Recommended BGM:
1. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) - Complete Rest
2. Dino Crisis (1999) - To the Communication Room
3. Resident Evil 4 (2005) - The Enemy
Chapter 18
After wandering about through the first floor in the west wing, the door that Woods had come across earlier had already been opened, or in other words, completely destroyed, much like the one he had tried to open the first time he had entered the corridor that smelled a lot like a battlefield bathed in the rays of the burning sun. A small blood trail had led directly inside the room, with a crimson zombie's corpse collapsed to the ground, dead, with a broken liquor bottle struck into its fragile skull. Other than the dead zombie, there was nothing else inside, except for the bronze emblem inside a small narrow space. He remembered seeing the same bronze emblem in the dining room, which had been seemingly replaced by the gold emblem that was currently now in its former place.
"Guessin' this is where Aiken and Chambers first discovered a way to get ahold of the mask they found," Woods speculated, his voice letting out a sense of exhaustion and of slight annoyance as he found his return to be of a waste of time on the now broken armor-carved door.
"Right," Chris responded as he began checking out the grand piano inside the room, filling him with full curiosity since he had never seen one up close before. "How much do you think this would've cost?"
"'Bout close to a hundred-k in today's money, give or take," Woods guessed. He never cared much for expensive stuff, especially when it came to his line of work, but he couldn't deny the fact of how perfect the piano looked, given its condition compared to other furniture inside the mansion.
Chris sat down for a short moment and began pressing random keys, wishing he knew how to play the piano himself, let alone read music of any sort. Most of the keys felt stiff, almost as if some sort of thing inside the piano was trying to hold them in place. Only a few felt extremely light. He didn't know exactly what a piano should feel like, but it definitely didn't feel right for him, or at least he didn't imagine the keys to be the way they felt.
"Really wish I knew a thing or two about all this," he stated as he stood up, annoyed by his lack of knowledge in reading and playing music. "By the way, is there anything, in particular, I should know about you or Alex?"
Frank raised an eyebrow as he turned back out from the narrow space which housed the emblem's depression. "What're you talkin' about?"
Chris couldn't find the right words, but he tried his best to explain himself, still wondering quite a lot of things about the two former CIA agents.
"Well, considering what happened to you back in the main hall and the strange behavior Alex was showing to both of us… something bad must've happened to both of you. And I don't mean about the things happening to us right now. I mean like… before either of you became STARS. I'm concerned about him… about you…"
Woods felt like a sharp knife had struck him directly into the stomach. Their true intentions of joining STARS were already slowly coming to light as their current rescue mission, or what has now become their mission for survival, progressed. His blinding headaches of memories coming back to haunt him was only a matter of time before anyone close to him connected the dots and with Mason potentially becoming compromised, if Hudson was of any reliable leads, it was going to be even more trouble to hide their main objective about having joined STARS.
Should I tell Redfield about it?
Hudson's warning kept repeating itself inside his mind, troubling him even further that he couldn't trust anyone in STARS. Not even his own best friend for that matter. At last, he made his final decision.
"No," he said firmly as he slowly marched his way towards the only exit out of there. "There's nothing worth mentioning, other than the fact that we should get the hell outta here. Nothing left for us to do here anyway."
Chris frowned, dissatisfied with the answer given to him as he knew there was more than Frank let on. But nonetheless, he nodded and moved on to suggesting their next move.
"There's a door I remember coming across with Alex, which required the armor key. Maybe we could go check it out?"
"Lead the way," said Woods as he raised one arm towards the exit, stepping aside for Chris to pass by.
Chris walked past him as Frank stayed right behind him. Both headed through the door leading to the F-shaped corridor and back inside the other hall that led upstairs. To their left was the same door, Chris had first seen an armor-carved lock in the building. Frank proceeded to unlock it and both men raised their weapons as Frank slowly turned the knob, keeping their guard up in case there were any surprises waiting for them on the other side.
Much to their relief, there was nothing that screamed danger as the duo noted that it was merely just a study, albeit with a lot of things packed inside, as if it were used like another storage room instead.
