Chapter Two:
The echoes of groans and undead murmurs were getting close. It seemed that every door Arynn came to was locked and she needed to find refuge from the on-coming threat. These zombies were nothing like the ones back in Raccoon City. They were much different both in size and ability. Arynn remembered reading a newspaper clipping months after the devastation had subsided; it talked about remains of mutated individuals found at the Spencer estate. Their skin was red and their saliva contained traces of acid. Internet rumors revealed these unfortunate souls as, Crimsons. Arynn never got to see these individuals but what she witnessed today made her think twice about taking advantage of the slow moving infected. She had to be more alert with these zombies; they were far too quick and too clever to just leisurely pass.
Turning one last corridor, Arynn came to an abrupt end. How did they catch up to her so quickly? One minute, she was running from the laboratory away from Peter and the next, the newly infected fledglings were coming for her. There was a door on the left side of the hallway. Arynn tried for the knob but it wouldn't open. She rammed the door but it didn't budge. The sounds of footsteps, groans, and nails clawing along the walls were getting closer. Arynn pulled out her gun and shot at the knob. Within minutes she was safely inside.
The young woman looked around the dark room and noticed that there were twin-size beds all neatly organized against either sides of the room. At the center, a large aisle led to an examination room. Arynn's eyes settled on an armoire that looked easy to push. She immediately moved the furniture in front of the door, followed by one of the beds. Turning around, Arynn walked down the quiet aisle with her weapon drawn. She quickly examined the furniture and instruments. It seemed as though the room had been used in the past, for what she was not sure. She wondered what types of experiments had taken place this far down from the regular floors of the facility. Her mind ran the image of the Redorus, the children who had fast reflexes and hunted in packs. They gave her the creeps. How could Umbrella allow this to happen? She thought to herself. Why did they want to use children in the first place? It was a question that she dared not go further into. All that was important now was to put an end to pediatric testing. It was already too late for those children back at "ground zero" but it was not for the ones who had yet to go through the mutation here at the medical facility.
She stopped before the glass and peered in. On the other side were three operating tables each with a surgical stand. The stands were empty and there appeared to be no human presence of any kind in the room. Arynn was right; this place probably hadn't seen any activity for a while. She opened the door quietly and walked inside. The room had a faint smell of bleach and other cleaning materials. Whatever the researchers did down here, they definitely made sure to clean it up. Arynn walked over to one of the cabinets and opened it. Inside were various vials of chemicals. She guessed them to be different types of anesthesia. She reached for one. This might come in handy, she thought, as she stuffed it in her side pocket. She turned to leave. Before she could take a step, she gasped. A creature unlike any that she had seen in Raccoon City stood only inches from her. Its body was covered in a sleek black substance. Its breathing was loud and echoed throughout the enclosure. Remembering back at the underground facility, Arynn thought about Dorus. Whoever or whatever this creature was, it resembled the black-blooded monstrosity. The silent individual stood there for what seemed like minutes watching her. Arynn stepped side-ways towards the exit. The creature remained still but turned its body to face her. The young woman dared not to make any drastic movements for fear that it would lash out at her. She had to be cunning and make no mistakes if she was going to pass the creature.
Loud banging was coming from the barricaded door and Arynn could feel an uneasy nervousness emerging. For the first time since encountering this nightmare, she didn't know what to do. She found herself in yet another predicament and this time neither Tripper nor Hernandez was here to help her. She was all on her own. With her back to the exit now, she began to take small calculated steps out of the encased room and into the dormitory; the creature persistently followed. The young woman could see in the corner of her eye that there was a ceiling vent above one of the untouched beds. The creature started to snarl and groan as it followed her. Arynn wondered why it wasn't trying to kill her. It had plenty of time to take her out but it seemed more intrigued with her than wanting to hurt her. She was now close to the bed and ready to jump on top. Before she could take another step she heard a loud noise come from the front of the room. The door was no longer barricaded. Bloody hands and pale arms emerged from the doorway clawing over the overturned bed and other furniture on the floor. Arynn had to act now, she was out of time. Without even turning to look at the creature, she leapt onto the bed and used the mattress as a cushion to propel her up towards the ceiling. As she jumped she could see the creature lash out at her legs. It missed. Arynn reached for the vent and threw it down the moment her hands connected to the metal.
