Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Chapter 21: Lair of The Wicked

A/N: Alright, as you all may have suspected by now, this is pretty much almost the end of the fic. Expect somewhere between 2-5 more chapters at the most. Thank you very much for your loyalty, and for reviewing and reading this story, you guys are the heart of it all. But my Lord...ONE review? Lol oh well. Please review guys!

Enjoy the next chapter.

A cool winter breeze swept across the barren area, they had left the forest behind them, and were now standing before the great structure where Wesker was taking refuge. It was no less then five stories high, he was willing to bet, and if Wesker stayed true to Umbrella's ways it would be riddled with traps. Oddly, there were no walls, no gates, which separated the compound from the forest. There was only a great door straight ahead, a huge sliding, and industrial-like door. The place seemed to be made of concrete, ready to take a head on attack from anything and everything.

Chris looked upon it silently, with everyone else. There were no spotlights trained on them, no monsters charging their way, none of the 'smart zombies'. It was quiet, besides the distant sounds of something unknown, something far in the forest that he'd much rather not run into, and the whistling wind. There was also something like thunder, not very clear, but he was pretty sure that's what it was. It was far away, so there was no immediate threat of a storm anytime soon.

Suddenly, all of this seemed very, very, eerily familiar. The weather, chilly, a bit windy, a possible storm lingering in the background, being chased through a forest by a pack of carrier dogs and immediately being lead to something that would change their lives forever…It was just like the Spencer incident, they'd been chased, it'd been cold, windy, and were lead somewhere that changed their lives forever. Now this, it was the same situation, this event would change their lives forever. No longer would they have to have nightmares, they would know that it was over, they'd be able to sleep for the first time in nearly a decade.

Hands fell on either of his shoulders, one much larger then the other. At one side stood Barry, at the other Jill. They were with him from the start, and they'd be there at the end. It was time to take Wesker down, time to stop this nightmare forever.

Chris nodded mentally and pumped the shotgun he held in his hands, ready to go, ready to end it all now. "Let's do this." He said, looking first at Barry and Jill before turning to the others. "Wesker might know that we're here. He may have heard the crash, so everyone be on alert." Chris stopped for a moment, receiving nods of affirmation from everyone. He loved everyone here like family, and he wasn't about to lose anyone.

"We're all coming out of this alive. Got it?" Everybody nodded once more, and he switched the full-sized shotgun over to his left hand and rested it on his shoulder. "Let's kick some ass." Chris placed his hand in front of himself, Jill the first to place her hand on his. She looked at him, and time seemed to slow while she looked into his eyes. At first, they were only friends, but through the years he'd felt as if they'd grown closer then that. A relationship was certainly possible, but they had never had the time. Chaos had enveloped his life for as long as he could remember, and after this night, it'd all be over.

Jill smiled at him, a smile that put him in a sort of trance. Her face was absolutely flawless, like an angel. There was no doubt that when this was over he was going to take her out for a nice time. Chris nodded back, and time continued again, Barry's hand falling atop Jill's, then Rebecca's, Billy's, and before long everyone had their hand in the middle of their circle.

"Let's do this." Chris said energetically, and the group immediately broke up. No one was told anything, of where to go, what to do, but they all seemed to be on the same page as they ran over toward the large doors. Chris trailed behind everyone on purpose, giving himself time to think as everyone else gathered around the door.

Personally, he was surprised by the courage of the three youngest members of the group. Ashley, daughter of President Graham and undercover Umbrella employee; Jeff, a college basketball player from Ohio State; Tara, a cheerleader for Ohio State. Although each of them was so young, they probably had more courage then he had. They were both motivated by the death of their friend Xavier, he was sure of it. They felt like he did, how everyone else did, they felt obligated to be part of this. It was…destiny.

"How are we looking?" Chris asked as he reached the only visible entrance into the facility. It was so much taller then him, the very top of the gate couldn't be reached unless three of him was standing on top of each either.

Jill turned to him, she was an avid locksmith, and had a well-known father that was a master locksmith. "I can't pick the lock, it's mechanical, takes a keycard reader."

