The Adventures of Lara Croft & David Connors

by C. Mage

Lara Croft continues her adventures, with an unlikely partner...with unexpected results.

17. You Are Now Entering The World

You Are Now Entering The World Of Survival Horror...

By C. Mage

"Damn!" David slammed the phone back into its cradle and turned away from the phone booth, pulling up his collar and dashing through the rain. He got to the sleek silver sports car and got in on the driver's side, closing the door quickly.

"No luck?"

David turned to the lovely brunette sitting next to him. She wore a tan blouse and dark brown Bermuda shorts, her hair tied back in a no-nonsense braid. He ran his fingers through his own black hair, spattering rainwater on his black leather jacket and blue jeans. "Nothing. Something is seriously wrong. I've tried his house ever since we hit the coast, and still nothing. He's either at a party with some of his friends or he just got off a LONG shift at the R.P.D." He wiped the rain from his face and blinked. "I don't like it."

"Now, come on, Dave. How bad could it truly be?" asked Lara Croft, archaeologist-at-large.

"I don't know...when he called us in England, he didn't make a whole lotta sense. Said something about some serious problems in town and he wanted me to find his sister, give her a message for him. By the time I call, she's gone and her landlady says, 'she's gone again.' Sounds like Chris' sister is some kind of nomad."

"What was the message?"

"'Whatever happens, don't come to Raccoon City until I contact you again.' Sounds like something fishy is going on, alright, but I can't imagine what. Last time I came to Raccoon City, the place was Sleepytown, USA. Now he doesn't want his biker sister to go there?"

"Now, Dave, you're making this sound like some kind of colossal mystery. I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation for all this."

"I'd love to hear one that made sense. In any case, we should check it out...in your brand-new, we-had-to-take-it-with-us car."

Lara settled back in her car, a '98 Aston-Martin DB-7. The vehicle was sleek and pantherish, just the way Lara liked it, with smooth, unobtrusive lines that bespoke of serene power and casual speed and handling. She had road-tested it in her own fashion and found the vehicle a pleasure to drive, able to go from zero to sixty miles per hour in a heartbeat and could turn on a dime, but was extremely too fishtail-prone for her liking. It was impressive when she first got it, , though, but when she discovered David's knack for understanding cars, asked him to tweak the handling a bit. As a result, David had altered the suspension and steering, giving Lara just a lot more control and responsiveness from the vehicle. The top speed suffered as a result, but Lara preferred agility over high speed. "Now, David...are you insinuating that I'm showing the old girl off?"

"No, I'm not insinuating it at all. I'm saying it flat out. Now get the 'old girl' in gear. I want some answers and the only place I'm going to get them is at the Raccoon City Police Department."

Even with the directions David gave her, Lara almost missed the exit entirely. "It's a touch off the beaten path, isn't it?"

"Yeah...but that's why it's such a nice place. No heavy industry, no big-time events. It's a small town with the kind of charm and activity that appeals to tourists, but is too far away from the Real World to be found by tourists. Good fishing and hunting, nice people...it's the kind of place that, once you've visited it, you won't forget the visit for a long time, if ever."

"Sounds nice. I could stand to get away from the 'Real World' for a while. And there's a good chance that no one will recognize me...uhm, are there any universities or colleges there?"

"Nope. Just a high school."

"Even better. I may flirt with anonymity yet." Lara stopped the windshield wipers. "Rain's finally let up."

"Glad to hear it. By the way, you wouldn't happen to be packing, would you?"

"Well, David..." Lara said with a guilty smile.

"You didn't."

"Look, David, you sounded worried, and you know what a careful person I am."

"Oh, yeah, right. You go through dank dungeons, creepy crypts, and battle monsters, thugs and hungry animals because you're the cautious type."

"David, it's not my fault I'm 'packing,' as you put it."

"What? Whose is it, then?"

"Why, yours."

"MINE??"

"Yes. I remember your words, David, you said, 'Lara, go upstairs and pack.'"

"I didn't mean pack HEAT!"

"Then you should be more conscious of your choice of wording," Lara said with a smile, looking out over the road.

"Jeez...just my luck, I'm involved with an English Major." He looked at the sign that swiftly passed them, "RACCOON CITY LIMITS." He checked his watch. "Ten at night...and it's a Saturday. Looks like things might be pretty active tonight. We should find..."

"BLAST!!"

David suddenly felt the car lurch to the left and grabbed the armrest, pressing his feet against the floor to brace himself as the car's tires skidded over the road. The car swerved to the side at Lara's command. He turned to Lara, startled, to see her hands gripping the wheel and her teeth visibly gritted together. "What the...?!"

Lara's hiking boots slammed on the brakes and the car spun just over one-eighty degrees, shaking on its suspension to a halt. "Dave, did you see that?"

"See what? I was looking at my watch!"

Lara peered out into the knives of light ahead of the Aston-Martin. "I saw something run right past the car."

"Maybe it was a deer."

Lara turned to David. "What I saw was NO deer, Dave...unless the deer around here are prone to walking on their hind legs."

David started looking around. "Did you get a good look at it?"

"Not really...but what I saw was not like any animal I've seen before. It was built powerfully, vaguely humanoid, with long arms. I think it had claws and a very long tongue."

David shook his head. "Maybe you'd better let me drive, you've been behind the wheel for hours..."

"I was NOT seeing things, David! I know what I saw!"

David took one look at Lara's face and a chill ran up his back. "Let's just get to town."

"Dave, I've got a horrible feeling about this."

David looked out into the darkness. "Ditto. But we can't stay here, out in the open like this. Best we get into town where there's people around, people who can tell us what's going on."

Lara nodded and she wheeled the car around, driving back towards Raccoon City. As she left, a skinless, humanoid shape looked out from the foliage and grinned, blood dripping from its jaws. A human leg with a woman's shoe was clutched in its claws, huge bite marks marring the pale white skin.

Unfortunately, Lara and David's moods only got worse as they got into town. Most of the lights were dark, and two of the taverns they passed were completely silent. "What the hell is going on here?" David asked as they moved through town, Lara slowing the Aston-Martin down to a hair above thirty kilometers per hour.

"Maybe they all went to bed early," Lara ventured, but her words didn't convince her either.

"I think I'm getting the distinct idea that whatever spooked Chris is hanging around here like a bad smell. Wait...look, over there!"

Lara stopped the car. "What is it?"

"Over there." David pointed to an elementary school campus to the right of the road. "I thought I saw some kids running around there."

"This time of night?"

"Could be. At this rate, it wouldn't be much of a surprise. Let's go take a look." David got out of the car. Lara got out as well, going to the rear and opening the trunk. "What are you doing?"

"Dave, I'm not going ANYWHERE in this place naked." She pulled out a pair of pistols, .45 Colt Defenders, and stuck them in her pockets. "There. I think you should get respectably attired as well, Dave my sweet." She tossed him his black Desert Eagle .50, his shoulder holster and three clips.

David caught the weapon and clips. "Lara, aren't you being a little paranoid?"

"I'd rather be suspicious than dead any day of the week and twice on holidays."

"This is an elementary school. What are you planning to do, shoot Barney?"

"I couldn't possibly be that fortunate. Come along, David...let's go find the prodigals." She shut the trunk and took the safeties off her pistols. David shrugged and followed, strapping on the holster.

As they opened the gate, a cold wind moaned through the streets and the two shuddered despite themselves. "Come on, kids!" David yelled, "You know you're not supposed to be out this late! Come on, kids, time to go home!"

They listened for a reply, but the only thing that answered them was the wind. David shuddered again, but not from the cold this time. The moaning sounds sounded...human...or something really close to it. Now she's got ME doing it! David groused. A sound off to their right caught their attentions and they turned to see four child-sized shadows against a wall thirty feet away, moving towards them. Lara noted with some alarm that the figures walking towards them weren't making any sounds. Lara and David backed up into the lights and saw four children, three girls and a boy, following them.

What they looked like made Lara and David fill their hands with gunmetal.

The children looked at them with white, slack eyes. Their skin and hair belonged to the decayed, patches of skin exposing muscle and bone. One of the girls, a ten-year-old with golden-blond curls, was missing her lower jaw. The boy's right arm was broken, hanging at an odd angle, and he was wearing only one shoe. Their clothes were ripped and soiled all over, and dark red patches of blood decorated what clothing they had left.

"HOLY CREEPING MOSES!!" David screamed, backing up as the children-things shuffled towards them inexorably. Lara backed up, fighting down her horror at the sight.

"Dave, SHOOT!"

