Resident Evil:
The Whole Story.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Billy was so warm that he almost felt as though he could keep his eyes shut and go back to sleep, he let out a contented hum and almost feel asleep but the bed he was resting on was too hard, he had rested on bunks and hard ground when he had been a marine but whatever he was laying on at the moment was too uncomfortable even for him.
He tried to shift on to his side but as he did, pain shoot all the way through him and he opened his eyes with a gasp, tears running down his cheeks either from the pain or from the thick smoke that almost seemed to be chocking all the air out of his lungs, he tried to cough, tried to get any air to come into his lungs at all but there was none to have, when he tried to breath his throat felt like something was tearing it up, like he has swallowed glass.
He pushed himself up and glanced around the burning room, he couldn't make out anything at all. The smoke was so thick that it almost looked like it was night, but there were stars as well, bright little orange ones fluttering up into the darkness. He tried to stumble forward, and nearly tripped over something that he couldn't see. Something that had let out a whimper of pain.
Billy glanced down and could almost make out the outline of a body on the floor, if it hadn't been for the noise it had made then he would have assumed it was dead. How had they ended up here? Both of them completely knocked out in a room that was almost completely on fire? At any rate, it didn't matter. What did matter was that he got them out before they both succumbed to smoke inhalation.
He bent down and picked the person up, whoever they were they were light, Billy was not a small man and he had often been able to carry men similar in size to him while they had been carrying tons of equipment and dressed in heavy bullet proof vests. This person was almost as light as a child but they were too tall to be a child, he quickly throw them over his shoulder and glanced around the smoke filled room.
He had to get them out of her, he already felt light headed. He took unsure, unsteady steps forward. Something blunt pressed into him and he could almost feel something that felt like leather, it was an armrest. There was a chair in front of him, and if Billy tried he could almost see what looked like glass in front of him. There was a window.
There was no time to truly stop and think of a plan, he had to get them both out as soon as he could. He rested the body on the ground for a moment, it let out a whimper as he set the body down on the ground and then he looked back up at the windows. He couldn't see out of them, the smoke was too thick, he couldn't even see if the glass was broken or not.
He scrambled around the surface in front of him, it felt like some sort of console, he nearly cut the skin of his palms open more than once as he searched for something that he could pick up but eventually he ran his fingers over what felt like a leaver that was loose from the rest of the console and he picked it up, pulling his arm back and pitching the leaver towards the window, he didn't hear the sound of any glass breaking so he had to assume that whatever vehicle they were in, it's windows had broken when it had crashed.
His head was starting to feel lighter and lighter, like he was going to start floating any minute. He scrambled to pick the body up and flung them over his shoulder and climbed atop the console, he nearly lost his balance from where the surface had been caved in like something had hit it with a great deal of force but he had managed to find his balanced and half crawled, half hopped to reach the broken window, he adjusted the body so it wasn't laying over his shoulder and instead tucked it close to his chest before he rolled them out of the window, praying silently that there was going to be something soft at the bottom to break the fall.
Sadly, it proved to be a vain hope. His back met the hard ground and it sent a painful spasm through his entire body, so sudden and so violent that all of the breath that he had left in his lungs left him in a violent shudder. It seemed as though whoever was on top of him felt it as well as they let out another whimper, though they had been shielded from the worst of the fall.
Billy had no idea how long they laid there together, he had no strength in him to move. His entire body felt like it was being weigh down by cinder blocks, a heaviness in all of his muscles. After a few moments however, the heaviness seemed to abate and Billy realised he could do something that he couldn't do before. He could actually breath.
Not too heavily and not too fast and there was still smoke filling the air but there was air to be had amongst all of the smoke as well. The air was uncomfortably warm however and it was still hard to breath, but the light headiness was slowly starting to fade away. Though how he had gotten here was a complete mystery to him, he knew his name, that he was in the military but everything of the past few hours had just been wiped away.
The last thing he could remember, he had been woken up in his holding cell and was being dragged out into the cold morning air. He had still been half asleep when they shoved him into the back of the jeep and he was fairly sure that he had slept for most of the journey. But after he had fallen asleep again, he didn't remember anything else.
