The Good Tenant(A Resident Evil SI/OC)

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 16


“Alright, Self destruct is set!” Kaplan yelled out over the sound of gunfire into the hallway. “We need to get moving right now!”


“I want J.D and Natalia on point, we’re moving out of here as fast as we can safely do so,” Rain instructed as she shot another zombie in the head. “Mark, you’ve got the extra explosives and I want our six covered as we leave.


“Wilco,” I replied as I spun around and put my hand on the back of Edwards best and used him as a guide while I backed up.


“Move it!” Rain ordered as we began to move ahead like a steamroller. With J.D and Natalia clearing a path and Rain, Edward and Alice finishing off any of the survivors while Kaplan and I brought up the rear.


“Let me know when we reach the elevator, I’ll only have a few seconds if the Red Queen hasn’t messed with that system.”


“First elevator is closed,” Rain said. “I think we’re going to have to leave the way we came in.”


“That’s six floors up!” Kaplan said as we continued moving. “We might not make it in time.”


“We’ll make it, it’ll just be close,” I replied. “If we encounter more of those lizard things though we won’t make it out in time.”


“Take a left up ahead,” Alice instructed, taking over as the guide on our way out. “The Stairwell will be there.”


“Got it,” J.D replied as the whole formation shifted and reached the stairwell. “Let’s get climbing, we’ve still got to get back up the shaft.”


“I bet you do,” Rain chuckled. “You go right up to the top of the shaft.”


“Shut up, Rain,” J.D said to his teammate. “You know that’s not what I meant.”


“No, but it was still funny,” Rain chuckled as we began to jog up the stairs.


“If she didn’t say it then I was,” I said with a shrug as I brought up the rear. “You can’t use phrasing like that and not expect to get hazed for it.”


“We’ve got more zombies on the landings,” Natalia said as we continued up the stairs. “We’re going to have to fight our way up.”


“Let’s get to it then,” J.D said as he started slowing down zombies with shots to the knee caps while others finished them off. “We can’t afford to slow down.”


“Yeah, we’ve got four more flights of stairs to climb and only twenty minutes left to do it in,” Kaplan said. “We’re going to need to pick up the pace here.”








“Hey Captain, I’ve got some sort of journal here,” Rebecca said as she hefted the small book she had found. “Looks like a trainee’s diary or something.”


“Give it to Kenneth, he’s got everything stored in a waterproof and airtight container,” Captain Marini said. “We also found some files on the people who graduated from this facility as well as a picture of said graduating class.”


“What kind of files?” Rebecca asked.


“The kind that proves you’re tied to some sort of conspiracy,” Captain Marini replied. “We’ve also found some documentation from those paramilitary guys that says the facility was closed down and they were preparing to reopen it.”


“We’ve searched everything we can find in the basement complex,” Forest said as he walked out of a hidden tunnel. “But I don’t recommend anyone go into that section of the basement,” He sagged against a wall and hung his head. “It’s disgusting what they’ve done to people down here.”


“I take it, we're ready to move onto the lab?” the Captain asked.


“Yessir, Kenneth was just collecting some extra video evidence,” Forest replied. “We’re ready to start investigating the lab when you are.”


Then the ground shook for a couple of seconds as they heard a distant explosion.


“Please tell me that wasn’t in the direction of the mansion that we sent Edward and Mark to,” Rebecca said as the minute shaking stopped.


“I think it was a bit closer than that mansion,” Forest replied. “But given what we’ve been facing tonight, I bet they did blow something up.”


“The question is this though,” Captain Marini said as he turned and looked at the two of them. “Did they make it away from the explosion?”


“We’ll find out if they’re at the Mansion when we get there,” Forest replied. “But until then we’ve got to finish figuring out this place.”








“The USS team didn’t make it,” William Birkin told his long-time friend Albert Wesker. “And the HIVE complex just activated its self-destruct protocols.”


“Yes, but that was the mission that you were in charge of,” Wesker turned to his friend. “I’d recommend you find a way to stop the members of Bravo Team from finding out more about the training facility.”


“The cameras cut out on the both of us hours ago,” William scoffed at his friend. “And I’m not combat trained, unlike you.”


“Well, you better figure it out quickly,” Wesker handed a handgun and some magazines to his friend. “Otherwise everything will become compromised.”


“I know,” William sighed. “Here, take this,” William handed a preloaded injector to his friend. “It’s a special variant I’ve been working on, it might save your life if something drastic happens.”


“Go,” Wesker told Birkin. “I have to go ready Alpha Team to go and “rescue” Bravo Team,” Wesker said as he walked out of the office and left William to his own thoughts.


“I’m fucked,” William mutterd to himself as he looked at the tunnel that connected Raccoon City to the training complex. “So I might as well get this over with.”


The scientist took the pistol and pocketed the magazines before opening the tunnel access door and beginning the trek to the Umbrella Executive Training School. He had to get rid of the complex before it was too late.”


Author’s note: A bit shorter than most of my chapters, but it felt better to end it here.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 17


“I never want to do that again,” I said as I knelt and let Alice drop off of my shoulders and onto the ground. “We didn’t even make it to the motor pool.”


“I say we take a break,” Kaplan said as he leaned against a tree. “I’ve had my laptop working on decrypting some of those files while we were leaving and some of them should be close to finished by now.”


“What are you all planning on doing now?” Alice asked as she massaged her twisted ankle. “I don’t exactly have anywhere to go, that’s why I spent so much time devoted to my lab and research.”


