Author's Note: Before we begin, I would like to briefly reply to a few of my fellow reviewers. I feel like everyone should be aware that I am definitely reading all of your reviews, regardless if I reply to you via DMs or not :)

Adam Luck - I know you put up your review several chapters back, but I would like to say thank you for the kind words! I'm glad I was able to keep some mystery behind something hahaha. Hudson, at least to me, always screams mystery to just about anything he's involved in. Not sure if you have read any of S.D. Perry novelizations of RE, but his role is similar to that of Trent's, though with a more fleshed-out character than Trent himself. Don't worry though. A lot of your unanswered questions may be explained later as the story goes on and if not, I do plan on making a couple of sequels along the way so if something isn't explained here, it'll definitely be explained at another time. ;)

Bui Trong Phuc - Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it as much as I am enjoying writing the rest of the story! :D

evolution-500 - Ey! Thanks for the feedback once again! It's a bit rough trying to include the crimson heads since I sort of keep losing track of exactly what parts of the mansion should have a crimson head in response to a not-so-dead zombie after some time passes hahaha. Hopefully, it won't become a big plothole issue, but I'm glad you enjoyed the very first crimson head introduction! And yes, I've always pictured Rebecca to be the resourceful type so there's that one added trait to her character if it wasn't already a trait in the games. :)

Thank you to everyone else who has been reading along and given a favorite and/or follow!

With that said, only three more chapters left after this before I put this story on a temporary hiatus. Should be about a month's worth of a pause, if not, a bit more since I'm about more than halfway done with the story within my current rough draft version (almost towards the ending). Plus, it took me at least six months for a headstart with these first chapters so I think another month should be fair for me to write the ending of the story and be able to upload the rest as I try revising as much as I can.

Or if you want, you can include it in your review or write me a DM, requesting I upload the rest of the missing chapters after Chapter 11 in one giant upload. It's definitely going to take me at least a few more months before I'm able to upload the rest all in one package, but you won't have to keep waiting for weekly updates anymore after that. :P If I have enough people wanting this approach, I will gladly take it and announce it with an added bonus chapter after Chapter 11. :D

And if you're worried I might abandon this story like my last one, don't be. I made a lot of security adjustments to my written rough drafts. Enough to say there are about three different copies stored in different places as I update them every time I'm done doing changes to my main copy. :3

Alright, enough said! Sorry for the long rant. Let's dive into the abyss of hidden secrets, shall we?

Recommended BGM:

1. Resident Evil (Remake) - Macabre Hallway

2. Resident Evil (1996) & Director's Cut (DualShock Ver.) - Where's Wesker

3. Resident Evil (1996) & Director's Cut (DualShock Ver.) - First Floor Mansion

Chapter 8

Passing over Kenneth's corpse after having grabbed an extra pair of magazines that he knew Kenneth won't be needing anymore, Woods saw a door that led him to an L-shaped corridor with another set of stairs leading to the second floor, which he found himself lucky by stumbling upon the direction he wanted to go. The corridor itself was extremely dark, save for the night sky's light, penetrating through a windowpane on the left side of the winding corner, and a chandelier that only shined where the staircase was located further up the hallway. Upon moving forward, there was a strange birdcage with a dead raven inside, emanating a faint, but foul smell. As he turned his head to the right, there was a corpse collapsed against the floor, as if it was an instant death he endured by someone or something. However, there were no signs of any animal or cannibal attacks. They weren't STARS, but it was definitely someone who must've likely lived or worked inside the building.

What the hell happened in this mansion?!

Woods couldn't afford the time to stop in his tracks and ponder that same haunting question again. Without looking back, he moved forward and up the stairs, trying his best to just focus on regrouping with his teammates and report back on the stuff he had seen beforehand. He slowly opened the only door upstairs, trying not to have any unsuspecting surprises.

Nothing seemed amiss, except a rotting corpse that looked more hideous than the one downstairs. The room he had just entered was another corridor with two directions to go from.

What's up with the big amount of corridors in this fuckin' place?

