Disclaimer: I do not own Jonny Quest or Resident Evil.

A/N: Thank you to those that left reviews for me. Like I said in my profile; writing this story is the one thing I really enjoy doing while out here in the desert and getting reviews is like gold! Thanks again and I hope you all continue to enjoy this story.

A New Nightmare

Chapter 8

By: Sigokat

Saddler roamed the underground labyrinth that lay beneath the castle. His anger had risen to new levels when he had been informed that the Americans had killed his underling Mendez and had not yet been captured. The caverns calmed him and he relished in the darkness and gloom as he moved down long corridors unmolested by the creatures that lurked in the shadows. After all, he was their master and they cowered back into darkened corners in his presence. Even those that were never human to begin with felt the animalistic sense of fear whenever Saddler was present in their lairs. He searched for his "Son" whom he let roam freely in the deep caverns; even at the expense of losing some of those that also dwelt within to the Psion's uncontrolled thirst for rage and death. His love for his son far surpassed any type of emotional ties he may have felt to his other creations. His faced beamed when he thought of the Las Plagas and the powers that it had given him. He could easily call out to the Psion with his mental powers that connected him to the creature, yet the search was calming to his evil soul.

After wandering through the tunnels for almost two hours he found his son hunched in a dark corner in the holding room. Six dirty cells adorned the room; none of which were occupied with any living beings at the time. The cells were used to hold prisoners that would later be used for experiments or for testing the violent capabilities of those that he created. Each cell reeked of blood, human waste, and fear. Saddler inhaled the smells deeply, excitement rushing throughout his body with the thoughts that the smells produced. The troublesome Americans would soon learn the terror that these cells would hold for them; that is if his son were to fail him.

Saddler approached the Psion, who was hunched over in the far corner. The distinctive sounds of the creature feasting upon a recent kill filled the silence of the cavern. Saddler heard the crunching of bones; the chewing of flesh; the slurping of blood. He felt a pang of jealousy for the creature's blood lust and wished that he had possessed the same desires, but the feeling soon passed.

The Psion stopped, mid chew, when he felt his master's approach. It did not turn to face him, in fact it hunched over farther; displaying its own instincts of fear at the realization that Saddler had arrived. Saddler was not kind in any sense of the word to the Psion, he only felt that it had been his greatest creation and through the Las Plagas had developed a telepathic link with the creature, a link that he used to control it and call upon it to do its bidding for him, hence him coming to feel for the creature as it were his own flesh and blood.

"Stand and look at me, my child." Saddler had stopped five paces away from the creature.

The creature slowly turned towards the voice. It stood up, its full height a number of inches higher then Saddler's. Upon looking at the creature one could believe that it had once been human, but no longer possessed a soul. Its form was that of a man's with hardened muscles covering its entire body; its arms and chest were covered with hair. Metallic claws had been surgically attached to its hands which acted as its primary weapons when hunting its victims. Atop its thick, muscular neck was an enormous head that bore the creature's most distinctive features. Saddler's statement to the creature was somewhat of an impossibility for the Psion, since its eyes had been removed and the lids sewn shut with rough crude stitching. A large surgical scar encircled the top of the creature's head, a few inches below its hairline; a telltale sign that Saddler had performed some sort of lobotomy on the creature. The Psion was naked from the waste up and in its claw covered hand it held a leather mask. The creature pulled the mask over its mouth and nose, tightening it against its skin. Two holes in the mask allowed the Psion to breath through its nose and over its mouth were small metal bars which prevented the creature from using its mouth as a weapon when it hunted. Saddler had designed the mask in order to teach the Psion to use its senses and its claws when hunting down and killing its prey. Only after it had successfully killed its intended victim was the Psion allowed to remove the mask so it could then eat.

The Psion's arms hung loosely at its side as it bowed its head to its master. Saddler looked behind the Psion and saw the remains of one of the mosquito like insects that infested the cavern. Saddler smiled inwardly to himself at the site of the remains. The insects were twice as large as the Psion and were able to spit acid like liquids at their attackers in order to disorient and confuse its attacker before it moved in to make its own kill. The fact that the Psion had been able to successfully ambush and kill one showed that its skills were improving. The one skill that Saddler was most impressed by was the Psion ability to use its mental powers over lesser creatures to paralyze them with pure fear and terror.

"I see you are advancing in your skills, my son." Saddler remarked. A small smile crossed the Psion's lips as it heard the approving words from its master.

"I think you are ready for a more challenging prey." At his words the Psion raised its head.

"Humans. Not the brainless and witless villagers that you've killed before. But ones that possess the ability to think and react and can fight back against you. Do you like that idea, my son?"

