Recommended BGM

1. Resident Evil (1996) - Outside

2. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - Initial R (unreleased version)

3. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - July 24, 1998

Chapter 19

The climate in this region was something he could never get used to compared to his former home in his native country. He was used to the cold climate, but here, it was almost unbelievably hot and humid. It didn't help matters that the thick forest in the Arklay Mountains could insulate all the heat it could get during daylight hours.

But this didn't matter to him anymore. Thanks to Spencer himself, he had a place with Umbrella now; a place where he could get riches he never had dreamed of.

That was until he had been hired by one of Umbrella's main rival companies, something no one else had known, even the person who was with him right now.

"Comrade," the other guy in a blue suit called out to him. "Have you barricaded the main exit out?"

He gave a maniacal smile.

"It's the first thing I did after leaving the building," he responded. "Wesker and the rest of his idiotic team of vigilante STARS aren't aware of our presence yet. No need to worry, Sergei."

"Good," he replied with a full sense of self-accomplishment. "I'll revoke Wesker's access to the main computer archive once we've gone. A shame we had to cut our losses with the Training Facility from the intervention of Dr. Birkin himself. No matter. Spencer will know what to do with him after he is done with the more powerful virus he promised to deliver. Don't you agree, Lev?"

Kravchenko silently nodded, but deep down, he couldn't care any less about the facility or even Umbrella itself for that matter. Though he had to keep this quiet from his other comrade. However, Dr. Birkin was somehow already aware that he only joined Umbrella, mostly for the money and not out of loyalty. He needed to find a way to get rid of the American doctor before he could even have the chance to blackmail him if he had successfully pulled up damning files about him. Considering Birkin's recent actions, however, Lev had his own suspicion that Birkin wasn't feeling sentimental for Umbrella either, unlike his own former Soviet comrade, blinded by loyalty for Spencer.

Woods… Mason… I wonder if you two can fare a fight against the T-002…

It was now an inferior model, but according to the research data he had obtained, it was nonetheless a potentially formidable opponent. He was feeling disappointed, upset that he wasn't going to be the one to retrieve its combat data against them. It wouldn't matter since the Organization had him steal other types of research data that didn't involve the T-002 as someone else had already been sent in to retrieve such data, but regardless…

The money I'll be getting after this… it'll be worth it. Double agent or not, the riches are always worth more than any type of loyalty.

Kravchenko had become completely disillusioned at this point in time, believing that even if your actions are driven by fierce loyalty, eventually, everyone around you will either stab you in the back or die at the hands of the enemy. What he wanted to do with the riches he'd get would be anyone's guess but one thing was for sure; he was going to make sure Mason and Woods will suffer for the rest of their miserable lives, even if it'll cost him his own life.

The two humanoid beings that were with them, dressed in thick, white suits that acted as their main protective bulletproof armor, were their main bodyguards, both of whom were codenamed "Ivan".

Before they were able to venture inside the dark and humid forest, they were met with a pack of multiple mutant dogs that began surrounding the men.

This, however, did not faze either of them as one of the bodyguards stepped forward and began to quickly dispatch each and every one of them with virtually almost no effort. The mutants had no chance against the only "Ivan". Vladimir and Kravchenko pulled up their firearms and began shooting at the ones that came close to either of them. Meanwhile, the other "Ivan" singlehandedly helped out with a couple more of them as he carried a huge body bag with one arm, containing a top-secret project for Umbrella as part of their own X-Day mission.

"Come," Sergei ordered after the group of mutants was swiftly taken care of. "We don't want to attract any more unnecessary attention. There's no time to waste."

Both Ivans nodded simultaneously and mindlessly followed after the duo, all four of them venturing inside the depths of the thick forest.

Bam! Bam!

A pair of muffled gunshots were heard just outside of the main hall. Richard and Rebecca were sure it wasn't Chris or Frank since both of them had just left the foyer through the dining room doors, and the gunfire didn't sound like it came from inside the building.

Bam! Bam!

Another pair was heard once again. This time, Rebecca quickly noticed it was coming from outside in front of the mansion itself. Instead of going downstairs as they'd initially planned, she ran all the way around the second-floor balcony.

"Hey, hold up!" Shouted Richard, trying to swiftly catch up to her.

"Shh!" She hushed him just after reaching the giant window frame overlooking the grounds between the dense forest and the estate itself. She began glaring down through the window, apparently something catching her attention.

Once reaching the window, Richard stopped in his tracks and looked down in the direction she was gazing upon.

