33: Endless Night
The elevator sank slowly beneath the earth, passing down through level after level of the Umbrella building's concrete underbelly.
Christina's tale was short and uncomplicated. After being separated from Renée following a battle with some zombies, she'd decided to carry on up to the control tower alone, assuming - incorrectly, as it turned out - that Renée would meet her there.
She hadn't managed to contact Nicholai or any of the other UBCS team members, but despite this, she was very proud of herself. The reason for this was her chance discovery of the computer network control room. Using one of the computers, she had succeeded in hacking into Umbrella's mainframe and accessing the company's employee records database. From this, she'd found out where in the building Lisa's parents now worked… as well as a few other interesting details from another section of the database.
"Apparently I'm due for a bonus at the end of this mission," she said smugly. "Oh, and Lavelle, it said you're going to be promoted to Lance-Corporal. So you'll have to take orders from me for a little while longer."
"What?" Renée was momentarily speechless. "But - but Sarge said - "
"Sarge says a lot of things," said Christina. "Usually along the lines of "Come on, you useless scum, it's only a five-mile run". Don't believe everything you're told."
"I don't believe this, that's for sure. How come you get to go straight from Private to Corporal?" said Renée sulkily.
"Because I'm me and you're you."
"That's not fair."
"Since when was it meant to be fair? Life isn't fair, Lavelle. Get used to it."
"It's all right for you, you stuck-up cow, you're Sarge's favourite recruit…" mumbled Renée.
Christina ignored her. Whether this was because she didn't hear what Renée said, or simply didn't care, was anybody's guess.
"So what brought you back here, anyway? Your sergeant is out there somewhere, shouldn't you be looking for him?" said Lisa worriedly. "Something terrible could happen to him."
"Not likely," said Renée. "He's a tough old goat. I'd like to see the creature that gets the better of Old Nick himself."
Christina smacked her in the back of the head.
"Show some respect for your superior officer," she said gruffly.
"Ow! You can't hit me! That's assault, that is," complained Renée.
"Shut up, you."
The elevator shuddered to a halt.
"Welcome to Level B5," said the robotic voice. "Please wait while blast doors are deactivated."
They heard a loud metallic grinding noise outside the elevator as the blast doors slid aside.
"Blast doors deactivated."
The elevator doors opened into total darkness. The passengers squinted into the cold, black space in front of them.
"Why is it so dark?" said Renée.
"Are we between floors?" said Lisa.
"This can't be right," said Amber, shaking her head.
"No, it's right," said Dr Harlech. "You first, Corporal."
"No," said Christina, after a carefully measured pause. "Actually, Dr Harlech, I think you can go first."
"Scared, eh?" said Renée, smirking.
"Absolutely not," said Christina with iron-hard conviction. "I'm merely evaluating the situation. There could be any number of hazards in a low-light environment, and she's bound to know what they are. Therefore, she can go first. If anything bad happens, it'll happen to her, not us."
"Oh, great. Thanks," said Dr Harlech bitterly. "Thanks a lot. Nobody cares about the Umbrella scientist, so let's just use her as bait."
"Bait for what, exactly?" said Christina, as sweet as arsenic.
"For whatever's out there! I don't know! I have no idea what's out there," said Dr Harlech. "I mean, back when I worked here there wasn't anything to be afraid of, except lab accidents or getting fired - "
"Or run over in the parking lot because you screwed up," supplied Lisa.
"Or run over in the parking lot because you screwed up," agreed Dr Harlech. "Back then there weren't any of these nasty man-eating frogs and giant moths and things. But now? Now there could be just about anything out there. Do you want me to get eaten?"
"Rather you than us," said Renée, with feeling.
"Go on, get moving," said Christina impatiently, and she shoved the scientist out of the elevator, into the darkness beyond.
Dr Harlech yelped.
"Don't make me go out there on my own!" she cried. "Please - I'm scared of the dark!"
Christina sighed, rolled her eyes, and pulled out her gun. She pointed it right at the trembling scientist's forehead.
"Compared to being shot in the head," she said, "I would say the dark holds no fears, don't you?"
"Hey, that's not fair," said Lisa indignantly. "Leave her alone, can't you see she's scared?"
"If I want an opinion, girl, I'll provide one," said Christina. She returned her scowling face to Dr Harlech. "You. Walk. Now."
"No, please! Please don't make me go alone!" wailed Dr Harlech.
Amber felt a surge of anger. Much as she disliked Dr Harlech for her Umbrella connections, she didn't dislike the woman as a person, and she resented seeing anybody being bullied by Christina - not even an Umbrella scientist deserved that, she decided.
She didn't like the dark either. There were probably spiders in there. Huge spiders. But the cupboard incident had made her so ashamed of her own cowardice that she'd silently vowed never to run away from anything again; not if it meant leaving other people in the line of fire.
"Dr Harker? It's all right," she said. "I'll go with you. Christina, put that damn gun away before somebody gets hurt."
To everybody's surprise, not least Christina's, the gun was withdrawn. Amber stepped out of the elevator and put a reassuring arm around Dr Harlech's shaking shoulders.
"It's all right," she repeated. "I'll walk with you."
They started to walk. After a few seconds, the scientist's hand felt for hers in the gloom. Amber was surprised by the gesture, but she took Dr Harlech's hand anyway, and squeezed it gently. The other woman's hand was cold and slightly clammy with nervous sweat, but she didn't let go of it.
"Dr Hardy - ?"