Dave raised his pistol, but couldn't make his trigger finger work. The impulse to fire was temporarily offline, but he still found the energy to make his legs work. Lara's trigger fingers, however, worked just fine and she opened up on the small zombies with precision shots to the hearts. The impact of the hollowpoints knocked the things to the ground and Lara lowered her pistols, turning to David. He looked back at her and her initial rage at his hesitation dwindled. "I'm sorry, Lara...I froze. I never thought I'd be..."

A gutteral hiccuping noise interrupted him and they both turned with wide eyes back towards the children.

They were getting back up.

They got to their feet shakily and turned back to them, fresh blood staining their chests. One of the girls had nearly been blown in half, but the upper half of her body animated, the arms pulling at the ground and trying to pull the rest of the body along. There was a sickening stretching noise as the upper half tried to drag the lower half behind it, then a squelching SNAP heralded the separation of the body's two halves. The upper body kept moving, however.

This time, David's trigger fingers worked just fine. He gritted his teeth and fired four times, this time aiming for the zombies' heads. The massive shells emptied the walking deads' craniums completely and they fell again, this time staying down, twitching slightly. David leaned against a wall, then bowed his head to one side and threw up. Lara had to fight to keep her own dinner from leaving her body involuntarily.

David spit the taste from his mouth, then forced himself to look at the bodies again. Still lifeless. Lara turned to David. "I think we now know why your friend Chris was so worried."

"My God..." David breathed.

"I don't think He had anything to do with this."

"...what is GOING ON?? It looks like we walked onto the set of 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, PART WHATEVER.' Phew..."

Lara turned to look at where the children came from and her eyes widened again. "Uhm, Dave?"

David looked up to see more shadows coming towards them...a lot more. "Uh oh...I think school's out!"

"Let's not wait around for recess!" Lara ran back to the car, David in hot pursuit. He forced himself not to look back...the sight of several zombie children trying to eat him would've driven him mad at this point.

"Let's get to the police station!!"

"Why?"

"You got any better ideas?"

Lara looked back to see thirty-five or so zombie grade-schoolers advancing on them. "Not at the moment!" She opened the car door and got in, David following suit, and she turned the engine over.

David closed his eyes and focused himself. The last thing I need is to lose it now…get it together, Dave, or you'll be useless. Not to mention an entrée!

"Are you okay?" Lara asked.

"DEFINE, 'okay.' If 'okay' means being trapped in a town where the School Lunch Program now includes cannibalism, then the definition's changed since I last knew. But if you're asking if I'm going to lose it any second now, I'm not. At least, not yet." David hazarded a look back, seeing the rear of the road being populated by grade-school corpses. "I can't believe this is happening…! Zombies? It sounds like some bad movie."

"I know what you mean, but I think we can accept that it is, so let's stop buggering about. Direct me to the police station."

"Down that road…JESUS…" David looked through the windshield at the sights now burning themselves into his retinas. Scattered fires in both houses and cars strewn along the road like the toys of some giant toddler. Men, women and children wandering the streets aimlessly, the same blank looks on their faces. Although some looked in better condition than others, all of them looked like cadavers who had all decided to move from one cemetery to another. They barely even noticed the car, most standing out in the middle of the streets as if waiting for something to come by. The zombified townspeople lurched towards the passing car, making Lara's task much more difficult.

"I certainly hope your friend didn't suffer the same fate as these poor souls."

"Tell me about it. I'm not looking forward to the thought of finally locating him and then finding out that I have to put a bullet in his brain when I see him. That would just ruin my week…!" David said angrily. "When I find out who did this, I'm going to reach down his throat, grab him by the short and curlies and pull him inside out!!"

"You think someone planned this?"

"Everyone in town is like this, so whatever happened, somebody must have done this to everyone at the same time. What kind of magic could do this?"

"I don't know, Dave…this isn't voodoun, unless everyone in town was killed at the same time and brought back. No houngan has that kind of endurance. I don't know of any other magic that could MY GOD!!"

David's eyes jerked forward as they turned a corner and a flaming oil tanker filled their windshield.

Lara hit the brakes with both feet, simultaneously praying and silently thanking David for improving the braking system in the Aston Martin. The car decelerated as if the tires had suddenly transformed from vulcanized rubber to Krazyglue, stopping the car just short of the spill of flames. Lara was about to voice her thanks when the words dried up in her throat at the sight of three zombies coming OUT of the flames. "Dave, I think now would be a good time to leave!!"

Dave turned and saw the main gate to the police station. "Come on! That way!"

Lara turned to see several zombies flanking the street. "Out there?"

"You want to hang around in here??"

"Good point." Lara grabbed her pack from the back seat, then hesitated. "Dave, we've got more firepower in the trunk!"

"No time! RUN!!" He shoved open the door, knocking one of the fire-zombies back with the impact.

Lara was forced to agree with David's tactics and opened the door, planting her booted feet against the door and opening the door as hard as she could! The door slammed into the other two and Lara leaped from the car, running from the car towards the gate, David close behind. The zombies on their sides saw them and began moaning in earnest, lurching towards them. They got to the gate and David turned, covering Lara's back as she opened the gate. He fired twice, decapitating the two zombies in front of him, but saw them replaced by a half-dozen all too quickly.

Lara opened the gate, pulled David in and slammed it closed. She started to lock it when she saw that the lock had been broken. "Dave, RUN!"

They backed up a few steps, but before they could sprint away, David noticed something that made him pause. "Lara, relax…"

"Poor joke at a time like this, David!" Lara yelled.

"No, look."

Lara turned and saw that the gate was holding. She watched intently. "I thought the gate couldn't lock."

"It might as well be locked. These zombies are obviously not too smart. None of them have even TRIED the knob."

Lara watched. David was right; although they were pressing against the wrought-iron gate with enough force to bend it to a small degree, crushing each other in their attempts to get at David and Lara, none of them reached for the knob that would allow them access. "Whatever made them like this must have seriously affected their higher brain functions."

"As in 'wrecked them.' I think we're safe for now."

Lara turned to her left and froze. "David, you might want to re-think that."

David turned to see a zombie in a police uniform standing forty feet away, facing them. However, he didn't make a single move to get at them. David felt the breeze blowing in his face. "Their vision must also be impaired. He can't see us. I bet he could smell us from this far away, but he can't because he's upwind now."

"Let's get inside before the wind changes, shall we?" She looked across the garden, then left to the stairs. "Do you know where those go?"

"Yeah…down to a trench that crosses the courtyard and garden from below. We can get past Zombie-Boy there safely. Let's go." David and Lara went to the stairs, walked down and stopped. David's jaw dropped. "Brad?" he asked hollowly.

In answer, a male zombie wearing a S.T.A.R.S. flight suit and vest turned to look at him. For a moment, living and dead viewed each other.

Brad was clearly quite dead, one eyeball hanging by its optic nerve and flapping against his cheek. His body was pale and missing large patches of skin. His uniform was dirty and stained brown in places. The barest hint of a smile twitched Brad's peeling lips. "…daaaaaaaviiiiidd…" he smiled, then reached out with his arms and came at David, shambling towards the two humans eagerly.

Lara didn't bother waiting for David, drawing both her Colts and letting the corpse have it with both guns. Brad wouldn't fall, unfortunately, not until Lara had emptied both clips. He dropped with a sickening "SMACK!" and blood pooled around his body. Lara turned to David. "Listen to me, David Connors. You're going to have to face up to the fact that you're going to have to shoot at people you once knew. But these aren't those people anymore, David, these are creatures with no souls and their only desire is to devour you. The sooner you realize this, the longer you'll live. Do we understand each other?"

David tore his eyes away from the finally-dead corpse of Brad Vickers. "Alright…alright…" he said unconvincingly.

"DAVID!" Lara yelled. David turned his attention to her completely. Both stared into each other's eyes, then David nodded. Lara nodded in return. "Good. Now get us to the front door."

David and Lara looked around at the foyer to the police station. It was easily three stories high, with catwalks around the edges of the room on the second and third floors. In the middle of the huge lobby was a fountain made of a statue pouring water from an urn on its right shoulder. Behind the statue, up a slight incline, sat a large administration area made up of a few desks, some tables and a large, semi-circular wooden counter that surrounded them. David and Lara saw doors leading to the east and west, two on the west, one on the east.

The first thing Lara did was head to the administration area and check the phone. David caught up with her just in time to see her slam the receiver back into its cradle. "It's dead."

"Just like everyone else around here."

"They can't all be dead. After all, you just called your friend Chris."

"Tried to call. The phone was ringing, but if the lines were cut somewhere along the way…no, that doesn't make any sense. I would've gotten a message from the phone company saying that the line was disconnected. The lines are only out in this building, apparently."

"Well, what do we do now?" Lara sat down behind one of the desks.

"Actually, I was hoping you had a plan."

Lara laughed. "Dave, I haven't been through every possible lethal situation."

"Yet…"

That sobered Lara. "You're a big help."