Below them, he saw two older men, walking directly into the forest, alongside two giant humanoid beings, all covered in thick, white jackets as they wore what seemed to be like shades in the form of goggles; one of which was blue and the other was orange. At least one of the giant humanoids was carrying a giant body bag that none of them wished to know what could be inside. Behind them was a trail of dead canine creatures, all of who seemingly met a violent end by the group of people they were staring down upon.

"Who could they even be?" Richard questioned. "They don't seem like they could be a part of any rescue team that I've ever seen. What do you think?"

"I have no idea," Rebecca stated, still staring down at them with a frozen gaze until they disappeared deep inside the forest. "And that body bag that one of the men in white coats was carrying… it all seems so… strange."

Richard shrugged. For all he knew, it could've been some former residents that simply wanted to get out of the place. Still, that body bag was a strange sight. He didn't even know how they were able to defeat that many dogs in one cramped area if it were them that had done it. One thing for sure was that the forest itself was too vast and dangerous to go through, but considering the amount of death they had left behind, it was most likely that they knew the dangers all too well regardless

"Come on," he finally said. He didn't want to continue thinking too much about it as it was starting to give him a headache. Plus, they needed to prioritize their search for other team members and secure their escape, which by now, seemed already done if those dogs outside were all killed. "Let's head downstairs and get through the west area of the first floor."

Rebecca nodded with a more determined look on her face. The sight of more survivors around gave her more hope about their own survival and escape.

Having now reached down the first floor, she decided to see whether or not the main doors were safe to go through in and out of the mansion. The frame was damaged even further from the last time she and her team had arrived at the mansion. It wouldn't be a problem getting the doors to open after removing the latch. However, she was met with something on the other side holding onto the door firmly in place, preventing them from opening at all.

"It won't budge!" She struggled.

"Let me see," said Richard. Using his healthy arm, he tried his hardest to pull one of the doors open, but again, they were not giving in. Something was attached on the other side that simply held both doors shut.

"What the hell?!"

"Did those people shut the doors altogether?" Rebecca asked worriedly.

"I hope not," said Richard, trying to sound more hopeful. "But if those people were up to no good, then…" He gave a deep sigh before saying anything else. "I'm sure it's nothing. I mean, Alpha had to come through here, right? Maybe they somehow got the doors completely shut so those dogs wouldn't come barging inside the hall."

Rebecca didn't want to believe the Alphas would've somehow "accidentally" permanently locked themselves inside here. It'd make more sense for a group of people carrying a suspicious body bag to somehow lock the doors on their way out rather than Alpha team doing something a bit more counterintuitive unless they had no other choice, considering the circumstances outside.

After a short moment, she shrugged back at him and started motioning to the other double doors directly across from the ones leading to the dining room.

"Let's just look for the others and find the last missing piece of the puzzle."

"Yes, ma'am," he said with slightly less enthusiasm than before.

As they tackled through the east area, there was no one and nothing they could find for almost ten whole minutes.

Inside the room containing a statue of a woman drawing water, nothing out of the ordinary was found other than the room itself being an exhibition room, filled with strange paintings. As they went through the red drapes on the left side of the room, they saw old furniture stacked against every part of the walls, all completely covered in thick layers of dust and filth. Almost no one had touched any of them in a long time, let alone come in for a quick sweep, meaning there was also nothing useful inside.

Soon after, they backtracked and went through the door leading to a brightly lit hallway. Inside was a dead mutant dog lying right underneath the bright lights of the room, looking as though it had suffered severe burns, smelling a lot like rotten burnt meat that was stored inside a disconnected fridge for days. Staring back at the windows, at least one of them was shattered, coated with small thin pieces of flesh and blood around the sharp hole, possibly by the mutant beast that lay dead in front of them. The sheer horror slowly began to settle in on them, knowing that those demonic dogs could come barging inside the mansion at any given moment, making them hurry through the only other door out of there.

The door had led them inside a corridor that housed a series of other doors. Next to them was one metal door, carved with an armor emblem onto the lock, which was already opened. It led directly just outside the mansion, though the passageway was entirely enclosed with a tall fence, separating it from the forest's thick vegetation and whatever hazards it could possibly be hiding within. Thankfully, no monsters were nearby, but no death mask anywhere either.