She heard Dr Harlech sigh in the dark.
"Just call me Clarissa," she said eventually. "It's easier."
"Okay," said Amber. "Are you all right, Clarissa?"
"I'm all right. Thanks for asking."
There was a long, awkward pause in the conversation as they both tried to think of something to say, to keep the silence at bay. The air seemed heavy with words left unsaid.
"I'm sorry about your friend," blurted out Dr Harlech. "I just wish there was something I could have done to stop all this…"
"I don't think you could have done anything, Clarissa," said Amber, reluctant as she was to acknowledge the fact. "Not really."
"I should have paid more attention to what was going on around me. I should have known what we were doing," said Dr Harlech regretfully.
"But when you found out, you wanted to stop," said Amber. "You didn't want to be a part of it. I respect you for that, at least."
"I stayed, though," said Dr Harlech, with the same note of regret in her voice. "I shouldn't have stayed. I wish I'd let them kill me. Rather that than stay, like a coward, after what happened to Janice. I should have blown the whistle on them, even if they did kill me for it."
"You were afraid. I don't blame you for that," said Amber. "Nobody wants to die."
"I'm so sorry. I really am," mumbled Dr Harlech.
"I know. It's okay."
The atmosphere seemed to clear a little.
"Officer Bernstein - " began Dr Harlech.
"Amber," corrected Amber. "My name's Amber."
"Amber, we should call the others," said Dr Harlech. "It's hard to get lost down here, but all the same it's best if we stay close together."
"You're right," said Amber. "Hey, Jack, Lisa? You guys? Start walking, it's okay in here. Just dark, that's all. Nothing to worry about."
"Roger that," called Renée. "Let's go, people."
"I give the orders, Private," snapped Christina.
"Sorry," said Renée.
"Let's go, people," Christina ordered.
They filed out of the elevator, one by one. Jack was the last to go. He stepped out, and stumbled, suddenly dizzy; his vision started to blur and dissolve into greyness. Gasping for breath, he clutched the wall for support, and he closed his eyes.
"Jack? Are you all right?"
He looked up, and saw Lisa watching him with an air of grave concern. The dizzy spell, horrible though it was, had been mercifully brief - it was passing now, and all that remained of it was a mild headache.
"Yeah," said Jack. "Yeah, fine. I just get a little dizzy back there."
"Are you sure you're okay?" said Lisa.
"Yeah, I be fine. Dunt worry," said Jack.
Lisa looked doubtful. "If you're sure, then…" she said uncertainly.
They walked on.
"Hey, didn't I give you kids a torch back in the sewers?" said Renée, suddenly remembering their underground excursion in the sewers. "We could sure use that right now."
Jack and Lisa looked at each other.
"Lise?"
"Don't look at me. I gave it to you when you were trying to open the manhole."
"Dint I give it back?"
"No, you didn't."
"Oh. Dunt s'pose you remember what I do with it after that?"
"I think you must have left it in the sewers."
"Ah, hell…"
"That was my torch," said Renée reproachfully. "I really liked that torch."
"Sorry, Renée," said Jack humbly.
"Sorry is all very well, but that's going to have to come out of my pay," complained Renée. "Torches are standard-issue but the ones they hand out to us are lousy, they last two missions and then kaput. You want a decent torch, you have to buy one yourself. They don't come cheap, either…"
Christina gave a very loud sigh, indicating that what little patience she once had was being very rapidly spent.
"Here, use mine," she snapped.
The torch was thrown at lightning speed, and would probably have taken Renée's head off if her reflexes hadn't been so fast. She caught it neatly in one hand, flicking it on and throwing the torch beam ahead of her.
The group progressed along what was turning out to be a very long, dark corridor with several unexpected twists and turns. Dr Harlech led the group, still hanging onto Amber's hand for grim death, while Jack and Lisa followed behind, walking close together, and the mercenaries lingered towards the back.
"Whoa!" yelled Jack, as he felt something push past him.
"What is it?" said Lisa.
Thankfully, it was only Renée. Whistling a cheerful tune in a pitch that made the others wince, she cast the torchlight over the corridor in long, lazy swoops.
"Nothing here… nothing there… nothing, nothing anywhere," said Renée brightly. "Looks like this place is perfectly - mmmf!"
Lisa slapped a hand over the mercenary's mouth.
"Don't say it!" she hissed. "Don't say anything that you'll end up regretting later when there are zombies bursting through every wall! Just keep your mouth shut! Got that?"
"Mm-mmff," said Renée, nodding vigorously.
"Good."
Lisa removed her hand. Renée blinked once or twice, and took a gulp of air.
"You could have just asked," she said, looking hurt.
"No time for pleasantries," said Christina brusquely. "We need to move on."
They moved on. Dr Harlech's face was aglow with torchlight, nervous sweat, and a smattering of hope.
"This place looks so different in the dark," she said. "But I think we're nearly there now."
"Good," said Jack fervently. "My feet hurt like hell."
"We're here," said Dr Harlech, a moment later.
Sure enough, the torchlight now illuminated a pair of laboratory doors. Not surprisingly, the doors were not labelled "L-Project Laboratory" but were instead marked with a serial number, 7UC-1F-3R. There was a strange symbol stencilled in red on the wall, which Lisa and Jack didn't recognise.
"That's the biohazard symbol," said Renée helpfully. "We've seen that before."
"I bet you have," said Amber under her breath.
"Anything be lurkin' in there, waitin' to bite our heads off?" said Jack.