It was brightly lit with what seemed to be candle sconces up on the walls that were now cracked and slowly falling apart. There was another door up ahead and the familiar inhuman sounds of the walking dead were faintly heard on the other side of the winding corridor, which brought chills all over Woods' body. There was nothing alike with what he had experienced back in his CIA days and this was definitely something purely out of an actual nightmare, in which the dead are able to walk (or in the canines' case, run) and endure harm, feeling no pain in the process. Shoving these thoughts aside, he decided to check out the door up front, feeling the need to investigate the mansion further and hopefully be able to find some answers as to what the heck happened around the Arklay areas.

As soon as he touched the door's handle, a deep growl was heard behind him as the corpse that was just laying on the floor stood up quickly as if it caught the fresh scent of Woods' blood when he passed over what should've been its dead corpse. This zombie was unlike the one he saw downstairs. Every orifice from its body was steaming heavily, its hands and feet have grown claws over its nails, its eyes glowing as a pair of white pearls shining over its darkened crimson skin all over its body. However, this one did not look wet or freshly necrotic, but the horrible stench was a lot stronger than the previous one, making Frank stagger for a brief moment, preventing himself from puking.

What the f—?!

He had no time to react as the zombie quickly dashed towards him, lunging itself against him as it caught Woods in its grasp, ready to take a sharp bite out of him. As he desperately tried pushing it away with one arm under its chin, he felt the extremely putrid body heat wash over him. Its skin felt as if it was freshly cooked out of the oven, causing a burning sensation over his arm. He instinctively took out his personal knife and lunged it directly at the foul crimson zombie's skull, making it hemorrhage steaming blood. The blood itself felt like boiling water as it sprayed over his hand and face. It should've been a clean, quick kill. However, it merely dazed the creature for a brief amount of time as it gave a gruesome wet growl in response, becoming more infuriated than it already was. Instead of running away into the next room over, Woods decided to not take any chances and used this small opportunity to backtrack to where he came from. He aimed his Samurai Edge and began pumping in several shots, hoping it would be enough to kill the mutated creature, splattering blood and flesh across every surface in the surrounding area as white steam came out through the bullet holes made by each shot in its body. The angry zombie gave a loud wet gurgling growl as it continued to rush towards Woods for a swipe attack, barely missing him by a few inches as he rolled beside the creature. As a result, it slashed an incoming zombie around the corner of the corridor that heard the whole commotion in the area, slicing its body apart as it fell to the ground, trying to drag itself up.

The head! Need to shoot it in the damn head!

Frank prepared his aim directly at the head as the crimson zombie turned around and ran for its primary target. Using this small window of opportunity, he began shooting it twice in the head where the knife was still on the crazed zombie. Just before it was able to strike another attack, with one final splatter, it finally fell limp to the ground, its body no longer giving off heavy amounts of steam from every orifice anymore.

Woods was once again in complete disbelief. He had just witnessed the dead crawl, walk, and now they're able to run, just like those mutant dogs outside. Everything around him was just falling apart from making any sense at all, silently cursing in the process. The zombie that was slashed by the crimson head had part of its guts coming out as if the mansion itself was testing him to see how far he would mentally break at the terrible sight of grotesque monsters coming on and about. Not uttering a single word, he casually took out his knife from the dead zombie underneath him, seeing the lack of steam from its body being a sign of the creature being dead, and immediately jabbed it inside the other crawling zombie's skull a few times in a row to make sure it stays dead the first time around, unlike the one he had just dealt with.

Wiping his knife with the dirty ragged clothing of the now seemingly dead zombie itself, he silently stashed it away and continued his investigation on the same door he initially planned on entering, trying to also keep it together at the same time. Inside the room behind the door was another set of stairs, leading to what seemed to be either the attic or the third floor of the mansion. The looks of the mansion from the outside were pretty deceiving as this part of the building did not give any hints that this area even existed. There was an armor statue on his right, facing directly at whoever entered the room with an inscription on its shield that read;

DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

Not thinking twice about it, he climbed up the stairs, his knees and back already starting to ache more as he wasn't the same young man he used to be. However, his intense curiosity and determination to find answers nullified any pain his body felt and continued to march forward. He found himself facing another armor statue, but this time, having some sort of medieval torture device, with blades and spikes attached to the shield itself with an inscription that read;

DEATH IS THE TRUE ESSENCE OF BLISS

The fuck is all this?

