Chapter Four: Hell Breaks Loose

Ada stood before him. She looked like she had been in a fight, but Wesker knew better. He was trying hard to keep his temper under control...His chat with Spencer had not gone well, the old fool was beyond the point of listening to any one. Wesker had tried to talk him into moving back to the old base, but Spencer wouldn't hear of it. He had always preferred this mansion to any of the real bases. The mansion was easier to keep hidden yes, mostly because of the fact that no one would suspect what it was, but it also wasn't equipped with the proper methods to keep any outbreak contained for more than a few days. And with some of the accidents they'd had recently, they needed to take all the precautions they could.

But that wasn't the matter at hand. The matter at hand was Ada, and where she had been. And more importantly, with whom.

"So," he said, "Where have you been?"

"Trying to figure out where you were," she replied, "My plane went down outside the old base...Had a run-in with the silencers,"

"Why did you leave in the first place?"

"Oh come now Albert, surely you don't think you're the only one in this place who can send me on a mission?"

"Where's Cody Jacobs?"

"Dead. Died when the plane went down," Ada replied. Too bad really she thought Cody was a good pilot...

Wesker frowned at her, not convinced that that was all there was to it, but he knew when he wasn't going to get any straight answers out of her. "Very well, you are dismissed,"

As she turned to leave he spoke again, "Did you wonder why the base was cleared out?"

Without facing him she replied, "I assumed it was because Spencer was bored again,"

She left the room without another word. Wesker watched her go, smirking, appearently she knew Spencer almost as well as he did. Indeed, the old man had grown tired of the cold concrete walls of the last building. Wesker leaned back in his chair, sighing. Something would have to be done about the old man soon. At this thought, Wesker laughed at himself, he'd first thought that 18 years ago, and here he was, still working for Spencer, and still thinking that he'd be gone soon. Oh well, I'll finally get around to it this time.

Amber was waiting outside the door with Mat. They were arguing about something, and continued to do so, until Mat spotted Ada. She assumed they had something to say.

"What is it? Make it quick, please,"

"Tyler says he's ready when you are," Amber replied solemly. Sometimes Ada wonderd if the girl had any sense of humor at all. Maybe only being 4 foot 11 inches made her that way.

"And Phyllis is too," said Mat.

"fine," Ada said, "You two continue your argument...You seemed to be having fun,"

"He'll be having fun till I beat him over the head with stick...or maybe a hammer..." said Amber, with a grin.

"You can't even reach my head, half-pint," Mat retorted.

Ada didn't stick around to listen to the rest. The two were always arguing over something, and while it provided great entertainment, she didn't have time for it. So Tyler and Phyllis had the team ready? Good. That just meant she could get things rolling even faster...After she slept for a while.

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Billy sat on one of the two small cots in the cell, hitting his head against the wall and muttering now and then. Someone might have looked at him and said he was crazy, but Rebecca knew better. With no way to entertain themselves, they put their time into figuring out how to get out of this place. So far they hadn't been very lucky. Since Wesker had tried to infect them with whatever that new virus had been, they had tried to escape again, and it had resulted in several broken fingers and ribs for each of them. Billy still had a black eye from the guarsds hitting him, and Rebecca sported a boot shaped bruise on her thigh from one of them kicking her.

Sighing, she sat next to Billy. Looking at her swollen, black and blue hands she wondered if maybe they would be better off just not bothering with escape. How long would it be before the guards stopped using fists and feet to restrain them? How long before they went to knives and even guns?

The guards would only put up with so much, as she had over heard the night before. She heard alot of things being in this cell. Most of them weren't very useful. She leaned back against the wall, wishing Billy would take a break from his constant muttering and planning, and thought of hos she wound up there. They had tricked her. They had known how to get her out in the open. She had gotten an e-mail that she had thought was from Billy saying that he needed help. She had gone, and hadn't even thought that it might be trap. And it had been. She had gotten caught. And soon after, Billy had been brought in. Appearently he had fallen for the same trick she had.

She couldn't take it any more. "Billy, cut it out,"

Billy looked at her and sighed, "Fine...but we need to get out of here,"

"Slamming your head against the wall and driving me insane is not going to help,"

He didn't say anything else in argument. Over the past months, both had gotten to know the other much better. And Rebecca found that when kept in close quarters for long, Billy got quiet and quick-tempered. Not that it did much good for her conversation skills and mood either. At least he didn't take his temper out on her, aside from occasional arguments. He reserved it for the guards and scientists. Both of them snapped to attention when they heard laughter outside.. There were two familiar voices; Carlson and Brooks, both of their voices were slurred. Drinking on the job boys? Umbrella needs to keep a closer eye on who they hire. They had also gotten to know the names of guards, and Rebecca could indentify them all by their voices.

