AN: Hello everyone! If you are reading this, it means I have less than two months of freedom until I have to ship out to college! And in that time, I intend to play video games! Maybe not entirely Resident Evil, but I will stick with this fan fiction nonetheless.
Sorry for not keeping up with my usual schedule. Life got in the way and this chapter gave me some trouble to write; I'm not used to writing slow, suspenseful scenes. It turns out the best thing to do is to start writing, and the rest will come eventually.
I'm not sure if everyone caught this detail, but I've aged Stevie, Mattie, and Kate up by four years since UCSH. By my calculations, they're all around 22 years of age by now. I've got to stop referring to them as 'the girls'; that detail keeps sticking with me, it's gonna take a while to work it out of my system.
In other news, my friend JediSpartan217 hand-illustrated a guide on the universes of the current UnConventional Survival Horror series. It made me so happy I could have died right there. I cannot praise her hard work enough.
Also, I 'm sorry if it feels like I'm nagging my reviewers. I just miss everybody. And am I the only one who is annoyed by the new 'comment' system the site just added? Anyway, thank you everybody that left a review! I love hearing everyone's feedback.
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or its characters. All non-canon characters own themselves, except for Delfredi. He is Jedispartan217's creation.
The two cadets walked side by side as they journeyed through the facility, covering each other's blind spot as they pressed inward. Time was at a standstill. By a wild guess, it had been almost an hour, maybe more since Delfredi had last spoken to them. Which meant they had been walking long enough to get themselves hopelessly lost. Both Stevie and Kate had remained silent since they parted ways with Jill, preferring to focus their energy on preparing for Delfredi's challenges. Despite the novices' choice to settle their thoughts and stay quiet, the lack of noise, save for the hum of the fluorescent lights, made the roots of their hair bristle. Without instructions, both cadets were beginning to feel vulnerable and naked. Unprotected.
The halls were filled with doors. Every single one of the portals was the same glowing white as the walls, evenly spaced on either side. The apprentice agents didn't bother to check the doors anymore; both of them were too smothered in their own thoughts to think clearly.
After a disturbingly long trek down the monochromatic corridors, the cadets rounded the corner to find the hall ahead of them obstructed by metal. The steel crates were piled higher than their heads, leaving no footholds to hold onto should they try to climb, and no spaces wide enough between the crates to crawl through.
"Ugh, a dead end," Stevie moaned, glaring up at the mountain of metal from under her bangs, "Now what?"
Now it was Kate's turn to sigh as she began to put logic to work. " I doubt Delfredi would lure us this far in just to have us stop here," she said, turning around to take stock of the hallway behind them, "There's no sign of death traps. There's gotta be another path."
Stevie turned to face the same area as Kate. "Guess it's through one of these doors," she stated. The dark-haired cadet started testing the doors. "C'mon! We won't know which one it is until we test it!"
Kate joined her friend and began checking the opposite side of the hall. The doors on each side were immovable as stone. All but one. After many tries, one of the doors opened under Stevie's hand. "Found it!" the excitable cadet announced as her friend as the door fell ajar. Kate stopped her inspections on the doors and moved to stand besides Stevie, examining the new room carefully.
The room was one of the abandoned laboratories. Rows of cryogenic freeze chambers lined two of the walls, their glass covers blurred over with moisture. Steam rose up from the tops of the chambers, lending comforting, yet humid warmth to the room. Before each row of chambers stood two long lab tables, spaced apart far enough to form three aisles for the agents to move through. Near the center of the room sat an antique projector, rusted over with neglect. A second door sat in the far wall, as if inviting the duo to enter.
"There's our way around!" Stevie declared as she crossed the threshold of the doorframe. Kate followed her soundlessly, taking note of a security camera following their movements from its place on the ceiling. "Man, this place is surprisingly clean. I wonder what this room was used for," the younger cadet commented.
