This chapter has been updated.
Chapter 6."Into the depth part 2."
6:08 P.M.
Mediterranean Sea.
The boat rolled left and right, like a leaf in a windy day. The torrents of rain came down with enough force to sting exposed flesh, which just made it all the more difficult to see and assess their quarry. The rumbling thunder, and flashing lightning certainly didn't help Leon's nerves much, just made him all the more uneasy.
Something deep down within him could feel that something was incredibly off about the place they were heading towards, and he didn't like it, he didn't like it one single bit.
It was Leon's turn to drive the boat through the storm. Jill wore her jumpsuit while he wore a wet suite he'd borrowed time from the DSO. The suit Jill had was modified on the shoulders and her hips to be a bit loose so as to offer better mobility. Leon's suit was somewhat bulkier in comparison. The torso section had several straps for his weapon holster along with a blade on his upper right chest. The blade had a small insignia of a snake on it. For his legs, Leon's suit expanded slightly so it could house more equipment. Leon could handle it since his legs are part of his workout routine.
Jill sat behind him, with her M92F in her left hand and she stared blankly at it. She pressed the trigger several times knowing full well the safety was on. The gun resisted her of course, yet she kept on pressing, despite knowing the hell the BSAA armorers would give her. She needed to know that it was set, that it wouldn't go unexpectedly and put a premature end to an innocent life. The last thing she needed was for another mistake, like the one she and her old comrade Barry had made, which had nearly cost his daughter's life.
...
"Jill, we're here." Leon said. "Unbelievable."
Jill made her way out of the cabin while shielding her eyes from the vicious rain with her hand. A large ghastly figure slowly appeared and in the midst of the fog they saw her name.
"Queen Zenobia."
"Incredible!" Jill said and she rotated her head to look at Leon. "Take us around. Let's find a boarding point."
Leon went back to the pilot's seat, to carefully steer them around to the aft end of the ship, while Jill continued to admire the massive construct, wondering at how something that big and heavy could float upon the sea. *sure is quite a different from that old rowboat dad used to take us out fishing on* The wooden rowboat from her childhood memories was barely an ant in comparison to this great behemoth, though she couldn't help but feel... that the old mildew ridden boat that always had a small leak somewhere, no matter how much work she and her father put into it, was a lot more safer and more welcoming than whatever she'd find aboard the Zenobia.
Jill took it upon herself to get their gear, more specifically grappling hooks. Complements of Quint.
They aimed their grappling hooks towards the railing. "Ready?" Jill asked.
Leon nodded, shivering slightly "Let's go, we'll catch pneumonia if we stay much longer out here in the storm." With the release of his finger the strength of the rope pulled them both toward the ship.
Within few seconds, they jumped off the railing and holstered the tool.
"It's been ninety-four minutes since Chris and Jessica dropped off the radar." Jill was the first to speak the fact.
"But their last known coordinates puts them…" he continued and took out both his Wing Shooters.
"Right on this ship."
A sudden and over the top dramatic flash of lightning nearly blinded them, and Leon sighed "I can just tell this is gonna be one of THOSE missions."
Jill chuckled, though it was more from nervous energy than any real humor she found in his words.
They made their way up the stairs in silence, carefully watching their surroundings when the ship shook beneath them, making them both lose their balance, and stumble around a bit, the sound of a bell tolling soon followed. Leon hold onto the railing, while Jill just tried to remain still and regain her balance. "What was that?" Leon said though his voice seems quiet, lost in the rain and the sea raging against the ship. Several splashes could be overheard on the side of the hull. It was a new unsettling feeling.
"No idea." Jill's eyes focused on specific location.
In the other side there was an orange door, locked with chains. "Leave that to me." Leon came forward before she had the chance to say something.
The barrel of his gun flashed once, and with the second shot the lock fall to the ground. Slowly he opened the door with Jill following behind, watching their back.
"A real master." Jill smirked.
"No, I'm just a pro." Leon retorted.
It was dark inside, the place was full of boxes and a broken ducts in the middle, the smell inside was a mix of what seemed like a rotten fish, and the noxious gasses all too often associated with human decay, a part of the ground covered in something unidentifiable.
"What a stench." Jill said through the hand she held over her nose and mouth, trying to adjust herself gradually to the stink, only letting in smidgeon of the smell in her nostrils at a time, and even that was almost more than she felt she could bare. The stench was even worse than the zombies she'd faced in the old spencer mansion. "Place feels like its been abandoned for a while."
