Chapter 19

Kubo stopped close to the entrance. He turned towards Kimura.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Ohyama" replied Kimura. "He called out. And I know I heard some kind of roar in there."

"Shit" muttered Kubo. He held up a hand. "Just stay here you two" he said to Kagura and Kimura. "When Yukari and Kurosawa turn up, tell them to wait for a minute. I don't need Yukari sprinting into the unknown as usual."

"Ok, I'll stay here" said Kimura. Kagura agreed with the man. She was weary. Right now, she definitely wouldn't be against rushing into the unknown. Especially considering what the unknown tended to hide in this place. Definitely considering what the unknown tended to be.

Kubo marched along the corridor, passing out of the entrance foyer, before pausing close to the large steel doors. He crouched down and got down on his stomach, crawling along the floor. He peeked into the large entrance station, keeping most of his body out of sight. He looked on in disbelief as the vast creature he'd seen earlier feasted upon the decapitated remains of what must have been Ohyama. The creature paused, looking up, placing one sharp clawed hand in the dark blood.

Kubo slowly reached behind, taking hold of one of the two grenades he had been provided with at the start of the mission. He unclipped it from his belt and slowly pulled out the pin. He lobbed it into the room, the creature roaring out in anger as it landed next to it.

God he hoped that would work.

---

Roar!!!

"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Yukari, appearing holding Minamo.

Minamo glanced up in surprise as the large muscular creature rushed towards them, seeming much larger then it had been last time. She gripped hold of Yukari and pulled her out of the way, both falling through a doorway where the door had been unlocked. Kimura leant back against the wall and the creature stormed past in a furious rage. Kagura saw it looking at her and sprinted away, yelling out as the roaring creature charged her. She didn't know anyway out of this, she was certain the licker was much faster then her.

"Get down child."

Shocked she watched as a bloodied Hirano stepped out into the corridor having commandeered the fallen Obata's weapon. Not needing to be told twice Kagura dived to the floor, landing hard on the floor. Hirano yelled out in anger and unleashed a volley of gunfire ripping into the creature's chest. It roared out in pain and turned, smashing through a large window, ripping through the wall beyond. A trail of blood ran behind it. It wouldn't be killed by the wounds, but it ought to give them time.

"Come on Hirano, lets get to the train!" called out Kagura standing up.

Hirano shook his head. "Go on girl, get back to the others and get out of here."

"What about…"

"Don't worry about me" said Hirano dropping the weapon to the floor and slowly walking away. Kagura opened her mouth to speak but the man had vanished along a different corridor. She stood waiting, but the man didn't return.

"Screw this" she said turning and sprinting back towards the others.

Hirano placed the cigarette into his mouth. There was more then one way out of this place- if you knew the routes. He pushed open the security room door, taking in the sight of the numerous screens and recording equipment. Plenty of documentation of the S.T.A.R.S Team fighting the results of the virus outbreak. However he knew they would be very disappointed. Very few of the BOWs had been engaged in combat. He hadn't expected most of his team to be wiped out by those damn spiders. Still at least Umbrella would now have an idea of what their little science project could do.

He flicked away the cigarette stub as he confirmed the recordings had been sent via a secure line to Umbrella. He injected himself with the antivirus he had been provided with and stepped outside. He traipsed along the corridor. Now where was…

Thwack!

He grunted in surprise and glanced down at the long thin talons that had ripped through his stomach. He gripped hold of the talon, which seemed to be living muscle rather then hardened material. Slowly he turned his head back, looking at what had impaled him. A look of fear crossed his face.

"Oh shit it's…"

He didn't have time to finish the sentence as a second group of talons ripped into him, just above the first collection. They wrapped around the man and yanked in different directions ripping the man in half. The legs and waist slumped to the floor, the torso hanging on the talons. With disdain the creature flicked out its hand, swiping away the dead man who splattered into the wall due to the floor. The wall was soaked with dark red blood, a mangled mess representing the former leader.

