Authors note- Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy with school as of late. I estimate this story shall be finished by June 2010, then I'll be moving on to my next Resident Evil project. Enjoy.
The group had been hiking through the desert for only ten minutes and already Claire was starting to feel exhausted. The scorching heat of the sun triggered sweat beneath her T-Shirt that stuck to her back and began to chafe. Her MP5 felt slippery in her sweaty hands.
"Makes me wish I was back in the car"
She took another chug of water from her bottle but she felt a hand placed gently on her shoulder from behind. She turned her head and looked at Rebecca.
"Don't drink too much," Rebecca advised. "You might pass out if you drink too much in this heat."
Claire stared at the young medic for a moment and nodded slowly, putting away her canteen.
Claire didn't known Rebecca all that well but she wouldn't dare to neglect her advice, nor underestimate her intelligence. Rebecca was a borderline genius, having already graduated from college at eighteen. However she was a bit younger than Claire and wasn't as experienced in battle, being more suited for medical service and computer programming but she was strong enough to handle a weapon.
As for the muscle, Chris, Leon and especially Barry were well suited for combat. Jill was more or less the scout of the team while Brian took care of weapon maintinence and demolition, as he carried a few C4 charges and additional grenades for clearing any possible obstacles. Claire herself was little more than an extra gun but she didn't mind, she would do anything to help her comrades and potentially rescue Steve.
The team had travelled about a hundred yards away from the cars when Chris suddenly raised his hand, signalling the others to stop. They all looked around warily.
"What is it, Chris?" Barry whispered.
"I thought I heard something," Chris replied, scanning the desert with cautious eyes.
Claire looked left and right, her hands gripped around her weapon as he heart began to pick up. She looked ahead of the line and saw her brother take a few steps forward away from the team, trying to locate the source of whatever it was he heard.
Chris heard the sound again, a thick chattering sound, like nails dropped on wood. It sounded like...claws. Claws opening and closing, emitting thick clicking sounds. The sound grew louder and Chris briefly spotted some slender and black at the top of a small, sandy ridge to the left only twenty meters away.
"Over there!" Chris called, pointing towards the ridge.
Claire felt her tremble and race as she and rest of the team trained their weapons on the ridge as the sound grew louder, and louder...and the first Stinger came into view.
Claires eyes widened. It was the first B.O.W. she had seen in two months and it was just as fierce looking as any other she encountered in the past.
It was a scorpion but abnormally large. About three feet tall and six feet long. Its thick, segemented body was smooth and black as pitch, supported by six slender legs. Its pincers were broad and serated on the inside and at the end of its thick, curled tail was a curved stinger the size of a banana, dripping with deadly venom.
The Stinger raised its claws and emitted a garbled series of clicking and chattering noises, and the rapid walking noises of more Stingers filled the air as another appeared beside the first one. Another two crawled into view on the opposite ridge to the right. Four of them in total.
"Everyone back up!" Chris called waving his hand frantically. "Don't let them get close and stay together!"
"Get ready to fire!" Barry added, not a glint of fear on his bearded face.
The team spread out into a crooked line formation as they backtracked a few feet as the Stingers clambered down the ridges and slowly but steadily advanced towards the team, their tails pointed forward in ready position. The creatures were only sixty feet away when Chris gave the order.
"Open fire!" He shouted.
The team opened up and sprayed the Stingers with bullets. The first two creatures let out ear piercing shrieks of agony as Chris and Leon released a storm of gunfire that tore into them, thick, green fluid squirting from multiple holes. Barry brought down the other while Claire managed to bring down the last one with a few bursts from her MP5 that shattered the head of her target and she suddenly felt proud of herself.
It was over in just a few moments and the Stingers lay dead against the hot sand in pools of their crude blood. The team reloaded their weapons and waited. It was very quiet for a few seconds and they all looked somewhat amused.
"Is this is all Wesker can throw at us?" Leon scoffed.
Claire actually felt relieved that the danger had passed so soon and without too much effort. She was about to say something when she heard the sound of shifting snad and felt something jagged brush against her buttock. She spun and saw a stinger claw poking out from the ground, the sand shaking in the space it occupied. She backed away quickly
"Behind us! Theres more of them!" Claire cried as the stinger dug itself out from its burrow and chattered viciously at her.
The rest of the team spun as three more Stingers rose up from the sand and advanced. The closest one, only ten feet away swung its stinger at Rebecca and knocked her MP5 right out of her hands. Rebecca yelped and fell backwards as the stinger opened its claws, ready to tear her to shreds but Leon saved the medics life with a quick spray of fire from his M16 and the stinger shrieked and fell. The other two nearly reached the team but were stopped dead in their tracks by Jill and Claire at the last moment.
Realizing they had let their guard down, the team immediately formed into a circle and scanned the desert for anymore Stingers. Long seconds dragged by until Chris declared it was clear.