Dr Harlech peered in.
"It's quite dark in there, but - no, I don't see anything nasty," she reported.
"In we go, then," said Christina. "Open the door."
Dr Harlech nodded, and pushed the doors hard. They didn't budge. She tried again, pushing a little harder, then with an almighty heave - but the doors still failed to open. An anxious look crossed the scientist's face.
"Oh dear…" she said, raising her hand to her mouth. "I completely forgot about the key."
"Key? What key?" said Christina sharply.
"I've got a lockpick," said Renée helpfully. "If you move over, I can - "
"No, no, it's a special kind of key," said Dr Harlech fretfully. "And the only two people with keys to this laboratory were Liz Hartley and Janice, but nobody knows where they kept them."
There was a ringing silence among the group.
"Great," said Amber. "Just great. Wonderful. Fantastic. We can't get in. Now what?"
"There has to be another way in," said Christina.
"No, this was the only way in or out of the laboratory," said Dr Harlech, chewing nervously away at her left thumbnail; the other nails, Amber noticed, were already worn right down to the quick.
"You're wrong, you know," Christina informed the scientist. "There is another way in, as a matter of fact."
"Oh? And how do you know that?" said Dr Harlech, a touch defensively.
"Because a laboratory has to have ventilation of some sort, otherwise you would all have choked to death on fumes years ago," said Christina. "And if it's a big laboratory, you'll need a decent-sized ventilation system. There's bound to be some way of accessing the laboratory via the air ducts."
They contemplated this idea for a moment.
"I hate to say it, but she's probably right," said Amber thoughtfully. "Let's have a look around, shall we?"
Several minutes of searching turned up an air vent. Set in the wall about a foot below the ceiling of the passageway and covered by a metal grille, it looked just about big enough to admit someone of average build.
"All right, someone give me a boost so I can get this grille off," said Christina.
Renée obediently stepped forward and knelt on the floor. Christina climbed onto her shoulders, and took the torch from Renée's hand on her way up.
"Ready?" said Renée.
Christina nodded.
"Okay. Going up," Renée announced, and she stood up a little unsteadily. "Hey, this reminds me of when I gave my cousin a piggy-back ride… except you're a lot heavier than he was."
"Of course I'm heavier than him, you imbecile. Your cousin is three years old," said Christina. "Now shut up and hold still."
The grille was at eye-level now, and Christina examined it with the aid of the torch's light. It was fairly cheap metal, held in place by four large screws, one at each corner. It looked easy enough to remove.
"Right, let's see…" she said to herself.
"How you gonna get the grille off, Christina?" said Jack, down below her. "Dunt you need a screwdriver or somethin'?"
"You'd be amazed at what you can do with a simple knife," said Christina, producing a survival knife from somewhere in the recesses of her uniform.
She set to work on the screws holding the grille in place, her tongue protruding very slightly as she stuck the tip of the knife blade into the screw. Metal squeaked against metal as the knife turned, and the screw with it.
"This is pretty uncomfortable," said Renée after a while.
"I know," said Christina. "I should be done soon."
However, the screws were surprisingly tight, and it was some time before the first screw popped out of the grille and landed on the damp concrete floor with a ping.
"Can't you work any faster?" grunted Renée, shifting position slightly. "My shoulders hurt."
"All right, all right," said Christina testily, wiping her forehead with the back of her free hand, and starting work on the next screw. "I'm working as fast as I can! Now shut up and let me concentrate!"
Dr Harlech could understand why the mercenary sounded so tense. The pressure of doing a fiddly task while being watched by others and being constantly told to hurry up was something that, as an Umbrella employee, she was only too familiar with. Like Amber, she disliked Christina intensely, but all the same she couldn't help feeling a brief pang of sympathy for her.
The second screw dropped onto the concrete and bounced away into a dark corner of the corridor.
"How much longer is this going to take?" said Renée, looking anxious. "Because I think I'm going to drop you soon…"
"You'd better not drop me," warned Christina, twiddling the knife hurriedly as she tried to work the next screw out faster. "Don't you dare drop me!"
"Hurry up then," said Renée, wincing. "You're heavy."
Christina was halfway through working out the third screw out of the grille when she felt her only means of support shift uncomfortably beneath her feet.
"Ow… I don't think I can hold you much longer," groaned Renée.
"If you drop me, soldier," hissed Christina, "I will personally make your life a living hell!"
"I thought you'd been doing that for months," said Renée, surprised.
"Oh, I haven't even started yet!" Christina snarled, wrenching at the third screw - it shot out of the wall, rebounded off the opposite wall, and rolled across the floor into the shadows.
"Christina," whined Renée, "I really can't hold you up much longer!"
"Don't drop me!" ordered Christina. "I'm on the last screw!"
"I can't hold you up any more! I have to put you down!" said Renée.
"Don't you dare!" Christina yelled, twisting the knife frantically to try and get the last screw out.
"I'm going to drop you if I don't!" cried Renée.
"Hold on! Don't drop me!" shouted Christina.
"I'm going to drop you! I'm going to drop you!" said Renée, wobbling alarmingly as her knees started to give way beneath her superior's weight.
"No!" yelled Christina.
"I'm dropping you!"
"No!"
Renée staggered for a few seconds, trying desperately to stop herself from falling over, but in the end the weight was too much for her. She toppled over with a squeal of alarm, taking Christina with her.
Christina swore incomprehensibly and wrenched the survival knife away as she fell, incidentally dislodging the last screw holding the grille in place; already three-quarters unscrewed, it came out completely and the grille crashed to the floor.
