Ch. 10: Fire Doors and Clock Doors
A/N: Woohoo! Back in the double digits!
Rebecca and Jessica
"...you're kidding, right?"
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because that's how I kid. No, c'mon, answer the question. Got a boyfriend?"
Rebecca struggled to find a meaning in this conversation. She gave up after a moment. "I don't have time for this." She muttered before she resumed exploring.
"I'mma gonna to take that as a no, which I'm not surprised since ya must stress out over everythin' and that'd keep guys from wantin' to ask ya out and stuff," Jessica theorized as she wandered over by the cages. She glanced down into the pits and noticed something shiny in the middle one.
Rebecca gritted her teeth as she tried to shut the cowgirl out of her head. She was looking over the pulley system when she deduced that the remaining crank operated the middle cage. She left it alone for now as she continued, finding the stairwell back to the second floor not far from the pulley system. She paused as she heard a grunt behind her. When she looked, Jessica was out of sight.
"Now, if ya were smart, you'd find a guy who can make ya smile or at least be as stressed out as ya are so you two have somethin' in common," Jessica's voice echoed out of the pit.
The medic walked over and looked down. "What are you doing now?"
In the pit, Jessica pushed herself against the cage's metal skeleton as her hand reached for the key in it. "Almost...there...got it!" She exclaimed triumphantly as her hands snatched the small object. "Hey, it's got a fire thingy on it."
"A fire what?" Rebecca repeated while she watched the cowgirl scampered up the ladder.
"Here, lookit," Jessica replied, handing over the key before she finished her look around the spacious room. Rebecca gazed at the fire emblem at the end of the key and wondered what it meant. Jessica finished her search in a few moments, sticking her tongue out at the two mechanical knights blocking the huge door at the end of the room. Despite its size, the room was pretty bare. "Guess we're headed back down."
"Maybe Edward will know what this means," Rebecca hoped as she pocketed it. Together, they climbed downward and discovered another short hallway with two doors. The one at the far end obviously led back into the foyer. The other one though...
"It's unlocked," Jessica happily declared as she readied her handguns. "I wonder what we're going to run into this time.
Please not it be spiders, Rebecca slightly begged as her hand curled around the doorknob. She nodded to Jessica before throwing the door open, allowing the cowgirl to charge in before following a moment later.
The insectoid hiss was almost welcomed...almost. Glad that the shotgun was in her hands, Rebecca braced herself a moment before firing a shell into the overgrown, mutated cockroaches. Her insect flinched. Jessica's target charged forward as the nine millimeter rounds dented its outer shell.
"Okay, I'm gettin' sick of these things," Jessica admitted as she backpedaled. Another blast of buckshot halted Jessica's attacker. Two more killed them. "Damn it, I need something more - hello! What do we have here?" Jessica exclaimed. The small art room exhibited marble statues, intricate paintings, classical furniture...and one grenade launcher resting on the couch. "Hot damn! We struck gold!"
Rebecca didn't share in Jessica's elation. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Rebecca's ammo was low. "I'll hold onto that," She ordered while stepping toward the new, powerful weapon.
"Eh?" Jessica stared at her, sizing her up critically. "Ya can't have all of them now. What do I get?"
The Bravo really wanted to say "Nothing". But that answer was going to create more problems than solve them. "You can have the shotgun."
"Hmmm, fine. I've used them before," Jessica relented, shoving her handguns into her pockets before reaching out with open palms. Reluctantly, Rebecca surrendered her weapon and picked up the grenade launcher. "This thing is empty," Jessica declared, glimpsing into the weapons chamber.
"Here," Rebecca said before she handed over all of her shells, all eight of them.
"Aw heck, this ain't gonna be enough," Jessica muttered. Rebecca was about to snap something back before she realized that Jessica was talking about her handguns too. "I don't even have 'nough for full clips anymore."
"We need to start conserving," Rebecca advised as she grabbed a case of incendiary grenades next to the couch.
