Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Eleven: Case Closed

Part Two

Unknown Location, Outer Quarantine, 2:30 AM…

Hoping to find another key card or some tools without having to go down into the kennels that McGee had described, Chambers realized that they weren't going to have any choice. The three of them had torn every room they came to apart after getting off the elevator, but there was nothing in them except for a bunch of scientific equipment that wasn't going to help them. Finally, the Detective led them back to the service elevator, and the Rookie wasn't looking forward to facing a dozen rabid dogs.

"These things are fast, and feral." McGee warned. "We should be okay until we get to the first security door, but then we're gonna have to be careful. Just stay calm and make each shot count… since, you know… we don't have any extra ammo."

He was right, there was nothing waiting to attack them when the elevator opened, but there were some scraping sounds coming from the security door up ahead. Staying quiet as to not alert the animals on the other side, the three of them moved down the hall, keeping their weapons aimed low, which was their best guess for the height of dogs. As it had done for McGee earlier, the door slid open when they got close enough, but it wasn't a dog waiting for them. It was one of the black-armored men, heavily wounded, and reaching out to grab Chambers while stumbling forward.

Being completely taken by surprise, the Rookie's first instinct was to raise his pistol and fire a round into the masked man's forehead. His shot was dead on, but the bigger man was already so close that when he fell, he collapsed against Chambers, taking them both down to the floor. As he kicked the dead man away, he looked through the door and saw that the rabid dogs were biting at the faces of two more black-armored people. This made it really easy for McGee and Lopez to shoot the animals, and Chambers joined in once he was back on his feet.

The animals never had a chance against an ambush from all three of them, and soon they were dead, which was probably more of a mercy killing in this case. One of the black-armored people was also dead from his skull being partially crushed by what looked like bite marks from the dogs, not that he would have survived the neck and torso injuries either way. But the third man was still moving, making gurgling sounds, probably due to the blood seeping from his throat as he tried to crawl toward them.

"Poor guy." Chambers said. "He's not gonna last long."

The wounded black-armored man continued to crawl toward them, reaching out with his arms and continuing to make groaning, gurgling sounds. The three of them looked at each other, and then nodded in silent understanding of what had to be done. This time it was Lopez who walked up to the crawling man, aimed his rifle, and put a bullet right into the back of his head. One of the lenses of his gas mask shattered as blood was splattered across the floor, and then the man was still.

"Grab their cards and ammo." McGee ordered. "And get a rifle, Chambers… we're probably going to need it."

The Rookie did as he was told, grabbing one of the dead men's weapons while Lopez collected the three key cards, and then they headed back toward the service elevator. Hopefully using one of these in addition to the one they got from that woman would allow them to get past that door to where Liquid and Carver had been taken. There was no longer a reason to move quietly, so once back on the top floor, they ran back down the hall, passing the junction, and returning to the cargo elevator. It was good that they were finally making some progress, but what would be waiting for them?

Were there more of the black-armored people? Maybe an army? With how well they had been armed, and the training they must've had to conduct operations the way they did, the Rookie wasn't exactly looking forward to facing a whole battalion of them, if that's what was there. Lopez and McGee showed no hesitation at all, running back to the blast door as soon as the elevator doors opened, and swiping the keys. This time there was an electronic beep as the door opened, but then everyone jumped a little as an alarm started going off.

"Warning: Quarantine containment breech." A female voice said over the intercom. "Warning, Quarantine containment breech. Standby for decontamination."

"What does that mean?" Lopez asked.

"Guys, look!" Chambers yelled when he looked into the room.

The large warehouse was trashed as if the whole place was hit by an earthquake, with shelving units knocked over, and a large metal tank that had been ruptured. But what the Rookie was more concerned with was the person laying on the floor. They ran up to him, and McGee listened for breathing while checking his pulse, but Liquid appeared to be unconscious. He also had what looked like a really bad burn or something across his chest. The flesh was black and charred, and since they had not been there earlier, they didn't realize how strange this was.

"He's alive." McGee announced. "Pulse is pretty weak, though… you two, go see if you can find Carver."

