The Long Dark
III.
Resident Evil
Jill glanced down the other side of the cavern. What else waited in the long dark? What horrors had been hidden here for eons? The plagas they'd seen in Spain were nothing compared to this. Was this what else had waited in those caves in Spain?
Kevin breathed, "The Russians unloading Alaska for a song makes a little more sense now."
Shenmei mused, "They knew. They handed it over because they knew. But..."
She trailed off, and Leon finished, "Yeah. I think we can assume they took something for themselves before they just foisted this nightmare off on the U.S. There's a good chance what the Castellans had in Spain came from it."
Jill whispered, "...we're standing in the beginning."
He glanced at her, and she added, "We're standing in the source."
He shook his head and grumbled, "...and there's not a damn thing we can do about it."
Kevin shook his head as Rebecca joined them in the cavern. "We burn it down, right? Or blow it up?"
Rebecca commented, "If we do that, we could simply release whatever is in here. What was found in the lake up there was waiting to simply unfreeze. If we set fire to this place, we may do just that."
Kevin whispered, "It's all alive, right? In the ice, just sleeping. It's alive and just...floating there."
Jill answered, "We should go back." When they all looked at her, she added, "We should go back. Whatever is down here...if it unthaws...we can't hold out against it. We all know that, right?"
Rebecca shook her head, "We have to go on. We have to. There might be something that allows us to simply...dismantle what they've done. A core control? Answers on how to eradicate them without releasing them? Something."
Leon hefted his M4 and had everyone doing the same. "So, we keep going."
Shenmei nodded. Kevin looked nervous as hell but added his nod. Jill remarked, "You're right. You're right, and I'm wrong. We have to. We need to know what we're dealing with in its entirety here. Rebecca?"
Rebecca agreed quietly, "If there was some kind of civilization or early evidence of mutation, we need to find it. If you're right and this is the source, finding the root might help us determine how to stop it before it gets warm enough to melt."
Kevin muttered, "Let's hear it for global warming. Forget the ozone layer, man; this shit gets loose; we're talking about death in a way nobody expected."
In agreement, they kept going.
The cave elongated, the horrors continued, things frozen in time that should have never existed. Things poised to emerge from a cave to slaughter the world. It was a tense breath before a dive into darkness.
As they walked, Kevin leaned in a little and stated, "We've met before."
Jill glanced up at him, eyes wide. She tilted her head, and he added, "In Raccoon City about a thousand years ago."
The second he said it, it clicked into place. Her eyes twinkled, "Ah...the guy who probably put egg salad in all the toilets during a training exercise and clogged the pipes so bad the place smelled like fart for weeks."
Kevin grinned cheekily, "Allegedly. I allegedly did that."
"You tried out for S.T.A.R.S." She mused, and he flushed a little.
"Twice - in fact. Got shot down both times."
Her head tilted again. "Hmm. I read the report. You wanna know why?"
His beard bobbled as he chuckled, "Oh, I know why. I don't respond well to authority."
"Mmm. You told Captain Wesker he looked like a reject from Top Gun."
He smirked a little. "He did. Sunglasses inside? Seriously? Who does that?"
She gave him a warm look and returned, "Bad guys. Who else?"
He chuckled. They stopped laughing when they turned the corner in the cave and found a pool of freezing water waiting for them. With a sigh, Jill complained, "I was hoping to avoid spelunking."
There was no avoiding it.
With a sigh, Kevin remarked, "I'm gonna need Uncle Sam to pay for more than the steak and whiskey I'm gonna get when this is over, Kennedy. I'm gonna need him to foot the bill on a beautiful woman willing to do things to my body - which will hopefully not be missing important pieces to frost bite."
Leon returned quietly, "What do you call a cold hooker?"
Without missing a beat, Jill answered, "A frostitute."
As she went toward the girl side of the cave to change, Kevin mused, "...Hot and graced with a good sense of humor..." After a moment, he added, "Dibs."
Leon gave him an amused glance, "You can't call dibs on a person."
"No? I did. It's done. Sorry, guy. Better luck next time. Dibs." After careful consideration, he amended, "Also dibs on the scientist."
This just made Leon laugh. "You wanna call dibs on anything with breasts?"
"Depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Anything aquatic is probably all yours."
"Gee, thanks."
Kevin considered and then added, "Besides mermaids...any mermaids? Dibs."
Leon's chuckle sounded soft in the icy cave.
They separated to change into wet suits with as much privacy as possible. Rebecca huddled behind a wall of ice, changing quickly. She squeaked. She complained as her foot got stuck in the tight fabric. She hobbled.
