Ch. 13: Creepy Church Or Not?
A/N: I'm gettin' better!
Jessica & Billy
Of all things, for them to find the infirmary while Becky was away, was just too ironic. But the two zombies here, a former doctor and patient, provided some distraction. Or, they would have had Billy let her have some of the action. Instead he rushed forward the moment he spotted them. Jessica was about to yell at him for taking more of her kills when she saw his execution.
The marine punched the first one so hard that it twirled around. Billy didn't give it a moment to recover as he grabbed its head and, with a sharp jerk, broke its neck. As it fell, the second one tried to lunge at him. He jabbed its knife into its eye, twisted the knife, and kicked the dead zombie off his blade.
"...woah," Jessica muttered quietly to herself. "Marcus got ya really riled up, didn' he?"
Billy sheathed his knife. "He's a monster," He stated simply.
Jessica nodded before she noticed the first zombie wasn't dead. It's head was at a weird angle but it stared at her hungrily, mouth opening and closing as if it could taste her already. "Ya really do need to shoot these things in the head to kill 'em." She lazily fired a round into its noggin. With the room cleared, she switched to raider mode.
Beds lined along the far wall with medicine in between half of them. To their right were a couple of sinks for hygienic purposes. Several shelves lined the wall on their left. And a green canister occupied the wall opposite to the sinks. She mosied over to the canister, since it piqued her interest. A small valve was at the top. One she was just about to turn when Billy said, "I wouldn't. That looks chemical. You don't know what it might do to you."
She frowned as her curious re-doubled its efforts to go against the convict's advice. In the end, she stepped away with a sigh. "Shucks, Billy. Ya do have a heart."
Billy brushed if off with a shrug as he went through the cabinets. "There's no point in getting yourself killed when there's plenty of monsters that can do it for you."
Jessica walked over to him with a grin. "Aw, how cute. You're tryin' to act all 'tough-guy'. I bet'cha ya just a big ol' softie inside that gruff exterior."
He took a moment to glare at her over his shoulder. "You seem to have forgotten that I'm a mass murderer."
"Ya know what? I ain't buyin' it," She challenged him as she tipped her cowboy hat up. "I think ya were framed for somethin' ya didn' do. Am I wrong?" He ignored her as he pulled out several first aid sprays out of the cabinet. "I'll take that as a yes."
"There's no point in bringing up the past now," He countered as he closed the cabinet. In front of him was a small army of gauze bandages, pain killers, first aid kits and sprays, and other miscellaneous medical supplies.
Before Jessica could continue the conversation, Billy's radio squawked. "Billy, this is Rebecca, over."
He detached the handheld radio from his hip. "Billy here, over."
"We've found a new route that leads from the facility to a nearby church. Daniel and I are investigating. Over."
"Roger, we've finished our investigation. We'll rejoin you ASAP. Where's the path? Over."
There was a pause before Rebecca answered. "Access is now at the second floor balcony outside of the conference room, over."
Billy quirked an eyebrow at that. I already checked that. All there was the ladder down into the first floor. Despite his hesitation, he answered. "On our way, Billy out."
"Awww, how come they get to find the next spooky area first?" Jessica complained as she started for the exit. "I mean, a church? Next to an evil facility? Almost sounds like a ghost story just waiting happen."
Billy shot her an annoyed look. "Don't forget to bring the medical supplies."
She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. "How? My pockets are all full as it is." She pointed at all of her pockets, jean pants and blue hoodie. Billy frowned and admitted she was right. He too couldn't fit any more stuff on him. He wished he had more than just his blue jeans. "Let's just warn Becky that the room is here and if we get banged up, we can come back here where she can patch us. Right?"
Well, she isn't completely stupid, even if she is taking this all too casually. Point for her. "Yeah, let's go."
"A'ight! I wonder if we're gonna run into anythin' new over there," Jessica hoped for as they moved to catch up with the other pair. "And remember, if we runnin' into any ghosts, who you gonna call?" She asked throwing her hand toward him in a 'say-it!' gesture.
He stared at the hand for a moment before sighing. "Ghostbusters."
