Chapter Thirteen: Solutions

Ada heard Phyl's sharp intake of breath when she too noticed the movement. But either it was to far ahead to see, or there was a turn in the tunnel somewhere. The latter was the case. Around the bend stumbled a rather shrivelled looking zombie. Half of one arm was missing, and the hand from the other. It wasn't one of the super-zombies, but a "normal" one. It had obviously been there for awhile, as the missng arm and hand served as evidence that it had eaten its self.

"How long you reckon he's been down here?" Phyl asked her, as there was no threat from zombie right then.

Ada shrugged in response. "From the way it looks: months."

"Why would it be down here?"

Another shrug, "Possibly Spencer had him in here to catch anyone who found this, and never bothered to replace him. He wouldn't do a damn bit of good like he is now."

"That's true...let's put him out of his misery," Phyl replied, and drew her gun. She hit the zombie squarely in the head, and it dropped with a moan.

"Let's hope there aren't any of the other zombies down here.."

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Billy let go of the knob as soon as he heard the door open. He looked down at his hand, wincing. He was gonna have a hell of a scar, that was for sure. He turned to Leon.

"Well...it's open." he said, doing the same thing Leon had done earlier; ripping off a bit of fabric from his clothes to wrap around his hand. The fabric was soaked with blood in a matter of seconds. "Alright, I can take Rebecca back...We just need to hurry. She doesn't look like she'll last much longer."

Leon nodded in agreement, and let Billy take the small woamn from his grip. He was right, she didn't look like she'd last much longer. He skin was no longer cold, but feverish, and her whole body trembled. They set off again, keeping a sharp eye out for any company. Leon dreaded trying to open any doors, after the trap they had discovered. I'll probly laugh at myself later... He thought, sighing with relief when he found that the next door was already open partially, and only had to be pushed open.

By the time they'd gotten to the third floor, Billy's arms were starting to ache. Despite the fact that she was light, the weight was starting to get to him. But he wawsn't going to rest. Not even for a moment. It was partially his fault that Rebecca was here. She had been caught because she had thought he was in trouble.

"Oh look.." said Leon, "Stairs."

"That's a good thing...The more we go down, the closer we are to the basement,"

"True. Though I'm not looking forward to going back up. You'd think, that in a place this big, they'd have elevators, but nooo, it's all stairs,"

"Well, maybe we won't have to go back up," Billy points out, "We may run into everyone else and just be able to leave...personally that's my choice."

Leon shrugged. He doubted that would happen. If Abby had been right, Ada was up on the 5th floor...and who knew where Chris and the others were, if they were still alive.

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Jill squeezed through the small opening just in time. She barely escaped the zombie reaching for her. A large claw followed her in, but the rest of the Stalker wouldn't fit. It screamed at them, staring at them through one gold eye, then turned, and grabed on of the zombies instead, ripping it to pieces. Seemingly out of spite, it threw one of the arms through the hole. The body part hit Chris, splattering him., and the others with blood. In surprise and disgust all three of them back away from the hole.

"Well, thanks for the gift!" Chris muttered sarcastically, wiping blood off of himself.

"Be thankful that's not your arm," Tyler told him, and procceeded to inspect their surroundings.

Jill did the same. The room they were in didn't appear to have a door, something that disturbed her. The walls were dark green, the carpet; lime green. Except for the blood from the arm, the room was clean. There was a long table at one end of the room, though there was nothing on it. At the other end was a smaller table, this one wasn't bare. There were many small, flat peices of metal, all in different shapes. Jill had a sneaking suspicion what they were going to be for. A closer look at the second table told her she was right. They had found a puzzle, and if they wanted out, they'd have to solve it.

She picked one of the pieces up, and found that it have been stuck to the table with something. She winced as she heard gears whirring, and a steady ticking...They were being timed. And she didn't want to find out what happened if they didn't finish in time.

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Phyllis began to wonder if they'd ever get out of this tunnel...They had been in there for a good hour now, and still hadn't found the way out.

"How much longer can this thing go on for?" she finally asked, out of breath, and drenched in sweat. It was hot in there, and she had a hard time with closed in spaces.

"I don't know," Ada replied, "But I hope not much longer...look on the bright side, there's no turn-offs or anything, so we can't get lost, if we find a dead end, we just turn around and go back, no big deal."

"Lemme rest for a few then," Phyl said, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. Ada did the same, using her flashlight to check her watch as she did so. Six a.m. Hm...only 12 hours...feels longer then that She thought. She jumped, feeling something on her hand and looked down. There was a small spider on her fingers. Not wanting to harm it, but not wanting to leave it there, she brushed it off, and nudged it away from her with the flashlight, careful not to squish it. Spiders were okay, as long as they weren't on her.