Whatever vehicle they had been in, it certainly wasn't a jeep and there was no sign of his guards anywhere. Billy groaned and shifted the still unconscious body off of him, wondering what it would take to wake them up, and got too his feet. There wasn't a lot of light, wherever they were. The little amount of light that there was, was coming from the fires.
There were burning dimly, most of them were already dying and Billy had to wonder how long they had been burning, he supposed it didn't matter. Billy turned around to see what it was that he had actually climbed out of. He almost feel backwards when he saw the train, it was a huge beast of a thing with half of having torn into the wall of the tunnel, hundreds of bricks laid scattered among the floor along with grey dust.
He had been in a train crash and he had no idea how it had happened, he couldn't remember going on a train. The transport to the other base where he was going to die was only going to be a long and uncomfortable drive, he would have remembered getting on a train. He was sure enough of that if nothing else.
Another moan from the body at his feet made him look down and due to the flickering orange light of the flames, he could finally make out some features. It was a woman, and a young one at that. She looked like she was fresh out of collage with aurban hair, more brown than red and cut close to the skull and her features looked delicate, almost like a doll's.
And that made it all the odder when he noticed that she was dressed in a full green bodysuit with a white bullet proof vest over it which honestly looked like it weighed more than she did. She wore a belt with a holster on it but there was no gun, but it was as clear as sign as any that she belonged to some sort of law enforcement.
There were two pouches hanging off of her hip and Billy knelt down next to her and opened them, looking for any supplies. It seemed like stuff most police officers would carry, a pair of handcuffs, a box of finger print powder and finally what looked like some kind of wallet. He opened and found that it was actually an ID card holder.
Sliding the ID card out of it's little pouch, Billy began to read what was printed on to it in raised letters. Apparently, the woman lying in front of him was Officer Rebecca Chambers of the Raccoon City Police Department, a member of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service and she was only twenty-two years old. Kid had to be smart, to get into a task force at so young.
But why was she here, Raccoon City was one of the cities in the wilderness that made up the Arklay Region but it was far out of the way of their trip, Ragathon was beyond the Arklay Mountain Range, near the city of Hardvardville. Maybe he had fallen asleep and they had boarded a train and while he had been asleep it had crashed and they had sent the Raccoon Police force as a part of a rescue mission, it wasn't impossible, it wasn't like they had told him the exact details of his prison escort.
But as he stood there, trying to puzzle out how he had gotten here and what had happened to his guards, it all came rushing back to him like a lightning bolt stricking out of the blue. The drive through the dark woods, the hound from hell that had leapt at the driver and tore at his throat and had caused them go out of control, they had struck a tree and Billy had been sent flying and he had somehow, miraculously not broken any of his bones, walking away with a bruised wrist as the worst of his injuries.
The other guard hadn't been so lucky, Billy had taken his gun and put him out of his misery, there wasn't anything else he could do. And then, the rest of the monster dogs had come for him and he had to run for it. When he had seen the train through the trees, he thought he had been saved but he had learned his lesson soon enough, the train was full of dead people. Only problem was, they didn't actually stay that way.
He had managed to hide himself for a while, the hours had slipped away like seconds and eventually he came to understand that he couldn't stay there, there were too many for him to shoot through but he had managed to make it up to the upper level of one of the train cars and had been trying to get a window open. Then, while he had been working, he had heard the gunshots from below and had almost convinced himself that a rescue party had come for him.
Sadly, it seemed that he had been doing most of the rescuing. And it hadn't worked out in his favour, both of them had been cops and the male one, one who had a face which even a mother would have a hard time loving, had recognised him and had handcuffed him and then the train had started up once again.
After that, everything was kind of fragment and came to him in quick flashes, they had climbed into a shaft and had crawled through the roof of the car for a time before they got out and made their way to the front of the train. They had to stop it from reaching the city, to stop the monsters that inhabited every single inch of the train from spreading themselves and making more of them.
But the controls had been destroyed, who ever had set the train in motion had wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be stopped. The male cop, Edward, that was his name or at least that was what Rebecca had called him, had handcuffed him to one of the chairs and then had left Rebecca to watch over him while he taken her gun with him to fight his way to the back car to see it he could trigger the emergency brake.
