Chapter 14: Finding the Limits

"What's that?"

Before anyone could stop her, Jessica mosied over to a strange metal indentation built into the stone wall. Behind them was the garden shed which had proven to be a useful supplier of first aid sprays and shotgun shells. Richard was now walking with a much more confident ammo supply.

Richard, who had been in front of Jessica, walked up to her as he kept one eye on the stone walkway. The mansion was in front of them, heralded by a stone pillars holding up a roof over this final leg with one stone cherub hovering in greeting. It would have been welcoming were it not for how dilapidated everything was.

Rebecca brought up the rear as she turned to close the door.

"WAIT!" Jessica shouted, pointing a finger at the medic.

Rebecca froze. Jessica shot a suspicious look at the door. "This migh' be one of those asshole locks. I wan' ya to step back inside, and then we'll try to open it. A'ight?"

A request Rebecca was happy to do. The amount of backtracking the previous night might have been more of an inconvenience than a true obstacle, but it was one more pressure she would be happy to be rid of.

A quick test proved Jessica's fear. "Damn these things."

"Who designs a door like this?" Richard wondered.

"Assholes!" Jessica declared emphatically as she glowered at the lock with furious brown eyes. "Jus' leave the door open."

Rebecca pushed the door open as wide as possible. Then she had to fight the urge to close it. It was strange. She didn't know when, but at some point last night it had become second habit. It made sense. The zombies and monsters they had fought couldn't open doors, giving the humans a tactical option with a simple click of a doorknob. Hopefully, nothing would take advantage of this opening…or close the door on accident.

The deed done, the trio finally arrived at the mansion.

Rebecca felt a momentary impulse to ask Jessica what they could expect. Then promptly ditched the thought. For all of her exuberance in fighting monsters, Jessica had never displayed any of the foresight Daniel had tried hard to hide. Given her blunt nature, Rebecca doubted Jessica would have even tried to hide it and would have rubbed it in the faces of others.

"I let you take the shed first," Jessica said as she sidled up to the door. "My turn."

Richard frowned but relented as he readied his handgun. "I have your back."

A momentary twinge of jealously flickered over Rebecca. It was ridiculous. She was a medic; she wasn't supposed to be the first one in, regardless of the situation. She suppressed it.

It wasn't so much as a door as it was a door-shaped gate. Jessica threw it open before brandishing her handguns. The gate led into a hallway which aimed deeper into the mansion before opening up at the end. Standing between them was a zombie with its back towards them.

That changed at the loud ringing of the metallic gate.

"Another kill for me," Jessica said in good cheer as she popped off a round. It hit the zombie's head in the side. Its head whiplashed under the blow.

But it did not die.

Jessica blinked. "…the hell?"

Worse, the zombie completed its turn before it lunged at the cowgirl.

Richard's shotgun pushed past Jessica and blasted buckshot. The zombie's entire head evaporated in blood, bone, and brains. The headless body slammed into Jessica with enough force to shove her into Richard's body. The forward momentum vanished, and the body slid to the floor.

Jessica looked down at Richard and nodded, nearly smacking the brim of her cowboy hat into his head. "Thanks."

"No problem," he replied. "You can stand on your own?"

"Uh, yeah," Jessica said as she pushed back to her own feet. Rebecca watched the exchange silently and decided she'd need to have a talk with Jessica soon. For her part, Jessica's attention went back to the zombie. "I don't get it. Hey, Becky, did a headshot ever fail to kill a zombie at the trainin' facility?"

That produced a frown. "No, it didn't matter where we hit them."

"Then why didn't it work this time?"

It was a disturbing question. What had been a reliable way to save ammunition was now being threatened. "I don't know. It could be one of several factors. Maybe the environment was different enough to cause a mutation in the T-virus? Maybe there was enough of a time difference to affect how the T-Virus affects organisms? New strain? I can only speculate without more information."

"That ain't really helpful."

Richard's head snapped between the two young women. "What's the T-virus?"

"'Member how ya said ya didn' want the full rundown, 'till later?" Jessica reminded him. "Well, if ya had been more patient, ya would have learned that the T-virus is what's makin' all of these zombies and all of the monsters. Umbrella made it, specifically that Doctor Mark-"

"Dr. Marcus," Rebecca corrected.

"Yeah, he made it." Jessica paused as she looked to Rebecca for help. "With his leeches?"

Rebecca nodded. She addressed Richard. "Dr. Marcus and a man named Spencer discovered a virus which they called 'Progenitor'. By mixing Progenitor with leech DNA, Dr. Marcus was able to create the T, or Tyrant, virus."

A moment of silence passed between the three. "This… is a lot to absorb right now," Richard admitted. He shook his head. "Let's keep focused on finding everyone else first. We'll just have to be more careful around the zombies."

Jessica patted the submachine gun strapped to her back. "Good thing I have an alternative solution."

The three of them walked to the end of the hallway. Three pairs of boots resounded against the wooden flooring: two tactical pairs and one cowboy. The hallway opened up to a wider area stretched between four doors. Jessica shot a grin at Richard. "You better not say we should split up."

