Chapter 9: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...Oh Hey There It Is!
I had finally reached the place I had sought out, the place that had led me through a gauntlet of nightmares with a side of primal fears and bloodshed.
Yes, I'm being dramatic. I think I deserve to be after what's happened tonight. Hey, wait… Is this even the place?
The place was unlike any lab I had ever visited before. The place looked more like a mash-up of an upper class mansion and a military compound. To be honest, what kind of medical research lab needs an elaborate hedge maze and a metal fence that's topped off with barbed wire? The large warehouse right next the ominous looking mansion just seemed off… for more reasons than one.
It's kind of like drinking orange juice and brushing your teeth, two things that are good on their own but are horrible together. That's the feeling that I'm getting here. On the other hand, they may have just built the warehouse recently. The mansion looks fairly old school so it may have been here before Umbrella moved on in.
Wesker and I began to leave the tram station. It was slightly different from the previous one that had been eaten by the giant plant. This station had large glass walls that showed the rain that was still going strong as opposed to the industrial looking concrete walls of the other.
Dammit, I'll be lucky if I get off of this island without a cold, which is assuming that I don't get eaten or of...
"Hey Albert, can you do me a favor?"
"It depends. What do you need, Miss West?"
"If I get bitten or infected, can you kill me before I turn? I'd really prefer not becoming a zombie."
Let's just get that out of the way for now.
"Really, you don't want me to find a cure." He seemed fairly incredulous and slightly amused.
"Well, I won't lie and say that I wouldn't love that Albert, but if there was a cure... Well, we wouldn't be in the middle of a zombie infestation now would we? 'Sides, trying to make one would probably take years, years I wouldn't have. Not to mention that neither one of us has a medical degree. I probably should have taken a page out of Dad's book and studied his major."
"His major?"
"Virology, his major papers have been on major outbreaks and their impacts on the world. He's also done a few on disease vectors and rates of infection. It's pretty interesting to be honest."
Wesker just looked at me like I had grown a second head before tacitly nodding.
"Thanks Albert. I just, if I'm going to die tonight, I'd rather die as myself. I don't plan on dying and I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that, but still."
The covered area was paved with gray stones that had an unsettlingly large amount of what looked like slightly dried blood caked on them. The madness that had overtaken the island hadn't spared this place despite how isolated it was from the residential part of the island. From what I could tell the blood must have dried well before the storm started, which was odd considering how sudden the outbreak had been on the other side of the island. I hadn't even gotten a bite of my chicken and waffles before the shit had hit the fan.
Why, yes! I am still very upset about that! When I get my hands on the person responsible for this…
For the blood to dry so much, it must have been …spilled there at least an hour or two before the rain started. The place was humid, which is normal for an island of the coast of Texas around this time of year. This place very well could have been the origin place of the outbreak.
Let's be honest, it probably is. Unless it came from the other research lab owned and run by a probably morally bankrupt pharmaceutical company on this island. Yeah...This is ground zero.
The rain was still coming down in sheets, which would make it easy for me to defend myself from anything attacking me. Not. Well, at least my knack for finding great shots will be a good indicator of my observational skills. Hopefully. Maybe?
I kept far away from the hedge maze as I followed Wesker on the slick stone pathway towards the mansion. What had happened at the last tram station had made me slightly paranoid about anything with foliage. If anything my first instinct was to light the thing on fire. Unfortunately, heavy rainfall is somewhat detrimental to the act of arson. Also, any amount of time that I spent lighting random fires was more time that a zombie or something else could use to get the jump on me.
There were tidily kept bushes of white roses that were starting to get rust spots on them lining the brick walls of the compound/estate. It only seemed fitting. After all, didn't white roses mean death in some cultures? The entire place wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie or book.
The stairs to the front door had blood on them. More disturbing was that there were some claw marks in the heavy wooden door. Curiously, I held my hand up to the marks. The span of the hand that made those marks would easily dwarf mine. When Albert went to open the door, it easily swung open with no resistance. It hadn't been locked.
Great! There's something out here that has giant claws that can do that to a door and doesn't know how to use a door. That's a really good sign. Not. Dammit! I hope there's only one.
The two of us entered a dark entrance hall with slate grey marble flooring and dark blue wallpaper with a slight floral design. There were stairs made out of a dark wood and stately looking portraits hung on the walls. After taking a quick look around to make sure that a zombie wasn't going to jump out and eat my face, I noticed that I recognized the portrait that was hung in the most prominent spot in the room.
Ozwell Spencer. The "illustrious" founder and president of the Umbrella Corporation and if I was right about my hunch: the mastermind of the Raccoon City Outbreak.
I must have looked at the portrait for too long because Albert walked over and motioned to me that we should move on. We ended going from room to room, occasionally having to kill an undead in self-defense. On the whole, the mansion didn't look like it was used much. Most of the furniture was fairly dusty and the decorations on the shelves and tables were living up to the name of dust catchers. There were even cobwebs hanging in the corners of the hall.