"So much junk thrown everywhere," stated Chris as he looked to the left corners of the room, abandoned furniture all piled up lazily to the side, all of it covered in filth and cobwebs.
Frank walked towards the back of the room, his gaze caught on the only drawer in front of them, with the only lamp in the room facing the wall, shining the entire room with a weak reflecting shade of yellow light against the dusty wall. The wall itself hung three small framed pictures of what seemed to be some sort of landscapes from elsewhere in either Africa or the Middle East.
When he reached the drawer to see what was housing inside, there was a spare magazine for his sidearm, which he gladly took since Chris had quite a handful of spares for himself to use already. On top of the drawer was an opened book, covered in a thin layer of filth which he rubbed off, trying not to breathe it in the process. There was nothing in particular, besides information about different types of viruses he himself couldn't understand much about.
"Anything?" Asked Chris, who was holding a large firearm in his hand, or what seemed to be a replica of one.
Woods shook his head. "Just your standard issue high school textbook about virology and biochemistry. You?"
Chris looked back at the filthy shelf he was investigating, frowning. "Aside from dusty expensive-looking furniture and what I thought was a real Winchester shotgun, nothing. …Wait." Something had caught the corner of his eye and looked back to double-check exactly what it was inside a small silver goblet that was stored on the shelf. As he reached in, he found what it actually was, making him smile all of a sudden. "Found a flash grenade!"
Woods rubbed his head, thinking why would there even be a flash grenade inside there, to begin with. It was almost as if the residents of this house were all paranoid maniacs, somehow knowing this whole mess would've most likely happened at some point in time.
And then another massive headache came along once more by surprise, making him slump against the drawer behind him, hitting his back hard as he grunted in pain mostly caused by the sudden throbbing pain coming in and out of his head continuously with no end.
"Frank!" Chris yelled as he crouched next to him, wrapping an arm around him as he quickly grabbed Woods' right arm, helping him stand up and get to the room on the other side where Rebecca nursed Richard back to health. "Come on, Frank! You can get through this! I know you're strong!"
His grunts started to turn into screams, urging Chris to move him faster as he walked him across the hall and back into the other storage room where the bed was now unused and laid him there, hoping the pain would slowly go away.
But it wasn't stopping.
The pain was lasting a lot longer than before and Chris froze in place, not knowing what to do anymore. Should he go back and look for Rebecca to get help? Should he stay with him until his episode passes?
I have to do something!
Not long after, Frank fell silent and unmoving. Chris reached out to him, calling out his name to see if he were to respond somehow.
"…Frank? Frank?"
No response.
He leaned closer and checked to see if he had a pulse. Much to his horror, there was no pulse or breathing at all.
Oh no…!
As a STARS member and former Air Force pilot, they were trained with performing CPR in case of extreme emergencies and so he immediately went on to do as he was trained. He took away most of Franks' heavy gear and left him with just his dirty white rugged undershirt, giving him mouth to mouth twice after every several chest compressions.
"Come on Frank! Wake up!" He panted as a blind panic of terror began to settle in on him for every chest compression he tried to do. "Godammit! FRANK! COME ON!"
His body was still unmoving. His pulse was still gone and his face was already in a pale bluish color. A few drops of tears began moving across Chris' sweaty face. He was not giving up. He was not willing to lose another teammate. Not like this. Not ever again.
He kept performing CPR, even if it was becoming hopeless with every second that flew by.
"WAKE THE HELL UP, FRANK!"
After an excruciating amount of time, Woods finally gasped for air, coughing immediately for a few seconds. A few moments passed by after trying to get his bearings, and his weary eyes suddenly erupted in a widened shock of brief terror before finally staring back directly at a distraught, but relieved Chris. Woods' expression was suddenly showered in deep gratitude. Chris had just saved his life, but something inside of him had him both surprised and frightened at the same time. It wasn't fear of death itself, but rather, something else entirely.
"Redfield…?" He said slowly, still somewhat struggling to take in some air.
Chris smiled back at him, sitting in a chair next to him. "Thank God you're alright! You stopped breathing and your pulse ultimately stopped for almost a whole minute or two. How are you feeling?"