“Edward and I are supposed to meet up with the rest of our team at the Mansion complex up there,” I gestured vaguely in the direction of the bigger mansion complex. “I guess you could tag along if y’all wanted to.”


“Well, we’re not going back to our old jobs anytime soon,” Kaplan chimed in. “You know of any job openings nearby?”


“And why aren’t we going back to our jobs?” Rain asked. “Even with all of the crazy shit they’ve put us through it pays pretty well.”


“Yeah,” J.D agreed. “We got a nice fat check for helping pull VIPs out of that Ebola outbreak about a year ago.”


“Because they set us up to be killed,” Kaplan turned his laptop around and showed the authorized “testing” of their new Hunters against the UBCS. “They wanted to see how their precious experiments would do against trained operators.”


“Whelp,” J.D said after a moment. “That’s a good enough reason for me to quit.” He ripped the umbrella patch off of his vest and sleeve and threw them into the inferno of the small mansion behind us.


“Here’s what you do,” I said after letting J.D’s words sink in. “We find that motor pool and get the five of you a ride out of here,” I indicated the four ex-UBCS members and Alice. “Take this, and make sure you pull all of the cash you might have in your accounts out.” I took out a notebook and wrote down the address of my apartment. “Find a place to stash your gear somewhere that you’ll be able to get access to it again and hunker down in my apartment until we’re done on this mountain.”


“And if you don’t make it back?” Kaplan asked as he took both the map and the note I handed them.


“Then you get the hell out of town and publish the decrypted files,” I replied. “I think I know one of the major players behind this and I’ll need your help to make sure that we bring anyone involved with him down.”


“Alright,” Rain said after she had ripped off her own umbrella patches and tossed them into the flames. “So we hunker down for now, but I expect both you and Edward to be back and ready to help us figure all of this out.”


“You can count on it,” I met Rain’s eyes. “And if I don’t come back then know I put up one hell of a fight.”


“Anything else we should know?” Natalia asked. “How are we to get into your apartment?”


“There’s a false brick in the walkway,” I replied. “The spare key is in there and there’s a decent storage facility down the street for your gear.” I wrote down the directions for where the false brick was as well and handed it to them. “Now y’all need to get moving before they realize that you made it out alive,” I paused and considered the rifle I currently had in my hands. “Here, take this and put it with your gear,” I handed J.D the M4 that I had taken from the Jeep. “I have a feeling I’m going to want that for later.” I took my flashlight and sling off of it before kneeling down and taking out the rifle that I had started the day with and attaching both of them to it again.


“You sure you won’t need that up on this mountain?” Rain asked as we all began to stand up and get ready to move again.


“No, I think I might need it up here,” I replied. “But I’ll need it in the city later. I have a feeling that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of zombies or those big lizards.”


“Alright then,” Rain said as she stood up. “Let’s get moving, we’ve got a lot to do.”


“You ready to move?” Edward asked me. “Because I’m ready to meet up with the rest of Bravo Team and get the hell off of this mountain.”


“Yeah,” I replied as I stood up. “I’ve got first dibs on killing Wesker though.”







“And my prized experiment, the Queen Leech merged with me and we became one, and so I am now able to enact my revenge.” The young looking man narrated his life story, not knowing that it was being captured by Kenneth’s video camera.


“You’re just as sick and evil as the rest of those other scientists!” Billy Coen interrupted the thing wearing a person’s skin. “You can rot in hell with them too.”


Captain Marini just facepalmed at the other man’s mistake before hefting his grenade launcher. “Fire in the hole!” He yelled as he fired a HEPD grenade at the creature that had just finished a monologue. Watching as the creature flinched back and began transforming into some sort of twisted creature, the rest of Bravo Team began to open fire, their small arms distracting it while Captain Marini continued to fire his 40mm MGL at the creature, watching as it flinched back from every explosion he hit it with.


“Keep up the pressure, I’m reloading!” Captain Marini called out as he fell back and reloaded with some incendiary rounds that they had found in the firing range of the facility. “It’s sensitive to the heat, so let’s finish this thing off.” He said as he fired two rounds and watched as the leech shrieked in pain and began trying to put the fires out. “I’ve got four more of these, let’s see if they make a difference.” He fired two more and the leech creature started to collapse in on itself before it stopped moving entirely.


“We should probably get out of here!” First yelled as the underwater facility began to collapse. “I think your grenades did quite a bit of damage, captain.”


“Agreed,” Captain Marini said as he finished reloading his MGL. “I just want to do one thing first,” he turned and fired one last HE grenade into the leech’s mass and watched as it disintegrated into various piles of flaming goo.


“Alright, let’s get moving before this place comes down around our ears!” The team began moving to the elevator and all piled in as it began shooting up as fast as it could.


“You think Mark and Edward made it to the mansion?” Rebecca asked in the midst of the quiet. “Or do you think that explosion killed them?”


“We’ll find out when we get to the mansion, won’t we?” Richard patted the young woman on the shoulder. “But they’re pretty tough guys, I’m sure they made it out just fine.”


—

—


“Where’s the Marine?” Forest asked as they began to jog out of the complex.


“Unfortunately, William Coen perished in the Arklay Mountains with the MPs that we found. And they were all three ravaged by some of the Arklay cannibals,” Captain Marini replied with a wink.


“We’re going to let him go like that?” Richard asked.


“Son, he was willing to fight those strange creatures with us, and not once tried to shoot us in the back. Even when he did have the opportunity. I’d say he’s earned a new lease on life.”

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 18

“What do you mean that you want the first shot at killing Wesker?” Edward turned and asked me. “Is there something that you’re not telling me?”

