A/N: I've got a couple of announcements before we get to the update. To all my fans of the fic 'Infinite', the story got deleted due to a malfunction on my profile that had to be repaired, will be making a comeback in the near future. I'm just taking my time in fixing a few problem areas before I do so.
Second, to the fans of my other fic 'Infamous-Vampire'. I've hit a bit of a snag with that and am trying to work through it. The update is coming along, but is taking a bit longer than I was expecting. Just be patient and it will come soon enough.
Now, for the time being I'll be concentrating on this story until I finish the issues with my other two. Sorry for the inconvenience and I'll do the best I can to make sure everyone get's their fix. Till then, just hold on and have a little faith. As for this chapter here, perspectives are going to be shifting around a bit to capture the POV of people you wouldn't expect. I wanted to make this a little different than other RE stories, so I'm trying different things to see how they fit. You'll see for yourself as you read on.
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil.
Chapter 8:
"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." - Terry Prachett
Billy awoke to the smell of burning metal and pain wracking his body. Opening his eyes, he blinked a couple of times while he tried to assess his situation. He was laying on his back, looking up at a high dark ceiling. From the looks of things he was inside a tunnel, shadows of rubble and rock dancing along the walls from the firelight around him.
That's when he remembered everything. The brakes, the train...He got up slowly into a sitting position and looked at the wreck before him.
The train had crashed into a warehouse, a giant, empty space with concrete and a scaffolding off to the side. A handful of hooded lights overhead casting a small glow over everything. Bent tracks were underneath him proving that he had been thrown from the transport when it crashed.
Staggering to his feet, the soldier looked around at what should have been the train's maintenance terminal. The billowing smoke from the wreck starting to already build up, but he couldn't find any the two STARS that had been with him when it all happened.
"Ethan? Rebecca?" he called out while looking for any sign of either of them. Cradling his right arm, thankful that he managed to get away from the accident with only a strained shoulder and a few scrapes and nothing worse.
He coughed as he strained his eyes to see in the faded darkness for any sign of the two young police officers. Moving around piles of blasted concrete and puddles of burning oil in his search for them. The engine of the train was on its side, the other cars piled up behind it blocking the exit to the tunnel.
"Billy?" The ex-Lieutenant spun around and saw Rebecca walking toward him, her handgun in hand with a small trickle of blood seeping down from her hairline. But other than that she seemed to be unharmed.
"Hay, you alright?" he asked as she got closer.
The medic nodded slowly, "Yeah, got a bad headache, but nothing serious." she looked around at the damage, eyes scanning every inch. "Where's Ethan?"
Billy looked around as well and didn't see the profiler anywhere. "I don't know. Wasn't he in the engine compartment with you?" he asked.
Rebecca started to panic, the last thing she remembered was him grabbing on to her and throwing them both to the floor just as the train flipped on its side. Then the crash...then nothing. "Ethan!" she called out toward the wreck. "Ethan can you hear me?!"
There was silence, the crackling of nearby fires barely breaking it.
A low groan was heard close to a pile of rock catching the duo's attention. The girl moved quickly toward the sound, finding someone pinned beneath a slab of metal that had come off of the train. "Ethan?" she asked looking under the slab but finding it too dark to see anything.
Holstering her weapon, she grabbed the edge of the metal and tried to move it. "Billy, help me with this!" The soldier moved up and helped her lift the slab and toss it to the side, revealing a crumbled form where it had been laying.
The medic knelt down and immediately started checking them over, "Ethan? Are you-" The form rolled over. Face grey and torn in several places, broken teeth dripping blood and other fluids opened wide and snapping at her face.
Rebecca yelped and fell on her ass, scrambling back as the zombie attempted to go after her. Billy jumped back, drawing his pistol and went to take aim.
Bam! The side of the infected's head blew open. Blood and rotten grey matter splattering across the pile of rubble next to it, the body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with the strings cut and laid motionless.
All eyes turned to the source of the gunshot and found Ethan standing a couple of meters away. Beretta in hand and barrel smoking with blood dripping down the side of his head and a cut on his jaw.
