Chapter Five: The Clean-Up Crew's Descent

The helicopter sailed through the night as smoothly as a knife through butter. Rain double-checked her assault rifle. A jam or a single malfunction when they landed would be enough to get her killed. At least, that's what she understood from the briefing. The rest of the Beta team seemed to have the same thing in mind as they either checked various equipment. She caught J.D.'s eye from across the cabin, glancing at the rest of the team and rolling his eyes. Rain allowed herself a smirk. She knew clearly what he meant. It was the same thing the rest of them thought, even though they focused on the mission ahead.

That this was all bullshit.

Even now she longed to be sitting beside J.D. at the local pub, sipping a beer. Maybe she and J.D. could have gone back to her place and let the party continue. Yet, she got the call this morning directly from the top—head to the Spencer Estate, eliminate any B.O.W.s—bio-organic weapons-that might have found their way out, and collect any data if there were any to collect. The clean-up crew. The most she could hope for was that they would be able to wrap this up quickly.

"Status report?" One, Beta's leader called over his shoulder to the pilot. He was an imposing man of six-four, towering over the rest of his team.

"We'll be landing in a few minutes," Kaplan replied from the front. One turned back to the rest of his team, fixing them all with a stare. His eyes were a dark brown, making them look black in the darkness. Rain suppressed a shudder.

"Right," he said. "Higher-ups want a thorough job of this. Stay sharp. If there are any B.O.W.s, eliminate them quickly. Without hesitation."

Everyone knew what he meant. They were briefed on how deadly the T-Virus was. Colonel Sergei Vladimir personally showed them the effects. She remembered sitting in the briefing room, little more than a bunker outside of Raccoon. The man had already been there when they walked in, chained to a chair with a burlap sack over his head. The man had been stripped down to his underwear. A company spy, or so they had been told.

Vladimir introduced them to the mission, showing extensive sideshows about the freaks that Umbrella had been creating. Rain watched everything, her face passive. It paid to be emotionless, at least on the surface, in this profession. Especially if you were a woman. Then, the colonel stalked over to the man, pulled off the burlap sack, and revealed the man's face with his mouth taped. He couldn't have been much older than thirty, half of his face black and blue. His eyes darted frantically over the room, perhaps hoping to find someone to help him out of his predicament.

"So you don't have the urge to save an infected comrade," Vladimir said, picking up a syringe off the metal try beside the bound man. "It is best that you see the effects of the Tyrant Virus for yourself." He plunged the needle into the prisoner's neck. The man screamed, the sound muffled against his taped mouth. He trashed about, his emaciated muscles straining against his bondages. Yet, Vladimir pulled the plunger as though he were talking out the trash. "Note that I am using an improved strain of the virus, so it will work more quickly than a diluted bite from the less refined strain that was being studied at the Arklay Facilities."

Beta team sat quietly and waited. The man continued to struggle, but over the next five minutes, his actions slowed and became more sluggish. It was about this time that Vladimir ripped the tape off the man's mouth. It was then that Rain first detected something off. Where she first expected there to be splotches of red from the irritation of the tape, his mouth was pale. His eyes stared down vacantly, the blue in his eyes draining from them.

Rain had seen a lot of shit in her twenty-six years. She had helped governments covertly assassinate undesirables, helped undermine rebellion efforts in foreign soils, and even did the odd 'hit-man' job in the states if work was slow. But sitting there, watching the life fade out of that man and replaced with…what? Not fear. She was accustomed to fear. She'd seen it hundreds of times in a man's eyes, usually right before a bullet when between them. This was different.

It was nothing. Absolute nothingness.

And then the creature that had once been a man began struggling against their bonds once again. He arched his neck toward beta team, jaws snapping. Drool dripping. Yet, there was still that blankness within his eyes.

"There is only one cure for an infected comrade," Vladimir said over the grunts of the zombie (Rain wanted to cringe at the description, yet she couldn't find any better one). The colonel drew a Mauser c96 handgun from within his coat and shot it at the creature's head point-blank. The zombie's head arched back, gray matter blasting out the back of its head. It slumped over in its seat, dead.

The helicopter jolted slightly, knocking Rain out of her thoughts. She glanced out the windows. The forest below was steadily rising, swaying violently in the moonlight. Amit the trees, stood the back half of the Spencer estate. Despite the west wing being nearly destroyed, the old house looked in relatively good condition. Rain didn't get a good look at it though as trees sprang up around the helicopter, obstructing her view.

As soon as the helicopter landed, the team sprang out of the helicopter with their weapons already poised. They formed a perimeter around the helicopter and secured the perimeter. Since the heliport to the mansion had been destroyed along with one of the labs, Beta had to find a clearing several yards away from the mansion.

