Chapter Fourteen: The Survivor

Rebecca leaned over the railing, staring in the dark chasm. All she could do was call Billy's name. Her voice bounced off the tunnel's walls, making his name ring over and over again. He was probably—No! Rebecca clamped her eyes shut, refusing to finish the thought. Billy was alive.

She pushed herself up. Silence pushed in around her. It seemed complete and absolute. Rebecca was all alone. Part of her wanted to crumble to the ground. Part of her wanted to break into tears. All of this was insane. It was all a bad dream. At least, Billy had been there before to ground her in reality. She swayed in place, too weak to walk forward yet too afraid to crumple.

Don't you dare give up, she told herself, even though every inch of her wanted to. Don't you dare take the easy way out, Rebecca Chambers. For a moment, Rebecca couldn't help but grin. So, she had turned into her father after all. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, her heart still fluttered, but her head felt clearer. The cable car's doors remained wide open, and she walked onto the car.

The cable car swung lightly on its track as it inched toward the other side. Rebecca sat in one of the seats, staring out the window. Billy had stood there, shotgun aimed right at her chest. He could have pulled the trigger. Ended her life right there and ran. Why didn't he? After killing all those people…

Rebecca grunted, running her fingers through her brown hair. She knew she should feel angry at him betraying her—but she couldn't. Rebecca remembered his comment earlier- I can just see a doctor looking at my neck right before my execution.

The car shuttered to a halt, shaking her out of her thoughts. It swung lightly for a few moments before the doors slid open. Whether or not Billy was a murder, or whether he just threatened her out of desperation or malice—none of that mattered. What mattered was moving forward. Be strong like Billy. Like Dad. Rebecca stood and walked out onto the station.

Rebecca felt tense—more tense than usual—as she ascended the stairwell. Now, every footstep clanked too loudly, and even a drop of water sounded like a cascade. More than once she stopped at the sound of moaning. Her hand grabbed the Beretta in her hip holster before she realized that it was just the wind howling through the passage. A metal door stood at the top of the landing. Rebecca grabbed the handle, flecks of rust clung to her glove. She stood there for a moment, straining to hear anything on the other side, before prying the door open. It made a shrieking noise that made the hairs on Rebecca's arms stand.

Once through, she shivered. Rebecca smelled the crisp night air and thought she was outside. She was partly right. She stood in what looked like a large warehouse. Metal barrels were stacked against the stained walls. Moths bounced off the lights, casting the place with a yellow-ish tent. The warehouse opened onto a massive, metal platform under the night sky. Walls encircled the platform, and floodlight illuminated it in a blinding light. There was one other door diagonal from her.

Rebecca took a few steps toward the platform, shielding her eyes. It looked like some kind of cargo lift. She stepped onto it and discovered grooves in the metal—some kind of track. Now that she stood there, she could see an open shed at the opposite end. No doubt the loading dock.

A door creaked open behind. Rebecca spun around, hand on her holster. Part of her expected to see a zombie, while the other part expected to see Billy. Her mouth hung open when she saw it was—

"Enrico!?"

Her captain stood by the open threshold of the second door. His jacket was torn at the shoulder, and his mustache and black hair looked disheveled. Other than that, he appeared fine. Both of his hands rested on the grip of his weapon. When he saw Rebecca, that grip relaxed.

"Rebecca," he said, his usual strong voice made soft with exhaustion. Rebecca took a few steps toward him, resisting the urge to run over. Relief rushed over her. After all this time—not wanting to face the fact that her whole team might be dead—she finally found someone. The fatigue that weighed her down seemed to suddenly evaporate. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said. "Are you okay, Captain? What about the others? Are they with you?" Rebecca glanced over his shoulder, as though the others stood behind him.

"I'm alive," Enrico said, not unkindly. "As for the others, they should have arrived before me. Haven't you seen them?"

Rebecca frowned and shook her head. Lines creased Enrico's brow.

