Disclaimer: I do not own any Resident Evil characters or Resident Evil terms but I do own anything else that is original, Kronos virus, everything about the project and much more coming in the next chps.
Chapter Four: Above the Abyss
31 May 2006, 12:08 A.M.
Level C, Theseus Research Facility
DEATH AND NEAR DARKNESS foully lurked through the underpass tunnel. It was a pitiful experience, hearing what should have been undead scream out to them in almost rational words. Most of the walkers eventually lost the ability to speak, grumbling unintelligibly but the terror in their twisted faces – it was like an animal backed into a corner with nothing to lose if it fought back. Some looked less human from their own clawing on their faces, ripping off skin and flesh that they were closer to being called undead.
It was almost difficult to pull the trigger.
But the people they encountered within the passage were gone. Beyond help and hope. The two agents, TerraSave member and BSAA medic had to remind themselves and each other that.
Well, only three. Vince had taken the front, shooting down the new form of 'half-undead' without hesitation to push the team further. He had hollered, "We'll be stuck here if we don't shoot our way through! Move!"
It was either the black-eyed zombies or the living. Pick the choices and it'd always be the latter.
After the first few were put down, it felt like it was back to Raccoon City for Leon, Claire and Rebecca. The need to shoot in order to stay alive.
They couldn't stop.
The cluster of Shades, with two or three Darkened ones bursting out from their shallow shells, eventually dispersed deeper in the tunnel.
Another heavy door up ahead and the four went through.
The scene around them mended from grey and red to beautiful dazzlingly blue that the foursome had to take a moment to process the change. The tunnel ceased being made of concrete – being like glass channels at those water attractions where adults and kids could see the marine fish swim by on the other side. The only indication of how far deep the team was at was the printed numbers on the wall. 800 metres below the surface.
It was peaceful. Terrifyingly peaceful.
"When that guy said it was underwater..." Rebecca started, staring amazed at the blue clearness. She sworn she saw a faint outline of a whale in the distance. Glancing down, she gulped at the sight of the black endless pit below them.
"Yeah. He literally meant it," Leon finished.
"Hey, look over there."
Claire pointed out through the glass. Towards the end of the tunnel, they could make out an enormous building. There was no way of knowing the width but by the sight of its height, the building seemed to reach nearly 300 metres from the surface and down, down into the abyss.
Perhaps even as close as the hadal zone... Exaggerated but it was still a frightening thought.
"That's the facility?" Vince gasped. "Geez. HELIX has deep pockets to make all of this."
"They are one of the richest companies in the world," Claire said straightforwardly. "Still to afford all this, even a town... HELIX invested a lot on this virus."
"Which means whatever this virus is, it's dangerous," Leon speculated and moved onwards. "Maybe worse than the t-virus..."
The walk down the tunnel was eerily quiet except for their footsteps, despite the breathtakingly stunning scenery around them. The change didn't mean they could drop their guard and admire the beauty. The sign of yet another metal door at the end told them the worst part had yet to hit them. Hard.
Leon and Vince took to the sides and carefully opened the door, Claire swinging her gun through the widened gap. She marched on and the others followed suit, no interruption pouncing onto them unexpectedly.
Serenity from the underwater was immediately dispersed by the red warning lights greeting them again within the dark halls of a more modern and sleek touch. But death had touched the new area – blood smeared across the floor, ceiling and walls. Everywhere.
"Emergency Alert. Backup power level at twenty percent. Underpass entrances must be shut manually before quarantine and evacuation can proceed."
"That does not sound good," Vince uttered with unease at the robotic voice of the announcer.
Not too far from their entrance into the facility, Claire spotted a map. The kind she'd see at any shopping mall. On closer examination, the structure of the level was shaped into a large hexagon, with four sections divided: north, east, south and west. In between the sections, she could make out paths to more underpass entrances – four to be exact, including the one they just entered. All four paths intersected into a circular around around the central, where the symbol of an elevator was at.
"Level C-2. Hydrodam Area." She pointed at the south section, where the marker "Here" was stamped.
Leon examined it as well, tracing his finger along the map until it stopped with a few taps on the northern section, security. "This looks like a good spot to take a breather."
"Yeah. We're struggling with what we got on our hands," Claire pointed. "Supplies would be good."
"That and..." He glanced up to see the slow veering of the watchful mechanical eye above them. "Seems like cameras are still operational. We might be able to find survivors through them."
"If we're heading there, we'll have to head west. This way's blocked off." Following Vince's glance around the rounded corner, they saw the route towards south-east inaccessible by broken debris – perhaps caused something large having once walked through the hall. Yes, there was a gap but it was at the risk of crossing over an electrified puddle. "Place's tearing apart from the inside."
Leon sighed, staring back at the map. "Guess we're taking the long way round."
With all agreeing, they strolled down the right circular hall with hands on guns. As they continued on, it couldn't be helped to cast out eyes on their surroundings. Blood splatter, dead bodies, overturned décor, scattered papers and the casting of claw marking across the concrete and metal walls. Many things, both human and not, had gone down this hall.
It wasn't long until the nearly-dark hall seemed to brighten by yellow light through a long series of windows – the sort one glances through to observe something below for safety reasons.
"Oh my god..."
Behind the glass was a prison block – about two levels high. Below them were rows upon rows of cells, the automatic grate doors wide open.
Looming sluggishly within the block was the undead in orange – with a few security officers and jailers among the crowd. Their condition as infected was just the same as that of the people from the tunnel. Hanging between life and death, with no conscious driving the empty shells.
Oh, was this just bringing Claire back to Rockfort Island. And she didn't like that. A check at the prison's main doors told her that someone had sealed off the block and left these men to die.
Disorder lead people to do foolish decisions...
The scene behind the glass continued on as they ventured down the hall. Hundreds of men below them fallen to the new unknown virus.
The alarming sight teased at Claire's thoughts. When did everything fall apart? This morning? If that was the case, then this virus was firing through hosts rapidly.