“Just some things I started remembering,” I told the STARS Bravo Team member. “He’s the one that sabotaged the chopper and set us up to die on this mountain.”

“And you know this, how?” He asked me as we began the trek up to the massive mansion complex that we were supposed to rendezvous at with the rest of Bravo Team.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” I said to the other man as we continued up the mountain. “Let’s just say that sometimes a moment of clarity strikes when you least expect it and leave it at that.”

“Did that knot on the back of your head get worse when I wasn’t looking?” Edward turned to me incredulously before stumbling slightly as a distant explosion shook the ground for a couple of seconds. “Because it sounds to me like you’re going a little insane here.”

“No, the hit on my head actually fixed some of the issues I’ve been having,” I replied. “I actually remember how I got to Raccoon City for one, and I know that I can’t go back and see my family ever again.”

“You came into Raccoon City on a bus!” Edward exclaimed. “You missed your stop and ended up falling into a run of good luck.”

“I did come to Raccoon City on a bus,” I agreed with a chuckle. “But I doubt you’d ever find that specific bus again.”

“Well no fucking shit, Sherlock,” Edward replied. “There’s hundreds if not thousands of buses in the States, and I doubt I could track down one specific bus from two years ago.”

“You know what,” I said after a minute. “It’s not important right now, let’s just get to the mansion and regroup with Bravo Team. I’m sure they’ve got a pretty important story to tell right now.”

We walked into the light of the morning sun as it rose to the east of us, painting the mountains in a beautiful glow and showing us that even if it had been an awful night, that the day would bring a much better view of things.

“You know, it’s views like this that make you remember that there’s a beauty to every world,” I said to myself under my breath as I considered the rising sun and the glow that it cast over the mountains. “I may not remember everything about myself or about this world, but I’m going to make it a place worth living in. I’ll take on the whole of Umbrella and what comes after by myself if I have to.”






“Anyone know why the entire complex behind us just exploded?” Rebecca asked as she tried to catch her breath. “Because I’m fairly certain that we didn’t do that.”

“If I were a company or corporation trying to hide something like the stuff going on there I’d put in a self-destruct,” Kenneth said as he filmed the burning complex. “It’s hard to find conclusive evidence on something if it’s all gone.”

“Either way,” Captain Marini said. “We should get moving towards the big mansion, it’s a fairly decent walk, and the sun should be coming up soon.”

“How are we going to get into contact with anyone from the RPD to let them know to rescue us?” Rebecca asked as she stood up and began to walk in formation with the rest of Bravo Team.

“If there’s power run to the place then a landline should be somewhere in the complex,” Richard said with a shrug. “I’ve got a cousin who works with electricians and he’s always complaining about how the older places ran the phone lines in with the electrical systems and how it can cause some issues.”

“Well, let’s hope that you’re right,” Forest said as he stopped to look at the sunrise. “Because I have a feeling we’re not done with this mountain yet.”





“Bravo Team has been out of contact for the last twenty-four hours,” Wesker told the waiting STARS Alpha team. “Proper protocol dictates that we’re supposed to wait for forty-eight hours before we conduct a search.”

“I understand that,” Chris said to the Alpha Team Captain. “But we’re already ready and waiting to go.”

“I’ll go talk to Chief Irons and see if we can bend the rules,” Wesker told the assembled group. “But I can’t make any promises.”

“The Captain doesn’t seem to be worried about Bravo Team,” Vickers said as he flinched away from the glares of the rest of the team. “I’m just saying, maybe he’s right and they don’t really need our help.”

“Captain Marini would have called either way,” Barry stated. “And Mark is absolutely anal about checking in with people at the right times. You know that if they were able to contact us that they would have.”

“It was just an opinion,” Brad Vickers seemed to shake in slight fear.

“Look,” Joseph Frost said as he changed the subject. “If we’re able to leave immediately after Captain Wesker comes back, then we’re golden, but either way I’m going to do some last minute checks on the backup chopper. I could use the extra hands if you’re all looking for something to keep your minds busy.”

“I’ll help!” Jill offered. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about some of the problems that my car has been having, anyway.”

“That junk heap?” Joseph scoffed. “I’ve told you to replace that thing a half-dozen times by now.”

“It gets me from A to B and both the A/C and Heat work though,” Jill complained. “And new cars are so expensive.”

“Well, when you’re looking for my opinion as a mechanic you don’t get to complain when I give you facts,” Joseph laughed. “In all seriousness though, I think you could get another ten to thirty thousand miles on it before the transmission starts wearing out on you. Those models just aren’t built the same as some of the other brands.”

“So another six months to a year depending on how often I end up driving,” Jill said as she grimaced at the thought of car shopping. “Well, it certainly beats walking for now, and that’s all I really need.”

“Frost, Valentine,” Captain Wesker’s voice echoed over the maintenance area. “We leave in around twelve hours, get some rest and make sure your gear is squared away.”

“Well, it’s not immediately,” Joseph said with a sigh as he wiped his hands off on a nearby shop towel. “But it’s better than waiting forty-eight hours to find out what happened to them.”

Author's note: Sorry if this one jumps around a bit. I'm currently having issues falling asleep and yet am dead exhausted at the same time. Pardon the rambling nature if it comes across that way because you probably just got a chapter where my muse was in full control.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 19


“Should we try the front door first?” Edward asked me as we looked at the much larger mansion in front of us. “Or do you think we’d be better off finding an open window?”