"Wait, listen…I thought I heard something." David held up a hand and cocked an ear. Lara listened and found that she was hearing the sound of a helicopter outside.

"Zombies don't fly helicopters, do they?"

"They can't even navigate doors. We've gotta get to the roof, send up a signal of some kind!" David ran to the door on the east side, Lara in hot pursuit.

"Dave, before you start doing anything rash, keep in mind that we don't know what ELSE is in this station. The zombies outside all wore police uniforms."

"Well, we DO know what's topside, and I don't think they're going to hang around waiting for us, so we don't have much of a choice!"

Lara nodded and they went through the door, turned to their left…

…and saw eight zombies staggering towards them!

David yelled in surprise, but his Desert Eagle came up instantly and he fired, zombie heads exploding with the impacts, coating the hallway with gore. Lara, likewise, aimed for the legs, shooting off kneecaps and ankles. She was rewarded with the sight of the zombies being instantly crippled, forcing them to drag themselves along by their hands. By that time, David had them in his sights before the walking dead could get too close. When the last one dropped, they hustled forward past the group of corpses and stopped. "Where now?" Lara asked, adrenaline surging through her.

David looked around, then went to a pair of double doors. "I think there's a stairway going up just past these offices. Chief Irons and his staff work there, and there's a helipad on the roof. We can get out of here that way."

"Just be careful. Irons and his staff might still be here."

David nodded.

When they opened the door, they discovered that Lara was almost completely correct.

A mass of zombies wandered through the room here, and two had even corralled one of their own and had begun dining on her! As soon as the door opened, the seven zombies that weren't involved in dining immediately headed right for the two humans.

"Split up!" Lara barked and leaped into the air, landing on a long conference table and running like crazy. David made an end run around two of the zombies, capped another in the brainpan and leaped over a desk to head for the back of the room. Lara made it past hers, since the table was large enough to keep the zombies from reaching far enough to grab her.

David, however, ran into a slight problem.

He ran past the office of Irons only to feel rotting hands grab him and haul him back into the office. His back slammed against the wall and he opened his eyes to see a policewoman reaching for him. He aimed his Desert Eagle and pulled the trigger.

CLICK.

David barely had time to curse before the zombie-woman was on him. He caught her wrists, fighting down his revulsion as the woman snapped at him, trying to push close enough to take a bite out of him. David brought up his knee and felt something inside her give, then noticed a green froth at her lips. He realized what had happened just in time and moved sideways to avoid the torrent of acidic bile that gushed from her lips and ate into the wall next to David. He pushed hard, gathering his strength and twisting. She spun around and flew out the door of the office, crumpling into a heap but getting back up far too quickly.

"Why don't you just fucking DIE??!?" David yelled, popping out the clip and grabbing another from his pocket. He looked up and the zombie was…

"Sod off, zom-bitch. Nobody takes a bite out of him but me."

David looked behind the zombie, who had turned at the sound of Lara's voice, then dropped as Lara let the ex-policewoman have it with both barrels of the shotgun she held. The upper torso and everything above it disappeared in a fine red mist and David scrambled out from under the cloud of red vapor before any of it could touch him. "Thanks, I owe you one."

"You owe me another one."

"Can we discuss the score later? We've got a flight to catch, remember?"

They sprinted up the stairs and ran out onto the helipad to be rewarded with the sight of a police helicopter waiting on the roof. David and Lara ran to the doors to see a pilot, looking ragged but very much alive, sitting at the controls. "Who the hell are YOU??" he asked as David and Lara opened the passenger access door.

"Who cares? We're alive and we want out of this psycho town! Any arguments?" David bellowed.

The pilot shook his head. "Is anyone else alive down there?"

"The only people we saw were the walking dead. Have you got a plan?"

"I'll take you both to a secure area, refuel, and then come back here."

"Are there any other survivors?" David yelled over the engines.

"Just three cops and a couple of civilians!"

"Any of them by the name of Claire Redfield??"

"Hope not. They're all men!"

"Hell's bells…" David sat back in his seat.

"Time to go!" The pilot pulled back on the control stick and they rose gracefully into the air.

Lara was on the verge of relaxing when he felt the helicopter halt in its ascent. "What's wrong?"

"There's another survivor down there!" The pilot started bringing the helicopter back down. David looked to see a somewhat portly officer waving wildly at them. His brow furrowed as he saw that he was holding a submachinegun.

They were almost to the ground when the helicopter's searchlight picked out two other figures lurching towards the survivor. The officer jumped away from the two zombies and made a mad dash to get away from them. When he got to the wall, he turned and hosed them both, sending all the lead he could fire into their torsos and legs, but it wasn't enough and they were on him, tearing into his body with their teeth and hands.

David suddenly moved to the access door and opened it, aiming his right arm out the open door as the dying survivor held down the trigger on his weapon, and the barrel of the submachinegun rose to point at the helicopter! David fired the line on his grapplegun and grabbed Lara, jumping before she could speak. The bullets riddled both pilot and helicopter, sending it to the helipad far faster than intended, landing on and crushing the zombies and their prey, exploding into flames as it hit the wall.

The pilot's troubles were over, but David and Lara's were only beginning.

David looked up at the piton drove itself into a water tower and they swung towards the roof of the police station, dropping on a roof overlooking the crash site. David and Lara looked down at the burning helicopter for a few moments, then Lara sighed. "Well, that's that."

"NOW what do we do?" David sat down, pulling his jacket closer around him. "Our chances of getting out of this town-turned-graveyard-turned-slaughterhouse just dropped to two: Slim and Fat. And Slim just became another zombie."

"Don't give up yet, David. There still might be another way out of here."

"Yeah? How??"

Lara caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. "Maybe she has a notion."

David looked to where Lara was pointing and saw a Chinese woman in a red dress and black leggings running along the roof of the building next door…running from four zombies. "Come on! Maybe she has some answers!"

Ada Wong stopped to catch her breath, but the zombies wouldn't let up and they had her surrounded. She fired her Beretta 9mm at them, but they just kept on coming. As she saw them reach for her, Ada saw the head of one of the zombies snap to the right, coming off completely. Then another lost its head and Ada broke into a run, leaving the last two behind. After twenty feet, she turned to see a man and a woman SWING down, firing at the zombies as if it was something they did every day right after lunch! They hit the roof and the man detached the line from a rig strapped to his wrist, then both strangers walked over to her.

Ada crossed her arms. "Let me guess. Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon on a date?"

"Not HARDLY." David pulled his sleeve back over his right forearm. "I'm David."

"And I am Lara. Now that we've formally introduced ourselves, who are you?"

"My name's Ada, Ada Wong. Pleased to meet you," she added, not sounding particularly pleased at all. "So, what brings you to Raccoon City? Boredom?"

"Actually, Ms. Wong, we came here looking for a friend. Her name's Claire Redfield. She's about mid-twenties, brown hair in a ponytail, favors red denims. Seen her?"

"No. The only survivor I've met is a cop named Leon Kennedy. But I remember that he talked to a woman on his radio and called her Claire."

"That might be her. She could've come here to look for her brother, Chris. So where is this Leon guy?"

"Down in the sewers. We're heading to the Umbrella underground complex in an attempt to stop this insanity and to find my boyfriend, John."

"Who or what is Umbrella?" David asked.

"Umbrella is a shadowy corporation who specializes in secret biological weapons research. Leon and I have found information that a biological weapon known as the 'G-Virus' is responsible for turning this town into a mobile cemetery. According to the evidence we've collected, the G-Virus turns people into 'zombies' with their aggression and strength increased tenfold while destroying higher brain functions and reasoning. Drop this stuff into a populated area and you destroy the people and turn them into carnivorous monsters who'll run around and attack any living thing they see or smell."

"What a bunch of bloody monsters!" Lara said, not referring to the zombies. "How could anyone make such a weapon?"

"It was apparently easy, since they'd done it before. They had first developed a bioweapon known as the T-Virus, with similar but minor effects compared to what the G-Virus could do. My boyfriend, John, may have been duped into working on the project…I haven't heard from him in months. The T-Virus created zombies out of people and monstrous creatures out of normal plants and animals. If what we've found is accurate, the G-Virus makes the T-Virus look like a skin rash." Ada led them to one of the doors on the roof and opened it, revealing a room with a pit dividing it in two. On the other side of the pit sat a bookshelf with a key on it. As Ada closed the door, she said in passing, "Also, unlike the T-Virus, the damage isn't limited to the first outbreak. The G-Virus can be carried by the initial subjects and can re-infect others. Anyone attacked and killed by a G-Virus creature becomes a zombie or creature an hour later."

"What a colossal screw-up THIS is…!" David sighed and sat down as Lara walked over to Ada.

"Need to get to the other side?"