There was also a bathroom nearby inside the long, winding corridor, and it was probably a regretful decision as the bathtub was filled with sewage-like murky water. The worst part was that on the ground, there was a wet, almost mummified-looking corpse, with a rancid smell to go along with it. It also looked as though someone had stomped its head to mush, making the duo almost vomit inside their mouths. The grotesque sight and smell quickly made them leave the bathroom as soon as they were done investigating the area.

Other than an empty outside passageway, a putrid bathroom, empty cabinets, and a broken door leading to a wall of concrete, there was nothing left to explore in the area, much to their disappointment.

"It seems as though this place has already been picked clean," said Richard grimly. "No supplies. No masks. No STARS. Nothing."

Rebecca frowned, looking as if all hope had quickly been snatched away from her in mere moments. "I would've thought someone would at least be here. The mansion doesn't seem to be as huge as I initially thought, but…"

"I know," he replied, his tone giving off a small hint of defeat. He then approached Rebecca and patted her shoulder for a moment. "But we can't give up yet. Not when we are this close to getting the hell out of here as well. And if there were more survivors out there, chances are, we may still bump into someone else, just like we did with Chris and Frank."

Rebecca looked at him in the eyes, shined by a brightly lit sconce above them, and slowly began to form a smile, finding some comfort with him in the end.

"You're right," she finally said. "They're counting on us after all."

Richard nodded in approval. "Indeed, and we have to make that count for something." He motioned at the double doors around the corner, across from the only other broken door. "Let's head over there. We haven't finished searching the rest of the house yet so there's still some hope."

The duo immediately reached the double doors, weapons ready as they always had done before opening each door of the estate. After the sudden surprise of the crimson head from earlier in the night, they weren't taking any chances. They had run into a dark corridor with two corpses on the ground. The zombies weren't burned or decapitated so there was still the possibility that they could get up sooner or later. However, none of the corpses had become red-skinned yet, which meant they were either still freshly "deceased" or they had sustained heavy head injuries, taking more time for them to mutate. Richard felt immediate relief after Rebecca had told him about the information she learned a while back when reading through some of the research papers left behind on the other side of the mansion.

Before deciding to head towards the closest door to them on their right, they heard a distant metallic sound somewhere in the vicinity.

"Did you hear that?" Rebecca inquired, hearing something that made her spine chill for a quick moment.

Richard shrugged back at her, confused. "No, but considering how you have better hearing than I do, I'm gonna go out on a healthy limb and say there was definitely something I may not have heard."

"It sounded like… a door closing —a metal door to be exact. It couldn't have been - a zombie? Right?"

"You're asking me?" He said almost defiantly. "I don't know what you heard but we should go check it out. If it was a zombie though, it probably would be heading directly at us or at least growling or moaning altogether by now."

Rebecca nodded, almost having told him that she simply wanted to investigate elsewhere due to feeling a bit scared as to what they could encounter next.

Calm down, Becca… it's probably nothing. It could simply be another Bravo or Alpha going through a door somewhere.

But if it were another teammate, where could they be headed?

Wait! Alex did say the backdoor of the mansion was here somewhere. Could it be…?

A sudden wave of energy washed over her and immediately walked toward the other end of the dark corridor, ignoring the slumped corpses in the process. Just as she had thought, there was an opened metal gate at the end. However, it didn't sound like any frail, rusted gate and the source of the metallic sound came much further away from their location.

The gate led directly out in another passageway, lined with thick limestone walls. The view in itself was astonishing, but Rebecca wasted no time appreciating the view as she continued to venture forward, almost completely ignoring the fact that Richard was following her along the way. At the end of the passageway, there was a thick metal door. To her left, there was a metal emblem already inserted inside a depression.

The octagonal-shaped object!

It had to be the same one, Alex mentioned before. If they had finally found it though, why were they still searching for the remaining mask? Or had someone else found the missing mask, got the emblem, and put it inside the depression?

"They found it!" She exclaimed, looking back at Richard, who was still staring around the archway of the passage, all of which was covered in thick vines and overgrown vegetation from outside the garden.

Richard looked back at Rebecca and reached her location, switching his gaze between her and the depression beside them.

He then pointed to the octagonal-shaped emblem inserted inside. "You mean, that thing? So that would mean…"

"We can finally get out of this place and call for help!" She finished his sentence, excitedly.

Richard grinned, but it quickly went away before realizing something that now began to bother him.

"But… shouldn't we go back and look for the others before going any further? What if Chris and Frank are still looking for the missing mask and don't know about this?"

She stared back between the metal door and back at Richard before finally giving a response to him.

"Maybe it was them that found it where we might've overlooked. I swear I heard this metal door close. It had to be them, or Alex. I just know it!"