Rain swept the forest with the flashlight attached to the end of her assault rifle. Shadows churned at the edges of her light, giving the night a liveliness that she wasn't too happy with. Her finger remained firmly on the trigger, daring anything to come into her path. After a few minutes of combing the surrounding area, the team found nothing.

Maybe I'll have that beer tonight, after all, Rain thought, smirking.

The team regrouped, forming a tightly knit circle. If any onlookers spotted them in their black uniforms, Beta team would have disappeared into the night.

"We'll spit up into two groups," One told them. "Olga, J.D. You are to secure the perimeter and eliminate any leftover B.O.W.s. Rain, Kaplan. You're with me to infiltrate the Lab. If there are any issues, call in on the radio. Clear?"

There was no response. There usually never was. So, J.D. followed Olga—a medic from Korea with a disposition sterner than even One's. J.D. caught Rain's eye and winked, grinning devilishly. Rain rolled her eyes but chortled.

Dumbass.

The three made no noise as they made their way forward. Little by little, the mansion became visible through the trees, standing tall and dark like a long-forgotten monolith. Yet, there wasn't their destination. The initial clean-up crew, sent out about a week after the incident, took inventory of the damages. The main entrance to the cave network had caved in during the self-destruction of Laboratory A. Luckily, the 'back door' as it were, seemed to still be intact within the groundskeeper's cabin.

One raised a fist, stopping the other two. Rain took his lead and froze, her rifle pressed tightly against her breast. She watched Kaplan out of the corner of her eyes. He was a scrawny man, probably a little older than herself. Though, she could tell by his slacked jaw and heavy breathing that the pilot was scared shitless. Granted, he was supposed to be a fantastic pilot, able to fly any type of air vehicle with enough skill to 'fly a bowing-747 into a Nun's pussy' (J.D.'s slurred words during one of their liquor-fueled pow-wows, not Rain's).

Poor bastard should have stayed in the helicopter, she thought.

Something shifted up ahead. It was slight, hard to see in the faint light, but it was enough to make Rain's joints stiffen. The three proceeded, their boots falling heavy on the overgrowth. She strained her ears, though she didn't have to strain them very hard to hear whatever it was. There was a distant crunching noise.

One slowly turned his light in the direction of the sound.

Rain had to squint at first but all she could see were trees and a particularly big plant about a yard away. Then, she noticed its limbs thrashing about as though someone was behind it comically thrashing them about. The plant's top half-lowered, splitting apart like a rose blossoming. Within were rows of ivory barbs within a fleshy-red maw. Liquid issued from within the creature's open bulb, causing the foliage that met it to sizzle and burn.

"Open fire," One said. The night erupted in gunfire as the three unleashed a hail of bullets upon the creature. The ivy creature thrashed about as its body was ripped apart, issuing its acid in every direction in a last-ditch effort to save itself. After two seconds, the three released the trigger. The ivy gyrating, a sharp shriek coming from deep within its body. It slumped over onto the ground, its tentacle-appendages resting limply to its sides.

They approached the creature, their weapons still aimed. Rain's heart pounded within her chest, but it wasn't fear. Fear was a tacky thing, something that she had forced herself to abandon long ago. No, this was different. The thrill of gunfire, the power of destruction. Killing. Despite whatever society said, usually just the thought of those things made Rain's nipples harden.

The radio on One's belt beeped. He snatched it up as J.D.'s voice came from the other end.

"We heard gunfire," he said. "Is everything alright over there."

"It's fine," One replied in his monotone voice. "Ran into a B.O.W. and neutralized it. Continue as normal." With that, he replaced the radio on his belt. Kaplan sighed in relief.

"Pretty easy to take care of for a Bio-weapon," he replied with a brief smile. Keep telling yourself that, Rain thought. This was her first time experiencing a B.O.W herself, but she still proceeded the way she did on any battlefield—never underestimate the enemy and always look out for yourself. She turned toward him to tell him to shut up when—

Something moved behind him.

"Watch out!" Rain said, raising her weapon. Kaplan turned, his eyes scrunched up in stupid confusion. The figure behind him screamed at swung a hand at him. One and Rain fired off the creature. Their bullets ripped through the creature, but it didn't stop it from grabbing Kaplan's face and continuously ramming the pilot's head into the ground. Through the flashes of her and One's gunfire burst, she discovered that this creature wasn't like the Ivy monster they had just destroyed. Rather, this new B.O.W. was humanoid and hunched. And its scream was eerily…human.

Kaplan's body spasmed in his death throws, only punctuated with the crunch of his skull cracking against the ground. The creature slowly stood once again. A dull click filled the air as One's assault rifle ran out of ammunition. Rain's own followed suit a second later.

The B.O.W. screeched once again, taking a staggering step toward them.

For the first time, Rain felt a cold shiver run through her body. A trickle of fear.

"Retreat!" One said. With that, the two darted into the forest with the creature on their heels.