"That would help," Ada said sarcastically.

Lara took a few steps back, then ran and jumped easily over the gap, landing on her feet and retrieving the key, then jumped back over to Ada. She took the key from Lara's outstretched hand, then said, "Showoff."

As Ada went back out the door, Lara said hotly, "What an unrepentant…!!!"

"Easy, Lara. Let's tell her off later. Survive now, play later, remember?"

"I suppose. Let's go."

They went outside only to find that they were now one survivor short. "Where'd she go??"

Lara looked around, then pointed to her right. "That way!" They sprinted across the roof to another building, a storage area of some kind where pumping machines and pipe rusted away. A sound of gears got their attention and they saw a shaft on the far side of the room. When they got there, they saw that it was an elevator of some kind…on its way down. "Left in the lurch by a louse on a lift," Lara said in mock humor.

David looked to the side of the shaft and found a switchbox. After pressing the UP button, he watched the engine providing the power to the elevator. After a few seconds of no change, he said, "Looks like we can call it back, but not until after she reaches her floor. We may not catch her."

"No…but she did leave us with enough information to pursue another idea. If this Umbrella Corporation has an underground lab, and that's where they made the G-Virus, they may have made an anti-viral agent to stop it. We find the agent and stop this wretched G-Virus in its tracks!"

"Isn't that what Ada and this Leon guy are trying to do?"

"I wouldn't trust Ms. Ada Wong to tell me that water was wet."

"We can't have the luxury of relying on others to do the job. They may not make it."

"You have a point. I'm just not eager to find out what else this G-Virus has created or mutated."

"Scared, Dave?"

"Shitless. You?"

Lara sighed. "Pretty much the same, Dave. But I learned a long time ago that standing around and wishing for something won't bring it about."

The lift came to the top and stopped. Lara turned to the lift and got in. David got in next to her. "Descending into Hell," he murmured as the lift descended into darkness.

It didn't take long to determine which way was the right way to go.

David and Lara found their way into the sewers, finding the bodies of men in an exotic form of SWAT gear lying about, torn to pieces by something with large claws. David and Lara also found, with a little more exploration, papers implicating Chief Irons as part of Umbrella's disinformation program. They also found Chief Irons…or what was left of him. Something had torn him in two.

David also had a small run-in with the Mayor's daughter.

He had left Irons' little "treasure room" when he came upon a young woman lying on a bloody worktable, obviously the site for many of Chief Irons' taxidermy projects. She would've looked completely out of place in the grisly surroundings with her white dress, blond hair and perfect skin, if it weren't for the large red stain on her right side. David came over to check her out, but her body had no pulse and was quite cold.

He turned away from the scene and cursed Irons' insanity. "I hope they're toasting you with a long fork down in Hell…"

Then he felt a delicate hand on his shoulder.

Without pausing to think, he dropped out of the grasp of the hand and rolled forward, springing to his feet and spinning around. The Mayor's daughter was sitting up, her blue eyes open wide and staring. She turned her body until she was sitting on the edge of the worktable, then dropped down. Her mouth opened and she moaned as she lurched towards David as if testing her legs for the first time.

David didn't bother shooting her, he simply turned and ran like hell to the door, slamming it shut and locking it for good measure. He heard the zombie-girl pounding her fists against the door and took three very deep breaths, then ran back to the rendezvous point as if Satan himself was chasing him. He stopped only when he saw Lara's form standing at the bottom of the elevator. "What's wrong?' Lara asked.

"I…just had a little scare." David held up a hand and waited until his heart had reduced its speed to below Mach 2. "Find anything?"

"I think I found the entrance to Umbrella's little underground hideout. I also ran into some creatures along the way, tarantulas the size of Volkswagons and some humanoid creature with no eyes or nose and an extremely long tongue. Sound familiar?"

"That thing we saw on the road. That must be one of those 'lickers' from the diary back in the police station."

"I noticed that after I killed it, I went to the room beyond, came back and found the licker gone. What remained was a sticky clear residue."

"Great, these G-Virus monsters are biodegradable. How environmentally conscious of Umbrella."

"Such sarcasm from one so young, tsk tsk. In any case, I found a way into a much larger area. I also found someplace where we can rest a bit."

"I could use a rest. Let's go."

"How many do you have left?"

David checked his Desert Eagle. "Six. How many you got?"

Lara smirked. "Two REAL guns. Fourteen shots, plus two in the pipes."

"Smartass. We need to get some more ammunition somewhere. Let's hope that Umbrella was paranoid enough to construct an armory somewhere we can get to in a big hurry. This place is giving me the screaming whim-whams…and I've been chased by a fifty-foot tall gangster-cum-deity."

"I know. I was there, remember?"

"How can you handle all this sociopathic stuff, Lara? Zombies, ghosts, demons, giants, monsters of all shapes and sizes? I'm close to Brown Trousers Time and you're taking all this in stride like you get a dose of this every morning free with the Times! How??"

"Well, Dave…there came a time in my life when I was faced with the irrefutable proof that there were things in the universe beyond the scope of Man's knowledge, and that I had a choice: to decide between emotion and survival."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand it when your time comes, David. You're still too deeply rooted in your own scope of reality. You need to broaden your horizons, widen your worldview."

"I kinda like my worldview the way it is…it doesn't include flesh-eating zombies."

"And that's your problem, Dave. Like it or not, THIS is the reality of things. 'There are more things in Heaven and Earth that are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.' My job is to find out these mysteries before they show up on our front doorstep with a nasty attitude."

"The money doesn't hurt, either, does it?"

"Well, if you're going to get TECHNICAL…" Lara smiled and David smiled in return. "Feel better?"

"A little."

"Good, then it worked. Come along, Dave, let's stop a bioweapon."

Lara was unimpressed by the scope of Umbrella's secret base. After going through that whole debacle with Natla, Umbrella's equipment was horribly crude…but, unfortunately, still quite effective. After dealing with a trio of zombies hanging out on the main level, they found a guardroom and were relieved to note that it featured a stout metal door with a strong lock. "Dave?"

"Yeah?" David said as he shot the bolt home.

"We're not alone in here."

"Oh, Christ!" David looked skywards. "What now?!"

"LANGUAGE, David. We're around impressionable children."

David turned around to see a cot on the right side. An young girl of eleven lay on it, her skin pale and beads of sweat on her forehead and cheek. Lara bent down and placed her hand on the girl's forehead. "David, she's burning up!"

"Fever? She picked a bad time to get the flu…oh God."

Lara nodded. "The G-Virus. She's got it."

The thought of this girl turning into one of the walking undead grade-schoolers he saw when they first arrived sent a chill down his spine. "How much longer?"

"No way of knowing. That means we've got to hurry."

David and Lara spread out, practically ransacking the room. They were rewarded with more bullets for the Desert Eagle, a key, some strange green herbs packed into small, bite-sized lozenges and a MAC-11, with extra clips. Lara claimed the submachinegun and the extra rounds while David reloaded. "Ready?"

"As ever. We'll have to split up, cover more ground. You head to the east, I'll take the west."

"Good luck, Lara. Don't get killed."

"You either." Lara kissed him quickly, then sped out the door into the depths of the base. David took a long, deep breath, and then ran after her.

Lara opened the door into the west, took three steps inside and came face to face with an eight-foot tall humanoid that appeared to be a combination of both plant and animal tissues. It turned and spit corrosive venom at her, but Lara had already sidestepped the plant-goon and headed down a ladder nearby. As she slid down, she was gratified to see that the plant-creature wasn't following her, but she wasn't quite so gratified to see the plant's mother.

Climbing up the huge shaft was a mutated version of Jack's beanstalk, at least sixty feet wide and reaching into the darkness above. Tentacles stretched out from the plant, grasping at anything they could reach, but thankfully far too short to reach Lara. Large bulbs of some clear resinous material covered the surface and hinted and more below the surface.

Inside each bulb was a person in the last stages of transformation from human to plant.

Lara resisted the urge to retch and turned to the door at the bottom of the ladder, opening it and going through, right into the gunsights of a strange man. "Hold it right there!" he yelled. "Don't move!" Lara froze as the man walked over into the light and she got a good look at him. He had sandy blond hair, a handsome face and wore an Raccoon Police Department riot suit.

"Wait…are you Constable Leon Kennedy?"

"Constable?" Leon lowered his gun. "You're a long way from England, lady, judging by your accent. Who are you?"

"My name is Lara Croft. I came here with a friend looking for Claire Redfield. Do you know her?"

"Know her? We've been in constant contact ever since we met earlier this morning. Why?" Lara told him the whole story about getting Chris' call and coming to look for his sister. "Well, I can tell you that Chris isn't here in Raccoon City. He's gone to the Umbrella Corporation HQ in Europe."