The creature lashed out its limb one more time and caught Arynn in the air. It flung her to the wall against a shelf. She dropped to the floor instantly a pon impact. As she looked up, she could see the creature walking towards her and the infected following closely. All she needed was something to use; something to render the creature temporarily to give her just enough time to escape. She quickly looked around for anything. Her eyes landed on an object near the corner of the room. The creature threw out its limb and stretched it towards Arynn. It circled itself around her neck and dragged her along the ground. The young woman tried desperately to cling onto any near object but the creature's strength surpassed her own. There was an awkward silence as the monstrosity stood there studying Arynn. It lifted her from the ground and up towards its face. Arynn was now suspended in the air at the will of the infected humanoid. Its grip remained tight and firm around her neck squeezing her flesh and limiting the oxygen to her head. What could she do? The creature could easily kill her with the snap of her neck and Arynn was scared. Once she heard that snap, she knew it was all over. All of her research into the massacre at Raccoon City and the danger she put herself through going back would be for nothing if it all ended here. She closed her eyes tight and felt the emergence of tears. The small drops gathered in the wrinkles of her face as she tightened her eyes even more. For a moment, she heard just the creature's breathing and the dragging of infected feet along the floor. Why hadn't the creature killed her yet? Something was not right. Arynn opened her eyes. The creature was staring at her with its head tilted to the side as if it was trying to understand her. It brought its other hand over and wiped the tear off her cheek. One of the infected men tried to lunge at Arynn reaching for her leg but he was jolted back by a powerful blow from the creature. The other infected individuals looked at their fallen comrade and then to the creature. They instantly ran to it.
One by one, the infected tried to sink their mutated fangs into the evolved humanoid, trying to bring it down. The dark individual's attention was now on the infected and its grip was loosening around Arynn's neck. This was the sudden opportunity that she had been waiting for. A female infected dressed as a doctor that had been struggling to get up from the floor, managed to bite a gaping hole into the humanoid's leg. The woman chewed on her meal letting the creature's black blood ooze down the side of her mouth. The creature let out a screeching moan and dropped Arynn. In that time, Arynn quickly made it back on the bed just as other infected individuals tried to grab at her. She jumped on the mattress as hard as she could and was able to grab the vent opening with both hands.
With every ounce of her strength, Arynn pulled herself up and into the air shaft away from the imminent danger below. She strained to turn her body around to watch the dark creature rip and tear through the infected individuals. She felt bad for those poor individuals but there was nothing more she could do for them. Arynn turned back around and followed the shaft away from the groans and cries of the doomed. She didn't want to waste time because there was no telling if the creature could follow her into the shaft.
Beyond the shaft of the dormitory room, Arynn followed the steel pathway. She was determined to complete the task of finding Hernandez and Tripper. As she passed over vents, she peered into each one hoping to find an area where beds were kept. Finally after growing tired of searching, Arynn came to an opening with small stasis tanks below. There were objects floating in most of the tanks. The young woman lifted the vent up slowly and over onto the surface of the shaft. She poked her head in to the lit ceiling of the room. Conveniently, there was no one there, as far as she could see. Gently she let herself down out of the temporary comfort of the shaft. She jumped to safety and immediately drew her gun. As she searched the large room, she found a white linen separator off to the side of the room dividing the medical equipment from whatever else was on the other side. She took a deep breath and silently drew back the divider. She aimed her gun automatically at an empty bed. Arynn proceeded to walk down towards the end of the room. There were two other beds. The first one was what Arynn had aimed at. The other was behind a smaller separator. Arynn prepared herself for whatever would happen. She slowly came around the separator and stopped at the foot of the bed. Someone was sleeping there but she wasn't sure who it was. Was it Hernandez or Tripper? There was only one way to find out. Arynn stepped towards the sleeping individual. She leaned in close to make out the face. She recognized the nose, the lips, and the broad shoulders. Her eyes widened. Her heart started racing. Finally after searching the many rooms and levels of the facility, she completed one of her goals.
There he was resting soundly under white sheets. From the color and texture of his skin there was no trace of the virus, at least from an initial stand point. Arynn touched the man's arm and waited. His body stirred and his eyes struggled to open. They must've conducted all kinds of tests on him, she thought to herself. She almost felt remorseful of the events at "ground zero" that led them to this point. She didn't want anyone else to suffer what she and Hernandez did. She smiled as he opened his eyes.
"Welcome back," she spoke quietly as she watched the man's eyes rest on hers.
"Thanks…" he replied, surveying the ceiling and walls of the room, getting a sense of where he was.
A small chuckle escaped the man's mouth as he tried to lean up against the pillow. "What did I miss?" he groaned as he moved his legs off the bed and tried to get up. Arynn pulled his arm over her shoulder and helped him away from the bed.
"Oh," she started, "We were taken to a medical facility somewhere in Britain. Ashford is alive. Joseph is missing—"
"—Britain!" Hernandez said as they walked to the center of the room.
"Yea," Arynn explained, "I don't know how long we've been here but the infection has spread…"
Hernandez stopped and looked the young woman dead in the eyes. At that moment she knew what he was probably thinking…failure. When she first came to in the hospital room, this was the first thought that ran across her mind.
