Chapter 10

Shawn gave up tackling and kicking the hidden stone wall-door. Apparently it was stuck, and Jim was alone and struggling.

He had heard the occasional firing of an automatic, followed by the thumping of footsteps echoing down the hall. With a mental image of the not-so-killable monster fresh in his head, he hurried out of what appeared to be a nicely garnished bedroom, a mockery of the horror just on the other side of the mansion.

Passing down another narrow hallway, this time with two doors on the right and a single door at the end, he scurried to that lone door. He needed to get around the other end before that thing caught up to Jim. Shawn prayed that the house went all the way around. If not, Jim may well be pretty much screwed. He heard a fierce boom from somewhere in the house, the entire place shaking as if a wrecking ball collided into the side of the old building. The windows to Shawn's left would've probably shattered if they were still in mint condition.

After turning around many corners and smashing through nearly a half-dozen doors, Shawn came to a library of some sort, noticing a large hole in the ceiling just as quick as he noticed the books all strewn about.

The third floor!

Shawn ended up going back, his heart pounding. For some strange reason, he felt something great was amiss. He found the stairway he had skipped just a minute ago. He climbed up slowly, the unusual silence making him feel as if his hurrying was in vain. Many paintings and portraits were hung on the wall, the majority slanted from the explosive crashes of the monster.

When he hit the last of the stairs leading up, he could have sworn he heard something scuttle just a few feet away. However, his senses were sharpened, and he didn't see anything. Blaming his imagination, Shawn mentally confirmed that he had two paths to choose from. To his left, there was a dimmed hall, the florescent lighting blinking on and off sporadically. The right led straight to a door, followed by a narrow turn down to the right.

"Jim, if you're still alive, hang on!" he told himself, choosing not to sway his resolve. Jim wouldn't die that quickly, and with that firm belief, Shawn stuck to the left where the windows lined the wall. He would eventually make a roundabout trip, hardly unable to locate the cat and mouse. Just as he walked cautiously down the darkened hall, the scuttling came again from behind him, the noises getting closer.

Nothing was there. Not on the walls, ceiling, or the floor, convincing him that he was, in fact being followed. He raised his shotgun, not caring about his current supply of ammo. Whatever was lurching nearby was quite the stealthy one. Of course, it could also be a person, but the chances were slim as opposed to another monster. He backed a bit, hearing nothing but silence and the creaking of the old gothic mansion-

-and he noticed something, something disturbing, not like everything else wasn't. However, this couldn't be real. A little bit down the hall he came from, he saw a face on the wall. It was distorted, like the face of a person in agony, the mouth wide open and the eyes wide with pain. No doubt about it, he saw a face. A parasite bringing forth vampires and a disease mimicking zombies were hard to swallow, but a ghost?

Shawn was about to back up and continue down the path he was heading, but the face turned, the wall moving. He aimed the gun at it that instant, and the face came off, a body appearing just in front of him. It materialized right at that moment, like a chameleon, the face and body structure that of a human, but so many other things so . . . off. The body, having a brownish sinewy appearance, stood upright. It had long nails, not like that other brute, but long enough. It was thin, yet muscular. But more terrifying was its face, the expression of pure torment frozen on its dead body, like some doll or something.

The thing began toward him, its walk strangely stiff, cracking noises sounding from its joints. Feeling uneasy, he carefully aimed his gun and fired, only to see the thing still standing. Had he missed? It happened all too fast, but Shawn thought the creature had actually stretched to avoid the shots! It seemed impossible, the spread shot should've taken its slender, delicate body out. And the monster's appendages dangled loosely, its legs kicking against the wall to its left. It grabbed hold of the ceiling with its chimeric nails, hung down, and kicked him with both feet, all in the moment it took Shawn to aim again. It shrieked horribly, jumping on top of him and ready to tear at his face, when-

PANG, PSHHHH!

