Chapter Seventeen: "You Don't Have The Nerve"

Exaustion was finally taking it's toll on Rebecca. That, and the heat in the attic made her drowsy. She realized she wasn't the only one who was sleepy when she cast a glance up at Billy. He was drifting off, then shaking himself awake, and then reapeating the cycle over again. Leon was as well. For a moment she considered taking a short nap. Just a short one, to regain a bit of alertness, instead of being dead on her feet. She even snuggled closer to Billy, resting her head on his chest, aware of his arm around her, and let her eyes close.
But a yell for her and Billy to watch out from Leon shook her back into the real world. The area between the attic door and the floor being short, the zombies realized that they could still reach the humans with their arms. Billy rolled away from the reaching arms, taking Rebecca with him. They stopped rolling just short of hitting Leon, who had been to busy watching the arms to notice.

Rebecca, forgetting for a moment she was underneath Billy, tried to get up. She stopped just short of her face hitting his. He looked shocked at her nearness for a moment, then smirked when her face went red. He pushed himself off of her, and pulled her up.

Once on her feet she looked at both men, "Well,...We ready to go?"

Leon nodded at her, "Yup," he started for the other end of the room, "Maybe there'll be another way out of here," he added with a shrug.

Rebecca started to follow him, when Billy spoke up, and grabbed her arm, "There was one more thing, Rebecca," and spun her around to face him.

She stumbled forward a bit, so she was scant inches away from him. "And that would be?" she asked, not bothering to back up.

"I was gonna wait till we were outta here, but for one, never know which second will be your last, and two, I'm a guy, Doll face," he smirked at her. He leaned down, and kissed her. Rebecca, shocked and pleased at the same time, couldn't keep the nervous smile off her face when he straightened again.

Leon cleared his throat from up ahead, not saying anything, but it was obvious he wanted them to hurry up.

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Wesker paced through the halls. Chris was somewhere ahead. He knew that much. And it was high time he payed Chris a visit. He had waited, waited until he knew chris would be emotionally weakened. Physically it didn't matter. Wesker knew Chris would lose to him either way. But what Wesker wanted was to destroy him mentally. THEN he would enjoy the pleasure of killing him. Then he'd get Jill. Afterward would come the others, then Spencer.
He stopped when he felt the carpet squish under his feet, as if it were wet. And it was. It was soaked in blood, and lots of it. In the center of the bloody area was Krauser. Quite literally nailed to the floor with a knife. Chris' knife, it seemed. Why Chris would have left it, he didn't know, but it didn't really matter either. The hallway was destroyed, so Krauser had put up a fight, as expected. But since he was dead, with no bullet wounds that Wesker could see, then he had been even weaker then before. Things, it seemed, were in Chris' favor for now. But not for long.

Claire was already dead, so he couldn't use the brat as a way to get to Chris...but Jill...Jill was still alive, or had been the last time he had seen the security monitors, and he hadn't come across her body yet. How easy it would be to break her fragile body. And when he was done with Chris, he'd move on the second group...He was going to enjoy snapping Rebecca's scrawny little neck, and the others too. Then he'd get to Ada eventually. Shame really to kill her off. Lovely as she ws. But it had to be done.

Stepping over Krauser's body, he contued on his way, smiling to himself

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Tyler stopped dead in his tracks. He could have sworn he heard something near by. Sounded like heavy breathing. Jill, who had been lagging behind for some time due to her injuries, ran right into him.

"Ow!" she started, rubbing her nose, "Why'd you s-"

"Shh!" Tyler interupted, "Listen."

Chris, not hearing the other two behind him, stopped and turned around. After trying and failing to get their attention, he eventually walked back to them, "What's wrong?"

"Listen," Jill and Tyler said at the same time.

He stared at them for a moment, ad listened. Like them, he heard the breathing. And quite frankly he didn't want to know what was making the sound. He said as much, and Jill nodded in agreement. Tyler reluctantly agreed that it was probably something they'd rather not see, but it was obvious his curiousity was getting the better of him. He started for the door that the sound seemed to be coming from and reached for the doorknob, and Chris loudly cleared his throat, but Tyler ignored him.

"Tyler, let's go," Jill said, grabbing his sleeve, and trying to pull him back.

"I want to know what it is," he replied blandly.

"Why do I have the feeling we're going to regret this?" Chris sighed, as Tyler opened the door.

