Author's Note: There are probably very few authors that have waited for over two years to complete any story. Over two years ago I was forced to stop writing this and found myself drawn to other projects and every time I looked back at this, I realized that my writing style had improved and didn't want to take the trouble correcting it all. Now as I plan to delete my unfinished stories that I have no intention of continuing, I believe it is only appropriate that I do this as I have been drawn by the thought of working on Resident Evil 2 as well.
Resident Evil Rebirth
Chapter 26: Five Minutes To Kill
Chris and Jill stepped from the lab after Barry and Richard who had taken up the lead at this point in time, Rebecca came behind them keeping an eye on the fallen monster with the fifty caliber she had procured. She angrily slammed her palm down on the switch near the door, which in turn sealed the laboratory shut and hopefully removed the threat of anything else escaping the room. They were all exhausted and not one of them was willing to take in one more surprise considering all that they had gone through already on this terrible night.
They were covered in the slick and scent of their own sweat. Their eyes were blurring from the humidity of the labs and the fatigue of a sleepless night. Those that had passed through the trials of the mansion were fighting off headaches and nausea. Their weapons had become frozen lumps within their hands and their digits were bruised and pained from the countless trigger pulls. They had all probably suffered some temporary hearing damage from the sheer amount of close quarters fire they had performed. The sheer amount of loss and betrayal over the course of the night had all left them prepared for the morning that would hopefully bring them salvation.
The lot of them were silent as they rode up the elevator once again which eventually emerged within the laboratories in the hallway where two unclothed corpses had been, left with fine 9mm entry wounds in their skulls. The group was prepared to travel as a group back to the main hall of the mansion and push every ounce of their manpower towards moving through the forest while fighting off the creatures within. However, as they stepped out of the elevator, Rebecca Chambers came to a realization "Wait! We cannot just leave this place standing!"
Chris would have looked at her skeptically just a few hours before, but he had already seen after everything that she did know what she was talking about and nodded for her to continue. She did so "I found a file in the upper labs and there is apparently still a lot of the virus lingering in the mansion. It will not effect the living, but there is no telling how long it will be before the creatures spread out from the mansion. We need to blow this whole place up!"
Jill looked at Rebecca "How are we supposed to do that?"
Rebecca looked up "This entire complex is linked to a self-destruct sequence and there is also an alarming amount of counter-viral materials stockpiled in this place. I'm sure that once they go up the significant traces of the virus will be eradicated and there weaker amounts will just fizzle out."
Richard breathed "There is a catch, isn't there?"
Rebecca nodded her head "After it has been activated, we will only have five minutes to get away from the estate and out of the blast radius. Every door in the complex will be unlocked and we should be able to escape via the helipad if we move quickly."
Chris nodded his head before he lashed out arm out "Alright then, Jill and Barry will come with me to make a clear path to the helipad. Richard, go with Rebecca and help her however you can. Move out!"
With these orders the two groups separated and moved in different directions, Rebecca and Richard moving down the corridor towards the fuel room while the three higher officers moved back the way they had come in the first place. As they had expected they were attacked by more of the crimson faced zombies, but the collective firepower of three different people made quick work of them. They made their way back up the stairs and to the elevator room they had all come down through and found a new door wide open, marked as an emergency exit to the helipad.
Jill instinctively grew angry as she noticed the key that had been left in the gate and knew that their traitorous leader had passed through. As she was prepared to lurch forward and give pursuit the speakers suddenly came to life and a number of systems stirred behind the concrete walls. The computerized female voice was loud and clear over the compound as it gave out a warning like the voice of Death's Angel "The self-destruct system has been activated. All personnel must evacuate immediately. Deactivating and releasing all locks."
Barry was the first to move forward with his magnum, quickly taking down two zombies that were behind the helipad corridor with clean shots to the face. He then turned and laid in wait for Rebecca and Richard knowing that they would be coming within the next minute if they had any sense at all. Jill was rushing down the hall with Chris right behind her when suddenly there was a high-pitched beeping from his belt. She responded by lashing out her hand and snatching his radio and lifting it to her ear.
"This is Brad... Running out of fuel... This is your last chance! If there's anyone alive, give me a sign! I repeat, this is your last chance!"
Chris snatched the radio back and slapped it onto his belt before looking at her "Our only chance is to run for it." he said not sounding very confident that they could make it, but it was even less likely that Brad would spot them.
Jill then pointed down the hall with a beaming expression on her face "Think again." she said, he turned around and was unable to believe what he saw. It was a case of signal rockets specifically designed to be used quickly and there were three in the case so the chances of defects were very little. Chris snatched it up just as Rebecca and Richard arrived on scene.
"The self-destruct sequence has been activated. Four minutes remaining!" Rebecca shouted as Richard arrived to begin jabbing his finger into the elevator's call button which lowered. All of them piled in and Chris slapped the button which would take them to the helipad, all of them urging the elevator to move faster until it finally opened up into the murky night.
Chris dashed forward to slam the case down and open it, his hand swatting the first button he saw which sent off all three of the flares enclosed. They went high and exploded to give light to the entire area, there was no way that anybody could have missed that from a plane, let alone a helicopter that was looking for it. Everybody tensely glared at Rebecca as she monitored the time that was left and after what seemed like an eternity muttered "Three minutes!"