At exactly the same time, Renée and Christina landed with a painful thud on the floor. The torch fell from Christina's hand and rolled across the concrete with a tinny little noise.
"Private Lavelle?" said Christina, her voice sharp and chilly with rage.
"Yeah?"
"Did I ever tell you that you're a cretin?"
"You called me an illiterate moron last week. And a "vile social degenerate". And this morning you called me a pathetic little bag of monkey droppings. And when Sarge wasn't looking during our mission debriefing a few days ago, you told me that you loathed me and everything about me, and that it was your sincerest hope that I die a horrible death involving wild horses and several lengths of chain. But I don't think you've ever called me a cretin."
"Hmm. All right then. Lavelle?"
"Yeah?"
"You're a cretin."
"Sorry. But at least the grille came off when you fell."
"This is true," said Christina, standing up. "Now, somebody needs to climb up there, crawl into the ventilation shaft and get into the lab."
"I'm not doing it," said Renée automatically. "I'm injured, right, doc?"
"It's not a good idea to crawl along on your stomach with those injuries," agreed Dr Harlech solemnly. "And I'd get up, if I were you. Lying on a cold damp floor on your stomach won't do you much good, either."
"How about you, doc?" said Renée, getting to her feet. "You know this place like the back of your hand, right?"
Dr Harlech looked startled.
"Me? Oh, no, not me. I wouldn't know where to go. I've never been into the air ducts. Good grief, I've got better things to do with my lunch break than crawl on all fours through the ventilation system. The company tends to take a rather dim view of that kind of thing, you know."
"Fair enough," said Renée. "What's your excuse, Amber?"
There was no reply; Amber was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, look. The coward ran away," said Christina scornfully. "Oh well, good riddance. She was useless anyway."
Lisa and Jack scowled. It was true that Amber often wasn't much good in an emergency, with her tendency to panic and run at the sight of monsters, but in spite of her faults there was something very likeable about Amber, and hearing her criticised by Christina made their blood boil.
"She ain't useless," said Jack sullenly. "She may be a 'fraidy-cat, but she save our asses at least twice this trip."
"Fine, fine. Have it your way," snapped Christina. "But it doesn't change the fact that she's not here to help us now. And we need someone in that air duct."
"How about you, Christina? I don't see you volunteering for all the dirty work," said Lisa.
"No, and do you know why?" said Christina, her eyes narrowing to chilly blue slits.
"No. Do tell," said Lisa sweetly.
"It's because I'm the one in command," said Christina. "That, for your information, means I give the orders, and other people carry them out. Other people, in this case, being you."
Lisa's mouth dropped open.
"What?" she said, appalled.
"We have a saying in the UBCS, Lisa," said Renée. "Never volunteer."
"I never volunteered for anything!" said Lisa indignantly.
"Ah, but you answered back to a superior officer," said Renée, shaking her head in mock resignation. "That's just as stupid as putting your hand up and yelling "Sir! Sir! Pick me to do whatever godawful task you have in mind!", and it usually amounts to the same thing anyway. The long and short of it is, you've just volunteered. Up you go."
"I won't go in there and you two can't make me," said Lisa stubbornly. "I'm a civilian. You can't order me to do anything."
"In that case we'll just turn around, go back upstairs, and leave town without Mommy and Daddy, shall we?" said Christina, smiling nastily.
"No!"
"Well, then. Get up there and get in that vent before I lose my temper."
Lisa glared at her, but shrugged off her backpack and dropped it next to Jack's feet. Jack looked at her; worry was written all over his face in huge bold letters, and the doubt in his eyes was underlining them at least twice.
"You sure you wanna do this, Lise?" he said, and the nervous tremor in his voice not only underlined the letters a third time, but put them in italics too.
"No," said Lisa. "But you're injured, Amber's not here, Renée can't and Christina and the good doctor won't, so I guess it's down to me."
"'kay," Jack said shakily. "You be careful in there, won't you, Lise?"
"I'll be careful," she promised.
"Here's the torch," said Renée, picking it up and handing it to Lisa. "Looks dark in there, so you'll need it."
"Thanks, Renée," said Lisa distractedly, and looked up at the dark opening high up in the wall. She couldn't reach it, of course. She'd need someone to help her up. Christina was not even to be thought of.
Jack's hurt his arm… Renée's injured too… ah…
"Dr Harlech?" said Lisa. "I can't get up there on my own. Can you give me a hand?"
"Sure," said Dr Harlech, grateful for the distraction; Amber's unexpected disappearance had unnerved her completely. She stepped forward into position, and allowed the younger girl to climb onto her shoulders.
"What do you see, Lisa?" she said.
Lisa peered into the opening that the grille had so recently covered. It was pitch dark inside the ventilation shaft, though the torch's beam chased some of the shadows away. She wished that it wasn't big enough for a slightly-built teenager to crawl comfortably through. However, wishing wouldn't make the air duct shrink; it looked like she'd have to go in, whether she liked it or not.
"Nothing. It's dark - really dark. Big enough for me to crawl through, unfortunately," Lisa reported. "I'm going in now."
She started climbing inside, pushing her upper body forward and pulling her legs up and into the shaft, and began to crawl.
----------
Elsewhere in the corridor, Amber was staring into the darkness. Her night vision was not good, but she could make out the outlines of the laboratory doors before her.