Bang!
Gunfire whispered through the inner corridor.
"Survivors," Leon uttered.
The noise ahead didn't silence. The group hurried deeper down until they found another similar hall like the one that connected to the underpass.
"Hurry! We got to close the door!"
It was the same episode they experienced themselves not too long ago but played by different participators. One yelling in an odd mixed British accent.
Sure enough, approaching to a similar room as the one they had entered into, the team of four caught sight of four fighters. However unlike them, trained fighters, it was somewhat a wagon of misfits, struggling a bigger size of a horde than the one they squeezed through.
"Dammit, out of ammo!" It was the beholder of the accent. With swift thinking, the young man slid out his monkey wrench from his tool belt and hammered it into a looming shade.
CRACK!
The shade's head cracked open like an egg.
Closing the heavy door of the chamber were two people in white: one tall man and one short woman. Scientists.
Their fourth comrade-
"AAAHH!"
One darkened leapt upon the unfortunate security officer and before anyone could help him, his face was immediately chewed off.
"Decker!" The woman screamed out his name, leaping to rescue but was stopped by the other scientist.
"Shit!" An uncharacteristic curse out of the British man.
Then he froze.
His eyes instinctually dropped down.
Another shade. Gunned down but visibly mobile enough to clutch his foot.
"I don't want to die..."
He froze at the wheezing words, the sweat and hint of fear loosening his grip around the tool.
Barely, he noticed the swinging pipe from another coal-eyed man.
BANG!
The fire was like a pray answered for the three survivors.
"Quickly, seal the door!"
At Claire's cry, the British hurried to help the scientists, holding as much faith that not only their saviours would not shoot their backs but they'd shoot down the shades before the monsters would make the trio luncheon meat.
The lock clicked loudly but for good measure, the British blocked the door with the only couch in the room. Vince helped out with the barricading, jamming a metal cupboard to place.
"That should hold them off," he grunted.
"Is it a good idea to stay here?" Rebecca asked worriedly.
"For the time being yes," one of the scientists, the short one, answered. "Better here than out there."
After locking up the heavy door in the north-west section of the underwater hexagon building, the tall scientist quickly proposed them to make haste to the control room, which wasn't far from that exit. The group of people had no choice but to abandon the fallen officer. It was clear that he died instantly after his face was torn off and already, the shades had nibbled at anything that was exposed.
Claire examined their three guests now that they were out of danger.
The mechanic, Bryce Parish along with rich blond hair and frightened pale eyes dropped onto the couch. First glance of his uniform was that of a mechanic working in the facility, oddly combined to his jock-like physique. Even so, a step in his pace during the attack betrayed him of an age-old leg injury underneath his pant legging.
The deceased officer's name was Decker – the second group's only firearm specialist.
The scientists, well, out of the three, Claire had not put her guard on. That accursed shade of white within the same walls of zombies and monsters said flat out "Yes, we're responsible for this virus."
That was the first glance, however.
The tall scientist, fishing out what looked like a box of toothpick, was named Victor Fisker – a mature looking man with a very dark shade of brown for a slightly-grown flattop haircut and casual clothing of a sweater, pants and comfy shoes belted together with his own taser gun holster. Pinched on his pants' pocket was an ID card of his. The tiredness in his green eyes had told her there had been worse nights he had seen.
The short one, Katherine Raschke, with round glasses and frizzly hair, took to the chair in the surveillance room but stopped.
"Hey," Leon called out to Victor.
"Oh no."
At the sound of the short scientist's utter, Victor rushed over to her.
"Hey," Leon demanded with a hint of irritation at being ignored.
Inside the control room, the monitors flashed warning signs but no matter how hard the second scientist hit the buttons, there was no response to the machines.
"Bryce," Victor called out and right off the sofa, the mechanic joined them at the dashboard.
"Might be fried from the power out earlier. I can check the insides but if it's technical, then I can't do much."
"I could help with that," Katherine proposed. "Well, with what I know, actually."
"Give it your best shot. We got to get this working," Victor ordered calmly.
"Hey!" Leon uttered. The tall scientist turned to the response while already, the mechanic dropped to his knees and fiddled with the screws.
"Look, I know you need answers but there are more pressing matters. We need to put out eyes and ears out there."
Victor pulled out a small radio transmitter, state-of-the-art kind, and fidgeted with the dial. Only static and that darkened his face.
"There are others?" Rebecca asked with a tint of hopefulness.
"Anyone not on a suicide mission should have been out and gone to town by now," was Victor's straight answer.
"Suicide?" Claire repeated.
"You came from one of the emergency exits, right?" he asked. "You closed it?"
"Had no choice with those undead trying to get out," Vince murmured as he slouched back to a wall.
"That makes three exits closed so far. We've got several teams out there trying to shut the rest of the exits." Victor grumbled through his toothpick. "Only problem is they're in the dark."
So priority was still the same. Lock down the facility to prevent the infected from coming out.
"What's the situation's like?" Leon asked calmly, seeing probing for answers was out until the problem was solved.
Victor straightened up from the radio, his hands dropped into baggy pockets. "Four teams. Two on the second floor and two this floor, us being one of them. Contact's weak between floors with the servers down and these talkies only go so far a range." His shoulders slugged with worry. "We've not heard from the other team for a while now."
"They'll be fine," Katherine, in her seat, uttered without hesitation.
The comment surprised Victor by a bit and soon he found himself agreeing with her.
"Well, they have one hell of a kid with them. We'll just have to wait till we hear word." Victor ditched away his chewed, soaked stick and pulled out another one. "Want one? Only thing stopping my smoking habit."
"Um, no thanks," Leon declined with a shake of his hand.
"But you want answers. Seeing we can't do much but wait." A loud clank of a metal sheet hit the concrete floor as Byrce dug deep into the machine. "I'm sorry about just now."
Leon shook his head. "Everyone's on edge." He understood. He had been down that lane many times. "What is this virus?"