"That's unfortunate," he muttered. "They might already be at the mansion…"

"They aren't there," Rebecca said, gesturing at the door from which she came. "I searched the whole mansion. They're not there."

"Well, there's two mansions in the area," Enrico said. "The other is about ten miles southeast of here. There's supposed to be an underground facility that connects them."

He walked toward the cargo lift. Rebecca went to follow but took no more than a couple of steps before she stopped.

"Billy," she muttered. Enrico must have heard her because he turned back and fixed Rebecca with a hard stare.

"Billy Coen?" he said. "What about him? Did you find that criminal?"

Rebecca shifted as she stared into her captain's dark eyes. She couldn't tell him everything. He wouldn't understand—say that she was inexperienced, and Billy tricked her.

"Yes," Rebecca said. "But, we got separated."

Enrico nodded.

"Just as well," he said. "No point in worrying about him. Come on, let's go."

Rebecca followed him onto the platform. The clouds had nearly dissipated since she last stood outside. The moon hung low in the west. Only a couple more hours until daybreak.

Enrico approached a control panel at the foot of the lift. After examining the buttons for several seconds, he twisted the key already in the console and pressed a large red button. An ear-piercing siren cut through the night. Rebecca's knees buckled as the lift shook. Finally, with a groan, the lift descended. Walls lifted around them and Rebecca looked upward, watching the night become smaller and smaller until it became a speck far above.

Enrico and Rebecca sat at opposite sides of the platform. It had already been five minutes since their descent began. Orange lights set in the walls passed them, illuminating the platform and blinding Rebecca. She kept her head down, studying the grooves in the metal. One thought kept running through her head while she listened to the hum of the lift's motors—

The night was almost over.

Soon, she and Enrico would be with the rest of the team—or at least, what's left of it. Soon, she could go home…

Something slid across the platform, the thunderous clanking made Rebecca jump out of her thoughts. Two magazines lay inches from her right thigh.

"Found these up there," Enrico said. "Thought they might be useful."

Rebecca tucked the magazines in her side-pocket and nodded appreciatively. It wasn't until then-while double-checking her own weapon-that she found there were only a few bullets left in the chamber. "You know, when this all started, I didn't expect you to last very long," Enrico said, as though stating a fact. Rebecca glared at him, not knowing how to reply. She wanted to retort. Tell him that he was wrong. But could she really blame him? Had Rebecca knew what she was getting into that night, would she have thought she would make it this far. "Guess we never know what we are made of until we have to find out," Enrico said with a shrug. "In any case, I'm glad I was wrong."

He shifted his eyes upward, watching the walls with their lights and lining pipes. Rebecca leaned back. She smiled, though she couldn't quite explain why.

Eventually, the shaft opened up as the lift slowed and came to a halt. Cold, gray concrete made up the floor, walls, and ceiling. A bitter chill clung to the air, and a damp, musty scent clung to Rebecca's nostrils. A passage opened behind them with an elevator. Though Rebecca couldn't see much else—an avalanche of steel beams and earth obscured the rest of the corridor. Another set of elevator doors stood at the opposite end of the cavernous room, though they were unresponsive when Enrico and Rebecca tried opening them. Two other doors stood in the gray docking room, but one led to a scattered office, while the other refused to open.

As they searched the area, Rebecca's eyes kept returning to one thing—'UMBRELLA' was written in large, red letters on the wall above the lift, It was almost as if the letters hovered over them; watching them.

"Chambers," Enrico called from the elevator beside the rubble. Rebecca jogged over. The elevator must have been one meant for maintenance, for the doors looked far more simplistic than the other set. No floor indicator; just a call button. Crimson light flooded the bit of passage from a red, florescent bulb above. Another set of controls were beside the call buttons, but at a quick glance, Rebecca realized they must have no relation to the elevator. "This one seems to be working."