Nobody was in the mood for anymore surprises, but the sound of the helipad suddenly cracking under them was not something that anybody would have wanted to hear. At first they feared that one of those systems might include tearing down the helipad to make sure that nobody got away with all those corporate secrets. Then suddenly a section of it exploded outward and something moved through the dust and the chunky of falling concrete to stand in defiant of it's own mortality, the monster called the Tyrant.
All of them found themselves holding up their weapons and at the same time were unable to open fire at this creature that had somehow escaped death. Richard pumped his shotgun once again as he looked at the creature and was already sure that there was little his weapon could do. Rebecca lifted up the heavy magnum pistol once again and concentrated upon the target in front of her, her wrists ached from the impact of the heavy caliber firearm. Barry meanwhile held his with ease and was the first to take action in opening fire. The others responded the same way only to find that while there was an overflow of blood from the monster, he would not die.
The monster then roared and made a rush towards a member of the group, sprinting forward and taking a wide swipe with his claw to just barely miss Richard who was quick to react. He dropped his shotgun into one hand and stabbed the barrel under the monster's chin before pulling the trigger. The monster roared as it stumbled back with part of its face damaged and roared before it utilized the normal hand to back-fist a retreating Richard in the shoulder. He screamed as he was launched over twelve feet and the gunfire fell silent as everybody moved to reload, he felt the bones in his leg were out of place and raised his weapon as the monster approached.
The monster came down hard with its claw just as Richard held up the shotgun to fire another blast into the monster's palm sending it stumbling back. The monster roared right before it was struck in the spin by a grenade from Jill Valentine, it roared as a blood red patch appeared on it's back and launched itself at the senior female of the group. Richard fell unconscious from the pain just as Rebecca rushed up to him and made herself ready to guard him.
Chris opened fire with the MP5 he had been given by that stranger and held no attention towards ammo conservation as Rebecca screamed the two minute marker. Just as this happened there was a sound of impact from nearby and the whirl of rotter blades that had been unheard over the gunfire. The assault rifle went dry just as Jill turned her attention to see the chopper hovering in autopilot while Brad was busy at the doors working on the ladders "Somebody use it! Kill it, whatever it is!" he screamed down at them.
Chris breathed as he shouldered the now dry MP5 and drew out the magnum revolver he had collected and it was at this point that he looked at Barry who was using another speed loader on his weapon, his last one. He noticed Chris and nodded before moving over and snatching the other revolver leaving the marksman completely unarmed with the exception of his knife. The eldest officer then let loose on the abomination with both high caliber weapons, aware of the aching that would be in his wrists for months to come. Redfield dashed across the helipad towards the weapon that had been thrown from the chopper.
Just as he was a few meters away the creature noticed and jumped to get in his way. The monster took a wide stance as Barry ceased fire to avoid hitting his friend, the claw was drawn back and it prepared to lashed out at Chris who was given no time to stop and turn with the rain soaked helipad under his feet. He narrowed his eyes as he suddenly launched himself towards the ground like a baseball player might make that slide to the base, the lubrication of the helipad's smooth concrete allowed him to slide right through the monster's legs as the claws were dug into the pavement. Rebecca's voice was unheard as she screamed the one minute warning.
Chris jumped to his feet and rolled to grab the weapon which he quickly prepared as the monster fought to recover itself. He took aim with what at first appeared to be a large crate until it was realize to be the last resort rocket launcher from the chopper. Chris narrowed his eyes as he switched modes and then fired the weapon launching all the rockets at once. Each of them impacted against the monster more furiously than the last until he was left as simple chunks of smoldering flesh.
"Move it!" Brad screamed from the chopper, opting Chris to drop the launcher and dash for the chopper that was just shy of landing. Jill and Barry rushed to grab Richard and moved him into the chopper, followed by Chris and Rebecca who screamed for Brad to triple time his escape. The chopper lifted off and got away just as the mansion and the grounds were enveloped in a catastrophic blast. Brad growled as he attempted to keep the chopper steady and the passenger fought to get the doors closed, through willpower and greased ability, Brad Vickers managed to pull the chopper away from the blast and the mansion was left as a fading memory.
Once the danger had passed, Brad looked back at the small number of passengers he possessed and found himself questioning what had happened. Barry had fallen back in his seats and had placed a surprising amount of non-issued weaponry on the floor. Rebecca was tending to Richard who looked like he had been run over a few times by a truck. Jill had taken her seat after putting down her own weaponry long with Chris and after just a few moments of peace had abruptly passed out. Her head fell against Redfield's shoulder, but he seemed unable to do anything but look out the window.
This hour of darkness had ended, but there were far more remaining before the world would awaken from the nightmare they had yet to realize.
Next Chapter: The Morning After
The night before had been filled with danger that threatened their very lives, but the morning after holds a different manner of enemy and conspiracy that must be revealed. We explore the individual endings for each of the survivors as they prepare to begin a new mission to destroy the Umbrella Corporation regardless of the cost.