"Can we do something about that?" Chris asked eagerly, frowning.

It was Ada's turn to turn toward him. "I can, I'm, good with these sorts of things, but this is a very complicated device, and it would take me a hour at least. More like a hour and a half."

Chris shook his head. "Don't matter. Do it. We have to get in. Even if there is easier access into this place, there's no telling what can be waiting for us. Just try to hurry."

Ada nodded and moved over to the keycard reader where she started tampering with the device. Chris turned around and looked out at the bleak land. It was mostly dirt, a few blotches of grass here and there. The forest was about a two-minute walk from where he stood now. Chris took a long breath and did the only thing he could…he waited.

Spate sipped the warm coffee from the small Styrofoam cup as he walked down the halls. The metal doors of the elevator visible now as he rounded the corner, they would take him to the monitor room, his last stop before he went to his room to catch a few Z's. His initial fear, anger and shock had worn off, and the coffee was helping to relax him even further. He was thankful for that, as he pressed the up button and waited patiently.

It had been a full ten, maybe fifteen minutes since Wesker and his visit from the invisible creature. A bit of anger started to stir up inside of him, and he completely pushed Wesker from his mind and focused on his task before him. He needed to get his keycard that would grant him access to his room before he could get some rest.

Sure that he'd left the card inside the monitor room, he had taken a look at things earlier and he'd checked all other possible locations that he may have left it, Spate stepped into the elevator and leaned against the far wall. It started up, with just the slightest jerk at first, and then rode smoothly until it reached its destination and there was a chime.

Spate stepped out of the elevator, and into another blatant hallway. Every one of them were the same, metal floors, metal walls, ceilings, all painted a off-white color, with lights placed at regular intervals along the walls, leaving only a few dark places in the corridors. This particular hallway only had three offshoots. One lead to the entryway to the monitor room that was set into the wall, the second leading to an ammunition room where the Los Illuminados' weapons were stored, and the third lead down a hall that immediately lead to the radio room a few meters down. It was hardly ever used anymore; there simply was no need he guessed.

Sipping his coffee, now a quarter of it spent, Spate started toward the monitor room, the farther of the two entries in this corridor. Spate watched the floor as he walked slowly, leisurely, in no real rush to get to his keycard. Every metal plate the same, unscathed, polished to a fine glimmer. He couldn't imagine how much noise would be made by boots though, in these halls. It would certainly echo, only a person walking barefoot could possibly make no noise-

"Spate, what a surprise."

Spate snapped his head up, heart suddenly thundering in his chest, relieved to see Glitter standing at the far end of the hall. She started toward him leisurely, her skin somewhat shiny in the light, giving it a smooth, sexy look. She walked, one leg in front of the other, a hand on her bare hip, long-nailed fingers playing an imaginary piano on her waist, the other hand moving briskly beside her. Her silvery-blue hair framing her delicate face, and her magnificent green-blue eyes, eyes that hid her inner evil behind a mask of an angel, focused on him.

She stopped, a few feet in front of him, within arms reach. The door to the monitor room was beside them, to his left. "What brings you here, Spate?" She asked, his attention distracted as she glided a hand across her flat belly, and down, as if inviting him to stare-but he didn't, wouldn't.

Spate shrugged. "I'm checking the monitors." He replied flatly.

Glitter took a step toward him, standing in tiptoes, and glided a hand across her thigh. "Ah."

"What brings you up here?" Spate asked, suddenly disgusted by her ways, for God's sake the woman was standing in front of him, bare, taunting him with her features. She was a fucking slut, once a beautiful woman turned into a soulless woman that used her looks for evil.

Glitter shrugged mockingly. "Taking a walk I guess. I'll see you around." With that she was gone, walking past him and gingerly down the hall. Spate didn't dare watch her as she walked away, and quickly entered the monitor room.

