Leon spun on his heel and delivered a swift kick into the zombie's head. The skull was crushed between his boot and the wall, splattering his boot with goo and decayed flesh. He turned again, keeping his back to his teammates, and shot another infected through the eye. Chris and Jill made quick work of the last three remaining zombies, using only two bullets and a combat knife. They had become an elite team over the years, and until their hearts stopped beating, they wouldn't stop.

"No doubt in my mind now, this has to be the place," Leon said keeping his voice hushed. No sooner had they entered the mansion that they had run right into a crowd of restless infected. They were blocking off the entrances to the only doors that led out of the lobby. Once one of them had caught the scent of fresh human flesh, they started making their way toward the trio.

Leon felt confident and remained calm as the horde rushed them. He remembered back to Raccoon City when he was just a rookie cop. The first time he saw these things, he choked and fumbled with his gun. It had taken a year after the destruction of the city to stop his hands from shaking whenever he fired upon an infected. He had to forget they were once human. Now he told himself that he was doing them a favor by putting a bullet into their heads. The guilt he had once felt was replaced by a sense of duty, a sense of obligation. No longer did he see monsters coming at him, rather, he saw helpless victims requesting him to end their suffering.

It seemed that the bloody massacre actually gave the room a bit of color. Chris and Jill tried to hide the look of surprise on their faces when they entered the lobby. They had mentioned something about being in deja vu when they had first approached the mansion. "You guys recognize this place?" he asked.

"The outside, yes," Chris answered. "But this is all new."

"We have four options here, boys," Jill said, pointing her gun toward the three doors to the right, and then nodding her head toward the single door to the left. "What do you think?"

"We could split up," Leon suggested, heading toward the door he was closest to. It was the third door on the right, and when he opened it, he could see a staircase spiraling up to the second level. He stepped back, looking to Chris for approval to move forward.

"I've never liked the idea of splitting up, but we'll cover a lot more ground if we do," Chris said. "We meet back here in a half hour. If something happens before then, radio in and come back here. Agreed?"

"All right," Jill said, choosing the door to the left.

Leon gave Chris a curt nod and began to ascend the stairs. He messed up last time, by not reacting fast enough to stop Claire. Well, he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. He was going to get her out of here, and they could deal with her infection together. He wouldn't rest until he found her a cure. An image of Claire's corpse crossed his vision, and he shook his head angrily. If she was dead because of the virus, he wouldn't leave her here. No... she deserved to be close to family. He had accepted the fact that she could be dead already; he had to. If he only placed his faith on the assumption that she was alive, and he found the exact opposite, it would crush him.

Each step creaked as he slowly made his way up to another plain simple door. He couldn't hear anything behind it, but he cautiously opened it, checking for any surprises. Quite the contrary to the first level room, the living room was fully furnished. The dominating color was a rich apple color, and it immediately reminded him of a memory back in Raccoon City. He checked behind the door for hostiles, but he was alone. He shut the door quietly behind him and surveyed the room.

There was no sign that the room had been used, so why bother going through the hassle of adding couches and coffee tables... There were beautiful paintings mounted on the walls, one of a golden sunrise and the other was an orange and lavender sunset. There was a vanity mirror placed on the mantle of the fireplace... "odd placement for a mirror," he thought. A crystal chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling just above the coffee table, and a old grandfather clock was nestled in a far corner. A large bookcase stood just opposite of the fireplace. The books were set in colored groups rather than by author.

His boots sunk slightly into the lush beige carpet as he made his way to the bookcase. Strange that the books were in such a neat order, coordinating in color. There was one book that was out of place. A book with a golden colored spine was placed within the red group. Curious, Leon took the book out, was blinded by a single ray of light. There was a hole behind the book, and the light was coming from another hole in the wall. He looked to see where the light had ended, seeing a small circle of light next to the vanity mirror. The mirror was angled upward, and it made the wheels in his head start turning. Leon knew that every facility that had belonged to Umbrella or its competitors had secrets. And some were hidden well, away from the naked eye.