Frank was beginning to think this whole part of the mansion might be a death trap of some sort, especially after seeing the tracks that this particular armor statue was set in place as if it were to be able to move on its own at any point in time. Carefully watching every step of his way, he slowly moved forward, seeing cobwebs all over the corners of both the ceiling and walls, noting the lack of maintenance put in this particular area. Up ahead after the first corner of the corridor was a small raised concrete slab that contained a white key of sorts. Just past the slab was another set of rails, but this time, for another armor statue that had a giant shield with a large fine print that was easily read from his current position;

DEATH IS EVERYTHING

Looking closely at the slab in front of him was yet another inscription at the bottom of the key that read;

MAY WHOEVER TAKES THIS EMBLEM FIND PEACE IN DEATH

Whoever designed this place sure as hell has an obsession with death and medieval shit altogether.

Some mansions did have small museums, such as artifacts from medieval times, ancient Egyptian treasures, rare relics, and old nineteenth and early twentieth century firearms. Though none of them would have them in obvious death traps unless the designer was a complete paranoid lunatic, which at this point, didn't surprise him if Spencer was the type of man he thought he really was.

Woods inspected the key further before even daring to pick it up himself and activate any of those armor statues he'd seen. Upon further inspection, he still wasn't sure if the key itself was a fake or not. Considering the circumstances of the mansion itself, any of its keys could be shaped exactly like the one he is seeing right now.

Could tell if it's legit or not if I can just feel the material of the key itself and not take it out… Shit, but what if it activates by simply touching it? ...Fuck it.

Without giving much thought to his potential fate, he touched the key, and… nothing happened. He continued to do so until he felt it was definitely plastic. Plastic material would mean it'd be too dull or lacking the rigidity to be used as a proper key, which meant it was a fake, much to his relief.

Ha! And they thought I was gonna fall for this shit. Not in a million years!

Feeling more confident in himself, he slowly passed by the concrete slab and past the other armor statue to yet another corner, and found a door to the right. The mansion was definitely big, which made him wonder whether or not he should continue investigating this area further or go back and find another way through the second floor and meet up with his teammates there. He wished he could have a map to guide him through.

Oh shit! The device, Hudson gave me. It could have blueprints of this place for all I know. Ah, what the hell…

Since there was no immediate danger around, he pulled up the micro-computer from one of his side packs and began studying it for a moment.

Alright Hudson, let's see what's so important inside this little thousand-dollar toy of yours.

As he tapped a switch, a screen the size of an index card came to life and with a little tinkering, he managed to pull out a few lines of text, a menu of sorts that contained material he quickly recognized. They were filled with names and dates from local newspapers, now being able to make some sense as to whatever happened to the victims mentioned in the newspapers. Hudson apparently did a lot of his own research and compiled everything he could find about the murders and disappearances in Raccoon, plus the pieces on the STARS as well.

Among them were some other reports that Umbrella has made to the press. However, through the list of said reports and articles were other files relating to the CIA; classified files that they have tried covering up themselves, such as the brainwashing program, Nova 6 attacks, and Operation: Greenlight.

Nothing new…

Woods began wondering if any of their previous experiences had any underlying connection somehow. He didn't know the reasons behind why some of those CIA files were stored among said articles. He skipped along, wondering what else there was of particular interest. After the articles and files were a list of names.

WILLIAM BIRKIN, SERGEI VLADIMIR, NATHAN WINCHESTER, JOHN CLEMENS, MARTIN KLUCKHON, HENRY SARTON, JOHN TRENT, LEV KRAVCHENKO

Kravchenko?! Why is that bastard listed here?!