Rebecca & Daniel
Rebecca re-hooked the radio onto her belt as they crossed over the narrow bridge to the church. Personally, she didn't like the fact that she was surrounded by water deeper than she could see. Didn't monsters like to jump out of this kind of water? Oh no, Rebecca fretted. I'm thinking like Jessica now. But, she wondered how worried she should be. Daniel didn't appear to be bothered by the water at all. He kept his eyes locked on the old church with a solemn expression. Are we going to run into something there?
The narrow, stone bridge, illuminated by a single working lamp, cut across the shadow-ridden lake to reach a decrepit, moss-covered chapel. The two dark, stained-glass windows reminded Rebecca of lifeless eyes that seem to stare right at her. Next to the chapel was a small watchtower in the same condition. Despite how uninviting they were, there were two bright lights, one in the tower, and one above the chapel's entrance. A walkway continued around the side of the chapel into darkness.
"Cheerful," Daniel quipped as they neared it. He experimentally tried the doors. "Aaannnddd locked."
"But you already knew that, didn't you," Rebecca whispered to herself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." She looked over at the tower but quickly realized how small it was. It consisted of only tall room that she could see into from by the church doors. "That's a dead end." She looked down the left sidewalk. She walked that way with Daniel trailing behind her.
It's going to happen again, isn't it? She's going to find some way to dodge half the traps, He suspected as they walked beneath the sidewalk's canopy. Two more victims of Umbrella's doomed investigation unit shuffled around aimlessly. For the price of two bullets, they were able to scavenge several magazines of machine gun and handgun ammo. Daniel was very happy that he was in his ACU's. All the extra pockets were very useful lately, even if he did feel like a walking armory.
After turning around the next corner, they came up to an elevator built into the side of the church on their right. Directly ahead was a fancy, black iron fence surrounding the chapel's backyard with a gate next to the elevator.
"Elevator is out of power," Rebecca stated after a quick inspection.
"And the gate is locked," Daniel added after checking it. He looked at the rest of the fence. Each post of the fence was topped off with a pointy arrow. But when he looked at Rebecca, he saw that she was thinking the same thing: why not just go over it? He flexed his bitten arm and wondered if he was up to it.
"I won't need much," Rebecca answered as she walked over to the fence, paying his bandaged forearm a quick glance. She grabbed part of the fence and pulled herself off the ground. Daniel quickly grabbed one of her feet and pushed upwards. She managed to get one foot on the high bar and balanced precariously in between points. With a kick, she jumped over to the other side and, though she tumbled a little, landed safely on the other side. First, she walked over to the gate and unlocked it, happy that it wasn't a two-way lock. And while Daniel added his eyes to the search, she found all there was to find in the next minute. On the back wall of the church was an old circuit breaker. While foliage and plants overran the rest of the backyard, it was still untouched. And when she pulled the lever up, they both heard a light flicker on above the elevator door. "Finally. Something nice and simple for a change."
Of course, we did just ignore a hook shot spot, the church's front door trick lock, and the giant zombie bat boss. Daniel thought to himself as they walked toward the working elevator. Rebecca had just pushed the button when Jessica's voice rang out, "A'ight, where's them varmints? How come I don' see any bodies over here?"
Both uniformed teenagers looked toward their cowboy boot-wearing compatriot as she waltzed into view with Billy trailing behind her. "There weren't any," Rebecca answered happily.
Jessica balked. "Nothin'? That can't be right."
"Nothing," Daniel repeated for her, though his eyes momentarily shot toward the chapel.
It wasn't fast enough to escape Jessica's notice. "And both of y'all checked inside too?"
"The front door is locked, and we haven't found a key yet," Rebecca said. The elevator's door opened and she put one foot inside to keep it open. "There's no way out through the backyard, it just leads back into the lake. We're essentially on an island cut off from the forest now. Which means, the only possible exit might be down here."
Jessica frowned as she grasped the heart of Rebecca's message. "Sooo, you're tellin' me to skip it? But what if there are more monsters inside?"
"With our luck, there'll be plenty of monsters down here," Daniel commented as he stepped into the elevator. Billy uttered an unspoken agreement with the soldier as he stepped inside.