“I’m leaning towards a window,” I replied. “Hopefully we can find a room that’s not occupied by anything and take turns resting,” I looked at my teammate as he rubbed at his eyes. “I’m not sure how you feel, but I’m fucking exhausted.”


“Window it is,” Edward said as he took a turn and looked at one of the windows just out of reach of the two of us. “You still got that crowbar?”


“Yeah, I’ll boost you up and you can get that window open,” I agreed as I passed him the tool and boosted him up to give him access to the window.


“Ha!” Edward cheered. “They left it unlocked, just let me clear it and then I’ll help you up.”


I waited at the bottom of the window and turned around to look at the undergrowth. Sure that there was something watching us I raised my AR-15 and began to scan the tree line for whatever was causing the feeling of being watched. Then I heard a trip of gunshots from the window and decided I wasn’t waiting any longer. Moving a solid six to eight feet back, I took a running leap at the wall and boosted myself up enough to get myself in through the window. Coming up from my roll I pulled my handgun from its holster because my rifle was trapped underneath me before aiming it at the doorway that I heard something banging against.


“I could use a little help here!” I heard Edward’s voice and so I stood up and exited the bedroom that I had found myself in to find Edward holding off one of the reptile creatures that we had encountered in the HIVE with his SMG.


“Duck!” I barked as I squeezed the trigger and a 10mm round left the Glock 20 and blew a massive hole in the creature’s head.


“Did it scratch you or cut you anywhere?” I asked as I patted my teammate down, physically going over him as if we had just been in a gunfight.


“I’m good,” Edward replied. “I managed to avoid the claws until it got too close, but I don’t think my MP5 made it out in the same condition,” he handed me the SMG for me to see that the thing’s claws had nearly cut through his weapon while he was holding it off.


“Yeah, your SMG is done for, man,” I replied as I began to unbuckle my holster for the Glock 20. “Here,” I pulled Edward up into a standing position and tossed the holster to him. “Secure this somewhere on your chest rig so that it can’t be mixed up with your Beretta.”


After Edward had finished securing the pistol holster to his upper chest in a way that he could draw it I handed him the Glock and all of the spare mags that I had for it.


“You’ve only got around thirty or so rounds left for that,” I said as I checked the magazines that I was handing to him. “So use it sparingly. You’ll need to rely on your main sidearm for the most part unless we face another one of these things.” I kicked the reptilian that was at our feet.


“What about you having a backup?” Edward asked. “I thought this was the gun you’ve used since you started working with the RPD.”


“Yeah, I’ve got a backup,” I replied as I walked into the bedroom and tossed my pack on the bed before pulling a spare thigh holster out of it and strapping it on. “I generally conceal it though.”


“I forgot you had that Sig,” Edward said as I moved my backup piece to the thigh holster. “You need any extra 9mm to go with that?”


“Nah,” I shook my head. “If I need more than the rounds I have then we’re fucked anyway.”


“Alright then,” Edward responded. “Can you toss me one of those incendiaries that you picked up?”


“Sure,” I tossed him the grenade. “Going to make sure that thing is dead and gone?”


“The last thing we need is a zombie version of whatever those things are,” Edward replied as he left the room and threw the grenade at the corpse. “Now, let’s barricade this room and get some rest. And seeing as you got to sleep on the chopper, I’m taking first watch.”


I just stood there in shock for a moment as the other man fell into the bed and went straight to sleep.


“Alright, I guess it’s up to me to barricade then,” I muttered as I began to shove a chair up under the door handle and then sat in the hard corner of the room with my rifle pointed at the door.







“Did anyone else hear that?“ Kenneth asked as they got closer to the mansion.


“I thought I heard a couple of thumps,” Rebecca replied. “Why?”


“I could have sworn that I heard Mark’s 10mm being fired,” Kenneth said as he shook his head. “But we’re still about a half mile out and it’s unlikely.”


“If Mark brought out the hand cannon for something then you can bet it’s dead,” Forest chuckled. “Remember that one op?”


“What op?” Rebecca asked.


“It was before you were recruited,” Captain Marini said with a laugh. “As sworn law enforcement officers there are certain things that we’re not allowed to do.”


“But Mark isn’t a law enforcement officer, he’s just a member of the STARS and SWAT Teams as a medic. He’s allowed to carry weapons and can fight back, but he can’t arrest people,” Richard explained to the young woman. “Back to the story, Forest.”


“So this one suspect isn’t cooperating as far as telling us where the stash of drugs and stolen cash is,” Forest broke out into a slight laugh. “Then Mark pulls out his Glock and shoots the dummy they had been practicing knife throwing at. The dummy breaks into a million pieces and Mark just gives him a look while tapping his now holstered weapon.”


“The guy started telling us everything,” Richard laughed. “He didn’t know that Mark wouldn’t actually shoot him, but it didn’t matter. The guy still sold out not only the stashes, but also the rest of the gangs along the street.”


“Biggest bust of our career,” Captain Marini agreed. “And now we’re working on the next one,” he gestured towards Kenneth and the evidence that he possessed right now. “Let’s get up to the mansion and see if Mark and Edward are alive, they might have some evidence for us to add to the collection.”

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 20

After about an hour or so of keeping watch I started getting sleepy. So I grabbed a small notebook out of my pocket and started planning on how I was going to survive the following apocalypse that would be Raccoon City in a few months.

I wasn’t going to be able to stop the fall of Raccoon City. I had to accept that first. By this point Birkin had already allowed some of the Umbrella Research facilities to be compromised and it had already started to begin affecting the general populace. So I instead had to work on making sure that the people I was close to made it out before the city was destroyed.