"Oh, bother! After all we went through…"

"Yeah, Claire was pretty disappointed about it, too." He pulled out a radio. "Claire, can you read me? Over."

"Read you, Leon. What's up? Over."

"There's a woman here who says she's here with David Connors."

"Dave??" Lara felt a twinge of jealousy at the sound of another woman using that particular term of endearment. "What is he doing here?"

"Looking for you, apparently. Says your brother asked him to find you."

"I'm afraid he found me too late. But there's no time for that now. Sherry's sick and I'm trying to find a cure. But we also need to find the way out!"

"Leon," Lara said, "I'll only be more than happy to help you find the exit. Tell Claire that if she's in the east section, David should be there in a moment."

"Claire, David's friend, Lara, says that David is heading your way."

"The first good news I've heard all day! You and Lara find a way out. Over and out."

Leon clipped the radio to his belt. "You any good with that gun?"

Lara grinned. "When the next rotten little beast comes around, I'll be only too happy to demonstrate my skill."

David turned the corner and caught a double armful of red-denimed Claire. "DAVE!!!" David fell back against the wall and sat down hard. Claire immediately got off him and knelt by his side. "Dave, are you alright??"

"Just…a second." David put his hand over the left side of his chest, felt there for a moment, frowned, then beat his chest hard three times in rapid succession. He felt there again and sighed. "Oh, good…IT'S BEATING AGAIN," he finished savagely. "JEEZ, Claire, you scared me outta decades' growth!! What are you, NUTS??"

"I'm sorry, Dave…it's just that I was so glad to see you," Claire said apologetically.

Dave got up and dusted himself off. "You could've chosen a less nerve-wracking way of doing it!" he said viciously, but some of the steam had abated. "I hate to interrupt your enthusiasm, but do you know there's a girl in the guardroom…?"

"That's Sherry. She's been infected, but I found some notes indicating that there might be a cure."

"Where?"

"That's the problem. I need to find a certain base compound stored in one of the labs. If I can find that and take that to the main lab downstairs, I can use some of the equipment there to synthesize a vaccine."

"Then let's go get it, what are we standing around here for?" David and Claire took off down the hallway. "Where is the compound?"

"I'm not sure. This place has been crawling with monsters! Not a great feature while on a scavenger hunt."

As if to prove her point, the ceiling in front of them crashed down and a huge form dropped through. David recognized it instantly. "Back off!" he yelled to Claire as he backed away and drew his Desert Eagle. Before he could shoot, however, a rush of hot air passed by his left side and the giant took the full brunt of a bazooka round! David backpedaled as Claire fired off three more rounds into the bulk of the behemoth, letting up only when she saw the figure stagger, then fall on his face. As David and Claire walked up to it, David asked, "What the hell was THAT?"

"It's a successful prototype of a Tyrant-003, end-result of the T-Virus research. Umbrella is field-testing them by using them to kill off all renegade G-Virus monsters and anyone still left alive to report back to the authorities about Umbrella's involvement. Fortunately, these things aren't too difficult to kill." She patted the bazooka. "Acid Rounds. Just the thing for clearing Tyrants out of your basement, and if you order now…"

"Save it for the TV infomercial, Claire. We've got a vaccine to find. My friend, Lara, is around here, too."

"I know. Leon's found her and they're working together now."

"More likely Lara found HIM." They came to a door marked V-LAB. "Ladies first?"

Claire opened the door and five zombies inside turned to look at them both. She sighed. "I hate apartment-hunting with you, David. You always seem to find places with current tenants."

Then the zombies lurched towards them and things got very LOUD.

Lara was as good as her word. They only traveled a grand total of thirty feet when they came to a new door, one with two more of those plant-creatures hiding behind it. As soon as they sensed the humans' presence, the rampaging vegetables began flailing their rope-like arms around, trying to grasp either Lara or Leon and give them a bear hug they wouldn't live to regret.

Leon, however, was only too happy to show off a recent acquisition, a flamethrower that crisped one of the plant-things before it could spit a drop of venom. Lara, in her own sense of style, blew off her adversary's legs, then the arms, and put a burst into the main body. "Consider yourself pruned," she quipped.

"Nice moves, lady." Leon looked around as they advanced further down the hall, coming into a larger room filled with four lickers. Lara made one dance with the impacts of the submachinegun rounds as Leon switched weapons and let the other three have it with a combat shotgun, nailing all three of them with each shot. After firing three shells, the lickers decided to lay down and die. "Damn! These things are getting tougher to beat the closer we get to the labs."

"Crawling up out of here must tire the poor dears out," Lara said unsympathetically. She went to the door on the far end and tried to open it. "Drat."

"What?"

"This door requires a Master Operating Disk to open it. The disk we need must have a complex code within it." She looked at the sign next to the door. "'EMERGENCY EXIT'. I think we've found our way out!"

"All we need now is the right key."

Lara walked a few steps away to a long corridor adjacent to the emergency exit. "What's down here?"

"Hopefully, an MO Disk. Let's go."

Claire looked at her clothes, dirty and spattered with gore. "If I get out of here alive, I'm going to shower for a week!"

David holstered his gun and walked around the lab. A large machine reminescent of a CAT Scan machine stood against the wall and an operating table with medical machines sat at the far side. Claire looked at the machine against the wall. "Dave…I think I've found it! This machine holds a small supply of something called the 'base vaccine,' but it has more than enough for Sherry. Now all I need is something to put it in."

"Will this help?"

Claire looked up and caught a small vial tossed through the air. She looked at it, the tried to fit it into the machine. The pressure-valve lid of the vial fit into the nozzle of the machine perfectly. "Dave, I could kiss you!"

"Not a good idea. If I had to make a choice between Lara finding out and French-kissing one of those zombies, I'd be puckering up and looking for the nearest walking dead."

"Come on, Dave…I got over you a long time ago." She withdrew the vial. "Now we need to process it. Look around see if you can find a machine that'll do the trick."

David silently looked around. "Claire?"

"Yes?"

"Why DID you dump me, just out of curiosity?"

Claire sighed. "You were on the rebound from your late wife…I couldn't do that to you, Dave. You didn't need me, you just needed someone, ANYONE would do. I wanted you to want me, not because you had to, but because you wanted to."

David sighed. "So I screwed up. Story of my life."

"No, David, being in a screwed-up situation with a screwed-up relationship does not necessarily make you a screw-up." She stood up. "The machine we're looking for isn't here."

"Are there any other doors to look through up here?"

"No, we checked them all. It must be in the main lab, but I don't know where that is."

"I think I do. If these guys were building stuff underground, it stands to reason that they'd consider the most secure areas to be the ones built the deepest. Lemme see that radio." He took the radio from Claire's proffered hand and thumbed the TALK button. "Yankee to Brit, Yankee to Brit, come in Brit."

The reply came back, "Correction, Dave. DAMN Yankee."

"Lara, have you and Leon gone down any levels?"

"Why, yes."

"If you get to a lab, look around for a machine that processes vaccines. If you find it, let us know. We're going to stay up here and make sure our alternate route out of here is clear of pedestrians, if you know what I mean."

"Good idea. Stay in touch. Brit out."

Claire looked at David thoughtfully. "You love her, don't you?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna marry her, if I ever figure out how to do it."

"Really? You mean you haven't though of simply going to one knee and proposing?"

"That's not what I mean. I mean…ah, hell, I don't know what I mean. It's just that she's rich and I'm poor, she's educated and I'm not, she's…"

"Dave, who are you kidding?" David looked up. "If she loves you, and you love her, then it's as simple as that."

"No it's not."

"What's the problem, then?"

"It's…well, it's just that…"

Claire nodded. "Alright, you can play that act a little while longer. But after we get out of this alive, you and I are going to have a little CHAT."

"Bingo!!!"

Leon finished reloading the shotgun and turned. "What?"

"Look at this! 'Instructions for refining the G-Virus vaccine, code-named DEVIL.' We've found the machine to make Sherry's cure!"

Leon took out the radio. "David, Claire, we've found the machine that'll make the vaccine. Get down here on the double."

"How will we find you?" came back Claire's voice.

"We'll meet you at the stairs. Watch the plant at the top, he has a temper."

"You got it."

Leon put the radio away and ran to the exit, Lara close behind.

Halfway down the corridor, however, they ran into a different threat. A live one. "Hold it!!" yelled a blond woman in a lab coat, holding a gun on Lara and Leon. "Don't even try it," she warned, "you're not fast enough."

"Who are you?" Lara asked. She was starting to get tired of all these surprises.

"Amanda Birkin, wife of William Birkin, the man who created the G-Virus." Leon looked coldly at the scientist. "What do you want?"