There was only one door in the place, so the two of them ran over to it, raising their rifles as they moved into another hallway. Chambers now wished that they could run into some more of those black-armored people, so that they could get some payback for whatever they had done to Liquid, but then he realized that this wasn't necessary when they entered the laboratory and found the others. Everyone looked like they had bene sliced in half, but the strangest thing was that their bodies had been partially melted. The room was also a mess, but all of this was forgotten when they found Carver. She was cut in half as well, and like the others, her body was partially melted, but it was her.

"What the hell happened here?" Lopez asked.

Chambers didn't answer, instead just staring at the dead Detective with a mixture of sadness and anger coursing through his body. Who were these people? How could they willingly do… whatever it was that this facility was built for? And how could they be so casual about the taking of human lives? Suddenly there was no more time for questions as the alarm resumed, and this time the whole facility began to shake. Yellow spinning lights began to activate on the ceiling, and the shaking slowly got more intense.

"Warning: Decontamination error." The female voice announced. "P-Epsilon storage tank depleted, unable to proceed… warning: The self-destruct sequence has been activated, repeat, the self-destruct sequence has been activated. This sequence cannot be aborted. All personnel evacuate immediately… five minutes until detonation."

The two Rookies looked at each other in shock for a second before turning around and running back down the hall. Chambers couldn't believe what the announcement had just said, and again all of this felt more like a bad science fiction novel than real life. Of course, with all of the strange things that they had seen tonight, he wasn't about to wait for the countdown to reach zero. So running back into the warehouse, the two of them regrouped with McGee, who was still sitting with the unresponsive Liquid.

"Did you find Carver?" The Detective asked as he picked up Liquid's shock baton.

"She's dead, McGee." Lopez quickly replied. "Everyone's dead, and we need to get the hell out of here."

The shaking of the facility was steadily increasing, so the three of them picked up the Lieutenant, and made their way back to the cargo elevator. This time the blast door was no problem, and the elevator was still there, so they only had to wait as long as it took for the doors to open, but for some reason everything seemed to be moving more slowly than usual. This could have just been psychological because of the countdown, but that knowledge wouldn't help them get out any faster.

"Repeat: All personnel evacuate immediately." The female voice said. "Four minutes until detonation."

The cargo elevator seemed to take forever, but they made up for it by moving quickly once it stopped and the door opened again. The most frustrating part of all this for Chambers was that they were going to have to leave this place with absolutely no evidence of what happened… not that he really understood it. All of the people who could collaborate their story were dead; the Sheriff and his Deputies, as well as all of the black-armored people, and even Harland the administrator. They were going to have to leave with nothing, just as they had done at the resort and Liquid's cabin.

"Repeat: All personnel evacuate immediately." The female voice said. "Three minutes until detonation."

"Will you shut the hell up, already?!" Chambers yelled as they reached the hallway junction.

Turning back the way they came in, the three of them carried Liquid back into the elevator they had first been brought down on, and this one felt like it was moving even slower than the other ones. Finally after what felt like forever, the doors opened again, and now they were back in the completely dark cave area where Chambers had first woken up. It was a good thing that they brought the black-armored people's weapons, because they would have never been able to see without the flashlight attachments.

"Repeat: All personnel evacuate immediately." The female voice said. "Two minutes until detonation."

The Rookie had thought that once they got back to this place, they would be home free, but this cave seemed to go on forever. It was difficult to move across the rocky, uneven terrain while both aiming a flashlight and helping to carry their unconscious leader, but it wasn't like they could just leave him there and run for it… well, they could, but personally, Chambers wouldn't have been able to ever look at himself in the mirror again if he did. So they pressed on, stumbling over the loose rocks, and trying not to drop Liquid.

"Repeat: All personnel evacuate immediately." The female voice said, now echoing from behind them. "Sixty seconds until detonation."

"Aw, crap!" McGee yelled as he tried to pick up the pace. "Come on! We gotta move!"

Going as fast as they could, the tunnel seemed to be going on and on just to spite them, but then the cave opened up into a room so wide that they could no longer see the walls, and it wasn't until the wind started blowing that they realized they were outside. The stars were high in the sky above them, and they had just passed a sign that read: Arklay Historical Mine. Danger Keep Out. When there was a loud explosion from behind them. A blast of light and heat was expelled from the cave, throwing them to the ground as the cave itself was obliterated, and all they could do now was hope to not be crushed by the debris that was now raining down around them.