"Let's hope we don't find out," Kate answered the rhetoric, speaking softer then usual. The intense quietude of the facility had sparked a state of hyper-awareness within the older cadet, making her senses sharpen to a threshold. To her eyes, the lights glowed brighter, and every little noise stole the quiet agent's attention. The light brunette scanned her surroundings nervously, keeping track of her partner's footsteps the entire time. The silence of the facility was not what she and Stevie were accustomed to. No, this silence was reminiscent of death, complete with preserved specimens frozen in test tubes. The room even smelled faintly of chloroform to top it all off.
Stevie made it to the door on the far side of the room first. Despite jiggling the handle many times, the door remained shut. "Damn it," she cursed under her breath, the echo reverberating into the room, "Why does this one have to be locked? There isn't even a keyhole!"
The first door slammed shut behind them. Both agents spun around, only to hear the lock click shut. They were trapped. Kate stood still, willing herself not to panic as Stevie ran to the other side of the room and began to pound a fist on the door in rage. "Oi! What the hell?" she shouted towards the ceiling, hoping that Delfredi would answer, "What's the big idea here?"
An intercom speaker crackled to life. "I see you have found my first puzzle, well done," the ominous voice of their captor spoke. Both cadets turned towards the source of Delfredi's voice. "Let's find out if your mind is as quick as your reflexes; you'll need both to exit this room alive," he warned, the two agents imagining the malicious grin spread across his face as he finished the message.
"And I thought I was cryptic," Kate commented sarcastically as the situation began to sink in.
Stevie growled, still leaning against the door. "I really hate this guy," she snarled under her breath. The younger agent turned to her partner, detaching herself from the locked door. "How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?"
Kate replayed Delfredi's message in her head. "I think we have to solve his puzzle if we want to escape," the glasses-wearing cadet recalled aloud, as she glanced about the area, "but so far I don't see much to work with." She turned her head back to Stevie. "But we need to calm down first; we're never going to get out of here if we can't think clearly."
Stevie took a series of calming breaths, running a gloved hand through her short hair as she did so. "Alright," she agreed, "Let's just figure out his puzzle and move on." The dark-haired cadet returned to her partner's side. "Got any ideas yet?"
Kate nodded quickly. "It's might be something to do with this projector," she hypothesized, walking over to the device, "I don't see any other reason it's supposed to be here."
"Okay…." Stevie agreed, drawing out the word in confusion, "What do we have to do with it?"
Kate examined the projector more closely. A lens was set in the front, pointed to a blank area of the wall. There were multiple long slits in the sides of the machine, presumably meant for picture slides to sit in as they were shown. A power switch was placed on the back of the device. "Check the area, the slides for this thing must be here somewhere," the calmer girl instructed.
The two women split to either side of the room, checking the lab tables and cabinets for supplies. The search didn't last long. "Found 'em!" Stevie verified as she checked the contents of a box she found tucked away inside a cabinet. She carried them over to her companion. "I believe these are what we are looking for?"
Kate checked the slides in the box. "Perfect," she said, pulling out one of the large, framed slides, "Let's try putting one in." The slide fit smoothly into the slots on each side of the projector. Once the slide sat straight, Stevie flicked the projector on. The wall in front of them lit up, casting an unintelligible, ink-blotted image on the surface. Nothing happened.
"Huh," Stevie commented, still staring up at the wall, "Guess that one didn't work." She turned to her comrade. "Think we should try another?"
As the agents spoke among themselves, one of the cryo-chambers began its release procedures silently on one side of a room. Heat was pumped into the holding cell as the door began to automatically disengage its locks. Traces of movement were discernable behind the glass as the specimen inside began to thaw out. Once the creature inside was awake, the glass door slid open.
The zombie's instincts first registered its craving for flesh, followed by its ability to move, and then the varied sounds coming from one end of the room, which meant one thing: Food. Ignoring the protests of its stiff limbs, the zombie stumbled its way around the lab table in front of it, making a staggered beeline for the unaware prey on the other side of the room.
"What if we rotate the slide instead?" Stevie discussed, oblivious to the nearing threat.
"Maybe we're supposed to put in multiple slides?" Kate tried, "There are certainly enough—!" She halted mid-sentence, taking notice of the dangerously encroaching zombie. Her hand went for her gun. "Stevie! Behind you!" she warned, aiming for the zombie skulking behind her friend.