"I know what you and that spy are looking for. You're looking for this." She held up a small vial filled with a thick, purple fluid. "But I won't let you take it away from me OR my husband!"

"Is that…?" said Lara.

"Yes…the G-Virus, the ultimate bio-weapon! This is my husband's life's work! I won't let you or anyone else take it away, not even that Umbrella spy."

"What spy?" asked Leon.

Amanda looked contemptuously at them. "You really are stupid, aren't you? That woman…Ada Wong."

"You're wrong! She'd never do anything like that!"

"For a policeman, you're very naïve. Well, it doesn't matter. None of you will live past this moment for what you did to my husband."

Suddenly, a piercing screech filled the air and a loud thumping noise came from above. "What is THAT?" Amanda asked, looking up.

"THAT is your husband, Amanda. That thing up there is William."

Amanda looked back at them, a stricken look on her face, then turned and ran down the corridor, turning to the right and disappearing from view. Before Leon or Lara could run after her, a blood-curdling scream filled the hallway. Lara and Leon rushed to the source of the noise and that's when Lara saw a sight that would haunt her for years.

Standing a full ten feet tall in the hallway was a humanoid monster unlike any she'd ever seen before. It was covered with mottled blue and pink skin, stretched over powerful muscles. It had two sets of arms, one set long and viciously clawed and the other set little more than vestigal. Its legs were strong and clawed as well, the remains of a tattered set of slacks covering the upper half of the legs. The head was small compared to the rest of the body, on a thick stalk of muscle and barely resembling a human's face. The skin over the left side of its chest was the most shocking detail…it was a human head, set flush with the muscles of the thing's chest. It moved independently of the rest of the body, opening its twisted mouth as if it was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out. The claws of its right upper hand were sticking out the back of Amanda's body.

Leon and Lara raised their weapons in unison and fired, damaging it, but only superficially. Before they could cause any more damage to it, the monster dropped Amanda and leaped up into the ceiling. Lara ran to her side as Leon covered the ceiling with the shotgun.

Somehow, the scientist was still alive. "Here…take this. I…was wrong. It ruined…my husband's life and the life of my daughter."

"Sherry??" Lara asked, bewildered.

"Yes…save her. Get her away…and tell her…tell her that I'm sorry I wasn't a good mother…" Amanda shuddered, then went limp.

Leon took the vial from her hand and held it up. "Hard to believe that this little thing was the cause of so much pain." He put it in her pocket.

"Come on, Lara! We've got to get to David and Claire before that thing does!"

The four people met in the hall. Lara and David flew into each other's arms, not even noticing that both of them were covered with the blood of several different kinds of monsters. Claire smiled gently, then sidled up to Leon. "Now doesn't that make you feel good?"

Leon watched the tonsil-lock for a few moments, then said irritably, "I HATE to interrupt, but we've still got a little girl to help, remember??"

David and Lara hastily disengaged, both blushing a little. "You're right…terribly sorry," Lara said politely.

Claire held up the vial. "Here's the vaccine!"

Then the entire hallway started flashing red. David threw up his hands in exasperation, exclaiming, "Oh, WHAT NOW???"

In answer, a synthetic female voice answered through the PA system, "+All personnel evacuate immediately. All personnel on the upper level must leave through the elevator. All personnel on the lower level, report to the Emergency Exit. Supervisors, retain Master Operations Disk for Emergency Exit.+"

"A self-destruct? What happened??" Lara looked around.

"Who cares? We've got to get out of here. Lara, take Claire down to the Vaccine Processor. David, you and I have to secure our escape route. We'll take the elevator."

"Gotcha." He turned to Claire and Lara. "We'll meet you downstairs…and don't talk to any strangers, okay?"

Claire and Lara nodded, then hot-footed it back to the ladder leading down. David turned to Leon. "So where's this elevator?"

"Right this way." Leon ran towards the three-way intersection in the middle of the upper level. "I found a Master Key that should take us to our escape route, whatever means that is. Can you fly a plane?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because I can't and I'm not sure if Claire or Lara can. Once we get there…"

"STOP!"

David and Leon stopped in mid-run, finding Ada Wong standing in their path, holding her pistol up and aiming it at them. "Don't move!"

"Ada, what are you doing??" Leon asked, bewildered. David tensed, ready to pop his Desert Eagle up and blow her off the face of the Earth.

"Give it to me, Leon. Just give me the G-Virus and no one will get hurt."

"How could you do this, Ada? You're willing to risk our lives for the G-Virus? Hasn't it destroyed enough already?" asked David.

"Don't move, Mr. Connors. You may be fast, but not THAT fast."

"Ada, listen to me. You don't have to do this," entreated Leon. "Let's just get out of here and forget about the G-Virus."

Ada wavered. "You don't know what it means, Leon. It's worth billions to Umbrella."

"It's a mistake and it should never have been made. Look around you…this is the kind of world that created the G-Virus. Do you want to be a party to that?"

Ada looked at Leon for a long time, then finally lowered her gun. Leon took a step towards her.

Suddenly a crash came from above and all three of them looked up to see a huge form leap from above, landing in their midst. The Tyrant-003 turned to Leon and Ada, then raised his fists high to crush them both, then let them fall…

"NOOOOOO!!!" Leon yelled as Ada pushed him away at the last moment, taking the full brunt of the overhead smash. She crumpled to the ground. Leon saw the thing raise its arms again and then saw a chunk of its skull rip away from its body. It turned to see David aiming his Desert Eagle at it, all fear gone from his face, replaced by a cold rage.

"No more, do you hear me?? NO MORE!!"

The Tyrant came at David, walking in its inexorable stalk, but David didn't run, emptying shot after shot into the monster's brain. One, two, three, and it still kept coming. When it was only a foot away and David fired his seventh shot into the Tyrant's head, only then did it stagger and fall. David looked down at it, his breath coming harsh and fast, then fired one final shot into the back of its skull, destroying what was left of its head. He savagely kicked the body, saying in a cold, hard voice, "Get up, you bastard, so I can knock you down again!"

"David!"

David turned to see Leon holding Ada. "Is she…?"

"No…but she's badly hurt. I don't know if we can chance moving her."

David felt the entire complex shudder and a huge gout of flame climbed its way up the shaft across from them. "Chance it. We've gotta go!" Leon nodded and carefully picked up the wounded Ada. David led the way, adrenaline roaring through his brain as he opened the door and promptly blew away the zombies that had gathered just beyond it, pushing past their falling bodies as he headed for the elevator, only pausing to get Sherry from the guardroom. Leon was close behind.

"Leon…I'm sorry…" Ada managed.

"Ada, just relax, don't talk. We're going to get out of here…ALL OF US."

David opened the elevator and searched the panel of buttons by the door. Finding nothing, he turned back to the wall at the rear and saw a small screen with another button, this one with a keyhole in it. "Leon, I need that key now!"

Leon lowered Ada's legs and tossed the key to David, who quickly jammed it into the keyhole and turned the key. The elevator started to move down, then a loud noise of metal making contact with metal and the sound of gears sliding. The elevator began to move down and sideways. "Ada, hang on," Leon said in a whisper.

David watched the screen as a display came up, indicating that the car was moving down to and area called the Main Track Level. "Main Track…Leon, our escape route isn't a plane. It's a TRAIN."

Lara looked around, her foot tapping against the metal floor of the Main Lab. "How much longer?" she asked impatiently.

"I don't know….wait. YES!" Claire withdrew the vial from the machine and looked at the blue liquid within. "It's done!"

"Good. Let's leave this place!"

Claire and Lara got to the Emergency Exit Door when Lara smacked her head with the palm of her hand. "The MO Disk!"

"You mean this one?" Claire held up a Master Operations Disk.

"Where'd you find that?"

"Upstairs. A zombie was holding on to it for me."

"Rather bloody nice of him." Claire inserted the MO Disk and the door opened. They ran through a short hallway to a door with a symbol that Lara was very familiar with. The room was marked with a red circle with three red V's radiating out from it, curling into hooks. "'BIOHAZARD.' Looks like Umbrella was planning this for some time."

"Maybe…let's hope it goes up with the rest of this place." Claire opened the door and they went through, finding themselves in a room with ten large containers of red fluid, stacked in two equidistantly-spaced rows.

"They will."

"You've had experiences with biohazard development?"

"More than I care to like, believe me."

The two women ran to the other door and Claire pressed the lone button on the right side of the doors. The doors behind them closed and they felt the room moving slowly down to an area marked on the display as the Loading Dock. As they looked up at the display, mentally wishing they could accelerate the room, they saw a plate in the ceiling suddenly warp with a loud BANG!! Before Lara could say the words, Claire said them for her. "Oh no, NOT AGAIN!!!" They jumped backwards at the monster that killed Amanda Birkin dropped down and faced them. Not only was it still quite alive, but Lara saw that it had gotten BIGGER! The two women turned and ran a good twenty feet away before turning towards the "G-Tyrant" and let the monster have it with everything they had. Lara emptied the shotgun and Claire let the monster have it with incendiary Flame Rounds.

