evolution-500 - I'm very glad you're enjoying Rebecca's character in this fanfic, along with the crimson head additions! With that in mind, I at least now know some of the specifics of what I'm doing good with the story so far. :D

Recommended BGM:

1. Resident Evil (1996) & Director's Cut (DualShock Ver.) - Forest is Dead

2. Resident Evil (1996) & Director's Cut (DualShock Ver.) - Completed Picture Puzzle

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Echoes of the Damned

Chapter 14

Forest Speyer was dead. The vivid, laughing Southern joyful boy with his old worn-out clothes and chuckling grin was no more.

Woods and Chris stared down at the slumped corpse on an iron patio chair, an impostor who resembled almost nothing like what Chris had known about Forest for years, the ghostly whistling of the wind through the second-story balcony, gusting towards their lost, disgusted faces, a sound that Forest would no longer be able to hear; never being able to hear anything ever again.

"I– I'm sorry, Chris…" Woods didn't know what else to tell him. He's seen death in the face many times before, and many of his men from over the years had died on the battlefield for the freedom of their country, for him… He knew exactly what he must be feeling, but words could never describe the vast emptiness that consumes you after every friend and brother that die in the line of duty.

Chris crouched next to his unmoving body, carefully picking up the dropped Beretta next to him to examine it, promising himself he wouldn't look up close to him. He ejected the magazine and found there were only five bullets to spare. As he reached in to search through his belt pack, he found himself meeting his fixed gaze on the terrible emptiness of frozen agony etched into his face, his eyes devoid of any joy or life he once had.

"Jesus, man. What happened to you?" He said softly, his voice slightly cracking as he tried holding on to his emotions. Woods remained standing, looking down grimly at Forest's body and a miserable Chris.

Forest's corpse was covered in blood with many small one-two inch wide wounds, along with dozens of small, lined scratches amongst other minor wounds. Though it was apparent that these small wounds weren't the lethal ones that killed him. It seemed as though there was an abnormally large gape on the left side of his abdomen, exposing his broken ribcage with skin and muscle showing missing chunks as if he was cut open with a dull rusty knife, hundreds of times around the same area. His killers were as brutal and merciless as the eyeless gaze it hinted with the lack of life and soul it had.

There were three spare clips he had in his pack, offering a couple to Woods, which he softly denied as he himself already had a shotgun to work with, alongside a dozen shells to spare. Chris silently shoved the magazines into his pocket and quickly stood up with terror still etched onto his expression, finally looking away at the horrible sight in front of them.

Woods saw something of interest, laying underneath the chair Forest's corpse was resting on. It was white and polished enough to shine by the only light above them.

A key!

But it wasn't just any other key. It had a similar shape to the key he had found back in the armor trap room on the third floor, wondering if Forest had been the one that may have already passed the trap's test or if the trap itself was mainly used as a lure to kill any curious intruder, wanting to get ahold of one of the mansion's keys. Examining it thoroughly, he found that there was an engraving of an armor on one side of the key, which was definitely the right key that was needed to unlock that one door on the first floor he had first seen much earlier when he had locked himself out of the dining room.

"Hey, Redfield. I found a key that may be of use for— Chris?" He had turned his head to face him, only to realize he was now running aimlessly at the other end of the balcony that turned to the left. Fearing he was now blinded with a sudden haze of fury in search of who or what had killed his best friend, he immediately rushed to his location.

"Redfield! Hold up!"

He ignored Frank completely as he did not say a single word and just groaned in frustration, mad at the insane place that robbed the life of his sharpshooter buddy. Chris didn't want to believe it, but he had already lost half of his friends from STARS.

And I'll be damned if I let anyone else die here…

There was a sudden noise of a pot breaking against the concrete ground and both Alphas turned to face the corner they had just passed. It was then followed by a loud, guttural moan, sounding just as monstrous as the deathly creatures they have encountered throughout the mansion, and a constant sound of heavy footsteps was heard, stomping the ground with great fury.