"I don't f****ing get it…" Hernandez began, "We put our lives on the line and now it's spreading?"
Arynn put his arm down and looked away. She was just as angry and confused as he was. The soldier limped towards her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean…I know you feel the same way" he softly spoke.
"Yea," Arynn replied, "I do. I don't think there's anything we can do about it."
She walked towards the door to the room and rested her hand on the knob.
"Arynn," Hernandez said.
She turned to face him.
"There might be something…" He said joining her as she opened the door and peered out.
"What…" she asked.
"Tripper…"
"Yea," Arynn replied, "I know. Thing is he's not at this facility."
"What?" Hernandez questioned.
"The lead physician said that they took him to an undisclosed location. They said something about his mutation." Arynn explained.
Hernandez stopped in the quiet hallway. Arynn looked at him puzzled.
"That ain't true. Tripper ain't infected," he began, "that's a f***ing lie. And I know where they took him."
"Are you sure?" Arynn asked grabbing his arm and helping him along.
"Hell yea, man. I saw something on his clipboard before they took me out of there."
They continued onward. Arynn had her gun drawn. Using a gun that she snatched off of a dead guard, she wasn't sure exactly how many bullets were left but every shot had to count for accurate penetration. She couldn't let Hernandez use the gun in his weak state instead she gave him her knife. As they turned the corner, the corridor ahead was well lit.
"What did it say?" Arynn asked him.
Hernandez immediately grabbed at his side and fell to the ground almost taking Arynn with him. He was moaning in pain. Arynn knelt down to him and tried to pinpoint the affliction. She wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't a doctor. She thought about Marks, the medical technician who was killed back at Ground zero. She wished he was here. Hernandez remained rocking in a fetal position raving in agony.
"Just leave me here!" He yelled at her.
Arynn remained still and watched him. She nodded negatively at him.
"Just do it! I'm already jeopardizing the mission!"
"What mission!" she nearly cried out, "Whatever mission you were assigned ended back in Raccoon City! We are on our own out here! There is no mission!"
Hernandez clinched his eyes tightly and tried to get up. The sharp pains in his side continued to impale him. He couldn't move. A thought came to Arynn as she remembered the vial of anesthesia that she grabbed from the main laboratory. Reaching into her chest pocket, she pulled out a syringe and a small glass vial containing a clear liquid.
"Be still…" she quietly requested. Hernandez simply looked at the object.
"What is that stuff?" he questioned her.
"It'll stop the pain…" Arynn stated as her voice trailed off.
"Arynn," Hernandez muttered as the young dark-skinned woman neatly inserted the needle into the inner section of his forearm and pushed the substance into his vein.
Within minutes, Hernandez's body was relaxing. His muscles were no longer hard like stone or pulsing with heated blood vessels. The solution was working. She felt his neck and listened to the synchronized rhythm of his heart. It was normal. Hernandez glanced up at Arynn unstressed and calm.
"I had no choice." Arynn said as she helped him up off the floor.
"Well whatever it was," He muttered, "it sure got rid of the pain."
A familiar noise started from the end of the dark hallway. It was a noise that Hernandez and Arynn had heard many a time back at the ruins of Raccoon City. The sound sent chills down the soldier's back while the dark-skinned woman stood on edge. They didn't have enough ammo or strength to take on what lied ahead. Small silhouettes began to appear beyond the base of the corridor. And suddenly Arynn heard murmuring.
Hernandez grabbed Arynn's hand and they started for the opposite direction.
"I thought those things died back in Raccoon?" the Soldier shouted as they ran.
"Yea!" Arynn called.
They ran for their lives, turning corners, and going head first into the darkness without flashlights or proper night vision equipment. As they continued on, Arynn thought about what consequences Umbrella took on as it crossed international lines into Europe. At first she thought that the outbreak was only prone to the Americas; she was wrong. Something had to have started the outbreak here…but what was it? And how did the Redorus get here? As she glanced back, she could see the shadows of the Redorus on the hunt.
"We gotta get to an artillery room!" Hernandez shouted as he tried each door along the hall, hoping at least one of them would open.
"Dammit!" Arynn said as something dropped from one of her pockets. She reached to pick it up and suddenly she sensed an unsettling presence behind her. She quickly picked up her item and turned to face the terror head on.
"Arynn, get back…" she heard Hernandez whisper.
"I can't…." she replied. Her breathing was heavy from running and her heart was pounding tremendously. She had to calm herself down.
A rather tall individual stood a few feet above her. Its limbs were slick black and reflected the dimmed lights overhead. It was Dorus, or at least a creature that resembled Dorus.
"Arynn…" it hissed.