The most important question of the day. Victor didn't object in both body and vocal language.
"What's happening right now is because of a virus called the Kronos Virus," Victor began, taking a seat on the edge of the dashboard. "You've seen the results so far. It's not your normal virus."
Normal, being that a virus infected the dead and brought them back. The Kronos Virus, it took a whole new level.
"And you worked on it?" Claire inquired in a manner of confirming the notion.
Victor nodded openly. "I'm just a microbiologist but pretty much, that virus has gone through all our hands."
"Same. I'm a molecular biology tech," Katherine added.
"Um," Bryce's voice caught the attention of the people in the room as he timidly raised his hand like a school kid. "I'm just a mechanic."
It was a grave mistake he made. Now all eyes were on him, many with eyebrows raised. Victor gave a staggering look that said, "What are you going on about?"
Bryce coughed at how ridiculously obvious that was. "Sorry." He then returned back to work at hand.
Victor coughed to steer the awkwardness away. "As Bryce here is trying to make a point, anyone who's not involved in the Kronos project would be other scientists on other projects and staff."
"Projects?" Leon echoed.
"Basically HELIX's merchandise. Practically this whole island is the main reason why the company is as it is today. The decongestant you keep in your medicine cabinet is made from ingredients found here. Same place where the Kronos Virus's precursor originated from. This island has an old virus naturally isolated here. Named the Protogonos Virus"
Claire grumbled under her breath. "Another one?"
Victor shook his hand, indicating she didn't have to be afraid. "Don't worry. It's harmless. Only infects insects and animals."
"And HELIX decided to create a better virus from this old one," Leon pieced it together.
"A better virus is undermining it." It was an unexpected comment, sparking further curiosity out of the four newcomers.
"What do you mean?" Leon pried.
"The Kronos virus has two traits. One is it's a retrovirus. Layman's terms – it copies itself as part of any organism's DNA by reverse transcribing the RNA. But unlike typical retroviruses, the Kronos is capable of doing that in a symbiosis manner. Two is its capability – it can absorb traits of another virus to make them as their own, bringing out new variants of it. We call this 'devouring'.
Both those traits are both its strengths and weaknesses. The Kronos needs a different virus strand as a catalyst to," he coughed, disliking what he would say next. "Bring out its potential as a deadly virus. On its own, it's only half the danger. You can label it as a ticking time bomb waiting for a grenade to trigger them both off."
"Wait," Vince then stopped him. "It needs another virus? Exactly what virus happening here is that?"
"Most of everything you see is a result when the t-virus is combined with a Kronos virus."
It was a straightforward answer that Victor did not hesitate in replying. The answer alarmingly stirred up the three survivors of Raccoon City.
"The t-virus?" Claire gasped nervously.
"Among other things," Victor explained grimly. "Does the names, G-Virus and T-Veronica, ring bells?"
Claire jumped. But unexpectedly with a rush beneath her boots.
The last name.
T-Veronica Virus.
No. Calm down.
If they had it, that meant they would have Steve's body, whether alive or dead. But they could have bought the virus like Leon's incident in South America.
That didn't prove anything.
Leon was the first to notice the sudden reaction out of Claire, even if he reacted at hearing the familiar G-Virus. However, he kept quiet noting Claire wouldn't say much as she slowly, wearily sat back down.
"It's possible the Kronos Virus has combined with all of them, right?" Leon continued the conversation.
"Possible but if you mean out in the open and not in a petri dish, then we have no idea how spiralling the results can be."
"Many of our specimens and tests are a result of constantly and artificially picking the traits for the Kronos to devour," Katherine pointed. "But for those uninfected, that's another story."
"How does one get infected?" Rebecca asked. One good point to worry about.
"The Kronos virus is transmitted via blood or if you're dumb enough, consumption of an infected. So we're generally safe for the time being." Victor gave out a silent pause, regretting those words in the process. "Poor choice of words. You either are eaten alive or bitten to become a carrier..."
"You're pretty open about giving strangers information."
Victor huffed. "Why should I keep my mouth shut now? Like I'd keep these secrets to my grave for those bastards." In narrowed irritation, he exchanged his now-old toothpick for a new one. "Hung us by the noose for eleven years so we could obediently make the most dangerous bioweapon since '98."
"You were held here against your will," Leon stated.
"The first two years, no. But HELIX didn't give all the details to us when we signed for this job. Just a simple, "You are going to save lives with this research." Hmph!" Victor ditched away his finished toothpick with frustration. "Now we're the damn terrorists and HELIX's gonna brush this off with a clean sheet."
Katherine slugged her shoulders down, frowning with regret. The expressions Claire, Leon and Rebecca were seeing were very much different from the ones they had seen on the faces of corrupted minds. Guilt. These people had a hand in crafting a virus at point blank and now, they would be responsible for many deaths.
Rebecca had an urge to say, "It wasn't your fault" but to them, it sounded more like a lie. Nothing to look forward to hearing.
So instead, she said, "We won't let that happen."
It surprised the two scientists out of their struggling emotions. They glanced at her, dumbfounded at first but a bit positive.
"HELIX's responsible for this in the first place. They locked you up against your will. We won't let them get away with it."
"She's right," Claire joined in, her TerraSave side stepping forth. "You are the victims here."
"...You're going to need a lot of evidence to prove HELIX had a hand in this. They'll just shift the blame on all of us." Victor cupped his chin, his elbow resting on his knee. "And this is HELIX we're talking about. I don't see us getting justice for all the crap they've put us through."
"You got one BSAA, a Terrasave and two federal agents," Claire said. "I think we're enough to cover all of you."
Victor nearly broke out a soft laugh. Four strangers saving over eight thousand people. He then heaved a heavy sigh, partly out of relief. "Well, then we better get you lot out alive. Can't have you four dying on us."
"Done!" Bryce hollered with glee, alerting all of the people of their seats like there was a white elephant in the room. He got up, flipped a switch and thank the Lord, the control panel lit up alive.