"That was too close," Rebecca said, wiping sweat from her forehead as Leon helped her up.
The battle had been won with not a scratch on the team but Rebecca's MP5 had been damaged so she switched to her handgun. The team had already spent nearly a third of their ammunition and they knew that the Stingers were only the beginning.
Claire relaxed and checked her weapon. She couldn't believe how close she was to the Stinger before she promptly emptied the rest of her first clip into it. It could have killed her in a heartbeat but she was still alive somehow. She couldn't tell if it had been luck or skill but now wasn't the time to think about it. She turned her attention back to the others as they calmed and awaited Chris' orders.
"What now, Chris?" Brian asked as he cocked his shotgun.
"Well we know that this is the spot," Chris said, pointing out the obvious. "And I think its safe to say that Wesker sent those things to attack us."
"But how the hell did he know we were here?" Jill asked curiously.
Chris shrugged with uncertainty as he scanned the area, knowing Wesker must have had the area under survelience.
"He must have cameras hidden around us but we can't waste time finding them," Chris said. "Those things came from beneath us...so there must be some kind of facility underground."
The team all acknowledged Chris' deduction. It made sense since the creatures had came from below them and left behind several open holes from which they dug out of.
"But how do we get down there?" Leon asked jokingly. "Don't suppose you guys brought any shovels with you."
There was a brief series of half-hearted laughter but Chris wasn't amused. He fixed his gaze on one of the Stinger holes and approached it. He peered down at the inky blackness below and saw the hole was slanted and metallic inside. The rest of the team gathered around the hole. Barry shined his flashlight into the small tunnel and saw it trail about twenty feet diagonally and lead downwards.
"We could go down that way but there might be more of them down there," Barry said cautiously as he turned off his flashlight.
"There's only one way to find out," Chris said as he picked up a rock and tossed it down the tunnel.
The team heard the stone echo as it banged hard against the metal. It rolled down the slanted tunnel and fell straight down and landed only a moment later. There was no other sound. It couldn't be too deep.
"Looks like we're going in this way," Barry said sighing.
Wesker breathed out heavily through his nose, a sour look of dissapointment on his face as the S.T.A.R.S. finished off the last of the Stingers on his monitor. He sat back in his chair and held his forehead in frustration.
"So you made it past the preliminary," Wesker muttered angrily. "But you won't make it past the semi-finals you bastards."
Wesker actually half-expected the intruders to defeat the Stingers but not without losing at least one of their members, prefferably Chris if Wesker was lucky enough. Instead his inadequate creations failed. If only they were a bit faster, they would have torn the S.T.A.R.S. to shreds before they knew what hit them.
Still, Wesker had plenty in store for the S.T.A.R.S. Subject C-2 was more than capable but why destroy the intruders outright when he could have so much fun with them first. Wesker's control panel could open, close and lock most of the doors in the facility. He could easily lead Chris and his team into a trap and slaughter them at his leisure. If things went smoothly enough, he probably wouldn't have to unleash subject C-2 at all.
"It'll be such a pleasing show," Wesker said softly, chuckling as a new plan swirled in his mind.
"Mr. Wesker," A garbled voice said over the intercom.
Wesker glared at the small speaker on his desk for rudely jerking him out of deep thought. He knew the voice immediately. It was gruff and male.
"Yes, captain. What is it?" Wesker said.
Captain James McCron was Weskers captain of the H.C.F. troops in the facility. McCron himself was a capable commander and Wesker figured he was worthy of being something of a second in command to him but he despised his barbaric tendencies. The man was always too eager for battle, never stopping to strategize. As much of a fool that he was, McCron's loyalty, if one could call it that, was without question.
"Sir, the troops are armed and ready to go. Should we move to the surface and attack, sir?" McCron asked.
Wesker sighed and inwardly cursed the captains recklessness.
"No, captain," Wesker said sternly. "I want you and your men to stay put and await further instructions. I don't want to let my creations go to waste."
"But...sir.....the Stingers...they were," McCron stuttered.
Wesker sat up in his chair and narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"I saw what happened, captain!" Wesker spat. "But if you think I'm going to let you spoil everything, you can think again. Now, stand down and await my orders or you may just find yourself in a biotube beside subject C-2."
There was a long pause. Weskers threat had struck McCron heavily, just as he hoped.
"Y...yes sir," McRon said meekly. "Captain McCron, out."
Wesker sat back in his chair and smirked, feeling proud of himself for keeping McCron in his place. He knew the H.C.S. were more than capable of eliminating the S.T.A.R.S. team but why spoil all the entertainment? The opportunity was just too enticing to pass on and Wesker had waited long enough to make Chris and his miserable friends suffer for all the trouble they caused him. He would make them all suffer and laugh as they died at the hands of his creations. Everything was going just the way he wanted.