-CHAPTER 6-
The hall was slightly damp and frigid, making Queen shiver despite the trickles of sweat down her back. And despite that, she had been thinking a lot about the boss and his ties to all this. She knew he had a vague connection to the company, Umbrella. Although it was uncalled for in a mission, she began to ponder that there was more to his knowledge than met the eye.
Both her and Ace continued quietly down the dim hall, the path going up, then right, then up again. In the first segment of the hall, there were two doors. One was a storage for maintenance items, nothing useful there. The other was locked, an etching of some sort of plant near its handle. Whatever, she thought. This whole place was ridiculous, having dozens of locked doors and gaudy locks on them, making them appear more for show than convenience. In contrast, though, the doors were sturdy and knob-less, which made up for the lousy two-fold security.
Before they took the next few steps into the second segment of the hall, Ace pulled Queen back, the two of them completely silent against the wall.
"Shh, listen," he whispered. Sounding from only a few feet away, they heard the high-pitched squealing of a tiny machine. It occasionally paused, continuing along as the sound came nearer and nearer.
"Must be one of those cameras the boss mentioned," he added. "The ones that move."
"I'd sure like to get a hold of one of those," Queen whispered, her knack for electronics kicking in.
Soon enough, the sound began to fade. Ace took a quick glance around the corner to make sure there were no other dangers. He gave her a brisk nod, going in before she could respond, his gun kept low. Queen followed behind, just as quietly. Their attention swerved immediately above, where the camera-bot was at. It hung silently on the wall using odd wheels or treads that kept it from falling. However, it no longer moved. It emitted a strange light that illuminated the ground near it. Queen noticed right away what the thing was focusing on; there was a dead body, laying right before the end of the hall where a door was at.
"Ugh, it reeks!" Ace said, his voice muffled as he covered his nose and mouth.
"Of course it does, the guy's dead!" Queen silently scolded. She went closer, careful of the camera thing. It still just remained there, examining the body just as she was. As she knelt down next to the corpse of a badly injured man in a lab coat, she heard an automatic door rise. She turned partially and saw Ace's amazed face.
"Hey, the first unlocked door that actually leads somewhere!" he said almost excitedly. "Come on, looks like no one's inside. Let's check it out."
Queen looked back over her shoulder and saw the number plate beside the lab door. It read "176", a smear of blood right below it like an omen.
"Ace, don't go alone," she said, her tone serious.
"Don't be acting like I'm some child. You know me, I can handle any situation." Queen mumbled something under her breath and put a hand up in submission.
"Fine, I'll be here examining the body. Anything strange, you come right back. And don't get caught!"
"Okay, geez, so annoying."
The door behind him closed, with a mechanical ring. Queen continued on, noticing the deep lacerations in the man's pale skin. His eyes were completely rolled back, his mouth wide open; he must have died an agonizing death. His clothes seemed torn in certain areas, and where they were ripped, there was also dried blood. Apparently, he gave his assailant(s) a big struggle, his nails all pushed up, some chipped off. It also seemed as if he'd been bitten by his assailants in some parts . . .
Queen made one final analysis of the body, checking the pockets. She came up with a somehow broken handgun, the muzzle slanted, and just one extra clip all in one pocket. In another, one on his lab jacket pockets, he had some strange key. There was an etching of what looked like a fish on the key, the color on it blue. It reminded her of the door with the plant etching, the tone of color a forest green. A trend was starting to develop, one that would have to belong to none other than Umbrella. She remembered when the company fell. The public was told of how the STARS had to overcome deadly and bizarre obstacles and puzzles to unravel Umbrella's secrets. There couldn't be a better match.
PANG! PANG! PANG!
Queen stood up quickly at the sudden bursts of gunshots just a room over. For some odd reason, the realization that Ace was in the other room seemed to just hit her. She felt an intense surge of impending danger after thinking about Umbrella, fearing that maybe he ran into some trap, when-
"Unauthorized personnel!" The camera-bot responded to her sudden movement, the light blinding her as she put an arm up to shield her eyes.
"Damn!"
The room began to light up red, the bright luminosities striking a form of panic inside her. She went for the door Ace entered, only to find it locked.
"What the hell!"
She turned around and blasted a well-aimed shot into the tiny machine, sending it flying to the ground with an audible clank. The lights began to disappear, along with the computerized voice, sending Queen into a state of shock. She put her gun down slowly, going for the door Ace stepped in, but something moved in the corner of her eye. She looked to her right and saw the body she checked just a minute ago rise up like a person getting up from their nap. The thing let out a rancid sigh, the gust of rotten breath washing over her seconds later. Queen backed away slowly as the living dead body reached for her, advancing steadily. It eyes were still rolled back, but the creature somehow managed to know where she stood.
