Mister Bluebird, then the ladder's right above your head, girl," said Christina. "Oh, wait, did I say Mister Bluebird? I meant a horde of vicious zombie crows that want to peck you to death. Although if you still think this is preferable to getting your nice clothes all dirty, then you're welcome to try that instead."

"Something tells me she isn't going to take up that particular invitation," called Renée, from somewhere further up the tunnel.

"You bet I'm not. I hate being dirty, but I'm more worried about dying. If I turn into a zombie I'll smell even worse than I do now. At least I can wash my clothes when we leave town," said Lisa.

"That's the spirit," said Renée encouragingly. "Dirt is preferable to death."

"Only just," said Lisa, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "This is gross."

"Yeah, I know. It stinks down here," said Renée. "But hey, it could be worse, right? I mean, there could be snakes in here with us or something."

Something hissed in the darkness.

"Why did you have to say that?" said Lisa miserably.

"Quiet," ordered Christina.

Nothing except the rushing of the sewer water and the plink of water dripping from the ceiling. Both noises were curiously amplified by the tunnel's echoes.

A splash near Amber's leg made her look down. It was a pretty pointless action, as she couldn't really see anything in the dark. But then she felt something slither past her ankle, and she leapt backwards with a cry.

"What? What is it?" said Renée.

"Something just slithered past my leg!" said Amber.

"Can't be any snakes down here," said Renée. "Forget all the stuff you hear about toilet snakes, it's mostly made up."

"Mostly?" said Amber.

"Well, yes. It happens sometimes, but not often," said Renée.

"I'd be very surprised if that was a snake," said Christina.

"What was it, then?" said Amber.

"Probably leeches," said Christina, with a little shrug.

"Leeches?"

"Yes, leeches. Not a problem. Easily outrun. Keep moving and you'll be fine."

"So if those were leeches…" began Amber.

"Yes?"

"What made that hissing sound?"

Dead silence. Except for one little noise:

Click. Click. Click.

"What's that?" said Lisa.

"I don't know, but I don't intend to stick around and find out," said Amber. "Let's go before whatever it is suddenly jumps out at us."

"I agree," said Christina. "Come on, let's move. We can get to Umbrella Headquarters from here if we take a shortcut through the sewage plant."

"Sewage plant?" said Lisa, faintly disgusted at the prospect. "Gross."

"Not as gross as being eaten alive, you silly girl. Now come on. The sewage plant is this way."

"Which way is this way?" said Lisa. "I can't see. It's too dark."

"I've got a torch somewhere, I think," said Renée, feeling for one of the pockets in her utility belt. "Yes, here we are. Catch."

Renée turned on the torch, and threw it to the younger girl. Lisa caught it, and panned it over her surroundings as they walked on. Brick walls, glistening with moisture. Mud-coloured water. Christina, looking immaculate even here in the sewers. Renée, squinting a little as she tried to see in the dim light. Amber, damp and dishevelled and looking distinctly uneasy.

And then there was Jack, pale and wide-eyed in the gloom. He too was soaked from head to toe, and he looked considerably less than happy to be standing in the sewers in the dark. In fact, he looked positively terrified.

"Jack, what's the matter?" Lisa asked him. "I know it's bad down here, but it can't be that bad, right?"

Jack took a step backwards, then a few more. He tried to speak, but he couldn't get the words out.

"What?" said Lisa.

Trembling all over, Jack tried once more to speak.

"L – Lise…" he managed to say, and pointed to something above her head.

Lisa glanced up, and immediately wished that she hadn't. Hanging just a few feet above her head was the embodiment of every nightmare she'd ever had: a slimy, man-sized creature with patches of exposed muscle and brain, too many legs and, horror of horrors, a vaguely human-shaped head, with white eyes and sharp teeth and a long curled-up tongue like a frog's or lizard's. It was a grotesque parody of a creature, like a cross between a chameleon and a human being that had been inefficiently skinned alive.

It was hissing softly. A gasp of horror escaped Lisa's lips; while they'd been wondering if there were snakes or leeches in the sewers, that nightmare had been hanging right over their heads. The clicking sound they'd heard had been the sound of claws on brickwork.

Too terrified to scream, to move, to do anything, Lisa and Jack stood there and stared at the creature. It both repelled and yet fascinated them. What was it? Was it an animal that had been infected with the T-Virus and mutated, or was it something altogether different?

Noticing that the two teenagers had stopped following them, Amber turned around to see where they were.

"Jack? Lisa?" she called. "We – whoa! What the hell is that?"

She'd just seen the creature, and the look of absolute terror on Jack and Lisa's faces.