I could get the STARS team members out of the city early if they survived the mansion incident. But I also had to consider that some of them would stay. Barry would probably leave with his family, and I knew that Chris would want to take the fight to Umbrella like he did in canon, but I wasn’t sure how the rest of the team would go, and I had to figure out how to get them out of the city before we were hunted down by Nemesis.

I stopped taking notes for a minute as I heard a noise in the corridor, so I put my notebook away and picked up my rifle before crouching and aiming at the door. I was fairly certain that it was a zombie given that it was shuffling along the floor and causing a fair amount of noise. But it was also possible that it was Lisa. The poor girl still roaming the halls of the mansion complex and looking to recover her mother’s body.

Keeping the door shut, I held my breath as the door handle rattled for a minute before the shuffling continued away from the door and down the halls of the mansion.

I let out the breath that I had been holding at that and went back over to my corner where I looked at my notes and then balled them up and shoved them into the bottom of my pack. I could work on that once we had made it out of this godforsaken mansion.

–
–

“Hey,” I shook Edward awake a couple of hours later. “I need to rest a bit.”

“Alright,” Edward replied as he eased himself up and rubbed at his eyes. “Still feel like shit, but I feel better than I did before I took a nap.”

“Good,” I looked at my teammate who looked more rested than I felt. “Don’t open the fucking door unless it’s a member of our team,” I pointed at the door that I had further barricaded with a dresser and some other stuff shoved in front of it.

“I won’t,” Edward said as he met my eyes and nodded. “I’ve got you covered, now get some rest.”

“Here,” I unslung my rifle and passed it to him. “Some extra mags are in the hard corner over there.”

“Copy that,” he took my rifle and went to the corner that I had kept watch in. “See you in a couple of hours.”

I sat down on the bed and set the pillows up so that I could still aim at the door if something tried to break through before leaning back against them and closing my eyes and falling asleep as the exhaustion took me.





“Finally,” Richard said as the members of STARS Team Bravo reached the mansion. “This place was further away than I thought it was.”

“Agreed,” Forest said as he stopped to catch his breath for a minute. “And was it just me, or did the underbrush get thicker as we got closer to the Mansion?”

“It did get thicker,” Kenneth agreed. “I believe that once the owners of the mansion ceased the proper maintenance on the area surrounding it that it grew back with a vengeance.”

“Well, either way we need to get in there,” Captain Marini stated as he walked to the front of the group. “There’s a chance that Mark and Edward are here, and there might be a working landline as well.”

“Let’s go in and find out then,” Rebecca said as she walked over to the big double doors of the Mansion. “I’m ready to get this adventure over with.”

“We do this by the book,” Captain Marini reminded the rookie. “I’m not writing any letters today.”

“Got it,” Rebecca said as she took the lead on the stack into the room. “Slice the pie Rebecca,” She muttered as she led the team in breaching the main entrance of the mansion. “Clear!” She yelled as she cleared her corner.

“Clear!” The rest of the team responded as they began to check the nearby doors to make sure that they were locked/closed.

“Captain!” Forest yelled from a place over by a couple of doors. “I’ve got burn marks on the floor here and a messed up MP5.”

“And there’s a couple of 10mm shell casings here too,” Richard said as he picked up the brass off of the floor. “Edward and Mark were here, but where is the thing that they fought for Edward’s MP5 to end up this way?”

Then, the door behind Richard began to creak open as a familiar face peeked out.

“You son of a bitch!” Forest smiled as he pulled Edward into a bro hug. “It’s good to see you man!”

“Yeah, give me a minute guys,” Edward separated from the group. “I’ve got to go wake Mark up, I was on second watch.”

“I need to give him a look over anyway,” Rebecca said. “He got a pretty nasty concussion when he hit his head.”

“He’s been operating well all night,” Edward said as he led them into the bedroom that he and Mark had been barricaded into for the last few hours. “But just before we got to the mansion he started talking about how he had first dibs on killing Captain Wesker for some reason.”

The rest of Bravo Team just exchanged glances before Kenneth pulled Edward to the side in order to show him the evidence that they had found.

“You need to wake up,” Rebecca shook the other medic awake and stood back as he jolted upright with a gasp.

“Hey,” Forest said, catching the attention of the older medic. “You’re okay, we’re just checking up on you.”

“You all made it?” Mark asked as he let Rebecca check his head where there was still a large amount of swelling.

“How are you still walking around?” Rebecca asked Mark as he stood up and shouldered his pack again. “You should be in a hospital, not walking around with the kind of head trauma that you’ve got right now.”

“Can’t afford to lie down and die,” Mark shrugged as he accepted some anti-inflammatory meds from the other medic. “There’s too many creatures and other things around here for me to be willing to rest without someone to watch my back.”

“Well, the pills should help keep the swelling down,” Rebecca said as she put her medbag back with the rest of her kit. “But I think you might have a minor skull fracture and we need to get you checked out when we get back to Raccoon City.”

“When I get the chance to get checked out I’ll take it,” Mark replied before turning to look at Edward. “Hey, I need my rifle back,” The dirty blond operator said as he caught the AR-15 and slung it back over his back before grabbing the magazines that had been left on the floor and loading them into his pouches. “Now, y’all look like you’ve had an adventure of your own, so should we exchange stories before we continue this song and dance?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Captain Marini said as he closed the door to the bedroom. “We need a bit of a break anyway, and a short powernap couldn’t hurt either.”