The humanoid shape appeared out of the corner and both STARS members couldn't believe what they were just seeing.

No…

The impostor that was seen, slumped against one of the balcony's patio chairs was now up and dashing, its frozen face of agony now turned into a skeletal, lifeless being; an embodiment of a hungry beast with ghastly hollow eyes, haunted by the evil spirit of the virus that his own killers may have given him when they attacked.

"This… this can't be!"

Chris froze in place, not knowing if he should put him out of his misery. Even if there was any shed of light that Forest might still be trapped in his own body, his mind had already become twisted on feasting on their flesh and there was no known cure for whatever virus Umbrella may have experimented with.

But it couldn't be any more surreal.

His wounds had to be lethal enough for him to be dead for good, yet his own corpse was already on a rampage against him and Frank. There was nothing they could do to save him as it was already too late the moment his attackers decided to brutally murder him right then and there.

"Watch out!" Woods warned him just before he grabbed Chris by the hip with both arms and lunged forward beside the undead Forest, who tried to grapple and bite a mournful Chris, saving Chris from a certain fate.

"C'mon!" Woods continued, helping Chris get up, who was still in a state of sudden shock, not being able to believe that his own best friend had just become one of the many ghouls that now inhabited the insane house they were all in. "We gotta go! Now!"

Both of them ran all the way back to where they came from, but before they could open the door back to the main hall, Chris stopped himself in his tracks, listening to Forest's loud unnatural moan, his voice faintly familiar to the one he used to have when he was still fully alive with spirit.

"NO! I…I can't just leave him like this!" He exclaimed, looking back through the glass, seeing Forest's shadow of his former self, mournfully. "He is… was my best friend. I just … can't!"

Woods looked at him, empathetically. He had lost friends before, but to see your own best friend become one of those same monsters roaming about… he now couldn't even imagine what Chris must be going through, looking at his friend's bloodied corpse, eager to feast on them.

To think if Mason was Speyer himself…

—no! Now's not the time! You have a teammate that needs your damn help!

"I'll do it," said Woods as he cocked his gun. "Speyer was your best friend, right? You shouldn't have to do this on your own."

Chris nodded, trying his best not to have a mental breakdown.

They stepped out to the balcony once more and Forest's pale corpse came into view as both men began firing at him in the head. Two shots have impacted against his now decomposing upper cheeks and another pair have blown a part of his nose off, shredding it into small fleshy pieces, blood oozing through the bullet holes he had received.

However, he was not going down easily as the gunshots didn't do virtually anything to stop him in his tracks. The creature that was once Forest lunged itself towards Chris as it moaned inhumanely and just before it could get a good grip on him, Chris fired immediately, this time, towards the center of his forehead, instantly putting him down for good.

The corpse immediately went limp against Chris' right shoulder, suddenly feeling the cold, dead body of his own fallen comrade. Instead of shoving it in disgust, much like how he'd do with any other ghoul, he carefully placed his corpse against the ground, looking back at him with a deep, mournful look in his eyes, staring back down at another torn and lifeless body; another victim to the insanity of the mansion itself, the victim being that of an old friend of his.

"I'll miss our targeting practice sessions, buddy …" he murmured, frowning. "I promise your death won't be in vain. They'll pay for what they've done to you and everyone else out here."

Woods patted Chris on the shoulder. "I can't imagine the shit you're going through right now, but you did the right thing for him."

Chris didn't give eye contact and continued staring blankly at the corpse on the ground below him.

"I hope so…" he said, sounding subdued. "He was such a great guy and one of the best people I've ever known. I just can't believe that—"

CAW. CAW.

The wailing cries of a bird were heard someplace close by, followed by a sudden wave of fluttering wings somewhere above the sky.

Crows!