"How the hell does it know your name?" Hernandez asked.
"It's Ashford… he's mutated." Arynn replied as she backed away from the former Umbrella Medical Researcher. Hernandez followed her lead and joined her.
Arynn aimed the handgun at the mutation. She tried to shoot and got nothing. She pulled the trigger again and a bullet pierced the creature's chest. Hernandez smiled at the impact. Arynn felt a sense of satisfaction but the creature did not seem effected by it. A black substance pushed the bullet out of the creature and the small object fell to the floor. The creature took a few steps closer to the two.
"Listen, I'll hold this thing off, you go and get help…" Hernandez said.
Without a flinch Arynn looked at the soldier intensely.
"No. I came too far… I'm not going anywhere. We do this together—"
The creature lashed out a tentacle. Arynn dodged it and punched it away. It barely missed her head. The sleek monstrosity groaned at the punch and returned with the slamming of another limb onto Hernandez's chest, sending him down. Arynn helped the soldier back up and the two ran from the individual, deeper into the corridor.
"We can't take this thing on! We gotta find cover!" Hernandez yelled.
Arynn agreed, if they kept this up, they would surely die or become infected. Straggling bodies of the living-dead appeared from open doorways and other corridors along the walls. Ayrnn and Hernandez strived to avoid every one of these obstacles to get to safety. From behind, they could see that the tall black substance that used to be human was engulfing the infected and assimilating them into its body; almost feeding itself and regenerating from within. Arynn had never seen anything like this back in Raccoon City. This was something new…
Hernandez grabbed Arynn and the two flung themselves into a nearby open room. Arynn almost fell but Hernandez tugged her along. They ran passed heavy machinery and passed a freezer room.
"Wait!" Hernandez shouted. Arynn stopped and looked at him, "In here!" he yelled.
They heaved themselves into the frozen room and Hernandez immediately bolted the door shut. Arynn paced the end of the room by the frozen carcasses of animals, panting and trying to catch her breath.
"Can you tell me why we're in here?" she asked the soldier. Hernandez leaned his body against the cool sensation of the ice along the steel wall. It felt good to the touch.
"Just watch…" he said under his breath.
As Arynn glanced over to the door, the monstrosity's limbs were erratically trying to force its way into the room from under the exposed area of the door. Once its liquidity limbs felt the cold, it hissed and retreated only to release a quake of shaking to the door.
"Arynn!!!" It screamed.
Arynn looked to Hernandez, "How did you know?" she asked him.
Hernandez looked away slowly, "Guessed…" he replied.
"…Sure's a good guess…" Arynn said as she walked towards him.
"Nah, I figured if that thing spits acid and has hot breath, then it don't like the cold…"
Arynn couldn't help but laugh. Eddie was probably the most strongest and fearless man in his fleet but sometimes she wondered where he got his ideas from.
"What?" he said taking a breath but then laughed a little as well.
"You know," Arynn started, "I've never seen you laugh this much."
"Well, ain't nothing much to laugh about these days…"
It was true, Arynn thought back to Hernandez's partner, Gene Patterson.
"Sorry about Gene," she whispered looking away.
There was an uneasy silence between the two as they stood facing each other in the cold frozen room; a room as desolate and stripped of life as the nightmare that engulfed them outside.
"Don't be… she's just a casualty. I'd like to think of her that way…kills the pain." He replied softly folding his arms.
Arynn nodded to that notion. Eddie's philosophy may have seemed insensitive but Arynn couldn't disagree because he was right in many ways than one.
"Who do you really work for…?" Hernandez quietly blurted.
Arynn cleared her throat as she leaned against a metallic cabinet facing the soldier.
"I don't work for anyone. I was looking for answers…"
"--Answers to what?" Hernandez asked.
Arynn remained quiet. There were just some things that she wanted to keep to herself.
"Ask your commander, I'm sure he can tell you …"
Hernandez leaned away from the wall staring at the young woman who after all this time remained a mystery to him.
"Fine. I'll leave it alone. But you have to tell me something if I'm going to back you up."
"Sure…" Arynn replied.
Hernandez stepped closer to her.
"I hope Tripper's not a casualty…" Arynn stated putting an end to the awkward silence, letting her voice trail off as she thought about the man who saved her many times at "Ground zero."
Hernandez cleared his throat, "He ain't gonna be. We're going to find him and get the hell out of here. Then blow this sh** up!"
He went to the door and pulled out the knife that Arynn lent him. He stuck the blade to the floor and angled it to see who or what was outside. He was right and Arynn felt his anger. She was ready to put this all behind her, whether that meant destruction of the facility or of her own self...
When the coast was clear, they cautiously sneaked out the room and slipped into the darkness…