Jill snuck a look toward the far corner where the men were changing. Kevin was half zipped into his suit with his burly chest left bare as he wedged his feet into his waterproof boots. He was hairy enough to make it enjoyable. He had a tattoo looped around his left biceps that appeared Celtic in design.
Leon had his back to them. The broad expanse was lovely, smooth, and sprinkled with a few errant scars. When he turned to poke his arms into his suit, his chest was sparsely graced with enough hair to remind you the pretty package was entirely male. When he shifted, she caught sight of a tattoo on the inside of his left forearm. She couldn't make it out in the light to determine was it was.
Jill turned back to finish zipping up her suit and securing her holster to her body. When they were all as good as they would get, they stood at the water's edge and waited to see who'd take the plunge first.
It was like a gathering of Power Rangers in its way. Jill in blue, Rebecca in red, Shenmei in yellow, Leon in black, Kevin in orange. They each wore fitted wet jackets and mourned their coats.
Shenmei mused, "The gear is safe, right?"
Rebecca nodded, "Waterproof for a reason. Everything is safer than we are."
Goddamn, that was a true statement.
Being brave, Leon set foot in the water first. He instructed as the ice-cold liquid sloshed, "Steady and stay together. Everybody have a tank in case we have to submerge?"
Nods of assent accompanied him as he went waist-deep in the water and floated to the mouth of the opening below the surface. His gloved hands touched the ice as he blew out a breath and went under. The cold closed around him like an arctic hug.
He let the shock hit the center of his body, absorbed it, and felt along the ceiling until it gave way and allowed him to rise into an opening. He thrust his wet hair back from his face and scanned as the others joined him. The outcropping was small - perhaps ten feet across- and his foot brushed what felt like a ledge beneath him.
He glanced down, and Jill remarked, "It's stairs."
He looked at her, and she nodded, "Yeah. We gotta go down."
The symbolism of that statement wasn't lost on anyone.
Leon motorboated his lips and advised, "Ok. Two by two where we can. Stay close. Stay careful. Masks on."
They put on their wetsuit hoods and secured their scuba gear to their faces—the only way to know who was who was by color. Leon went under, Jill by his side, and she guided him toward the stairs. They angled down them, the harsh whoosh of air in his ears now loud and ominous.
The lights bobbled in the water as it darkened. It was suddenly tunnel vision with each other, those bouncing lights, and breathing. A clear visual was impossible as they moved. Jill swam smooth and easy, her legs and arms pumping. He kept pace with her until they reached a small opening.
She gestured, and he went first, swimming into the hole and letting it close around him as he went. Claustrophobia tried to claim him but was easily warded off as he swam. He spoke into the mask, "Everybody ok?"
Kevin came back, voice tinny and distant, "Roger."
Shenmei answered, "Roger."
Rebecca returned, "Thumbs-up."
And made him smile.
His watch beeped to tell him they were approaching a point on the map. He pushed free of the hole and floated. Jill bumped into his back and made an oomph noise as she wondered, "Wha-"
She stopped. She floated. She stared.
He was right there with her.
As each person emerged behind them, they each froze, stared, and gaped.
High up in the water, they could glimpse a village made entirely of ice. Igloos and huts carved from the very thing that made the walls waited, lit by some kind of light without origin. The cave glittered around it like diamonds in the sun.
Leon swam up, the M4 smacking against his back as he went, the vest strapped to his chest under the wet jacket reminding him he was armed. He was. He was ok.
He broke the surface with Jill right behind him. They found the stairs and started up. Water sloshed and slapped gently at the shore.
As he removed his scuba gear from his face, Jill commented, "Someone made a whole goddamn town here."
Terrifying.
Leon let the water drip off his gear as he turned, the M4 ready in his hands. Jill cleared the first igloo while Shenmei and Kevin took the next two. There were at least twelve dwellings. Inside each was evidence of civilization, but none they'd ever seen. Man before man, it seemed, when things were about fire and survival.
Homo erectus, no doubt, since, as far as anyone knew - they were the first of their kind to use fire.
But there were things in this cave in no part of documented history, and the root of it was layered in evil.
Leon ducked into an igloo and poked a toe at the ramshackle assembly of frozen blankets on the floor. Something stirred, and his gun zipped over at it as it trembled. He nearly fired before a bird fluttered and took flight, squawking and zipping out the door behind him.
He eased off the trigger and turned to find Jill watching him. She gestured with her head, and he followed her. She led him into another igloo and used her gun to signal toward the corner. Lying there covered in ice crystals, three eggs sat. He glanced at her, and she mused, "Could be some kind of big ass dead bird, right?"
"What? Ancient man making scrambled Magnoavipes denaliensis?"
Jill tilted her head, and he informed, "...ancient bird."