She crouched down to check over a body near the door, the man had a large wound from his collar bone down to the stomach. The bones underneath looked completely torn out. By the sight of the darkened patch beside it, he'd bleed out within seconds. The skin mixed with the muscle hung loosely to the bones.
"Poor soul, rest in peace." she murmured.
Leon on the other hand used the Genesis to check their surroundings. For some reason, the tool couldn't read much of anything useful. "These things, they're almost like the carcasses in the beach." he said as he lowered the tool.
"More questions than answers at the moment." Jill replied as she stood up and prepared to open the door.
The doors opened without any sound, it revealed a corridor much darker than the other room, they could feel a cold breeze inside, the silence spoke volumes of the horror awaiting them.
The two Agents went through the door as quiet as possible, the hallway had few steel step, and in the other side they found another door.
They could hear the sound of something clattering, "I don't think we're alone." Leon whispered as he slowly turning the door handle, with an echoing creek the door revealed a small storage room.
It had a steel shelve, carrying large boxes seems to be filled of some things.
Leon tapped Jill's shoulder, and he nodded at something.
Jill followed his nod and she saw a large shadow behind the shelves, with her left arm she draw her gun, her steps were quiet and careful.
Leon was on the right side with one of his guns ready.
Though the other side was empty, the ducts leaked a white liquid. "I hate cat and mouse game." Leon said while he watched the air ducts, his index finger crept to the trigger.
"Let's just hope we don't run into whatever is leaking this." Jill said.
"When have we ever been that lucky?" Leon said with a wry chuckle, reminding her of the truth, of all she went through. "Face it Valentine, bad luck is in our nature…"
At last they made their way through the next door, they could hear the faint sound of the storm outside, echoing through the hallway.
Together they went down the stairs, when they saw movement in the ducts above them, a heavy movement going down.
"See, our little friend is following us." Leon whispered.
They ran down the steps, Jill leading them to the right.
"There!" Jill slowed, and pointed.
To the right of the corridor just ahead was what looked like an elevator?
Leon wasn't sure it was the best course of action, seeing as they were barely into their search of the ship, still they could always come back here and see where it leads.
He pushed the button, and nothing happened like there is no electricity in it.
"This one isn't working ether." Jill said, she was standing near an opened door, for another elevator.
Leon followed Jill through the corridor, when the sound of something shattering violently startled him, and swiftly he drew his gun and began searching for the source.
There in between the two elevators, the duct was broken and a body of one of the crew of the ship dangled from it. The eyes were rolled back and in the mouth several maggots swam around in the feast. Leon cringed at the sight.
The man's right arm was swollen, misshapen and pale, like the skin of the other creatures.
"Do you think the infection spread with a bite?" Jill asked.
Leon rubbed his forehead, he felt tired, and almost nervous enough for him to justify taking one of his pills ahead of schedule... almost "Isn't that usually the case? hmm even if it isn't, we're gonna search this place top to bottom and back again till we find out more of how this works anyhow, and if we can't find anything, then the lab should be able to figure it out from the samples we collect with the genesis."
"True."
They continued down the corridor, and they saw a door blocked with two large steel tables, the light of a vending machine can be seen. It read the logo of Sprunk soda and the light behind it had a light green fade into the area. The light flickered several times which set Leon and Jill on edge.
Leon was about to speak, when another sound of movement appeared above them, dust was falling from the ducts like the whole thing was about to collapse.
Silently they both sagged, leaning against the wall near the second door in the corridor.
They could hear more movement inside.
A creature's hungry cries, hear the sound of his heavy steps against the metal.
Within a few seconds, the sound was gone.
Jill looked at Leon's eyes, without speaking he nodded and together they kicked the door open.
The place was entirely deserted, not a single sign of whatever had been causing the ruckus. Leon huffed with annoyance and looked around casually, though he didn't lower his gun. It appeared to be a lounge, there was a table near the wall, and two of them in the middle. "So, you think the machine still works, I'm thirsty."
Jill stopped in front of him, after hearing these words. "Is this your attempt to be funny Mister Iceman?"
"Hey, I never claimed to be funny."
A loud noise came from behind her, sound of a steel breaking. With a gasp she turned around, gun ready in her hand, though there was nothing but a rat.
"I hate it when that happens." Leon said causally and he walked in front of her to the other side of the Lounge.
There was a rusty juice machine, and a few other other machines damaged to the point where they couldn't even identify what they were. the juice machine dripped with of whatever colored drink it housed.
The door behind was half open, and the two agents walked towards it carefully with their guns leveled and prepared for whatever could appear.
They stood outside of the door, their ears tuned for whatever it could be.
