Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Eight: Night Terrors

Part Three

The Arklay Resort, 8:00 PM…

Bracing his back against the door to help Chambers hold it shut against their pursuers out there in the hallway, McGee aimed his revolver at the nearest of the three deranged people inside the suite, and pulled the trigger. The noise from his gunshots echoed through the room as the first two bullets slammed into the man's torso, making him fall down backwards just in time for the third bullet to strike him in the neck. The man's head was nearly torn off by the force of the powerful magnum rounds, and this time he appeared to be down for good as a pool of discolored blood began to pool around his body.

It actually came as a relief for the Detective to see that these people could be put down at all, since whatever drugs they were using appeared to be making them unable to feel pain. And apparently they had no interest in listening to his repeated warnings, so he aimed at the next one and pulled the trigger, feeling a knot form in his stomach when his revolver went click. That's right, salty old Detective Francis McGee had made a Rookie mistake and forgotten to count how many timed he pulled the trigger.

All of Chambers' strength was being used to hold the entrance as a few more arms managed to get into the space between the door and its frame, and the two people inside the room were already too close for him to risk taking the time to reload. They had left their radios and heavier weapons inside the SUV, which did them absolutely no good at the moment, but there was one other option. So, holstering his revolver, McGee reached under his coat, and from behind his back, pulled out the sword that Liquid had given him back at the RPD before the mission started.

"Hold the door, kid!" He yelled before advancing.

The nearest deranged person groaned as she tried to grab him, but with a swing of his sword, there was a quick splash of blood as her thumb and first two fingers became separated from her body. She groaned in response to this, but did not stop advancing, furthering McGee's theory of massive drug use, but not causing him to stop either. Her arm was nearly cleaved off by his next swing, putting her off balance, and then McGee brought the blade back in the other direction, slicing the top of her head off completely. She collapsed just like the first one had done from his bullets, and with a few more well places swings, the other deranged person joined her on the floor.

"McGee!" Chambers yelled from behind him. "McGee, I can't hold it!"

The Detective turned around, and gasped as he saw that the Rookie was losing his battle to hold the door closed. However, now that the threats inside the suite had been dealt with, this left him free to help handle the door situation. Rushing toward the entrance with sword raised over his head, McGee gave a battle cry as he brought the blade down hard, causing a small pile of arms to form on the floor as the door was finally able to slam shut. Their pursuers could be heard groaning and falling down out in the hallway as Chambers locked the door, and then the two cops just stood there for a couple minutes, catching their breath.

"A sword, huh?" Chambers asked.

"That's right." McGee replied as he wiped the blade off on part of the nearby bed's blanket. "Now let's find a way out of this nightmare."

Soon they had both caught their breath, and the first thing the Detective did was go over to the phone on the nightstand on the other side of the bed. There was no dial tone when he picked up the receiver, nor had he really expected there to be, since the place was locked down and the fire escape had been partially taken down. Outside, they could still their pursuers clamoring at the door, but there was no way to stand against them. Both men were limited on ammo, and the sword had been great for a small number of threats, but there had to be more than a dozen of them out there.

"Okay, let's think for a second." McGee continued while trying the light switch to see is there was power. "Even if we could go back into the hall, there's no point since the stairs, elevator, and fire escape are all out of commission. We have no radio, phone, or power except for these damn emergency lights, so signaling is impossible. And to top it all off, thanks to that wonderful fire alarm, there's no chance of any of the other guests hearing us, since they've all gone outside by now. So what do you think, kid?"

"I think we're trapped for now." Chambers replied. "But hey, Reginald probably expected us to die up here, so all we have to do is wait until the Fire Department turns off the false alarm, and get the attention of the people below us once they come back in. So I guess it's a waiting game… unless you'd rather go out the window."

The Rookie laughed a bit at this joke, but stopped a second later when McGee walked over to the window. It was one of those heavy kind that wasn't made to open, so he picked up the television in the corner, and there was a loud crash as he tossed it right through the glass. It was too windy outside to even hear the impact when the object hit the ground below, so McGee moved forward with his improvised plan by pulling the blankets off the bed. Even if they got the other guests' attention, the people would just report it to Reginald, and it wasn't like the manager was going to just let them out.

"What are you doing?" Chambers asked as he came over to investigate.

"You'll see in a second." The Detective explained. "Take these two sheets and tie the corners together like this… and attach the blankets and pillow cases the same way."

Chambers did what he was told, rolling up the material and tying them together at the corners until a sort of rope was formed. However, the Rookie gasped when McGee tied his end to one of the bed's corner posts, and it became obvious what his intention was.

"Hold on a second." Chambers protested. "You can't really expect us to climb down with this… can you?"

"Of course not." McGee replied as he finished the knot. "This thing isn't strong enough to hold climbers, so we're gonna use it to swing down through the window of the room below us… I mean, unless you'd rather stay up here with them."

The deranged people outside were still clamoring at the door, so the Rookie shook his head, and followed McGee over to the broken window. For a second they both looked down, but at ten floors up, quickly realized that seeing it was a bad idea. So instead they focused on pushing the bed up against the window, then getting on top of the mattress and preparing for what was probably a really bad idea.