It was dark inside; the only light came from the wall of monitors that depicted a different scene. Spate walked over to the monitors, a leather computer chair and a surface hooked directly into the wall placed leisurely in front of the monitors. He found the keycard quickly and pocketed it and set his coffee down slowly. He then took a seat in the chair and leaned back in it. After sinking into a comfortable position, he grabbed his coffee and sat there, scanning each monitor. Maybe he'd go to sleep in a bit.

They didn't have any sound yet, something he was not happy about. A bit of sound would be nice, but it couldn't be helped. Out of the multiple screens, he wasn't sure how many there were; all but three depicted the same scene of bare land and forest. One showed a few zombies, the dumb kinds, standing idly, as if waiting for something or something. The other two showed…sleeping dogs.

"What the hell?" Spate sat up, leaned in to get a better look of the two shots of sleeping carrier dogs…Spate hit a button set off to the side of the desk, and all of the screens switched to night vision, and he realized that those dogs weren't asleep. The image depicted a white pool of liquid under each one, and each was sprinkled with white dots. The white was blood, just shown white in the night vision. Intrigued, Spate pressed another button and each screen changed, depicting more scenes.

"Their here." He said, astounded, as he stared at the screen that depicted the twelve people that were being a thorn in Wesker's side. One of them was messing with the keycard reader-abruptly, the person quit, and he recognized her as Ada. Another one of them turned to her, and she seemed mad, pointing at the reader. It was locked, a keycard was needed, and there was no way they'd ever get in without him telling Wesker first.

Spate stood up, down the remains of his coffee, and looked at the images once again. They were packing some major artillery, M-16's, shotguns. They were here for a fight. Spate turned to walk toward the door-but stopped.

Fuck Wesker. This isn't my problem.

Spate turned back to the screens, saw that Ada was no longer talking to the male. They seemed to be thinking, pondering a way to get in.

No need for that. Go get 'em.

Spate smacked a hand down on a button on the control panel and walked out of the room with a feeling of accomplishment swelling inside of him.

"Shit!"

Claire glanced over at the woman in the skin-tight full body suit, and smirked slightly at Ada's anger as she dropped the wires that she was holding and walked away from the keycard reader. Claire knew that Leon was a sort of hacker too, good with electronic things, and wondered briefly why he wasn't helping Ada with the reader. He was standing near Ashley, like he had been doing since they all first met up in D.C. It seemed that those two had grown pretty close, kind of like she and Leon had done after Raccoon. After awhile though, that turned into nothing more then a pretty tight friendship.

Steve was standing beside her with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting like everyone else. He caught her gaze and looked at her briefly before grinning. Claire grinned back and then turned to watch Ada as she approached Chris. Claire absent-mindedly switched the sawn-off pistol-grip shotgun to her right hand as she attempted to listen in on their conversation.

"I can't get it to work, it's a lot more complicated then I thought." Ada stated flatly, motioning an arm back toward the reader. She seemed somewhat calm, but Claire knew that she was hiding her anger carefully, behind that blank face. Claire grinned slightly, Ada somehow reminded her of herself, trying to stay calm all the time.

Chris' expression was blank for a moment, as if it was hard for him to register this information. When he finally spoke, he kept his face carefully emotionless. "Damn. Alright, any ideas? Let's keep finding another way in as our last resort." Chris scanned everyone's faces, and she watched him intently. Truthfully, she knew that there was no other ways to get in beside 'their last resort'.

"I can try working on it." Leon announced. "I learned a few things from the bureau."

Before Chris could even put it into consideration, Ada spoke up, making her message clear. "There's no getting into the gate. It's nearly impossible. I had training from Umbrella to do these things, I doubt the government could teach you much more then I was taught."

Chris frowned. "She's probably right…Alright, look, Ada, just try for a few more minutes. If you can't do it, then we'll look for another way in."

Claire groaned inwardly, and the thought of being out here a few more minutes send chills all across her body. She watched Ada move toward the keycard reader, wandering if the leather that clung tight to her like a second skin was even capable of keeping her warm-

Ka-chink, ka-chink

Claire turned around, facing the direction of the sound, and found that it was indeed coming from the large metal door.

"It's unlocking-!" She heard Ada say from a few feet away from the keycard reader.