Renée and Christina turned around sharply to see what was going on. When they too saw what was hanging from the ceiling, Renée gave a shriek and even the ice-cool Christina looked startled for a moment.

"Don't move!" Renée yelled, reaching for the assault rifle that until now she'd kept slung on her back.

But before she could even lay hands on the weapon, Christina had whipped out a handgun in one fluid, lightning-fast movement. Without so much as a second's hesitation, she fired twice, and the creature dropped from the roof, both bullets lodged firmly in its unprotected brain. Its lifeless form landed in the water with a splash.

Silence followed. Jack and Lisa stared at the thing as blood diffused the murky sewer water, stunned by the ruthless efficiency of Christina's method of monster-disposal. She'd barely even needed to aim…

Only when they noticed their companions' raised eyebrows did Lisa and Jack realise that they were clinging on tightly to each other.

"Are you quite finished?" said Christina, hands on hips.

They released each other instantly.

"Good. Perhaps now we can move along. We haven't got all day, you know."

----------

"What was that thing?" said Lisa later.

"I don't know," said Renée. "I've never seen anything like that before. And hopefully we won't see anything like it again."

"Don't count on it," said Christina. "If there's one, then there's bound to be more down here."

Jack looked terrified at the prospect.

"And you be sayin' that this be a place we should be?" he said.

"You prefer it up there with the crows?" said Christina sharply.

"Of course I dunt!" said Jack.

"Then put up and shut up," said Christina.

"I don't remember anyone putting you in charge of this expedition," said Lisa.

"Well I hardly think you're qualified to lead it," said Christina, with a sniff. "I'm a soldier, girl. You're a civilian. What do you know?"

"I know we saved your lives, not the other way around," said Lisa.

"Yes. And? What do you expect me to do, kiss your feet?"

"I'm not expecting anything. But even if gratitude is completely beyond you, you could at least acknowledge that we helped you out."

"You saved us, that's true. And we just saved you. That makes us even. We don't owe you anything."

"How about a little respect?"

"When you've earned our respect, I'll let you know."

Christina's eyes travelled downwards, and came to rest on the knife tucked into Jack's belt.

"Good grief. You actually thought carrying a kitchen knife in your belt was a good idea?" she sneered.

Jack looked down at the knife, then back up.

"Yeah," he said defiantly.

"Who do you think you are - Rambo?" said Christina, with a snort of contempt. "Get rid of it, for pity's sake, before you end up stabbing yourself in the leg with it. Stupid boy. Did you honestly think that a knife would do any real damage to creatures like these?"

Without a word, Jack took the knife out of his belt and discarded it. The knife landed with a splash in the water and drifted slowly away.

"Like I said," said Christina, as she walked past him. "All balls and no brains."

"Would it hurt you just to be nice for once?" snapped Lisa.

"I don't have time for nice," came the reply.

"Neither has Renée, and she still manages," Lisa retorted.

"Renée is too soft for her own good," said Christina. "A soldier shouldn't be soft."

"A soldier shouldn't be mean either," said Lisa stubbornly.

"I'm not being mean. If I was being mean, I would tell him that he's a complete idiot whose feeble attempts at both machismo and impressing you are quite frankly pitiful and, may I say it, painful to watch. I'd tell him that he wouldn't last five minutes in the UBCS, and that it's a miracle he was able to make it this far – and that's only because you were with him to stop him from doing anything terminally stupid. Finally, I would beat him to a pulp because seeing him swaggering around, pretending he's some sort of action hero, is enough to make me physically sick."

"An' you know what, Señorita Ardizzone? I have just 'bout enough of you!" yelled Jack. "You be actin' like you be the smartest person on the planet an' you be right an' everyone else be wrong, or, worse, estupido y loco! All you do is pick on us or push us around, an' we be sick of it!"

There was a ringing silence.

"Fine," said Christina eventually. "Fine. If you think you can manage perfectly well on your own, with your pretty little girlfriend and your precious police officer, then be my guest. I'll leave you three to fend for yourselves. Private Lavelle, we're leaving."

"What about our orders?" said Renée.

"They think they can do without us and our weapons, even though they're ill-equipped and armed with nothing more than handguns, and they clearly don't want our help. I'd say all three of them were bent on suicide, myself," said Christina, with a shrug. "And if they want to stay here and die, well, that's not our problem. Leaves more room for us in the helicopter. Come on. Let's go."

Christina marched off into the dark depths of the sewer tunnels.

"Well, bye," said Renée. "Nice meeting you all. Hope you make it out of here."

"Private Lavelle! We are leaving!" Christina shouted.