Katherine skipped onto the chair and her fingers immediately ran across the keyboard with Bryce overseeing to see any sparking problems out of the panel's electronics.
"Let's hope the other teams have shut off the other doors by now." Victor turned his attention back to the radio. "Come in. It's Victor. Do you read me?"
No answer. He tried again.
And with that, the outsiders stood stiff, leaving the trio to their work. There was no need to interrupt or step in. More in numbers wouldn't quicken the step any more.
"What should we do, Leon?" Claire asked.
Leon glanced about but there was nothing much they could do. "We may just as well head out and double-check on these doors. Maybe along the way, find this other team." He then noticed something, or someone amiss, narrowing down one eyebrow. "Where's Vince?"
Halfway through the conversation, the federal rookie had wandered off to a back room where surveillance equipment was stationed – ones that seemed to record and store data into the large black machines at the back.
"What are you doing?"
Vince didn't flinch, simply wheeled around to see his teammates enter. "Isn't it obvious? Trying to figure out what the hell happened in this place."
"Why does that matter?" Rebecca asked. If anything, the answer was clear as day. "Power failed and that released this virus out in the open."
"Yeah, but what caused the power failure? We have a powerfully high-tech facility gone to hell. Sounds like an inside job to me."
That perked at Leon's interest. "If I were to guess, Wesker has a hand on this."
"Yeah, but he seems like the mafia boss type, right? May have been his lackey who did his word." Round and round his finger went on the rewind button and he muttered. "These are some awful angles. Looks like they're just the halls and stairs-"
"Wait, stop!"
Vince hit the pause button at the quick demand but cast a confused look at Claire. "What? You see something?"
Suddenly, nearly shoving Vince away, Claire took to the controls and rewound the videos. Among the monitors, she had only just missed it by a few seconds. At first, she couldn't believe what she had seen but it went back so fast for her mind to take it in.
Claire hit the play button once she had found the right time on one particular monitor.
It was a view aiming down from the ceiling of an elevator. Down on the floor with his back slumped against the wall was another scientist, badly wounded. There was no way to tell what condition he was for the lines of white noise and pixels distorted the image.
And standing before the bleeding scientist was a familiar green monster.
She couldn't see it whole. But she recognized the staggering red wound along its spine. The red hair.
The monster lifted up its clawed hand just as the scientist launched forward as if all his energy went into trying to escape.
And off went the scientist's head.
Claire couldn't tear her eyes away, regardless if the rest of the video after that meant nothing.
Was that him? No, couldn't be. No.
Her mind struggled to deny what she saw.
But if it were true...then he really...
No.
Couldn't be.
"That was him, wasn't it?"
She turned around. Claire hadn't realized it but her hands had rolled up into shaken palms and her breathing was rapid.
Clear signs that Leon read too easily.
"That was Steve. Am I right?"
Claire bit her lip. Leon wasn't there at Antarctica but he had read Chris' report. Despite how brief it had been written, Leon was already piecing together the puzzle from Claire's reaction.
Rebecca looked back at the screen, shocked.
"Are we missing a story here?" Vince asked, a futile question.
"Claire, you saw him. That wasn't Steve anymore."
It stunk at her. Partly because Leon was right.
Claire had been searching for a dead body to bury. Then she was given hope that Steve was alive. And now...
"No..." Her voice was weak. She needed proof. The angle didn't show his face. That wasn't Steve.
"He killed a person!"
"No!" Claire hollered, glaring straight at Leon's furrowed face. "That-That's not him!"
The tension tightened within the small group, only Rebecca and Vince being the outcasts. Leon stayed firm, the reality sticking like glue whereas Claire was slowly breaking, her body language saying her plead. Give her enough time to find the evidence. It was too early to pass verdict.
"That-"
GRAAA-BOOOM!
A groan erupted through the walls as if the facility was speaking out in pain. All of a sudden, the room they stood shook beneath their feet.
It was a short quiver.
But still an alarming one.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" A cry – out of the mechanic's mouth – from back the control room lured the group back to the impending vulnerability at hand.
"What's going on?" Leon uttered.
The tall scientist and mechanic were looming over the small shoulders of the woman, still at the panel. The control monitors flashed red and numbers.
Victor fought every fibre to curse. Simply just bit harder on his toothpick. "One problem after another, that's what. The hydrodam generators are failing on us now."
"And that's bad because?" Rebecca asked timidly.
"Two things: One, we lose our backup power. Two, we lose pressure inside the facility."
"Which means once they go, the whole place is going to flooded." The mechanic then moaned. "And we're losing pressure too fast."
"Can you fix it?" Leon strolled in a quick pace to the panel.
Katherine shook her head, her fingers hitting desperately at the keys. "No. It's a problem at the hydrodam itself. I-I can't fix it from here."
"How did this happen?" Vince hollered.
"Does it matter? We're gonna drown soon," Victor replied. "We got to go down there fast."
Just before the tall scientist turned to the closed door, he was stopped by Leon.
Already Leon predicted. Despite Victor's reputation as the ones responsible for the mess they are in, the tall man was going to run down to the hydrodam area for the root of the problem.
A man in a suicide-mission team. All three on a route that would likely get themselves killed regardless of the ammo and quick thinking.
But in Leon's book, he was still a victim. Katherine and Bryce were still victim.
"You said you can be eyes and ears here, right?" Leon uttered the question. "If so, be our eyes and ears as well."
Victor's eyes bugged out as they jumped from Leon to his three teammates. He understood where this was going but the plan had to be a crazy idea.
"...Channel fourteen," Victor finally said, noticing the radio in Leon's possession. "That's the channel we're communicating through. Follow the hall down to the south section, east side. Pressure control is first to your right. Once you get there, call us."
Leon nodded and all four headed out, the door shutting behind them.
"We're here!"
A mad dash down the circular hall and through a wandering pack of Shades under a matter of three adrenaline-filled minutes. And all under near pitch darkness with the backup power slowly dying.
