A Star's Descent: Book Two: Star Fall

By evolution-500

Disclaimer: House of the Dead and Resident Evil are properties belonging to SEGA and Capcom respectively. I do not own any of these characters.

WARNING: This story contains violence, coarse language, mature and disturbing themes and imagery. Reader discretion is advised.

Chapter Six: Reflections

Curien paced around the control room, his hand fidgeting with the lid of his father's watch.

"This should have been a simple operation," he said in a stern voice to his subordinate as he watched the monitor. "What the hell is taking so long?!"

"The subject is much more difficult to extract than originally anticipated," the latter replied.

"What of those bloody strays?! Have they been eliminated yet?!"

"We have confirmed reports that Chariot Type-027 has managed to eliminate some Kenfis hounds. We've also recovered what appears to be the remains of a Johnny specimen."

The subordinate froze.

"Wait...I'm getting a reading."

Jill gave an exasperated sigh.

'Where am I now?' she wondered.

She was in a long winding corridor that was lit by candle sconces and lined with various mirrors and spears, but she kept getting misdirected, partially due to the bloody mirrors. Jill had encountered and dispatched a few zombies along the way, more often than not dodging around them to conserve ammunition, but she still couldn't for the life of her understand what the purpose of this room was other than to deliberately fuck with people. Two dusty stone cherubs regarded her with amusement as the B&E Specialist tried to figure her way out.

"Shut up," Jill said to the cherubs.

Winding around a corner, she continued on.

It was then that the Alpha felt something nagging at her mind; she had the distinct feeling of being watched, if not followed. Glancing over her shoulder, Jill studied her surroundings.

Nothing.

Shrugging, she continued onward, then took a right.

Jill jumped with fright as she bumped into her own reflection, letting out a yell.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, raising a hand over her heart. Looking in the mirror, she shook her head in disbelief. 'That's the fifth time that's happened! Whoever designed this room should die!'

Jill then glanced guiltily down, wincing at the thought. If the zombies around here were any indication, chances were high that the person who had designed this room was dead. A bloody waste. Letting out a sigh, Jill studied herself in the mirror.

'We really are in a pickle aren't we, old girl?' she asked herself.

Wiping her forehead, she paused as she saw something in the reflection - somewhere further back behind her, hidden by a thick veil of shadow, she saw a pair of glowing white eyes.

Raising her pistol, Jill kept her eyes focused on the mirror, then carefully aimed, firing off two rounds.

The eyes were gone.

Turning to her right, she continued down the labyrinthine corridor when she caught sight of a zombie in casual clothing standing in front of a mirror, his skin red.

Seeing her in the reflection, it turned around with a hideous snarl when a long clawed arm suddenly reached out from the mirror itself and pulled the undead creature into it, the glass shifting and warping around like water.

"What the?"

When it finished, the glass reverted back to normal.

Jill stared, shaken by what just occurred.

...What just happened?

Part of her wanted to inspect the mirror.

It must have been a trick of the light.

A zombie didn't just fade into the glass.

Raising up her pistol, she fired, the bullet causing the mirror to shatter.

Nothing.

Moving toward the frame, Jill studied the cracked glass, then looked at it from different angles.

Puzzled, she pulled away, then took a left down another corridor before stumbling upon a door.

"Finally," she sighed.

Grabbing the handle, Jill pulled the door open, then froze, staring in shock as she found herself staring at...herself. Her doppelganger stared back at her, her face comically mirroring her own with her hand reached out, looking like she was in the midst of grabbing the door knob herself.

"Wha?" Jill murmured.

"Who are you?" the copy said in her voice, looking at her anxiously. "What are you?"

'This can't be happening!' The Alpha thought incredulously.

"I'm-I'm Officer Jill Valentine of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team," she answered.

"But...that can't be!" Her copy replied. "I'm Jill Valentine!"

Before she could say anything more, the Alpha gave a sharp gasp as she felt something stab through her back and chest. Pain flared through her body as she felt something cut through her ribs and stomach. Her clone stared horrified while Jill coughed up blood and felt herself lifted up from the ground.

"H-Help..." she stammered as she struggled to breathe.