That fully explains it. Those jagged wounds all over Forest's body had to be from the claws and talons of a flock of crows that might've caught him by surprise and …

…suddenly, a group of crows appeared from above the roof and underneath the balcony of the mansion, surrounding both Woods and Chris, all circling the duo.

"Shit! Redfield, now we really need to go!" Woods shouted at him, his voice barely audible by the loud rising noises generated by the flock that was circling all around them seemingly staring back at them as their next meal of the night. "Run!"

At least a couple flew right past them, and both of the Alphas could see a small glimpse of what they looked like up close, their eyes dark in color and their bodies were unusually bloated for a normal crow to be; a direct indication that these might've been the same crows that attacked and feasted upon Forest.

Chris wanted to kill them all here and there for murdering his other best friend he thought he'd have left, after Joseph's savage death. However, the rising wailing cries of the dark shadows that could only be seen from the birds themselves, made him think twice before doing so and without hesitation, he immediately ran for cover, following Frank back to the door that led into the main hall.

You idiot! Get your head out of your ass and start making more rational decisions or else you'll join in the growing list of victims here.

Chris couldn't stop himself from mentally kicking himself in the butt, knowing that any mistake could potentially cost him or even Frank's life if he wasn't careful enough. He had his mind made up to go out on a rampage and kill just about anything on sight after discovering Ken's dead body. If it wasn't for Frank, he'd probably be dead right now twice over.

"How ya holdin' up?" Asked Woods, concerned for his teammate as Chris looked like he'd taken a great beating.

Chris took a deep breath and looked him directly in the eyes, "If it weren't for you, I would've joined Forest by now."

"You're alive," he calmly reassured him. "That's all that matters."

Chris nodded back. He was definitely happy for them to still be alive and be able to do something about this whole mess they were still in. He'd promised that no matter what happens, their dead teammates wouldn't have died for nothing. He'll have to be more careful this time, but if it means putting himself in danger in order to save others and expose the truth behind the whole "accident"...

So be it.

KRAA!

Jill stuck out her Samurai Edge in response to the sound, the shrieking echoing call from something close all around as the door closed behind her, disturbing the peace to whatever was inside the room. Looking up ahead and around to examine the source, she then relaxed, smiling nervously as she noticed the source of the noise.

What are they doing inside here?

There was a flock of crows perched along two support beams for the track lighting that ran the length of the room.

Another pair of large black birds let out some spine-chilling shrieks, making Jill jump a bit in response. There had to be a dozen of them, possibly more, ruffling their feathers and watching her every step with bright, dark eyes as she quickly surveyed the room for any other possible threats; it was clear.

Surely Barry had come in here before, right? Or am I just imagining things?

The cold, U-shaped room she had just entered was as cold as the house could get, devoid of any furniture. It appeared to be some sort of viewing hall, an art room of sorts. There were black feathers scattered across the polished marble floor, along with dried splashes of bird droppings, and Jill began to wonder how did the crows get inside and for how long have they been trapped inside. There was something ominous about the flock of crows. They seemed bigger than your average crow, and they stared at her with an unusual disturbing amount of intensity.

Instead of the room being filled with oil paintings, they were all pictures etched upon colored-stained glass. There seemed to be nothing of special meaning behind the glass artwork. Though it appeared that the first and third gallery artworks from the direction of the door were stained in yellow, while the second one in the middle was stained in a scarlet-like color.

The first was of a young man holding a sword as he wore a thick bracelet, resembling a valiant. The second one was of an elderly man wearing a necklace that stood out the most as he wrote on a book with a quill, greatly describing what a sage is. The third was of a middle-aged man holding a staff as he sat staring at the sky, his crown being the only thing standing out the most as well, which most likely represented a saint.

All this didn't tell Jill much, but one thing that caught her eye was that there were switches beneath the color-stained glasses. She imagined they were the controls for the lighting of each picture, but she couldn't even begin to think about who would go through so much trouble just to construct an elaborate gallery that isn't as creative as the gallery she'd seen where that blue statue of a woman was located. Even then, none of the artwork she's seen in the mansion thus far was inspirational, original, or imaginative.