Cold silence welcomed them, though both of them knew that such silence is not a good sign.
Slowly Leon pushed the door open revealing a dirty kitchen; there was a body lying in the table in front of them, his face was very missed up like something squashed it. The assumption was lead to that conclusion as the parts of the body including the bones looked more like a paste than a humanoid structure.
"Not my kind of pancake." Leon checked him over. Jill observed her surroundings with her Genesis, the floor was filled with blood and more of the strange ooze especially around the grating in the middle of the kitchen.
"Leon a little help here. There is something under the grating, maybe with the Genesis we can get a proper reading." she called him.
"Roger." He holstered his weapon and bend down to hold the steel grating, it was heavy to his fingers still with more strength he lifted it up high enough for Jill to check it.
Jill looked through the green screen, looking over the rotten flesh, it took one second when the tool detected a metal, "I'm getting something," she said and she put the tool aside.
"Give me a sec." her hand searched through the soggy flesh until she found it, a gun stuck.
Her heart beat went heavy, her mind raced along, as she pulled the gun out of the hole, the trigger was stuck in a white liquid.
"Is that Chris's gun?" Leon asked as he let go of the grating at last, feeling his fingers a little numb.
"No." a sound of click came from the other side of the kitchen.
"Oh look, someone just opened the door for us." Leon said and started running towards the door.
"Easy partner," Jill followed behind.
Without hesitation Leon kicked the door open and took a peek through, gun first, and found it led to another hallway, they went through in silence, the hallway this time appeared to be dimly lit, unlike what they saw before.
They sprinted down the stairs and they found two doors in the end. Jill went to the first door in front of them, and she peeked inside the small, mail opening.
The room was lit with one lamp dangling from the ceiling, under the light she saw him, his back was facing her, and his hands were tied behind the chair.
"Chris! Chris." she shouted and kicked the door. "Come on say something."
Leon came forward and looked inside, "Jill, are you sure that's him?" he looked back at her." I mean we can only see his back."
"I know its him," she shouted, "We have to get him out, we have to go right now and look..."
Leon put his hand on her mouth. "Slow down beautiful," he said with a smirk.
Jill heaved a long sigh, and nodded.
"Alright," he said as he let go of her mouth. "Now let's go and find the key."
They went through the second door in the hall, and it led to a stairs, up and down.
"Going up?" Jill whispered.
Leon was about to speak when out of nowhere, he felt a very heavy weight fall upon him, his grip in the gun loosened and with a grunt he fell backwards over the railing.
"Leon!" Jill screamed in horror.
The creature stood between her and the stairs, it had long, claw-like arms. These arms folded several times as razor like bones retracted out of the pale flesh. It flickered about as it approached her. The head of the creature had similar razors like the arms.
"Come at me." she taunted. The creature's steps seems a little heavier than the other creature she saw before.
She fired at the creature uncontrollably and the reaction was immediate and repulsive. The body began to tremble, and a squeal erupted into the place. The creature's step was halted, and Jill took the opportunity and she took a grenade from her rear pocket and her thumb at the pin.
It rolled to the creature's feet.
The explosion echoed in the hall, and the sound of Jill's fast movement followed.
"Leon!" she called, but to her surprise and dismay the stairs was broken, she cannot go any further.
"Leon, answer me!" she screamed again, she couldn't see anything down, but darkness. "Damn it!" Jill couldn't see the bottom. Her flashlight could only go so far.
Jill took a moment to think about her options, Chris is locked up and she had to find a key, Leon is probably injured down there, elevator is broken and she cannot use it.
At last she made up her mind. "Leon do you read me?" she used the radio hoping beyond hope that he could hear her. Still there wasn't any response.
She holstered her gun and ran upstairs thinking, " Note to self; find a way to go down and look for your partner."
The door upstairs took her to another hallway, she could hear the sound of the storm very clearly here, and near some steel steps she could see the light of thunder, from a broken window.
Slowly she made her way up to the small hallway, looking over any creature that could be around. Though there was nothing there but the sound of the heavy rain leaving stains inside.
'I hate being left alone.' she thought. She went through the first door near the window, and she found herself in darkness again.
With a bated breath she used her flashlight strapped in her uniform. The room appeared to have bunk beds in both sides and an opened bathroom in the front.
She could hear the unmistakable sound of another bloated corps, and it was mixed with water.
She checked her ammo and slid a new magazine to her sidearm. The hammer snapped back and the barrel clicked in place. With so much determination she went through the bathroom ready to fight. Jill Valentine felt more than ready for whatever awaited her.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked this.
Special thanks to The Grinning Psychopath.