Woods took a glimpse at the gear laying on the floor and then looked at himself, now seeing that all the equipment laying there was all his as he was missing his dark green camo vest. He began rubbing his right temple as he slowly sat up with Chris trying to keep him from moving too much, almost to no avail.
"Feel like… a dozen elephants had stomped over my head and body. Not to mention my back is fuckin' killing me as well."
"You did hit yourself against the edges of the drawer in the room we were in just before," he explained.
"What room…? Agh!"
Woods grunted in pain once again, but it wasn't as bad as before.
"You should rest here in the meantime," Chris suggested, seeing that he was in no condition to continue doing their investigation.
"No!" Said Frank defiantly. "You ain't getting rid of me that easily."
Chris knew it wasn't going to be easy to convince a stubborn guy like Frank, but he had to at least try.
"You need to rest, Frank. I'm not going to simply let you go out like this in your current state—"
"I'm coming with and that's the end of it!" Woods interjected before sitting back up as he cursed at the pain he was feeling. He now seemed more determined than ever, as if he had just remembered something extremely important.
With Chris having no other choice, he proceeded to outright ask him about the main question he's had in his mind for so long.
"If you want to come, fine, but please be honest with me on something; is there a specific reason why you or Alex have joined STARS? You don't have to give me the full details, but considering what happened earlier, I think I should at least have the right to know about something."
Woods gave a deep sigh. He at least owed him that, considering he had just saved his life. It was a gamble he was going to make, but he ultimately decided to tell him anyway.
He had already remembered everything that happened in Angola…
The crypt was as humid and hot as it had always been, with a nasty mildewy smell coming along with it. Jill, Barry, and Mason weren't looking forward to what the last mask was going to reveal to them.
"So…" said Jill almost nervously. "You don't think there's a trapped zombie inside that coffin instead of a normal corpse? Or maybe …something worse?"
Mason shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
He proceeded to put on the last mask on the remaining statue without any eyes, nose, or mouth, as cautiously as he could, his hands already becoming sweaty from what they were about to witness as a result. Immediately after the mask was put in place, the last remaining chain suspending the coffin from the ceiling snapped out of place, and the coffin fell heavily to the ground, causing it to open up. The pedestal had been immediately crushed where the Book of Curses once stood. Dust particles quickly flew into the air around, fogging the entire area around the coffin which blocked most of their view.
All three of them stood still. No one dared to get any closer to it until the dust settled down just enough for them to be able to peer at what could be inside the coffin itself.
"Alright," said Barry as he readied his fully loaded custom magnum. "You both wait here while I go check it out."
"I'll come with you," Mason protested. "If there's anything dangerous inside, you may need the help."
Jill stared at them both, not wanting to feel entirely useless. "Wait, but—"
"Stay near our only exit out of here," stated Barry cautiously. "We don't want any more surprises."
Jill hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding at him. She understood that if for whatever reason a rabid canine or an unsuspecting zombie comes wandering about near their exit, she could clear their route out of there, in case something hazardous was inside the broken coffin.
Barry and Alex slowly marched towards the coffin, their guns readied as they inched closer to it, both feeling their hearts pounding progressively louder than the large mechanism doing its usual work with its huge gears and chains wrapped around it.
"Please let there be a key inside of some sort…" Mason thought to himself, hoping to simply grab what could've been hiding inside and simply get the hell out of there, securing his son's and Barry's family's safety. After that, he would then think about how to hunt down Wesker and his Umbrella idiots for messing around with the Mason name. "My name is Alex Mason! And I will have… my… revenge!"
Once they stepped just a couple of feet away from the coffin itself, they saw a red, but rotting corpse inside with ragged clothing, much like the crimson heads they have seen inside the mansion. Its hands were tied up in chains and shackles.
Except this one looked as though it had kept most of its hair with part of its scalp burned off as a result of something they did not know about. Part of its nose was missing, its claws were unusually bigger than the ones they have seen from other red zombie variants, and its face looked more skeletal as if it were already in its late stages of further decomposition. The horrible stench of death was probably the worst thing they had to endure out of any other monster that had been close enough for them to smell, making both of them gag for a moment.