Frowning, she looked back at the door and then saw something she'd missed earlier.

It was an actual painting that was located just on the right side of the entrance. As she got a closer look at the painting, it did not look vivid or evocative, but it wasn't an awful one either. It showed three people standing in front of a dimming sun, surrounding a grave with only a cross attached on top of it, looking grimmer if anything. There was a small plate underneath that titled the painting. It read;

BRING THE LIGHT OF TRUTH TO THE THREE SPIRITS

There was no switch underneath the painting, and Jill decided to move ahead to the other side of the room, hoping the small, shrieking cries of the crows weren't a sign of them getting agitated as a response to her current presence inside the empty room.

Alright, girl. Focus. You know there are death traps inside the mansion now. Don't do anything stupid. Who knows if these crows are just as hostile as everything else you've seen so far.

Carefully walking past the lines of crows, watching her every move, she stumbled upon another stained-glass picture, this time, everything seemed discolored, except three different things that the beautiful lady in the artwork was wearing; a green crown, purple necklace, and a red bracelet. Underneath the glass, there was a switch and it was titled;

LISA PROTECTED BY THREE SPIRITS

Oh! I think I get it now!

Knowing how elaborate this whole thing was, yet how simple it seemed to figure out, she definitely had a feeling that if anyone were to flip the wrong switch or if they somehow managed to do this incorrectly, something terrible would happen inside the room. Maybe another ceiling trap? Moving walls? Who knew…

But it didn't explain why there were crows inside the room anyway. Who even let them inside or were they trained to stay in this room and attack any potential intruder that may get the puzzle incorrectly? Maybe some sort of loud noise or high-pitched sound would make them go on a rampage…

Whatever the case was, she decided against flipping the switch on the Lisa picture and proceeded to experiment with the lighting on the other three color-stained glasses. She was fearful that even if one wrong switch is flipped, something wrong could happen to her.

Maybe the order in which the lighting should be handled, mattered?

There were switches on both sides of each glass frame. She didn't know what switch to use first, but she had to at least give it a try on at least one or two of them. With tensed muscles and sweating hands, she hesitantly flicked a switch sideways on the valiant picture that was right next to the main glass frame of Lisa.

As she flicked it, the light on top that overlooked the frame immediately came to life, shining the glass in pure golden-like color. She half-expected the crows to be flying around after her, but all they did was slightly flutter their wings in response to the light turning on without much warning.

Jill didn't move for about almost a whole minute, already half-scared to death about the mansion itself killing her rather than the mutant creatures themselves doing the dirty work for it. With nothing happening around the environment, she proceeded to flick another switch carefully underneath the sage picture, which in turn, lit up the spotlight above, shining the glass with blue light, giving the glass frame a purple color.

With her heart still heavily pounding from trying to expect the unexpected, again, nothing happened around her. The crows were still in their place, the room was as still as ever, and there was no change in temperature inside the room, in case she thought about the trap being an entire cooking oven.

After a whole minute had passed, she finally gave a deep sigh, relaxing her muscles as she then started to take a good look at the lighting for each of the glass frames, thinking to herself.

Okay … Well, apparently, nothing bad seems to happen so far. I just need to put these in their right colors and then I'm good to go with pushing the switch on the main glass artwork.

As she began experimenting with the switches and lighting, she finally managed to put them in their respective colors and once she went back to the main glass frame, she pushed the switch underneath it, praying it wasn't going to do something that could end up killing her, despite the fact that she was sure enough that each glass with their signature object was lit with proper lighting on them.

Without a warning, the entire wall in front of her began moving upward, making Jill shiver for a moment. A wave of fresh air and wet dirt swept inside the room. Looking back at the crows, they were still sitting in their respective places, the room itself didn't move, but the wall that used to be in front of her.