But once he had gone, the train had started to go faster and faster and then...the train must have derail just as they entered the tunnel, they had to be in a tunnel after all. He and Rebecca must have been knocked out, Billy glanced down at his hands, the handcuffs had been broken open and was hanging from on of his wrists while the other was bruised and bloody.
It seemed that someone liked him, there was two major accidents he had walked away from with only a few scratches and bruises to his name. That, or someone wanted to see him suffer before he died. Regardless, he had to get out of here as soon as he could. He didn't like the stability of this tunnel after a train had crashed into it and it was possible that some of the zombies had managed to survive the crash as well.
Rebecca let out a groan on the ground and Billy knew that he couldn't leave her, she might be a cop and would try and arrest him but he wasn't a murderer. He wasn't going to leave her to die. He reached down and picked up her spare set of handcuffs and tossed them away before he knelt down next to her and place his hand on her shoulder and began to shake her. "Hey, get up. We have to get moving."
Rebecca's eyes fluttered open and her green irises went wide when she saw him kneeling over her, she rolled away from him and then pushed herself backwards on her hands while her head went back and forth, if Billy had to guess then she was looking for the revolver that Edward had given her but she wouldn't have much look. It must have still been in the train somewhere.
Not like that seemed to matter much to her, her hand found a brick and tossed it in his direction and Billy had to dodge to the side to avoid it hitting him, the brick hit the train with a clanging sound and by the time Billy had turned around, Rebecca had already picked up another brick and was putting as much distance between the two of them as she possibly could, clearly ready to toss the brick at him if he made a move. "You stay away from me, I mean it! Don't you move!"
Billy held up his hands in front of him and kept an eye on her, kid had been through a deal so far and it was clear to him that she wasn't far away from snapping, one wrong word might set her off. "Look, I am not going to hurt you. I promise, look. We survived that crash, okay the train stopped but we could still be miles away from any city or town and we aren't safe. We're going to need to work together if we are going to get out of here. Okay?"
He was fairly sure that his words didn't have much of an effect on her one way or the other, she just stood there. Clutching her brick even more tightly as though it would be enough to keep her safe. Billy glanced up at the tunnel roof and frowned, even through the smoke he could see the stress cracks. They had to go and they had to go now.
He opened his mouth to speak again but before he could say anything, a low wet moan filled the air and it was coming from behind him. Billy turned and watched as from behind the wreckage of the train, a broad shoulder man pushed his way forward, dragging his right leg behind him. One of his eyes was red, filled with blood and his other was milky pale white.
His dirty blond hair had been burnt away in some places and singed black in others, but even with all of that Billy recognised him. He took a step back as he heard Rebecca begin to approach, hearing her speak. She sounded like she was going to break into tears. "Edward?"
The cop let out another groan and began to shuffle towards them slightly faster than he had been, his mouth opened and Billy noticed that some of his cheek had been torn away and he was fairly sure that he could make out teeth marks in the flesh. They had to go, they had to go right now. He tugged on Rebecca's arm and began to pull her away from the wreckage and down the tunnel, he didn't think he had ever been more grateful for anything when she didn't fight him.
In the end though, it seemed as though his blessings had finally decided to run out. They had only just made it about fifty steps away from the wreckage when an ominous groaning filled his ears and the roof of the tunnel gave ways, tons of dust and rock and cement came running down and Billy only just managed to throw the both of them out of the way before they got buried in it.
Billy glanced up and saw that in that time, the walking corpse that had been Rebecca's superior officer had been gaining on them and another dozen or so lumbering shapes, cast in darkness by the burning wreckage of train, were following after him. They couldn't go forward and they couldn't go back. They were completely trapped and there was nothing they could do.
He heard Rebecca let out a moan and he began to scan the tunnel again, there had to be another way out. Billy picked up a brick from the rubble and threw it at Edward's head, more out of defiance than anything else but it did cause his head to snap back and stumble back a few steps. Rebecca began to throw bricks as well, anything to buy them a few more seconds, sobbing as she did so.
When Billy picked up his next brick and drew it back to throw it, that was when he saw it. There was a door in the wall, he didn't want to consider what the chances were that it was locked but it was a chance at survival. He reached around and grabbed Rebecca by the wrist and pulled her up and dragged her, Edward reached out for them as they ran past him, his pale stiff fingers brushing over his shoulder.