"Okay," Richard responded as calmly as possible. "Let's say it was them. Why would they go at it alone and not head back to look for us and let us know about the find?"

Rebecca didn't really think that through. It was definitely strange for any of them to go through just now and not head back inside to let anyone know about the newly found object. For all she knew, it could've been Alex since he seemed more determined to find a way out of here rather than pretty much anything else. However, if that was the case, she didn't want to waste any more time standing around and making up wild theories about every possibility they could think of. If Alex was out there alone, he could bump into one of those monsters from the forest itself, surrounding him and—

No… I can't think that way! He has to be okay. He has to be…

Rebecca swallowed at the thought, nervously, looking back at Richard with a worried look in her eyes.

"We should go through," she finally told him, her voice slightly breaking, giving off a sense of growing anxiety. "If anyone went through here alone, there's no telling if…"

Richard grabbed her left arm, trying to calm her down, considering how shaky she was starting to look.

"We'll head through then," he said in a calm, smooth voice. "I know you're worried about Alex. Ever since he was acting strange the last time we talked to him, I noticed just how much it was affecting you. I've seen the way you look at him ever since he joined STARS; the same look, my little sister had every time she looked at our father after a busy day at work, before…" his voice started to break apart at the thought of his little sister.

Back when he was a teenager, there was a robbery gone wrong. An armed criminal had entered a convenience store in which both he and his sister were shopping at the time. Because they were near the counter at the register, facing the cashier, he aimed the gun at the trio and immediately held his sister hostage in exchange for money from the register as the cashier quickly did as she was told. Just when the employee was preparing to give him the money, his little sister bit his hand in an attempt to escape his grasp before running away for help.

Unfortunately, she wasn't able to escape in time before the criminal shot her at point-blank range in the back, instantly killing her. Richard was paralyzed by fear through the entire ordeal and ever since then, he had blamed himself for the death of his sister, knowing he could've done something in order to prevent his sister from being murdered, or at least taken her place instead, by standing right in-between.

That was one of the main reasons why he joined STARS; the only way he could live with himself from now on. It gave him purpose, a new meaning in life to protect others when he couldn't protect his own sibling.

Rebecca did not know any of it and she was better off not knowing. He didn't feel like he needed the sympathy for an act of cowardice he could never forgive himself for doing.

"Richard?" She called to him, seeing he was staring off into space for a brief moment. "Are you …feeling alright?"

He didn't seem to look in her direction as he turned his back and gave her one final reply before proceeding any further.

"Y-yeah, it's just…let's just try to help whoever came here first, alright?"

Rebecca opened her mouth but before anything could be said, Richard had already opened the door in front of them and walked through, revealing a big shed inside that had obviously seen better days. Before going any further, he abruptly came to a halt, noticing there were two different routes to take; one up front and another down a small set of stairs that led to another exit.

"So… which way should we go?" She questioned, looking at Richard, who had a blank expression etched on his face.

Richard shrugged. "I don't know. Going separately is the worst idea to do right now so…" he immediately pointed to the set of wooden doors with a series of unlocked metallic latches in front of them. "Maybe upfront? I mean, it looks a lot like the main exit out of here so it's a big possibility whoever got here first went out through there."

"Right," she agreed, nodding in response. "Let's go. I am getting worried sick for Alex right now."

Once they opened the double doors, a faint smell of freshwater came running through inside, both of them feeling happy to smell something more pleasant than the dreaded putrid smell of blood, decay, and death inside the mansion.

"Man, it feels good to finally be out of that place, right?" Said Richard, the strong smell of nature itself making him feel much better than before.

"No kidding," she replied, grinning. She hadn't realized how accustomed she'd grown to the cold morgue-like, oppressive atmosphere of the estate until they had now left it.

They were now in some sort of courtyard. Thick brick walls surrounded the entire place. Almost every part of the courtyard was covered in vines and moss. Plantlife had begun to overtake the whole area around, noticing the apparent lack of proper gardening just about everywhere they looked. There was a walkway to their left, leading to what seemed to be a complete dead-end.

There was a faint sound of rushing water nearby, explaining the smell of freshwater that hit them initially after having opened the set of doors out of the shed. Through the sound of rushing water also came a mournful cry of a dog or coyote in the distance, a sound so chilling, it brought them feelings of loneliness and anxiety, remembering those mutant dogs from outside in the woods nearby.