Both he and Mason had some pretty rough history with him, especially Woods as he was his prisoner for a long while and was responsible for his capture during the late sixties and early seventies, until he ended up escaping in the end, coming out as the sole survivor of the seventeen prisoners from a prison camp in Da Nang, Vietnam. Ever since then, Kravchenko was believed to have died at some point, but not Woods. Deep down, he knew Kravchenko was out there somewhere, plotting for something big, and if this was of any indication through Hudson's findings, he could somehow be connected to all the crap he has gone through within the last twelve years, though he couldn't be so sure.

John Trent on the other hand, he's only ever heard of him through emails sent to his and Hudson's personal CIA accounts, informing them several things about Mason that they did not even know about. Woods didn't want to believe it, but a lot of the information he shared with them, correlated well enough with things that only the duo would've known about. They claimed they were someone who knew Mason since he first went M.I.A. when Cuban forces captured him after a failed assassination attempt on Fidel Castro and had been tracking their movements since. Hudson tried his hardest to search for anything under the name "John Trent", but no records were revealed under said alias. Some of the information he shared, however, was so shocking, that Woods wanted to confront Mason about it, but Hudson protested, stating that if any of it was true, doing so could, in turn, mark Alex Mason as public enemy number one across the entire country.

What else have you known all along Mr. Shades?

He was already wasting time, but Woods couldn't keep his eyes off of the small screen for as much as he tried. He didn't know any of the other names so he kept pressing the forward key to get to the very end of the data and a picture appeared, tiny lines set into patterns. There were small and huge squares and rectangles, cross-hatched with smaller marks that connected to each empty box. Beneath the map was a message highlighted in yellow, as cryptic as he could expect from Hudson himself that read;

KNIGHT KEYS; FOUR MASKS (EVIL WILL AWAKEN); TWO SPENCER FAMILY EMBLEMS; SOUTH-EAGLE/NORTH-WOLF

Heh… so this sums it all up, doesn't it?

The picture was an actual blueprint of the entire mansion itself, exactly what Woods hoped for. The biggest area in the center couldn't be anything more than the main entrance of the mansion.

Woods felt his heart skip a beat. He kept staring down at the screen, wondering when and how Hudson knew of all this. Did he know they were all falling into a death trap, full of monsters, and never told him or Mason about it? What else had he known about Kravchenko or this Trent guy?

Brushing it all off, he tapped the forward button again to reveal the second floor of the mansion and again to see the exact position he was now at, on the third floor. Apparently, there was another bigger room up ahead and connected to a different corridor that led to the same one he was just in previously. He figured he could still circle back around and cut through what seemed to be the balcony of the dining room that connected to the big square that was the main entrance hall. He could then reach his teammates and tell them everything about his whole ordeal.

Assuming they're still there, waiting…

He put away the disk reader and quickly reached for the door in front of him.

Crash!

There was a distant, muffled noise coming from inside the door itself. He couldn't tell what had made the noise but figured it could've been another one of those zombies either trying to get through or simply one of them drunkenly falling on top of something.

No… sounded a lot like glass shattering. Deliberate as well. Is someone or something nearby?

With his weapon raised in one hand, he slowly turned the knob with the other, making the smallest gap possible, enough to be able to see through the other side. No zombies or mutant dogs were heard or seen at first sight.

Feeling brave enough, he slipped through the door, trying not to make as much noise as the person or thing that made the crashing sound. The small area he was in was filled with more cobwebs than the last, with a small bookshelf standing beside him. There was a well-lined group of windows in front and onto the left wall through the small corridor that led someplace else, the dim moonlight casting through the large windows onto the dark wooden floor.

Nothing seemed broken so far…

As he walked past the corridor, there was another bookshelf at the winding corner, but this time, joined by an entire row of them. He soon realized he had just stumbled upon the mansion's library. However, most of the books he saw at first glance were all about philosophical questions and theories about life and death, which he deemed as a boring collection of books to read; big waste of time for him at least.

CRASH!

Another loud noise was heard, but this time, it was a window breaking inwardly from somewhere he had just come in from. A soft, sliding sound was heard afterward. Woods, already armed and ready, aimed his gun in the direction he heard the noise from, slowly backing away as he did. The continuous slither with glass rattling was getting louder as the impossibly giant head of a reptile slid forward around the corner, hissing and writhing at its targeted prey as it met its deadly gaze on Woods, its round body comparable to that of a dinner plate.