Author's note: Sorry this was a bit late. Real life and the sequel to my finished fic got in the way. I also had some issues figuring out how to write this chapter, but I think I got it down.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 21


“So, once we had made it out of the facility, the self-destruct went off,” I explained. “And we pretty much all sat around the remnants of the facility for a little while before dispersing.”


“So that’s what that was,” Forest said with a small smile. “We felt what we thought was an earthquake, but now I’m fairly certain it was you guys.”


“You going to explain why you want to kill Wesker?” Richard asked as we all sat in the bedroom we had overtaken.


“None of you would believe me if I told you,” I shook my head with a wry grin, “Hell, I wouldn’t even believe me. So let’s just go with me having a gut feeling.”


“Why did you let those Umbrella Paramilitary types go?” Captain Marini asked after a minute. “As far as we can tell, Umbrella is directly responsible for all of the shit we’ve seen over the last day and a half.”


“I don’t think they had anything to do with the zombies and other things we’ve encountered,” I said bluntly. “They were disposable grunts and were supposed to die down in the HIVE.”


“We did find orders with two of the bodies on the train to kill the UBCS members if they encountered any classified information,” Richard reminded the STARS Team captain. “It’s likely that those four were the ones that were supposed to die if they saw any classified information.”


“That,” I agreed. “And that zombies have probably interacted with the packs of wild dogs and wolves on this mountain. This means that Raccoon City is at risk of this kind of thing spreading. We’re going to need all of the help that we can get if we’re going to survive the next couple of months.”


“There’s also the fact that Kaplan has a bunch of data on what research was being conducted on the HIVE,” Edward spoke up. “He was working on decrypting it, (whatever that means) but said it would take a while. That information could be useful in bringing down Umbrella for the kinds of experiments they’ve been running.”


“They should be waiting for us back in the city once we’re done here,” I agreed. “But there’s some sort of creature that’s entirely different than the usual ones we’ve faced. I heard it creeping around while Ed was resting.”


“Does anyone else want to take bets on this being an Umbrella facility as well?” Forest asked. “The mansion that you and Edward checked out first was an Umbrella front, the other facility that looked big was their training academy, and the odds are that this one was important to them as well.”


“Agreed,” Captain Marini stated. “We’ll begin searching this mansion while trying to look for a phone or some means of communicating with the RPD,” Captain Marini turned to me. “I’m not forgetting that you haven’t told me why you suspected Wesker, and I won’t press you for an answer now. But we aren’t finished discussing this.”







“Everyone go grab your gear,” Captain Wesker ordered the Alpha Team of STARS. “We leave in thirty minutes.”


“What are you running for this op?” Chris asked Barry as they entered the STARS standalone armory.


“I’ve got the old hand cannon,” Barry replied as he patted his chest rig where his Colt Python was seated in its holster. “I’m gonna run a shotgun for this op though,” Barry grabbed a Remington 870 off of one of the racks before giving it a quick inspection. “Yeah, I think that'll work just fine. You?”


“I’m running standard kit,” Chris replied as he loaded a magazine into his MP5 and gave it the HK slap, sending the bolt forward. “But I’m bringing this just in case,” He slung an M79 Grenade Launcher over his back via a sling and grabbed an assortment of grenades that he loaded into some pouches. “I’m mostly going to be bringing nonlethal stuff for this thing though.”


“You can run the big guns,” Jill spoke up from behind Chris as she hefted the carbine in her hands. “But we all know what that means,” She winked at the two men before loading her carbine and slapping the side of it to chamber a round. “Let’s go rescue Bravo team yeah?” She left to head to the helipad.


“Chris, you okay after that burn?” Joseph Frost spoke up as he simply loaded up an MP5 and some spare magazines. “It’s okay, we all know that Jill’s got bigger balls than everyone on the STARS.”


“Let’s just go rescue Bravo Team,” Chris replied to his friend. “We both know that she’ll shoot us both if we aren’t there on time.”


“Indeed,” Barry agreed as he hefted a case and began moving towards the helipad with the other two members of Alpha Team.


“Are we all ready?” Brad Vickers asked nervously as he ran through the final checks on the chopper.


“Yeah,” Wesker’s voice came from behind the members of Alpha Team, causing them to jump a bit. “Let’s go.”


“I’m running through pre-flight checks now,” Brad said as he climbed in. “We’ll be ready for takeoff in a few minutes.”


“Just let me tuck this in here,” Barry said as he tucked the large case into the chopper’s cargo netting. “We get any more intel on where Bravo might be?”


“Negative,” Wesker stated. “We’re going to head directly along their planned flight path though and see if we can hear them on the radio or track down a beacon,” Wesker climbed into the copilot’s seat and began to assist with the chopper’s checks.


Once they had finished the pre-flight checks, the chopper began to take off with permission from the local air traffic controller.



“Settle in for a bit, people,” Brad said over their headsets. “It’ll take a bit before we’re over the mountain area that Bravo was supposed to be in.”


“Copy that,” Jill replied as she looked out the doors of the chopper at the sun vanishing behind dark clouds. “Looks like rain might be in our future.”


“Hopefully it stays off of us until we can run a proper check on the area,” Joseph replied with a grin. “Do you guys think that Bravo got into an engagement with the cannibals?”


“We’ll find out when we get there,” Barry told the younger man. “And don’t be eager to get into a fight. That’s a good way to get yourself killed. “


“Whatever,” Joseph replied, the adrenaline junkie not really listening to the other man.


“It’s your funeral,” Barry shrugged before leaning back and closing his eyes while listening to the calming sounds of the rotors spinning above the chopper.


