Chapter 11
"I don't believe that I've met a medic who acts quite like you do," Rain said as she looked at the man who had just landed at the bottom of the elevator shaft before her. "You got an interesting story to go with the scar and look?" She gestured with her chin to the scar that went through his left eye. "Or is it like most people's stories about broken bones?"
"Pretty boring actually," The man replied as he began to force open the elevator doors with a crowbar. "Was building a fence with my grandfather as a teenager, ended up with a messed up eye and a twenty-acre fence built."
"Uhuh," Rain replied as she began to pull on the doors and helped pry them open. "You don't act like any cop I've met. The other guy does, but you act like some operators I've met," She looked at the six-foot, two-hundred-pound man that was forcing open the elevator doors the rest of the way open.
"I worked with a lot of them when I did private security," the medic replied. "Got some good training, picked up a lot of good habits. I learned a lot from them and took whatever they were willing to teach me and make it my own."
"Well you certainly look the part," Rain raised her eyebrow. "Let's see if you act it too."
The remainder of the UBCS team landed and began to move to the elevator door as Rain finished her statement.
"Looks like the emergency generators are still on," Kaplan said as he peered into the red-lit corridors outside of the elevator. "Red Queen might be down too, but I won't be able to tell until I'm able to access her systems."
"We move as a group," Rain ordered. "J.D, you're on point. Natalia, you're second, I want Kaplan in the middle and the rest of us will take the rear."
"Copy that," J.D said as he raised his MP5 and peeked into the corridor before moving out of the elevator shaft. "Kaplan, I need directions."
"Pulling up the map now," Kaplan said as he slung his MP5, pulled out his sidearm and PDA, and began to give directions. "We're still three floors above the server room, take a left and go sixty feet, then there should be a stairwell to our right."
"Left, right, stairwell," J.D replied as he began to move through the corridor. "We going to be looking for any survivors while we're down here?"
"If we see anyone then we'll get them and they'll be our VIPs," Rain responded. "But we need to get the lights on and the AI up first."
"Somethings wrong," Mark said as he moved at the rear of the formation. "There are no sounds. If anyone were trapped down here they'd be trying to attract our attention."
"He's right," Natalia said as she looked at all of the closed doors around them. "And it feels like we are being hunted," the eastern European woman raised her AK-74U.
"I've got some sort of movement up ahead," J.D said as he noticed what looked like a shadow moving through the dimly lit area ahead of him. "It was fast too, keep your heads on a swivel."
"Up ahead," Natalia said as she removed her left hand from her rifle and grabbed a handful of chem lights out of one of her vest pockets, activated them, and threw them in the general direction of where she saw the movement. "Let's see them try and hide now."
The lights illuminated two shapes that were definitely not human. The creatures were hunched over almost like gorillas and had claws that looked like they could rip anyone to shreds.
"Engaging!" Called out J.D as he began to open fire with his submachine gun, the bullets flattening themselves against the hardened skin of the creature.
"Pull back!" Rain ordered the two people on point as they fired in short controlled bursts at the two creatures while backing up steadily. "We've got cover back here!"
The two soldiers on point began to fall back at a rapid pace while Mark and Edward began to shift their positions more towards the front.
"Cover your eyes!" Mark called out as soon as J.D and Natalia got far enough out of the line of fire. "Flashbang out!" A small grenade went in front of the two creatures and burst open in a sudden flash of light and sound that deafened the operators but left them still able to see and respond to the creatures now being unable to locate them.
J.D and Natalia pulled back behind the other four operators while Mark and Edward pushed to the front, the two members of the RPD pushing the creatures back with the weight of the fire from their weapons.
Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Mark glanced over to Edward who was grabbing his shoulder and mouthing something, gesturing towards the Glock 20 that was sitting on his hip as his sidearm.
Giving a nod to Edward, Mark simply shifted so that it was easier for his battle buddy to grab the sidearm while he changed where he was aiming for center mass to the eyes and throat of the creature instead.
Then, just as everyone's hearing returned, a deeper thump sounded as Edward hit one of the creatures in the face with a 10mm round, causing a deep wound that the rest of the operators poured fire into.
"Tango down, shifting target," Edward said as he fired the Glock at the second creature. "Fuck, I missed," He muttered to himself as the round went over the shoulder of the creature and impacted the concrete wall behind it.
"Well aim again and help us put this fucking bastard down!" Rain yelled. "That thing isn't stunned anymore and it's coming right at us!"
Bracing himself, Edward simply decided to empty the magazine on the Gock into the creature and watched as it went down from the round's massive force.
"I'm going to make sure that this thing stays down," Mark said as he pulled out two frag grenades from his gear. "Y'all may want to get further back, I don't want us covered in gore."
The medic tucked the grenade into the creature's mouth, careful to avoid the razor-sharp teeth, and threaded a small fishing line through the ring before doing the same to the first creature that they had killed before continuing to unwind the fishing line to a safe distance.
"Fire in the hole!" Mark yelled as he yanked on the fishing line and covered his ears. The rest of the team followed suit and braced for the concussive wave as the two grenades detonated and tore apart the bodies of the creatures.
"Y'all don't happen to have any breachers with you, do you?" Mark asked as the team began to walk through the corridors again. "Because if we encounter anything else like that then we might need the extra firepower."
"Your handgun seems to do the trick just fine," J.D commented as he checked his magazine and then reloaded his SMG. "What's it chambered in?"
"10mm," Mark replied as he accepted the weapon back from his friend. "I thought we might encounter bears in the mountains and wanted to be prepared."
"Try not to bang us next time," Rain said with a small grin at the innuendo. "It's not as fun on the job like this anyway."
"I'll keep that in mind," Mark replied with a matching smirk. "Rain check for later though?"
"We make it out of here and I'll think about it," Rain laughed as she moved to take point. "I'm not making any promises though."
"Why didn't we just take the train the rest of the way?" Richard asked from his place in the middle of the formation. "It's supposed to take us directly to the facility right?"
"Better not stay on a train that might be infested with those things," Billy said as he shuddered.
"There's also probably more evidence we can find along the way," Captain Marini said as he brought up the rear. "Even if it's a privately owned railroad, they have to have junction stations and other potential rest areas, and while we cleared the whole train, I don't think staying on there is the best option, it's cramped and if something big got in then we'd have a hell of a fight on our hands."
"I've got everything we've found so far captured on video," Kenneth said as he gestured to the camera tied into his tactical vest. "And Chambers has the hard copies safe in a waterproof container."
"Good thing I did too," the young woman replied. "It's worth having some slightly wet bandages if we manage to preserve evidence of what Umbrella seems to be doing."
"Those documents have become our number one priority," the Bravo Team Captain stated. "We have to make sure that they get to the proper authorities."
"Who are the right authorities though?" Forest asked as he moved his SR-25 to a low ready. "Umbrella is a worldwide company, they've probably bought off plenty of politicians and judges."
"Then we bide our time and make sure that we find the right people to turn the evidence over to," Richard chimed in. "There has to be someone who's not dirty in the FBI and the rest of the Law Enforcement Organizations."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Captain Marini said. "I see a small stop up ahead, let's take a quick break and then go check out that facility."