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Spencer closed the door after Ada had entered the room. Ada didn't hear the low click as he locked the door. She instantly noticed the heat in the room. Hot enough to make it hard to breathe. How did Spencer stand it in here? Keeping an eye on the old man she sat on a chair. it seemed a shame to ruin the chair's soft velvet surface by touching it with her sweat, blood, and grime covered self, but she didn't care right then. Spencer slowly made his way to his desk and sat down. Ada glanced at the monitors behind him, noting the bodies. There was Claire, Justin, Phyl. Those she knew about. The others she didn't. Amber, Tim, Krauser. She saw Jill, Chris and Tyler in a hall way somewhere on the third floor, and Wesker also on the third floor.

She wanted to shout a warning to them, but she had her own problems to deal with. Right in front of her was Spencer, whom she hadn't actually seen in person in years. Wesker was the only one who saw him on a regular basis. He stared at her over the desk, looking for all the world like a kind old grandfather.. But Ada saw the malicious gleam in his eyes. He was, for lack of a better word, evil, and crazy to boot.
She saw him reach into a desk drawer, but she didn't see what he pulled out. She'd have to keeop an eye on him. First she was going to have a chat with him see if he'd get the idea, see if he was as smart as he was supposed to be.

"Why are you here, Miss Wong?" Spencer said suddenly, his voice dry and whispery. Though it sent shivers down her spine for some reason. He may have been many things, but a non-intimidating man he was not.

"Well, that's what you're going to find out," she replied, sounding more sure of herself then she felt.

He laughed at her, though it was not an amused sound. He sounded as if what she had said had angered him. "And how exactly am I supposed to find this out?"

She lazily pulled out the knife she'd stolen from Wesker. She'd decided on how he was going to kill him. It wasn't going to be with the knife...the knife was going to be for causing pain. She didn't answer him with anything more then a mischevious smile, her eyes glinting with 18 years worth of held back anger and hatred. She put her feet up on his desk, noting his look of displeasure. Though she couldn't blame him. The boots on her feet were blood-crusted, and otherwise filthy.

She kept them up though, fingering the knife, all the while keeping a close eye on his movements. He still had whatever it was he'd taken from the desk in his hand, and he didn't want her to see what it was.

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"Well we ain't got much of a choice but to go down there," said Leon, looking at the ventalation shaft they had found.

The only other exit they had found had been under a large trunk. Rebecca had seen the rope handle for pulling up the door. They had moved the trunk and opened the door, only to be greeted by the sight of 3 silencers fighting over a meal. Billy had quickly, but quietly shut the door and let the other two pull the trunk back into place. It wasn't long after that when they found and way into the ventalation system. It was that or go through monsters. The problem was fitting. Rebecca would, and Billy most likely would. Both were hardly anything more then skin and bone. Leon on the other hand hadn't been starved for four months and left without exercise for that time.

A shriek from the direction of the trap door they'd found mad up their minds. They'd have to go in.

"I'll go first," Billy said, "Becky, I want you to go last..if anything happens to either me or Leon, I want you to get out."

"I think I know what the bait-worms feel like now," Leon muttered, though not begrudgingly.

Billy climbed in first, then Leon, then Rebecca.

It was small, dark and cramped, and ot to mention hot. Rebecca began to feel sick, and stopped crawling for a moment, taking deep breaths. The shaft seemed smaller then it really was all of a sudden. Billy and Leon both turnedtheir headsas best as they could to see her, and why she had stopped.

"You okay, Rebecca?" Billy asked, a worried look on his face. She was starting to look sick again.

She shook her head, gasping, "I..I'll be okay when we get out of here...I don't like small spaces.."

Both men looked at her sympathetically, and continued on their way. There was nothing they could do, even if they hadn't been unable to move in any other direction but forward. None of them heard the cat approaching them, but they sure as hell saw it, at least, Billy did. Rebecca heard it hiss, and spit at the sight of someone in it's domain. How the cat had gotten up here, Becky didn't know.
Billy stared at the cat. The other two couldn't see what he saw. It was bleeding, blood tapping steadily as it fell, part of it's tail was missing, the bone exposed, one ear, along with half the skin and fur on that side of it's face, were missing. The bone shone white against the what had probably once been beautiful calico fur, but was now matted with dried blood, and grime. One tooth was missing, and the one milky white eye that wasn't surrounded by fur looked like it was going to fall out. It, or rather she, since Billy knew that almost all calicos were female, was missing several toes, on a foot that hung on by only a bit of skin.