"You both okay?!" Jill asked out of concern, seeing them gag from across the crypt.
"...Yeah," said Alex, trying to formulate an answer to her while trying to catch his own breath. "It's just that—"
There was a sudden clicking sound somewhere nearby and a gate immediately came crashing down next to Jill, their only way out now having been completely blocked off.
"What?!" Jill exclaimed, trying to investigate how could they get out of there now. "It won't budge!"
"So much for getting out," said Barry before there was a sound of an inhuman growl right behind him and Alex, startling them.
The corpse behind them had quickly come to life, its breath giving a green mist out of its terrible-looking mouth, mindlessly looking at the trio with its brightly white deathly eyes as its meal for the night. Its hands were no longer tied together, having just broken free from the chains and shackles with superhuman strength.
"Get back!" Alex commanded before running towards Jill's location and began firing at the elder crimson head.
"What in God's name is this thing!?" Said a distraught Barry, not believing that a zombie like this one could actually even exist. Then again, zombies, in general, did not exist for him before this mission became completely awry.
"Don't ask questions, just SHOOT!" Alex replied back and Barry did as he was told.
Jill did not wait for any orders, having already begun to unstrap her shotgun and get closer in range, enough to be able to deal massive damage against the dashing zombie, thundering pellets quickly rushing out of the barrel of her gun, hitting the angry zombie just about every corner in its body, spilling chunks of its rotten flesh and steaming blood, much like the one she had faced earlier inside the mansion.
The crimson zombie did not stagger at all with each shot it was receiving from the trio. Nothing seemed to stop it in its tracks before it began to immediately grab Barry without much warning, quickly attempting to take a large bite out of him. Its raw strength was almost too much for Barry to fight off.
"Need a little help here!" He yelled for his teammates almost anxiously as he tried his best to shove the decaying zombie off of him.
"No, Barry!" Jill screamed in response before slamming the butt of the shotgun directly against the monster's skull, dazing it for a brief amount of time, enough for Barry to push it back with all his might.
Alex hurried towards the staggered zombie and began shooting at it three times in its face, riddling it with steaming bulletholes right above its broken nose and decomposing cheeks, and kicked it to the ground before the zombie realized who was the one that had disfigured its already horribly burnt face. Before either of them could shoot it on the ground, it had already stood up at an instant's notice, quickly finding its balance before turning around and swiping its claws directly at Mason, in a failed attempt to slash him just before he rolled out of the way in response, merely missing him by inches. Alex was about to shoot it again before realizing something he hadn't reasonably expected to happen this early on.
Click. Click. Click.
"Shit! Out of ammo!" He exclaimed loudly in frustration. Jill and Barry began shooting at it as quickly as they could, but the powerful elder crimson proved how much strength and agility no other zombie had from what they've all seen so far, barely faltering with each thundering shot it had been receiving, immediately turning a one-eighty directly at Mason once again, this time, being able to grab and hold him tightly in its grip.
"FUCK!"
"Think fast!" Shouted Jill as she threw her stun gun directly at Alex, which he managed to catch perfectly with one hand while trying to buy himself time with the other as he desperately tried keeping the crimson head at bay. There was just enough time for him to be able to quickly discharge a powerful electric shock at one of the zombie's eyeballs, making it growl loudly in response as it let go of Alex, spasming uncontrollably.
Barry walked fearlessly towards the spasming creature and aimed his .44 directly at its deathly skull.
"Eat this," he said in a gruff, low voice. For a quick moment, he imagined the zombie to be Wesker, the same guy responsible for their current miseries, just before firing a single thundering shot at it, blowing apart almost half of its skull, organic matter spewing almost everywhere in the direction in which he shot the creature. It collapsed to the ground and with one final spasm, its chance at another life was now thrown away for good, its cooling body now unmoving as the remains of its skull began to bleed out profusely.
"Is everyone alright?" Asked Jill, seeing both Alex and Barry's faces showing signs of severe physical and mental exhaustion. Alex gave a slow, silent nod as he gave her a thumbs-up before holding his sore back as a result of having done a couple of feats he hadn't done in a while.