"What the fuck are you!" she shouted, mainly to herself. She aimed carefully, blasting off one of its kneecaps. It faltered, the impact of her nine-millimeter shoving it back a bit. However, it still resumed its pursuit, the joints of the kneecap rubbing and snapping against each other without the bone to connect its tissue. Although all the blood on its sickly body had dried, there was still a gurgling noise it released, like some kind of bile literally in its throat. The liquid began to dribble down its mouth, the smell intensifying.
All of that happening within a couple seconds, Queen opened fire again, this time blasting it in the center of its chest. It reeled back, letting out a moan not so much in pain, but in frustration. The body remained resilient, recovering from the blast entirely. She saw the hole right through the decaying flesh, the hole that no ordinary living thing could simply ignore. But it did so. It was only a few feet away when she readjusted her aim and before she could pull the trigger-
PANG!
The creature hit the ground hard, a ragged hole in the back of its head. As it fell, Ace came into view, his face sweaty and in as much shock as she was in.
"Ace!" she shouted, stepping carefully over the body. "Is it really dead now?"
"Man, don't you watch zombie flicks, Queen?" he asked, a forced smile forming on his pale face. "Of course it is."
"What happened in there? Was there another?" Her face was filled with a fear she never quite expected. And as he nodded slowly, that face remained, her eyes fixed at the twitching body of the thing that was a man once. She held up the key she found with a shaky hand, remembering what they had spoken about before; T-virus. This was a result of the virus, and she was sure King knew something about it. It wasn't any coincidence. At that very moment, Queen also began to worry for the others.
"Ace, we have to contact the others and let them know!" Ace wore a look he normally didn't wear.
"I tried it already, when I took down that other one. There didn't seem to be any connection whatsoever."
"T-that's impossible!" Queen was starting to lose her nerve, the idea of finding the mangled body of one of her friends unbearable. She no longer cared about the mission, not as long as she knew her comrades' lives were in great peril. And if they became infected . . .
They'd be zombies, too.
She turned to Ace, who's face hadn't changed much.
"We have to catch up to them ASAP." Ace nodded in agreement. They turned back toward the beginning of the hall, only to see some strange device latched onto the door. It blinked red voraciously. Ace approached it first, opening a small panel below the light. An input pad was exposed, the contraption asking for a "Level 4 ID" code. He slammed it shut, giving Queen a look of fueled frustration. At that very moment, they were strangled in the reins of the psychotic corporation.
R E B E C C A
Midnight sprung, the encroaching darkness spreading around the island like a blanket. The sky was nearly pitch black from the lack of effulgence in the area. The heavy rain had ceased, but the weather promised more as the thunder and lightning continued on. Everyone was in their rooms, awaiting the next day's ordeal. After the briefing, they would be expected to do major research and work together to figure out some safety protocol with the use of various biological weapons the government stored. However, Rebecca had other plans for the moment.
She opened her door as slow as she could, the creak reduced to a whisper. She looked across the hall; nothing. Luckily there wasn't much security around the vicinity of the residence. Rebecca shut the door with the utmost care and stalked quietly down the hall, heading straight outside to the back where they first decided to go through with the plan. In a matter of minutes, she'd be trespassing on federal grounds. But she knew something was going on, and if what Dolph said was true, they were doing exactly what Umbrella did. She opened the screen door and saw them standing on the deck, their faces shifting to her.
"Well, it's about time," Nash said with a smile. "And you were the one urging us to get here on the dot."
"I was only a few minutes late," she said. "Besides, I was just checking on something." Nash gave her a look of interest.
"So, how will we manage to get passed the gate?"
"The gate? Oh, we'll just have to find another way to the bridge."
"You mean you haven't gotten to that problem yet," he stated rather than questioned.
"Don't worry," said Dolph with a smile, "I have something that goes perfect for just the occasion." He dug around through his pockets and came up with a small bag filled with what looked like pills.
"What are those?" Rebecca asked, examining them as he explained.
"Sleeping pills. Ones that I created myself. They're extra strong, since I have a very hard time sleeping."
"And how do you plan on using them, may I ask?" Nash further questioned him.
"Ah, already got to that," he said, his face appearing modest. "I gave bottled water with the powder of the pills to room service and told them to distribute them to the guards out at the gate for their 'extreme hardship in the sun'. The pills are practically tasteless in drinks."
"But how do you know they actually drank from them?" asked Rebecca with a nervous look on her face.
"You don't actually think I would go through that trouble to assume they drank it, do you?" he replied mirthfully. "I asked Elaine if she could fetch me room service just as they delivered the goods. When she came back, I managed to indirectly ask her what they were doing. Just as expected, the humidity got to those guys."
"Wow, very impressive," Rebecca said with a nod. "You'll have to tell me the main active ingredients of the pill. I could use those."
"Can we get on with this already?" Nash asked, starting to show a tinge of irritation. They went around the back, which led into a small forested area. There was a barely visible pathway through the woods covered in weeds and other vine-like plants. She paused there, looking at the others.