"Der Führer sprecht," sighed Renée. "Well, can't argue with Frau Hitler. I'd better go with her. Good luck, you three."

"PRIVATE LAVELLE!"

"Jawohl, mein Führer," called Renée, and hurried away.

When the two mercenaries were out of sight and their footsteps had faded away into the distance, Amber spoke.

"Screw them," she said firmly. "Especially Christina. She thinks we can't survive without them? Well, we're going to prove her wrong. We'll make it out alive, and when we do, I'm putting that evil bitch right at the top of my Umbrella hit list. Shame about Renée, though. I was just starting to like her."

"I dint mean to yell like that," said Jack guiltily. "Sorry."

"Don't be," said Lisa. "You don't need to be, Jack. She shouldn't have been picking on you in the first place."

"She be right, though. I be a complete idiot."

"You're not," said Lisa fiercely. "You're not. She's a soldier; she's trained to deal with killing things. You're not. You're a civilian and you weren't prepared for waging all-out war against the undead. You're doing the best you can in difficult circumstances, and you're doing fine. Don't let her drag you down."

"So now what we gonna do?" said Jack.

"Get out of the sewers," said Amber instantly.

"What 'bout the zombie crows?" said Jack.

"We're streets away by now. There probably won't be any around when we get back up to street level," said Amber. "Besides, I prefer the possibility of crows to the certainty of more of those things with the long tongues."

"Yeah, me too," said Jack.

"Same here," said Lisa. "Which way are we going?"

"Not the way they went," said Amber. "We'll go another way. The last thing I want is to run into them again."

----------

"Perhaps we should have followed them after all," said Lisa, some time later.

"Why do you say that?" said Amber.

"Only I'm pretty sure we've already been this way," said Lisa. "I recognise that weird stuff growing on the wall."

"I don't remember that," said Amber, although she had the sinking feeling that Lisa was right once again. This stretch of tunnel did seem familiar, as if they'd already gone down it once or twice before.

"Face it," said Jack hopelessly. "We be lost."

"We're not lost," said Amber. "We're just… temporarily disorientated. I guess we must have taken a wrong turning."

She gave the wall a long, hard look, as if blaming it for their predicament.

"Let's go back and try the other way instead," she said. "We can't have gone too wrong…"

----------

"Okay. We're lost," admitted Amber, ten minutes later. "Damn sewers! It's like a maze down here. All these tunnels look the same, and they all link up with each other. If only we could find some way to get back up and see where in the city we are…"

Gloom settled on the three like a dark, heavy blanket.

"This be all my fault," said Jack. He sounded like he was about to cry. "If I dint make her mad, we still be with the mercs an' we still be okay… we no would be lost like we be now…"

"Jack, I already told you. It's not your fault," said Lisa. "It's Christina's fault for being mean in the first place. She shouldn't have been picking on you."

"I no should have yelled at her back."

"If she can't handle criticism from the people she dealt it out to in the first place, that's her problem. Not yours," said Amber. "That bitch! If the woman had any kind of heart she wouldn't have abandoned us down here. She knew we didn't know where we were going. She probably thought we'd come running after her, begging forgiveness."

She sighed.

"Much as I hate to admit it, we need their help."

"They could be anywhere by now," said Lisa.

"I know," said Amber. "But it doesn't look like we have any other choice. We have to find them. Now stay close, and follow me."

"Why?" said Lisa. "You don't know where you're going, any more than we do. You might as well have said "Follow Jack", or "Follow Lisa", or "Follow the -" "

"SPIDERS!" Amber shrieked, pointing ahead.

"Yes, follow the spi – what?"

There were spiders scuttling along the ceiling. Quite large spiders, in fact. Furry and tarantula-sized – were they tarantulas? Whatever they were, they were frightening Amber into near insensibility.

"Oh God, oh God, I hate spiders!" she whimpered.

"Why?" said Jack. "Ain't nothin' scary 'bout spiders."

It was a lie, of course. The spiders were very scary indeed. There was something ominous about the way they lurked, if it was possible for spiders to do such a thing. Occasionally a few of them would skitter backwards and forwards across the ceiling, like people pacing a room. They seemed to be waiting for something…

"Are you kidding?" said the chalk-faced Amber, her voice choked up with terror. "They're spiders! Oh please, let's just get out of here! We can go another way… please, please, anything but spiders!"

"There ain't another way. We gotta go this way," said Jack.

Amber burst into tears.

"Now hey," said Jack, firmly but gently. "I know you be scared, but we gotta. There ain't nobody more sorry than me for makin' you do this, but we dunt have any other choice. Least it be better than that monster with the tongue, right?"

Amber shook her head violently.