Meanwhile, Barry stood near the collapsed zombie, lost in his own thoughts as he stared at it almost fiercely. Jill saw behind Barry's eyes that something didn't seem right about him. It was as if the zombie itself had some sort of history with Barry, but she knew that whoever that zombie was as a person, no one trapped inside knew who he really was, other than him being just another victim of the hellish place itself.
"Barry…?" She said, concerned about him. "You okay?"
He didn't utter a single word to her for a long moment before he finally managed to break the awkward silence between them.
"Umbrella… they—" he turned his head around, his gaze now facing Jill with worry etched all over his exhausted face. "Do you think we'll be able to get any justice for …these people?"
Jill frowned. "We can worry about bringing justice to the victims and their families later. We can't exactly do that if we end up dead here in the first place."
Barry looked at her for a short moment longer before switching his gaze back to the dead corpse right in front of them. "I hope so…"
While the two had their short conversation, Mason took the opportunity to take a peek at what else was inside the coffin, discreetly. As he looked inside the empty, foul coffin, he found that there was an octagonal-shaped object, exactly the same description that matched what Wesker had told him and Barry back in the mansion's kitchen.
Excited, but resentful at the same time, he put the object inside one of his vest pockets and turned to see if either Barry or Jill had seen him handle something in his hand, which much to his relief, both of them hadn't even noticed him yet. His main concern was Jill becoming aware of their situation since he did not wish for her to be in harm's way, in case Wesker had plans to get rid of their other teammates for getting in his way.
As he looked back inside the coffin, there was a hidden switch inside. He didn't know what the switch was for, but seeing as though they had no other choice left, he pressed it nonetheless, which triggered a series of clicking sounds before the gate that blocked their way had now opened.
Jill and Barry turned to face the exit and back to Alex.
"Was that you?" Barry asked him.
Jill followed after. "How did you—?"
"There was a hidden switch inside the coffin," Alex explained. "I'm guessing when the crimson shithead moved out of place, it triggered the switch to close it down."
Jill nodded, but then she began to bite her upper lip for a short moment before she asked him about something else.
"Did you manage to find a key? An octagonal object or anything similar?"
Mason's heart skipped a beat after hearing her question, to which he tried calming himself down from the inside and slowly shook his head.
I'm lying… again. When is it ever going to end?!
"You sure?" She asked again, this time with some slight panic behind her tone. "Let me see."
Mason walked back towards Barry, giving the stun gun back to Jill as she proceeded to check out the rancid empty coffin, taking the quick opportunity to whisper something to Barry.
"Got it," he murmured to him as low as he could, but enough for Barry to hear him through the background noise of the giant mechanism inside. He took it out for Barry to have a quick peek before putting it away so Jill wouldn't accidentally see him with it.
Barry briskly nodded to him in response and Alex quickly thought of an idea to distract Jill long enough for them to get through the back door first than anyone else.
"Hey uh… Jill," he called for her attention. Jill stopped what she was doing and turned her head around to face him. Her face had a hint of desperation behind her bleak expression. "Why don't you go to the main foyer and wait for Chris and Frank to arrive? I had a quick talk with them a while back and they should be arriving there at any minute now. Barry and I will have a second look at the back door's lock to see what clue we may have overlooked."
"But… there is nothing else there, other than a clue about an 'accursed coffin', which I'm completely sure this was it. What else could we have missed?!"
Alex didn't have any clue or indication about where the emblem would've been if it wasn't for their wretched captain telling them about it first and foremost. Plus, he only knew about the general location of the estate's back door exit, but never personally ever went there himself. It was all one lie after another and he was starting to get sick of it at this point that he simply wanted to get it all over with once and for all.
Barry shrugged and interjected before Alex had the chance to say something else. "I don't know. But I still think it'd be best for you to go to the main hall and meet up with Chris and Frank while both of us go looking elsewhere for any other clues."
Mason continued. "If you like, you can wait for us there as well. If we don't come back, say ten or fifteen minutes from now, then you may want to start lookin'."
