Disclaimer – I have no legal rights to any of Capcom's trademarked content within.
As Rosita and Pierce slowly backed away from her, Jill wished she had more specific instructions to give them. But there was no time to think. The monster was rearing to attack, and she was trying to aim.
She sprayed it with bullets as it charged, narrowly strafing out of the way at the last second, rolling around the ground to put more distance between herself and it, then standing and raising her gun to try to target it again.
She could see Rosita and Pierce still treading backwards slowly, looking for someplace to hide between her and the caved-in passageway to the vestibule.
Jill sprayed the monster again, trying to focus in as tightly on the glowing orange eye as she could. As she fired, she walked backwards, moving closer to a column by the lounge area.
The monster growled and hunched over to charge again. Jill found the column and pressed her back against the other side of it, hoping it would be able to take the impact of the stampeding bioweapon.
But then the monster did something that surprised her.
It slowed itself down, and it angled itself so it would miss the column if inertia kept dragging it forward. Like it didn't want to risk the pain. Or the destruction. She'd seen a lot of monsters like this, but not usually with this much control or intelligence. Not even in the lethal hunter that was Nemesis. Certainly not in this monster during their last encounter in the parking garage.
She broke from the column and ran as fast as she could to the next one, taking refuge behind it and firing off a few more shots while looking for another vantage point to run to.
And then the creature turned its back on her, depriving her of targeting its most vulnerable spot.
It was heading, slowly and deliberately, towards the others.
"Hey!" she screamed, unloading in to its back. "I'm right here!"
Pierce and Rosita were both frozen like deer in headlights. The monster was moving closer and closer to them.
Is this even the same creature as before? Jill wondered as she reached for another clip and reloaded the assault rifle. It's behavior was so different this time.
Why was it moving towards unarmed victims? Was it instinct? Was it because they were easier prey?
Or was it to goad her?
She sprinted towards that end of the lobby as fast as she could, trying to position herself at an angle with an at least slightly more vulnerable part of its body to aim at. Something to at least cause it enough pain to bring its attention back to her instead of her civilian charges.
She thought she had a chance when the monster stopped in its tracks, repositioning itself so its back was completely to her. But then it quickly spun around to face her. She barely had time to react to the end table it had picked up, barely diving out of the way before it flew across the lobby and splintered on impact with the floor beside her. When she looked up, she was looking at its back again as it came closer to the others.
"Hey!" she called, frantically waving her arms, this time trying to get the attention of her companions. "Run!"
Rosita was the first to catch on, looking hesitant at first but still sprinting towards her. Pierce took longer to catch on, gaining speed but running in the same direction he was already heading, towards the collapsed vestibule, before realizing that was futile and turning to join Jill and Rosita again.
With his possible targets less spread out, all running along the same wall, the monster finally turned around to where Jill could target its weak point again. Spurts of red-orange slime bled out of the overgrown eyes as the bullets impacted it.
It stretched its arm back, then whipped it forward, the fingers shooting out and sinking into the wall right above Pierce's head.
"Come on!" Jill screamed, and the others followed after her as the monster walked towards the wall, the slack of the elongated fingers disappearing back into its knuckles as it went to free its claws.
Jill raced around the nearest corner, frantically sticking her master key into the first door she could find, only momentarily distracted by the bizarre piece of artwork on the wall, thinking what an odd piece it was for the background of a conference room.
"Hide in here," she said. "Don't come out until I come back."
"What if you don't come back?" Pierce asked.
Jill groaned, hating that he had the nerve to ask, but having to admit to herself he had a point. She nervously looked over her shoulder, hoping the monster wasn't getting close enough to find them standing at an open door.
"If I don't," Jill finally said, "then best of luck to the both of you. Now hide!"
And she closed the door, taking care not to slam it in spite of how anxious she was, not wanting to draw its attention, then slowly backing around the next corner.
Soon she could see it approaching, and she fired off a few shots before turning on her heels to run as fast as she could.
There was a door propped open at the end of the hallway, and Jill ran in, and then pressed her back against the wall to the side of the door. The monster was galloping closer on all fours, like some kind of animal, and it tried to slow itself down again. But this time it didn't react fast enough.
It slid face-first into the breakfast buffet tables.
Jill ran back out of the room, glancing over her shoulder only briefly to watch the monster try to stand up from the wreckage of the continental breakfast, covered in cold eggs and meat and syrup, bits of stale bread clinging to it, and grabbing at a long plank of wood that had impaled a side of its abdomen.
She pressed her face against the glass of one conference room only long enough to make sure Pierce and Rosita had found some place out of sight, then ran across the administration offices, rounding the corner towards the hotel's back door.
She fumbled with her keycard, looking over her shoulder the whole time as she inserted it into the reader, then pushed through the door, into two collapsed vending machines.
The door hadn't even fully closed before the creature's claws appeared through the crack, throwing the door open with such force that the hinges broke, leaving it hanging ajar.
