Chapter 13

"I'm afraid I don't know what is going on" said Ishihara desperately. "I can't offer any answers to you" continued the man.

"Bullshit, you work here don't you?" asked Yukari.

"Yes, but-"

"How about your friend?" asked Ohyama, "She works here too doesn't she?"

"I-I don't know what's happening either" said Yomi, "I don't know why this is happening. My co-workers are out there trying to kill us- I saw one of my friends with half of his face missing trying to rip out your throat."

"So why can't you give me any answers?" demanded Hirano. "I didn't want to push the issue when the three of us were trapped, but now I want to know why you don't have anything to say."

"I just work in cosmetics" said Ishihara, "Health and beauty. Umbrella is a very large corporation, and we have many different departments down here. Well we did. I have no idea what caused this."

"Well that's just great" said Yukari sitting down. "We're down here and we don't have a clue what's going on. We don't even know what's wrong with those, those things."

"Zombies" said Kubo.

"What?" asked Kimura.

"Might as well call them zombies. Much more concise. Besides they both seem to be walking while dead and trying to eat us" said Kubo shrugging. "I prefer it that way."

"Fine then, lets call them 'zombies' then" said Yukari. "I loved the Dawn of the Dead remake."

"Land of the dead was my favourite" said Ohyama.

"What?!" said Kubo. "Dawn is a complete masterpiece when…"

"Kubo would you shut the fuck up" said Hirano. "We are trapped down here with dead people trying to eat us and you're arguing about fucking zombie movies?!"

"Yeah well" muttered Kubo bowing his head.

"So what now?" asked Kagura. She wanted to know what the plan would be now. These soldiers had taken her down here, and now her life was firmly in their hands. Hirano had taken command, and now she was deeply interested in seeing what the man had planned. All she wanted was to leave, and fall asleep in a nice comfortable bed…

"We fall back and get out of this place" said Hirano.

"Now there's something I agree with" said Ohyama nodding.

"But what about the other people down here" said Ishihara, "We can't just leave them and run."

"Mr Ishihara the other people down here are dead" said Hirano.

"Didn't you see all of those people out there?" asked Yukari. "They're walking dead. I'm bloody amazed we found you three alive."

"I'm surprised we're still alive" said Ohyama.

Kagura had decided to take the opportunity to sit down, feeling tired as she rested against the cold impersonal wall. She was weary- not so much physically as the mental drain of the past few hours. She had been taken deep beneath the ground into an environment filled with dozens of people trying to both kill and eat her. And still she found herself relying upon people she knew little about.

"You ok Kagura?" asked Kimura, standing beside her.

Kagura looked up at the man. He seemed to be truly concerned about her. She guessed she must have known him prior to loosing much of her memory. Tiny fragments were slowly returning- speaking to Yomi several days ago, holding a weapon, stepping away from Kimura, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh me? I guess I'm as ok as I can be" she replied smiling. "You don't have to worry about me. Just a bit tired Kimura, it's all been a bit much."

"Yeah" said Kimura sighing. "So you still don't have much of your memory back huh?"

"No. It's slowly returning though" said Kagura.

"You know, me and you were a bit of an item before this."

"Really?"

"No" replied Kimura, "I was just making that up. I wouldn't have minded, but truthfully I'm too old." He paused. "I just couldn't resist saying it though" he said.

Kagura smiled. What a creepy guy. But at least he seemed to be a good creepy guy. He'd been looking out for her and the others recently. He certainly seemed to care, and she had noticed he'd been looking out for her. Unfortunately he had sullied it slightly by looking at her intently too.

"So…" said Kagura, "Do you think we'll get out of here alive?" she asked out of earshot of the others. Yukari probably wouldn't take kindly to the defeatist attitude if it wasn't coming from her, while Yomi and Ishihara probably didn't need to hear that type of thing.

"Possibly" said Kimura. Kagura looked up in surprise, having expected a more positive answer, expecting the man to try a comfort act. "I'm sure some of us will get out of this. But I'm not sure if we all will. I just can't say for sure."

"That's probably true" replied Kagura. So far three of the soldiers on the team she was with had died. Only one person remained from the other team they had been looking for. Dozens of people had died in the space of under a month. How could she, a young adult possibly survive down here? Even trained soldiers were being killed off with ease.

"We're moving out now" said Hirano sternly. The others paused, looking at him.

"Come on everybody, lets get out of here huh?" said Kubo in a much kinder and respectful tone of voice.

"Yeah, lets get the hell out of here" said Ohyama.

"Great idea" added Yukari.

Kimura held out a hand, helping Kagura up off of the ground. She dusted herself down and thanked Kimura, who acknowledged her. He quickly checked his handgun while Yukari loaded shells into the recently used shotgun.

"Well that ways out" said Minamo pointing towards the wedged door. "So that leaves only one door" she said, indicating the door behind her.

"I can't hear anything" said Yukari, who had her ear right next to the door despite the possible dangers. She turned and shrugged. "Don't think anything's there."

"Wanna open the door?" asked Ohyama.

"Hell no" said Yukari almost as soon as Ohyama had spoke the words. Like hell was she going to stick her head out through the door and see what it had to offer.

"Stand aside then Miss Tanizaki" said Hirano stepping in front of the woman who stuck her tongue out at the man, and quickly turned away when she realized Kagura had witnessed her childishness. She swore quietly. The girl had definitely seen her. Crap!

Hirano prodded the door open and carefully stepped into the next room. Nothing there. Kagura was surprised at how pleasing an empty corridor could appear. No monsters, no things wanted to kill her and eat her. She supposed that was something to be happy about.

---

Within the room that should not exist many of the walking dead had already left the room, desperately searching for fresh meat. A few still lingered, slowly turning as the smashing sounds caught their attention. The stumbled forwards, hoping to find prey, a meal to feast upon. Slowly they gathered around the shaking metal container.

One was torn in half as the door flew out, smashed away from the inside. A foul smelling being pulled its way out of the cramped containment centre, flicking out a long powerful tongue that grip hold of one of the zombies. It pulled the human towards it and bit down, growling in displeasure at the poor taste as a flap of pale skin hung from its jaws. In a quick move it leapt out, decapitating the two remaining zombies before climbing up onto the wall.

Deep within the facility sat a lone container. The alarms had stopped, but the lights still flashed brightly. There had been plenty of warnings, but no one had come to replace the power supply. The emergency supply had run out, and the tubes fell away from the body. Slowly the being began to awaken from its enforced slumber.

The one creature the Umbrella executives may had truly feared was wakening.