Chapter 4

-Hunters-

They exited the room and walked through a cemetery, finding themselves back in the main foyer area but on the second landing. Chris confirmed this was now the correct layout of the mansion and he led the way to the left, up some stairs, to a single door which the gold key went to. They moved into the next room to find themselves in a red carpeted hallway. The first of them had barely stepped into the hallway when Chris stopped short and they all listened, following his example.

"Hnnnhh...huaaah...hnnnnhhhhh..."

The low, sad moans of several zombies could be heard from somewhere in the hall. David motioned to Chris that he would lead the way and defuse the situation. Shuffling sounds, most likely the noise the undead creatures made when they walked. David led the way with his assault rifle raised and turning the corner to the left, he fired twice. Then he fired three more times. A loud thud of something heavy falling to the floor and then another thud followed soon after.

David motioned for the rest of the group to follow but then raised a hand for them to stop again. The look on his face was one of uncertainty and confusion. The rest soon saw why this was. A young female in a STARS uniform came running around the corner straight towards them without noticing. She had short, boyishly cut hair and an overall young face. The woman wore an expression of worry and fright but also grim determination. She passed directly through Chris's body and through the others as she ran past and exited through the door they had just arrived from. Chris's eyes followed her the whole way until she was gone.

"Did you know her?" Nathan asked, noticing the agent's gaze still staring at the spot she had disappeared in.

Chris blinked a couple times and pulled himself back into the present, focusing on Nathan.

"Yeah. That was Rebecca Chambers, a real whiz kid. Really knew her chemistry and all that. She was only 18 and on her first mission for STARS as a medic. Rebecca was the only one from Bravo team to survive."

"Chris! Looks like another diary. This one was lying on the floor over some broken glass." David said.

The team commander walked over to him as the group gathered in the small hallway as best they could. The heroes were feeling pretty out of place but they didn't know how else they were going to get out of there without Chris's guidance.

"Maybe there will be something useful in here." David said, his voice hopeful as he handed him the diary.

The man nodded. "Maybe."

He opening the book and again flipped towards the end. "These dates are about two months before we came here. It was July 24, 1998 when we stumbled upon this mansion. I'll never forget that date."

Chris exhaled slowly before he started to read from the book.

"May 9, 1998. At night, we played poker with Scott the guard, Alias, and Steve the researcher. Steve was really lucky, but I think he was cheating. What a scumbag. May 10, 1998. Today, a high ranking researcher asked me to take care of a new monster. It looks like a gorilla without any skin. They told me to feed them live food. When I threw in a pig, they were playing with it...tearing off the pig's legs and pulling out the guts before they actually ate it."

He paused in his reading, shuddering involuntarily.

David expressed concern. "Are you alright, Chris?"

"They're called chimeras..."

He seemed completely spaced out as he said it.

"Chris?" David asked.

"Sorry, just remembering the horrible way they looked. The claws..the sounds they made... Sorry." Chris apologized again and returned to his reading.

"May 11, 1998. Around 5 o'clock this morning, Scott came in and woke me up suddenly. He was wearing a protection suit that looks like a space suit. He told me to put one on as well. I heard there was an accident in the basement lab. It's no wonder, those researchers never rest, even at night."

"Must have been when the T-Virus first leaked." David surmised.

Chris nodded in agreement and without lifting his eyes from the pages, he read on.

"May 12, 1998. I've been wearing this annoying space suit since yesterday. My skin grows musty and feels very itchy. By way of revenge, I didn't feed those dogs today. Now I feel better. May 13, 1998. I went to the medical room because my back is all swollen and feels itchy. They put a big bandage on my back and the doctor told me I didn't need to wear the space suit anymore. I guess I can sleep well tonight. May 14, 1998. When I woke up this morning, I found another blister on my foot. It was annoying and I ended up dragging my foot as I went to the dogs' pen. They have been quiet since morning, which is very unusual. I found that some of them escaped. I'll be in real trouble if some of the higher-ups find out. May 15, 1998. Even though I didn't feel well, I decided to go see Nancy. It's my first day off in a long time. But I was stopped by the guard on the way out. They say the company has ordered that no one leave the grounds. I can't even make a phone call. What kind of joke is this?! May 16, 1998. I heard a researcher who tried to escape from this mansion was shot last night. My entire body feels burning and itchy at night. When I was scratching the swelling on my arm, a lump of rotten flesh dropped off. What the hell is happening to me?"

He hesitated, silence filling his brief pause. He didn't seem to want to read on any more because they all knew what was happening to this worker but Chris did anyways.

"May 19, 1998. Fever gone but itchy. Hungry and eat doggy food. Itchy itchy Scott came. Ugly face so killed him. Tasty. 4 Itchy. Tasty."

"How could such a horrible thing happen and nobody heard about it?" Claire demanded, sounding upset.

He sadly shook his head. "Umbrella was good at covering their tracks. It was only four years ago that we finally brought the truth about Umbrella into the public eye. Wesker actually played a part in that. He testified against Umbrella to bring them down."

"He helped? Why would he do that and then try to spread a different virus himself?" Nathan asked.

"Wesker only cares about Wesker. He probably wanted the viruses for himself and Umbrella only got in the way of his plans I'm sure." Chris said with a shrug.

"I really think we need to get out of this mansion." Peter determined.