Talk about dogs…

A couple of them were sprawled out across the moss-covered stone ground, the dim lights of the courtyard shining against their wet, muscular bodies.

Richard got closer to one of them, crouching and touching its slimy body. In less than a couple of seconds, he pulled himself back, wiping the blood and slimy substance against the surface of the ground before standing back up again, slightly hurting his injured arm in the process.

"Well…" he said, glowering at the dead carcass. "The thing felt sticky and warm. Despite these monsters looking dead when they're alive, if the carcass felt warm, I'm assuming it hasn't been dead for long."

Beep-Beep-Beep.

My radio!

Richard had almost completely forgotten he had a small personal radio with him he loved to carry around with him at all times ever since he joined STARS months after its foundation. The sound of the radio coming to life had sprung up hope they hadn't felt in a long time. Searchers might already be looking for them, help finally coming to greet them.

He immediately grabbed at the unit, which was hooked just inside of his right pocket, and thumbed the receiver, holding up the radio so both of them were able to hear together.

Nothing was coming through, but crackling static. That is until a faint but familiar voice was heard behind the crackling sounds of the radio itself.

"... this is Brad! STARS Alpha team … able to read?"

His voice popped in and out, just barely audible.

Richard hit the transmit button and spoke as quickly as he could.

"This is Richard, Bravo team. I read you, Brad, over!"

He held the receiver once more, desperately trying to cling on to the hope that he might've heard him.

"This is…! Alpha team … Bravo …! … doesn't matter! …Respond! I repeat, this is Brad— "

Goddamn it! C'mon!

"This is Richard from Bravo team! I repeat, this is Richard from Bravo team! We need help, over!"

Again, he switched over the receiver, their hopes now slipping away just as quickly as they came.

"If … can't answer me … somehow give me a sign … anything!"

Rebecca quickly snatched the radio from Richard's hands out of quick desperation and tried to call him herself.

"Rebecca to Brad. Can you hear me!?"

Nothing.

"Brad?"

Static and silence.

"Brad!"

The signal was now completely gone.

Feeling heavily distressed and saddened, she gave the radio back to Richard, glancing down at the moss covering the stone on the ground, the feeling of isolation growing exponentially.

"We're on our own…" she said in extreme defeat. "We…"

Richard couldn't form the right words but tried his best to look at the positive side of things.

"At least we know the Alpha pilot is still flying around somewhere," he said lightly as he tucked away his personal radio, gazing up at the dark, overcast sky. "He must've been too out of range for anything to go through for him, but I promise you, we will get help. We will survive this. …All of us has to."

Rebecca quickly thought about the people they have already lost, still not feeling any better about it. However, she couldn't argue with him about now knowing that Brad is still flying somewhere above the Raccoon Forest. It was definitely a good sign to know someone out there was looking for them. How long was he going to last flying around, they did not know. And they now had to be on alert since they most likely weren't able to catch a single call from him inside the mansion due to its heavy thick structure.

An iron gate was located just past some sets of stairs upfront. Richard nodded at Rebecca and as they walked closer to it, the sound of rushing water grew louder to a sudden muffled roar.

Richard pushed the gate open, its hinges squeaking almost louder than the rushing water itself, revealing a huge stone-cut reservoir, easily the size of two huge swimming pools put together. The surrounding woods were casting fierce shadows at every corner around, the trees and lush vegetation already threatening to break through the bordering rails.

Moving forward, the duo stopped at the edge of the massive pool. From the looks of it, it was in a slow process of being drained. A floodgate was opened on the west side, causing the turbulent noise to be heard from the narrow flow of water passing through. There was no built path around it, but five feet below them were two bolted ladders on each end of a freshly wet narrow walkway running across the pool itself, completely covered in green moss and overgrown algae. It was obvious enough that the pool must've been drained recently.

The unusual complex setup caught Richard in a state of confusion for a brief moment, wondering how would anyone be able to cross the pool if it wasn't drained at all. Swimming across would simply not be feasible to the average person, especially for someone like him with an injured arm, a mystery being added to the growing list of wonders.

Without speaking to one another, they climbed down and hurried across, their boots stomping against the slimy stones. Rebecca scaled up first and helped an injured Richard climb up the surface, his bandaged arm still hurting from every heavy movement he does with it.

The dark shaded path, with just one ground post lamp shining in a winding corner, was littered with leaves, pine needles, and thin branches. It looked as though it bordered the west side of the reservoir, going over the open sluice and towards what seemed to be a small, simple elevator. They quickly started walking toward the artificial waterfall and had only reached a few feet until it started to rain.