She twitched her lips, and he confessed, "Yeah, gotta love that big brain of mine. Sadly, it doesn't make sense out of the madness. Get Chambers. Maybe she knows if these are reptilian or avian."
Jill answered this by pulling something off her hip and aiming it at the eggs. He narrowed his eyes, and she remarked, "Genesis - helps us determine crazy shit in the field."
Leon studied it until she handed it over. He aimed it at the eggs and watched the screen beep and flash. It worked like a blueprint or something. It read the ambient temperature and correlated probabilities, and analyzed situational factors. It was brilliant.
It also beeped twice to let him know Jill was close by. He turned it on her, and it allowed him to know she was cold - body temp hanging just above 97 degrees with a heart rate of 88 bpm. It showed the blood flow from her feet to her heart and out toward her extremities. It let him know she was five foot six and one hundred and twenty pounds. Curious, he touched her arm, looking at the machine, and her heart rate spiked to 93 bpm.
Leon glanced up at her and felt his mouth twitch.
She gave him a cool look and mused, "Finished playing with my toys?"
He considered and teased, "Can I keep it, Mom?"
She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Keep it. Rebecca has another."
She went out of the igloo, and Rebecca replaced her. The girl scientist got to work, using weird machines and studying data. She happily gave Leon a spare Genesis for his use and advised, "Click the side button to upload what you find to the network."
He gave her a studying glance. "You want me to share what I find with the B.S.A.A.?"
"Of course," She smiled happily, "We're in this together, right?"
They were. But he would be damn careful about anything he uploaded to anyone here.
A set of doors was built into the wall at the far side of the little village. Again, it was well beyond what ancient man could erect. It was intricate. It was laced with swirling designs and cave drawings depicting faces with arms lifted in pious prayer to something that floated down into their open mouths.
Shenmei told Leon, "It's locked tight. We can't get it to budge."
Kevin mused, "...we don't actually have to go in there, right? Even if we could, we won't. Surely."
Leon touched the door in answer. It shivered. It trembled and rained down fat chunks of ice that had them backing off. The doors parted and revealed darkness beyond.
Shenmei was looking at Leon with something he didn't quite like. Kevin whistled, "Ok...so much for cowardice. Onward through the fog, right?"
Leon aimed the Genesis through the opening, letting it beep happily at him. The brief readout said nothing was waiting to kill them beyond the doors. At least, not right that second.
He told them, "Helmets. Now."
Everybody put the bulky gear on their heads and flipped on thermal imaging. It was heavy and cumbersome, but it just might save their lives if something came at them they couldn't see.
Jill and Rebecca joined them on the landing as he advised, "Same pattern - two by two. Guns ready. Remember, we're in a damn ice cave. Try not to cause an avalanche."
Rebecca murmured, "An avalanche is snow down a sharp slope."
Leon gave her a bemused expression. Kevin coughed on a short laugh. She squeaked, "...sorry. Just sayin."
Leon drawled, "Try not to bring the ice crashing around us, Ryman."
Kevin snorted and muttered, "Why me?"
Shenmei returned, "It's always you."
He gave her the finger. She rolled her eyes. Jill and Leon eased through with Rebecca between them and Shenmei and Kevin bringing up the rear.
When the first sound reached them, they were barely three steps into a beautifully carved cave. It was subtle. Not a roar, not exactly, more like a song. It trembled through the air musically.
Jill glanced at his face, Leon's eyes jerked above her head, and he dove at her. She let him take her with him to the floor without protest. They slid, and a claw passed an inch from his left ear.
It got his helmet and jerked it clean in a single swipe.
So much for trying to be prepared.
Just like that - there were no more jokes.
The ceiling was littered with things that should have been frozen where they clung. They were stuck to the ice with suckers and sneers and snarling sounds. They looked almost like birds with wings and tentacles over beak-like faces with dripping razors for teeth. Several had tentacles exploding out of eye sockets. Their scaly hides and warbling cries echoed around the ice as Leon roared, "Retreat! RETREAT!"
Too late.
The doors sealed shut as the dark closed around them.
And there was no more running.
Muzzle flashes in the darkness. Lights bobbling. Things screaming. A flash of a face with the boom of a weapon. A fist here. A kick there. A gasp followed. It was rolling and running and ducking and fighting.
There was no flee.
Jill felt someone throw her forward. She rolled, she fired, she ducked and missed losing her head. She kicked, and something squealed. She scrambled, and Leon gripped her from the ground to sling her behind him. His gun went off, and he grunted, tossed into her until they went down in a heap.
She rolled atop him, angled over his body, and shot the thing advancing to finish the job.
He fired from his back at the one just beyond it.
Rebecca shouted as she was plucked up and carried toward the ceiling as something flapped. He shot the damn thing from his back on the floor like it was nothing.