Jill looked at both men, seeing no reason as to why would they want her to stay behind and do nothing, while they continue investigating for more clues. There was something that wasn't adding up for her, but nonetheless, she hesitantly complied, hoping she could at least inform Frank and Chris about their current situation and where could they possibly go next from here since their only exit out of here was through the back door of the hellish place they were still trapped in.
"...Okay," she said after several seconds of an unusual silence between them, still feeling concerned and quite conflicted about the duo. "I'll inform them both about everything. Just… be careful." She then took out a spare clip that she had in one of her side packs, giving it to Alex.
"Will do," Alex reassured her as he reloaded his weapon while trying to hide his own fear of the consequences he and Barry will have to face at some point after their teammates find out about their betrayal. "...And thanks."
"Take care of yourself, Jill," Barry finally said, his heart still pumping loudly for him.
Just like that, the trio headed up the surface again through the long stairway, happy that they could finally breathe some fresh air of the night again, even if it was for a short moment before going back to the cold morgue that was the Spencer Mansion.
Jill informed them about the shortcut they could take in order to go back to where the back door exit was located, while she took the small set of stairs and walked straight to the door leading back to the main hall.
Barry and Alex weren't comfortable with the thought of lying to Jill in the face and letting her stay behind, while they went in to put the emblem key in place and let Wesker have the chance at destroying any damning evidence that could link both him and Umbrella directly, something that both had already done themselves.
The duo had reached the depression next to the back door and stopped, staring at each other first and then back at the octagonal-shaped indentation.
"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" Said Barry, frowning as he anxiously rubbed his beard.
Alex looked him directly in the eyes, giving hints of rising rage and frustration behind his brightly-colored green eyes.
"That we have just betrayed everyone's trust and that we are helping that son-of-a-bitch erase condemning evidence against him and Umbrella?"
Barry gave another frown but continued on with some slight optimism behind his voice. "I meant, that after we finally tell Wesker about this, he'll be able to get to the lab now and call off his people. Our families will be safe."
Alex merely shook his head in a bit of disbelief.
"And what makes you think that bastard will hold onto his word when he had lied to our faces for weeks already?"
Barry didn't know what else to say. Any feeling of optimism had just been snatched away at the reminder that Wesker did lie to them for a long time. There was virtually nothing that could stop their captain from doing that again.
There was a slow, but steady clapping somewhere close. They hadn't really noticed it early on through their short conversation before Alex turned around and saw the same guy they were just talking about in shades, standing a few feet away from them; the same smirky smile widening on his bland face that made both Barry and Alex's blood boil in madness.
"I knew both of you were smart enough to go through with it," Wesker spoke smoothly, his smile showing no sign of fading away. "Why don't you do the honors and put it in its place?"
Mason showed deep contempt for Wesker before silently putting the emblem inside the depression, making a loud metallic clicking sound inside the metal door next to it.
Wesker simply walked past the duo, pushing the door to reveal a medium-sized tool shed, showing signs of heavy use inside. Barry and Alex took a peek inside, seeing there were two different exits unsure which way would lead to either the Arklay Lab or to safety. Thankfully, there seemed to be no other complex mechanism anywhere else inside. If Wesker could get to the labs from here, there was a decent possibility that their families could now be spared.
With a rising hand, he motioned the two to get inside, his loathing smile still showing.
"Time's short. There's still quite a lot to be done."
Alex wasn't exactly surprised to hear it, but Barry quickly stared at him, confused. "You told us once you have access to the lab, everything would be over."
"I did," Wesker replied back, his voice as smooth as Barry always remembered. "But you see, not everything in life happens the way you expect them to. Turns out, that I'm missing just one more thing and I have a general idea of where it may be, but there are some dangers involved… and since both you and Alex have shown me quite a bit of promise by doing such a good job so far, I'd like for you two to come with me."
Alex grew angrier at him, clenching his fists as tightly as possible, slowly reaching out for his holstered Berretta.
Wesker saw this at the corner of his eye and in response, his smile turned into a maniacal grin, a cold-hearted reminder of what was at stake.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist."
After a long, terrible silence between them with gazes becoming exchanged ever so sharply, Mason finally let go of the grip of his holstered gun and both he and Barry nodded helplessly.