A giant SNAKE?! OH SHIT!

"WESKER!" Barry shouted as loudly as he could, his deep voice echoing through the chilly room. "Captain Wesker!"

He jogged across the hall, passing by the main staircase, calling to Jill over his shoulder as he ran in the opposite direction. "Don't leave the hall!"

Jill walked to the stairs, facing the main doors they had come in from when they first arrived at the mansion, feeling almost quite dizzy. First Frank, now the captain? They hadn't been gone for five minutes and he'd said he was going to stay put. Why would he have left? She looked around the hall for any signs of a struggle, empty shell casings, a spent cartridge, a spot of blood— there was virtually nothing to be seen in order to paint a picture of what might've happened.

Frank… Chris… I hope you're okay…

Barry appeared from the tunnels underneath the giant staircase, shaking his head and walking slowly to join her. Jill bit her lower lip, frowning.

"Find anything, Jill?" He asked.

"Nothing…" she replied, worriedly. "You?"

"Just a locked gate underneath, with a couple of hollowed depressions," he said almost in defeat. "Doubt Wesker would've gone through there."

Jill looked elsewhere across the hall for a brief moment, as if hoping their captain would somehow appear out of thin air. She then looked back at Barry, her expression showing signs of visible distress.

"What is this all about? I can't figure it out at all!"

"Beats me too," Barry responded, rubbing his beard in the process.

"Frank, Wesker… What about Chris? You think he—"

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet," Barry suggested, putting one hand over her shoulder. "Kenneth made it here, right? We also heard gunshots where Chris is most likely still investigating. The rest of Bravo team could still be here somewhere in this godforsaken house. We could easily get lost. Frank, he…" He half-smiled, but Jill could still see the worry in his eyes. "Frank and Wesker most likely got side-tracked. Probably found out about something we may have yet to discover. I doubt a couple of walking rotten freaks would cause them any grief. Anyway, I'll go ahead and look back in the west area, while you go search the east side and make this hall our meeting place after we at least find somebody that isn't the walking dead."

He reached into a pocket in his vest and pulled out something wrapped in a handkerchief, handing it to her. She felt some thin metal objects inside the fabric, quickly recognizing them instantly.

"Take them," he said confidently. "I grabbed these by chance when Chris and I were packing up ammo and weapons. They might come in handy if you, the master of unlocking, take them with you."

Jill nodded, tucking the lockpicks into her hip pouch. "Thanks. I may need them."

She wasn't always this good at lockpicking. The first time she had any lessons was from her father, who was a career criminal, at best. She was never a thief herself, but occasionally, her father would teach her some tricks as a kid and even as a teen, in order to make sure that she had some sort of training, in case she ever needed the skills to survive on her own out in the streets.

For a short moment, Jill had now lost herself in thought. She began debating whether or not to tell Barry about her encounter with Jason Hudson back at the police station.

But what good would that bring if I talk about it now? Then again…

She was about to open her mouth to tell Barry about her encounter, but quickly dismissed it and shut it down, remembering Hudson's cryptic warning;

"...you'll do well not to utter a single word about this whole conversation to anyone."

She'd almost risked it with Chris anyway and who's to say that Hudson's "dire consequences" haven't already occurred at this point in time?

Jill began to realize what exactly she was thinking and was fighting off the urge to laugh at herself hysterically. Whatever happened with that Jason guy probably wasn't even relevant to their current predicament, and whether or not she could trust Barry, she knew she didn't trust Hudson. Still, she ultimately decided not to say anything about it, at least for the time being.

"Listen," Barry continued. "I know this whole thing is a dangerous operation we are doing here, but we need to cover a lot of ground. You're okay with—"

"I don't mind taking the east area," she cut in. "I can take care of myself. Don't worry about me."

Barry nodded. "I never doubted you. Keep an eye out for a back exit, conserve as much ammo as you can …and be careful."

"You, too."

"I'll be fine," Barry gave a smirk, holding up his custom magnum. "I have this!"

