Chapter 18: Death Drop

Jake sat with Sherry's head in his lap for a good hour with her feet elevated on Jill's, Chris had spoken to Claire and Leon of their whereabouts and mishap, and were ready to pull out if Sherry wanted to leave when she came round, none of them could believe she'd gone into shock after the Widow, it was extremely unlike her.

"Urgh..." Sherry jumped bolt upright almost knocking Jake and Jill out with the sudden flailing of limbs. "What happened?"

Jake stared at her, it was like she'd been shocked into reanimation.

"You passed out." Chris replied gently shinning his light down the corridor.

"Oh... I know I felt queasy after the bomb, like I couldn't breathe."

"You could have inhaled too much of the nitrogen Sherry." Jake piped in, looking her over. If she had breathed in too much it could have damaged her lungs, although a small amount shouldn't. "Can you breath alright now?"

"Yes, I feel fine."

"Do you feel good enough to move on? We saw an elevator not far from here."

"This place is a maze down here too." Ada told her boss after shaking the J'avo off at long last. "You do realize this won't be as easy as you think."

Her features darkened as the man on the other end scolded her about back-chatting.

The man who she'd worked for on the side lines for years always seemed to think that she, Ada Wong, never had any real skills even though she'd obtained many virus' for him over the years.

"He must be stupid." She sighed shaking her head, not seconds later phone buzzing again.

"Yes?" She stopped in her tracks to hear him shouting at her, Sherry had collapsed in a hallway for unknown reasons, why hadn't she been there to help?

"You told me to come down here, how was I to know she couldn't handle the pressure?"

More yelling followed.

"Look if you are that concerned about Birkin's wealth fare you'd come down here and take care of it yourself... You are more than capable. You wanted me to get the virus, so I am."

She laughed lightly musing, 'It's not like I have a clone to run my other errands.'

Her boss was not happy about her behaviour; it seemed to get more and more uncontrollable by the year.

Again, he cut her off.

"Hmph, always thinking he can get his way..." She whispered angrily once he'd put the phone down on her, "He should know I never play by the rules, but... poor Sherry, I hope she's alright."

Ada put her minor unrest for Sherry aside and continued at a jog through the dimly lit prayer room, when a creature leaped from the ceiling.

"Well... I haven't seen one of you for a long time." She smiled, cocking her handgun.

Everyone but Jill had got into the lift because she had to stay behind to make it work, it wasn't one of those two man one door situations; this was someone having to manually operate the thing while the others used it.

'A really idiotic idea only Umbrella would come up with.' Sherry snarled mutely.

"They're really not making it easy, are they?" Jake frowned his eyes watching a digital display of the depth drop at high-speed.

They had argued with Jill - all of them; they would find another way to get to the lower levels eventually, but the woman was stubborn, Jake could see why Chris liked her so much, she really did live up to the hard-headed jarhead persona that most the BSAA men had.

Sherry kept glancing towards Chris, worrying how he was coping with Jill's decision to stay behind. The man wasn't giving anything away with his stoic expression.

For once he was a closed book.

She guessed he had no choice, she was a strong woman and had been through her fair share of things, and could handle herself well.

"Is everything alright down there?" Jill squeaked through the hand set.

"Chris here, everything's fine. How long until we reach the bottom?"

"Another 40-50 meters"

Jake sighed internally, if they got stuck in here and they couldn't find a way out, boy was it going to suck.

The lift jolted to a stop making all three passengers fall; Chris knocked his head on a railing, creating a medium sized gash on his forehead, and Jake fell onto Sherry and Sherry into the floor.

A bullet was released from her Elephant gun when she fell, her finger had pulled the trigger on impulse, thankfully it pierced right through the metal of the lift not causing any damage to anyone.

"Everyone alright?" Sherry asked with complete worry, noticing blood dripping down the side of Chris' face.

"Thanks for breaking my fall." Jake laughed smugly, as he jumped to his feet as to not squash her further. "Here Jarhead." He continued, moving to Chris' side and giving him a first aid spray and bandage.

"Thanks." He murmured taking the help given, Sherry shuffled over to him on her hands and knees, taking the bandage from him and applied it to his wound immediately; holding it in place to stop the blood flow.

"I'll be fine."

Sherry shook her head, she wasn't going to take no for an answer. He had took care of her not too long ago, and she would return the favour.

"Jill," Jake spoke softly through his walkie, "The elevators stopped."

"I know!" She shrieked, obviously panicked. "It's not responding to any of my commands. It seems to have been hacked by another source in this zone, I'll try everything I know to regain power."

Her voice went dead and the lift swayed unsteadily on its hinges.

Chris had been quiet since he fell and Sherry was still holding him.

Jake knew he had to do something to get them out of there, he tried the emergency button.

Nothing.
Then he tried to force the door open, but it was locked tight. Deep down he knew that even if they all tried together, it would be useless; it must have been dead-locked.

A crackling soon resonated around them.

"Back so soon..." A voice boomed "I thought after Birkin's near death experience it would be over for you." The man laughed sadistically, "Never mind, you won't be leaving this time." The elevator jolted as it threatened to plummet.

The three looked around for escape but found none, the breaks above them squeaked as the mysterious person programmed them to release.

The lift swayed vitally as one break was released before the other, and once the other was freed it plunged with a G-force.

"Goodbye, Son of Wesker." The man laughed.

Silent screams came from Sherry's throat when sparks began to fly as metal chafed against metal, Jake quickly took her into his arms and protected her from it, not that there was much point; seeing as they were about to fall to their vicious deaths.

"Hang on!" Jill screamed, barely being heard over the scraping.

Thunderous screeching penetrated their ears when the breaks began to tighten around the thick wire ropes, jerking everyone around yet again.

"I've nearly got it!" Jill screamed again.

Widespread sparks flew from the walls when the lifts sides buckled and caved from the friction being caused, this time Sherry really screamed withdrawing further into Jake.

Jake's face was scrunched up and buried into Sherry's hair, holding her tightly, turning briefly to see that Chris was huddled in a corner protecting his own face with his machine gun.

Once more the elevator shuddered and screamed when the breaks came back on, scarcely slowing their speed. He heard Chris' muffled words before he himself came to terms with the fact they were almost at the bottom, then Jill's screams from the walkie about being truly sorry.

UPDATED: 15/04/2015 - Spelling & Grammar