Letting out a final gasp, Jill's voice trailed off as she rolled her eyes back, her vision fading.

The next thing Jill knew, she found herself at the doorway, staring at herself as a long clawed hand protruded out from her chest.

Looking around in confusion, dazed and disoriented, she watched as her own body...or perhaps her clone's body...whatever the hell it was...was lifted up into the air, hoisted up like some sort of puppet or trophy.

Peering from around her doppelganger's shoulder, a bald, stoic and goat-horned head quietly regarded her as it held her copy in its monstrous hand. Jill shook furiously as she saw the creature.

Opening her mouth, Jill tried to speak, tried to scream, but the Alpha was so scared that she completely froze up, her eyes bulging from their sockets.

After a few minutes of impassive staring, the creature's face formed a hideous sharp-toothed sneer.

'So lifelike,' it taunted, its voice a deep, horrific, mechanical, disembodied and layered travesty that was made all the more terrifying due to the fact that it not only spoke without moving its lips, but also the fact that she heard it in her own head!

Jill let out a shrill scream as she slammed the door and fired her weapon twice. Backing away, the Alpha turned around, then screamed as she fell hundreds of feet to the floor below, slamming onto her back.

As Jill felt the life trickle from her, she stared up to the black void above.

'I don't want to die!' She thought desperately. 'Please God don't let me die!'

The demon entered her vision and kneeled beside her. Jill trembled as she felt it gently caressing her face and forehead with its gigantic clawed finger, terrified tears running down her cheeks.

'Chris...'

Opening her eyes with a sharp gasp, Jill cast her eyes wildly around. Finding herself alone, the Alpha then felt her chest and body, checking for signs of injuries. Nothing. Leaning back with a sigh, Jill relaxed, her whole form shuddering.

'That was horrifying!' She thought.

What the hell happened?!

Casting a curious glance around, she found herself beside a broken mirror. Jill blinked. Had she knocked herself out with a bloody mirror?

She frowned.

'But it felt so real,' Jill thought.

Even more, she didn't possess any injuries indicative of a head-on collision.

Jill looked around, puzzled by the whole thing.

Pushing herself off the floor, Jill stumbled forward and clung to a wall. She felt like a newborn baby testing out its limbs for the first time. Everything felt...different.

That's weird.

Massaging her forehead, Jill suddenly thought back to that...creature. What had Rebecca called it? The Magician? As the memory of it returned, she repressed a shudder of disgust. God, she could still hear the awful voice and the feel of its touch...

Wiping her face with the back of her hand, Jill closed her eyes and started to breathe slowly.

'It was just a dream,' she assured.

That was all it was. A dream.

Taking in a deep breath, Jill exhaled. Once she had calmed down, the Alpha straightened herself back up, then proceeded through the corridor. As she continued her search, Jill paused at a door.

Reaching out nervously, she could feel her heart beating loudly in ears as she turned the knob, dreading whatever was on the other side.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

Peering through the doorway, The Alpha let out a sigh of relief.

'Finally!' Jill thought. An exit out of this damn room!

Just as she stepped through, Jill heard something that made her pause momentarily, then quickly turn around and continue onward at a brisk pace, nausea building inside of her. For a moment, she thought that she heard its laugh somewhere.

Rebecca and Star grunted as they pushed at the wall.

"Push harder," the former said between her teeth.

Letting out one final grunt of exertion, the teenagers strained and pushed with everything they had, then tore themselves away, staring at the sealed wall in defeat.

"Now what do we do?" Rebecca muttered.

"Why not radio for help?" Star suggested.

She looked angrily up at him.

"What?" he asked.

"That's your suggestion?" Rebecca said pointedly. "Call them up and tell them we got stuck in a wall?!"

"Where is the harm in calling?"

"Come on, Star! Haven't you been paying attention to the way they were treating us? 'Let us handle this, Rebecca,'" the Bravo medic said, speaking in a deep and overly exaggerated masculine imitation of Chris's voice before resuming normally, turning back to face the wall. "If they find out about this, it will be humiliating. I don't want to be laughed at."

Star lowered his eyes.

"...I'm...sorry," he said quietly.