It was over after a few shots…and then it got worse.

The G-Tyrant dropped, bleeding from several places, then began to mutate and grow even bigger. As it grew, it altered it's configuration, going from humanoid to something that looked more like a bulldog from Hell. The front half was a mass of long, saber-length teeth surrounding a giant maw. It rushed at them and they split up. It chose to chase Claire first, leaping into the air and landing on the wide bar of metal holding the canisters in place, pacing around as it looked at Claire.

Lara climbed up on the other row of canisters, discarded the empty shotgun and took out the MAC-11. As Claire hammered it with what bazooka rounds she had left, Lara emptied the machinegun into the bulk of the G-Tyrant's body. Although the G-Tyrant managed to damage Claire, it was no match for the combined firepower of the two women and dropped like a brick just before the elevator reached its destination.

"Are you alright?" Lara asked as she dropped down. Claire said nothing and pulled out a small packet of herbs, placing them on the wounds. As Lara watched, the gashes and cuts healed instantly. "What is THAT?" she asked.

"Some of Umbrella's other accidental research. Some of these herbs, when exposed to the T-Virus several months back, gained the ability to regenerate damaged tissues. One kind even healed poisoning."

The door opened. "We'll have to discuss that later. Come on!" They ran out of the room and entered a long hallway that twisted and turned, opening out into a large area. They stopped as they saw a train depot just ahead. "That's our ride out of here!" Lara said triumphantly.

David looked up as Leon set Ada down on a bunk in the train car. "How's she doing?"

"Not good. Her?"

"Her head's a furnace. When I checked her eyes to see if they'd dilated, I found that her irises were turning red. If they don't get here soon…!" He stopped as he heard Lara's triumphant yell. "It's them!!" He got up and ran outside, Leon on his heels.

"Can we go now?" Lara asked.

Leon looked ahead of the train, seeing a gate locked in place. Also, there was no power to the train. "Lara, Claire, go back into the train. See if you can find a way to raise the gate. David and I will look around to find out how to get the train powered up."

The ladies nodded. "You might need this," Claire said as she tossed her radio to David, then ran behind Lara to the train. David ran to the rear of the train depot while Leon ran to the stairway leading to an overpass that enabled him to get to the other side of the depot and the door just beyond.

David ran to another hallway, finding three more zombies wandering around. By now, his fear of them had long since gone south and he gave them little thought as he aimed and fired down the hallway, decapitating all three with one in-line shot. "You guys are REALLY starting to bug me," he gritted, running past them and finding a door just ahead. He entered the room to find two large plugs, like spark plugs. One red, one blue.

"Leon," he barked into the radio.

"Yeah?"

"Keep on the lookout for two large sockets that look like they'd need some sort of power connector shaped like a spark plug."

"I just found them. I was wondering what they were for when you called."

"Perfect! I'll meet you on the overpass and hand them to you, then check on the ladies. Sound like a plan?"

"I'll be there."

Claire applied the Mixed Herbs to Ada's wounds, relieved to see them healing before her eyes. Lara ran into the car from the rear. "How's Sherry?"

"I gave her the vaccine…that's all we can do right now. Did you find anything?"

Lara held up a key. "I believe this might fit the control panel to the gate in front of us. Let's just hope that Dave and Leon get this ride rolling and soon."

Suddenly, the red lights were joined by the sound of the synthesized voice again. "+Warning. You have five minutes to reach minimum safe distance.+"

"Come on, Dave, HURRY." Lara said anxiously.

David tossed the plugs to Leon. "Go, go, GO!" he yelled, then turned and ran back down the stairs. Leon ran back to the power room and put the plugs in their sockets. The lights suddenly dimmed and a display came up on the screen beside the power box.

"+The power is now being re-routed to the train. Please wait for the emergency power to power up the doors.+"

"Great! Now I can't get back to the train until the power gets back up…! Well, at least things can't…"

A loud BOOOM!! from behind him made him turn around. The G-Tyrant was crawling out of the hole.

"…get any worse…???" he finished hollowly.

Lara watched the gate rise away from the front of the train, then saw David running back down the stairs. "Are we clear??"

"Almost. Where's Leon??"

"Back in the power room."

"+Warning. You now have four minutes to reach minimum safe distance,+" said the electronic warning system.

David looked behind him. "Where IS he? It shouldn't take him this long to plug in a couple of plugs!" He ran to the door to the power room and pulled. "It's locked!!!"

Lara saw a vent leading into the ceiling. "David, get to the train. Help Claire and the others. I'm going after Leon!"

"+Warning. You now have three minutes to reach minimum safe distance.+"

Leon fired three times at the G-Tyrant, but it was bigger and meaner now, and it shrugged off the shotgun blasts easily. He ran away as the thing rushed at him, but he was tired and it wasn't long before the G-Tyrant clawed him across the room. He slammed against the wall and shook himself, fighting the blackout as hard as he could.

Lara dropped down from the vent and looked down at Leon from her place on the balcony. She looked around for something that could help Leon, then spotted a long, rectangular object. A smile came to her face.

Leon pulled himself to his feet and watched the thing walk towards him, a smile on its disfigured face. It knows it has me… Leon thought.

"Hey, Leon!" Leon and the G-Tyrant looked up to see Lara dropping a large rectangular object into Leon's grasp. "Use this!"

The G-Tyrant looked up at Lara for a moment, then down at Leon, who was removing the safety pin from the firing mechanism of the rocket launcher.

"Bye-bye, big guy," Leon said and pulled the trigger.

The rocket leaped from the housing and sped right at the G-Tyrant, arming itself as it left the housing. The monster took the blast full in the stomach and it blew a hole the size of a tractor tire out of the G-Tyrant's midsection. As Leon lowered the launcher, the lights came back on and he heard a click as the door unlocked. He looked up to thank Lara, but she was already gone.

"+Warning. You now have two minutes to reach minimum safe distance.+"

Lara, Leon and Claire reunited in the train car. "Where's David?" Leon asked as he came in.

In response, everyone felt the train start to move. It gained speed as they all went to the front to see David pushing the main levers forward. He turned as the train picked up speed. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are OUTTA here!!" Everyone cheered and Lara ran into David's arms.

Leon looked disgustedly at them. "Do they ALWAYS do that?"

"And what's wrong with that?" Claire asked.

Leon relaxed. "Nothing, I guess." He walked back into the main car and Claire followed, joined shortly by an ecstatic Lara and David. When Claire saw Sherry, she ran over to her and touched her hand.

"Sherry? Sherry, please wake up…!" David and Lara sobered as they watched. "Sherry!"

Sherry's eyelids fluttered open, revealing a natural blue underneath. "…Claire…?"

"She's alright!!" Leon said, enormously relieved.

Claire hugged Sherry tightly, then looked at her. "My guardian angel protected you." Sherry looked down at Claire's jacket, which Sherry had used as a pillow. David and Lara noticed that it had a picture of an angel on the back with the legend, "Made In Heaven" stenciled over the angel's head. "And she will go on protecting you, as long as you live."

Leon stood up from his crouch next to the cot. "It's finally over."

"No." Everyone turned to look at Claire. "I have to find my brother."

"You're right…" Leon looked down at the unconscious, but living Ada. "This is just the beginning…"

And that's when the train shook like a rat in a terrier's jaws.

Everyone turned to the back of the train. "NOW what?!" David asked.

"Let's check it out." Claire ran to the rear of the train and opened the door.

"Claire, wait!" Lara and David ran after her, Leon only a step behind. They all opened the door to the car behind them, ran in and stopped.

The rear of the train was FULL of the G-Tyrant. It was now a gigantic amorphous mass of eyes, tentacles and

massive jaws, moving its way up the length of the train, foot by foot.

David turned back to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't open. "It's STUCK!!!"

As one, they all nodded, drawing what weapons they had left and facing the G-Tyrant. "HOSE IT!!!" Leon yelled as the tentacles reached for them and they opened fire, Lara with the submachinegun, Leon with the rocket launcher, David with his Desert Eagle .50 and Claire with her bazooka. Round after round after round leaped from their weapons and struck the monster. Leon dropped the empty launcher after the second shot and drew his combat shotgun, pumping lead into the thing as fast as he could. It got closer and closer, until they could feel its tentacles grasping at their legs.

"I'm out!!" Claire yelled, throwing the empty bazooka as hard as she could at the G-Tyrant.

"Me too!" Lara said, seeing a set of jaws on a stalk of muscle reach for her. She jammed the MAC-11 into the mouth as hard as she could, breaking off teeth and causing the mouth to fall back.