In the monster's other hand was a brass stanchion from the velvet rope barrier by the reception desk. It swung through the air like a club, then released, and Jill ducked as it sailed into the paneled glass separating the vending machines from the pool area, shattering a huge portion of it.
Jill rolled through the broken glass before rising to her feet by the pool, taking aim again. She'd led it far from the others. They were safe. At least for now, as long as its attention was still on her instead of them.
She'd encountered many, many monsters before. With the exception of those she'd encountered on the Queen Zenobia, most of them couldn't swim worth jack.
This was as good of a place to make her stand as any.
The monster charged through the hole it had made in the glass, coming to a halt at the edge of the pool as Jill backed away from it.
It pivoted to face her, and then . . .
Several tentacles broke the surface of the pool, wrapping around the creature and slowly dragging it over the edge, splashing into the depths of the water.
Jill backed as far away from the edge of the water as she could, moving with her back against the wall until she eventually found the hole in it and stepped out. She kept her eyes on the surface of the pool, where she could barely make out the form of the monster and the tentacles around it through all of the water splashing up around them.
As she made her way to the ajar lobby door, she stopped at the entrance to the pool, where a sign hanging from the door handle caught her eye. It displayed the hours the pool was open for swimming. She considered for a second, then picked up the sign, turned it around, and hung it back up with the "Pool Closed" side now showing.
Then she sat down by what was left of the reception desk and waited for her pulse to slow back down.
Ashley's pulse was racing as the squawking outside grew louder and louder.
Her nervous movement, along with Will's, was making the upside-down kayak they sat on rock.
"Try to ignore the Alfred Hitchcock crap going on out there," she said. "We need to get out of here."
She stood up suddenly as she said it, and Will was barely able to jump up himself before the kayak rolled over on the floor.
She saw something on the floor, something she hadn't spotted when the boat was in the way.
"Help me move these."
Will obligingly helped remove the row of kayaks and canoes from their rack and set them to the side, then push the rack out of the way.
Now he was looking at the patch of bright colors on the floor, contrasting with the dull brown and green of the wood around it.
"That almost looks like . . ."
"A Salvador Dali painting," he and Ashley finished at the same time.
She knelt down on the ground, fingertips finding a place to grip the square of ugly wood intruding on the bright blues and grays and oranges of the decoration around it.
"I knew that semester of fine art studies would come in handy," she muttered.
The soggy lumber mostly fell apart in her fingers, and she tossed what she could to the side. She put her hand on the blue and gray and gold beside it, and it began to slide, a tile clicking as it followed a track beneath where the rotting wood had been.
She placed her hand on the next tile, covered in a misshapen gray form, a large, also misshapen indentation in the center, and led it along the track as well.
"It's a grid," she said.
"Sliding puzzle," Will said. "I always hated those things."
"Actually," Ashley said. "I used to be pretty good at them. But it's been a while. I may be a little rusty."
She concentrated hard as she began sliding the tiles back and forth and up and down, the gap moving its way around the floor as she kept moving tiles to fill it.
"Notice anything missing?" she asked.
Will snapped his fingers as the realization dawned on him.
"The clocks!"
"Go grab them while I get the pieces in place."
Then they were both startled by the crash of the windows shattering, and the horrible squawking and flapping of wings becoming much louder.
Ashley stood up and grabbed a nearby paddle, swinging it through the air as hard as she could and knocking several of the birds to the ground.
Will grabbed the nearest boat and hid underneath it. Ashley swung the paddle at the birds that were viciously pecking at the side of it, slamming it down viciously and sending their feathers flying as she flattened them against the ground.
She lifted the side of the boat to address the cowering Will.
"The clocks. Now."
"Right. Leave it to me, Ashley."
He crawled out from his hiding place and made his way to the nearest wall on unsure feet as Ashley continued to use the paddle to swat the infected seagulls from the sky.
When there was a lull in the attack, she crawled back to the puzzle in the center of the floor. But even as she began to work the tiles again, she could hear distant hooting growing closer as another wave of seagulls flew towards the boathouse.
Will had the bright orange clock in his arms, and he was now trying to peel the melted blue one away from its spot on its perch.
Back to her puzzle, where the last piece finally clicked into its correct place, and she could mostly recognize the art. Except instead of brown desert, there was a handle in the square smack-dab in the middle.
Will had picked up another paddle and was using it to try to knock the dangling clock off its high perch.
Ashley pulled at the handle, and almost felt it budge, but metal clattered against metal. It was locked in place.
More birds swarmed in through the broken window.
Will had knocked the clock down and was now swinging the paddle in the birds' direction, trying to keep them at bay.
Ashley grabbed her paddle and did her part to swat them away from him.
One flew in to her hair, and she screamed in terror and disgust before reaching up, grabbing it, and tossing it as hard as she could to the floor, listening to the sickening sounds of its tiny bones breaking.