And David agreed, whole-heartedly. "I second that. Let's get the hell out of here."

The group, now consisting of Peter, Nathan, Noah, Mohinder, Matt, Claire, Sylar, Danko, two of Danko's soldiers, David, and Chris continued down the red carpeted hallway. Chris led the way and he made a left and then stopped at the second door on the right and went through. There was an office of some kind which they passed through to get to a door on the other side. The door took them into another hall near a set of stairs which the BSAA commander immediately started down. He definitely knew where he was going.

"What's that sound?" Sylar suddenly asked.

Everyone halted in their tracks to fix their eyes on the speaker, who was at the back of the group still next to the door they had just come through. Chris, who was at the bottom of the stairs, looked at Sylar.

"What do you hear?" he asked.

The other man frowned, listening harder. "It sounds like slow but heavy plodding steps. Coming from the door right across from you, Chris. No wait, they're speeding up."

Chris's expression became one of alarm. "Do they sound almost like the feet are wet?"

Sylar nodded. "Yeah and they're getting louder."

Chris's gaze hardened and he turned and swung his gun to the door across from him. No sooner had he done this, the door knob started to turn. Everyone except Chris stared in shock as a reptilian creature about five feet tall with long arms and rather large razor sharp claws on each hand and foot came padding through the doorway. As soon as the door was open, it came running at Chris and leaped to attack with a shrill cry. Chris fired but saw his handgun wasn't going to do enough to bring it down and he jumped to the left into a small space where there was another door. Upon seeing the door, he leaped inside and slammed the door shut behind him. The creature left a long claw mark on the floor where Chris had been only moments earlier. Instead of pursuing further, the monstrosity slowly turned and fixed its eyes on the large group of possible prey.

David was firing his assault rifle, Danko and his two men doing the same but the thing continued towards David anyways. Then suddenly it sprang slightly to David's left at one of Danko's men, who stood near David on the lower staircase. With a single swipe, the soldier's head fell from his body. Danko fired at the monster point blank multiple times and finally it flew backwards off the stairs. Falling onto its back in a pool of expanding blood, the creature writhed until it finally died and went still, eyes glazing over. But there was no time to relax. Two more creatures identical to the first came plodding through the open door at a run.

David, Danko, and Danko's remaining soldier fired upon the first while the second creature sprang up and landed on the second floor landing, right next to Mohinder and Sylar. Mohinder tried to shove it off of the balcony with his enhanced strength but the creature only stumbled back a bit before angrily hissing at him. It swung a clawed hand at him and Mohinder shrank back, ducking the attack. Sylar lifted a hand and sent the creature flying into the railing and over. The monster fell to the floor below and jumped back onto its feet with a shriek of fury. It leaped back to the second floor landing, aiming to kill him. Sylar electrocuted it with his power but the thing seemed to just ignore the pain and continued running for him. It attacked and Sylar reflexively held up a hand to protect himself. A claw scratched a deep wound into Sylar's arm before Mohinder jumped onto its back and pounded on it. He would have snapped its neck but the creature didn't appear to have much of a neck. With the creature occupied, Sylar raised a few fingers and cut its throat with his power. The monster fell to the floor, dead.

Meanwhile, Danko and his soldier ran out of ammo and his man panicked.

"Hold your place!" Danko yelled, but his soldier ran for the open door, trying to make it past the creature.

He didn't get far though because as soon as he got past the monster, it sensed him and jumped onto his back. The soldier screamed in agony as the monster's claws dug into his back, ripping it to shreds. With its latest victim dead, it turned its head towards the nearest prey which happened to be David standing by the foot of the stairs. And of course as luck would have it, the BSAA soldier raised his weapon to fire, only to hear a dry click. The creature started lumbering towards him and David's eyes widened in horror.

"Hey you ugly reptilian bastard!" Chris shouted, exiting the storage room he had dove into.

There was a handgun in his hand but it was silver unlike his other gun and appeared to have a chamber instead of taking clips. Chris glared at the creature as it slowly paused to gaze at him with its beady black eyes.

"Chew on this!" the team leader yelled and fired a bullet into its head.

"Hrraaaooh!"

The monster shrieked in agony and it dropped to the floor, spasming erratically until finally it lay still. A pool of blood expanded beneath it. Chris visibly relaxed.

"Thank God the same weapons are where they were that night too. And that they're real like the monsters." Chris said to the group.

He took in the two dead soldiers and then David's shocked gaze. Finally regaining his calm, he asked Chris a question.

"Is that a magnum?" David asked him, impressed.

"Yep. Holds six rounds and I have an extra six bullets. Used one so that leaves me with 11."

David's expression changed to uncomfortable realization. "Uh... How many rounds you got left for your handgun?"

"I have a full clip in my gun but that's the last of it. Why?" he asked him curiously.

"We kind of ran out." David informed reluctantly.

Chris's expression was grave. He turned his gaze to Danko. "You're out of ammo too?"

Danko confirmed. "Yeah, I used all of it on whatever those freaks were."

"Those were hunters." Chris informed him. "We're going to be in real trouble because last time, the mansion was full of them and they aren't much affected by regular bullets."

"I noticed." Danko commented.

Another thought seemed to have occurred to Chris. He turned and scanned his eyes across the rest of the group.

"Some of you have powers, right? Anything useful against these things?"