Chapter 7
July 23, 1998 Training Facility Basement/Boiler Room The elevator shock a little bit on the way down. The thought of something above us about to smash us gave me chills, but Matt didn't seem very afraid of it. He just casually looked up at the roof of the elevator.
"There might be something up there. You better go check it out." He suggested examining the elevator's roof door.
"No way, there might be another monster up there." I said, standing my ground.
If he is trying to trick me to my death, it's not going to be here.
"Oh, I see. You're scared, like any girl would be. Do you need help into your carriage, princess?" Matt said haughtily.
That made me snap.
"I'm not afraid!" I denied, knowing that wasn't the truth.
"Then go up there and check it out!" Matt cried.
"I will!" I yelled back.
I pushed open the elevator shaft door and climbed out, with Matt's help. I knew this was a very bad idea, but I wasn't going to let Matt get the better of me. Once I climbed onto the elevator, I saw what was shaking the elevator. Two dark, gross humanoid figures were holding onto the lines of the elevator. They were covered in the dark leeches we saw on the train. Then they turned their small, leech covered heads in my direction, and began jerking wildly toward me. I took out my gun and fired at the monsters, my shots missing every time. I considered my knife but then I realized that my knife would do no good against these slimy, leech monsters. One of them went ahead of the other and came right up to me. It used its long arms to lash out at me. I tumbled over, barely dodging its hit. I realized that the monster was close to the edge of the elevator, and with all my might pushed the leech monster off of the elevator. It fell to the ground somewhere below. I rushed over to the elevator's shaft door. It was closed.
"MATT, let me in, why did you close the door, Matt?" I shouted as I pounded on the door.
But there was no reply. I turned around to see the other leech monster thrashing towards me. I tripped the monster with my foot and stepped on its head. The leeches that had formed the monster dispersed, revealing that the monster had been entirely formed of leeches. I gagged at the thought of there actually being enough leeches to create a human-like form. Relieved, the elevator came to the basement floor, the rust screeching against the elevator. The elevator shaft came loose, and I saw Matt had finally opened the door.
"Why didn't you open the door before? I could have been killed!" I furiously asked as I jumped down into the elevator.
"I'm sorry Tina, but I was a little busy myself." Matt gestured to the pile of dead leeches in a pile on one side of the elevator.
"Oh, alright then, but we should get going. Dr. Marcus' probably waiting for us." Matt pushed the elevator doors open and we stepped into a rusty boiler room.
The boiler made steaming noises and the rust gave the room an orange glow. But we didn't notice. What we did notice were the leeches that covered the walls. They oozed along the ceiling too, nearly covering the lights.
"Welcome children." A booming voice said.
There stood Dr. Marcus in the exact outfit that he wore in the portrait. He seemed completely healthy, but something was off about him. His figure shifted every so often, it was like he was a piece of jelly that moved when touched.
"You seem surprised. Didn't William and Albert tell you about your brothers and sisters?" Dr. Marcus gestured to the leeches plastering the walls.
What did he mean by Birkin and Wesker telling us about?
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at the leeches.
Surely he didn't think we were like those leeches?
"You two share the same DNA as these leeches, only with a different purpose. These leeches are part of the B.O.W. or Bio Organic Weapon project. They were designed to be ultimate killing machines using a strand of the Progenitor virus known as the T-virus. As you can see, there is still much work to be done, but I'm sure William and Albert have already improved them in my absence." Dr. Marcus paused to take a breath.
While he was catching his breath, I turned to Matt.
"Who would want a Bio Organic Weapon?" I whispered to him.
Matt simply shrugged, but I could tell he wasn't telling me something. Then I remembered the time when Matt made fun of monsters coming and destroying the city. It made Mr. Birkin very upset. Were these leeches truly created to destroy complete populations? The thought of those leech monsters coming into a city or town and completely killing off an entire population seemed completely possible. But what would you do with the remaining B.O.W.s?
"You're purpose on the other hand is completely different from those of the B.O.W.s." Dr. Marcus explained.