Phyllis sighed, and stood up, "well, may as well get moving," she said.

Ada nodded and stood. "Let's go"

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Finally, they had reached the basement. Billy just hoped it was in time. Rebecca had stopped trembling, but her skin was getting even hotter, and her breath came in short irregular gasps. Now they had to find the proper room.

"Billy! Over here!" Leon called from up ahead.

Billy jogged to catch up to him. The room Leon had found was a mad scientists paradise. One wall was lined with glass cabinets, which were filled with chemical upon chemical, another was lined with filing cabinets, probably for the creatures and chemicals. The third wall was lined with various computers and microscopes, and other things Billy couldn't begin to name. There was a table in the middle of the room, that was thankfully clear. Billy set his dying charge on the table and began searching through the files in the cabinets. Leon didn't join him right away, and Billy turned to find out what was taking so long. He didn't like what he saw. Rebecca was convulsing now. Billy rushed to hold her down.

"Leon, find the files on the Silencers, fast!"

Leon nodded and began tearing through the papers, as Billy struggled to restrain the convulsing girl. Billy clenched his teeth, holding Rebbecca firmly. Don't let it be too late...don't let it be too late...

"I found it!" Leon said, holding up a folder. He began to go through it, searching through the papers, mumbling to himself as he read. He grabbed one paper, and began searching through the glass cabinets, reading labells on vials. "Shit!...I was never much of a chemist," he muttered, but he kept up his search. He grabbed a vial filled with a reddish-brown substance.

"Oh thank god!" he said, "I was afraid there wouldn't be any..."

He set the vial down, and began digging through the bottom cabinets that held syringes and needles. Billy didn't watch the rest of what he was doing, he was focused on Becky. She wasn't as bad now, but Billy didn't think that was a good thing...
Leon came into a veiw, the paper, and the syringe with the anti-venom in his hands..."I'll warn you..." he said solemly, "This says if someone's been poisoned for 2 hours or more, there's a chance it'll be to late..."

"Just inject her...Quick," said Billy, though he couldn't keep the worry out of his voice, and he couldn't help but wince when the needle peirced Rebecca's flesh...It had been more then 2 hours since she'd been poisoned.

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"Try slanting it a bit more..." said Tyler, as he struggled with his own bit of metal.

"It doesn't fit Tyler, that's all there is to it," Chris snapped.

The second table had indentions on it, that matched the peices of metal from the first. Jill didn't know how they were going to finish it in time, not when they started arguing every few seconds. Well, Tyler and Chris did. She kept her mouth shut as she shuffled through piece after piece of metal. Finally she found one that fit in the indention in front of her. There were more peices then there were holes. Jill guessed it was to make it even more difficult. They had half of them filled in already, and the ticking was getting faster and faster.

"Got it!" Said Chris, successfully fitting a piece in. He instantly began digging through the pieces that Jill had pulled off the other table. Looking for one that matched the next hole.

The ticking was extremely fast now, as all three of them searched for the last piece...just one more and they'd have it complete... "Found it!" Jill cried, placing the last peice of the puzzle. The ticking abruptly stopped, and all of them breathed a sigh of relief. Stepping back, Jill realized that the puzzle had spelled out "Death awaits" in uneven, broken letters. A thud signaled the revelation of their escape route, though, and kept her from thinking what it might mean.

A section of wall fell out from the farthest wall, revealing a room that radiated with a faint orange glow, meaning it was probably lit by torches or a fire place.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." said Tyler, in a very dry way.

"shh," said Chris, "Every time someone says that, something goes wrong."

Tyler shrugged, and entered the room, looking around. Jill followed him in. The orange glow was caused by fire, as she'd thought. A fire place. Several of them actually. This room was blood-red all the way around, and empty. There was a door on the far side. but Jill could see that there was a padlock on it. Time for lockpicking I guess.

Then, after a few moments, she spoke aloud.

"Hmm. Large empty room, cryptic message reading 'death awaits'...any one else see anything wrong with this picture?"

Chris laughed at her, then realized she was was serious. Not wanting to dwell on it, he changed the subject, "Reckon you can pick that lock?"

"Honey, I can pick any lock you choose to throw at me," she replied, "But first we need to see if there's anything hidden here..."

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Krauser had found the perfect opprotunity. It was now or never to attack. He dropped form his hiding place, landing silently behind Wesker. He drew back his arm, and prepared to strike, but as he sent his fist forward, Wesker turned, and grabbed his arm, twisting it. Krauser felt the bone snap as Wesker began to laugh at him. A cold laugh, that let Krauser know he was in for it.