When was this place cleaned last?
We eventually ended up in the mansion's library. The walls were covered by the built in bookshelves except where there was a large fireplace and mantle and the large bay windows high up on the wall. The floor was a light colored wood, maybe cedar or pine.
To be honest, I was wondering why we were in the mansion. I was just following Albert and for all I knew he just wanted to get out of the rain.
"So Albert, just what are you looking for? I mean I'm pretty sure that this was supposed to be a research lab but all I'm seeing is an abandoned mansion."
Then I thought back to what I had seen today. The parking lot that had been destroyed by the giant plant had been full of cars. The cars had been in good condition too. One had even been a new sports car that had recently come onto the market. I could recognize the model because of the annoying song that the commercial had used. It got into your head and it took forever for it to leave.
The tram was functional and there had been a security officer at the first tram station, an undead one but it was there all the same. What was the point of transporting all those people if the lab wasn't here?
"No, this is the research lab", I gasped. "Or rather we're probably above the research lab. This is just a façade, some window dressing to fool people. That or this mansion is on of the ones that survived the 1915 hurricane. They probably couldn't get the rights to tear it down, which could have been a good thing for them."
"What?" He gave me a flat look.
"The pharmaceutical industry is a multi billon dollar enterprise and Umbrella is one of the bigger companies on the world market. Of course they would have something to keep thieves and spies out. Making intruders go on a wild goose chase through the mansion would make things easier for security to step in. Then again, if I'm right whoever green-lighted something of this scale is probably paranoid to the extreme. That or the scientists here are doing something…illegal or highly unethical."
"Exactly", Albert confirmed. "The question is how do we get in."
A thought occurred to me. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the map for the aquarium. On the corner of the back of the brochure, barely visible in the dark, was the red and white logo of Umbrella.
I'm thinking someone in Umbrella has a secret passage fetish.
"Albert, do you mind lighting the fireplace. I need some more light to take a better look around here. I think the way into the research lab is in here."
As he bent down to start a fire Albert asked, "Why do think the way into the research lab is in here?"
"Did you notice the other door handles on the way here? You may not have noticed it since you're wearing those gloves, but they were covered in dust. On the other hand, did you notice the doorknob to this library? It was clean, suspiciously so. That means someone cleaned it or more likely, it's been used recently or it's been used enough that the dust doesn't have enough time to settle on it. If we find something in here that is also fairly clean or looks well used, then that's our way out of this part of the mansion."
Wesker gave me an odd look for about a minute and then turned back to the fire.
Don't act like you're not impressed!
The fire was having trouble growing so Wesker grabbed the poker to move the logs around. He had barely pulled on the pointy iron stick in the stand when we heard a click and a loud thump. Then the fireplace swung open to reveal a pair of heavy stainless steel doors.
"Jackpot, Albert!"
Oh fire! Is there any problem that you can't solve?
The doors led into a stark white hallway with black and white tiles that any other day might have been clean and would have smelled of antiseptic and bleach. Today, there was blood splattered over the floors and walls and it smelt like rotting meat. I heard a faint dripping sound and looked up.
Ooooookay…how in the hell did THAT much blood get on the ceiling? Actually, that looks pretty fresh! Hey wait a minute, aren't those claw marks on the walls the same kind of claw marks we saw on the front door to this place. Oh crap.
This place was just as dangerous as everywhere else on this infested island. I couldn't afford to take my time trying to find a specific piece of evidence to prove Umbrella's hand in what happened in Raccoon City and this island. It may have been what I came to Morris' Point for, but there is a limit to what I was willing to do for the information and more importantly, what my body could handle. Exhaustion hadn't hit me yet but it would if I didn't get a breather every once in a while. Earlier today my first priority had been to find evidence. Now, I was going to get off of this island, one way or another, proof or no proof.
Albert and I made our way through the lab silently. We hadn't seen any zombies yet, but something made me think that it wasn't just the zombies and us down here in the lab. The claw marks I had seen on the mansion's front door and the walls of the hallway hadn't been made by a human. No normal human has claws like that, but then again the zombies had been human once, hadn't they?
Except for the freaky sharks, snakes, and the damn alligator. Those didn't count.
We eventually ended up taking a break in a closed room after Albert said that he needed to rest. It looked like the place had been used as an office and was fairly untouched in contrast to the part of the lab we had seen so far. It was a standard corner office that would probably be found near a corporate cube farm.
Albert had taken the comfy looking leather swivel chair in front of the small bookcase. He had been breathing heavily for a while now. I forewent a chair and just plopped my butt onto the cluttered desk. I pulled my backpack off and went digging around inside of it for one of the bottles of water I had.
"Here", I held out the bottle to him, "You need to keep yourself hydrated."