The Psion slowly nodded its head in response.

"Good. There is a stipulation of course. Two of the humans I want alive and brought back to me, unharmed. One is the oldest man in the group; the other is a young girl. Do you believe your senses are trained enough to accomplish this?" Saddler was confident that the Psion's sense of smell and sound were ample enough to distinguish the Americans from the Las Plagas villagers. Just like a dog, the Psion was able to smell diseases in humans and it could smell the presence of the Las Plagas parasite that lived within a victim's body. He knew the Psion would undoubtedly be able to separate Dr. Quest and the girl due to the distinct aromas that each would produce.

Again the Psion nodded its response.

"Good. The others you can kill and do with as you please, they mean nothing to me. And of course, I will be watching."

The Psion cringed visibly at Saddler's implication that he would be in the Psion's mind during the hunt.

Saddler frowned at the Psion's show of fear. He did not understand why the creature was afraid of being connected with its creator. "Is this a problem for you?" Not as if Saddler cared one way or the other. In the end the Psion was still one of his slaves, just the one that he cared for the most.

The Psion lowered its head till its chin was touching its massive chest and quickly shook it left and right.

"Good. Now be off. The humans are split into two groups of three and they are south of the castle, quickly approaching our location."

The Psion nodded.

"Good luck, my child, and remember I do not tolerate failure."

The Psion raised it head and its muscles tightened as it drew its clawed hands up in front of its chest.

With a low, grumbling sound, the Psion responded, "Yes, father."

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After a quick search of the cavern which had yielded no evidence or weapons; Race, Dr. Quest and Jonny climbed the scaffolding and moved across the catwalk to the far end of the cavern.

While crossing the catwalk, Jonny glanced down into the deep hole and even though he could not see the bottom he thought that, only for a moment, he saw a deep, pulsing light emerge from the depths. He shook his head and when he looked again all he saw was blackness. 'Too many horror movies.' Jonny though to himself as he continued to follow Race. Jonny felt a pang of fear in his gut that even though he had always thought it would be cool, he was now living in not just his first, but second real life horror story. Under his breath he cursed those responsible for creating such terror upon the earth, it was unnatural and inhuman.

They reached the far end of the catwalk and found more scaffolding on the far end. Race began to climb down as Jonny and Benton quickly followed. At the far end of the opening was another tunnel; however this one had tracks and three attached mining carts.

Dr. Quest examined the carts and the track. "I guess this is how they transported whatever it was that they were digging up."

"Looks like we ride from here." Race announced.

"Great because my feet are killing me." Jonny said as he hopped into the middle cart.

"Hopefully we can reach the surface this way." Dr. Quest said as he climbed into the cart after his son.

"Yeah and then I can try and contact the others again. Who knows if they have tried to check in." Race stated. He removed the chock blocks that held the cart in place, jumped into the front cart, and released the hand brake.

The cart slowly began to roll, but began to pick up its speed as it descended down the tracks. The cart twisted and turned with the tracks and soon the group had lost all sense of direction during the ride. They continued down the tracks and after about twenty to thirty minutes they saw light approaching.

As the light grew nearer Race could tell that the light emanated from another loading area. The sound of the carts rolling along the tracks filled the tunnels with noise which made it difficult to speak to Jonny and Benton without yelling.

"Heads up." Race turned and yelled as he pointed at the light. Just then he heard something that was unfamiliar to the sounds associated with underground mines. He heard the rumbling of a chainsaw.

"Oh shit." Race mumbled as the cart sped into the open cavern. Atop wooden platforms stood about four parasite infected workers. They hollered and pointed at the cart as it passed. Just before the carts cleared the platform, one of them jumped down into the empty third cart. Race was right, he had heard a chainsaw and the worker who now occupied the last cart was wielding it. The worker was husky and he filled the last cart. He had a dark, dirty potato sack covering his head, with two eye holes cut out for vision. The creature, Race tried not to think of them as humans, growled and raised the chainsaw above its head, aiming to slice the men into pieces.

"Get down." Race yelled as he stood and raised his rifle to fire. Benton grabbed Jonny and pulled him down as flat as possible in the cart, which continued to race down the track.

Race opened fire and bullets ripped into the chainsaw wielding creature. It roared in pain and one hand dropped from the tool as it staggered back against the cart.

Benton stole a chance to glance over the edge of the cart and saw another platform approaching. "Race, in front of you."

Race spun and saw more villagers standing upon another wooden platform. He quickly fired at each, sending two of them falling down onto the tracks. The last two threw axes at the cart which bounced harmlessly off the edges.

While Race had been distracted the creature in the rear cart had regained its composure and had hefted the chainsaw again.