"Yes it is," said Lisa. "It's not that bad, Amber. Just calm down."

"Calm down?" Amber sobbed."They're spiders! I have arachnophobia! You do the math!"

"Amber, cool it," Lisa ordered. "Now what I want you do is duck and walk underneath them. Can you do that?"

"But what if they drop down and get in my hair?" sobbed Amber.

Jack and Lisa exchanged a look of incredulity. How could a grown woman be so afraid of creatures that were so much smaller than her? They were only spiders, but Amber was reacting with more terror to them than she had done to that horrible creature with the long tongue.

"I know," said Lisa suddenly. "Put this over your head."

She took off the shirt that Jack had given her and draped it over Amber's head.

"There. If any spiders fall, they'll fall on the shirt and we can just shake them off it later," Lisa told her. "Now just take a breath and close your eyes, and duck underneath. You can do that, right? I know you can."

"No, I can't!" Amber wailed.

"Sure you can," said Jack soothingly. "It be easy. We gonna help you. We be right here - right, Lise?"

"Yes, of course," said Lisa.

"See?" said Jack. "You gonna be just fine."

"Promise?" said Amber. She suddenly sounded more like a little girl than a grown woman.

"Promise," said Jack.

He took Amber by the hand. Lisa suppressed the inexplicable urge to strike the woman dead, and took Amber's other hand, squeezing it just a little tighter than was strictly necessary.

"All you have to do is walk one little stretch of tunnel with us," said Lisa. "It's only a few feet. You can do that, right? Just close your eyes and pretend you're walking through your house."

"Apartment," said Amber faintly.

"Okay, your apartment," said Lisa. "Just pretend you're crossing the room and the ceiling's a little lower than usual. We'll make sure you don't run into any walls you didn't think you had, okay?"

"Okay," said Amber, her voice still shaking. She closed her eyes tightly.

"Right, here we go…"

The three stepped forward, and started wading through the damp tunnel. Amber was trembling from head to toe, whimpering softly all the while, and she was clutching their hands so tightly that Lisa and Jack both wondered if the bones in their hand were going to break.

"No far now, Amber," Jack reassured her. "Just a few more feet, yeah?"

Amber nodded silently, and to Lisa's relief she relaxed her grip slightly. It was just as well Amber had her eyes closed, Lisa thought; if she had seen the multitudes of spiders crawling over the walls and ceiling, both ahead of them and behind them, she would probably have had a complete nervous breakdown.

Just a few more feet… then they'd turn the corner and the spiders would be left behind. Odd, though. Why were there tarantulas in Raccoon City, and why in the sewers of all places? And why were there so many of them? Lisa had never seen so many spiders in her life, especially not in one place. There were hundreds of them.

Where had they all come from? They weren't native to Raccoon City or anywhere even remotely near the town. So they must have been introduced… how? And by whom?

Looking at the spiders made Lisa's skin crawl, and she wasn't even afraid of spiders. She could only begin to imagine how Amber must feel… being in such an enclosed space, in the dark, surrounded by creatures that scared the wits out of her.

"It's all right, Amber," she said, feeling a sudden impulse to comfort the woman. "We'll be out of here soon, don't worry. A couple more steps and we'll be past them."

"You must think I'm stupid," said Amber indistinctly.

"Sorry?" said Lisa.

"Being scared of spiders. Why? They're just little creatures with lots of legs. I don't even know why I'm so afraid of them. I never used to mind them when I was a kid… then one day I saw one and screamed the place down. I've been terrified of them ever since. I'm pathetic, I know, acting like this… it must be a real pain in the ass for you. I'm really sorry."

"No, no, that's okay," said Lisa quickly, although the truth was that she'd been thinking along the same lines as Amber. "It's not your fault. Everyone gets scared. Just hang in there, right? Nearly out."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be."

"You'd be better off without me…"

"Don't be stupid. We survivors have to stick together, or we'll never get out."

"But I don't have any bullets left, and I'm scared of all these things, and I've been no help at all…"

"That doesn't matter. Look, Amber, even if you were the biggest pain in the ass since haemorrhoids, we wouldn't leave you here alone. If we did we'd be no better than her. Now quit with the self-pity before we start contemplating your advice."

"Sorry."

"That was a joke."

"Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry."

"Sorry."

"Hey," Jack interrupted. "That look like the last of 'em. Amber, we be goin' round a corner, 'kay?"

"Okay," said Amber, her eyes still shut.

They turned the corner as the last spider scurried away across the damp, grimy brick wall, and Amber sighed. She was relieved to be away from her worst fears, and this relief was written over her face for all to see. From now on, she thought, things wouldn't be quite so bad…

She heard Jack inhale sharply, and Lisa let out a little cry of horror.