"Ethan!" Rebecca got to her feet and jogged over to him. The closer proximity showed that he had a couple of bruises as well. "You okay? Anything serious?" she asked seeing the blood trailing down the edge of his face.
The traveler shook his head. Lowering his weapon, left hand on his side as he slumped his shoulders. "Just a couple of bruised ribs and cuts, nothing bad. You two alright?" he asked looking at all the damage.
"Pretty much the same." said Billy looking down at the undead that had just been taken out. "Nice shot by the way."
Ethan continued to look around the vast room, the small fires already starting to die out but the smoke build up was getting worse. Black smoke filling the tunnel and making visibility drop more and more. His grey-blue eyes locking on to a single door twenty meters away from the engine. "There's our way out." he said pointing toward the exit. "We better get going before we suffocate from the smoke."
Getting agreements from the other two, they all started making their way to the way out. Along the way, the older rookie felt a smaller hand hold on to his. He looked down and saw Rebecca at his side, turning her head up and smiling at him. "I'm glad you're okay." she said lowly.
He gripped her hand gently and smiled back, "I'm glad you are too, Becs." he glanced back at the wreckage. "At least we managed to stop the train."
Rebecca laughed softly, "We managed." she agreed as they opened the door and entered the path beyond.
X
In the observation room in the depths of the training facility, Albert Wesker watched the array of monitors displaying the various camera angles throughout every sector. He'd watched the train crash, even felt it shake the who facility on the foundation.
But he remained unhindered, eyes unblinking as he continued to observe. "We should get out of here." said William Birkin. The doctor and creator of the G-Virus pacing back and forth behind the blonde man's chair.
Wesker ignored him, changing camera angles to get better perspectives. Looking for something and remaining as silent as he had been since the last transmission from the cleanup crew that had been dropped on the train.
"Are you listening to me?" the doctor asked. He was tense, on edge. And Wesker's cold demeanor wasn't helping his situation any.
"I hear you, William." the man said calmly watching the screens. "If you want to leave, then leave."
"Aren't you coming?" asked Birkin.
"In a while, I'm just looking for something." Wesker replied, eyes scanning each image behind his sunglasses.
"Like what, exactly? I'd say the train is pretty much cleansed. That's why were here isn't it?"
Wesker didn't answer, he changed a few more camera angles before a small smirk appeared on his face. "Ah, there we are." Birkin looked over his shoulder at the live-feed. It was the main lobby of the facility, built to welcome executives and grunts alike into White Umbrella's...less than legal world.
They both watched as a hand came up from the floor, moving a panel aside that led to the old access tunnels underneath. A moment later, three people came out into the open. Two males and a female. One of the men had bare arms with an elaborate tattoo on his right arm wearing a black tactical vest. The other two looked younger than him by a couple of years, both wearin STARS uniforms.
All of them wielding handguns as they observed the lobby around them.
"Who on Earth are they?" the doctor asked.
"The girl and the one next to her are members of STARS. She, from the Bravo team. And he from the Alpha team." replied Wesker zooming in on them a bit with the camera. "The other male I do not recognize."
"Do you think they were on the train?"
"Had to have been. There are no other ways into the facility open at this time." said Wesker.
Birkin felt a surge of panic, "What are we going to do? They're with STARS, and the other one could be working for anyone. What if they escape and reveal what has happened here?"
The blond man shook his head, "Don't be obtuse, William. They won't escape. Even if the facility wasn't locked down, it is overrun with carriers. All they have to do is open a door or two and they will no longer be a problem." he said in a chilling voice.
On screen, the group of three spread out to look around the large room. But the younger male paused in the center. Wesker leaned a little closer, then raised his eyebrow when he saw him look right at the camera that had been watching them.
The young rookie raised his hand and flipped the camera the middle finger before going to join the young woman on the grand staircase and standing before the portrait of James Marcus.
'Clever boy, aren't you Ethan.' he thought to himself with another smirk. 'But can you survive what is waiting for all of you within the facility?'
His thoughts were broken when the intercom system echoed through the entire complex.
X
"Attention. This is Doctor Marcus. Please be silent as we reflect upon our company motto. Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds power. Power is life."