Blood sprayed everywhere, the thing's head blown to shit. All of this happened in about thirty seconds tops. Shawn was in a brief shock, his gaze leaving the headless monster only when he saw someone walk toward him. His body slid down against the wall, sitting for awhile to catch his breath and take in what he just witnessed.

"Are you okay?" came voice, one of a woman. Shawn knew it was Eva before he even looked at her. She wore a tight black sleeveless shirt and a black tight skirt, her other outfit resting on her shoulder. She unstrapped her rifle and set it down, smiling.

"P-Perfect timing," Shawn managed to say, suddenly feeling quite stupid for acting and sounding unprofessional.

"My, we've certainly slipped up, haven't we?"

"Eva," Shawn began, getting up slowly, "have you seen a man with blond, short hair, medium build. Hell, the one being chased by a bloodthirsty monster with long nails.

"If it weren't for the 'blond hair' part, I would say it was you," she joked.

"Eva, this is no time for games. He is an agent, just like me, and I have to help him before its too late!"

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him at all. I just got here through one of those broken windows." She paused, reloading her rifle and putting it away. "If it's Jim, I know he could handle it. He's probably on his way to the castle as we speak."

"But, he may be infected with the parasite!"

Eva simply turned away and began walking toward the other hall he had skipped.

"Just follow me, Shawn," she said tiredly.

"Wait! I still have a few questions I want answers to pretty much now!"

"Can they wait until we reach the castle? These creatures Wesker dubbed 'mannequins' are all over the place, and they're skillful hunters."

"Wesker! How do you . . ."

"I found a file addressed to him. Apparently, Wesker's goons cooperated with the Zalamel Clan to get a hold of their sacred bug. Wesker did experiments somewhere at a nearby facility. This is one of them."

". . ."

"Well? Your allies need you. Are you gonna stand in awe forever? If we head there now, we can save them. If what you say about Jim is correct, then there's no hope for him. So lets get going."

Her words were more organized, different from when he last met her. He had so many questions for her, yet, for some reason, he felt he wouldn't receive the answers to most of them at all.

S A M A N T H A

They were running short on time. All at once, in a desperate attempt to save themselves, they fired at the gel-thing. Still nothing. They were losing ground between the monster in front of them and the one just outside the door.

"No!" cried Sam as the monster managed to grab her arm with sticky tentacles. Drake fired at the "human" legs, the creature losing balance, but it clung onto Sam nonetheless.

Moaning in disgust and utter terror, Sam's eyes met something that her mind was unable to comprehend for a moment. It was a weapon, but right behind the thing.

"Behind it!" she shouted with a her might, still fighting to free herself before the mouth would swallow her alive. In a flash of seconds, she saw Cliff holding the strange weapon.

"Get her off!" he told Drake, who ceased his firing and ran toward her. At that instant, the mouth sprayed something in front of him, causing him to back up, wiping his face. It some sort of gas, and obviously either acidic or caustic.

"Drake!" she yelled as she was being drawn into the gel creature's mouth. Cliff had no other choice. He fired, the odd weapon blasting a swift, crackling shot of electricity. The monster made a deep, croaking noise as it stumbled to its side. Sam let out a sharp cry of pain and was dropped to the ground.

Cliff fired again, the bolt from the spark shooter illuminating the room with an ear shattering zap. The creature began to smoke, as if caught ablaze. Then, the gel loosened from its host, slithered toward a wall and began to melt, the same way a slug would when doused with salt. Drake was still rubbing at his eyes, but still ran to where he heard Sam. She could still hear him calling to her, but it was fading and suddenly she felt like she couldn't breathe. She heard Cliff yell something, heard the fizzing noise of the gun going off again, and then everything went black.

C L I F F

It was over with. The other creature outside the door crashed through the door, but it was blasted to a smoking pile of gelly shit, the smell like something chemical. He let out a sigh of incredible relief, but his eyes widened when he heard the sound of electrical fizzing. Drake heard it, too, freezing for a second to reassure himself. He grabbed the unconscious girl and ran right behind Cliff, who nearly felt as much as he heard the explosion behind him.

