Chapter 10: The Journey Underground
October 1, 1998
7:50 PM
Sewers of Raccoon City
Rico Da Silva was no fool. He knew that traveling through the streets of Raccoon City, now swarming with human virus carriers and an array of Umbrella's other nasty pets, was as good of an ideas as it was to stick a fork in a light socket. Therefore, he decided if his team could not travel through the streets to reach their target then they would have to travel under them. While Rico did not particularly enjoy the sights and smells of the Raccoon sewer system it certainly beat the alternative of having to run across a mile of city terrain that was swimming with flesh eating monsters.
"It smells like a pig's arse down here." Mick Murphy commented unhappily.
"Well, get used to it," Rico replied. "We still have a ways to go yet. Sergeant Foller, how much farther?"
The Australian produced a map of the city's sewer systems and a penlight from his rucksack. He traced the thin beam across the route and then clicked the light off. "Another half mile, sir."
The B.O.N.E.S. chopper had dropped the team off a little over a mile from Saint Jude's Hospital any closer, Waters had informed the squad just before take off, and they ran the risk of being spotted. This made little sense to Rico, as he could not even begin to imagine who would be on the look out for an Umbrella aircraft in a city now overrun by the undead.
Rico had briefly considered asking Waters just whom it was they ran the risk of being spotted by but decided against it. Whenever the major dared to ask a question not directly related to his duties it always resulted in the answer that he was on a need-to-know basis and, frankly, he did not need to know. Either way, Major Da Silva had a feeling he would find out what Waters was talking about before the night was through. Unfortunately, he did not find that to be a comforting thought for a reason he was unaware of.
For now, the only thing Rico needed to concern himself with was getting out of the labyrinth that was the Raccoon sewers and into the hospital. The sewers were an underground lair of damp stone tunnels fitted with low ceilings and tepid green-black water that smelled heavily of industrial waste and human excrement. The powerful stench made the soldier wish his gas mask did more to block the odor of whatever foul liquid flowed past his feet. There was the constant noise of dripping water that seemed to emanate from all directions at once. The sound had gone mostly unnoticed at first but after trekking through the sewers for over an hour it was beginning to threaten the patience of the B.O.N.E.S. team leader. Rico knew they wouldn't be able to get out of this place soon enough.
The pungent stench and irritating dripping were bad but most disquieting of all, at least in Rico's opinion, was the darkness. The only light in the chilly tunnel came from the flashlight attachments mounted on each man's weapon. The beams traced over the wet stone walls where nameless fungus and thick slime covered the surface. The lights pushed away shadows at their feet where some unknown substance grew and swept over the river of toxic water running lazily by them, highlighting pieces of human waste. The lights did nothing to push away the major's fears though.
There was a time when Rico Da Silva had outgrown his fear of the dark, a time before he had taken a job with White Umbrella. Ever since his first mission with the company Rico discovered that it was much wiser to be frightened of the dark. Much to his horror, the Latino learned that the childhood monsters he had been so terrified of, monsters he thought would pull him into the black abyss of his closet and devour him if he let his guard down, actually existed. He had seen them with his own eyes, killed many of them and even watched as the abominations stole the lives from two of his teammates.
His boots shuffling across the ground, Rico could feel the sweat of panic break out across his forehead, felt his chest constrict making the flow of air into his as narrow a passage as the sewage tunnel in which he now walked. Rico knew he couldn't freak out now, he had to keep it together, but that was easier said than done. Down in the deep black of the Raccoon sewer system that stank so heavily of urine and death, the major found it hard to control his imagination from thinking about what inhuman creatures could be waiting for him around each corner in the winding maze of stone tunnels.
In his time with Umbrella, Major Da Silva had grown to know a little about the methods used by the company's researchers. Whenever it came time for the scientists to head down to the monster factory and cook up some new harbinger of death and destruction, they did so with a specific purpose in mind. The specimen had to be developed to thrive and fight in a certain type of habitat. For example, the 3K Hunter series had been designed for combat in jungle and forest environments, areas where the terrain would allow them to use their chameleon-like abilities to their full potential.
Rico knew every species White Umbrella had developed to fight underground. Among them were the Arachnid and 121 Hunter series. While he had no personal experience with the Arachnids, something the major was thankful for each passing day, he was well aware of their capabilities.
All manner of stories about the unfortunate soldiers who had fallen prey to the ten-foot spiders abounded at the B.O.N.E.S. facility in New York. Rico had heard tales from other operatives about the poor saps who had fallen victim to the toxin of the creatures or the acidic juices they were said to be able to spit up to distances of fifteen feet. The Arachnids were also described as being able to weave webs so thick and strong that even blowtorches could not cut through them. Da Silva had also been informed, quite recently, that the largest of the Arachnid series, the White Tiger, had been destroyed during the Spencer Estate fiasco.
The worst of Umbrella's playthings that the major had ever come into contact with, in his opinion at least, had been the Hunter 121s. His first, and only, meeting with the mutants had been during an operation in Prague when one of the underground facilities had suffered a containment leak. Luckily, the lab's personnel managed to evacuate before the Hunters could do much damage but it was Rico's job to take his team in and clean up.
