A/N:
evolution-500-Not bad, but it could use some work. Some of the dialogue is kind of unnatural, plus there are some grammatical errors. Also, "G" is short for "Golgotha", not "Goliath".
Finally, some valid criticism! Pretty useful, too. It might be because I'm an unnatural dude with a dialogue problem. Maybe I was trying to hard to catch that Resident Evil camp, ya know? I guess I missed the grammar errors. Thanks for the help, Grammerly. Seriously? Why did I think it was Goliath? I swear I heard it somewhere. Maybe it was a Mandola Effect on my part. Watching a RE video on YouTube, heard the guy say what the G in G-Virus stood for, and heard Goliath instead of Golgotha. Should have just looked it up myself. Thanks, pal. I'll have to fix that later.
The three were walking through the empty halls before Corey stopped, the other two doing the same. They stopped to listen as to why he did so before they heard a groan.
Corey leaned on the wall and carefully shimmed at the end and looked down the hall. He held up one finger. Then two. Then four.
Devlin looked at Natalie, shaking his head, her nodding in agreement. She then had a looked of realization and took out her phone, looking at the map. She smiled and gave a thumbs up before pointing forward and pointed toward the right hall, Devlin nodding in understanding.
The three then squatted down, trying to carefully and quietly sneak past the zombies. Devlin's lab coat was almost seen when a zombie turned toward the hall, but it didn't spot him. The three then stood up and walked quickly down the hall, almost a quiet jog before reaching the hall.
"Phew," Devlin went quietly.
"This is more stressful than I thought," Corey said.
"Hey, at least you and Nat know how to throw a decent punch."
"And that is why I offered to teach you," Nat said with half-lidded eyes.
"For ten bucks," Devlin went.
"Your point," she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Corey shook his head with a small smile and a roll of his eyes before he saw something. His eyes widened. "Oh, shit."
"What," Devlin asked before looking behind him, Nat looking with him.
"Oh, fuck," the two said in perfect unison.
An infected Doberman was growling at them before it snarled.
"RUN," Corey yelled, the three running.
The dog chased after them, Devlin looking back to see it was already about to reach them. Throwing caution to the wind, Devlin slid to a halt and swung with all his might, slamming his steel briefcase into the side of the zombie's head, a sickening squelch being heard. Corey and Natalie looked to see that he had killed the dog.
Devlin held up his briefcase, seeing the blood dripping off the corner. "Dayum."
"The R-Virus!" He looked back at Natalie. "Is it alright?!"
Devlin opened the case to see that it was just fine. "Not even a scratch."
"We'd better be careful. Without that, we're dead," Corey said.
"Without the Armory, we're dead. Let's go," Natalie said as she ran, the men following her.
It didn't take them long to the armory, Natalie grabbing the handle. However, she couldn't open it. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK! OF COURSE, IT'S LOCKED!" She looked at the scanner and tried to use her card.
ACCESS DENIED.
"DAMMIT!" She sighed. "I don't suppose either of you has clearance?"
"Oh, right," Devlin went as he facepalmed. "No way they'd give scientists access to security weapons. . . Time for a longshot," Devlin said as he walked up to the scanner and used his briefcase to smash the face off.
"You're having way too much fun doing that," Natalie said in annoyance.
Devlin just shrugged before he began to mess with the wires.
"Are you trying to hotwire the door? You really think that's gonna work," Corey asked.
"No idea, but if you have one, I'm open to suggestions."
"Here's a suggestion: you might wanna hurry," Natalie said.
"I'm going to regret asking why, aren't I?"
"Yes. Especially when you look to your right."
Devlin looked to see security personnel lumbering and limping toward them. About five in total.
"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! WORKING UNDER PRESSURE ISN'T A GOOD IDEA," Devlin went as he tried to find the right wires.
"Not a luxury you have, Dev! Hurry up," Corey went.
SPARK. "OW!"
The door opened.
"GO, GO, GO," Corey went as he rushed into the room, Natalie following him, with Devlin entering last as a zombie almost grabbed him. Devlin slammed the door shut, the door already being pounded on by the zombies.
"How long you think that's gonna hold," Devlin asked.
"More than long enough for us to choose," Corey said.
Devlin looked behind him, his eyes widening before he whistled when he saw all the various weapons in the room. "And a very merry unbirthday to you as well," he said when he walked up next to his fellow survivors.
"Alice in Wonderland? Really," Natalie asked, her eyes not being taken off the weapons at all.
"Seems appropriate enough."
POUND.
"We might wanna choose our starter," Devlin said.
"Agreed," the couple said in perfect unison.
The first thing Devlin went for was the handguns. "Ooh, this won't slow me down. The Punisher handgun. The latest tech to make it cut through almost anything." Devlin then aimed at the door, seeing one of the zombie's heads through the window, and fired. The zombie's head flew back before the corpse fell to the ground. "Nice."