At first it seemed they would walk right on passed, but they stopped outside the cell and unlocked the door. Brooks opened it, and Rebecca knew something bad was coming from the way they looked at her. Billy seemed to see this as well, for he rose, and cracked his knuckles, preparing for the fight he knew was coming

Normally, even two people would have had trouble with Billy, but the months without proper food and exercise had started to take their toll, and the men, despite being drunk, held him down and handcuffed him, Rebecca, who had trying to pull Brooks off of Billy, was now against the back wall of the cell, looking for an opprotunity to run. Carloson grabbed her as she tried to get past, and drug her from the cell on his own, and for the first time, Rebecca was actually trying to get back. She heard Billy shouting her name, and she struggled even harder to get away.

"You done caused too much trouble 'round here, girl," said Brooks in his southern drawl, as he caught up to Carlson, "You an' yer man. But we cain't have no fun with 'im like we can with you,"

They stopped abruptly and Rebecca saw a woman in tight blue jeans and a blood-red t-shirt in front of them. she brushed her short black hair away from her eyes and stared at them.

"Just where do you think you're going?" she said in a tone that suggested she knew exactly where they were going, "Especially with Rebecca? Hmm? Where's Billy?"

"We was just-" Brooks began, but Carlson cut him off.

"Zip it, Charles," he said, and shoved Rebecca towards the woman, "Coen's still back there,"

The woman's eyes glinted as she stopped Rebecca from falling, "Next time I find either of you doing someting like this again, OR that you've been drinking on the job, you'll find yourselves dead very quickly,"

She strode past them, pulling Rebecca with her.

"um...Thank you," Rebecca said. Employee of Umbrella or not, the woman had helped her. The woman didn't answer her.

When they got back to the cell, she let Rebecca go and spoke to Billy, who was trying to get to the keys that one of the men had dropped, "Hold still, and I'l get them off,"

She grabbed the keys and released Billy.

"Thanks," Billy said, appearently thinking the same thing Rebecca had.

"Don't thank me..." said the woman as she left the cell, and shut the door behind her, "I've only bought your little girlfriend an extra night of peace...I can't be every where,"

With that, she left them staring after her.

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Just as Ada had said, the window to the basement was unlocked. But they were debating wether or not to go in. Leon was all for it, though the others, mainly Claire, were wary of the idea. Jill was caught inbetween choices...They had a chance to take out Wesker, but Ada had been gone when they had awoken, and she was most likely here...she could have easily warned the guards where they'd be coming from.

She didn't bother listening to Leon and Chris. She knew they were arguing...The two had been at each other's throats all day. Instead she listened carefully for anyone approaching them. But someone appearently knew that she would be. She heard a "Hey!" From Claire, then felt something jab her thigh. She immediatly begian to feel dizzy, and her vision blurred, she heard three thuds next to her as she fell ,telling her the others had fallen victim to the darts as well. In her last concious moment, Jill saw feet in front of her face and a female voice say, "Nice shot, Tim,"

And the reply, "Why thank you, Phyllis...you know shooting isn't the only thing I'm good at..."

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When Jill woke up, she found herself in a dark, damp room with concrete walls. The others were just waking up as well. Taking a closer look around Jill saw that there was door to her left, and a small portion of it was bars, allowing her to see that there was another cell across the hall. From the cell were voices, one familiar, the other was not.

"We have to get out of here!" said the stranger's voice.

"How Billy? What are we supposed to do?" had Jill been thinking clearly, she would have know the second she heard the voice that it was Rebecca, but since she wasn't, it took her a moment. When she did realize who it was, she almost couldn't believe it.

"Rebecca?!" she called, just as Chris said, "Where the fuck are we now?"

"Hmmm," Claire said to her brother, "It isn't hot, and it's real damp, so I'm guessing it's not hell, and that's good enough for me,"

"Jill?!" Rebecca called back, "Are you okay?"

Jill moved to get a better veiw and could see two faces between the bars on the cell door, one was Rebecca, the other was a man who appeared to be in his early 30s. "How did you get here?" Jill asked, glancing back at the other three, who were pushing themselves off of the floor.