Her hand moved to the breast pocket of her bloodstained shirt, which held an item that she'd almost forgotten she had until now. She took it out, and turned it over, running her hands over it, looking with her fingers instead of her eyes in the absence of light.
She flicked it open with her thumbnail, and a small flame flared suddenly in the corridor's darkness.
Joseph's lighter. It had been a present from his father, a Vietnam veteran who'd carried it with him every day during the war; Joseph too had carried it every day until that terrible day in July, when he'd gone on that fateful mission and left it in the STARS office by mistake… and never came home to retrieve it.
The other STARS members had given it to Amber, on the grounds that Joseph would have wanted her to have it. It had remained in her pocket ever since, a near-constant reminder of the man she'd loved and lost.
It had been of considerable use to her in the past few days, and now it was serving a useful purpose again. She brought it closer to the door, searching for a keyhole, or at least some way of opening the door.
There was no keyhole. Instead, Amber's questing fingertips found a stone panel set just to one side of the door, with an indentation carved into it and some words engraved below the indentation on a small brass plate:
Of glass, of stone, pure, black, cold, or easily broken,
Your centre is the key.
"What?" said Amber quietly to herself. "What on earth is that supposed to mean?"
She stared at the metal plate in utter incomprehension, her fingertips idly tracing the indentation.
Suddenly, it hit her. The outline she was tracing was heart-shaped…
Heart Of Glass. A heart of stone. Pure in heart. Black-hearted. Cold-hearted. Hearts can be easily broken. The centre of something is "the heart"… of course!
Amber started fumbling around her neck, and unclasped the heart necklace that she'd found in the flowerpot. The glass pendant gleamed darkly in the light. It looked about the right size for the indentation.
Perhaps this was the key? Oh well, there was only one way to find out…
----------
Lisa was beginning to feel acutely claustrophobic, but she didn't dare go back. She crawled forward on her stomach, knees and elbows, torch in one hand and her gun in the other, listening to the beating of her heart and the shuffling, whispering noises of her every movement and breath in the metal duct.
The entrance was some way behind her now, and getting smaller the further she went. She wanted to turn back, but knew she couldn't. She had to go on; it was that or leave her mother and father to die, if they weren't dead already…
"No," Lisa scolded herself. "Stop thinking like that. They have to be alive."
She crawled forward, banging her elbow on the side of the duct in the process.
"They'd better be alive," she muttered.
There was a junction just ahead of her; she could either turn left, or keep going. Lisa decided to turn left - it looked like a dead end up ahead.
She shuffled around the corner, and was met with a gust of cold, stale-smelling air in the face. There was a faint whiff of chemicals too, and something else that she couldn't quite recognise.
"Chemicals? I must be getting close," said Lisa, then wondered why she was talking. After all, it wasn't as if there was anyone in here to listen to her. At least, she hoped there wasn't.
The passage seemed to get narrower and darker as she crawled along, until it felt like she was wearing the air duct, like a metal straitjacket.
Lisa paused briefly to calm herself and steady her nerves, gulping the musty air and willing her heart to slow its frantic pace. Until now, she'd never had the slightest tendency to claustrophobia - but until now, she reminded herself, she'd never been in a space this small and enclosed.
"You're okay. You can do this, Lisa," she told herself. "Just keep going."
Lisa started to crawl again, but a moment later she stopped dead and gagged as the smell hit her in the face. It was a rotten smell, like rancid meat, mouldy fruit and a long-dead animal all rolled into one, with a sharp tang of old, dried blood to finish the stench.
"Ugh! Oh, God, what is that?" she cried in disgust. The torch clattered on the bottom of the duct as she slapped a hand over her nose and mouth, and tried hard not to breathe.
There was something blocking the duct some way ahead of her; even with the torch, she couldn't quite make out what it was. In a way, she was thankful that she couldn't see what was blocking her way. Whatever it was, it smelled completely rotten. It was probably a dead animal of some kind, although she couldn't imagine how an animal that big managed to get into the air ducts unnoticed.
Eeew… but maybe I can get past it. Hopefully without touching it… ugh, that thing is so gross, whatever it is…
Lisa crawled closer, her fingers tightening around the torch as she neared the creature and fought the impulsive reaction to retch at the smell.
She couldn't really see what the dead creature was. From this distance she could see something black, slightly insectile in appearance, with suggestions of black hair or fur here and there. For some reason it put her in mind of a skinned gorilla, although she knew it couldn't be - gorillas definitely weren't indigenous to the American Midwest.
Lisa shook her head. She was so tired, her eyes were starting to play tricks on her. She thought she'd seen the thing twitch, but that wasn't possible. It was dead, wasn't it?
… wasn't it?
----------
Amber's hand trembled a little as she placed the dark glass heart in the indentation. As she'd anticipated, it was a perfect fit, but the doors resolutely failed to open.
Amber frowned, then tried to press the pendant further into the heart-shaped depression. It wouldn't go in any further.
"The joys of modern technology, my butt," she muttered, and gave the door a kick. She'd half-expected it to make the doors swing open in accordance with all the laws of drama. However, the doors had clearly never heard of dramatic tension, and stayed shut.
"Open, damn you," Amber hissed through her teeth, and pushed the doors hard, with no result.
Finally, she glowered at the immovable doors.
"Oh, up yours then," she snapped, and yanked the pendant roughly out of the indentation.
Just as she turned to go, something clicked deep inside the door mechanism. Amber was dimly aware that she seemed to have done something.