Apparently, it was some sort of secret exit; a shortcut to the cemetery connecting directly to the back of the mansion.

Not bad, Jilly. Not bad at all.

Feeling somewhat proud of herself, she thought for a moment about how would a colorblind even be able to solve such a puzzle. It'd be virtually impossible for them to even know the difference between the color-stained glass frames.

Shoving the thought aside, she took a deep breath of fresh night woodland air of victory, already seeing the cemetery just behind the iron fence. At least there were no undead creatures walking around the vicinity. Just in front of her laying on the moss-covered concrete ground was a mask of some sort. As she picked it up, it looked extremely creepy with a missing mouth, almost deathly-like.

She began wondering why anyone would leave a mask lying there, and for what purpose it actually served. It was too small to even use as a proper mask so she suspected it had some sort of other use for it.

Maybe it has something to do with the missing object from the back door?

She couldn't tell, but knowing how complex the design and structure of the mansion really is so far, she wasn't able to put it out of the question. She finally decided to hold on to it until something required it somehow, tucking it away inside one of her packs.

As she walked towards the gate leading to the cemetery, she tried opening it but refused to do so, seemingly locked, and although there was no special key required from what she could tell, she figured it could be solved by some quick lockpicking, taking out her picks and easily being able to unlock it with just a few clicks inside a row of tumblers.

Easy peasy.

She was now officially outside as she made her way through the gate. The woods were as still as ever and the howls of distant dogs were still heard, apparently having not given up their potential meals that were still inside the mansion. With her now on the other side of the house, she hoped those same dogs didn't pay close attention to whoever would be in the back of the place. Despite the fact that the cemetery was closed in, surrounded by tall iron fences, she'd have to be as sneaky as possible, avoiding shooting her gun as much as possible if she wished not to grab unnecessary attention from the creatures living outside in the woods.

There were various gravestones everywhere. Most of them were unnamed and unmarked, but a lot of them had various carvings of angels and crosses over them. If any of these graves had the key to getting out of here, it'd be excruciating to even think about exhuming each and every one of them.

Then again, she was not looking forward to encountering any potential slumbering zombies underneath the ground, waiting for their meal to come nearby and grab them by the foot, which made her even more nervous than she already was. She knew it only happens in cartoons and horror movies, but seeing that virtually anything in this insane place is possible, she couldn't shake away the idea of that ever happening.

Through the center at the end of the cemetery, there was a much bigger gravestone than any of the ones surrounding it. However, it looked as though it was an entrance to a particular tomb. Curious as to what was inside, she slowly crept in, the stairs extending almost what seemed to be the center of the earth itself. The place was becoming hotter in temperature as she descended into what appeared to be the depths of hell itself, everything lit up with fire sconces and a few other sources of fire behind bars that looked as though they could consume the entire place in just minutes. Sounds of some sort of weird machinery were echoing louder as she descended with each step. She wasn't all too familiar with what it was. As far as she knew, tombs don't usually have automated machinery of any sort to keep them maintained.

Down inside the crypt, it felt extremely hot, struggling for a moment to take in some air as the drastic change in temperature was too much for her to handle. A wave of sudden humidity and decomposing bio-organic matter flew inside her, almost making her throw up in the process.

After being able to finally see what was inside deep underground, she noticed there were four statues on the left, all facing a small pedestal in the back of the crypt, containing some sort of blue thick book with a coffin suspended on top by four different chains on the brick walls.

Becoming a bit worried and anxious, she walked towards the pedestal, close enough to see the book was fitted inside an indentation, most likely screaming trap at her. It was titled, "Book of Curses".

That doesn't sound like a "pick me up and I'll curse you for life" type of thing at all.

She hesitated for a moment and then proceeded to think a bit more logically through her blinding anxiety and fears that were trying to fog her mind entirely.

If I learned one thing from this place is to never go around and take anything out of its place at random, unless you know for sure it's not gonna kill you.