"What?" said Amber curiously.

"Amber? Whatever you do, don't open your eyes," said Lisa, swallowing.

"Why not?" said Amber. "Is it bad?"

"Oh, yeah…" said Jack.

"How bad?"

"Very, very bad," said Lisa.

Something in their voices triggered an alarm in Amber's head. It had to be bad if they both sounded so creased-up with nervous dread.

"Not those spiders, is it?" said Amber hesitantly.

"Worse…" said Jack.

"Worse than those spiders?" said Amber. "No way."

"It is," said Lisa. "Oh, it is worse."

"How?"

"Put it like this, Amber," said Lisa. "It's not those spiders. It's these spiders."

"What?" said Amber, feeling panic seize her heart once more.

"These ones are… well, they're bigger again," said Lisa. "Much bigger."

"How much bigger?"

"They're the size of Volkswagens."

"What?!" said Amber, her eyes shooting open.

"Amber, don't open your eyes!" Jack and Lisa shouted at the same time. But it was too late. Amber had already seen the spiders…

One was on the ceiling. One was spinning a colossal web across the mouth of another sewer tunnel. A third was resting nonchalantly on the wall. All three of them were covered in the same thick, sand-coloured hair, which turned a rusty shade at the knees, and their eyes gleamed blackly in the dim light. And they were, indeed, big. Not quite the size of Volkswagens, but the description was not too far off the mark. They were certainly big enough to make the colour drain from Amber's face, her eyes widen and her mouth drop open in shock.

It was a couple of seconds before anything else happened. Then:

"AAAAARRRRGH! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!" Amber screamed. She wrenched her hands free from Jack and Lisa's, and ran back the same way they'd just come, still screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Amber, no! Wait!" cried Lisa, and she and Jack gave chase.

Amber bounded down the tarantula-infested passageway, her screams echoing eerily in the tunnels, punctuated by splashes as she ran through the water.

"No, Amber, come back!" Jack and Lisa called, running after her as fast as they could, but the water was impeding their progress and Amber was also much faster than they were.

They were already falling behind, and Amber had just vanished from sight when Jack stumbled and fell face-first into the stinking water.

"Jack!"

Lisa thrust both hands into the water and hauled him straight out again. Jack spluttered and gasped for breath.

"Sorry… Lise, hurry, we gotta find her!"

They started running again, calling Amber's name, but there was no reply. Even the screams had dwindled away to nothing.

"Amber!" they both yelled, as loud as they could. "Amber!"

No answer.

For a moment Lisa and Jack stood there in the tunnel, dripping water and shivering in the cold.

"She's gone," said Lisa after a while.

"Damn it!" yelled Jack. "Now we never gonna find her 'gain! Why she gotta run off like that? She no shoulda opened her eyes! If she dint see those spiders…"

He sighed.

"Man, what a day. Just keep gettin' better an' better, dunt it? Now what?"

"You're right, anyway," said Lisa. "We'll never find her again down here. We could search for weeks and still not find her."

"So what we gonna do?"

"I guess our only choice is to keep going, and hope we find her again."

"What if we dunt?"

Lisa couldn't think of an answer to that question. She wasn't sure she wanted to think of an answer. Most of them would probably involve the policewoman's death, something she didn't want to dwell on for so much as a second. Even though Amber had been a pain at times, she didn't want her to die down here. But she could be anywhere by this time, and they didn't even know where to start looking for her in the labyrinth of dark sewer tunnels. They might never find her.

There was no alternative but to carry on. It pained her greatly, but they couldn't go back to search for Amber. Their only hope was to carry on through the sewers and pray that they'd run into each other again later.

"Jack, I don't want to leave her," said Lisa. "But…"

She trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. Instead she settled for:

"I wish she hadn't run off."

"Yeah," said Jack wearily. "Me too."

More silence.

Something pale was floating in the water. Jack picked it up as it drifted by; it was the shirt that he'd given Lisa. The one Amber had draped over her head to protect her from the spiders.

The sight chilled them both. The last they'd seen of it, Amber had still been holding it over her head. Had she thrown it away, or dropped it? Or even lost her grip on it as something grabbed her, dragged her away and tore her apart? It wasn't bloodstained, but that still didn't leave them much of a clue to Amber's fate.

Jack handed it to Lisa without a word. She wrung the sewer water out of the shirt, and tied it around her waist.

Once again it was just the two of them. They'd been abandoned by the very people whose lives they'd saved; they now had no choice but to face the uncertain perils of the sewers alone.