Recommended BGM:

1. Resident Evil (Remake) - Yawn

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

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

Chapter 10

The mansion just kept throwing surprises at every minute possible. The giant snake was most likely not going to be the last surprise either and Woods was already having enough of it for one night. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight the snake in a now extremely cramped corridor as the snake slowly slithered forward, some loose books from the row of bookshelves falling over through the vibrating ground the snake was generating with its movement.

Instead of engaging it head-on, Woods turned back and ran towards the right corner that led directly to a ladder, descending over as he saw the snake disturbingly slide over the rail and drop down to the ground, hitting the floor with great force, almost rattling the entire library as it did. For all he knew, the snake could weigh well over several thousand pounds, its size being at least forty feet long.

Keeping his distance as much as possible in the large open space of the mansion's library, he began firing at the massive creature's back. The few shots he managed to pull before the snake slid around the back of the library, managed to drop chunks of scaly fresh with dark blood seeping through its open wounds.

As the giant reptile quickly moved around and was now facing him once more, it lifted its head higher than Woods' own height, exposing its large, gaping mouth as its fangs dripped with what seemed to be the creature's venom.

One bite from this thing and I'll be even more dead than the dead walking around.

He focused his Samurai Edge onto the snake's stretched mouth through its diamond-shaped head, and fired at it again, creating small tears on the side of its giant opened mouth. At least one bullet went directly through its scaly head, creating a dark red, wounded hole on its grotesque appearance, letting out an unusual, hissing cry.

The animal staggered onto the ground in pain. However, it quickly became enraged as it reared in towards Woods at an alarming rate. Just before it was about to strike, he quickly threw himself out of the way by pure survival instinct as the creature hit itself on a large bookshelf's glass cover, with pieces of shattered glass and heavy hardcover textbooks falling on top of it, creating small scrapes and scratches to the mutant snake's already wounded head. This gave Woods enough time to recover and stand up, his body barely feeling any old-age aches as the adrenaline was pumping in.

With another roaring hiss, it swung its head violently across the entire area, trying to free itself from the clutter it had just done to itself. Woods pumped another two shots to its back, hoping it would somehow limit the snake from moving in full agility. The creature turned its body around, still enraged at what he had done to it, fully determined to target its prey once more, ignoring the pain from its bleeding body.

The mutated animal hissed at him in rage and once again, slithered violently towards him as he was still in the process of reloading his weapon as quickly as he could.

The eyes! Get the eyes!

"FUCK—!" He yelled out loud, running as he switched gazes between his gun and the snake's incoming attack.

Within just less than a few feet between him and the bloodied snake, he inserted a new fresh magazine just in time to pull the trigger, moments before the snake had the chance to put its stretched jaws into him. With that final shot on one of its eyes, the snake fell across from him, knocking him off his feet, its body thrashing wildly. The tail slammed against a stack of wooden boxes underneath the small balcony near the ladder, hard enough to break some of them apart as Woods struggled to free his pinned right arm, screaming in pain as he felt the sudden weight of the snake's huge body. He was as good as dead without being able to use his firearm on his pinned arm. A few moments later, however, he felt the cold, heavy body suddenly become limp; its saggy, boneless body now becoming just another dead carcass that the mansion housed within.

With no one around to help him out, he turned his own body towards the mutant snake's thick scaly body and tried pushing himself out with his own feet pressing against it, grunting in pain as he did. After a few excruciating pushes, he finally managed to free himself, wondering if he had any broken bones. His arm was bruised, at best.

Damn snake almost made me lose an arm!

But that wasn't just it. He'd almost lost his life in the process and was thankful to still be alive at least.

He stared down at the critical wound that had killed the creature, the liquified dark red, almost black hole where its left eye had been, completely annihilated by the bullet wound it received with the nine-millimeter.

In a sudden rush of pride and disgust, he spat on the mutant's body, as a way to express his extreme defiance against whatever experiments they may have conducted inside the mansion.

"IS THIS ALL YOU'VE GOT?!" He yelled out, raising both of his arms in a teasing manner, staring around at the environment, as if he were taunting the mansion itself. "YOU AIN'T GOT NOTHIN' THAT I CAN'T DEAL WITH!"