Enrico pressed the call button. The air shook with a loud grinding sound coming from behind the elevator doors. It seemed to echo in the space, shaking the air. Rocks tumbled down behind them from the pile of debris. Enrico glanced over, while Rebecca watched the elevator.

Jesus, it was taking forever. She hoped that it actually still worked and wouldn't stop halfway up—

"Christ," he said, grabbing his handgun and aiming it at the rubble.

"What is it, Cap—"

Words caught in her throat. Something stood on the pile of debris, watching them. At first, Rebecca thought it was a zombie—but this was something different. It towered over the two, its shadow seeming to stretch forever from its eight-foot tall form. An engorged, exposed heart pulsed violently from its insipid chest. The creature wore no clothes and was completely sexless and hairless. Its left hand flexed, as though longing to reach out and grab them. It had no right hand but a mass of blackened flesh from which several pointed bones protruded out, with a spike as long as Rebecca was tall coming from the center. The creature's head twitched, its lipless mouth opening and closing.

Rebecca wanted to scream but clapped a hand to her mouth. Maybe if they didn't move, it wouldn't bother them. Indeed, as they stood there silently, it merely watched them—its eyes solid white. The elevator beside them hummed, vibrating the air around them lightly. If they could just keep like this until it arrived—

Enrico pulled out his weapon and fired. Blood squirted out of two holes in its shuddering heart. The creature lurched back, stretching its massive arms back as it roared. Not from pain, but anger. Rebecca felt stiff. She told herself that she needed to move—urged herself too—but felt rooted. The monster leaped down, landing in a crouch. Enrico fired shot after shot at it, but it rose without so much as a stagger. In an instant, the creature rushed toward him, spike arm swung back to strike.

Enrico leaped out of the way just in time. Sparks flew as the monster's claw smashed into a control panel. A rusted, blast door came down from the ceiling, cutting off Rebecca from the rest of the chamber and her captain.

"Rebecca!" Enrico called, struggling to get up. Though all Rebecca could look at was the creature—the creature which was turning toward her with its pupil-less eyes. Enrico rushed forward, but the door had already fallen with a heavy thump on the concrete floor. It was now just Rebecca and the monster. The elevator still hummed behind her. Open, she thought. Oh God open.

The creature crouched and leaped up. Her eyes followed it as though in slow motion. It was as though it were suspended in mid-air with its claw arching over its head. Without even thinking about the action, Rebecca dove forward. The monster landed inches from where she had been standing. Its long, spiked arm hit the floor with a deafening crack.

Rebecca scrambled up, trying not to look at the creatures back. The skin on the spine was split open, revealing vertebrae and muscle. She raised her Beretta and fired a shot. The bullet hit its left shoulder. It rounded onto her, body twitching as though there weren't three pieces of lead in it.

Another noise rang throughout the chamber—something coming to a grinding stop. Behind the beast, the elevators doors slid back. Rebecca grinned, but it quickly disappeared. There was still an eight-foot tall abomination blocking her way. She bent her knees, heart pounding as she waited for the creature's next move.

It roared and charged toward her with claw raised. Rebecca ran toward it. Just as she was inches reach of it, she fell and rolled past. The creature swung its claw, missing her by centimeters. The monster looked around, as though confused. Rebecca took the moment and leaped into the elevator. She pressed the first button her finger touched rapidly.

The doors remained open, and the creature turned toward her.

"Come on, close," she muttered to herself, pressing the button even faster. The monster raised its claw and bent over again, preparing for another dash. Rebecca's jaw clenched hard enough to make her temples hurt. The creature staggered and then pressed forward, gathering momentum. Now, it was only feet away. "Close, Goddamn it."

It brought down its claw. Rebecca pressed herself against the back of the elevator, closing her eyes and preparing to feel the sheering pain of her torso being ripped apart. The screech of sharpened bone hitting metal filled the car, but it didn't come from the inside. Rebecca opened an eye just in time to watch elevator doors close. The elevator car shook, making her knees buckle. Rebecca crumbled to the floor as she descended further into the complex.