Thrilling, Rebecca thought.
"You should see a control panel," Victor echoed through the radio's end.
"Here!" Claire waved her hand, directing the team to one small console.
"We can't control the hyydrodam's system from way up here. You got to reboot the system manually down there. Red button, hurry!" Katherine now took over the radio.
She did as she was told and the monitor flickered with data. "Got it!"
"Ok, I can control the turbines from here. Turning them on... Now!"
At the signal of the scientist's yelp, the red lights brightened up the whole hydrodam Area. Good. That meant power was back on... Well, backup anyway.
Another shake of the whole room, however, dimpled at their ray of hope.
"What happened?" Leon uttered.
"Sorry! Turning on turbines means the pressure gets higher. We need to get it back in control now!"
"Couldn't you have warned us that! ?" Vince shouted.
"What's next?"
"Um, y-yellow valves. You got to turn the yellow valves. All six of them."
"Go!" Leon rushed the group apart, he sprinting about in search of a yellow valve. One by one, each teammate turned the valve.
"It's lowering! Keep it up!"
"Shit! Incoming!"
BANG!
Vince fired at a wandering Shade. More swarmed through the area's entrance.
"Rebecca, Claire! Keep looking!" Leon joined his partner to the shooting.
The race was still going and now the undead was going to make it all the more difficult. Claire zigzagged across the mass of pipes and machinery until she spotted one lone yellow valve.
She turned it around.
"Claire!" Not too far from her was Rebecca, at the last valve. "It's struck!"
Claire hurried over, her hands gripping onto the metal ring. Rebecca was right – it was rusted.
"Come on! Pull!" Claire turned with everything she got. So did Rebecca.
A loud thud and the valve turned.
"Yes!" the girls cheered.
"You did it! Pressure's going down!"
BANG!
The last Shade dropped with a large hole in his head.
"Clear." Leon scanned around for more walkers but the moment seemed quiet for the time being.
"Oh, thank god. We got it under control."
"So we're out of danger?"
"A bit too early for that but for now, yeah. Let's just hope this facility hasn't gotten too much damage from all those shakes. Or else we'd be at the bottom of the ocean," Victor responded.
"Ok. Seriously didn't want that scenario painted in my mind now," the New Yorker groaned, imagining the underwater building going down like a tree into an abyss.
"I found them!" Katherine suddenly blurted out from the other end. Her voice hinted with happiness. "Victor! I found them! They're alive!"
"Jesus," Victor sighed. "What the heck have they been up to?"
"Who's they?" Leon asked.
"The other team on this floor. For a moment, I thought we'd lost-" He stopped. "Wait, where's Kiddo?"
"Oh no." Katherine's tone changed to that of worry. "HCFs. They're in trouble!"
"Dammit! Why are they still here! ?"
"Where are they?" Leon asked, all four sensing the urgency at play.
"They're in the same place as you are at. Further inside. Hurry!"
And just before the four could sprint, gunshots boomed from afar.
"Flamin' hell! These HCFs just won't quit!"
It was unexpected, echoing from deep within the hydrodam section with the loud bangs of fire.
"That voice," Leon uttered. A short moment of amazement flashed on their faces. For once, fate was helping them out.
"Well, then! Follow the gunshots," Vince droned.
They ran up a set of stairs to a long narrow system of catwalks that overlooked the machinery. It took a while turning left and right but once into a much bigger area, where two enormous dams stationed – the turbines spinning alive – they spotted a group of three fighting against a few HCF thugs.
Just like the trio from before, it was a group of oddities. From first glance, it was a security captain, a scientist and a prisoner.
The Australian wore the same standard uniform like any other security officer, sleeves rolled up, but was well-prepared for hell on Earth with a shoulder hostler and light body armor. His brown once-trimmed crew cut had grown a little, along with a six o'clock shave, giving him a rough edge
In a full orange jumpsuit, the narrow-built African American inmate with a light black afro pitched his chosen weapon, a crowbar, right into the neck of one HCF soldier. He deliberately aimed for a gun wound, tearing more into it and clipping further into an artery. In seconds, blood drained out and his enemy fell with a thud.
The only woman in the group, the glasses-wearing scientist, glared furiously at the soldiers after them as she fired her gun. Her white coat was open wide with rolled sleeves but underneath, she was very unprofessional – light batwing t-shirt, Bermuda pants and causal slip-on sneakers. Even her long wavy blond hair was messily tied up but tidiness was the least of her worries. Around her neck was a lanyard with her ID card.
One striking trait about her was the long, complicated tattoo stretching from under her sleeve down to the rest of her left arm, bearing a riddling illustration. Something very uncharacteristic of a scientist that one could mistake her as a convict dressing up in white.
"Look out!" the inmate hollered to her.
The woman did just that but she was too slow wheeling around in time against the charging HCF soldier with a knife in hand.
BANG!
The whistling of Leon's bullet came near her left and straight through the forehead of the soldier. With the last HCF dead, the three wheeled around to see the newcomers on the catwalk.
"I take it you're Kent?" Leon asked, now that the chaos had died.
The Australian officer raised his eyebrows with disbelief, then smirked. "And you must be Leon. You four are out of your mind to be waltzing down here."
"You need all the help you can get."
The Aussie noticed his teammates. "More agents with you?"
"Just him and me. These two are from BSAA and TerraSave."
"TerraSave?" the blonde repeated with a hint of surprise, the hazel eyes immediately fixed on Claire. "...You're Claire Redfield?"
Now Claire was surprised herself at the guess.
A smile slowly stretched across the blonde's astonished face. It was almost like the scientist couldn't believe her eyes and ears. "You're really her?"
"Y-Yes?"
A small laugh escaped from the blonde's mouth. "My message went through. I can't believe this." Unexpectedly, she grabbed her by the arms as if to be absolutely sure Claire was real. Not a figment of her imagination. "You're here! You're really here... Steve will be happy to see you!"