The voice echoed through the lobby startling all occupants for a moment. "Well, that was creepy." Billy commented as he joined the rookies as they observed the portrait before them of an old man. The plaque under it reading 'Doctor James Marcus'.
"No worse than seeing that bastard on the train." said Ethan catching the attention of the other two. "That's the freak made out of leeches that attacked me in the dining car before that guy called them back with his singing. And I'll bet everything in my wallet right now that he's connected to all of this somehow."
'Or completely responsible for it...' he thought to himself while sending one last glare at the portrait. "How's everyone doing on supplies?" he asked out loud.
Taking a few minutes to go over everything in their packs and pockets, they took stock of their ammo and medical equipment. Ethan handed the herb he had collected on the train to Rebecca who ground it up with the ones she had found using the tools in her medical bag. Mixing the red and green powder together and adding a few solvents to it, pouring the concoction into a thin tube. Twisting a spray top on it before slipping the completed product into a vacant slot on her belt.
(A/N: If you've played RE5, this will make sense.)
The group of three also took the time to fish out boxes of bullets and loading them into the empty clips they had on them. Ethan produced the five frag grenades he lifted off of the Umbrella goons and gave one to each of his companions. Snapping the other three on to his vest for easy access should he need them.
Finished with her work with the herbs, Rebecca unslung her newly acquired MP5 and looked it over carefully. She had been trained rather well with handguns before moving to Raccoon City. But the submachine gun in her hands gave her pause and made her wonder if she could handle shooting it.
"Need help?" asked her fellow rookie reading her expression well.
"Just a little. I haven't really had training with anything bigger than a pistol." she admitted.
Ethan nodded, taking the weapon and showing her the various points on it. How to load and unload it, the fire selector which had three different settings, and the proper was to hold and fire it.
"Since we're mostly up against slow moving targets, don't go for anything higher than semi-auto or burst-fire unless it's easier to hit." he finished explaining while flipping the selector to single-shot. "Once you get the hang of it, it's like riding a bike. He finished with a smirk.
Rebecca held her new weapon with a little more confidence and smiled at him in thanks before going back to checking over their supplies.
Billy finished loading rounds into clips for his pistol, casting a glance toward the front door of the lobby. "Guess this is our way out." he said approaching it.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." Rebecca said as she and Ethan trailed behind him. The soldier opened the door allowing the cool, humid air from outside to sweep in. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle but the ominous feeling of the storm still present.
They stepped outside and paused when they looked at the landscape before them. The facility was built into the side of a hill, a paved walkway that was large enough to be a road was laid out leading to the front doors, but was cut of at ten meters and revealed an abrupt drop that lead into nothing but darkness.
"Well...safe to say we aren't using this path." Ethan commented as he looked into the abyss, kicking a stone and not hearing it land for some time.
"What kind of place is this anyway? Who would build something like this in secret?" wondered Rebecca. "And the train...how is it all connected?"
The profiler took a deep breath, "Umbrella." he said catching the undivided attention of the other two.
"The company that owns pretty much everything in Raccoon City? What makes you think that they'd be behind all of this?" asked Billy interested.
Ethan motioned with his head and led them back into the facility, shutting the door behind them. "I wasn't sure at first, but I found a bunch of documents with their logo on them back on the train in a cabin I ran across. Then there are the entries in the journal you located, mentioning a lab facility and the T-Virus. Put all of this together with the zombies, that leech creature and every other horror we've run across...it all adds up."
"And besides..." he tapped his foot on the floor drawing their gaze. A large Umbrella symbol had been carved neatly into the marble floor beneath them. "It's rather obvious." The traveler reached into his pocket and pulled out the cloth he'd torn from one of the dead men on the train and showed them the very same logo on it. "I also found this on one of those armed guys on the train, my best guess, their higher-ups found out what happened and sent a clean up crew to 'handle the problem'."
Rebecca chewed on her lip, "But it doesn't make sense. Why would a pharmaceutical company with that much power and influence create something like the T-Virus?"
"That's exactly why. Anyone with that much power and money can't always be on the straight and narrow. And it's no secret that you'd make more money making and selling bio-weapons instead of creating a cure for cancer in the medicine business." said the traveler. Billy nodding in agreement, understanding the fact well.