The few remaining flapped away into the rafters, and then back out the windows towards the beach, seemingly losing interest in their attack.
Will grabbed the clock off the back of the oddly shaped gray form and ran back to Ashley, cradling the clocks in his arms.
"I feel kinda bad now," Ashley said, looking at the feathered carcasses now littering the ground. "They were just poor gulls."
"I know," Will replied. "But it's not like they left us much of a choice."
Ashley nodded, and Will dropped the orange clock into its indentation.
There was a click, and a small hole swiveled open in the center of the clock. Several tiny insects swarmed out.
"Eww," Ashley said in disgust, stepping back from the artwork as Will instinctively stomped the bugs out.
He dropped the next clock into its indentation. There was another click, and then the hands on the clock began to move. As they moved, a loud ticking noise came from some place farther back in the boathouse.
"What's happening?" Will asked.
"I don't think we should find out," Ashley responded, taking one of the remaining clocks out of his arms. "Hurry."
They dropped the last two clocks into place at nearly the exact same moment. And now, the hands on all three were moving rapidly, and the ticks were coming faster.
Ashley pulled on the handle, and it still barely budged. Will grabbed it and pulled with her, and finally a hatch opened.
"What do you think's down there?" he asked.
"No time to think," she replied. One hand on each of the clocks had stopped moving, and the other was rapidly moving to join it.
Will stepped over the ledge, his whole body disappearing into the gap in the floor. There was another handle on the bottom of the hatch, and Ashley grabbed it as she jumped after him, pulling it shut behind them.
Her feet were dangling in the air, but then she felt Will's hand gently touch her back.
"It's okay," he said. "Just let go."
She let go and fell, just two or three feet further to the ground, and began running as soon as her feet hit the floor. Only a few seconds passed before they heard the explosion overhead.
"Boathouse could probably use a remodel anyway, right?" she said, trying to force a smile.
Not that Will would be able to see it.
She found her cellphone again and turned on its flashlight.
The beam immediately illuminated one of the things with the exposed brain and the long tongue. She and Will both screamed and jumped back immediately.
They backed into a glass panel, turning to it and seeing one of the hunched-over, scaly toadmen on the other side.
Ashley put her hands up against the glass. The monster pounded its fist against it, and she could feel the vibrations, but it didn't seem to have any impact.
"This is . . . some kind of dungeon for them?"
She tried to center the light directly down the center of the tunnel so they could see the rows of monsters behind glass lining either side.
"I think I'd rather deal with the hurricane and the birds again," Will said.
Ashley traced the ceiling with the beam, but couldn't see any sign of the handle to the hatch.
"I don't think that's an option anymore," she said.
She took another step forward and heard Will trying to suppress a whimper as he moved to follow her.
She turned, her light catching him limp slightly, then the pained expression on his face.
"Are you okay?"
"Think I might have strained something when I landed," he answered. "Wasn't expecting a seven foot drop. But a swollen ankle isn't my biggest concern right now."
Ashley just studied his expression for a moment, until the low growling of one of the creatures behind the glass snapped her out of it.
"You're right," she said. "Let's keep moving."
"The controls," Daniel said. "They're not responding anymore."
"That's because I deactivated them."
He tore off the gloves and headset and looked at Jasmine.
"Put me back in," he said. "I think I can take him."
"We don't need a fight between you and the Kraken," she replied.
"Surely, our potential customers would be interested to know which is the more powerful of the . . . "
"As much as I'd like to see the impact of that clash on your ego," Jasmine said, "finding out one of our products is inferior to the other will only raise doubts that they may all be defective. And could also mean us losing a potentially valuable asset. So the Kraken will be sedated and Minos will be extracted."
"Fine," Daniel said. He looked at the pool room on the monitor. "Sorry, Jules."
Jasmine's attention was on another screen.
"Miss Graham and her hanger-on appear to have solved the Dali puzzle."
She watched as they threw themselves down the shaft, closing the hatch right before the scenery was blown away in a massive explosion.
"The Dali puzzle," Daniel repeated. "Tell me again why that was a thing?"
"Because it's the sort of thing Dr. Spencer would have found amusing," Jasmine said. "I'm not the one you should be sighing and rolling your eyes at. You can blame that on my pot and pan."
"Your what?"
"My old man. Sorry. My Cockney's slipping out."
Daniel massaged his palms as he lowered himself back into his chair.
Jasmine had pulled out a small mirror to admire her reflection, checking her teeth and her makeup.
"I still think we would have been better off just running a regular hotel resort," she said. "Instead of one with monsters living in the walls."
"And I thought I'd be carrying out a lot more assassinations the old-fashioned way," Daniel said with a shrug of his shoulders, "instead of just summoning monsters at the push of a button. C'est la vie."
He turned to another screen, where the light from Ashley's phone was cutting through the darkness.
"Speaking of button pushes and monsters. How much of a head start do you think we should give our intrepid thirty-somethings?"