As he turned around where the snake's tail had impacted, he saw something of interest that caught his eye. Walking towards the debris from the wooden crates, he glanced at something in particular that stood out from the mess itself.

"A shotgun? Fuck yeah!"

Excitedly, he holstered his custom Beretta and picked up his prized possession after killing the mutant snake, examining the firearm thoroughly. He was somewhat of a gun nerd himself after all.

Stainless-steel pump-action… a STARS custom Benelli M3… M4 modifications… collapsable stock… fully loaded up with seven shells…

"Ooo baby… we gonna be shoving some slugs tonight!"

He was surprised it was still intact from the impact that the crates themselves received. The weapon hadn't seen much use at all as its odor was exactly like how a brand new stainless-steel firearm would smell; the most pleasant and satisfying smell he's experienced since arriving at the estate. It also came with an attached adjustable strap, so as to have an easier time carrying it around with him. To make things even better, he'd found a box of a dozen shells laying inside the debris, tucking them inside one of his vest pockets. It was almost as if his prayers were finally being answered.

After his big discovery, he didn't care to see the reason behind why there was a STARS-made firearm inside of one of those crates as he really needed something that could put more firepower into these dangerous creatures he's had to encounter over the past hour. And if there was another one of those red, bloodlust zombies and giant snakes lurking around the place, a shotgun would do the best work against them.

He decided to look around the library a bit thoroughly.

Most bookshelves were all sealed inside glass frames, some had broken apart due to the heavy impact that the giant snake had made. Only a small fraction of them was about chemistry and biology altogether. Again, most books touched upon the topic of eternal questions and philosophies of life and death.

Either the people who worked or lived here had an unhealthy obsession for this kind of thing, or Spencer himself had thrown his own fucked up obsession into this as well.

"Probably both," he finally said out loud.

Soon enough, he stopped bothering to look through the bookshelves and walked around the open space, save for the giant carcass being in the middle of the way. As he turned around the corner that the snake used to face him directly after having descended down from the third floor, he didn't see anything fallen or damaged, except for a special glass case that had been partially broken. This, however, didn't seem as though the giant creature had done it since nothing else around the area had broken or fallen apart. It seemed intentional. Someone must've been here either recently or a while back and stolen whatever was inside the display.

The first crashing sound from earlier… had someone really been here other than myself?

It was possible that someone must've been here before him just minutes earlier, but as to who it was, he did not know. For all he knew, it could've been a Bravo or possibly a resident still surviving inside the monster-infested house itself.

Having had enough of theorizing, he continued on his way towards the only double doors in the library. He turned the knobs and— the doors simply refused to open as one of the knobs broke and gave in to the ground.

Great… just my luck coming to bite me in the ass again.

With enough force, he kicked both doors at once and surprisingly, blew open without much effort, unlike the door on the first floor that caused him to lock him out of the dining room. A sudden stench of rot and death came flowing back out into the library, giving him a constant reminder not to ever put his guard down. Inside the corridor housed a zombie on the left side at a dead end. On the right, there was an elevator he could go to, a small open space nearby, and a winding corner that continued the corridor's path. The entire place was lit by flaming torches, making Frank still confused about the strange choice of decor across the mansion.

As he walked towards the elevator, a zombie that was resting inside the small area lunged itself at him, opening its foul, bloodied mouth for a snack it had just found for itself. However, Woods' quick thinking allowed him to evade the sickening walking corpse just in time as he aimed the lightweight shotgun at its head. He blew half of its face apart with a loud, thundering roar of pellets being fired, splashing chunks of dark, wet blood and flesh across the room as the zombie's corpse made a series of disturbing, yet satisfying sounds of loose tissue hitting the ground, its collapsed body now being completely dead.

"HA! You can't ever beat this!" He exclaimed, feeling satisfied to see the results of how powerful the shotgun really was against the decayed freaks. Maybe this time, they'll be dead with just one shot instead of multiple, but he still knew he had to be careful too, as the only shells he'd have for the weapon would be the ones he's currently carrying around with him.

Gotta make'em count.