The medic looked around the lobby, "Alright, whether or not Umbrella is evil aside. We need to find a way out of this place. Any suggestions? " She was answered when the sound of moving stone echoed through the lobby.
They snapped up their weapons and stared as the painting of Marcus slid into the floor, revealing an opening with a staircase leading farther down. Billy treaded up the stairs and looked down into the new doorway. "Looks like someone wants us to go a certain way." he said looking back at the other two as they joined him.
"Not surprised...we're being watched." Ethan said motioning with his head to one of the camera's located. "Counted three separate cameras since we came in from the tunnel. And I bet that there are dozens more all over this place."
Rebecca and Billy looked around as well, also spotting the other survallience equipment. "You think someone is manning them?" asked the younger rookie.
"In a place like this? It's probably a safe bet." said Ethan taking another look at the other options they had. A mental picture of the training facilities layout appearing in the back of his mind as be observed the different doors. 'Should we stick together...or split up? This place is too big to go from room to room in a group, but going alone with what's out there is dangerous.'
Their options were limited, and they really didn't have all the time in the world. So he weighed the pros and cons quickly and spoke up. "We should split up."
Billy barked a laugh without humor, "You can't be serious. Haven't you seen horror movies? This place reeks of hostile territory."
"I'm not saying it's not without risks. But who knows how big this place is, and we won't be finding an exit just standing here." replied the profiler.
"I agree," said Rebecca. "We have our radios, if anything happens we can just call for help."
The soldier shook his head, "Didn't STARS teach you anything about teamwork?" he asked looking between the two rookies.
"It's actually our first mission." Ethan said while heading down the stairs back on to the ground floor. "I'll look around down here, you two take a room up top. If something happens and the radios don't work, meet back here in fifteen minutes."
He never considered himself a leader, sure he was good at coming up with plans on the fly if the situation was dire enough, but leadership wasn't ever in the cards. But for some reason, Rebecca and BIlly had no problem following his directions. It confused him, but for the time being he would roll with it.
Getting nods, Billy's more hesitant than Rebecca's, the other two went up the remaining steps to the second floor. A moment later he heard two doors close before he got to work.
'Alright, something's amiss.' he thought looking at the open pathway leading down to the basement of the facility. 'That was suppose to open after we collected the statues, what the hell is going on around here?'
It took him a few moments, then he was reminded of something he'd been thinking about since he joined with STARS. 'This isn't a game...this reality isn't fiction. Meaning I can't just assume things are going to play out like they did in the games. Meaning I'm going to have to play by the ear and adapt as I go along.'
Turning to the double doors to the right of the stairs, his mind settled into a focused state and headed for it. Taking out his handgun as he closed the distance and opened the one on the right. Raising his Beretta the moment he was through the threshold.
Bam! One of the three zombies shambling through the room dropped with a hole punched just above his right eye. He swung around and fired another round into one with a fork sticking out of his shoulder, blasting chunks of skull and blood on the painting behind him.
The last zombie came at him a little faster than the others and was within grabbing distance in seconds. Ethan ducked under the cold, rotting fingers grasping for his throat and kicked the undead back several steps, raising his gun and drilling a hole right between his eyes.
Picking up the two half full boxes of 9mm rounds, combining them into one and putting it into his pack before heading toward the other door in the room. The teen took a moment to take out his knife and stab the corpse slumped close to the exit in the temple to make sure it stayed down.
He went through the door and down a small hallway to another door that led into a storage room. Shooting another zombie that revealed itself, this one wearing a guards uniform, in the head and putting it down quickly.
A second zombie shuffled around the corner, arms outstretched and moaning with hunger before being silenced by a 9mm round. 'It's almost too easy...though it won't be that way for long.' he thought going around the large shelves where the undead had come from and finding a pump-action shotgun leaning against the wall by a gas can.
Grabbing the weapon and checking it over, finding it fully loaded with six shells, he slipped it into the holster over his shoulder before leaving the room and heading back into the lobby. Neither Rebecca or Billy had returned yet, and he hadn't heard anything over the radio so there wasn't any trouble as far as he could tell.