The name bugged her eyes wide. It took a while for Claire to understand why but hearing that from the stranger before her, she was able to connect the dots.
"You're Iria McLenlan," she softly hissed.
The scientist's expression twirled with confusion from the strange tone. "What?"
And then she was put at gunpoint.
"Claire!" Rebecca yelled.
"Are you crazy! ?" the inmate hollered.
The sudden threat forced Kent to raise his shotgun dead aimed at Claire. Leon, however, held up his gun at him, yelling, "Stop!"
"Put down your weapon!" Kent ordered.
"Ah hell," Vince groaned, gun up as well. "Now she's going AWOL."
"Claire, what are you doing?"
She didn't reply to Leon, eyes fixed on the blonde. "Tell me. What did you do to Steve?"
The woman, Iria, didn't speak while holding up her arms frightfully but the shock was a clear dead giveaway.
"So it is true!" The grip tightened. "What did you do to him?"
The scientist's eyebrows furrowed upwards.
Guilt.
It was something she never anticipated reading from her. And that pierced more into Claire's anger. Why? Why was she looking like that?
"Put it down!" Kent demanded. "We don't have any time for this shenanigan. We have other matters, dammit!"
"Wesker said you were the one in charge."
Iria grimaced at the name. "Of course, that bastard..."
"I've not gotten any answers since I got here. So tell me now," Claire demanded. "What did you do to him?"
Everything was still within the gripping tension. The blonde didn't speak straight away but eventually seemed calmer, dropping her arms.
And with that look again.
"Tell me now!"
Leon tried to persuade. "Claire-"
"Would telling you everything make it better?"
The question from the scientist didn't sway Claire to put down the gun. It did, however, make her tighten it and bite the inside of her mouth.
Iria simply remained calm.
"If it was me in your shoes, I would have shot me down in a second," she admitted with accepting, tiring eyes.
And the penitence in them puzzled Claire.
Out of the blue, within the tense moment, the catwalk shifted beneath their feet. Stances with guns weakened as everyone looked about for the source of the minor earthquake.
Something was coming their way.
"That sounds very big," the inmate uttered fearfully.
Along with the rumbling, footsteps echoed below them. Running down the ground level of the hydrodamn section was another person.
"GAAAAAROOOO!"
The man below looked over his shoulder at the horrific howl of an animal in anguish. The four wavering glows peering from the dark entrance galloped swiftly towards him.
He ducked.
Zooming over him was a towering monster on all fours. A near-hairless muscular dog with disgusting boils and the rib bones protruding through the chest and out the back. Its very mass seemed to tear at its own hideous skin, brimmed with thick bristles.
It circled around and four bulging eyes, two unevenly within a red groove that set in-between its face, hungrily stared at the man.
The red groove then tore apart.
It was a sickening sound as the head split open, bearing flesh and more canines. The half-heads were not thin from the divide as they both were inflated from the inside to equal width of the original.
It was bigger than the average zombie dog and double the trouble.
"Iria, do you remember a giant two-headed BOW on the list?" Kent asked, now pointing the shotgun at the creature.
"No, you?"
"No."
"GAAAAAROOOO!"
"In other words, this is a new one," Iria snapped.
It was fortunate for the two groups being too high up but unfortunate for the mutt's prey at the bottom.
The man in his twenties backing away from the huge mutant dog looked quite young. He could almost be mistaken as one of the men under Captain Williams' squad at first glance but his taste in clothing altered most of the standards. Probably that was to feel comfortable under the island's tropical atmosphere. Cargo pants, borrowed boots and an open collared security shirt over a t-shirt.
However, he was no officer. Not with the phase he was going – perhaps still young at heart and not in body. On his ears were ring studs with a small unusually cross-shaped pendant linked to one. Tattooed, or perhaps burned into his neck like cattle was the black number "0267". The electrical collar with a part of the strap being stretchable was nothing of fashion, however.
Claire widened her eyes and swallowed. Her heart seemed to constrict within her.
The familiar red hair.
It was almost like seeing ghost from the past, even if there were slight differences.
She opened her mouth.
"Steve!"
To Claire's shock, the scientist had beaten her to the punch, worriedly hollering out his name before Claire did.
The redhead glanced up, about to call back.
Then he stopped. Green eyes as wide as dinner plates. His body stiffed on the spot.
"Claire?" he uttered with disbelief.
It wasn't an illusion. Not a hoax. Claire felt herself go weak and to the point of crying and laughing.
Steve was alive. Right before her.
It was rather anti-climax actually.
Just as she stared at him with the utmost disbelief and awe, his eyes were too focused on Claire to notice the giant two-headed monster coming his way.
"KIDDO, RUN!" Iria screamed.
At the warning, he turned back and quickly jumped aside.
The mutant dog missed but it rammed straight into a support beam of the catwalk. The catwalk shook violently as the people onboard held for dear life.
However, the one section where Claire and Iria stood on broke apart.
"Claire!" Leon cried out, reaching out but his hand missed her by a fraction of an inch.
The metal section, one side still floppy to the rest of the catwalk, swayed with an loud creak that any minute it would break off and fall. Iria had luckily grabbed hold of a bar of the railing and her other free hand lashed onto Claire.
"Claire! Doc!" Steve hollered anxiously.
Two swinging people in midair drew the attention of the monster. The four eyes locked on the two ladies.
"Shoot it!" Rebecca fired first, followed by Leon.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
However, bullets didn't seem to change its mind. Two wavering tongues dripped with thick saliva.
Claire shrieked, eyes wide at the crooked sets of teeth nearing. Her savior gripped her hand harder, desperately pulling her up but with only one hand, Iria couldn't bring Claire further away from the canines.
"NO!" Steve rushed over, pointing up a familiar pair of lugers. Golden but worn.
BANG! BANG!
That simply irritated the giant dog.
"GAAAAAROOOO!"
The two-headed tonsured mongrel suddenly thrust its shoulder at the redhead, merely flinging him like he was nothing but a fly scraping across the floor.
"Steve!"