Strapping the shotgun behind his back, he took out his Beretta once more and decided to finish off the shuffling zombie on the other end of the corridor that was slowly approaching his position and fired three rounds at its head, splattering smaller chunks of rotten flesh and dark blood from its face and forehead all around its area as it gave an unsettling moan before it dropped to the ground with lifeless eyes rolling towards the inside of its head, making a disgusting wet sound from the yellow bile it had dripped from its mouth.

Eugh… can't ever get used to this.

Trying not to look at the two carcasses any longer, he decided not to bother seeing whether or not the zombie he took down with his Beretta was actually dead or not. As long as they couldn't stand back up and somehow learn how to open doors, he was okay with leaving them on the ground, regardless of their current state. However, he guessed that when they rolled their eyes almost impossibly towards the back of their heads, it meant that they were now most likely dead.

The only thing he would have to be careful of is walking near corpses or carcasses. You just never know the surprises you'll get simply by passing near them. It's a risky decision he'd have to make if he wanted to save as much ammo as possible, especially after having faced that giant snake. If a reptile like that existed, who knows what other types of abnormal creatures he would happen to encounter next.

Giant spiders… giant scorpions… giant ants… hell, a giant lizard!

Just thinking about potential creatures like that existing, sent chills down his spine; something he rarely had in the line of duty against your ordinary baddies like Dragovich, Kravchenko, Kadivar, or Aldrich. The mutant snake was more than enough as it is, but other creatures like that?

Not looking forward to any of it.

Which raised the question; what sort of things have they done in the Arklay areas? To think these monsters could invade Raccoon in a matter of months, weeks, or even days… It was a concerning thought.

Whether he liked it or not, he had to mentally prepare himself for the worst, just like he always has. He never liked admitting his own fears to anyone, regardless of how strong they were, not even to his best friend, Alex Mason. He always thought that giving in to your own fears was something only the weak-minded would do and only confronting them without thinking twice is what makes a person mentally stronger.

Putting all those heavy thoughts aside, he reexamined Hudson's device and checked out the map of the mansion, seeing where the elevator would lead to.

Nowhere close to the main hall, that's for damn sure. That elevator on the first floor would simply lead me back to where I first locked myself out.

He disregarded the thought of using the elevator for a quicker route as he slipped the disk-reader back into his side pack and continued onto the door at the very end of the corridor, leading him back to a different section of the same corridor he first encountered that powerful zombie variant.

There was a zombie just around the corner, standing mindlessly as it moaned for potential prey to pass by. He was able to see it through a large mirror that was sitting in the corner where the walls met. Remembering the basic layout on Hudson's map, he followed through with it, ignoring the hungry zombie in the back corner as he hoped he would finally be able to see someone alive in the main hall at last.

The decor wasn't as exciting as the previous rooms Jill has been in. There was brown wallpaper all around the hall and at least two glass cabinets, containing various sculptures and potteries inside of them, all hugging the left-side wall. The wide windows on the right showed only the darkness of the night as the two chandeliers hanging above shun their light much more intensely, making the dim light of the moon disappear with her eyes not being able to quite adjust as a result to the glare of the lights above her.

As Jill turned around, she saw something of particular interest just underneath one of the cabinets. She crouched and reached for the item with one arm stretched underneath the heavy cupboard, hoping it wouldn't somehow collapse to the ground, injuring her arm. As she picked up the small object, she quickly realized what it actually was.

A stun gun!

She couldn't believe it. As appreciative as she was, she wondered why a random stun gun would be placed or hidden underneath one of these cabinets. Was someone saving it for future protection? Were they not allowed to carry it with them at all times?

With no answer to go from, she checked to see if it had any juice left and much to her relief, the battery seemed to have some charge left as a discharge was able to be produced without much problem. She hoped that with this discovery, she could easily get away from any zombie or mutant dogs if they'd ever get too close to her.

Crash!

The window closest to her burst inwardly, a nimble, rugged figure lunging into the corridor, growling and yapping. It was apparent that it was one of the mutant hellhounds from outside. However, its eyes didn't look pale white like the others but were as red as a pair of bloodshot eyes, its wet, dripping hide covering its face full of blood from its open wounds of a previous encounter it may have engaged with the Alphas. Filled with rage, it charged at her, its bloody teeth as dangerous as the jagged, sharp glass still falling from the shattered frame.