She tried the doors one last time, just in case. The door on the far side failed to budge even an inch, but the one next to the panel swung open as she pushed it.
It had barely had chance to start closing again before Amber rushed back down the dark corridor to find the others.
"Lisa, Jack! Dr Harlech! Renée! Christina! I opened the doors! Come on, quickly, let's go!" she called out.
The lighter's flame blew out as she ran, but Amber was too excited to care. She closed the lid and put the lighter back in her breast pocket, then paused briefly to put the necklace back on. She didn't understand why, but it held a dark fascination for her, and she wanted to keep it close and hidden from view.
Why? Amber wondered briefly. It's just a necklace… pretty, in a weird sort of way, but it's just a necklace, after all. Probably not even valuable.
She hurried off again, and came back to find the other members of the group gathered near the opening of the air duct. The grille which once covered it now lay on the floor. For some reason, the others were looking up at it, as if they were waiting for something.
Jack and Dr Harlech turned to look at her as she approached them.
"Hey, Amber. Where you go?" said Jack.
"Never mind," said Amber. "I've found a way in. Come on, let's go. With any luck we can find Lisa's parents quickly and this nightmare will be over soon…"
But Jack and Dr Harlech seemed unwilling to come with her.
"What?" said Amber. "Why are you just standing here? And why are the mercs so interested in that air duct all of a sudden? And Lisa - hey, where's Lisa?"
Dr Harlech gulped nervously.
"Um… she's in the air ducts," she said, cringing a bit as she spoke.
"She's what?" exclaimed Amber.
"In the air ducts," said Dr Harlech again, rather more quietly. She appeared to regret having said anything.
"You mean to say you let her go in there alone? Are you crazy?" gasped Amber. "There could be anything in there with her right now! Absolutely anything! And she's only a kid! We have to get her out of there, right now!"
----------
The dead animal twitched again, more violently. Lisa backed away on her hands and knees, silently panicking.
Stupid, stupid… just because it's dead, that doesn't mean it'll stay dead! Zombies are dead too, and that doesn't slow them down! I should have turned back the minute I saw this thing… oh God, I have to get out of here! Right now!
Lisa didn't even bother waiting to see if the supposedly-dead animal twitched again before she tried to escape. She immediately starting crawling back down the air duct in reverse motion, as fast as she could go. All the time, she kept her eyes on the creature's twitching form. It seemed to be twitching a lot more now.
Any minute now, Lisa thought, it's going to get up and chase after me.
With an inhuman shriek, the "dead" animal sprang up onto its feet. Somehow it sensed Lisa - good hearing, or perhaps it could smell her - and it skittered after her, its feet scrabbling on the metal beneath it.
Lisa gave an involuntary squeak of terror, and shone the torch in what was presumably the creature's face. It recoiled, chittering and temporarily blinded; seeing this as a chance to put some more distance between it and her, Lisa fired a few shots in the general direction of the creature, hoping at least one bullet would hit, then tried to crawl backwards even faster.
Oh, why did I have to be right? she thought desperately. Just for once, it would be nice to be wrong about stuff like this!
There was a clang as Lisa's feet hit something behind her, and she realised she was back at the junction. She turned around, and saw the duct entrance far ahead of her, a small, distant square of not-quite blackness in the blackness.
So… she was in a dark tunnel, and at the end of it was - well, there would have been a bright light, if they'd been able to find the light switch. It was one hell of a metaphor for existence.
Behind her was uncertain death. Ahead of her was uncertain life. Lisa knew which one she preferred, that was for sure.
With terror and the urge to live propelling her forward, Lisa headed towards the light. Only when she looked back, panting with the effort of crawling so fast, and saw that there was a gap between her and the horrible thing, did she open her mouth and scream for help with every breath in her lungs.
"Jack! Christina! Somebody, anybody! Get me out of here!"
----------
At the sound of the scream, Amber froze mid-rant, and saw the colour suddenly drain from Jack's face.
"Lise!" he yelled. "Lise!"
Dr Harlech started chewing her left thumbnail in double-time, looking more miserable than ever.
"I knew this was a bad idea," the scientist moaned.
"Yeah," said Renée, scowling at Christina. "Her bad idea."
Amber looked at Christina, whose face appeared to be stuck in transit from surprise to outrage.
"You made her go in there?" exclaimed Amber. "You - you coward! Making a kid go into a dark, creepy place instead of you! I may be a coward but even I'dnever stoop that low! How could you? That poor kid! You should be ashamed!"
For once, Christina appeared to be lost for words.
"I - " she began.
"Never mind you! Nobody give a damn 'bout you!" yelled Jack. "Lise be in trouble an' all you can do is blame somebody else? We gotta get her out! She could die in there!"
----------
Lisa could hear it moving behind her. It was catching her up, she knew. All the T-Virus monsters moved quickly. That was why there was nobody left alive in town but her, Jack, Amber, Dr Harlech and three mercenaries, and possibly her parents. And she wasn't too sure how long she could count herself as a survivor, either…
A clawed hand - or at least what probably passed for a hand, she didn't dare look closer - grabbed her by one leg.
Lisa screamed, struggled for a second or two, and finally managed to break free of its grasp. Something ripped in the darkness, and she didn't even want to speculate what. She started her high-speed crawl again, gasping for enough breath to fill her lungs, and wondering if her frenetic heartbeat could possibly kill her.
"Lise!"
Jack's face was just visible at the other end of the air duct; she'd never seen a more welcoming sight in her life.