"You're purpose is to control the B.O.W.s. After creating the first B.O.W.s, we soon realized that they needed to be controlled, in case they were to, get out of hand. We knew that the people that would control them would need to be totally resistant to the virus that controls the B.O.W.s. and eventually become infected. So, we tested thousands of young infants, looking for two children with perfect DNA that would be immune to the T-virus. That's when we found you two. You two had the exact immunity we were looking for. We took you in and I planned to raise you to be intelligent, trained soldiers who knew no fear, no emotion. But my plans were foiled when Spencer, the founder of Umbrella had me assassinated by Albert and William. Luckily, I was saved by my own experiment, the Queen Leech and now I'm a new man. By how you two navigated through the mansion, it seems that Albert and William did somewhat follow through on my plans. Now, my children join me as we take our revenge on the Umbrella Corporation, and the world will burn in an inferno of hate!" Dr. Marcus finished, stretching his arms out.
I turned to Matt, who looked just as bewildered as I did.
"What should we do?" I asked him, looking over at Dr. Marcus.
"How should I know? What do you do when a crazy old man asks you to exact revenge on the company that's sheltered you you're whole life?" Matt replied, a worried look on his face.
"You obey." A new voice answered.
A young man in his twenties stepped in from the shadows. The man had long, dark hair that gave him the appearance of a woman and he was adorned in white robes.
"And who are you?" Matt looked suspiciously at the new man.
"I am the Queen Leech, and if you refuse to join us, I'm sure my children would enjoy a midnight snack."
On cue the leeches began to close in on Matt and me.
"Huh, so you're a woman then?" Matt laughed nervously.
"Silence child! You are a fool to mock the Queen Leech! You will pay for your actions!" The Queen Leech gestured to Dr. Marcus who started to choke.
He then threw up a leech that came oozing out of his mouth. The leech fell to the floor and joined the others. Dr. Marcus then began to throw up two more leeches before his form began to shift. His skin and clothes turned a sickly green and his body became gelatinous. His arms and head suddenly extended from his body and twisted into crocked tentacles.
"Run!" Matt cried, turning in the other direction. Matt and I ran towards the elevator, only to be blocked by a sea of leeches.
"We don't have time for this!" Matt took out his gun and started to shoot at the leeches.
"Wait Matt, let me. You keep Dr. Marcus busy." I took out my knife and began to slash at the wall of leeches.
Matt turned around to see the mutated Dr. Marcus approaching him.
"Die!" Matt shot at Dr. Marcus with his handgun.
I had finally slashed though just enough leeches to pull the door open.
"Let's go!" I cried.
Matt swirled around and ran towards the door, Dr. Marcus close behind. Matt slammed the door right behind Dr. Marcus.
"We don't have much time!" Matt and I ran towards the elevator.
I had just activated the elevator when Dr. Marcus pushed open the door with his slimy tentacles. "We better run!" Matt began to help me up when he looked to see Dr. Marcus was beginning to scale the elevator rail.
"Oh crap!" Matt's hand slipped and let go of my hand.
I desperately grabbed on to the elevator rail, knowing Dr. Marcus was close behind me.
"Matt, help!" I cried, trying to climb back onto the elevator.
I finally was able to grab onto the elevator, but Matt kicked my hand off.
"Matt, what the hell?" I tried grabbing back onto the elevator, but Matt continued to push me off.
"Don't you get it, Tina? We're supposed to die. Wesker had us injected with that special medicine, so that when we die, we'll come back to life as better, stronger, more superior beings." Matt took off his sunglasses to reveal the golden animal eyes of a cat.
"You, you're already dead." I realized.
The blood stains on his shirt, and the new vest and sunglasses. And all this time, he was trying to make me the same.
"So you were trying to kill me?" I realized out loud.
"You'll survive anyway. You'll be reborn. Trust me Tina, it's great. We won't be confined to a room for the rest of our lives. We won't have to listen to Birkin anymore. We could do anything. There's no limit to what we could do." Matt kneeled down to me.
"Trust me on this, it's great." Matt held out his handgun at my face.
I looked at Matt, his feral eyes staring into mine. It was then I saw a new person. This wasn't the Matt I had known all my life. This wasn't the Matt that made jokes and never listened to authority. This Matt, a hunter corrupted by the Progenitor virus with no sense of humanity. And I was about to lose my humanity too.