Rebecca wiped her eyes. "It's...let just find a way out of here before they arrive, okay?"

He nodded. "If it's any consolation, Rebecca, you're not the one that ate dog food."

The girl gave a small laugh. Star sensed that she was smiling, although wasn't entirely sure.

"True," she said in a quiet voice.

Star glanced around. "There must be some way to get free from this damn thing," he said, then paused. "Wait...I think I know how to get it open."

"You do?" Rebecca said eagerly, turning around to face him. "How?"

"See that statue down there?" Star pointed at the end.

Rebecca looked to where he pointed. "Yeah. What about it?"

"When I came in, the statue had a gold emblem beneath it that's shaped like a shield," he explained. "It's not there anymore."

Rebecca frowned. "It must have dropped onto the floor somewhere," she said, approaching the pedestal with Star. "You check the right, I'll check the left."

She reached out when Star quickly grabbed her wrist.

"Wait," he said, eying the pedestal. "What if there's something down there?"

The medic considered it. "Good point."

She then raised her eyes back up to the albino.

"Could I borrow your coat?" she asked.

Star nodded, taking it off and handing it to her. Wrapping her arms protectively with his coat, she kneeled down and felt around the left side.

Nothing. Switching to the right, Rebecca gave a slight yell as she felt her hand brush against something angular.

"I think I got it!"

Pulling back, the Bravo medic straightened herself up as she unraveled her prize, feeling giddy like a child at a carnival.

"And now we can finally get-" Her excitement quickly faded as she uncovered an old dusty grey diary. "Sorry. My mistake."

Turning it away from Star, she blew dust and spider webs off from the journal, brushing it against the wall as she studied the writing on the cover.

"What do you have there, Rebecca?" Star asked curiously.

The Bravo medic stared, her form still as she saw the name on the cover, then looked up at him.

"You've got to see this," she urged, handing it to the albino.

Star blinked in confusion.

"Why? What is it?" he asked.

"See for yourself."

Taking it from her, Star looked at the title of the cover.

"'Personal Diary of..." he froze. "...George Trevor.'"

Opening the diary, the albino scanned the pages with interest, but as he progressed, the more the lines of his face seemed to harden, his eyes narrowing, his mouth and jaw clenching.

"What does it say?" Rebecca asked.

Star stared at the diary, his face shadowed.

"...Bastards..." he said in a hushed voice.

"What? What is it?"

"'Nov. 24, 1967,'" Star read, "'Eleven days have past since arriving on this estate. How did I end up like this? A guy in a lab coat came with a plate of skimpy meal and said to me, "Sorry to put you through this, but it's for security reasons." That's when it hit me. It all makes sense now.

There are only two people that know the secret of this mansion, Sir Spencer and myself. If they kill me, Sir Spencer will be the only person that knows the secret.'"

"Oh my God!" Rebecca gasped.

"'But for what purpose?'" Star continued. "'It doesn't matter now. It's too dangerous here. My family... I hope they are all right.

I've decided to escape... Jessica, Lisa, I pray you are safe.'"

Rebecca shivered, chilled by the sudden drop in temperature.

"'Nov. 26, 1967 - How could I be so careless? I lost my favorite lighter–the one Jessica gave me for my birthday. Now it's going to be that much harder to get out this dark place.

"'Nov. 13th- the date when my fate was sealed. My aunt was hospitalized just three days before. Jessica and Lisa said that they were going to visit her. I wish I could be there with them.

But wait, even as I'm writing my memory is coming back to me more vividly. Just before I passed out, I remember the men in the lab coats said something like, "Most likely your family is already..." I pray for their safety.'"

The Bravo put a hand to her mouth, shaking her head, appalled and horrified by what she was hearing.

"'Nov. 27, 1967-"

"That's enough," she said, raising a hand. "I'm sorry...but...I can't hear anymore of this."

Star nodded, his frown deepening as he stared at the pages.

"So much for the hope of meeting one of my idols, let alone the chance of having my future mansion designed by him," he said regretfully.

Rebecca shook her head. "Bastards."

He nodded in agreement.

"I hope they all rot in Hell," Star said.