Holy shit, should've known that would happen and with the chemicals and all and who the hell put a cattle prod in a surgical storage room!

His ears rang, giving him a hell of a headache. He raised his head to look around, but his vision was kind of fuzzy, probably from the chemicals stored in that room. Well, there wasn't a room in there anymore, the walls and just about everything else in there fried.

When his vision and hearing began to return, he could only hear the sound of flames scorching the remains of the room, and their only way back outside. There were occasional brief explosions coming from somewhere in the flames, so daringly diving through them would be suicide.

"The others, where're the others?" he whispered to himself, realizing just how dependent he was suddenly feeling toward them and kind of liking it. He was always the older brother, and the most neglected . . .

There was a voice from somewhere to his left. Cliff got up and saw Drake on the floor, his body shielding Sam.

"Geez, you're so professional and all. She wasn't gonna get hurt at this distance, you know?"

"She's unconscious! Who knows what could've happened to her."

The two got up, Drake grabbing hold of Sam. He sighed with relief, his face all red and irritated and sweaty. Cliff led the way down the rest of the hall, noting that the explosion had obliterated a nearby door to the left. He continued down the rather empty hall and found two doors, one on the left and one straight ahead. The one to the left was locked, but the one in front of them seemed more "appealing" anyway. It was a strange room, he decided as he entered. There was no immediate threat, but something about screamed murder.

"Lay her down on that bench," Cliff said, his tone careful. He glance around meticulously feeling watched by something. All around him were test tubes clouded with some strange solution. He assumed live things were still in them, but although in a cryogenic stasis of some sort, couldn't help feeling uneasy.

"Great, an incubator for mutants!" Drake muttered. "We can't stay here any longer."

There was a mess of tubes, ranging in height from palm-sized to human-sized. Cliff didn't dare touch anything.

"So, Drake, why were you here?" Cliff asked out of the blue.

". . . why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I was here for about three years with my parents. They were researchers."

"Don't tell me . . . here?"

"No, otherwise, I would've been here by now. Well, then again, I could care less what happened to them. But, my brother . . ."

His expression became grim. So saddened to the point that Drake thought he would shed tears.

"We got separated. He's always been the only one who listened! And I swore to him that I'd go back for him once I found Mom and Dad. But, they left."

"What do you mean 'left'?"

"LEFT! They flew away somewhere further northeast in a chopper. They left me and my brother to die!"

". . ."

"That's why I have to find him! I won't leave until I find him."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Cliff's face was red with anger and despair. He didn't answer for awhile.

"I don't know. I guess I tried to bring myself to believe that he was gone. But something in me tells me that he isn't! I won't just abandon the chance to save Devon if there's still some hope!"

"Any idea where he might be?"

"I . . . yeah . . . remember those agents I told you about before?"

"Yeah, do you remember exactly where they were headed?"

"I told Devon to follow them closely while I went out for my parents. He must be with them! I could've sworn they came by this way . . ."

Drake sighed. "So, you don't know where they are?" he said, more of a confirmation than a question.

"I do remember them saying something about a dragon, or something. This was when they were discussing where they could go." Feeling clueless, Drake let another sigh, this time as he got up.

"I'll help you, but only a quick check. And it has to be along our way. We're not . . ."

"Thanks, Drake!" he said, a tone of weak happiness in his youthful voice.

"But first thing's first. We gotta wake her up. She's still fine, the shock wasn't nearly enough to do much, but she's fainted."

"What can we do? Are we just going to wait?"

"Nothing a bit of alcohol can't fix, and I mean that!" Cliff snickered slightly, then came closer to the pair.

"Um, Drake, you still didn't tell me why you were here." He remained quiet for some seconds, his attention seeming elsewhere. "Drake . . . ?"

" . . . I'll tell you when the time is right. Just not right now."