Billy grabbed hold of the door and pulled, the hinges of the door let out a shriek of protest as he pulled and it took Rebecca helping him but they managed to get it open just wide enough for Rebecca to slip in and push from the other side as Billy pulled. The moans of the dead were getting closer and closer and Billy didn't know what was causing him to sweet more, them or the flames.
They had just managed to get the door open when Billy had to duck to stop one of them from grabbing him and he almost threw himself through the open door, slamming it shut behind him. He could still hear them, moaning. He was sure they sound disappointed at realising that they had missed out on a meal, there hands scratching at the rusted metal but they didn't have the brain to work out how to pull on the handle. They were safe enough, for the moment.
Rebecca had stepped away from him and moved further down the passage, her face buried in her hands. She wasn't sobbing but given by the way her shoulders were shaking, she wasn't far from falling into a sobbing fit. Billy let out a sigh and stepped towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Literally as soon as he had touched, she spun around and backed away from him. There was grief in her eyes, and there was rage as well. "Don't touch me, don't you even dare."
Billy let out another sigh and rubbed at his eyes, the smoke from the train had made them burn. "Fair enough, Officer Chambers. What do you suggest that we do now?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the door. "Can't go back out there, neither of us are armed and we have no idea where exactly we are, what do you suggest we do?"
Rebecca stared at him for a long moment before she crossed her arms. "Alright, neither of us are armed. You're right, you were right. We aren't going to survive this if we don't work together. So I am willing to work with you, but don't forget that I am still a cop and you are still my prisoner, if you try anything funny I will deal with you however I have got to. Got it?"
He wanted to scream at her that he wasn't a criminal, wasn't a murderer, Billy was bigger than her. If he was what everyone believed, then he could just tackle her, beat her to death and get out while there was still time and disappear into the wilderness and leave the rest of this nightmare behind but he knew that he had to pick his battles, so all he did was nod.
Rebecca let out a sigh and then gave a nod herself and move to the side of the passage. "After you."
"Hoping that if something jumps out of the dark that it will be so busy eating me that you can make a run for it?"
"You're a big guy, sure you'll be able to deal with anything that pops out. And if not, yeah. Looks like there's a lot you, could make a great distraction while I run for it."
"Funny."
"I thought so."
The fell into silence then as they walked into the passage, nothing leapt out of them but that almost made it worse. The tunnel never turned but every little while there was a small set of concert steps that they had to climb before they could keep going. Billy had been trained for endurance but it was a long hike and it was staring to wind him.
Rebecca wasn't doing too bad when it came to keeping up however, or might just have been that she was doing her best to not let it show. Not let the criminal sense any weakness. Whatever it was, kid was certainly tougher than she looked. Which to be honest, was saying a lot as she looked like a strong breeze would carry her off if she wasn't careful.
Eventually, they came to the end of the passage but there wasn't a door waiting for them. There was a metal ladder that ended in a metal hatch. Billy took hold of the rungs and began to climb. He pushed at the hatched and it budged ever so slightly, he pushed on it again and again until soon enough he was hammering on it and with a great heave of effort, hatch swung open.
Billy pulled himself up and turned round to help Rebecca up before he took any real notice of their surroundings. For a moment, Billy wondered if he was dreaming again because they seemed to have walked into a mansion from out of a gothic fairy tale instead of a zombie horror story. The floors were marble, as was the other side of the hatch, a long red carpet crept from the two front double doors up the stairs to a landing where a great oil portrait of a man was staring down at them, judgement in his eyes.
Billy knew they should have gone for the doors, should have gone outside and see if they could find out where they were or with luck maybe even find a car with a full tank of gas but something drew him towards the steps, Rebecca was following him. Billy stood up to the portrait of the man who looked to be in his late sixties at least, with snow white hair and a lined face.
Underneath the portrait was a golden plaque which read. "Doctor James Marcus, Director of the Umbrella Management Training Facility. One of the three original founding members of the Umbrella Corporation"
"Umbrella..." Rebecca muttered to herself as she read the words and if Billy had to guess, she was thinking the same thing that he was.
Umbrella had something to do with this, with all of this.
End of chapter Thirty-Two.
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With much love,
DiscordantSymphony