It certainly had gotten its full attention on the fallen redhead, now gripping at his chest. Maybe from a broken rib.
A harsh growl stirred the officer and the prisoner to one end of the catwalk.
"We got company!" Kent shouted.
At the summoning of the giant monster's howl, shades wailed into the scene.
"Dammit! They're coming this way too!" Vince fired at another swarm filling from the other end. Trapped like rats on both sides, the group excluding the two women fired at the shades.
Only Leon slid swiftly to the edge of the broken section, trying to figure out how to get two women up from so far away.
"Steve!" Claire cried out again. She had to get down there but below her was water, not metal surface.
The monstrous dog stalked slowly towards him, his body cowering, hunched down from pain.
"No... Please, no..." Steve whimpered, as if frantically trying to convince himself of something. "Not now."
Claire's wide eyes widened with horror as the redhead glanced up, green veins snaking across his skin.
The color red engulfed those sweet eyes she remembered, green irises eerily blazing out.
Holding back a soft painful groan, Steve huddled down in preparation for what was to come and for all to see. Whether he liked it or not. Before everyone's eyes, muscles rippled beneath skin, bleaching into grey-green and irregularly patterned with hard plating. With the growing mass and bone, it pulled at his clothes – thankfully with resilient fabric – and exposed tears that had been there from previous times of his metamorphosis but it didn't come to a point he'd be a tyrant in shorts and ripped clothing. Even his boots and jacket, he had thrown them off to spare them from the growing spurs out from his back and shoulders and thick reptilian feet. His hands elongated into claws and the tell-tale bloodless wound crept down the spine.
It was quite a shallow version of his past monster self, even more biologically armored but it didn't change the fact, he had changed. Just like that in the video.
The terrifying thought Claire had been dreading came true.
Out of the group on the catwalk, only the officer and scientist were the least surprised. The prisoner, mildly surprised.
"He's mutated too! ?" Vince hollered but drew back his attention to a wandering shade with snapping teeth.
It was like seeing a show attraction of some newly-discovered beast. The monster cowered back, as if trying to find some hole and stay there. Looking about at the eyes on him, he ended up being locked staring at Claire.
For some reason, as if the human part was still behind the wheel, the monster gave a hurtful and sad expression. That the one person he was looking forward to meeting again was seeing the ugly side of him.
"Steve!"
He glanced to the scientist with a lost look that seemed to beg her for some advice. Tell him what to do next.
"I know this isn't a good time and place to be transforming," the scientist yelled. "But talk later, fight now!"
That snapped the green humanoid to see the bigger issue – the two-headed monster howling at him.
The only good side out of this was that he was almost on the same level as the mutt.
Almost for the fact it was still bigger than he was.
It lunged at him with bearing fangs.
Leon unclasped his hand set on his holstered pistol, having first prepared to shoot if the green monster was a threat. But rescuing the ladies was more important. "Hold on!"
"What does it look like I'm doing! ?" Iria hissed quietly, looking back down at the brunette. "I'm going to swing you over."
"You!" Claire barked. It didn't make it any better that her life was in this scientist's hands. "You made him be that!"
"Stop struggling," Iria whined, feeling the stress in her hindered arm. "I can't pull you up."
"You turned a human into a monster! Why should I believe anything you say? You're no better than that woman who gave him the virus!"
Iria gave a...remorseful look.
Claire was almost ready to taunt her. Go ahead. Drop her. Then she would be right.
All the bull she had heard from the audio, all the emotions she felt pouring out, they were all a fraud. The scientist was just like anyone else in the line of bioweapon engineering, putting their creations first before others.
She was just like Birkin. She was just like Alexia.
"...Yes. Yes, I'm the one responsible. That's what you want to hear, right?"
Finally. It was the response Claire waited to hear right out of her mouth. This horrible woman. She brought back Steve's change into the mindless humanoid from the past.
"But does that change who he is?"
And that was a surprising comeback. One that quivered her fury away.
"I don't see a monster. Do you?" the scientist demanded, waiting for an answer out of the TerraSave member.
A quick glance to the battle between a green reptilian hulk and a demonic giant dog before her eyes went back to the scientist.
There wasn't a jump onto Claire to end her life with a battleax. No merciless, animal roars escaping from his mouth. Rather than the beast taking over him, it was the other way around and using it against his opponent.
"He's still Steve. And nothing's going to change that."
Claire was astounded to hear that from the blonde.
"Now swing over and go tell him yourself that he's not a freak!"
It was a startling forceful order. Like something she'd hear from an overprotective parent, if circumstances were different. Like she had called someone a bad name and was told to apologise back.
With all her might, Iria swiped her with enough momentum until Claire grabbed one of the bars on the other railing. Carefully, Claire climbed up until she saw Leon's reaching open palm.
"Come on! Grab my hand!"
She took it.
Seeing the brunette now safe, Iria tried to ascent as well. Slowly. The creaking metal sound was just tempting her to hurry with trickery.
CRACK!
"Whoa!" The bar tilted in her hands. The whole world rose up around her and water engulfed her in seconds.
Claire looked down, horrified but was relieved to see Iria swimming up from a pool below.
KA-CRACK!
She felt the railing leave her one hand but Leon held on the other tight.
The loud sound alerted Iria to look up. Now the whole broken catwalk was falling onto her from the rippling of the broken bar's aftermath.
"Hostia!" She dove back down into the water.
SLOSH!
The giant piece of metal descended hard with waves gushing out.
"Iria!" Kent screamed out from above. The inmate stared from the railing with terrified eyes and yelled too. "Iria!"
The call had wheeled Steve away from the howling giant dog. Dread consumed him when he noticed the hanging scientist no longer there. His red worried eyes streamed down to the ripples in the pool.
She was gone.
"Doc..." It was a raspy, almost animal voice but within the tones, it was still his voice. And it was shaking, thick with fear. His legs gave a slow start and the emotion inside him pushed the green monster to sprint towards the pool. "DOC!"