Approaching the door on the opposite side of the large room, the traveler raised his pistol and entered the plush hallway beyond. Following along the thick carpet with his eyes and ears strained to pick up any sort of trouble that could be close by.
Going past the door leading into the bathroom, he headed toward the room at the far end of the corridor. Trying the knob, he found it locked. "Let's fix that." he said raising his foot to kick it in.
The sound of wood shattering filled the hallway. Ethan threw himself to the side just as a long, black tentacle slapped against the wall where he had been standing a moment ago. Clear slime dripping down the wall paper as the appendage retracted back through the hole that had been punched through the door.
A moment later, the door opened and a pale figure stumbled out. It resembled a zombie, male, but had red-filmed eyes that seemed to zero in on the traveler as he glared right back at it despite his rise in heart rate and the sliver of fear going up his spine.
The things' right arm stretched and thinned toward the floor like a rubber band before snapping forward like a whip. Striking Ethan in the chest before he had a chance to dodge and knocking him on his back. The force knocking the wind out of him, but he regained his wits and rolled backwards until he was on his feet in a crouch. Aiming his pistol and firing four rounds quickly into the being's torso.
Four holes punched through flesh, it hesitated. Black ooze sliding from the wounds from what he knew were destroyed leeches before the holes sealed back up as the creatures healed themselves and the living hive started his way again.
"Fuck." he muttered holsering his Samurai Edge and drawing the shotgun. Racking it once before aiming for the head and pulling the trigger.
Boom! The creature's head exploded with a spray of black tissue, blood and slime that splattered the walls. Multiple shrieks were heard and the thing toppled over into a pile of leeches that slithered about a moment.
Ethan didn't give them the chance to reform, pumping the handle on the shotgun to chamber a new round, he fired into the center mass as it was trying to collect itself. Blowing over a dozen leeches to pieces and punching holes in the carpet underneath.
But the leeches wouldn't stop, they started crawling over one another again and the mass they were building together started to rise from the floor.
'Can't get the gas can in the bathroom, I have no guarantee that it's there.' he thought while trying to come up with a plan. Putting the shotgun away, he grabbed one of the three grenades from his vest. 'No other choice, gotta blow it apart.'
Holding the trigger handle down, he pulled out the pin and backed away as the cluster of deadly slugs began to take their original shape. When he reached the turn, he lobbed the explosive toward it. "Eat that you little shits!" he shouted before diving aside.
The grenade bounced once and landed right at the creature's feet. It looked down a moment before a deafening explosion coupled with fire and shrapnel rattled the whole hallway.
Covering his head as the floor shook under him, the sound of pain filled shrieks filled the air before everything died down to a still silence. Getting back to his feet, Ethan peered around the corner and whistled.
Where the colony of leeches had been standing was a blackened scorch in the carpet that stretched out to the walls. Any tables, lamps or chairs that had been there were nothing but shards of wood, metal and glass.
As for the leeches, there was barely anything left of them. One or two were still alive, but were just twitching weakly where they laid. The rest were nothing more than smears on the walls, floor and even ceiling from the blast.
Sighing in relief, he turned to head back when his radio started beeping. "Ethan? Are you there? What was that explosion?" Rebecca's voice came over the line.
Picking up the device, he spoke back. "I'm here, Becs. Sorry, that was me. I ran into another one of those leech-creatures. The bastards just kept eating my bullets so I took it down the hard way."
"Damn, I heard that all the way over here." Billy cut in. "If there are more of those things out there, then we need to rethink our strategy a bit. Our ammo supplies won't last against a group of them."
"Agreed. Either of you find a way out of this place?"
"I think I did. Let's meet back in the lobby, by where the painting of Marcus was. I'll show you what I found." said Rebecca.
"Gotcha. See you guys there." Hanging the radio back on his belt and casting one last glance at the damage his grenade had done. The teen turned and made his way back to meet up with the others.
Completely unaware that one leech survived and slipped through a crack in the floor, making its way back to its master.
X
Deep within the facility, the young man moved to a place where the hive could gather together more comfortably. A large space, warm and moist and far from where daylight could reach them.
The many surrounded him now, singing their tuneless song of water and darkness, but he was not so at ease.