To this day he could still remember the cries of his men, as the Hunters seemed to appear from the shadows themselves and attack in all directions. The horror filled screams of his team members drowning out the chatter of automatic fire, their fear surely heightened as round after round hit the springing beasts without effect. Rico had given the order to pull back, to regroup, but only a few had been lucky enough to hear it above the hysterics of the frightened soldiers. Those that did not receive the order to withdraw were cut down by the clawed nightmares moments later. Rico recalled the sounds his men made after the command to retreat had been given even more clearly than their panicked cries.
There was the sickening crack of bone, the wet tearing of flesh. The gruesome splash of spilt blood and the abrupt silence as shrieks of horror turned to pitiful dying gurgles. Reliving the memory made Rico's stomach flip-flop violently, bringing the bile to the back of his throat.
"Major," a cool, monotonous, voice whispered next to the team leader, making him jump.
"What is it Smith?" Rico replied harshly, displeased with how easily the man could sneak up on him. He could have sworn Sergeant Murphy had been standing behind him only moments ago, not Smith.
"There's something else I thought you should be made aware of." Smith said casually as the group edged forward through the blackness.
"Lay it on me."
"Your team has one more objective to complete, major."
"Oh?" Rico said, dropping his voice to a whisper, not wanting the other members of his squad to overhear. 'More secrets, eh Smith? That's just like you.' "What exactly is that?"
"Technically, it's my objective but I think things might run more smoothly if you and your teammates assist me." Smith said. "What you haven't been made aware of, major is that the government sent in four Army Ranger units this evening to help local police control and contain the residents of Raccoon City. There are forty soldiers in total."
"That's ironic." Rico whispered back. "The government helps finance Umbrella knowing full well how it makes there money and when the corporation makes a mess instead of locking them all in jail, they send in troops to help with the clean up. Well, good fucking luck to 'em, the city is overrun with all of the company's freaks by now. All there going to get is the funeral bill for those boys."
"Chances of the Rangers' survival are actually somewhat good. We estimate that at least a third of their number will last through the night despite Umbrella's…'freaks'"
Rico tensed up, stopped and spun to face Smith. The men behind him all came to an abrupt stop but the major barely noticed. From behind his gas mask he glared at Smith, annoyed beyond words that Umbrella hadn't trusted him enough to accomplish this mission on his own and now further enraged that they were hiding things from him; things that a man like Smith could apparently be trusted to know.
"So what are you saying?" Rico snapped. The man was an interloper he had known it from the start. "That we might just have to deal with the military in addition to whatever else is running around out there?"
"Sir?" Sergeant Petrovsky said with askance.
"Smith and I need to have a quick chat. " Rico replied without looking at the man. "Sven, take point and lead the rest of the team to the exit point. We'll catch up soon."
Nodding, the heavy weapons specialist moved forward with the rest of the B.O.N.E.S. crew in tow. For a minute straight Rico stood glowering at the other man in the dank tunnel. He wished desperately that he could see Smith's face, the man would still be impossible to read no doubt but the major would have felt more like he was talking to a real person instead of the drone that stood before him now.
"Time for answers, Smith." Da Silva said in a no-nonsense tone. "Exactly how the hell do you know all of this?"
"I have privileged information." Was the supervisor's flat response.
"You're going to have to do better than that.
"Actually, major, I don't." Smith replied and this time his voice dripped acid. "Keep in mind that as your supervisor I am really in charge of this operation and you are to follow my orders to the letter. I have already divulged to you several things I was directly ordered not to. So, if I were you, I would thank me whole-heartedly for my generosity."
"You'll have to forgive me if I don't see it that way," Rico paused a moment before adding, "sir."
"Perhaps you will think differently after you listen to the rest of what I have to say to you, major." Smith said but was cut short by the sudden chatter of automatic fire from up the tunnel. There was a short burst from around the corner that echoed throughout the passageway, followed by a sharp hiss and another rapid burst of gunfire. Rico and Smith had already started up the tunnel when Boris Petrovsky shouted.
"Major, hurry up! You should take a look at this!"
Rico and Smith raced around the corner quickly and came to a dead stop when they saw what lay at the feet of the Russian. By no means was the major surprised in fact he had made it his motto to expect nothing. His line of work was all about secrecy and surprise so it was a great deal easier to do his duty when he held no assumptions about the way things were. Nevertheless, as he stood looking down at the thing his team had just killed, Da Silva was still impressed at how magnificently imaginative Umbrella researchers became when designing their toys.
"Well there's a handsome fellow." Rico said, gazing down at the creature Boris was pointing a smoking rifle at. To call the thing humanoid felt strange to the major because aside from the two arms and two legs, the resemblance to anything human was non-existent.