The dark-haired cadet's eyes widened, then swiveled her head, catching a glimpse at the rotting zombie. "WHOA!" she exclaimed loudly before ducking to the ground. Three shots fired above her head before the zombie slumped to the ground, leaking crimson blood as it lay there. Stevie took four seconds to recover from the surprise: two to be certain that the zombie was dead, and two to regain her composure. "That's right! You'd better back off, buddy!" the younger agent taunted as she brushed off her uniform and got back to her feet, "Nobody is taking a bite out of me tonight! I am not your personal Happy Meal, got it?" The zombie didn't move. " . . . I thought so. "
"You done yet?" Kate inquired as she put her gun away, remembering how fond her teammate was of theatrics.
Stevie gave a hum of affirmation and turned back to the puzzle. "So, what should we do about this?"
Kate leaned over to inspect the projector more thoroughly. "Something we did caused the zombie to pop out," she deducted, "But what triggered it?"
Stevie shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno," she said, "How about we try NOT turning this thing on next time?" Kate nodded in agreement. She turned the projector off, removed the slide, and then replaced it with a fresh one, not bothering to turn the machine back on. The agents waited. No result. "Huh," the dark-haired cadet spoke, beating her companion to the punch, "That wasn't the problem. Must be something to do with the slides. Try lighting it up again."
Kate flicked the 'On' switch. The wall lit up, this time with a different blurred image cast upon it. The duo waited with bated breath for their next challenge. Sure enough, another one of the holding cells activated. The agents' guns snapped upwards, anticipating the next target. The cell door slid open, revealing another zombie as it fell forward. The creature stood up, revealing decaying, blood-tinted skin. A Crimson Head.
The agents stood in shock, frozen in place as they realized what they were up against. One of them shouted, "Open fire!" as the zombie began to charge; both agents were too scared to grasp who spoke first. Several bullets were discharged, halting the Crimson in its steps before it fell to the ground. The agents' pulses hammered in their chests, pumping adrenaline through their systems. After several seconds of waiting for the zombie to get back up again, the two agents signaled each other with their eyes, reassuring the other that it was safe. Both girls breathed a sigh of relief as they put their handguns away.
"That one was a doozy," Kate panted, "I'm beginning to wish I had my rifle back."
"Yeah," Stevie breathed, "What I wouldn't give for a shotgun right now." Both agents returned their attention to the projector. "Now what do we do about this puzzle?"
"It seems that whenever we get it wrong, a monster pops out," Kate noted, taking a glance at the two zombies they had felled, "I wouldn't be surprised if they get stronger every time we fail."
Stevie growled in frustration again. "If only we knew how to solve it!" she replied, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of monsters jumping at us. How's your clip?"
Kate checked the magazine of her gun. "I've still got a fair number of bullets, " she said, "But we're going to have to start being careful. This is only the first challenge."
Stevie nodded. "Right. Let's check these holding cells; see what we're up against," the dark-haired agent suggested. The quiet cadet agreed and took one side of the room, wiping the moisture off the glass with her sleeve. Stevie took the opposite side. Between the two of them, they uncovered a series of BOWs: a Cerberus, a pale, monkey-like Eliminator, a fly-like Chimera, a Hunter, and an all too recognizable Licker. Each monster stronger than the last. But the terrors didn't stop there.
Stevie wiped away the moisture off the last panel of glass and froze. "Hey, Kate," she warned, staring up at the creature inside, "We got a Tyrant over here." The older cadet rushed over to her partner's side and looked up. Sure enough, the milky eyes of the giant monster, complete with exposed heart and spear-like claws, was staring down at them through the glass.
"Oh, boy," the glasses-wearing cadet said under her breath, as if the Tyrant would wake up if she spoke too loud, "We'd better get that puzzle right. Otherwise there's no chance of us getting out of here alive."