"Okay, so we're gonna swing down and break through the window, right?" Chambers asked as they both grabbed hold of the makeshift rope. "Is this something you learned in Detective training or something?"

"No, but I saw it tried in a movie once." McGee replied. "They didn't make it, but we will, now go!"

Grabbing the rope with one hand and Chambers with the other, the Detective dove out the window, prompting the Rookie to do the same thing as they both screamed on the way down.

Liquid Family Cabin, 8:00 PM…

One second Lopez was standing in the kitchen, and the next he was flying through the air after the giant swung him arm. Crashing through the boarded up window, the half-blond man hit the ground hard, and slid to a stop on the gravel driveway. Never in his life had he been hit so hard, and his first attempt to get up resulted in him stumbling sideways before falling down again. He could hear the fight still going on inside the cabin, and as tempting as it was to pass out, he forced himself to get up.

Slowly his vision came back into focus as he moved toward the front door, but then he stopped and looked at the SUV that was still parked there. His first thought was to drive at full speed and ram into the big man, but even if he managed to get through the wall, there was a chance that he could run over his team in the process. So, it was back to his first plan to rush back into the cabin, but he stopped a second time. Sure, he couldn't drive the vehicle into the cabin, but the rest of their weapons had been left in the back.

It was still a little hard to move, but he managed to turn around and do a sort of half-jog over to the vehicle before opening the back. The assault rifle and shotgun were still there, so he grabbed them, and was about half way back to the cabin, when the front door was knocked open by Liquid falling backwards through it. He stumbled down the stairs, falling on his back after a few more steps, and then he groaned while clutching his chest as if having just taken a major blow.

"Liquid!" Lopez yelled as he ran up to him and knelt down to check on him.

"He's coming!" The Lieutenant gasped while pointing to the door. "Shoot him!"

Lopez looked toward the cabin, and gasped while ducking down just in time to avoid a swing of the giant's massive fist. He felt the wind from the blow as the big man's arm went over him, and this was just the opening he needed. So dropping the shotgun on Liquid's chest, the half-blond man pulled back the charging handle on his assault rifle, flipped the safety off, and squeezed the trigger. The area around them was lit up as the bullets started flying, and the big man's body shook as round after round was sent into his chest and even his head.

"Yeah, not so tough now, are you?!" Lopez yelled as the giant took a step backwards, and then another. "You like it! You love it! You need it!"

The green-coated giant continued to move back into the cabin, and Lopez followed, continuing to yell at the big man as he kept firing. They were nearly back into the kitchen, and the half-blond man was right on his enemy, blasting the bullets into him at point-blank range, when the noise stopped as the assault rifle went click. This was to be expected, but the big man was somehow still standing, and Lopez hadn't had time to grab any of the extra ammo. Not only was the giant still on his feet, but now he had regained his balance.

"You have got to be kidding me." Lopez said to himself as the big man towered over him.

The giant was raising his fist for another attack, when the half-blond man found himself being thrown out of the way by Liquid as he tossed something at their enemy. It was a large glass bottle, apparently full of whiskey, judging by the smell that came when the glass shattered against the giant's body and he was covered by the fluid inside. The Lieutenant then aimed his shotgun and fired, causing the big man to take another step back from the impact as the shell ignited the alcohol.

"That's right, burn!" Liquid yelled as he cocked the weapon and fired again.

The giant's was now covered in flames from his head to his chest, but it didn't seem bothered by this. Through the flames they could still see that same blank expression on his face, even as the Lieutenant fired again and again. Each round had enough force to make the giant back off, and finally after all the punishment they had delivered, he was starting to lose his balance. There was one shell left inside the shotgun, and when Liquid fired it right into their enemy's head, it was enough to make the big man go down. He crashed through the kitchen counters on the way down, and now fire was starting to spread along the parts of the wall that his head had touched.

"I think we got him." Lopez said. "Where's Ashwood?"

"She took a bad hit right after you did." Liquid explained. "She's in the basement, come on, let's go get her."

They had just turned around, when they stopped as a sound came from behind them. Part of Lopez already knew what the sound was, but he didn't want to admit it until they turned around and saw that the giant was moving. Not only had this freak somehow survived everything that they had just done to him, but now he was slowly getting up, even as the fire on both the walls of the cabin and on his own body continued to spread.

"What the hell is this guy?!" Lopez demanded as the cabin began to glow with more fire. "Nothing could have survived all that! Nothing!"

"No time, we can't stay here!" Liquid yelled as the giant finished standing. "I'll distract him, and you get Ashwood out before this whole place burns down around us! Once you get her to safety, use the radio in the SUV and call for backup! Go, now!"

Lopez didn't like the idea of running away from a fight, even for a short time, but Ashwood was part of the team, and the fire on the walls was spreading so fast. Slinging the empty assault rifle onto his back, the half-blond man turned away and ran down the basement stairs to where Ashwood was laying, just as he began to hear shots being fired from Liquid's revolver.