Chapter Six: More Surprises

Justin helped Billy try to figure out what they were supposed to do. It would only be a matter of minutes before the ceiling crushed them. "Okay umm...fuck!" he said when he dropped on of the disks.

He picked it up and noticed something odd. He had the wolf disk in his hand, yet the one he picked up also had a wolf on it. He turned it over, and on the back was the engaving of the snake. That's it! he thought, He had them in the right order, but on the wrong side!

"Billy, flip 'em over, and put 'em in the same order as before,"

Billy gave him and odd sort of look, but quickly did as Justin had said. They were rewarded with the sound of the ceiling falling even faster, and the panel sliding back, revealing a door. Both of them scrambled to their feet and rushed for the door. Thankfully, it was unlocked. They made it out just in time...A few seconds longer and they would have been dead.

The ceiling met the floor, and demolished the open door with a deafening boom. Billy and Justin looked at each other and nodded. No words were needed, they both knew they were lucky...Very lucky. The door had opened into a large dining room. It, unlike the rest of the building, was lit with torches instead of ancient looking lamps. The flames cast odd shadows that danced across the room, and the light was reflected in the gleaming oak table. It was comepletely silent, save for the crackling of the fire. They cautiously headed for the table, which, oddly, had only 2 chairs. One at each end. Justin shrugged when Billy looked at him. He hadn't been there long enough to know the whole place inside out, and he hadn't bothered to explore too much.

A one of the 7 torches went out when the large double doors across the room opened. Rebecca stumbled in, nearly falling as she tried to get away from the zombie,-(if it was a zombie..it certainly didn't look like one..)-, that was behind her. She dove under the table and crawled out the other side, and the 'zombie' tried to figure out a way to get to her.

Justin aimed his pistol at the thing, and fired. It took the whole clip to bring the monster down. Rebecca looked up, and saw the men. She scrambled to her feet and ran for Billy, slamming into him, and hugging him tightly.

"You okay?" Billy asked, pushing her away so he could get a better look at her.

"Yeah...fine," Becky replied. She turned to Justin, "Thanks, by the way...I owe you one,"

Justin shrugged, "No problem,"

"Any idea where the others are?" Rebecca asked, turning back to Billy.

Billy shook his head. "Not a clue. But you found us at least. I'm sure we can find the others,"

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Amber was walking camly through the library when she heard the shouts. They were coming from behind a barred door to the left of her. She dropped the book she had been flipping through and moved towards the door. She recognized one voice as Tyler. The other was one of the STARS women. She could hear Tyler shouting for the woman to hurry and get the door unlocked. Appearently she gave up on trying to pick the lock, because something suddenly slamemd against the door. And Amber was willing to bet it had been a person.

Smirking, Amber pulled the bar away from the door, then stood back, and shot at the door knob. As she had expected, the next ram into the door sent both Jill and Tyler tumbling into the room. There were more of the zombies starting to get up in the room they'd been trying to get out of.

"Nice of you to drop in," Amber said sarcastically, as they stood up.

"Not funny, Ambs," said Tyler, glancing back at the zombies, "We need to get moving..."

Jill nodded in agreement, and before Amber had any say in the matter, they were both heading for the exit.

"What the-?" She started, shrugging as she watched them go. She sighed and caught up with them. "Leave me behind why don't'cha," She grumbled.

Neither of them answered her. They only quickened their pace when several moans echoed behind them. Amber looked over her shoulder, and quickened her pace as well. All the bodies from the room had gotten up, and were now running towards them. Despite the fact that they were dead, the zombies were quickly gaining on them, the s-virus having enhanced their speed until they could run as fast, or faster than a normal human. The three of them ran for the door, hearing the zombies' feet behind them. Jill made it to the exit first, and opened the door. Amber and Tyler followed her in, and shut the door.

Very large bats fluttered around their faces . Tyler slapped at them, as they flew at him, trying to get to his eyes. He heard two more voices in the center of the room; Phyllis and Chris. Tyler could feel the furry bodies ramming into him as they did their best to inflict damage. But something was wrong...They even ran into walls, something that was unusual for a bat. They were comepletely blind, he realized, without even their radar sense to guide them. So they attacked sightlessly at anything they heard, trying to blind their enemies as they had been blinded.

"Everyone be very quiet and very still!" he shouted, over the shouts of the others, and the nervous squeaking of the hundreds of bats.

They did as they were told, and the attack from the animals lessened, until they finally went back to their ceiling roost, appearently going by memory alone. All five of them breathed a sigh of relief. They stood there, afraid to move, for fear that the bats would attack again After a moment, Jill took a cautious step towards another door, and Chris shook his head. That was the door he and Phyl had come through, and the hall way was blocked off. he pointed to two other doors on the eastern wall, one blood red, the other, black.