David fired the last of his bullets just as a tentacle reached out and grabbed him around the legs, pulling him into the air. In response, David tossed aside his gun and drew a knife, cutting himself free and slashing at any tentacles brave enough to get closer.

Finally, with two shots left in his inventory, Leon fired and watched the creature shudder, then slump, starting to melt. He turned and fired another shot into the door, blowing it off its hinges. He did the same to the door ahead of him and tossed the now-useless weapon aside, running into the locomotive. "We've got to stop the train!!" David yelled.

"Why?" Lara asked.

"That thing gets bigger every time we 'kill' it!! We've got to stop the train and blow it up, incinerate that thing completely!"

"How?" asked Claire.

"The train's self-destruct mechanism."

"Jeez, does EVERYTHING Umbrella make come with a self-destruct??" Leon went to the door to the cab, then stopped. "The door's locked!!!"

A tremendous, bone-chilling shriek came from the rear of the train and everyone turned to look behind them. "Great. NOW we've made it MAD…!!!" Leon groused.

"I can do it!" Everyone turned to look at Sherry, who was climbing, previously unnoticed, through a vent leading from the main car to the cab of the engine. David looked through the window separating the two.

"Sherry, the self-destruct is a big red button on the right side of the console! Push it, hurry!!!"

Sherry looked around, then found the button and slammed her small fist on it. A countdown began on the console and the brakes slammed home, causing the train to lurch on the tracks. By the time Sherry crawled back out, everyone was at the doors, waiting for the train to come to a halt. Leon was carrying Ada.

Then David made the mistake of looking out the windows to the rear of the car. Huge tentacles were winding their way from the back of the train, pulling the G-Tyrant forward. "Ah, SHIT…"

The train finally came to a halt and the human occupants bailed out. "RUN!!" Leon yelled, but everyone else had already taken his advice, sprinting for the mouth of the tunnel just ahead.

Inside the train, the G-Tyrant had pulled itself to the front cab. A flashing light caught its attention and a huge, slitted eye focused on it. The light was the countdown timer, and by the time the eye came close enough to realize that it wasn't something good to eat, the countdown read: 00:00:02.

The eye widened.

An earthshaking explosion ripped through the tunnel, completely vaporizing the G-Tyrant and incinerating the vapor a microsecond later. The explosion continued through the tunnel, incinerating everything as it billowed out to the exit, causing a blinding flash and a thick cloud of black smoke that climbed into the air.

David, Lara, Leon, Claire and Sherry stood up from their landing spot on the side of the tracks, dusting themselves off as they watched the cloud climb into the air. Ada lay on the grass, her eyes flickering, then opening as far off in the distance, the town of Raccoon City was merrily burning away from the fires started by the initial disaster and by the destruction of Umbrella's base.

"Well, guys, can we relax now, or is another life-threatening situation going to arise in the next few minutes, because I want to know whether I can faint in safety," David said sardonically.

"I think we can relax, Dave." Claire hugged Sherry close.

"Good…because I am COMPLETELY out of ammunition." David sighed.

EPILOGUE

Claire walked out of the hospital room in Augustine, a small town seventy miles away from what used to be Raccoon City. Lara and David stood up, both bandaged in several places. "How is she?"

"Ada's going to be fine. The doctor says her bones are healing nicely and there's little nerve damage. She should recover completely."

"She's going to have a lot to answer for before all this is over." Lara said as they walked to the waiting room. "The government is involved and there's going to be hearings and everything."

"From what Leon tells me, she'll be fine. Her lawyer says that she'll get immunity once she tells the judge everything about Umbrella."

David sat down. "What about Raccoon City?"

"Burned to the ground. The government is hushing the whole thing up and they're scouring the area with troops armed with anti-tank weapons. They're taking no chances. However, from what I've gotten from some of the higher-ups, all they're finding are small pools of slime. Looks like the G-Virus ultimately kills the infected." Claire sighed.

"How's Sherry? Doing well, I hope?"

"She's just fine. Doctor says there's no trace of the G-Virus, but he wants to keep her around for observation."

"You don't sound too thrilled," Lara observed.

Claire leaned a little closer to Lara. "The doctor's been looking for any trace of the G-Virus because I think the government wants something to reverse-engineer the G-Virus back into existence. The traces of the G-Virus monsters have come up negative; the degradation of the rotted tissues make any virus retrieval impossible. The Umbrella base was completely destroyed, so there's no help there, either. As soon as night falls, I'm taking Sherry and we're leaving to find Chris."

Lara nodded. "We'll be more than happy to take you along with us when we leave. We're heading back to Europe, and as I recall, that's where Chris and his friends went."

"Exactly. Plus, it'll give us time to catch up on old times, David."

David sat back in the chair. "I'm gonna miss Raccoon City."

Claire said morosely, "Me, too. A lot of people died there…and none of them needed to." Lara took Claire's hand and the two women smiled. "But, with any luck, Umbrella will pay dearly for what they've done."

"Well, no offense, Claire, but Lara and I have enough adventure in our lives. You'll excuse us if we pass on helping you out in this."

"David!" Lara said indignantly.

Claire waved her off. "It's okay, Lara…besides, this is my fight, mine and the other members of the S.T.A.R.S. team. There's no need for you to get involved."

"Nonsense! If you need our help, we'll gladly give it."

Claire looked at Lara. "From the look on your face, I believe it. Alright, when we track down those responsible, we'll let you know if we need any assistance. Until then…"

"Until then, you and Sherry can stay at my place. It'll give you a base of operations where you can rest and plan. I have a big house and there's no use refusing. I've made up my mind."

David sighed. "Don't try fighting her, Claire, she's as stubborn as you are. More, probably." He turned back towards the hospital room. "You think Leon's going to be okay?"

"They'll be fine." Claire smiled. "In fact, I think they're really going to get through this okay."

"Well, just in case, I left them our number." David said, "and if they need to get away from those guys at the Pentagon, I'm sure we can work out something."

"Always the knight in shining armor, eh, David?" Claire's smile widened.

"Please…!"

"David, if you'll pardon me, I need to go make arrangements for our flight home. Claire, it's been a distinct pleasure meeting you." Lara stood up and went to find a telephone. As Lara turned a corner, Claire stood up, went to the chair next to David and sat down. Without another word, she leaned over and planted a solid kiss right on David's lips! Before David could register what was going on, Claire had already sat back in her chair.

"That was nice."

"Claire, are you NUTS?! I thought you said you were over me!"

David hissed.

"Well, not completely…" Claire admitted. "You are one hell of a guy, you know…and I miss what we had together."

"So now that I'm involved with Lara, you pull this stuff on me?? You ARE nuts!"

"No…just a bit regretful. You might say I needed one last kiss goodbye."

David looked at Claire in disbelief. "You're not nuts…you're CRAZY…"

"Maybe. But I wanted to let you know that there won't be any problems between us, especially now. As much as I'd like to, I can see now that you're in love with someone else. Which REMINDS me…why haven't you proposed to her?" Claire punched him in the shoulder. "And don't give me any of this, 'I'm not rich enough, I'm not good enough' bull. What's the REAL reason?"

David sighed. "Why is it that everyone I know keeps asking me that question?"

"Because we love you, ya big dope."

"Look…I'm just not ready yet…"

"Translation: you're scared she'll turn you down."

"Well…….yes. Are you happy? I said it." David looked down. "I don't want to lose her because of my big mouth."

"Hmmm…she struck me as the girl of girl who might find your mouth quite good at…"

"CLAIRE!"

"Just kidding." She grinned. "David, for a smart guy, you can be pretty dumb at times. Can't you see that she is as crazy about you as you are about her?"

"The crazy part I believe."

"And on that note, would you like a lecture on the nature of persistent denial?"

Claire peered at David for a while until it was clear to him that she wasn't going to let the subject drop or change. "Well…maybe…"

"Then stop waiting around. Life is too short as it is, David. You're wasting it waiting around for the kind of personal justification that just doesn't exist. Tell her how you feel and what you want."

"And if she turns me down?"

"Then at least you'll know, and maybe know why. But this way, you'll never know."

David suddenly felt extremely tired. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Now?"

"SOON."

Claire went back to her own seat. "Better do it soon, Ace. Or else…"

"Or else, what?"

"Or else I'LL propose to her before you do."

"Claire, is it your goal in life to try to shock me every chance you get?!"

"Nope, just a hobby." Claire grinned. "Fun, isn't it?"

David was still shaking his head when Lara came back in. "So, what did I miss?" she asked pleasantly.

The nurse walking down the corridor had to go back to the waiting room to caution the people there that they had to stop laughing so loudly, this was a HOSPITAL after all…