“Besides,” Brad spoke up. “They’ve got both of our medics with them, I’m sure that they’re doing just fine.”


“If they were,” Jill said with a frown. “Then they’re not doing fine anymore. You’ve just summoned Murphy, Brad. May God have mercy on your soul.”

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 22


“I’m dropping all of you off next to the crash site now,” Vickers informed the members of the STARS Alpha Team as he lowered the helicopter down into the clearing next to the crash site. “I saw a building with a helipad on the roof a short distance away. I’ll stay circling and be ready to pick you up when you need evac.”


“Copy that,” Wesker replied as he and the rest of the team jumped out of the chopper. “I’ve got a shortwave radio and will stay in contact as best I can.”


The team moved quickly to the downed chopper before they heard an explosion in the distance.


“Bravo didn’t have any heavy ordnance with them,” Barry said as they all turned to the area where they heard the sound. “But the cannibals might have had some.”


“Agreed,” Wesker nodded his head in Barry’s direction. “We should probably only give this area a quick look before moving on.”


“Radio is busted,” Joseph Frost said as he looked at the interior of the chopper. “No evidence of anything other than some emergency repairs to get the emergency beacon up and running though.”


“Did any of you hear that?” Jill asked in a moment of silence. “Sounded like something crashing through the trees.”


“Negative,” Chris shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything.”


Then they all heard the sound of a tree being forcible strained as it was pushed against another one.


“Damn,” Barry whistled as he looked at the grizzly bear that emerged from the shadows. “That is one big bear.”


“It’s wounded too,” Jill said, “Looks like chunks of its flesh have been eaten out.”


The Bear then collapse in front of them onto its face, no breath coming from its massive chest or any sign that it was alive.


“Think I can skin it and get a rug out of it?” Frost asked as he moved closer to the bear.


“I wouldn’t get too close to a bear,” Barry cautioned. “Even if it appears dead, it might accidentally kill you if it has even the slightest bit of life. And most of our small arms here won’t do much more than irritate it.”


“I’m fine,” Joseph said as he got close enough to poke the bear with his submachine gun. “See, it’s not even moving.”


The bear’s head snapped up, the eyes blazing with an undead fury before it turned to Frost.


“Oh, fuck,” Frost said as he began to backpedal away from the bear as it rose to its full height. “Guys, a little help here!”


“I’ll use a grenade, but you need to get clear Joe,” Chris said seriously. “And then we need to all start running. Because I don’t think this will do all that much to this thing.”


Shouldering the aged grenade launcher, Chris loaded the explosive round in before snapping the chamber shut and aiming at the bear that was still processing the area.


“Moving!” Joe yelled as he began to sprint away from the bear, his SMG banging into his back as it slung on the sling behind him.


“Fire in the hole!” Chris called out as he pulled the trigger on the launcher, launching the round out and watching as it impacted the bear without doing anything more than bouncing off of it.


“You forgot about the arming distance,” Jill said as she shouldered her rifle and fired a pinpoint round into the grenade, causing it to go off before turning and sprinting after Joseph.


Barry had already turned and begun running, leaving Chris and Wesker to look at the bear as it stumbled to its feet and turn its burning eyes to the two of them. As the two of them turned and began to run, they heard the sound of something smaller and faster than the bear chasing them as well.


“Those aren’t bears!” Chris yelled as he turned his head and caught a glimpse of a canine figure leaping after them.


“Just keep running!” Wesker yelled back, nearly out of breath. “I think I see a building in front of us!”


The two of them hit the door and forced it open before turning and shoving it closed behind them.


“That was too close,” Chris said as they heard the thump of a dog or whatever it was that was chasing them hit the door.


“Where are the others though?” Wesker asked as he turned and looked at the entryway of the building that they were in.


“Thud!” a massive sound hit the door and it shivered a second before they heard the bear growl and move on a bit.


“Let’s go see about finding the others yeah?” Chris agreed as he backed away from the door before his feet hit a bunch of spent shell casings and he nearly slipped onto his back before Wesker caught him and prevented him from hitting his ass on the ground.


“That’s a lot of shell casings,” Wesker said as he knelt down and picked up a piece of brass. “There’s some scorch marks over in the corner too. Whatever happened here, someone used a lot of ammunition to try and kill something else.”


“Doesn’t look like they were too successful either,” Chris said as he picked up a 7.62 NATO casing off of the ground. “Otherwise we would have seen a body around here. It was definitely Bravo Team though. Forest marks his duty ammo with a small red sharpie so that he doesn’t grab his range ammo by accident. This is definitely one of his.”


“Well, that puts us at least somewhat on the right track,” Wesker replied. “I wonder what they faced that would require so much spent munitions though.”


“No idea,” Chris shook his head. “But we should probably regroup with the others before we try and locate Bravo Team.”


“You go locate the rest of Alpha Team,” Wesker ordered Chris. “I’m going to see if I can track down Bravo, it looks like one of them may be injured,” Wesker indicated a small trail of blood. “They might need assistance of some kind.”


“Alright,” Chris agreed. “I’m not sure that splitting up is the right idea, but you are the captain.”


“Godspeed, Chris,” Wesker said as he turned and began to follow the trail of bloody bootprints. “I’ll meet you back here in an hour to regroup.”


“Copy that,” Chris said as he shouldered his SMG and began to check for unlocked doors. “I just hope that they made it into the building without any issues.”


“I certainly wouldn’t want to be trapped out there with that bear,” Wekser chuckled.