Jill Valentine stepped through the winding halls cautiously, keeping her breathing steady and her handgun primed just in case. Ever since she had been separated from her partners, no obstacles had stood in her way; not a single blockade or monster made an attempt to stop her. Nothing at all. There was only Jill, the brightly lit hallway in front of her, and the threat of a pulsing migraine from staring at the reflective white walls and tile for too long. Jill ignored the soreness of her eyes and focused on micromanaging her air intake, her personal anti-anxiety mechanism. The absence of obstacles was something she was not accustomed to. Sure, dealing with zombies or BOWs on a regular basis was a trying job on its own, but a barren, empty hallway devoid of life scared the shit out of the agent. It got to the point where Jill realized that the presence of a single corpse would actually calm her down a little in those situations. Nevertheless, she wouldn't be surprised if Delfredi led her down this corridor solely to rile her nerves. And if that was his purpose, he was definitely succeeding.
After significant progress into the facility, the main hall ended at a set of dark gray double doors, granting the agent a break from the stark, colorless atmosphere she was surrounded in. The doors offered no resistance, Jill found as she pushed them open and entered the next room.
This room was much, much darker than the hallway she had come out of, forcing her to squint as her vision slowly adjusted to the new surroundings. Once acclimated, the agent was able to confirm that she had wandered into some sort of warehouse, with the room's arcing ceiling overhead and dim lights illuminating the sheer size of the space. Two, maybe even three whole houses could fit in there if anybody so desired. It made Jill wonder how big the facility really was. Whatever wasn't covered by light was bathed in shadows. Jill found herself releasing a sigh of relief when the light revealed several stacks of wooden crates piled around the room. There was no visible order in how the crates were arranged, Jill pondered, so there had to be some strategic purpose. Either way, they would be good for combat cover if the situation came down to it.
An intercom crackle disrupted her thoughts. "Agent Valentine, how kind of you to show up for 'Playtime'," Defredi's voice greeted from an invisible speaker somewhere in the room.
Jill cast her eyes upward, taking note of the security camera pointed in her direction. "I hope for your sake that this 'Playtime' is more than a wild goose chase," she replied calmly, despite the circumstances, "Where are the captives?"
Delfredi gave a light chuckle. No doubt belittling her sense of professionalism, she thought as he gave his answer. "Both captives are still alive, that is, until you or your cadets decide to do something foolish," he assured. But to the brunette agent below, his tone was everything short of reassurance. "And on the contrary, 'Playtime' has only just begun."
Jill felt a pit of rage roil in her stomach. "What of the cadets I brought?" she questioned, her own voice growing harsher. She was getting sicker of Delfredi's little cat-and-mouse game by the minute.
"Your teammates are unharmed, but my 'Playtime' is going to keep them on their toes," Delfredi warned, "Their continued existence depends on the choices they make." The female agent bit down on her tongue as she considered the answer carefully. He was right; there was nothing she could do to help her teammates. And she hated it.
"I suppose you have something planned for me as well?" Jill inquired, looking all around the warehouse for the first wave of BOWs to attack.
"I have a special surprise planned for you, Agent Valentine," Delfredi stated. "It seems that somebody has been dying to see you. I hope you're ready to face the ghosts of your past."
Before Jill could ask what he was talking about, a loud, metallic crash echoed from a corner of the room. The agent's handgun flew upward and aimed directly at the space, focusing the outline of a severely deformed figure. "Who's there?" Jill demanded, "Identify yourself!" The hunched figure responded with a dull moan before slowly turning towards her. The agent gave a short gasp. "No," she told herself. Her memory flashed back to her short encounters with the members of STARS Bravo team, only to be followed by recollections of the Mansion Incident. "It can't be him. He was already dead when I found him." The figure wandered into the light. Even with the decaying skin clinging tightly to his bones, the zombie was only recognizable by tangled sections of long brown hair, a faded sailor's tattoo on its left arm, and a familiar blue vest. "Oh God . . . . Forest," Jill breathed. Her eyes widened a few inches, and then narrowed into dangerous almond-shaped slits. "You bastard," she addressed Delfredi, "Just what the hell have you done?"
Delfredi gave one last chuckle. "The truth hurts, Agent Valentine. And yours may be the most painful of all."