Kevin finished it off with a shot to the face. He leaped, slid, and caught Rebecca when she plummeted to the floor. Shenmei was in a pickle between the two, her big gun flashing brilliantly. One slashed at her, and she rolled to the side, smacked into the second one, and Leon blasted its face away in a splatter of gore from a kneeling position.
There was a whistling noise, and Jill felt her vest take a hit that slung her forward. She hit her hands and knees, crawled, and rolled to her back. A talon stuck out of her side, stopped by plating and sheer luck.
Something slithered near her face, and she gasped, rolling away as it whipped wildly and pursued her. She kicked it with her boot, watched it fly, and splatted against the wall. Her heart kicked up as she shouted, "Leon! There's plagas! Everywhere!"
She kicked his helmet across the floor to him. He jammed it on his head and clearly saw what she meant. Everywhere. Walls. Floor. Swirling, snarling, slopping along like maggots on fresh garbage.
There was only one word for it - infestation.
Just like that - he dropped the thing in his hand. The light burst, showering them in a bright flurry of white, leaving them blinded. There was a roar, and things started to pop like balloons. Jill shouted, "Flashbangs! If you have them, throw one now!"
Another went off, and the roar continued. Shenmei tackled Jill, and they fell in a heap as something zipped over their heads. The pretty Asian dragged Jill back and threw the grenade in her hand. It burst. The light was bright again, the air acrid, and silence followed.
Things plopped. They splatted. They thunked wetly.
The music filled the room where they hovered, hunkered, and relearned how to breathe.
The room was empty of heat signatures save for their own now.
Quietly, Kevin breathed, "...good to know light still works."
The music played around them, sounding ominous and surreal. It tinkled like crystals on a windchime.
Leon demanded softly, "Sound off. Everybody ok?"
The plop plop plop of falling corpses punctuated each response. Everybody was alive. He added, "Anybody wounded?"
To which Kevin returned, "Just my ego."
Rebecca answered, "I've got a decent cut on my arm, but it seems shallow."
Jill and Shenmei looked at each other in the low light as Shenmei added, "I'm fine. Valentine is bleeding on her face."
Jill shook her head, "I'm fine. It's from the helmet. It jabbed me during the fall."
They met in the center of the room. Rebecca let Kevin take her arm and turn it into the light from his helmet. He made a low hiss and had her smiling as she told him, "Really, I'm fine. You saved my life."
He rolled his eyes, "No hero worship, scientist. I'll break your heart. Keep it professional."
She laughed a little.
Shenmei took Jill's helmet off and studied her forehead. Something on her face made Jill curious about Leon's statement about her being the other woman's type. Jill figured he wasn't entirely wrong when Shenmei cleaned the blood off her forehead. The pretty agent murmured, "Looks okay. You dizzy at all?"
Jill smiled at her, "I'm fine. I promise."
Shenmei pressed the gauze to Jill's forehead anyway and encouraged, "Let me know if you need to lean on me, ok?"
Kevin bobbled his brows behind Shenmei's back and had Jill shaking her head. "Thank you. I'm ok for now."
Leon was crouched around some corpses studying them. When Jill joined him, he glanced at her, "How?"
She shook her head, "I don't know. We don't know enough about the goddamn parasites down here to make an intelligent guess."
"Rebecca?"
The girl scientist crouched beside him and mused, "I honestly don't know. They shouldn't be...if they're ancient...how are they still alive? Age progression...it's not possible."
Without a tone of humor, Kevin suggested, "Aliens?"
Shenmei gave him a dirty look, and Kevin lifted his hands, "Don't give me the stink eye, sweetheart. I'm serious as a fart in church here."
Rebecca rose and used her Genesis to scan the corpse at her feet. "Don't completely discount him either. Did they come from outer space? No. Does that mean they aren't alien in nature? Nope. Alien doesn't necessarily mean extraterrestrial. It just means foreign to the terrain."
Kevin gave Shenmei a look that clearly said - I told you so.
Leon glanced into the chamber. "Forward. Backs out, so forward it is."
They all looked forward like they'd rather do anything but keep going.
But that was the job. It was what they were here for. Forward unto death.
Softly, Kevin mused, "I should have been a plumber."
Shenmei simply returned, "You've got the hairy ass crack for it."
And Leon quipped, "Also the penchant to end up wrist-deep in shit."
Without missing a beat, Rebecca teased, "Wrist? This is balls deep, buddy."
Kevin chuckled. Leon glanced at Jill and sighed, "How does this end?"
An old question between them. She returned his look and said, "With all of us...alive."
But there was no promise of that. No guarantee.
Just the long dark...and the fear that waited within.