Nothing else was left to say and both went their separate ways. Jill headed straight for the set of doors on the east wall that hadn't been looked into earlier. Behind her, Barry hurried back to the dining room. She heard one of the doors open and close, leaving her now alone with her own thoughts.

Here goes nothing.

The double doors opened smoothly, revealing a small, shadowy room as cooler air breezed out into the main hall, its marble flooring being just as shiny and reflective. Bars of lights illuminated framed photographs and paintings on dusky walls and in the center, a relatively big statue of a woman holding a large urn on one shoulder.

Jill closed the doors behind her and let her eyes adjust to the gloom of the room, which seemed to be some sort of fancy exhibition room. The entire place looked extremely clean and well maintained; too clean for any monsters to be housed inside any of its dark corners, though she still kept her guard up. There was a small entrance to a narrow corridor up ahead on the left side, though a small dresser has been placed in front of it, limiting access to it. It was unlikely that Wesker had gone through in that direction.

Looking back up at the statue, she saw there was something of interest inside the urn that the woman was carrying. She then looked back at the dresser, an idea quickly being born inside her mind.

I could fit through the small gap, hop over, push the dresser forward, and climb it to reach whatever is inside of that urn.

She proceeded to execute her plan and indeed, she was able to fit in well, hopped over, and pushed the dresser with all her might, until it reached next to the statue. As she climbed up and looked at what was inside the urn, it was clearly some sort of folded parchment. She grabbed it and hopped down the dresser as she soon began to unfold the parchment in which what looked like…

A map!

It was the map of the first and second floor of the mansion on both sides of the parchment itself, with a small overlooked area at the bottom left corner that seemed to be the basement floor of the mansion, next to the first floor's blueprint. On the second floor side of the parchment was an area of the third floor being showcased on the same bottom left corner as well. Excitedly, she began to study the first-floor map to find her bearings and look for a route that could lead to a potential back exit of the mansion. There was what seemed to be a way through a hidden door at the main staircase, which led to a dead-end out into the mansion's graveyard.

Not the right way, but—

The door up front leads to a couple of winding corridors that connect to a series of rooms containing a door that may lead elsewhere outside.

Happy with her new discovery, she walked to the door on the right side of the room and tried the knob.

Locked.

Sighing, she reached into her pack for the picks and then hesitated for a moment.

If Wesker had really gone through here, why would he bother locking the door behind him if there was nothing here to watch out for, let alone any signs of a struggle?

Brushing the nonsense out of the way, she proceeded to use one of her picks. It only took her a single try with three flat tumblers in a row; she could have even opened it with a couple of paper clips if she had any. According to the map, the door would open into a long, turning path.

Alright. Off to a good start.

Sure enough, it was definitely a long corridor that had one turning corner across the other side. She was confident enough to think that she could look for Wesker and the others much easier with a map guiding her way through, and maybe secure an escape route at the same time.

She stepped into the brightly lit, narrow corridor with her Samurai Edge in hand, ready for anything.

Author's Note: To get some confusion out of the way, John Trent is a mystery character from Black Ops 1, who is only mentioned through the data servers from the main menu itself. Not to be confused with Victor Darius, also known as "Trent", from Resident Evil: Umbrella Conspiracy, who is a minor character that basically influences a lot of the major characters' actions in the novels.

Also, I don't wanna sit here and say "Nathan Winchester" is an original character I made up since his character is literally based on "Michael Dees" from S.D. Perry's novel. I just changed the name since I thought referencing Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series and the Winchester brothers from the TV show, Supernatural, would've been a cool thing to do, subtle or not lol.

As for the rest of the listed names that may not trigger any familiarity to the general audience, (not the names like Lev Kravchenko or William Birkin), they are all mentioned in files from the Resident Evil games. None of them are OCs whatsoever, and as far as I'm concerned, there will be no OCs included in this fanfic. You'd have to be an RE nerd in order to know who people like Henry Sarton or Martin Kluckhon are. (Martin Crackhorn being a localization error on the devs' part, which even transferred over to the novelizations as well for some reason).