"Okay, I noticed this path through outside my window. I asked the ladies from rooms service if it was open to the visitors, and she said she had no idea where it led, that it had been there before the government marked the island there's."
"Your point?" Nash asked her, looking quite puzzled that she'd stop and mention it.
"This means we shouldn't get caught through here. And if my calculations are correct, it'll border around the giant chasm where the bridge is. As long as those guards remain asleep, we can climb down and avoid direct contact with them."
"Hmm, that'll make coming back much easier," Dolph added as he surveyed his environment.
They made their way through the path of grass and vegetation, their steps muffled by the lush plants. The woods became foggier as they made their way near the coast, clouding their vision to a couple of feet. Nonetheless, the route was still obvious enough to stay on. When the fog began to subside, Rebecca was able to see the huge chasm. From how high up they stood, she could see it led deep into the ocean.
A strong gust of wind blew at her face, the whistling salty air almost ominous. She looked down and was relieved to see her memory was intact; right below them were vines. They could use them to climb toward the ladder that led down to the bridge. There was a crack of thunder as she gazed at the door across the bridge and behind the ladder opposite to them.
"Okay, we'll climb down one at a time," she said in a low tone.
"Hey, wait," Nash interrupted, "I don't see the guards." He was peeking through the trees and bushes, looking at the gate the guards stood at.
"Could they have moved somewhere?" Rebecca asked, trying to make sense out of it. "Well, better for us. Now they're sleeping somewhere else."
She began her descent first, assessing her weight on the vines. They held on strongly, clung to the rocky wall without wavering. She gave them a thumb's up, climbing down slowly, edging to her left in an attempt to reach the ladder. Meanwhile, Dolph went next, Nash keeping his eye out for any other guards. Surprisingly, there were barely any at all. He would think there was something suspicious going on, but he had nothing else to go by.
By the time they all reached the bridge, they were all following Rebecca. Behind the ladder was the door, locked with a code. The key panel oddly enough asked some riddle. They each looked at each other in mild bewilderment and read it.
What living specimen is both innocent and devious, both cute and disgusting, and feral yet fiercely loyal?
"That has to be a human, right?" Rebecca mentioned, causing for the others to think on it. "They can be either one at any given time."
"I think I heard something like this before," Dolph said, still dwelling on it. There was another crackle of thunder, making them tense up more.
"Let's try this," Nash said, inputting the word dog. Then, he erased it and put canine. He hit the "enter" key and the light blinked followed by an audible click, signifying the lock's release.
"Wow, how did you know it wasn't just 'dog'?"
"It was a trick riddle. It was easy enough to guess. They wanted to test the person entering the code, but what really made me wonder was how they worded it. They said 'specimen', not animal."
"I don't know whether you're smart or weird," Rebecca said with a broad smile.
Dolph entered first, the other two following closely behind. It was rather dark inside, the hall extremely narrow. The ground was made from the very dirt of the island, Rebecca assuming it wasn't any part of the facilities around there. The path continued forward, eventually hitting a ladder.
"Still sure you want to do this?" Nash mentioned to Rebecca, who in turn nodded firmly, her face appearing sedulous and filled with the look of duty.
"I have to know if they're using the virus. That would make things . . . more difficult, but it just isn't right."
"What will you do if the truth turns out just as you feared? What will you do then?"
Nash's question caused Rebecca to lower her head and think. What could she do if the U.S. government was using the T-virus for the same purposes as Umbrella? It finally dawned on her that if they were conducting experiments, their use as scientists may be to promote their work. But, they would be able to figure it out, wouldn't they? There wasn't any way they could've been brain-washed . . . or was there?
"I don't know," she said with hesitation in her voice. Dolph decided to listen in the conversation. "Well, if push comes to shove, we could always locate a computer terminal within the lab and contact someone."
"Will that even be of any help to us?" Nash asked. "I mean, just one ordinary person knowing this can't make it public or anything."
"No, but I have a 'friend' who works for the government. Just recently, he even found the President's missing daughter. I know he would never get corrupted by the government like that, especially after surviving the Raccoon City incident."
"You know Leon Kennedy?" Nash asked in amazement. "You're something else."
"Yeah, well, if anyone, he could help us."
"Perfect," said Dolph, "now all we need is the evidence."
"Okay," Rebecca said, taking a deep breath, "let's get going."
They each went down the ladder, Dolph going down last. Rebecca continued through the foggy course, wondering why agents of the U.S. would use such a strange hall. It also added to her suspicion. The next hall had a steel-reinforced door on the right wall, an ordinary knob on the cold, gray metal. The path did continue onward, but she was curious as to what a room down there would hold. It had a code etched on the front of it, reading "Area six". The etching reverberated in Rebecca's mind, reminding her of the note. She tried her best to remember the cryptic messages that seemingly meant something.