Jessica found another half-empty box of shotgun shells. "Aw, now you're tryin' to take the fun out of it."
The medic repressed the growl before she had an epiphany. "Think of it as a game."
"A game?"
"Yeah. See how many monsters you can kill with the least amount of ammo," Rebecca outlined hopefully.
"Hmmm...what do I get?"
"What do you get?"
"Yeah, what can I win?" Jessica pressed with a devilish grin. "If it's a real game, I've gotta be able to get somethin', right?" She asked rhetorically.
"Umm," Rebecca glanced around the room for ideas. "Well, how about some...chocolate?"
The deadpan stare was not very encouraging. "I'm carefree, not a kid."
"Oh, okay, how about money?" The medic tried again.
"How much?"
"Well...how about I pay you a dollar for every bullet you have when we're out of here?"
"Make it ten bucks a bullet, and we have a deal," Jessica countered happily.
Rebecca winced at the price tag but relented. "Deal."
Immediately, Jessica began counting her ammunition. "He he, at this rate, I'll have a couple hundred dollars coming to me at the end of this."
"Remember! You have to keep attacking or you don't get anything," Rebecca warned, trying to cover any possible loopholes.
"Oh, don'cha ya worry, I won't stop monster-huntin'. But at the rate we find ammo, I'll have a nice, large prize waitin' for me," Jessica predicted before she glanced at the door opposite to the one they entered.
Rebecca didn't like the sound of that. But she forced herself to forget that issue as she tried this latest door, which was painted blue and carved into thousands of tiny, watery waves. "Locked," She announced with a vexed sigh after she tried the handle.
"Looks like it's time to hook back up with the others," Jessica surmised as she headed back to the exit. "And perhaps set ya up with a new boyfriend."
"Give it a rest!" Rebecca barked out. She really hoped that Edward was there. She needed to fill him in and find a way to get away from Jessica.
The door standing between them and the foyer unlocked easily. With a turn of the knob, they saw the familiar statue of justice. "Edward?" She called out as they made for the stairs.
To her surprise, everyone was on the first floor. Billy was standing off to the side, while the other teenagers seem to be leaving a loose huddle. She mentally shrugged before she scanned for Edward. ...she could feel her heart beginning to race with fear when she realized he wasn't here but Daniel was.
"We're back! And with a key!" Jessica happily declared as she climbed down the stairs. The reply from the others was muted, adding to Rebecca's anxiety. "Hey Sims! Where are the other two?"
Daniel glanced at his feet while he sighed. "I've got some bad news."
"No, no, no," Rebecca muttered, pausing on the landing between the two floors. Even Jessica's good humor faded.
"We ran into two more leech zombies...and we lost both Shantia and Edward," Daniel wearily announced, his attention focused on Rebecca.
Jessica scanned the crowd and offered a frown. "Well...shit."
This can't be happening. Rebecca inwardly moaned. I'm the only one left now. I'm the only STARS here. Trapped in a facility with monsters, a mass murderer, a weird soldier, and a bunch of teenagers. What do I do!?
"Where are the bodies?" Jessica asked after a moment of silence.
Daniel pointed at the painting. "We put...Shantia down there. Edward...he's still in that wing, in the bathroom."
"You lock the door behind you? Last thing we need is Edward coming after us," Jessica pointed out.
"He'd never do that!" Rebecca yelled in a sudden outburst of emotion.
"Okay, fine. Edward wouldn't. Zombie Edward would, and you know it," Jessica bluntly countered. "And we don't need to lose any more people than we already have."
Rebecca felt a powerful urge to strangle her. She tried to regulate her breathing, find some way to relax before she started crying in front of everyone.
"We still need to get Kevin to a hospital," Daniel reminded everyone. "Jessica, give me the key. Me and Billy will continue looking for an exit. You two can stay here and take a moment to relax."