Hiss…

The unseen hydraulics whispered for a moment, and then the metal door started to rise up, disappearing into a hidden place in the top of the wall. Half a minute later the door had nearly disappeared, and Chris praised Ada for opening the door.

"…I didn't unlock the door." Ada stated, and Claire could feel her stomach knotting. She turned around, saw Chris wearing the expression that spelled out fear, and she spun back around to look into the dark abyss that had unfolded before them.

From beside her, a beam of light split through the darkness, only to be joined by others a moment later. The torches searched the darkness, creating holes in the darkness, but there was nothing to be seen.

"Move inside, but stay alert, they know we're here!" Chris ordered. Steve was one of the first to enter the darkness, and she quickly conjured up enough courage to follow him. She learned, the hard way, to never walk into the dark without knowing what was inside. It had happened back in Raccoon…She was walking through the RPD, searching for Sherry just after seeing her in the hallway…

Claire moved down the halfway-decently lit hallway in careful strides. A florescent light flickered on and off further down the hall, casting shadows throughout the corridor. The little girl had run around that corner, she heard a door close shortly afterwards. She pushed herself to keep moving, kept herself alert, kept the semi-automatic handgun sturdy in her hands.

Finally at the end of the hall, not sure what to expect, she stopped and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. So far her night in Raccoon had been nothing short of hell, a living nightmare, she'd already had too many surprises to count. After gathering herself, Claire quickly turned around the corner, handgun ready-

Nothing. I'm safe… Claire started down the hall, seeing two doors that the little girl could have run into. She decided to pick the closest, probably her best bet. She moved over to it, and stopped momentarily to listen for noises inside the room. A noise like shuffling feet, or hungry moans, possibly screams from some unlucky cop as he was being eaten alive-STOP! For Christ's sake, stop! Pull yourself together, Claire!

She took a breath, motivated by her conscious to do what she was told. Quicker then before she did 'pull herself together', and she was turning the doorknob quicker then she really wanted to, maybe getting to anxious. The door creaked open a bit and she stuck the muzzle of her gun into the small gap and opened it the rest of the way with the handgun. The door opened up into a dark room, the lights from the hallway not illuminating nothing further then six feet into the room.

"Little girl? It's okay; I'm not one of them. You can come out…" Claire closed the door gently behind her; she didn't want anything grabbing her from behind. Her eyes were taking awhile to adjust to the darkness, so she reached around the wall, searching for a light switch-a noise.

"Little girl?" Claire asked, feeling her index finger tensing around the trigger of the handgun. "Are you in here? It's okay, you can-" A hand grabbed at her, managing to get bony fingers in between the waist of her cut-off shorts and her waist, the hand was desperate, and it pulled as hard as it could. Realizing it couldn't do anything there, the hand slid down to her bare thigh, it was cold, and slimy-and she shrieked in disgust and backed up, tripping over something and falling hard on her rear, her gun falling from her grasp upon impact, and she was totally blind. Not able to see much at all.

"Unh…" The lonely moan gurgled out of the throat of the unseen zombie, and she could hear it dragging itself across the floor- and a hand was coming around her from behind, just below her collarbone-and another was grabbing at her legs again, was actually using her leg to pull itself closer to her upper body.

Claire kicked and threw her arms wildly, feeling her boot smack into something hard, hearing a satisfying but sickly crack of bone under her boot, and her fist collided with something, and a zombie moaned, but still held onto her chest. Determined as the zombies were dumb, Claire jumped to her feet, the zombie clutching at her shirt as she did so and managing to rip it in the process, she headed toward the square light that shone through the glass square on the door. She grabbed for the knob, and thankfully found it and crashed through the door and into the light of the hallway, turning to look back at the zombies as she ran- and collided with something else.

She screamed and pushed herself off of the thing she collided into, and once again fell on her ass. She scooted back against a wall, just as she saw a hand missing a finger come out of the doorway, and she looked up at the one that was in the hallway- and recognized the thing she thought was a zombie.