Below the funny man, beware 176 . . . ah, area 8!
She smiled suddenly, the others taking note.
"What is it?" asked Nash.
"The note, remember I told you?"
"What note are you talking about?" asked Dolph with a baffled look.
"Oh, it was a strange note with many hints. It had to do with this island, but I just recently figured that out. Of course, I had to go and lose it."
"Well, did you remember something?"
"Yeah, this door says Area 6, right? The note said something about Area 8."
"You're saying we should find something in this 'Area 8'?" Dolph asked with an unsure expression.
Before she could say anything else, there were footsteps heading their way from the undiscovered end of the hall. They all just looked at each other and went for the door, luckily unlocked. It squealed open, the sound echoing loudly in the underground hall. Nash, the last to enter, shut it quickly, turning around to see another narrow hall with bricked walls. Torches lit the way, the flickering sounds running chills up Rebecca's spine. It was cold and dank, reminding her vaguely of the area beneath the training facility in the Arklay Mountains.
They walked onward, taking quicker steps in order to evade whoever was on the outside of the room. But then, Rebecca noticed the place was littered with cells on both sides of the each wall. This room was a prison, but something seemed off. There was a horrible stench that made Rebecca freeze in her tracks. The others did the same when they saw her.
"We need to keep going, Rebecca," Nash whispered. "What's the hold up?" Rebecca looked back at him with an odd look, pulling out her handgun. The first several cells were empty, some of them smeared with dried blood. In some of them, there were indecipherable bloody chunks, making her face cringe. The smell worsened, and when she neared the end, she let out a gasp that made the others rush to her side.
In the second-to-last cell, there were bodies piled up, rotting and melting together, the bones clearly visible. The flesh was just a heaping pile of liquid-like material oozing into the other ones. Rebecca covered her mouth, unable to comprehend why anyone on this island would do such a thing.
"Holy shit," Nash let out, his jaw opening wide. Dolph merely shook his head, half expecting something like that.
Then, the door they just came from opened and shut loudly, the footsteps making their way closer. The others wore shocked looks, their movements frozen. Panicking would only complicate matters further. Nash ran to the end of the hall, jerking at the doorknob of a door that wouldn't budge.
"Shit, this door's not opening!" he spat.
Rebecca had her gun out, wondering if she'd actually have to use it on a living person. She was about to take aim until she noticed something move within the nearby cells. Standing up and approaching the bars of its jail cell, a corpse stuck out putrid, decaying hands, lashing out with a hungry incentive. It nearly swiped at Rebecca's face, who in turn fell back and almost into the arms of another zombie. She let out a sharp cry, backing away into the end of the hall. Nash pulled her back, saying something in a low tone to her.
"Rebecca, give me the gun." Obviously, he didn't trust she would fire at their pursuer. Rebecca was on the verge of panic. The zombies' moans and the footsteps and Nash . . .
Rebecca readied her aim, waiting for the stalker's appearance. She kept her view ahead, positive that she would fire upon the person who helped hide this horrible secret.
"Nash, I was a STARS member once. I won't back down against any bastard who helped do this."
The body came into view, oblivious to the hungry hands that swung tirelessly at it. It was one of the soldiers from before, only he seemed odd. Rebecca took aim, her palms extremely sweaty. As she did so, she looked at his eyes, noticing a red hue to them. He wasn't normal. Rebecca opened fire, the shot grazing his ear; he still didn't falter. He held in his hands, she noticed, an enormous club, spiked all around. With that realization came a urgency to blast down the crazed man. She took one last well-timed shot and the head exploded, literally.
"What the hell?"
What was left of the head folded backward, its throat opening up with a gush of blood. From the incision in its trachea sprung out long tentacles, the vine-like appendages wavering about violently. Rebecca, although in shock, continued to fire, the shots flying about and smacking into the horrific tentacles. One by one, they came off, the stub below, the "head" popping and releasing an unnatural scream of death. The permanently headless body slumped to the ground, finally lifeless.
Rebecca's arms became weak, falling to her sides. She was out of breath, the visage of the tentacle-thing just as disturbing as the zombies in the cells.
"Are you alright?" Nash asked her, putting his arm around her.
"I can't believe this," Dolph said shaking his head.
"We need to head back," Nash said with a stern look on his face.
"Then, you go. I need to find proof of what I just saw."
"You're crazy!" Nash added. "We're going back. Your life isn't worth 'proof'." Rebecca lowered her head in defeat, knowing he was right.
"I'm sorry. You're right. Let's head back before they figure out we're here."
"Yeah, he sure won't tell everyone we're here," Nash said, pointing to the corpse of the guard. He forced himself to smile in order to cheer her up a bit. However, it wouldn't change the fact that the U.S. government had gone corrupt.