Already cornered between both cupboards, Jill fired. The angle was off, the last of her bullets dangerously bouncing off the ground just past the mutant creature's body as she heard the unsettling clicking sound of an empty chamber, the dog immediately making a swift jump at her, growling deep in its throat.

Its paws hit her with extreme force in the thighs, slamming her painfully against the wall, gritting to get its foul jaws at her flesh.

The smell of decaying meat washed over her and without a single thought, she dropped her gun in the process and began wrestling against the dog's powerful grasp on her, without realizing she was now shrieking and moaning in fear and disgust. In a desperate attempt to get the growling dog away from her, she took out her newly acquired stun gun, delivering a powerful devastating electric discharge at the rabid canine abomination.

Burnt, rotting meat quickly emanated through the air as high amounts of electricity were pumped into the creature, letting out a few dying, wet guttural shrieks. It immediately began spasming as it let go of its prey involuntarily, falling to the ground as its grotesque body smoked and died with one last puppy-like whimper, its blood coursing out into the checkered-pattern floor.

Jill quickly grabbed her gun that lay on the ground, reloaded a fresh new magazine, and pointed it at its body, still seeing its limbs twitching again before finally stopping after a few more seconds.

She began to relax, realizing it was just a mere death spasm, most likely also due to the immense shock it has received as well. She'd have some bruises, but the dog was finally dead.

She moved some of her loose bangs out of her eyes and crouched next to the dead mutant, taking in the strange, exposed bone and muscular structure and huge jaws with teeth almost looking as sharp as a group of honed knives. She was mostly too scared and terrified to even take a closer look at the things that had killed Joseph, especially in the dark light of the night sky, but the brightly lit corridor and her determination to look for answers have now allowed her to see it in great detail. Her initial impression did not change, however; it looked like a skinned, food-deprived dog.

She stood up and backed away, blankly staring at the row of windows inside of the hall. The broken frame from where the dog came in gave her the grim realization that none of the windows inside the mansion offered any protection from anything dangerous outside.

With no other choice, she moved onwards, the corridor taking a sharp turn to the left, hurrying past more displays that decorated the left wall, staying away from the row of windows in case any more of those mutant dogs showed up again.

The door at the end of the hall was thankfully unlocked. She opened it with haste, while still keeping her guard up so as to not get any potential surprises on the other side of the door. As she checked her surroundings, quickly closing the door behind her, she knew that this was another hall, but this time, filled with a series of rooms to go to, based on the map she'd found earlier.

The place was not as well lit as the last, but at least there wasn't any walking bone or rotten flesh at first sight. The dull, green wallpaper held generic, uninspired paintings of sceneries and grassy landscapes with a few dim sconces placed high up on the walls.

The first door she tried on the right was locked; a carving of an armor onto the lock itself. She remembered this led to a dead-end somewhere but would've been nice to see if there was anything useful regardless. After all, if she was able to find a stun gun hidden underneath a glass display, who's to say there isn't anything else hidden inside the mansion besides that?

She didn't bother with the door any further. Her current priority was to search for their captain and secure an escape route for her team. She couldn't imagine Wesker going through doors and locking them behind him as it'd be pretty counterintuitive, at best.

Yeah, right. Just like how it was unlikely for someone as skilled as Frank to disappear out of the blue like that; don't start making assumptions about this place now.

The next door she tried was opened. She entered into a small bathroom that felt like it belonged in an antique museum, complete with a ceiling fan and an old-fashioned, claw foot tub, filled with murky water that smelled like it came directly from the sewers itself. She gasped for a moment but came to find out that the bathroom had no particular recent use for weeks or even months. She tried using the sink's faucet, but there was no running water at all.

She raised her head towards the large mirror in front of her and stared blankly at her own tired, disheveled face, breathing deeply as she wondered how much she's been through during the last hour of the terrifying night; Bravo's cry for help, Joseph's ambush, Brad leaving them to die, Kenneth's dead body, the dead roaming about, Frank and Wesker's sudden disappearances, mutants being able to jump through framed windows - it was too much for one person to handle.