"They tricked me, Billy too," said Rebecca, "they've been injecting us both with all kinds of stuff ever since,"

Hearing this, Jill bit her lip. Rebecca noticed this and spoke up quickly, "No need to worry...they frequently complained that none of the viruses would take hold...though they have a new one that they tried to use on us,"

Jill sighed in relief, "Any ideas on how we-"

She stopped speaking when suddenly the hall went pitch black. She could hear the others whispering back and forth, wondering what had happned. What is it about the dark that makes you feel like you have to be quiet? she asked herself.

There were shouts from above them, some of anger, others out of shock.

Something slammed into the cell door, and Rebecca jumped back, ramming into Billy. She waited for whatever it was to do it again, but instead she heard something, almost like cloth, being drug across the floor. She risked a peek out, and didn't see anything at first. Until something dropped down in front of the bars. The eyes of the creature glowed with an unnatural green light. The eyes were about all she could see in the darkeness, but the decaying scent that came from it, along with the flash of white teeth were more than enough to scare her. She let out a shriek and stumbled away from the door. The creature hissed at them, and turned and left, leaving Rebecca shaking and Billy's heart pounding.

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"Okay," said Ada, "Tim, Phyllis, you two make sure the power goes out at exactly 10 pm, got it?"

The pair nodded at her.

"Though what we'll do after the lights are out, Boss," said Tim, "is going to be alot more fun,"

Phyllis rolled her eyes, and Ada comepleteley ignored him. "Tyler, Justin, you two make sure all doors to the basement are shut and locked,"

"Aye aye." said Tyler, while Justin simply nodded.

"Amber, you're the smallest, you get to turn the Stalker loose. The doors will already be locked by then, so you'll have to use the air ducts to get out,"

"Sure, use me as the creature handler just because I'm the short one. Never mind that one of you might have an easier time reaching the ducts,"

"Mat, you make sure that no one leaves their offices or rooms until the power's out,"

"And how the he-"

"Mat, don't start,"

The young man clamped his mouth shut and went to do as he'd been told. And the others set off to do their tasks as well. Ada watched them go, and hoped that nothing went wrong. if it did, it could mean they would all end up dead.

Ada went up to the second floor of the main hall, where she knew everyone would head to, and she would watch the chaos begin. Once they figured out that the Stalker was loose, they would panic. They wouldn't know that the basement was locked.

Of course, once everything was locked down, she would open the basement doors. And let the Stalker out. And maybe a few of it's cousins, the silencers... And from there, the more intelligent creatures would realize that there electronic defenses on their prisons were released, and they would escape as well. Raising hell was so much fun. One problem that she would have to deal with. The STARS. Getting them out of the basement would be no trouble once the Stalker was out of there. It would pay no attention to them if it could easily get to prey above. But how long would it take for every one to get to the main hall? How long would it take to get the lab locked down?

Suddenly, darkness descended on the building. "What do you know?" She muttered, "Tim didn't keep them from cutting the power on time..."

It was a few minutes before people started to show up. when they did, they all chattered, asking one another what was going on. Ada payed no attention to them. She was waiting for Amber. It wasn't long before she heard the clanking signaling Amber's return. The vent cover to her right was kicked out of it's place, and the short young woman dropped to the floor, looking rather dusty and irritated.

"Do you know how hard it is to climb 2 stories in the air ducts? Hmmm? Maybe I ought to throw you in there, let you see how hard it is."

Ada didn't reply to her, she was wating for the others to return. Tyler and Justin were first, then Phyllis and Tim. And finally Mat joined then, complaining about always having to do the drudge work. Justin hit him over the head lightly.

"Stop complaining," he said, "You might upset our luminous boss," he mock bowed at Ada.

As she always did, Ada ignored his foolishness. A long and inhuman scream from below told Ada that Amber had succeeded.

"Okay," she said, "Tyler, you go to the control room, lock this place down. They'll start trying to get out soon,"

"Got it," he replied, and left to do his job.

Ada headed for Wesker's office, intent on making it look as though she'd come to warn him. Her team followed behind, her, Tyler's task complete. She was reaching for the door knob when the door was wrenched open. Wesker stood there. Ada was surprised to see that his shades weren't on his face, but rather, in his hand. She could see the anger in his face, and knew there was no need to alert him, he already knew.