He gently took it and started drinking steadily.
"So-."
I stopped myself from finishing the sentence. It wasn't like he knew everything that Umbrella was up to. What was I thinking?
'So what do think they were trying to do here? Create their own army of mutant freaks?'
Pfttt! Yeah, like he would know. Oh hell, he's staring at me.
"You know what, never mind."
I took my time to see what else besides my butt was taking up space on the desk. I started rifling through the papers, which were nothing but data on some sort of testing that had been happening a few days ago. I couldn't make sense out of most of it but what I could figure out was chilling.
As soon as I had read "Subject has developed a high fever and has trouble communicating coherently. The subject's speech is now limited to one or two word sentences. The subject's skin is now noticeably discolored and appears to be slightly rotting in places." I had known.
The people here were experimenting on other humans, most likely against their will and without any oversight from the Center for Disease Control. It went without saying that anything that could raise the dead would be so illegal that they'd have to invent a whole new type of punishment for the offenders. Maybe shooting them into a volcano would suffice?
Rotting flesh? This place is almost certainly the origin of what's going on out there on the island.
Under the papers was a full box of shotgun shells and it was right on top of a couple of CDs labeled "Project Tyrant Data".
If I got out of here the CDs could be a couple of useful nails into the coffin of Umbrella. They could be just what I was looking for. Then again, Albert was a cop. One that was out of a job, but I doubted that he would be okay with me stealing a pharmaceutical company's data left and right. The guns were understandable, clear and present need and all that but this? It would be more than a little suspicious in my opinion.
Acting nonchalant, I scooped up the box of shells keeping the CDs held to the bottom. With Albert barely interested in what I was doing I had made off with what I had come to this town for. Now if I could just get out of this lab and off of this island I would be a very happy reporter.
"Are you ready to start moving again?"
Oh hey, Albert's up.
"Yup, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
We proceeded through the lab opening doors and killing zombies until we entered a large circular room filled with about ten cylindrical tanks, each occupied by what had to be the most ugly creatures I had ever seen. I stepped closer to one tank and was filled with a sense of revulsion.
The ugly tree bears fruit!
The arms were long and clumsy looking, the hands tipped with massive claws. The skin was green and scaly, with a pebbled sort of texture. The beast had what looked like a bipedal body. The overall effect was as if someone had made a crossbreed between a crocodile and a gorilla. The creature seemed to be lifeless but the claws were setting off alarms in my head.
"This is sick, Albert. This is sick and wrong."
All of a sudden, the intercom let out a short shriek, startling me. Then a stream of profanity that could have stripped paint filled the air then ended with the following statement.
"How dare you break into this lab, you infidels!"
"Well, it was easier than you might think. I mean your security wasn't exactly alive when we came through. Then again, people all over the island are dying then rising from the grave. Not to mention what was going on at the aquarium. Talk about crazy! Killing those mutant sharks was a real pain in th-"
Damn my mouth!
"You little witch! You killed my precious Neptunes! Do you know how much research and money went into their development?"
"Uh, I have a question. What the hell is a Neptune? Were they those giant mutant sharks at the aquarium that I went medieval on? If so, I regret nothing. Also he killed a bunch of stuff too," I said pointing to Albert earning me an incredulous look from Ziggy Stardust's conservative younger brother.
Why am I including Albert in this? It's not like the angry guy on the speaker can see me pointing, oh wait I can see the security camera moving! Never mind.
"How dare you ask that?"
"What? It's a valid question. I've killed a lot of things today. Like those sharks, those snakes, the really big alligator and all of those undead people. I didn't want to deal with that giant plant though. I thought it would be easier to just run away from it. Then again, I could have set it on fire but then again, it was a giant freaking plant that was presumably trying to kill us. Also, it was raining. Not really conducive for arson."
"What giant plant?"
"The one that ate the parking garage at the train station? And was still hungry so it started to eat the train station?"
"How did that leave the facility? It was supposed to be in Lab Five for the research into Project Tyrant!"
"Project Tyrant? The hell is that?"
"None of your concern, after all the dead have no use for that information."
"Hey, we're not dead yet and who the hell are you anyway?"
I didn't get a response. Apparently the crazy guy with a microphone hadn't wanted to talk to us anymore. That was fine. He wasn't much of a conversationalist anyway.
Albert started to mess with one of the doors and upon finding it locked, started to try and pick it after asking for one of my hairpins.
I turned to look at the weird gorilla monsters in the tanks and something immediately grabbed my attention.
"Hey Albert?"
"Yes, is it something important?" I could definitely tell that he was getting frustrated with the door. Or me. It was probably the door.
"Yes, I believe so." A bit of fear crept into my voice, despite the fact that I was trying to keep calm. "Albert, you saw the weird crocomonkeys in the tanks? They're starting to move."
Authors Note: Sorry for the lack of updates. Don't worry, I will finish this story.