There was a loud bang! from the door that Amber, Tyler and Jill had come through. It sent the bats into a frenzy again, though this time they went for the door. Another bang, and the door began to split. Bats went through the hole that was growing larger and larger and dove at the zombies. The zombies paid little attention to them, except for one, who grabbed a bat that had flown at it's face. It chewed on the creature for a moment before swallowing it practically whole.

All five of them lept into action, running for the red and black doors.

"Which one?" Jill asked, though not anyone in particular.

"Black one!" Amber replied.

Chris threw the door open, and waited for the others to go through before he finally shut the door.

"Keep moving," Amber commanded.

No one bothered to argue. They kept moving down the long empty hall. None of them saying anything. The silence was eerie, but none felt like breaking it. As they walked Chris got the sudden unpleasant feeling that somone else was there...watching them. The feeling bugged him, but he said nothing to the others...They felt it to. He could tell by the way they glance about nervously, like something was going to jump out at them.

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Wesker wandered through the halls, listening. Every now and then, A scream would ring out, mostly of people who had been found by the stalker. It wasn't the silencers that were finding them, he knew, because they never would have gotten the chance to scream. Some times the scream wasn't human...That was the Silencers and the Stalker. Wesker pushed his shades up with one hand as he glanced down at his watch, 3 hours since this had all started. 3 hours and he still hadn't found the lovely miss Wong and her little group of traitors, though he knew he'd find them eventually...That or he would ring Davis's scrawny little neck. The woman had been reporting to him for awhile on Ada's plans, though she hadn't mentioned this one. Not that he was surprised that she hadn't. No, she was like Ada had once been, cruel and calculating, always going along with what benefited her.

He grinned to himself, thinking. The girl might have made a mistake about what was in her best interests this time, however. Her loyalty was more than that of just an employee, and the real reason behind it ammused him. But she would serve her purpose before the end. He always found a way to use those that were to loyal for their own good, and tiny Amber Davis would be no different.

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Tim followed Claire silently. Odd, really, since he was the one who was supposed to know his way around. But he hadn't been with Umbrella long enough to have know this mansion. He had been in the old base. The only people on the team that had been around long enough to have been in the mansion were Phyllis and Amber. He, Justin, Tyler, and Mat had all joined after they had moved out of this place. Neither of them spoke, as there was nothing really to say.

Corpses marked their path, as they had already run into several of the rather odd zombies. They were extremely hard to kill. Even shooting them in the head took multiple shots. Hitting their body would take a whole clip worth of ammo. Not exactly good for their limited ammo supply. And there wasn't really much they could do to run around them as they were to fast. Thing's didn't look good at the moment, both were out of ammo, not that Claire'd had much to begin with. Nor had Tim. Good thing they were able to steal ammo from various dead guards.

The room they were in was huge. The black walls were unadorned. The cathedral ceiling, also black, was bare as well. The floor was gleaming white tile, though it glowed orange from the candles that were on the floor, along the wall. Each and everyone was lit. There was nothing else in the room, aside from them. Claire got the feeling that no one was supposed to be in here, least of all them. But Tim moved past her to the center of the room. From the expression on his face, she could tell he was as clueless as she was.

Claire took a step forward, and the tile she put her foot on sank into the floor several inches. She could hear clanking, and grinding gears.

"Uh...Tim..."

To late to warn him. The damage was done. As he started to turn towards her, seven-foot spikes sprouted from the floor Tim felt it start to peirce his foot and managed to get off of one spike before it killed him...He was not so lucky with the next. He stumbled and fell flat on his back, and within seconds another spike had peirced through his body. Claire turned her face away and willed herself not to hear him frantically trying to breathe.

The spikes withdrew back into the floor. And for a moment Claire thought that that was the end of it, but as she stepped forward, the spikes rose again, one only a foot from her. As they once again withdrew, Claire noticed that a small portion of the tile slid back into place over it. There was a thin, barely visisible square that didn't quite match up with the rest. The tiles she was standing on looked normal. And idea came to mind, and she gritted her teeth, and stepped onto the tile that the spike had come from. Nothing happened. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked for a places to put her other foot. As she did so, her gaze passed briefly over Tim's now limp from, blood pooling around him. Another spike had gone through his head when they had appeared the second time, so mixing with the blood was a grey viscous matter. Claire's stomach heaved at the sight, but she willed herself to be strong, and concentrate. She had to be careful where she stepped or she'd be joining Tim.

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Krauser looked at the group ahead of him with some disappointment. This wasn't all of them. There were only five here, and Leon and Ada were not among them. He watched the from the beams that held the ceiling up. Appearently this hall hadn't been quite finished when Spencer had chose it. But it provided Krauser with a good way to keep an eye on them, without them knowing he was there. Krauser realized he wasn't alone in watching the group, and looked up. There was a rather large creature on a beam in front of him, that resembled the creatures at the old base. But it was much larger, and had a few extra legs on it. It paid no attention to him as it went silently from beam to beam, watching its prey closely.