---

Minamo sat on the ledge of the train entrance holding out her arm as Yukari injected the serum into her bloodstream. She gasped and looked up at Yukari.

"Could you do that any more painfully?" she asked.

"Does that offer to kill you still stand?" replied Yukari coolly. "I'll take it up if you want."

Minamo mumbled something and sat back against the train. Kagura stood watching. Yukari looked concerned again as Minamo sat still. Kagura knew there was no chance that they could be certain the antivirus would work. All they could do was wait and see. Minamo slowly closed her eyes and Yukari stood up looking down at her friend. Finally Minamo let out a sigh.

"You ok?" asked Yukari. "Nyamo?"

Minamo opened her eyes and looked up at Yukari who backed away; worried she might be one of those things. "I feel ok actually" she said. "The bite still stings a bit, but I don't feel as weak as I did."

Taken by surprise Minamo suddenly found herself in the grip of a (very) rare Yukari hug. She looked up in surprise, wondering if they'd lost the real Yukari somewhere.

"Y-Yukari?" she asked as the woman tightened her grip.

"Don't ever do anything like that again ok idiot" replied Yukari.

"I don't intend to Yukari" stated Minamo. "I really don't intend to" she said as Yukari helped her up.

The intense sense of relief had passed over Kagura, and now she was more concerned with everyone getting out alive now. Minamo had just recovered from being at the brink, they shouldn't throw that away now. She found herself at the train, gripping one of the syringes.

"Good to see you back Miss Kurosawa."

"It's good to be back" said the woman. "So taking that to Kubo?" she asked.

Kagura nodded. Shortly after Hirano had confronted the creature they had found Kubo resting against the wall with two deep slashes in his shoulder and a bloodstained uniform. Kagura marched across to the man and handed him the syringe.

"Just a little something for you" she said.

"Thanks Kagura" said Kubo. "I suppose it's better to be safe, that thing might be able to transmit the disease too."

Kagura nodded. "No one else is infected. Yukari never got bitten and Kimura is fine as well."

"That's great" said Kubo, making a face as he injected himself. "But given what's happened recently some of this virus has managed to escape. Hopefully it has been contained."

"I really hope so" said Kagura, who was facing the blood soaked station. "I don't want to think what could happen if this T-virus thingie became widespread."

"I guess it might be something like Dawn of the Dead" replied Kubo. "I loved that film."

"Yeah…maybe. Mr Kubo, I just…I just want to thank you for helping us get out of this" said Kagura.

"Are you kidding me? We dragged you down here" said Kubo.

"And if you hadn't we would have been worse off. You said yourself about some of the town being infected. So thank you for waiting for us, and looking after us."

"Well I guess it's…" Kubo's voice trailed away as he heard something. Kagura ran with him to the stairs, watching in disbelief as at the end of the corridor the licker charged them. "Shit, run! Run!" yelled out Kubo, him and Kagura sprinting back to the train. Yukari and Minamo were already onboard. Kimura saw them running and promptly decided not to ask the question on his mind when he saw the panicked look. He jumped up onto the train and waited for the others.

"What's happening?" asked Yukari as Kubo pushed a selection of keys on the control panel.

"That damn thing is coming" said Kubo, loading a fresh clip of ammunition into his rifle. The three soldiers stood in the centre of the cabin, waiting. Kimura sat down, holding his gun.

Kagura stepped into the cabin and peeked through one of the small windows. She watched as the hellish thing passed through the doorway and then jolted in surprise. She watched incredulously as it tried to grip the walls with its sharp claws as something tried to pull it back. Over the screech of the train she just about heard its own screech as it was pulled back through the doorway. She jumped as thick blood suddenly splattered across the wall. As the train turned a corner the station disappeared from view, Kagura merely seeing a shadow.

"Hey…guys…" said Kagura slowly walking back to the others. "I think that thing was just killed."

The others looked across at her in surprise.

"I think something much worse is coming."