"Jack!" Lisa cried. "Help me! Get me out of here, please!"
"Lise!" shouted Jack. "Oh, man… hang on, chica, I gonna come after you!"
"No, Jack, stay out of the air duct!" Lisa shouted back. "There's a monster in here, right behind me!"
"What?"
"You heard! Just get me out of here!" said Lisa, still clambering forward as fast as her hands and knees could carry her.
"I no can reach you! You be too far away, Lise!"
Lisa was almost out of breath, and couldn't reply. Instead she concentrated all her effort on getting to the end of the duct. Jack was there, reaching out his arm towards her, not quite close enough to touch.
Almost there now… almost there! Just a few more feet to go!
Straining every inch of her body, Lisa reached forward - and touched the fingertips of Jack's outstretched arm. She inched forward a little more and Jack grabbed her hand.
"Gotcha! Hold on Lise, I gonna pull you out," said Jack.
Lisa could hear noises behind her. That thing was getting closer…
"Hurry!" she urged him. "That thing'll be here any minute!"
Jack grabbed her other hand, and started to pull her out of the air duct. Lisa struggled forwards, trying to help him as much as possible without slowing down her progress out of the tunnel.
"Hold on! Dunt let go!" Jack shouted to someone below him.
Lisa let go of Jack's hands, threw her gun and torch out of the duct, and grabbed the edges of the opening, pulling herself forward. She stuck her head out of the duct's entrance, and Jack held her under the arms, hauling her out as fast as he could.
"Almost there!" he cried triumphantly.
Lisa was halfway out of the air duct when disaster struck.
"Oh no!" she cried. "Help, Jack, I'm stuck!"
"No way! You dint get stuck when you go in! You got plenty of room to spare in there! How come you be stuck now?"
"I don't know, I don't know!" Lisa screamed hysterically. "Just get me out! I can hear it coming!"
Jack's eyes widened with panic. Gripping her by the waist, he pulled harder.
"Ow, ow, ow!" yelled Lisa. "Ow, that hurts!"
"It gonna hurt a lot more when that creature get hold of you!" yelled Jack. "C'mon, Lise, you gotta get unstuck!"
Lisa wriggled as hard as she could, but somehow her hips had become wedged tightly in the duct.
"Help me!" she screamed.
Jack gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the raging pain in his injured arm as he tried to tug Lisa out. It felt like his arm was being doused in acid, then covered in oil and set ablaze.
Lisa struggled and struggled to extricate herself from the air duct, and struggled even harder when she heard the creature scurrying wildly somewhere behind her. It sounded as if it was almost on top of her now.
"Come on, Jack, you can do it!" shouted Amber from down below. "Lisa's almost out!"
"I'm not! I'm going to dieeeee…" wailed Lisa, kicking her legs back and forth inside the air duct.
"You be my best friend, Lise! I ain't gonna let you die! I gonna get you out of here if it kill me!" growled Jack, and pulled Lisa as hard as he could.
Lisa breathed in so hard she thought she'd explode, and, ignoring the protests from her muscles, twisted her lower body right round and - finally - came unstuck. At the same time, Jack pulled her so hard that he hauled the rest of Lisa out in one go, sending Lisa tumbling straight into Jack's arms.
The sudden movement sent them both tumbling from Dr Harlech's shoulders to the floor. Dr Harlech staggered, but just managed to retain her balance. She helped the two groaning teenagers to their feet.
"Well done, Jack, we're proud of you," she told him. "And you, Lisa. Are you all right?"
"Yes, but what about the monster?" said Lisa, looking fearfully up towards the air duct. Now the creature was close enough for them all to hear, skittering through the ventilation system and making noises that were bothering even the mercenaries.
"What is it?" said Renée, staring at the rectangle of darkness set high in the wall, and readying her assault rifle.
"I don't know," said Lisa, diving to retrieve her handgun and the torch from the floor, and point both at the air duct. "I couldn't really tell what it was, but it looked sort of like a… a skinned gorilla."
"A gorilla? Are you sure?" said Renée uncertainly. "We've faced snakes and spiders and zombies, dogs and crows, giant moths, things with long tongues, even a giant cockroach at one point - that was before you found us, of course," she added, seeing Jack and Lisa's horrified expressions. "But we haven't seen any gorilla-monsters. Doesn't sound even remotely like anything we've faced before."
"That's because I don't think it is anything we've faced before," said Lisa.
Without warning, the creature's head emerged from the air duct with a horrible noise that made Dr Harlech squeal and dive for cover behind Amber.
"Sweet Jesus!" exclaimed Renée. "What is that thing?"
A knife flew through the air and hit the creature right between the eyes so hard that it skewered the creature's skull in one go.
"Ugh, gross," said Renée, and she and Lisa averted their eyes. Jack had already closed his protectively. Amber was too busy trying to stop Dr Harlech from crawling up her back in sheer mindless terror to watch the creature dribbling blood down the side of the wall, before it fell out of the air duct and collapsed in a heap on the floor, dead.
When they were sure it was safe to look again, their heads swivelled and they took in Christina, who smiled grimly.
"Like I said. It's amazing what you can do with a simple knife," she said, and looked at the creature's corpse with something like pride.
"You're weird, you know that," said Renée. "But at least you know what that thing is."
"Mm-hmm," said Christina.
"What is it?" said Lisa.
"Dead," said Christina, and she yanked the knife out of the creature's head in one smooth movement. The others watched in horrified fascination as blood ran in little streams across the floor.