Growing up with her father was a unique experience. He was never the type to put her into real danger, but not only did he teach her how to do some quick lockpicking, but also trained her how to use a gun as well. The thrill and excitement to use one at gun ranges was one thing, but after having gone to the military and joining STARS, that youthful excitement quickly faded away, lost to the realities of life or death situations, but here it was again, unexpected and not unwelcome.

She couldn't deny the fact that even after recent events like Joseph's gruesome death and the discovery of Ken's mutilated body, her recent encounter with one of Joseph's potential ambushers and being able to walk away from a close encounter with death, she felt… good, alive; giving her a slight smile on her face.

However, that smile quickly faded away as a disturbing thought instantly came to mind.

That child in the victim portfolio, Harry… were these "monsters" the last thing he—

She quickly rejected the thought. She couldn't think of that now.

Before she could think of anything else, a humanoid figure raised from the murky waters of the bathtub itself. Jill was able to look at it directly through the mirror as it appeared right behind her, quickly turning her back to see the zombie reaching out to her in a slow, guttural moan, smelling like decayed fecal matter inside a sewage system.

Its appearance looked more grotesque than any of the other ones she's seen. It has been laying inside the dirty, stagnant water for God knows how long. Its flesh had begun to peel off all around its face, arms, and shoulders, revealing decaying muscle and bone tissue all over, its former human appearance was almost completely gone.

With only one arm raised, the walking corpse suddenly tripped on the edges of the bathtub and landed directly underneath her feet, with a gross wet sound generated as it hit the ground. It desperately tried grabbing her right foot to satisfy its deathly hunger and Jill immediately hovered over, using the sink as support to raise her feet above the ground. She used this to her advantage as she used her left boot to violently stomp on the wet creature's head, crushing it like a soft, rotten melon, spilling all sorts of red, mushed brain matter all over the ground.

Not being able to hold it any longer, Jill hurried to the unused toilet to throw up in the process. It was probably the most disgusting thing she has ever done, seen, and smelled before in her whole twenty-three years of her life.

Jill stepped back into the silent hallway, taking deep breaths in the process as she tried to forget what just happened inside the bathroom.

There goes my boot… Now it'll probably smell like shit for weeks now.

There was no time to pity herself on her lack of care with her boots or apparel. She was stuck in a monster-infested mansion now. If she ever survives this and heads back to her place, she'll have to take multiple showers and her current uniform will need repeated cycles of deep cleaning regardless.

She took a sharp turn and saw another pair of windows, which she quickly tried avoiding at all costs. There was a table in the center, but even if there was some huge furniture in the way, there was nothing that could stop those dogs from jumping through with enough force to push them out of the way.

Passing through another sharp turn, she came across two different doors; one led to a dead-end at another room, while the other to the right led to where she needed to go. She stood there for a moment, wondering if Barry had found Frank and if either them or Chris had found any Bravos by now. She was quickly reminded about Frank still having that small device he was given by Jason Hudson and wondered if he'd found any useful information out of it. For all she knew, it could also have the blueprints of the mansion itself and if that was the case, both she and Woods were at an advantage and could potentially make things a bit quicker.

God, I hope he's alright…

He had to be. If there was anything to go by was the fact that he and Alex Mason are Korean and Vietnam War vets and former CIA agents as well. For someone with that type of experience, there was little to nothing that could stop them from surviving this hellhole of a house. Or at least that's what she tried to convince herself anyway.

Again, don't start making assumptions now. This place is unpredictable. Anything can happen.

She turned to the right and tried the handle, rewarding her with the soft click of a retracting bolt.

She had stepped into a dark, almost unlit hall. Across the other end was one of those undead freaks, only revealing itself as a pale shadow standing next to a wooden door, maybe a few meters away. Raising her weapon with the intent to put it down for good, the zombie started toward her, making low inhuman sounds of hunger from its rotting lips. Jill could see the eagerness behind its drunken actions as it moved its fingers in excitement of potential prey in its vicinity, raising its skeletal arms as it did, moving almost faster than a crawling toddler.

The head. Aim for the head!

The shots inside were astonishingly loud, brightening up the entire gloomy room as each shot was being made. The first shot blew off part of its left, rotting cheek. The second and third shots punched holes just above its upper lip, breaking whatever teeth it had left as dark red fluids streamed down on its decayed chin. The zombie did not feel as though it was injured or in pain and kept moving at the same pace, ignoring her previous shots as it continued forward.