"You and me both," Rebecca muttered, then looked to the sealed wall. "Does it say anything about how to get out of here?"

Star read through the pages.

"It says something in here about this mansion being booby trapped. Also it mentions..." he squinted, frowning. "'Tiger eyes?'"

"What does that mean?"

He shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said, then paused on a page. "Rebecca, listen to this - '1st Detention, November 24, 1967. How could he have become this kind of man? What happened here? And what is the objective of this company called "Umbrella"?
I was imprisoned in this room and time passed slowly. "The objective is to keep all this as a secret, and since you are an unknown... " One day, a man in a white blouse said this to me while bringing revolting food.
What secret is more important than a human life?
'Lord Spencer and me...'" Star frowned. "It should be 'Lord Spencer and I.'" He continued, "'Lord Spencer and me are the two only ones-'"

He squinted, then scowled. "The handwriting is really messy, improper in its phrasing-"

Rebecca sighed. "Get on with it."

Star cleared his throat. "My apologies. 'Lord Spencer and me are the two only ones to know the secrecies of this manor, and if I die, he will be the only holder of this knowledge. Is it for that reason we have these creatures which prowl around the premises of the Manor?'"

Upon hearing that, Rebecca whipped around with a start. "What?!"

"That's what it says here," Star pointed.

Rebecca snatched the diary from the albino, reading the passage. She couldn't believe it.

"...But...according to Marcus...the T-Virus was discovered in 1978," the Bravo medic said. "If that's true...then...where did these other creatures come from?"

"Hadn't he written in one of his journals that the T-Virus was the result of combining another virus with leech DNA?" Star asked.

"I think so. Let me just check," Rebecca said as she took off her backpack and dug through the various notes and journals she found. "Ah, got it. You're right, it's a virus called 'Progenitor'."

Putting it away into her bag, the medic folded her arms together, her hand stroking her chin in thought. What was this so-called 'Progenitor' virus?

"What are you thinking?" Star asked.

She looked up to the albino. "From what Trevor described, it's obvious that Umbrella had an outbreak before, albeit one of a smaller extent than this. Or...perhaps they've been battling it all this time? If so, it could hypothetically account for some of the local stories of ghosts and monsters that haunt Raccoon Forest."

The girl shivered. "I'm scared, Star," Rebecca admitted. "To think that...all this time...Umbrella has been struggling to contain this thing right under our noses...it's so much worse than I thought. The sheer...unbridled...arrogance..."

The medic then squirmed. "Umbrella's a disaster, a ticking time bomb waiting to go off."

Chris heard someone screaming distantly. He looked around uncertainly. It sounded like...but he couldn't be sure.

"Forest?" he called.

The voice only shrieked in answer.

Shit he needs help!

Chris ran down the various corridors, making his way all the back to the west staircase. Climbing up, he circled around the rails all the way back to where the dining hall door was, stopping as he caught sight of a grey steel door with a plant decoration on it. Approaching it, Redfield stepped outside onto an L-shaped section of the west terrace, casting his eyes along the ivy-clad walls and the railed balcony. A shape caught his attention, his figure lying against a section of rail in front of him.

"FOREST!"

Approaching the fallen Bravo, Chris studied the remains of his friend under the dim light, his heart sinking. Parts of Forest's clothing was shredded, while his entire body was horribly ravaged and bloody. Every part of him was marked with what looked like bloodied peck marks. His eye sockets were completely empty, revealing nothing but the back of his bloodied skull as it oozed crimson down his ruined cheeks, his ribcage exposed.

Kneeling respectfully down, Chris stared sadly at the wreck that used to have been his friend.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, the Alpha Point Man shook his head with regret.

"I'm sorry, Forest."

'If only I had gotten here sooner,' he thought.

Chris swallowed as he tried to hide his pain, letting out a sad sigh as he straightened himself and picked up his radio.

"Jill, do you read me?" he said into the receiver.

"Jill here. Where are you?"

"I'm on the west terrace outside. It's at the top of the stairs through a metal door with a leaf pattern on it."

"What's wrong?"

"I just found Forest," Chris said, his eyes focused on the remains of his departed friend. "...He didn't make it."