"Hey, I don't need to relax. Nothing major happened to me and I can still keep at it," The cowgirl replied stubbornly. "If anythin', I would think you would need a break."
"I'll take a break once we're all safely out of here," Daniel answered just as pig-headed.
"Well, if you're goin', then I'm goin' too," Jessica retorted.
Rebecca peered at them and felt a stab of guilt. Here she was, technically in charge, and they were all holding it together better than she was. "I-I'm going too."
Everyone looked at her. Daniel spoke first. "It's not necessary. You're tired, you've... lost a comrade. You can use a break."
"And more monsters for me," Jessica happily added.
"No. You're right," Rebecca admitted, addressing Daniel. "Kevin still needs medical attention. We need to find a way out as quickly as possible. I'll go too."
Daniel wore a skeptical mask but didn't press it. "Before we go anywhere, we need to pass around the extra stuff." He gestured toward a pile of weapons and equipment, Edward's and Shantia's.
The Bravo medic took a deep breath to study her nerves as she looked over the items with the others. She gathered the collected herbs and began mixing them while the others swapped weapons and ammo. In the end, Billy took the grenade launcher on the account of that he was trained to use it, along with most of the grenades. He kept his personal handgun and his submachine gun as well. Rebecca protested, but her arguments were shot down which did her self-esteem no favor.
Shantia's assault rifle was reluctantly passed onto Tim. Everyone else in the scouting party already had two weapons, while Tim's handgun was given to Bruce. Edward's handgun passed to Daniel as his second weapon. Edward's grenades were split between Rebecca and Daniel. No one felt comfortable with Jessica having explosives.
After Rebecca finished mixing the herbs to maximize their effectiveness, she divided them among the party, reminding them how to apply it. With everyone re-equipped and prepared, they discussed what their next move was. Billy explained the location of the other fire door and led the way. It was a short, silent walk before they reached the door.
Inside, they found themselves in a large study. An enormous desk occupied the center of the room. On it were computers, papers, and other miscellaneous objects that created a sense of chaos. On the wall to their right were two small paintings. In front of them were shelves of books along with a plant on a nightstand. On the far side of the room was an ornate fireplace with a moose's head above it. In front of the fireplace was an ex-researcher's body. A small table was in the middle of the aisle. Two bright lamps sitting on the giant desk wasn't enough to light up every part of the room. And, as they walked in, the shadows seem to shift and turn with each step.
"Creepy," Jessica described with a pleasant smile. She wandered over to the room's only body and waited. The others searched through the place. Most of them at any rate. Daniel made a show of it but was only biding his time. As the search winded down with no major discoveries, that's when he suggested checking the moose's head.
It was a weird suggestion. But what weirded him out was that only Jessica commented on the weirdness. Billy only shrugged, while Rebecca had an uncomfortable glint in her eyes as she watched him. As in the game, Daniel found the spare clock's handle in the stuffed moose's eye. Rebecca's eye glint only got stronger at that point. Daniel was nervous about the follow-up conversation. How could he lead it toward where the hand was supposed to go without letting either Billy or Rebecca know that he knew even though he'd never seen the clock?
Jessica quickly jumped onto the significance of the clock's hand which negated that worry. But then he noticed that Rebecca was studying Jessica the same way now. Daniel didn't know if that was better or worse. And when he tried to suggest that only he and Jessica go check it out, he was shot down. Billy rightfully pointed out that this was their only lead as of now. And, Daniel couldn't point out that the other half of the basement was now accessible since he fixed the steam issue. At least, now without making it too obvious that he knew things he shouldn't.
As casually as he could, Daniel 'wondered' aloud on what time was needed. Two confused looks and one explanation later, the working theory was that a time was connected to the clock to unlock the clock doors that a few had already noticed. Thankfully, one of the clock doors was in the foyer so it was easy to pass off that he merely noticed it. That satisfied all but Rebecca. Daniel momentarily debated before he decided to go through and suggest they look their current stack of files for a clue to figure out the right time.