"Sorry, no free rides, buddy." Race said as he fired again.

The bullets ripped into the creature and it hissed defiantly at Race as the bullets sent blood and flesh flying through the cavern. Race continued to fire until he heard the last round eject from this rifle. The creature on the other end was still alive, yet it moved slower. It was attempting to climb into the second cart.

"I don't think so, potato head." Race said as he jumped into the second cart, collapsing the butt stock of his M4 and swung the rifle at the creature. The butt stock caught the creature across the face and it staggered back, losing its footing. It fell to the floor of the cart; the chainsaw, still running, fell from its grasp and dug into the creature's flesh. The creature hollowed and squirmed in pain as the chainsaw tore into its stomach and arm, blood and bone spurting forth and covering the inner walls of the cart. The creature got control of the chainsaw and tore it from its own flesh as it stood.

"Fuck." Race spat as he watched the creature get back up. Even with one of its arms almost completely severed from its body, it managed to raise the chainsaw above its head to strike. Race sent a quick jab with the butt stock of the rifle square into the creature's hooded face and it staggered and dropped the weapon outside the cart. Seeing his opportunity quickly open, Race jumped into the last cart and lowered his head as he rammed into the creature. As he wrapped his arms around its bloody waist, Race lifted with all his strength and threw the monster out of the cart. The creature screamed in pain and anger as it hit the tracks and quickly disappeared from their sight.

Race turned back and saw Dr. Quest and Jonny had moved to the front cart. Benton was watching the tracks in front of them, pistol in hand, and Jonny was watching Race. Race moved back into the middle cart.

"That was awesome, Race." Jonny said as he gave Race a high five.

"Thanks, kiddo. He was a tough one for sure."

"Yeah, but you got him….and you got him on you." Jonny pointed at Race's shirt which was speckled with blood and flesh. Race, glad he was wearing gloves, flicked the pieces of flesh from his body.

"I think we're nearing the end." Dr. Quest announced as he peered ahead.

"Be ready for anything." Race reloaded his rifle and returned the butt stock to the firing position.

Within moments Dr. Quest saw another opening and the end of the tracks. He pulled on the hand brake and the cart began to slow, coming to a stop below another platform, this one barren of any Las Plagas infested villagers. The trio climbed out of the carts and up the ladder to the platform. A single metal door was set into the cavern wall.

"Looks like we go that way." Race said, heading for the door.

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David crossed the deserted cemetery in silence. He had been traveling all day and into the night; not letting himself stop until he was somewhere safe. The church sat only a few miles from the entrance gates to the castle where he was supposed to report back to Saddler; however he was currently delaying the eventual meeting because he knew how Saddler would react to his failures. David shuttered at the thought of being on the receiving end of Saddler's wrath.

He quickly moved passed the headstones, snickering at those buried there because they had not lived long enough to witness the awesome power of the Los Illuminados.

David walked up to the doors of the church and using a secret code he unlocked the massive wooden doors. As he stepped inside he felt the warmth that the church offered him. The rain had soaked his clothes and he was happy to be out of the elements. David had been to the church numerous times, so he knew exactly where to go. He quickly crossed the threshold and moved to the doors set off to the left of the altar. He descended the long flight of steps which ended at one single door. He pushed open the door and walked inside.

The room was rather large and contained multiple wooden tables, knives, chains, and other torture devices that lay strewn atop and underneath the tables. Each table was stained with blood, none of which was fresh. Since the arrival of the Americans, Lord Saddler had postponed any further sacrificial ceremonies and had retreated to the safety of the castle walls. Without a glance towards the tables, David quickly moved past and over to a small refrigerator that sat in one of the corners of the room. He opened the refrigerator and was hit by a blast of cold, chilly air. He reached in and withdrew a single small purple vial; the Las Plagas eggs. He turned and scanned the room, eventually laying eyes upon one of the injection syringes. He grabbed the syringe and quickly attached the vial to it, placed the syringe up to his neck, gritted his teeth as he stuck the needle into his skin and pressed the release trigger. The egg and the liquid that contained it seeped into his blood stream. David's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped the injector to the floor.

When David regained consciousness he was curled up on the dirty, blood stained floor. He had no idea how long he had been out, but as the haze drifted from his eyes he felt the Las Plagas surging through his veins. With enough injections, he hoped to be able to destroy Saddler when they met and then take control of the cult for himself. David picked up the injector and went back to the refrigerator, intent on stealing the rest of the vials. He had grabbed only one when he heard muffled voices. He froze in place and slowly turned his head. He heard the voices again and realized that they were coming from the far door; not the one that he had entered from the church, but the one he was closest to; the one that led to the mines. David grabbed as many vials as he could carry, slammed the refrigerator shut and bolted across the room. He had just made it through the door when he heard the other door opening.