Dropping his guard was a mistake, the giant dog monster pouncing.
"UGH!" One of the mouths filled with many canines bit onto his right arm. In a desperate attempt, Steve shot his other free claw onto the muzzle of the other head to stop it from clamping onto his shoulder. "Doc!"
"We got to save Iria!" The inmate rushed over to the other end, spying a ladder not too far. He immediately halted at once as more shades began flooding in.
"Dammit! We're wasting time!" the Aussie cursed and fired his rounds.
Everyone's attention was to their enemies.
Claire's, however, was fixed to the water surface.
Hey... Come on already...
Bubbles fluttered to the surface but the blonde never resurfaced.
This is a joke, right? Who are you trying to fool?
"Claire, I got you!"
Her body went up but she gripped on a metal piece to stop her from going onwards. She hadn't realized she had frozen, still staring down. Hoping.
But the woman still didn't swim back up.
"Claire!"
There was no one to save her.
Claire didn't want that. She didn't like the idea of another death paid for her life.
But this woman, she admitted it...
That kind of person should die for such a deed.
The image of a head scientist developing a virus, who would protect that over anyone, even his family, was powerfully imprinted in Claire's mind. And she had met that kind of person. Twice.
But the woman was the completely opposite.
"I don't know if Iria did or didn't do anything to Steve... But I don't believe she's a bad person."
In what seemed like time had slowed down, she recalled the words from Rebecca. Claire recapped back to the audio. The woman's concern, her plead for the outside world, for Claire herself, to save the island's residents. And right in the hydrodam section, the scientist's actions told a hundred times more than words.
And the green monster, seemingly human in mind, the man she knew as Steve, wanted to save the scientist.
He called her Doc. She called him kiddo.
There was more of a story behind this scientist. All Claire had been doing was jumping onto assumptions because of the blanks. Nowhere closer to the truth.
'There is not a wise man without fault. We all have got our weaknesses.'
Claire tightened her eyes, not out of indecision or frustration.
"Leon, let go of me."
He stared at her bewildered. "What?"
"Let go! Now!"
It was a split second, spying her determined reason behind those blue eyes. What she planned to do was suicide.
But nobody on the catwalk could save the drowning blonde.
He then let go.
Steve Burnside
White Knight
Date of Birth: 1981
Date of Death: December, 1998
Date of Revival: 2000
Age: 25 (23, excluding two years of death)
Blood Type: AB
Gender: M
Race/Nationality: Caucasian/American
Occupation: Specimen
Teammate Class: Assault
Weapons of Choice:
Melee – Fire axe
Primary – Luger (Semi-automatic pistol)
Secondary – Shotgun
Stats (Human):
Strength: ***
Stamina: ***
Accuracy: ***
Wits: ***
Speed: ****
Endurance: **
Stats (Tyrant):
Strength: *****
Stamina: ****
Accuracy: -
Wits: ***
Speed: **
Endurance: ****
Ability:
*/*/*/*
Iria McLenlan
White Queen
Date of Birth: 1968
Age: 38
Blood Type: B
Gender: F
Race/Nationality: Mixed Spanish/American
Occupation: Head Director
Teammate Class: Interference
Weapons of Choice:
Melee – Taser
Primary – Taser Gun, Shadow (Semi-automatic pistol)
Secondary – Ruger (Submachine gun)
Stats:
Strength: **
Stamina: ***
Accuracy: ***
Wits: *****
Speed: ****
Endurance: **
Ability:
Game Objections:
-Help survivors shut Level C North-Western Gate
-Head to the hydrodam area
-Find the pressure valves
-Follow the gunfire
Vickie: I FINALLY FINISHED! GOD! I took too long on this one cuz of the pacing. Actually I had wanted to put the boss battle in here but I think it'll excess my chapter limit (not FFN, mine. Trying to not make these chapters too long). So I guess each episode is bout four to five chapters. Next one will be the last of this episode, people. YAY!
And yes! We see Steve Burnside after like what…eight years? In any case, yes, he's still infected. Yes, he's in the same situation as these scientists and officers are in. YES, HE IS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER SO FAWK YEAH, you can fight as both human and tyrant. But that doesn't mean it'll be easy ramming down enemies. Steve has both pros and cons: basically while he can be a good tank as a tyrant, his size restricts him from entering narrow halls and he can't use his firearm (I mean seriously, his lugers gotta be like pennies in his hands in that state). As human, his stats are just like any but he is quicker on his feet.
And surprise, surprise, we have a half-Spanish head director and not a villain. Introducing one of my old, now revamped characters, Iria McLenlan. I will say this, for the longest time, I have not seen like some scientist character turned a new leaf in most, if not any RE games. Yeah, sure, they're weak but you got to have some idea of how to fight zombies with all that grey matter. Hence why I created Iria, Victor, Katherine and a few others not mentioned yet. Not saying there won't be some villain in white later on. You will also learn more of the history between Iria and Steve and how but I will assure you all it's more of a guardian/foster child one. Hee. Nothing too close.
Also, one thing. I'm sad. I'm sad cuz I had that dog monster design for a while now. Long before RE: Revelations 2 and named it Orthrus. I'm sad cuz now I find out Orthrus' taken for one in that game. :') Ah well, it'll still be called that despite its design different but still, how unexpected.
Lastly, we find out a bit about the main virus: the Kronos Virus. And what this is gonna puke out, well, it's not gonna be a vomit of rainbows and unicorns, that's for sure. This virus, I have been working on its concept for some time, even researching about different viruses (I was surprised to read up on retroviruses that I decided to choose that, as well as base it on a Greek god, Kronos). I'll be adding more details about what this virus is and the other old virus, the Protogonos Virus, in my other side fanfic, CODE: Kronos Documents, as well as how it came about so you can know more bout it.
So hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I really am sorry I took longer than expected. Also, thank you to those again who have faved and reviewed to this story. :D Means a lot that you guys like it so far! Please read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter up real soon!