With one last shot, this time, it was a direct hit through its skull, just above the ridge of its nose and it fell to its knees, hitting flat on the ground with lifeless eyes rolling back into its head.

Similar shuffling movements were heard in the back corner of the hall inside the shadows to the right, exactly where she needed to go. Jill kept her gun aimed at the gloomy corner of the hall and waited for it to move within sight, her entire body filled with tension, being able to hear her own heartbeat louder than the slow, wet footsteps themselves.

How many of them are there?

As soon as the zombie made its appearance out of its own pale shadow through the dim lights of the hall itself, she fired quickly, the Samurai Edge slightly jumping in her sweating hands.

The second and final shot, punctured directly into its right eye, the zombie now immediately collapsing on its back, the violent scene of its decimated eyeball not sparing a single detail in front of her. Its skeletal face was filled with viscous matter of its destroyed body parts, spreading a small pool of blood around its head.

Jill waited, her gun still trained blankly into the darkness of the corridor, but other than two dead corpses in front of her, nothing moved or made a sound.

With her stomach already becoming less resistant the longer she stayed inside a place of death and decomposition, she began breathing through her mouth, avoiding the horrible stench of rotting corpses lying on the ground as she hurried into the back of the corridor, turning right and down into a tight, narrow space, leading to a rusted, metal gate that allowed her to see the light of the night sky.

Seeing no monsters around, she headed out and a bigger flood of fresh air washed over her face, warm, clean, and the pleasant odor of wet dirt after the disgusting smell of the morgue-like, chilly house. Jill's face grew to a grin, feeling a sense of accomplishment as she heard the calming sounds of crickets and cicadas in the night air. The passage was lined with thick limestone walls, covered in leaves and vines from an overgrown garden all around. She was still on high alert as anything could jump out through the open spaces to the outside view, but hearing no growls or howls around made her feel slightly more confident and determined.

She took out the mansion's map and guessed where they could go next.

Alright, so first and foremost, this path is secured now. If we can head north and hit one of the logging roads, we can use that to hike down to the barricade in large groups, assuming the mansion's facade is facing toward the city limits.

As she tucked the parchment inside one of her pockets, she quickly made her way towards the only door that led to a small room, most likely a storage shed if the mansion still held any decent construction standards.

The strange, metal-looking door made her smile fade into nothingness as she blankly stared at it, becoming more frustrated as the mansion loved purging out surprises at every turn possible. As expected, the door refused to open. However, there was no keyhole or any sort of carving anywhere to suggest how she could unlock the door, until she saw an octagonal depression to her left, carved on a metal plate placed at an acute angle inside a clean-cut metal slab installed inside the limestone wall. Jill struggled to read the small text next to it, wishing she hadn't dropped her flashlight during the struggle against those mutant dogs outside. Brushing off the thin layer of dust, she began to try reading it again.

THE DEFILER OF THE ACCURSED COFFIN.

She frowned.

Accursed coffin? That doesn't explain much at all…

For all she knew, it could mean virtually anyone already dead may have whatever thing it uses, buried with them.

The map did show there was a cemetery just ahead through the main hall, but if the key to open this door was buried within, she'd have to go looking for a shovel to dig up each site.

Which I'd have to find first.

But even if she did find a shovel elsewhere, it would take ages to exhume the entire graveyard just to look for one specific item.

And what if it isn't there? What if whoever had taken the object to open this door hid it elsewhere in the mansion?

Suddenly, a lone howl rose at a far distance and was joined by the echoing howls of the dogs that were near the mansion, who may be aware that they were all still inside the house somewhere. There had to be dozens of them out there and Jill suddenly realized that escaping through the back door wasn't exactly such a good idea to begin with, even if she did have the octagonal-shaped object to open the metal door, let alone find it in a gravesite where they could immediately ambush her if they wanted to.

She had very limited ammo and no doubt that there were more ghoulish creatures wandering around the dark corners of the mansion, shuffling about in hungry, mindless silence as they searched for their next lost meal…

She sighed heavily, already dreading the horrible stench she was about to experience once again, trying to prepare herself for the hazards that seemed to lurk at every corner.

The STARS were trapped.