What if... Leon approached the vanity mirror and moved it so that the ray of light directly hit it. The light was now angled toward the chandelier. An array of colored lights filled the room, making everything much brighter, reminding him of a disco ball. Well, that theory went out of the window. He needed to get back on track and find Claire. A wave of disappointment rushed over him; he had half expected some type of secret to be revealed to him.

He made his way to another door, passing by the grandfather clock. Something caught his eye. "What the..." He backtracked and looked at the face of the grandfather clock. Several colors had been illuminated directly over the numbers of the clock. There were seven colors in all, and they landed on the numbers:

I/Orange

II/Green

III/Blue

V/Yellow

VII/Purple

IX/Red

That was weird. He studied the face carefully, wondering what the strange combination meant. There were no clues or hints, but he felt that the numbers and colors were important somehow. He memorized the combination before deciding to continue his pursuit, leaving the strange room behind him. Dozens of questions filled his head. What other contraptions were in this mansion? And were they significant enough to bring him closer to Claire?

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Jill's lockpicking skills had yet again come in handy. With another twist, she heard a soft click, and the door was unlocked. Carefully, pushing the door open she kept her head low, and her gun at the ready. There were two zombies swaying from left to right, groaning in low murmurs. They had not noticed her, so she slid her combat knife from its holster. In three steps, she reached them. With two slices, she quickly decapitated the zombies before they had any chance to alert each other of her presence. Their heads fell to the floor along with their bodies, spilling dark blood all over the wooden floor.

She found the switch for the main lights, and flipped it. Of all the rooms she could have stumbled upon, she found herself in a mini shooting range. There was only one lane to use for practice, but it was was complete with a table that held a Magnum and various ammo. A long walkway started from where she entered the room and ended at the back wall. Along the back wall, she saw a sign that had "The Riff" painted on it. "Well, it's not Spencer, but it's still unorthodox," Jill said to herself. She looked down the range, curious to see what was being used as target practice. She was surprised to see a long horizontal sheet that resembled the keys to a piano.

Jill walked passed the ammo table, and stepped onto the range. The moment her toe touched the cement, hundreds of metal spikes large enough to impale an adult body shot out from the ground. She jumped back, shocked that her foot had almost been staked. Now that she was away from the cement floor, the spikes had sunk back down. "What the hell?" she gasped. Then she heard a song; it echoed over the PA system.

Somewhere, over the rainbow... way up high.

There's a land that I've heard of

Once in a lullaby

Somewhere, over the rainbow... skies are blue

and the dreams that you dare to dream

Really do come true.

The song continued on and repeated once more before the range became silent again. Dorothy's voice was sweet and angelic, and it reminded Jill of her childhood. She had never had a normal childhood, but she did possess a type of childlike innocence that all children had at one point in their lives. She was just blessed that her father had taught her a few extra skills. Boy, if her father could see her now. She wondered if he would be proud of her.

Jill looked up to the sign again; "The Riff" kept nipping at her. There was something here in this room. She had learned to trust her instincts, and now they told her not to take the riddle of this room for granted. She looked down the range and focused on the target sheet. In music, riff usually pertained to the main melody of a song. It generally included, five to seven notes... could it be?

She counted the syllables in her head. "Some-where, o-ver, the, rain-bow... seven syllables." Maybe it was a long shot, and maybe she was crazy to think there was any relevance, but past experience with the Spencer Mansion taught her not to overlook coincidences. She took a stance behind the ammo table, and aimed at the key chart. She hummed the tune a few times before she was confident in the correct pitch. She took aim and fired at the first note: C. Then she moved up seven white keys and fired at the second C. "Somewhere..." she whispered. Bam! Bam! G and A. "Over." Bam! Bam! Both on B. "The rain..." One last shot on the higher C. "Bow."

She heard something move behind her. She turned to see that the sign had fallen down. There was a crevice in the wall that held a small plastic card. It was an access card to the red levels, whatever that meant. "Right... now I've seen everything," Jill sighed as she stuffed the card into her pocket. It had to lead somewhere, and she was going to find out where.

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