David took the stairs two at a time. He had no idea who or what had entered the room, however if they came up into the church he would be ready for them.

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Race slowly pushed the door inward and stepped into the room, rifle at the ready position. Dr. Quest and Jonny were close behind as the trio entered the dimly lit room. Lowering his rifle, Race examined his surroundings. At first glance, the room appeared to be nothing more then an old abandoned storage room, however as the group moved deeper inside they soon discovered otherwise.

"What the hell is going on here?" Race questioned as he examined one of the blood stained tables. He picked a pair of restraining chains, saw the gore that was on it and quickly dropped it back onto the table.

Dr. Quest scanned the room as well, taking in the numerous knives, axes, and other torture devices. "I don't know, but it's not good, whatever it is. Obviously this room is some sort of torture chamber."

"Hey look at this." Jonny said as he opened a small refrigerator that sat in one of the corners. "What would this being doing down here?"

"Good question, son." Dr. Quest replied as he stood next to Jonny. "Its empty now, but whatever was in it…"

Race cut him off, "Las Plagas more than likely. Maybe whatever they found in the mines was stored here, at least temporarily."

Dr. Quest stroked his bearded chin. "Perhaps." Noticing the far door for the first time, Dr. Quest pointed at it, "Looks like that is the only other way out of here."

Race nodded, made another quick scan of the room and finding nothing of use, proceeded to the door. "Let's be cautious. I don't want to run into anymore of those chainsaw guys."

Upon opening the next door, Race, Dr. Quest and Jonny found a single set of stairs leading up. They ascended the stairs and at the top found another single door.

"Too many doors." Jonny mumbled as they reached the top.

Again Race slowly opened the door, positioning himself so he was ready to fire if they were attacked. The door swung open and as the group stepped out of the passageway they found themselves in a large, empty church. Immediately in front of them was the altar; a large metal symbol hung behind the altar.

Race swung his weapon left and right, but found no immediate threat; the church appeared to be empty. Dr. Quest walked over to the altar. A few candelabras stood to each side, the candles currently unlit. The altar was bare, except for a dark purple and red tapestry that covered the top. Dr. Quest turned and looked up at the symbol that hung behind the altar. It was metallic and the shape appeared to be some sort of insect, but in reality it could have been anything.

Standing next to the doctor Race said, "Probably the cult's symbol. This must be where they hold their ceremonies. The room downstairs must be for…"

Dr. Quest raised a hand and stopped his friend from saying what they already knew. "Yes. Let's get out of here as quick as we can. You should try and contact Corbin again. They might be close."

Race nodded, but before he could hit the transmit button he heard Jonny's voice, which sounded muffled and pained. Race had his rifle raised and ready before he even knew what was happening.

Jonny, who had been wandering through the church, searching for clues appeared from one of the corners, however he was not alone. David, the man from the camp, stood behind him and had the boy's arms twisted behind his back. His other hand held a syringe that was currently pressed against Jonny's neck.

"Lower your weapon." David hissed.

Race did not respond, he took a step closer, but Benton placed a restraining hand on his son's bodyguard.

"Do it, Race." Benton instructed.

Race hesitated, but then complied. "Let him go."

"Why? So you can shoot me? Not likely, you Neanderthal." David spat. "Besides, I can give this young man a great gift."

"I don't want your gift, you creep." Jonny said as he tried to squirm from the older man's grasp, but to no avail. The Las Plagas inside David's body made him stronger.

Benton raised his hands, "Let Jonny go. We can help you."

"Help me? What makes you think I need help? The Las Plagas is the greatest thing to happen to me. Soon I will have powers greater then Saddler himself." David wrenched on Jonny's arm causing the boy to yelp in pain.

"Once the egg hatches inside his body, he'll thank me for what I've given to him." David said as he stuck the needle into Jonny's neck.

"Stop." Benton pleaded. Race didn't care; he raised his rifle again and took aim on the man's head.

David grinned wickedly as he pressed the injection button and released the vial's contents into Jonny's body. Jonny screamed out in pain and his eyes rolled back into his head as blackness engulfed him.

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To be continued…

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Tons of stuff came up at work and that has been keeping me busy all day and night. After staring at and fixing power point slides for the Battalion Commander for 12+ hours every day for the past week and a half the last thing I wanted to do was get back to my room and stare at my laptop.

I'm starting Chapter 9 right now so hopefully it will not take me as long to get that one out as it did this one. I hope you all are enjoying so far.