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Krauser watched the place from a distance, comtemplating what way to get in, when the whole mansion suddenly went dark. A few minutes later he heard a scream ring out through the night. It sounded similiar to the creatures he'd killed before, but louder, and it sounded bigger as well.

Still, it would be no match for him. Not with this new virus. His blade-arm glinted in the moon light. It dripped with fresh blood, as it often did, this time from the guard lying dead at his feet. The man hadn't known what had happened until he was in sliced in half.

Three more guards were dead along with him. The first one was the worst...Krauser'd had fun with him for a few minutes, after making sure there would be no sound of course. The other three he had killed quickly, not wanting to bother with causing pain first. There was a beep behind him, signaling the gate locking. Krauser wasn't surprised. The lab probably locked down if there was a power failure, in case of a creature escaping. Though he wondered what creatures would be here. Umbrella kept their experiments away from the main labs.

only the comepleted ones he reminded himself only the ones they don't need to work on anymore. Which meant he'd have to be careful. He was stronger now, yes, but it would not be wise to overestimate his ability when he was outnumbered.

First things first, get rid of the people in the lab, then the creatures, then Ada and the STARS. Maybe he'd let Wesker go...Maybe. Depending on if he felt merciful when the time came. At this thought he laughed at himself. Him? Feel merciful? Wesker was as dead as every one else.

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Wesker stood in front of Spencer. He looked pale in the dull emergency lights. Pale and sickly. Wesker didn't bother to try and stop the feeling of disgust that welled up at the sight of the man. He had worked for Spencer all these years, and had always thought the same thing: He needed to be removed.

"What is going on?" the old man inquired, though Wesker was sure he already knew.

"Power went out sir. The stalker escaped, and the building locked itself down."

"I trust that you will find out what and who caused this and take care of them, Albert?"

"Yes, sir," Wesker replied while thinking, the one who caused it is right in front of me, you old bastard. I told you we should not have moved the base, but you didn't listen.

He left spencer's office, trying not to smash anything on his way out. The man's simple existence annoyed him. But time enough to deal with him once the stalker was subdued, and the power back on.

Ada had told him that everyone was gathered in the main hall. Good. He could keep and eye on them and make sure no one tried to leave.

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A scream from above suggested to the captives that whatever the thing in the hall had been was loose on the floors above now. It wasn't a comforting thought. None of them spoke. There was nothing to say...not anything that wouldn't result in a fight anyway.

Leon heard foot steps in the hall outside,and looked up. A woman who appeared to be about 25 with long black hair stood at the door. Another face appeared beside her's. This one a young asian man, maybe 20.

"Over here, Boss," Said the young man, "I can't believe you forgot which cell you stuck 'em in, Phyl."

"Well you can't blame her," said another male voice, "she was with me,"

"Zip it Tim " said another voice, this one familiar.

Ada stepped into veiw and there was a clank as the door unlocked. And another as Rebecca and Billy's was opened. Chris was about to speak,-(or rather, yell)-, to Ada when she raised a hand to stop him.

"Save your breath, Redfield," She said simply, "We don't have time for arguments,"

"Like hell we don't," said Claire, "I wanna know why the fuck you left us like that!"

"Well, I thought that would be obvious," said Jill, "she wanted to catch us. And she succeeded,"

Ada sighed in exasperation. "Look, this was the only way to get you in here and get the ball rolling. Right now, half of the men are dead or dying. There won't be many to stop you from getting to Wesker...Though you should watch out for the dead ones..they won't stay dead for long,"

"So who're these guys?" Chris asked, gesturing to the team gathered around.

"My employees," was the reply.

"Phyllis," that was the tall woman with the long black hair.

"Justin," the young asian man.

"Amber," a short young woman who looked to be about 23.

"Tim," a mischievious looking man with short brown hair. Something told Chris he was the comedian of the group.

"Tyler," a tall youth with close-cropped black hair. His gaze level and serious.

"And Mat," the young blond man that stood there looked as if he would have rather been any where than there.

Ada had led them up to the first floor of the building, making sure that no one was there to see. Looking around, Rebecca shivered. This place wasn't exaclty cozy. Another scream tore through the silence, making them all jump. The scream was abruptly cut off. Rebecca glance about nervously. The scream had sounded close, though in a place this big, things weren't always what they seemed. A moan echoed through the halls, and Becky heard Ada curse under her breath. That meant one thing; zombies.

She was trying to figure out where the moan had come from when she heard the man who'd been introduced as Mat scream