The dispatched creature was tall and lean but still well muscled. Its body was covered in glittering blue-green scales that reflected the team's flashlights like some kind of macabre disco ball. Three large holes had punctured its reptilian torso, no doubt the work of Sven Diechter's M-60, sending dark blood coursing down over a pair of legs that ended in a set of webbed feet. The feet were a perfect match for the hands, also webbed, and tipped with bone-white talons. The creature's face, what was left of it after a burst from Sergeant Petrovsky's rifle anyways, was the most peculiar characteristic of all. The features appeared incredibly lizard-like, with a large aqua-marine fin crowing a its skull and a mouth full of pointy yellow teeth. One bulbous yellow eye stood out among the gore covering the left side of its head.
"Are those gills?" Mick Murphy asked in disgust, pointing to slits in the side of the mutant's scaly neck.
"Looks like it to me," Rodney Foller commented, leaning in for a closer look. "Gross."
"It's the Shaigan series." Smith said, crouching down to examine what Rico had begun to think of as the Incredible Lizard Man. "They're the result of crossing infected reptile DNA with human DNA. The researchers used kimono dragon genes for the experiment which gave the Shaigans a nasty little feature."
"I don't even want to know, do I?" Rico sighed, nudging the creature with his foot.
"They're scales secret a deadly nerve toxin." Smith explained casually, as if he were talking about the weather and Da Silva quickly pulled his foot back. "They could kill you just by rubbing up against a piece of exposed skin."
"Let's not get too intimate with them then, okay boys?" said Rico.
"Reptile DNA?" Mick asked. "How do you explain the gills then?"
Smith shrugged, rising to his feet. "Every experiment has side effects. The gills were actually beneficial in this case. It gave the Shaigans the capability to breathe underwater but the Umbrella brass still deemed them a failure and had the project cancelled. All the subjects were destroyed except for three that were kept in storage for study…well two now."
"Doesn't look like they were stored securely enough." Rico commented. "Let's get moving again before Aquaman's relatives come looking for us. Sven, you've got point. Smith and I will take up the rear."
"Care to finish our conversation, major?" Smith said in a hushed whisper as the B.O.N.E.S. team started to move.
"I'm listening." Rico replied plainly.
"As I was saying," Smith began, "the Rangers have been sent in to assist with the quarantine but they know nothing about the effects of the virus or the current state of Raccoon City thanks to the information given to them by Police Chief Brian Irons. Nevertheless we expect that an organized platoon of military personnel would be able to survive the city long enough and potentially discover Umbrella's involvement with the release of the T-virus. Due to the fact that the Rangers will be in contact with higher military personnel the chances of the government discovering what Umbrella is really up to would be very great."
"So what?" Rico said with a shrug. "The White House has known since the start how the company pays the bills."
"Some of the officials do but the majority do not. If all of them were to learn about the existence of White Umbrella the few that are already aware of us would have to act as if they didn't or come under fire as well. Even the President would be unable to protect us."
"What are you saying then?"
"I am saying, major," Smith explained, sounding as if he were speaking to a child, "is that it is detrimental to the survival of the corporation, as well as to our own survival, that the Rangers not find any clues leading them to our doorstop and that if they do that they be rendered incapable of reporting such things back to their command posts."
"What do you want my team to do about that?" Rico snapped irritably. "We are a little busy if you haven't noticed."
"I don't need you to do anything about it, major." Smith replied as the group rounded another dark corner, entering another dark passage. "We already have a man inside one of the chalks. It is his job to see that the other chalks do not set foot on the streets of Raccoon City and that his own team has an unfortunate accident upon arrival. He was instructed to sabotage his own vehicle then eliminate the other members of his group when the opportunity presented itself. After those objectives are accomplished he is to rendezvous with me at Saint Jude's Hospital and together we will head for the extraction zone."
"Thanks for the scoop," Rico said sarcastically, "but I still don't see where my boy scouts and I come in."
"Upon retrieving the T-variant sample the members of your squad are to assist me in escorting the mole to the extraction point."
"You told me before that you were supposed to do all that alone." Rico said. "Care to tell me why?"
"The mole possesses sensitive information that was to be trusted into my care alone while you and your men secured the virus sample. However, given our past I simply do not trust you enough to let you out of my sight."
"Love you too man." Rico quipped but on the inside he could feel his anxiety building. Despite Smith's "generosity" and seeming willingness to share information Rico suspected his superior was still hiding something. He could almost smell it. What "sensitive information" was this mole holding on to? Rico wondered if this added task would make his life less or more difficult.
'Who am I kidding?' The major's mind chided him. 'Of course it will make things more difficult. God forbid I ever experience a streak of good luck for a change.'
Despite his inner grumbling Rico really did not want much. He would have considered the manhole leading to the surface good enough. The major trudged on through the darkness, sludge swirling about his boots, hoping against hope that Sven would shout, saying he had found the exit. He was starting to get used to the smell of the sewer and, for some reason that bothered Rico deeply.
Author's Note: A new chapter for you, my Readers. I hope you enjoy. Please read and review when you get a chance and stay tuned for a new update soon. Thank you.