Jessica glared at all three of them before she sighed and stepped followed them in. Rebecca, with a hidden smile, was the last one in. The elevator was very luxurious with a tiled floor and intricate metal carvings. Yet, there was only one other floor. Daniel pressed it after Rebecca stepped in and they all heard the gears whirring.
The elevator just started downward when Jessica began humming something that sounded suspiciously like elevator music. The other three occupants slowly turned toward her with mixed looks of disbelief and annoyance. In return, she flashed them all a 'screw-you-all' grin and went back to humming. Rebecca rolled her eyes, Daniel sighed before he faced the door, and Billy went back to ignoring her.
Candlelight greeted them as the elevator doors opened. Stone walls flanked by Greek columns lined the way. At the end of the hallway a small balcony overlooked the hallway. Two doorways sat on the left wall. The first one didn't have its door any more but was caved in, rendering it useless anyway. The second door was unlocked. "Well, ain't that just nice for a change," Jessica crowed as the four of them stepped in.
It was another library. It was bigger than the last one, but with fewer books and a fancy tiled floor. Old-fashioned portraits dotted the walls between the expensive, wooden book-cases. In one corner of the room was another dumbwaiter. On one of the few nightstands was a torn page. Daniel read it aloud after he picked it up. "Trouble is unlikely, but I closed my babies up in the special capsule. But it won't be safe if I hold it onto myself. I'll hide it in that place. 'To hide a leaf, put it in a forest'... To open the capsule, the special stripping agent is necessary. No way Spencer's lackeys could figure how to make it."
"~I sense a puzzle~," Jessica declared, dragging out the statement in an annoyed, sing-song fashion.
"That reminds me," Billy followed up as he looked at Daniel and Rebecca. "We found Marcus' diary. He's the creator of the T-virus. The one responsible for this mess, and we located an infirmary inside the main facility."
"The T-virus," Rebecca softly repeated to herself. She couldn't help but notice that Daniel didn't react to the news as if it were...well, new. She felt a slew of questions assaulting her. She decided to focus on the most pertinent one that she believed could be answered honestly. "Is there a cure?"
Billy frowned and shook his head. "It doesn't look like it. He was about to present his research at the next meeting on the last date."
"Sucks to be you," Jessica muttered to Daniel.
He glared at her for a moment before he paced across the room. He looked down one of the wings and toward the ceiling, which was afflicted with a large hole. He felt a powerful urge to massage the bandage over his arm. Don't think about it. Who knows? Maybe the Eliminators can't infect people. Stop it. Don't think about it. Focus. How can we get past that without the hookshot? A human ladder perhaps? Maybe using one of the tables? The height didn't bother him. It was the leech zombie waiting upstairs for them. How was he supposed to ask for more incendiary ammo without looking incredibly suspicious...again?
"Well, he might have developed a cure before the meeting," Rebecca hoped for. "There's no point in creating a viral weapon without making a vaccine as well. Otherwise, you have no way to control it."
Jessica scanned their surroundings. "...like maybe being unable to stop an outbreak or somethin'?" She posed with heaps of dry sarcasm.
The medic winced at the barb. "We're talking about a man who fed his own employees to fuel his research," Billy interjected. "He might have made a vaccine and kept it to himself."
Rebecca shot him a 'thank-you' smile. But Jessica just shrugged. "Well, until we find this cure, I suggest you don' git bit. Sorry Sims."
"I'll be fine," Daniel replied absent-mindedly as he rejoined the others. "The only way to go now is to go up." He ignored the worried look on Rebecca's face. To his surprise, even Billy had a touch of concern on his. "If we're lucky, we can find a way out up there."
"None of us seem to have any good luck lately," Billy mumbled before he walked underneath the hole. "Grab that table right there." He pointed at the room's largest table, which Rebecca and Jessica moved over. He judged the distance between the two points and looked over the others. "Only two of us can go up. Army, how well can you use your arm now?"
Daniel clenched and un-clenched his left fist, feeling the arm muscles contract and relax. Each time, he nearly winced. "It's getting better," He offered optimistically.
"Let's not take any chances," Billy replied as he looked at the two ladies. "I'm the strongest and biggest, so I'll stay down here with Jessica. We'll push Rebecca and Army up." He stared at the cowgirl. "No horseplay."