"I'm not suicidal," he responded without rancor. "We should stick to the edge of the mansion as best as we can. It'll increase the odds of us running into another Bravo member. Even if it doesn't, we'll be able to tell if someone entered the mansion from a different direction."

Rebecca nodded. "That sounds logical to me."

With a shrug, Jessica said, "Makes no difference to me."

Richard tried the first door, which was next to the hallway leading back to the shed. The door, which held an engraved profile on it, was locked. "Not a good sign," Jessica grumbled.

"Just move onto the next one." Rounding a wooden bench, the trio tried and opened the next door. This simpler door granted entrance. Another mini-hallway awaited them, showcasing a stairwell at the end of it. Unlike the thin light of the previous area, this one was well-illuminated. Paintings, small and large adorned the walls. "Not a lot of vision," Richard whispered as he eyed the hallway corner which unhelpfully hid over half of the stairwell from view. "I'm taking point."

Handgun at the ready, Richard cautiously advanced as the ladies followed him. His caution was warranted. As he reached the end, a single, shambling step warned him what advanced upon him. "Back, I need room."

The zombie rounded the corner as its arms reached to them. Richard took extra seconds to perfect his aim before his finger squeezed the trigger. Hitting the sweet spot, the bullet burst another head. "Are they always going to explode like that?"

"They didn't at the training facility," Rebecca recalled, her face hard in concentration. "One of the documents we recovered mentioned how the T-virus weakens the head area. Maybe these are older infections, and their heads have been weakened more severely?"

"I'm just glad I don' have to clean up after 'em," Jessica said as she walked ahead. She glanced at the walls which bore a new layer of gore. "That's a nasty mess to have to deal with."

The three of them stepped into the center of the stairwell. More paintings covered the walls, but, for some reason beyond Rebecca's understanding, all of the faces had been covered in black. She grimaced. Creepy.

"Down to just one door here."

Said door was nestled in the corner of the first floor. Ignoring the stairway for now, they checked the door. Inside it was a store room. Despite its plain features, it was remarkably clean and well-kept compared to the rest of the mansion they had seen thus far. A soothing lantern welcomed them to its space, while a large, metal chest sat in the back corner.

"Looks like we're either going to have to go up or go back," Jessica observed.

"We go back. Odds are higher the rest of Bravo will be on the ground floor."

Rebecca ignored them both as she walked over to the lantern. It sat on a small table, but neither interested her. Instead, her green eyes focused on a sheet of paper between lantern and chest. Her eyes scanned the information which spawned a frown. "I don't like the sound of this."

Turning to her, Richard asked, "What is it, Rebecca?"

She held up the document. "I think this is implying the zombies, or something worse, can come back, unless we explicitly decapitate their heads or incinerate their bodies."

"Is that what this is for?" Jessica hazarded as she scooped up a canteen from the floor. She looked behind her at a gas can. She gave it a small kick. "Practically full."

"Is it really necessary?" Richard pressed. "We've been handling them well enough as it stands."

Rebecca frowned. "I don't know, but I think we should keep this in mind."

"I'm filling the canteen up," Jessica said.

"We don't have anything to light it with."

"Don' care. Want it, jus' in case." As she began pouring, Jessica shot a confused look at the item sitting on a second end table. "Why is there a typewriter here?"

"It wouldn't be the strangest item here," Rebecca said as she opened the storage chest. "Oh, wow!"

That was enough to pull Richard's attention from watching the door. He looked over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Grenades," Rebecca said as she held up a pale green one. "And ammo. It looks like a small cache."

"Really?" Richard hustled over and looked in. It was as Rebecca said. Nine millimeter clips, shotgun shells, and three varieties of grenades littered the chest, along with a couple of first aid sprays. "What is so much firepower doing here? Those grenades can be used individually or with a grenade launcher."

"Wouldn' be the first time," Jessica called out as she screwed the cap back onto the canteen. "Umbrella apparently likes to make sure their facilities have armouries, so that they're employees can at least have some kind of chance before they die from an outbreak."

"We ran into the remains of a unit of mercenaries at the training facility. I assumed they were the reason we kept finding ammo, but I'm not sure that makes too much sense given some of the locations. Maybe Umbrella always maintains a private security unit at each of their facilities?" Rebecca hypothesized.

"Private security that needs grenades?" Richard questioned.

"Hey, you've seen some of the shit they're workin' on," Jessica countered before she fished out some of the clips. With practiced movements, she reloaded her handguns. "Some of the things they're makin', grenades would be your best option."

The worst part was Rebecca couldn't disagree with that statement. She shivered as she remembered some of the giants she had fought the night before... and wondered if she would run into any more of them this night.

Jessica patted her pockets. "I'm pretty full, already. I can't carry everythin'."

"Maybe we shouldn't," Rebecca said. "Maybe we should leave some of it as an emergency reserve. In case someone else from Bravo Team makes it here after us."

"Agreed," Richard said. "We'll take half of it for now and come back here if we start running low."