The police uniform-wearing person fired a half dozen shots into the dark room, and she was relieved to hear the zombies' dieing moans…

BAM!

Claire jumped slightly, as the dark room they were inside of suddenly lit up with such brilliancy that she had to shield her eyes. "Shit!" She mumbled, her heart thumping in her chest. The loud noise that had startled her was the lights coming on, echoing on the walls. She slowly put her arm down, her eyes now adjusted to the light, and she took a look around. The room was big, like a huge storage room. There were large metal crates, each probably nine feet tall, strewn around the room randomly. There was a path though, with no crates blocking the way, that lead from the large gate that had mysteriously opened to a door at the far end of the large room. It was probably one hundred and fifty feet by two hundred feet.

Steve clapped a hand on her shoulder and laughed. "A bit jumpy, aren't we?" Claire half-grinned and followed his lead as the group moved further into the room. She held the sawn-off shotgun in her hand firmly, ready for anything that popped out at her this time.

Ashley made sure she was close to Leon; actually she was pretty much on his heels. Even though she had a handgun this time around to protect herself, she wasn't quite sure how confident she was with her marksmanship skills. Besides, Leon was the one packing the serious stuff. He had grenades, a kick-ass-looking shotgun, and a handgun, and to top it all off he was a United States Government Agent. She couldn't feel safer.

But Leon wasn't the only trained marksman in this place, from what she understood Rebecca, Jill, Chris, and Barry were all part of the special police unit S.T.A.R.S., Billy was an ex-marine or something like that, and Ada was some covert spy hired by Umbrella, Claire just seemed kick-ass and the fact that she came back from the dead was even more kick-ass, and Steve really seemed to know what he was doing. Jeff, on the other hand, and his girlfriend or whatever she was, Tara, she wasn't so sure of. They were the only three that really had any doubts about firing a gun, or that's what she thought anyways.

Suddenly the group stopped, and she bumped into Leon. He was barely knocked off balance, and only took a single step forward as a result of her mishap. He turned and looked at her, and all she could do was smile apologetically. He didn't say anything, just nodded and turned back around.

Ashley backed off of him and moved to his side, absently thinking how weird it felt to be wearing jeans after wearing a skirt for so long. Chris was leading the group, it seemed that he was the leader or something, though no one really decided on that, he seemed to just take it upon himself to take that position.

"Looks like an elevator." He said simply, and looked back at Ada. "Up or down?"

"Down would lead into the sleeping quarters. There's no way that anyone's asleep yet, so go up. We'll go to the very top floor, where Wesker's private room is." She explained. Chris nodded and he pushed the up button.

"You scared?" Leon asked suddenly, sort of alarming her.

Ashley looked at him and grinned. "Not at all."

He grinned back to her and nodded. "That's right." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tugged her against him playfully. She struggled for a moment to get out of his grasp, but he loosened his grip eventually and instead held her in a sort of embrace. She wondered for that second if he thought of her as a daughter, a friend, or something more. Truthfully, she was hoping that-

"It's small." Chris said, braking her train of thought. She glanced up at him to see what he was talking about, and realized that he meant the elevator was small. "We'll have to go in two groups of six." It was decided quickly, the groups. Jeff, Tara, Chris, Claire, Steve, and Ada climbed into the elevator first, and they disappeared just as fast as it was determined. Everyone else waited patiently in the large, lonely room, once again, it was all that they could do.

Ashley sunk down into a sitting position against a wall, feeling chills run up her spine as her shirt was pushed up in the back and her bare back touched the could steel walls. She quickly fixed her shirt and sat back against the wall, Leon stood next to her. It wouldn't be a long wait, thirty seconds at most.

And that thirty seconds turned into more then a minute and a half-and there was a noise. A noise that sounded like an elephant walking through the room, and she turned, and saw that it was in fact an elephant. It was slightly larger then normal, it's trunk decayed like the rest of its body, and its eyes burned a crimson red as it walked toward them, swinging its trunk from side to side with each step.

A/N: You like? I hope so. Please review guys. That's it until next time.

PEACE