Krauser thought breifly about killing the thing, then thought better of it. If it wasn't going to bother him, let it have its fun. Enjoy your meal he thought, watching it. It dropped from the ceiling without a sound, and began to slink along the floor behind the five people below. None of them seemed to notice. Or they didn't until a narrow area of the hall came up, and the creature's body scraped along the wall. That had them all in a frenzy. Then they realized what it was. None of them bothered trying to shoot it, so one's shouts of "Don't shoot it, just run!" were pointless. The creature no longer had need to be silent. It squeezed through the narrow part, then let out a scream and pursued the group. Krauser didn't stay to see if it would catch them or not. Instead he dropped to the floor, and went out the door that the group had come through. Time was running short. He needed to find the ones he wanted dead, and kill them.

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Justin, Billy, and Rebecca heard the noise before they saw what was causing it. An eerie wailing emitted from all around them, it seemed. It sounded almost like a child's cry, but the feeling they all got from it was different entirely. The cry ceased for a moment, then began again. A small form stumbled around the corner ahead of the three. It appeared to be a child, a girl, of no more than three or four years old. Her skin, that was white as snow, was made even more pale by the crimson fabric draped over her tiny body, like a robe. Her eyes were the same shade of crimson as the fabric, and they glowed in the dim light. She saw the group ahead of her, and her wail ceased instantly, turning into a laugh of joy. Accompanying the laugh was a smile, to reveal perfectly white, razor sharp teeth. It was an unnerving sight.

She walked towards them on unsteady feet. Rebecca took several steps backwards without realizing it, as did the men. The child saw this, and her blood-red eyes widened as if in shock. A tiny hand pushed ghostly white hair away from her face as tears began to slide down her plump cheeks. She began to scream again, and the sound echoed, making it seem as if the walls themselves were joining in on her wailing. The girl began to run at them, her arms outstrectched as if she was expecting one of them to embrace her. Her bare feet slapped against the polished wooden floor, as her cry continued. All three of them backed away, surprised at the child's speed. Though they didn't back away fast enough. Tiny fingers clutched at Rebecca's filthy jeans as the child tried to make her stop moving.

Looking down at the girl, Rebecca felt the urge to pick her up and comfort her. As if reacting to this urge, she involuntarily began to kneel. She saw the girl's smile as she did so, but it wasn't the pleasant smile of an infant who was happy to be shown attention...It was the self satisfied smile of someone who'd just gotten away with doing something bad. Rebecca heard one of the men shout, and then she was being drug away from the child. The infant's cries rang out once more, but now Rebecca was running along with Billy and Justin. she didn't dare look back, for fear that the girl might once again take hold of her.

They didn't stop running until they could no longer breathe.

"Who, or what the hell was that?" Billy asked when he'd caught his breath.

"I- I don't know much more than her name," Justin replied, "Her name is Kylie Edwards. She was captured along with her brother, Jason, a year ago. That was before I was here. Her brother ran away from home, appearently, and took her with him. I know her name because of all the stories that go around, about the experiments done on a little girl... They did experiments on her brother as well, but a month after I joined, after his continuos shouts to see his sister, they let him see her...When they went to get her an hour later, there was nothing left of Jason but a few bits of his clothes,"

"That's horrible!" Rebecca exclaimed.

Justin nodded, and was about to say something else when a familiar scream came from nearby. Not wasting another minute, all three of them were heading for another door.

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Now Leon joined in on Ada's cursing. They'd found an exit to the room, oh yes, but it only opened from the outside. Had Leon not been on the handleless side of the small hatch, he might have stopped to appreaciate Umbrella's intelligence in the structure of the place. That, however was not the case.

"So how the hell are we supposed to get out of here?" he asked, though he didn't expect an answer. Nor did he get one.

Ada was sitting across from him, though for all the attention she wasy paying to what was going on, she may as well have been miles away. She seemed lost in her own world, as she had before in the house, and in the base. Once again his curiousity welled up. What was it that haunted her so? He was almost afraid to ask, but now was as good a chance as any, since she couldn't very well run away from him in here. He moved to sit next to her.

"What?" She asked, though her tone of voice suggested she didn't really care what he wanted.

"What's bothering you? And don't say it's nothing. Everytime you're left to your own devices, you do this. You go into your own world, and act as if nothing else exists."

"It's nothing," She replied, though more harshly then she meant to.

Leon sighed, "Fine...," and got up. He kept his back to her, thinking.

All was silent for a long while, before Leon heard Ada groan, as if in defeat. He still didn't face her, however. Ada bit her lip. She had kept what she was about to say a secret for eighteen years.

"I was twelve," she said, hesitantly, "The night I saw my parents murdered."

Now Leon turned to her. He saw he tears clouding her eyes. She wiped them away, though it didn't dor much good, as she only succeeded in soaking the rest of her face with her wet hands. Leon sat next to her again. Ada glanced at him quickly before she took a deep breath, and began her story.