He couldn't back up, not without running into the others, but if he spoke to them he might make the cat move. He squeezed his hand back far enough to grab his gun, and, though with some difficulty, had it somewhat aimed at the cat. It would be hard to hit it in the head from here, but he could try. That was it it came just a bit closer. It hissed at him again, and Rebecca spoke up.

"Billy what are you-" she was cut off suddenly when Leon gave her a light kick in the chest. He had caught a glimpse of the cat, and didn't want it suddenly rushing for them. Rebecca rubbed the spot Leon's foot had come in contact with her, but she made no more noise. She heard tapping. like liquid falling on metal, and the cat's growls. Then she heard the gun go off, and couldn't help but jump. The sudden sound had shocked her. After her ears stopped ringing, she spoke again.

"What was that about?"

"You know how I said once that cats were the source of ultimate evil? When you get up here you'll see why."

Leon smirked at this, and once Billy had continued moving forward, he started to go past the cat. It twitched slightly, and he moved backwards clumsily. Rebecca, after seeing what his problem was, laughed a bit at him.

"Jumpy?" she asked when he looked back at her. He rolled his eyes and continued forward, hoping they found the way out soon.

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Ada and Spencer had been sitting in silence for a good 10 minutes before either spoke. Ada was beginning to lose her patience.

"So you're here to kill me are you?" the old man asked, making it sound as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

"What makes you say that?" Ada replied, calmly, though with a hint of impatience.

"Well, you fought so hard to get here. Only one thing a person could have on their mind to do that. Murder. "

"Don't be hypocritical, Spence. You kill alot of people, or rather, you send your henchmen out to do it for you," she snapped.

"Then would you not want to go after the one who did the actual killing? That is always assuming you're after me for any sort of revenge. Is it that, my dear, or is it a guilty concious?"

"Wesker was nothing more then a tool," Ada replied coldly, "you were the one who gave the order...the real reason they're dead."

Spencer only gave her one of his crazy smiles, fidgeting with whatever it was he had in his hand. After a moment he finally said, "The reason who is dead?"

"You ordered two people killed 18 years ago, Spence. The man found out what was really going on in Umbrella, and told his wife. So you ordered Wesker to get rid of them, and anyone else they might have told. Do the names Kate and Jonathan Wong sound familiar to you?" by now she was no longer sounding calm, or even cold. She sounded furious. "Wesker wasn't up to his usual standards that night, you know. He didn't bother to check the house, and he missed me."

The old man stared at her for a moment, then roared with laughter, making Ada's temper flare even more. "oh, Ada...You're pathetic. As pathetic as everyone who wants to get rid of Umbrella because we've done harm to them or their friends. Do you really think you're any better then me?"

"I'm no murderer," she spat back at him.

"Perhaps not. But you have helped me these past, what? Ten years now? You've collected all the data we've asked for, you've followed every order. You've helped us, so in a sense, you're as guilty for all the deaths as anyone else who works here." he was obviously enjoying all of this, "so if you want to kill me, go ahead. But know that you are as much to blame for everything as Albert or I."

Ada, stunned by him, made no move. He took this as hesitation out of fear, and an evil grin spread across his wrinkled old face. "I knew it...You don't have the nerve."

This got Ada into action. Though her movement was more out of rage then any clear thought, so it was sloppy. Then she found out what Spencer had in his hand. As she jumped at him from across the desk, she felt a needle peirce her thigh. Whatever liquid it was filled with burned like fire, but she didn't pay it much attention. Spencer toppled out of his chair, and he and Ada rolled across the floor. Ada, being younger, and faster, got up and held Spencer down. The knife had cut both of them several times in their breif fight, though him more then her. Any thoughts of making him suffer for a while vanished, and she simply wanted him dead. She drew her gun, and pointed it at him with a shaky hand, and began to squeeze the trigger.

Her grip on her knife with the other hand loosened, and the blade clattered to the floor, and her grip on her gun also loosened, but she didn't dtop it. She stumbled backwards, feeling dizzy, and short of breath. Pain flared up in her legs, and it was difficult to stand. Spencer stood, laughing, as Ada's vision blurred then cleared, then blurred again. She fell forward, the knife only inches from her hand. She reached for it, grasping it firmly in her hand. Spencer bent over her, taunting her. She didn't bother to listen to what he was saying. When he knelt to say something to her face, she let out a yell, and slashed upward with the knife, cutting him from his hip, all the way up to his shoulder.

She shoved herself away from where he was going to fall, slamming into the floor a few feet from her original position. He was amazingly still alive. But that was a condition she would shortly remedy.