She held up a hand. "I swear I won' do anythin'... this time."
That hardly reassured the medic, but she wasn't willing to argue with her over it. Better yet, if she did do what she was supposed to, she would be free of the annoying teenager for that much longer. Much like before, Billy and Jessica formed steps with their hands. Unlike last time, Rebecca, as wobbly as her balance was, was lifted to the second floor without incident. The moment she was up, she shifted around onto her stomach and prepared to help her wounded comrade up.
"Billy," Daniel nonchalantly interjected before he stepped up. "Got any spare grenades? You know, just in case?"
The ex-marine quirked an eyebrow in a gesture that made it all too clear that he suspected more than the soldier was letting on. "Here." He handed one of each type of grenade to Daniel. "Be careful with those."
"Always." With that, Daniel hopped onto the table...and regretted it for a moment as it dangerously wobbled.
"Easy there, tiger," Jessica chastised him with an amused shake of her head.
"Just eager to get out of here," He mumbled before he hoisted himself onto their footholds. He reached out with his good arm and Rebecca grabbed onto it. The three of them working in tandem easily got him onto the third floor.
"Well, great...now what do we do?" Jessica asked Billy after the other two walked out of sight. He shrugged.
As Rebecca walked away from the hole, she got her first look of the room. The hole happened to be in the corner of a dark laboratory, lit by the glow of a light and something else around the corner. The room was divided in half by a large shelf in the center that extended three-quarters the way between the walls. On it were a bunch of dirty, musty jars containing... somethings. The labels were covered with so much dirt it was impossible to read them and the jars themselves were so brown that in the dark room, they couldn't see them. At least whatever inside of them didn't move. Right next to her was a series of desks lined up against the shelves.
Daniel couldn't hear anything in the room besides the two of them. That didn't mean that the leech zombie wasn't there. He kept his M16 slung as he grabbed the incendiary grenade Billy gave him. Any thought of maintaining his little ruse was pushed away by images of Shantia dying at the hands of the monstrous slugs. I'm not taking any chances with those things. He tried to be quiet as he pulled the firing pin and kept his thumb on the safety lever.
Rebecca paused and looked back at him before she rounded the corner to the rest of the room. "What is it?" She whispered.
"Do you smell that?" He muttered back as he slowly walked in front of her. He slowly leaned his head past the shelf and saw his target. The green humanoid stood in between the shelf and a series of three, human-sized containment tanks. They were as squalid and murky as the jars. Behind the leech zombie was a fridge of sorts and was providing the other glowing light in the room.
The monster hadn't noticed him yet. So, he calmly knelt down and 'bowled' the grenade to the leech creation. He quickly back stepped, pushing Rebecca with him as the leech zombie reacted to the item. With wet-sloppery steps, it moved at a glacial pace forward. Which worked perfectly for Daniel's plan. An explosive fire consumed the leech zombie and caused several of the nearby jars and tanks to crack. They waited a moment for the fires to die down before rounding the corner again.
"Oi! What the hell is goin' on up there!" Jessica yelled from the lower floor.
"Just took out another leech zombie, everything's fine," Daniel shot back. He looked away from the hole... and saw Rebecca staring at him. "...what?"
"...you can't smell." She mumbled underneath her breath.
"What was that?"
"I said," She repeated forcefully, loud enough for him to hear. "You. Can't. Smell."
The bespectacled soldier twitched. "Well...it's not completely dead. I can smell a little."
"Then how come I didn't smell it," She countered, tossing a glimpse at the burnt remains. "Why did you 'smell' it before I did?"
Think of something...must think of something... No matter how hard Daniel thought, no easy lie or reason came to him. Even though he realizing how pathetic it was, he shrugged. "I don't know."
He's not even trying now. Or maybe he's just scared of those things. I know I am. But, what do I do now? Do I press him or should I leave him alone? Rebecca really, really wanted to press him, time paradoxes or not.
The tense silence stood between them for a minute. Then two. Abruptly, Daniel looked away as he walked toward the room's door. "We're wasting time."
She stared at him for another second before she relented. I'll let him go...for now.
You are entering an insane world…