Corey then found a fully equipped TMP. "Alright. Alright. I'm starting to cook. Ooh, Striker shotgun. This will clear a crowd. Ooh, nice! A Killer7! Daddy like."
"A Magnum? You sure about that, Cor? Making bullets for that guy will be tough, even for us," Devlin asked.
"I got a machine gun and a shotgun. I should be just fine," Corey said as he holstered his magnum. "What about you? You're taking a sniper rifle."
"Sniper rifles are awesome. Besides, It'd probably be for the best to shoot those pricks from a safe distance, wouldn't you agree?"
"Eh, can't argue with you there. Don't forget to grab a knife."
"Way ahead of ya. Ooh, grenades. WAIT! IS THAT A GRENADE LAUNCHER WITH INCENDIARY ROUNDS?! HELL YEAH! IT AIN'T A FLAMETHROWER, BUT IT'S THE NEXT BEST THING!"
"Well, you two are having fun in the toy store," Natalie said.
Corey looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Babe, why are you just grabbing a Bolt Thrower?"
"If you're gonna grab a weapon, it might as well be one that has practically infinite ammo. A good shot with this will take most of those bastards down. And once it does, I can just yank my ol' arrow out of their pretty little heads."
"But is that all you're taking," Devlin asked.
"Hell no. What do I look like, an idiot? I found me some girls," Natalie said as she opened a case. She then took out what was inside and showed off a pair of metal gauntlets.
"Okay, I'm gonna say it: that's sexy," Corey said with a smirk.
Devlin, however, was staring at the gauntlets. "What in the-"
"You got something to say, Dev," Nat asked in an annoyed tone.
"That's my design."
The couple looked confused.
"I'm sorry," Nat went.
"The Advanced Multi-purpose Gauntlets. I was on the development team for an entire exo-suit with those being part of the puzzle. They're supposed to increase a human's strength to superpowered levels. Lifting a truck would be like lifting a wooden block with that. But that shouldn't be possible. My partner told me that we were scrapped from the project. It didn't bother me since I was placed in the R-Virus Research Division a day before, but how is it here?"
"Are you sure it's yours," Natalie asked.
Devlin walked up and gently grabbed her arm before turning it to see the bottom of the gauntlet. "Yup. This is the prototype I was working on. It has my signature."
Natalie looked to see a cursive D with a bat wing extended from it, Devlin's unique signature that he puts on his projects ever since he accidentally took Corey's work. Only a handful of people know about the signature. It was thanks to it that another scientist got fired after trying to take credit for Devlin and Corey's work when he was never even part of the project.
"I don't get it. How is a supposedly scrapped piece of tech in here? It's fully functioning, too."
"Dev," Corey began. "Who was your partner?"
"Hm? Uh, some guy. I can't remember his last name. Not sure I ever knew it. The first name starts with an A, though. Alfonse? Alanzo? Alfred?"
"ALFONSO?!"
"Yeah! That was his name. Wait, how did you- WHOA," Devlin went as Corey grabbed him by the collar.
"You worked with that asshole," Corey went through gritted teeth.
Devlin blinked before raising an eyebrow. "I feel like I'm missing a lot of contexts here."
"You don't know," Natalie asked. "Corey and Alfonso hate each other. They're cousins, but Alfonso has been harassing Corey for as long as he could remember. He stole money, items, and ideas from him. Broke his valuables. Lied through his teeth about him. Even went as far as ruining his marriage."
"COR! YOU WERE MARRIED?!"
"No. Thanks to Alfonso, I'm not," Corey growled as he turned from Devlin. "Fucker convinced my girl at the time I was cheating and had her cheat on me with HIM. Worst part is that she knew I hated him. Of all the people she could have cheated on me with, it had to be him."
". . . So basically, your first girlfriend was Nat's inferior in every possible way?"
"Huh?"
"Because let's face it, Nat wouldn't fall for a lie from your arch-enemy, dude."
"He's right," Nat said with a peace sign.
Corey sighed before looking at the gauntlets. "So, that asshat stole my best friend's work, eh?"
"Doesn't matter."
Corey looked at Devlin like he was an idiot. "How the hell does it not ma-"
Devlin then raised the suitcase. "The R-Virus is my magnum opus. Compared to this baby, Nat's wearing a Halloween prop."
Corey blinked before he laughed. "Good point. With that, you probably would have been promoted to executive officer. Alfonso would have been one of your bitches at that point."
"Ew. Maybe I'd just give you the credit. No way I'd wanna work with the execs."
"If it means having Alfonso beneath my boot, I wouldn't complain."
"Alright, enough of all that," Nat began. "Devlin, how do I use these things?"
"Hm? Oh, it's easy. Just clench your fist."
"What?"
"No, seriously. Clench your fist."
Nat raised an eyebrow before clenching her fists.
CHARGING, the gauntlets went. CHARGE COMPLETE.
"What the-"
"And now you just throw your punch."