Plop. Plop.

Richard was visibly confused. He couldn't shake the feeling that raindrops shouldn't be as loud as the waterfall right next to them. He looked up and saw some sort of branch twist and fall from the thick foliage above the rail, hitting the stones and sliding around smoothly.

That's definitely not a branch… or rainfall…

Almost in the blink of an eye, there were already dozens on the ground, slithering across the dark stones, hissing and writhing as they fell from the overgrown trees around them.

They were now all surrounded by snakes.

"Oh no, no, no!" Richard quivered, now deeply afraid of snakes after his first encounter with the giant mutant snake from inside the mansion. Whether they were big or small, it didn't matter anymore. Since then, he did not want anything to do with snakes anymore.

Startled, Rebecca turned to look at Richard and felt the cold sheer terror, an icy wave of desperation from his expression piercing through her heart as she took in the path in front of them. The entire ground felt alive, with dark, slithering shapes spiraling toward their feet and dropping from above, like rain itself.

Without hesitation, Rebecca raised her gun, slowly realizing that there were just too many of them around, just before feeling a sudden pull from Richard by the arm.

"Let's go!"

They ran forward, Rebecca subconsciously crying out loud in response to a thick, writhing cool cylinder body that fell right across her shoulder, hitting the stones after heavily slithering off of her for a brief moment.

The path zig-zagged through various turns as they ran through the shifting shadows. None of them had really noticed the sliding bodies underneath them throughout the way, some even being crunched by the stomping heels of their boots. Some darted forward to strike at their passing boots, missing them at every turn they got. The roaring sound of the foaming water below grew louder as they stepped closer over the metal gate, the sounds of their stomping boots and the stalking, hissing snakes lost to the waterfall itself.

They had finally reached the elevator at the end of the path, Rebecca quickly pressing the button to go down below, as Richard crowded himself with her, shooting at the snakes closest to them, hoping none of them would slither to the bottom from above as the loathsome sight rose past eye level.

Even though the elevator was fairly quick, the ride itself felt like an eternity, both of them staring up at the edge they'd left behind, tensely, almost holding on to their breaths completely as they waited for the cylinder bodies to start falling as they did before.

As the elevator came down just a couple of feet in the air before hitting the bottom, they both quickly jumped off, and while the elevator was enclosed with iron bars almost entirely, the snakes could easily still follow them from above. Staying away from the elevator as much as possible, they leaned against the coolness of the rock wall near them, calming their nerves down before being able to see the whole environment around them.

It was a huge space, with a fountain in the middle of two giant pillars, covering most of the courtyard from the night sky as a giant lantern hung above the fountain itself, shining over the entire area. Another elevator was able to be seen further up north from their current position. The water from the big reservoir came crashing down into two separate pools nearby. There seemed to be a hidden entrance through the waterfall, but with Richard's injury, not only would the pressure sting him with large amounts of pain, but there was the added risk of developing an infection. Who knows what type of diseases could the water here be carrying as a result of the monsters infesting the Arklay Mountains or vice versa. There was also a single gate located across from them.

And no snakes anywhere to be found.

Rebecca finally stood up, taking in a deep breath before turning her attention to Richard.

"Were you bit?"

Richard shook his head. "And I don't plan on doing so ever again. You?"

"No, thankfully," she said. "You probably don't have a good time with snakes around anymore. You know - after…"

"Don't even remind me," he replied, still a bit worried about the snakes still roaming above them. "I was never a big fan of snakes, but after that giant monstrosity that almost killed me back there, I'd say snakes can go extinct for all I care."

"I'm with you on that," she said in a light tone. "I'm more of a cat person if you ask me."

After finishing their brief conversation, Rebecca walked toward the other elevator upfront, noticing it was completely out of power. Sighing, she turned back, only to be faced with a determined-looking Richard, pointing at the iron gate next to the thick waterfall.

"Shall we go investigate that way?"

Rebecca knew it had been a rhetorical question, considering that their only path out of there was through the infested snake path, which was now out of the question. There was no way of going through the waterfall without Richard catching a potential infection on his bandaged wound.

She responded with the same smile she was given by Richard and nodded, a bit hopeful that if they could find a way to give a signal to Brad, they could finally get out of this hellhole once and for all.

Author's Note: It will only get better and better ;) At least I hope it will be for all of you reading out there. Again, thank you all for even using some of your precious time reading a simple story from an RE/CoD fan, such as myself!