There was silence at the end of the line.

"Copy that," Jill replied. "Chris...I'm sorry."

Chris was about to respond when he heard something crash down with a thud from the other section of the terrace.

"What was that?!" Jill said.

Whipping to the source, The Alpha Point Man squinted as he tried peering through the darkness. A tall figure stood in the shadows with glowing red eyes. Raising his weapon, Redfield aimed, his eyes focused.

"Chris? Chris are you there?" Jill said on the other end.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The figure said nothing as he stood there, his form unmoving. It looked like he was wearing some kind of heavy coat or robe, but Chris couldn't tell due to the poor lighting.

Moving to the other end of the L-shape section, Chris started to approach the gigantic shape.

"If you are armed, drop your weapon and put your-"

A fluttering sound cut the Alpha Point Man off as thick black feathers fell from the figure's coat into the light, causing him to stare bemusedly down at them.

"What the hell?"

Raising his eyes back up to the person, he watched as the "coat" started to unfurl. It was then that Chris realized his mistake; it wasn't a coat at all!

They were wings!

Massive, black feathered wings!

Before Chris could even pull off a shot, the figure dashed forward with frightening speed and snatched him off the ground, causing the Alpha to yell and drop both his pistol and radio as his back and head slammed into the wall behind him.

"Chris?! Chris are you there?!" Jill said frantically over the radio. "Chris please respond!"

Once the pain in his head ceased and the lights cleared away from his eyes, Chris strained and grunted as he tried to pry the vice-like grip from his throat, his feet flailing around in the air.

"Hold on, Chis, Joseph and I are on our way!"

Opening his eyes, Chris' struggles ceased as he stared at the thing that pinned him to the wall, part of him disbelieving what he was looking at.

The creature was enormous, a good eight or nine feet tall...but it was definitely no zombie.

He had no idea what the hell it was.

Black and grey in color, the creature appeared to be some kind of...humanoid...bird!

Stretching out its enormous wings, Chris estimated that the thing must have a twenty, twenty-five foot wingspan. The upper thighs looked human, but from the knees down, he saw a pair of very long and thin digitigrade legs, reminding the Alpha Point Man of either a secretarybird or an ostrich, with strong, grasping, three-toed clawed feet like a hawk or eagle.

The hips appeared to be armored, if not mechanical. It was difficult to tell.

Lifting his eyes to its muscled torso, he saw part of the stomach and sides were covered thick, coarse black feathers while the chest itself was bare and smooth, the left pectoral partially protected by a metal breastplate reminiscent to a Roman gladiator's that was held together by two straps, one draped around the left shoulder, the other under its armpit.

The arms were strongly-built and covered in metal gauntlets, while the creature's hands were enormous, with two long, delicate clawed fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand.

Looking up to its face, Chris saw that it had a head like either a crow or raven's, with a thick black beak and a pair of long pointed ears protruding from the sides of its feathered crown that wiggled every now and then.

However, it was its eyes that caught his attention - clad in a pair of red-tinted goggles, the thing stared at him, the goggles' lenses whirring out toward him like the lens on a camera.

As they zoomed in closer on his features, the more bizarre the thing looked; it almost looked like it had long stalks or mechanical cones protruding out from its eyes. Tilting its head curiously, the lenses pulled back to normal as a door nearby opened.

"Chris?" Jill called.

"What...the...fuck?!" Chris heard Joseph swore as Jill let out an audible gasp.

As the creature turned its freakish head to face the new arrivals, Chris used the distraction as an opportunity to wrench himself free. Letting out a kick to its torso, he felt the thing let go of him as it gave a surprised squawk, the creature stumbling backward as it dropped him to the cold hard floor.

Letting out a wheezing cough, he clamored toward his weapon, snatching it off the ground as he regrouped with the others.

"Are you okay?" Jill said.

"Yeah," Redfield replied, rubbing his sore neck.

"What is that thing?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I think it's what killed Forest," he said as he recovered, drawing up his weapon as the creature turned around to face the trio.

Spreading out its wings, the bird creature let out a challenging shrill screech, the moon illuminating it from behind beneath the red and purple sky.