As soon as Devlin said that, the door finally broke down, a horde of zombies lumbering in, groaning, hissing, and roaring as they came.
Devlin and Corey aimed their guns at the horde, but Nat ran up and threw her punches.
She unleashed an actual shock wave that tore the zombies to pieces, some of them turning into a red mist, body parts flying everywhere.
Natalie's eyes were wide as she blinked in surprise. She then looked at her new gauntlets before looking at Devlin with half-lidded eyes.
"What?"
"You and I are gonna have a conversation about these, genius."
The three were walking through the halls, armed and ready for whatever may come. Still, Devlin didn't look satisfied.
"Wait, I think it's behind this door," Devlin said as he began to try and hotwire it.
"What is," Corey asked.
"Our key to safely get through the Greenroo- OW!" The door opened.
"You know, you really suck at hotwiring," Natalie said with an unimpressed look.
"Shut up. I don't see you hacking these doors," Devlin said as he walked into the room. "Yup. I was right." He then walked out with a flamethrower.
"Mm. Firepower," Corey said.
"Were there any fuel cans in there," Natalie asked.
"Three full tanks. Should be enough to get us through there safely."
"Should," Corey asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, I stay away from the Greenroom. I was a crap gardener before I joined Umbrella, and I'm almost positive those plants always knew. Besides, it was never my project. I have no idea how advanced the plants in that area are."
"Well, whatever. You're still taking point," Nat said with a sassy smile.
"When we reach the Greenroom, you mean," Devlin asked. "Remember, fuel for this bad boy isn't exactly everywhere."
Natalie sighed with a roll of her eyes. "Sure. Fine. I'll take charge for now."
The group continued to walk until they saw a few more corpses on the ground. Devlin walked over to one, knelt down, carefully grabbed their head then stabbed his knife right through it.
"Yeesh. Pretty brutal, Dev," Corey went.
"Would you rather it walk up and attack us later, making us waste precious ammo?"
"Good point." Corey then saw another corpse and followed Devlin's lead.
Corey then looked around. "Hey, there's an average of around five hundred employees working day-to-day, right?"
"With the other half in cold sleep. Why do you ask," Natalie asked.
"Shouldn't we be seeing a lot more walking corpses by now?"
When the two realized Corey was right, they got nervous and walked over to Corey. "Think HE did something?"
"With that asshole, I wouldn't be surprised."
A roar was then heard.
"Oh, crap," Devlin went.
"Please tell me that wasn't a Licker's roar," Corey said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Sorry, Cor. Can't do that."
"Shit."
"Don't worry. That roar sounded far-"
A crash was heard, and everyone looked down to see an air vent cover torn off. They then saw Lickers crawl out of the vent like ants.
'Shit,' Devlin mentally thought.
The Lickers all hissed and growled, their tongues moving around like snakes.
Devlin saw that Corey was taking out his magnum, but Devlin's desperate headshaking must have gotten the news across. When Devlin pointed up, Corey understood.
More and more Lickers were crawling out of the vent. Way too many for them to handle, especially how close they were. It was only getting worse when a Licker crawled close to Devlin and Natalie. It began to sniff, growling as it did so. Lickers have a TERRIBLE sense of smell, the creatures more attuned to their hearing, but when they catch a scent, they stick to it.
Desperate, Devlin carefully took out one of his grenades and threw it as far as he could. The Lickers roared at the grenade before they lunged at it, the three sneaking away as quietly as they could, the explosion from the grenade hurting many of the monsters. The grenade was a great distraction though.
Until the alarm began to blare, driving the Lickers nuts.
They began slashing at each other, biting the closest thing at them, and lunging at nothing. Unfortunately, their wild and feral state put the three in danger, too.
"RUN," Devlin yelled as he ran, narrowly avoiding being slashed by a Licker.
The three ran as fast as they could, not wanting to look behind them to know if they were being chased by the Lickers or not.
Devlin then slid to a halt before trying to open a door. "LOCKED?! DAMMIT, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO DO... Wait. I know the code to this room." Devlin typed it in.
As soon as the door opened, a horde of zombies was looking at him.
"Oh, shit."
The zombie at the front roared as it lunged at Devlin, the scientist getting yanked out of the way by Natalie before she used one of her gauntlets to turn the zombie's head to red mist. "TIME TO RUN, IDIOT!"
"Whoa! Do ya have to carry me?!"
"Shut up and be a good damsel-in-distress!"
"OW! DO I LOOK LIKE COREY TO YOU?! NO SPANKING THE BUNS!"
"I'M NOT INTO THAT," Corey yelled as the group ran away from the crowd of zombies, the horde already being attacked by Lickers.
Natalie carried Devlin all the way to the Greenroom, tossing him to Corey as she locked the door behind them.
Devlin blinked before looking down to see he was being Princess-Carried before looking at Corey. "Am I really THAT light?"
"Dev, you know I love you like a brother, but seriously, put on some muscle." Corey then unceremoniously dropped Devlin.
"Ow."