The worst thing that could happen right now is if that coffin on top starts to collapse onto her or she gets trapped inside somehow. Though she also thought about what if she immediately put it back in its place and then she could see whether or not anything out of the ordinary gets triggered for a short moment and then deactivated afterward.

No longer thinking twice about it, she quickly took out the book, put it back inside immediately after, ran away, and stood still for a moment.

Nothing happened at all. The machinery inside was still doing its own thing, and the fire behind the large iron bars was still burning at the same rate as usual.

Or maybe I'm already being more paranoid and the only trap in the whole place was just that stupid ceiling trap all along…

Jill was still cautious about it and proceeded to grab the book again, this time, no longer putting it back immediately after. Again, nothing happened and with a slight relief, she proceeded to examine the book. On the back cover, there was a hollow indentation of a missing key that most likely belonged there, but she couldn't be sure what the key could've been used for. As she opened the book, she hoped that by opening the book itself, she didn't just so happen to have released an ancient evil curse or something else of that nature.

There was nothing written on almost all of the pages, except the last couple of pages that were printed with some sort of vague writing.

The four masks,

a mask that speaks no evil…

a mask that smells no evil…

a mask that sees no evil…

a mask that cannot speak, smell, or see evil…

When all four fall into place,

evil will awaken.

Jill closed the book, still thinking about what she had just read.

So, the mask I have with me right now must be a part of those statues lined up on the wall, right?

It all made sense to her.

The cursed coffin that the inscription talked about next to the back door, most likely meant the coffin that was suspended on top with chains holding it in place. She deduced that the chains were a part of some sort of mechanism that was connected directly to the statues, with the masks most likely working as a key to releasing said chains.

And the key to getting out of here must be inside that coffin!

However, her quick excitement was cut short as now that meant she needed to find an additional three different masks, which made things even worse for her as now, they needed to find more objects to gain access to one other key object.

The idea of finding one certain item inside a maze like the mansion was almost an impossible feat in itself. Now add three more items to the list of missing things… It was an actual kid's living nightmare, especially when the entire estate is still filled with monsters around every corner.

Groaning in frustration, she took out the one mask she had with her and applied it to the statue that had a missing mouth. Without a second's notice, it quickly activated some sort of metal mechanism behind the wall and one of the chains holding the coffin in place ripped apart, spilling thick oozes of dark blood from inside the coffin, as though the chain itself was directly attached to the corpse that was resting inside.

"Yuck!" She exclaimed, trying not to look at it any further.

Whatever was inside the coffin, it was probably not decomposed all the way yet if it was spilling that much blood. They must've recently died not that long ago. Though the real question was, if the corpse was still fresh, who even thought about going through all this trouble making such a thing just for one corpse, and if anything, who designed the entire thing this quick anyway? Or has it always been like this?

So many questions, yet no answers at all.

With nothing else to go forward with, she quickly ascended back to the surface, glad to take in the much cooler night air, even though it was still warmer compared to the inside of the mansion itself. The smell of nature itself relaxed her enough to be able to casually take a good look at the mansion's map once again.

Starting from here, she could go back to the corridor in which she last saw the gallery door opened, and see if she could do a thorough search upstairs from there, now knowing what exactly to look for.

She hoped she could run into any of her teammates by now, telling them of her discoveries. Or if she was lucky enough, maybe one of them may have already found a random death mask and thought to themselves what to do with them.

With a slight smile of optimism etched on her face, she proceeded to do as she planned.

Author's Note: This chapter was mostly atmospheric and puzzle-like, but I think the overall theme that this chapter brings perfectly describes the whole fanfic in a basic nutshell; the dire and morbid situation these characters have found themselves in. When writing this chapter for the first time, I was actually proud of myself for how I managed to pull it off. I'm not good at being entirely descriptive or symbolic, but I feel like I did a decent enough job in that department, and so I do hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)