"Well then," said Christina, "I don't know what our options are now. I'm no clairvoyant but I get the distinct impression that I'll be lynch-mobbed by the lot of you if I even dare suggest sending Lisa back in there."
"Too right you will be," said Amber, hugging Lisa protectively. "You almost got the poor kid killed."
"Who's Claire Voyant?" said Renée, looking puzzled.
"So now what are we supposed to do, may I ask?" said Christina, glaring at Dr Harlech. "I'm sure you have plenty of good ideas, Dr Harlech, considering this is where you work. How, when you refuse to send anyone back into the air ducts, are we supposed to access the laboratory?"
"We're not stopping you from going," said Lisa. "If you think you can do better than me, you're welcome to try."
"You know, I think I will," said Christina. "Someone help me up."
Nobody volunteered.
"Well, come on then," said Christina impatiently.
"Get up there yourself," said Amber, with a shrug.
"And would you mind telling me how on earth I'm supposed to do that?" said Christina.
"Well, you said it yourself," said Amber mildly. "It's amazing what you can do with a simple knife. Figure it out on your own."
Christina gave her a look of pure hatred, before ramming her survival knife into a crack in the wall, at around knee-height. After ensuring that it was stuck fast and wouldn't fall out of the wall, she climbed up onto it. The knife gave her the boost she needed, and she clambered up into the air duct.
"See you later, then," called Amber.
"What are you going to do, flatfoot?" said Christina, her voice muffled.
"We're going to try and get in some other way. We'll meet you there," said Amber.
Christina didn't reply. Instead they heard her start to crawl, a noise which gradually faded into the distance.
When Amber decided that Christina was safely out of earshot, she turned to the others and said:
"Do you think maybe I should have told her about the doors?"
"No, we should just leave her to - hey, wait a minute, what doors?" said Lisa abruptly. "You mean the main doors?"
"The ones we no could open?" said Jack, scratching his head.
"The very same," said Amber proudly.
"But - but how you do that?" said Jack blankly. "No keyhole, no key, no lock to pick, no password, no nothin'… so how the hell you get that door open?"
"Well, the key was the heart of the problem," said Amber, smiling inwardly at her own joke. "You see, there was a stone panel to the left of the door, with an indentation shaped like a heart. And funnily enough, I happened to have in my possession something which fitted the indentation perfectly."
"What? You mean you found the key?" said Dr Harlech, stunned. "Where did you get that? Let me see it!"
Alarmed by the prospect of handing over the necklace, though she still didn't know why, Amber shrank away from the scientist, clutching the pendant protectively.
"Please," said Dr Harlech, sounding calmer now. "I just want to see it. You can have it back afterwards."
"Well… okay," said Amber reluctantly, unclasping the necklace and dropping it into Dr Harlech's hand.
The scientist nodded, and held it closer to Lisa's torch so she could get a better look at it. When she saw it, she gasped out loud.
"Amber, where did you find this?" she said.
"Hidden in a rubber plant pot upstairs somewhere near the Bacteriological Research department," said Amber. "Why?"
"There are only two keys to the laboratory," said Dr Harlech. "One of them was given to Dr Janice Redmond, and the other one, this one, belonged to - "
"Mom," murmured Lisa. "You mean this is my mom's key? But then… what was it doing hidden in a plant all the way back upstairs?"
Dr Harlech shrugged.
"I don't know," she said. "Let's hope we can find her, and find out."
"Can I have the, uh, key back now, Clarissa?" said Amber anxiously.
"Please," said Dr Harlech, returning the necklace. "Take it. But whatever you do, don't lose it," she warned. "And for God's sake, don't drop it, because it'll smash and then we're done for."
"Why, is it valuable?" said Amber, putting the necklace back on and tucking it inside her shirt.
"You have no idea how much that thing is worth to the right collector," said Dr Harlech darkly. "But never mind. Let's go and find your parents, Lisa."
Lisa nodded.
"Do you think I should go after Christina?" said Renée, glancing up at the air duct. "There might be more of those things in there."
The others stared at her as if she'd gone mad.
"You're right," said Renée, nodding. "She can manage. And if she can't… well, too bad for her. I'm not risking my ass on her behalf."
"I thought you didn't leave fallen comrades behind in the UBCS?" said Lisa.
"Yeah, well, she wasn't exactly in a hurry to rescue me from the car when those crows attacked us," said Renée. "And they probably didn't have someone like Christina in mind when they came up with the whole "nobody gets left behind" thing. I bet they'd have changed their minds if they thought there'd be someone like her in our ranks."
"That's settled, then. She can fend for herself," said Amber brightly. "Okay, our work is done here, now let's move on. Lisa, are you sure you're all right? You're not hurt, are you?"
Lisa looked down at the leg that the creature had grabbed back in the air duct. Her jeans had torn, but otherwise she was unharmed.
"No, I'm fine," she said, smiling bravely.
"That's good," said Amber. "Everyone else okay?"
There was an unanimous chorus of "Yes".
"Good. Let's go."
The group's mood brightened considerably as they arrived outside the laboratory. But even as Amber pushed open the door and the group filed into the L-Project lab one by one, Jack realised that he'd lied to the others. He knew, deep down, that he was anything but okay.
His head ached. He felt sick, dizzy and hot all over. He didn't think he could take it any more. This was intolerable… no, he couldn't stand it any longer.
Jack finally gave in to temptation. His hand moved to his injured, unbearably itchy arm, and he started to scratch…