Of course, the right file was in Daniel's possession. The soldier explained that Tim found it earlier and passed it to him, but Rebecca was doing a poor job of hiding her suspicion.
The walk to the grandfather clock on the third floor was silent. Almost unbearably so. Daniel did his best to avoid looking at Rebecca, who he knew was staring at him. What is she thinking? How would she react if she knew the truth?
Rebecca knew it was impolite to stare. But whenever she had a puzzle thrown in front of her, she always stared at it until she figured it out. He knows things. He knew about the ambush in the dungeon. But how is that possible? If he simply knew where things were, I might believe that he used to work here before. But that doesn't even make sense. He's younger than me. And no one has been here in years except the Umbrella paramilitary units. Could he be one of them? But, how do I explain the Army uniform? He has his own nametape and a unit patch. She glanced at Billy. Would he recognize it? Does he even care about anything besides himself?
Billy moved with an alertness that was honed in his jungle campaigns. But that didn't mean he couldn't let his mind wander a little. One Army soldier left. Kid's not doing bad so far. But he knows something. I mean, who checks a moose's stuffed head for stuff? It's almost like he knew that clock hand was going to be there. Strange but helpful. Maybe he has a strong sixth sense or something. Cowgirl is a piece of work. Nothing seems to break her fun except when there aren't any monsters to kill. Probably going to get herself killed if no one is keeping an eye on her six for her. Still, don't have to worry about her breaking down mid-mission. The medic I need to keep an eye on. Definitely one of those wide-eye naive types. But she's stubborn which is good right now, but I don't know how long she can keep up the tough-girl act.
Jessica frowned as they walked through up the stairs. No fighting equals bored Jessica. She tried to amuse herself with her new master plan. Now if only her two targets weren't stubborn mopey-heads, she mentally sighed as she glanced at Daniel and Rebecca. Honestly, why does everyone have to be so serious? We have guns, know how to use them, and enough ammo to tear anything apart. We have a frickin' grenade launcher now! What's the point of having all of this firepower and not taking it at least a little easy. Must find a way to create the mood.
The mood continued to elude Jessica right up until they arrived back in the third floor workshop. She watched Daniel take out the hand and walk up to the grandfather clock and place the missing hand. It fit perfectly. She noticed Rebecca looking at her friend oddly. Honestly, why do we even bother? It'd be so much faster if we didn't have to pretend that we don't know squat.
As per the file's directions, Daniel spun the hands until they were pointed at 8:15. The old clock rung out once before the giant, cobwebbed-covered gears behind it began to spin.
"Looks like it worked," Billy blandly noted.
"Yeah, now we have two doors to check out," Daniel said as he turned around, trying to avoid Rebecca's accusing gaze.
"It's time to split up, gang!" Jessica declared in her best impression of Freddie. "Sims, you're coming with me."
The glasses-wearing guy blinked as he turned his sight on her. "I am?"
"Yeah, come on, time's a-wastin'," Jessica ordered as she strode out of the workshop at a fast walk.
Confused but happy for an excuse to get away from Rebecca, Daniel followed. Billy walked at his own leisurely pace while Rebecca trailed behind him.
Daniel & Jessica
Jessica refused to let up her pace until they were all the way back in the first floor's west wing. Daniel didn't relish being here, Edward and Shantia weighed on his mind.
"A'ight, we need to talk," Jessica began while she slowed down.
"About what?" Daniel replied wearily.
"About you and Becky," Jessica answered as they turned around the corners.
Daniel sighed. "I'm trying to make it look natural. But-"
"That's not what I'm talkin' 'bout," Jessica cut him off.
"Huh? It isn't?"
"Nope, I think you two should be together," Jessica proudly declared, like it was the most intelligent plan ever.
Daniel stopped only a couple of feet away from the unlocked clock door. "...you're kidding, right?"