He watched with cold fury as the girl, Rebecca, the murderer had called her, his cursed name being Ethan, stole Marcus' journal. Slipping it into her pocket before leaving the office. That was not the reason why he had left the desk open for her, she was only suppose to take the map of the observatory, not the journal as well.
The two met up with their other companion, a man named Billy, all of them conversing about their findings and their murderous exploits. Through the video feed connected to their new environment in the lower level in the treatment plant he watched them, but also through the dozens of eyes from the 'children' hidden in the shadows. The many were powerful, able to send images to one another, to him; it was how they could work together so effectively.
None of them were aware of just how vulnerable they were, of how easily he could reach out and take their lives from them. They survived still only by his mercy. Especially the murderer.
The lone survivor of his recent crime sat in the man's hand, whimpering in uncontrolled pain while its brethren tried to console it. The fury in his heart building; how dare he, this unimportant wretch, this insect. He had mercilessly slaughtered two collectives, and had the audacity to threaten him through the many back on the train.
He was strong and resourceful, the young man would give him that much. But his luck would run out eventually, and he would pay dearly for his crimes when it did.
Looking on, he watched as Rebecca shared the maps she had found with the two males, they studied them and conversed a little longer. Too stupid to understand that he had all but given them their means of escape. But at this moment, he wasn't so sure if he wanted them to go free.
After coming to some sort of agreement, the group began making their way down the stairs, disappearing from the screen, and from the manys' sight, for a moment before appearing on another. They stopped a moment, staring down at the dead bodies of a couple of large spiders. Laying belly up with their legs curled inward, their green-yellow blood pooling under them as the trio observed.
He'd made sure they had been taken care of moments before so that the group would avoid their poisonous bite. Now he was sorry, seeing them die would have been a pleasure to him.
Now he wondered on what to do. Killing them would fulfill a need in him, to avenge the children that had been killed by their careless hands, to assert his control over this place. But exposing Umbrella was priority to him right now, and the three interlopers would prove to be useful tools in that endevor...if they managed to survive.
Watching them move cautiously ahead, they entered into a long-abandoned office. Checking their map a moment before moving on into a dead-end room where live specimens had once been kept. That's when the young man noticed something.
The murderer never even looked at the map...and he was leading the other two as though he knew the place ahead of time. Avoiding what could have been dangers and dealing with infected specimens as though he knew what their weaknesses were.
A former member of Umbrella perhaps? No, he was far too young for that. But how did he know about the collective on the train and their connection to him? There was something very intriguing about this youth. This murderer named Ethan. The many agreed in their own way, but they called for his blood for the deaths of their brethren at his hands.
Who was he to deny them their hunger should he meet his unfortunate end along side his comrades.
The trio looked around the large room before the murderer pointed to the North-East corner near the ceiling. The ventilator shaft, it wasn't on the map and it led to-
The young man shook his head. The shaft led to Marcus' private chamber where the doctor had once 'entertained' attractive test subjects. Why wouldn't they leave? There was nothing of importance in that room...however...
A blade of a smile appeared on the man's face. The shaft was also connected to another specimen area, this one containing several creatures from the primate-series that hadn't been fed in days. They would be very, very hungry by now.
The smile he was sporting grew by a margin as he watched the murderer pull the covering for the vent off, leaving his shotgun behind and hoisting himself up into the opening, disappearing into the darkness beyond. Rebecca got a boost from Billy and followed after him while the other male stood guard.
His children all cooed around him feeling his thoughts, the walls and ceiling dripping with their slippery fluids. Completely surrounded by the many, the fate of Umbrella in his hands, and now three little soldiers to play with. Watching in enjoyment as they pitted their abilities against the remnants of Umbrella's BOWs.
Whether they all lived or died, he would be satisfied in the end. "Open the cages, my darlings." he said softly before he started to sing.
A/N: If you haven't noticed, I'm mostly focusing along the lines of the book instead of the game since it offers a little more detail and opens up more possibilities. S.D. Perry is a great author and really captured the storyline of the RE series in a way that deserves awards. If you haven't read them before, I implore you to start, you won't regret it.
Keep the reviews coming guys, tell me what's on your mind.