“Agreed,” Chris said. “And Captain, take an extra flashbang, I have a feeling that you’re going to need it,” Chris tossed the grenade to the Alpha Team captain before opening the unlocked door and moving through it.


“Poor fool,” Wesker muttered to himself as he pulled a suppressor out of one of his pouches and began to screw it onto his Samurai Edge. “I doubt that the rest of them escaped from Cerberus, much less the bear.”


Wesker swapped his magazine for subsonic ammo and chambered a round before moving forward, making sure to follow the trail of blood closely. “Let’s find out how many of you are still alive after this.”

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 23

“Fuck,” I exhaled violently as a clawed hand ripped open my tactical vest and tore a gash deep into the side of my ribs, the Hunter taking a swipe at me once it was in range. While the claw was stuck into my side, I pulled my combat knife out of its sheath and jammed it deep into the eye of the creature, sinking the blade deep until it finally stopped, the blade finding a material that it couldn’t keep going past. The Hunter, screaming in rage dropped me and tried to reach its face, driving the blade deeper while trying to claw it out, and killing it in the process.

“Guys,” I said as I turned to the rest of the squad who were stuck gaping for a minute. “We should probably get a move on, there’s never just one of these things.”

“I’ll take a look at that wound once we’ve found a place to bunker down,” Rebecca said as I tried to hold my side together, blood leaking out through some of the gauze bandages that I was pressing down against it to staunch the bleeding.

“Well, we might want to hurry up on that,” I said as I looked at a figure perched above us on the balcony. “Because I think that there’s something or someone else here with us.”

The figure dropped from the balcony to the ground in front of us, the chains on it rattling as it gave us a glare out from its somewhat misshapen eyes.

STARS Team Bravo immediately opened fire, not wanting the figure to try and take them out.

Then, the figure stood up, the bullets pushing themselves out of its body, and it screeched. The noise drawing in both zombies and more hunters to their location.

“Get clear,” Ordered Captain Marini as he shouldered his MGL while the creature continued to screech. And once the rest of Bravo Team was clear, he fired a HEPD round into the creature, the explosive round detonating and sending the creature away and into the wall.

“Let’s move!” Forest said as he saw the creature start to get back up. “I don’t want to stick around and find out what else this thing can do.”

Shifting as a group, we began to move down one of the hallways, keeping an eye on the zombies that were surrounding the creature that had attacked us while we retreated away from the entryway and opened a door that led to some sort of art room. Rushing through we entered a hallway and trying all of the doors eventually found one that only had one entrance that we breached and cleared before closing the door, locking it, and setting up positions to watch the door.

“Fuck,” I said as I eased the bandage off and immediately put pressure back on my wound. “Rebecca, you’re going to need to cut off my shirt, and I think my vest is trashed too.”

“Forest, Edward,” Rebecca took charge as she slipped both my pack and hers off and began to work my vest off. “Forest, I need you to look in my pack and get the first aid spray. Edward, I need your help with getting his gear off.”

“Copy that,” Forest said as he began digging through the med pack, trying to locate the first aid spray.

“Come on,” Edward said as he began to pull my tactical vest off.

“I’m taking over here,” Rebecca told me as she pulled out a fresh roll of gauze and took over holding pressure on my side. “You’ve lost a ton of blood and it looks like that claw nicked a rib, I’m probably going to need to use an entire can of spray on you in order to seal this up.”

“Alright,” I grit my teeth as I held my hands up and helped work my vest off.

Grabbing a pair of shears out of her kit, she cut my shirt off with one hand and held the bandage tight while I ripped the rest of the shirt off after she had cut across some of the seams.

“Edward,” She said after he had set my vest to the side. “I’m going to need you to get a clean thing of gauze, he’s going to want to bite down on something, this spray stings like hell, but it’ll hold him together until we can get to a hospital.”

“What about infection?” Captain Marini asked. “Is there a chance that he could turn into one of those things out there?”

“I have no idea,” Rebecca shook her head. “But even if it can be transmitted by those claws, this spray should clean any virus or bacteria out.”

“I should be fine,” I said as Rebecca accepted the first aid spray. “But we’ll find out by the end of this if I turn or not.”

“Here,” Edward said as he handed me a small roll of gauze. “You’re going to want to bite down on this.”

Taking the gauze roll into my left hand, I shoved it in my mouth as Rebecca quickly removed the pressure from the wound, wiped any dried blood out of the way, and shoved the nozzle of the first aid spray into the open wounds. Groaning through the bandage, I bite down hard as the sensation of being poked with hundreds of needles filled my right side, the sensation continuing until well after the first aid spray had been used up and Rebecca had wrapped my torso in a tight bandage.

“You’re going to need some stitches when we can get to a hospital,” Rebecca said bluntly. “And there’s going to be a hell of a scar there too. I saw part of one of your ribs there for a second before I used the first aid spray.” The medic sighed, and rooted through my medbag for the extra clothes that she knew were in there. “Here,” she handed me a plain black t-shirt. “You’re going to want this to go between your vest, and I don’t think you’ll be using your rifle for the rest of the op.”

“I’ll make it work,” I replied with a groan as I stood up from where I had been kneeling and put my kit back on. “We’re all going to get out of here.”

“You’re damn right we are,” Marini said as he moved to the doorway. “Given that all of the other facilities we’ve been in have had underground areas, what are the odds that there’s one here too?”

“I’d say pretty high sir,” Richard replied as he took inventory of what was left of his breaching gear. “I’m glad that the armory back at the outpost had extra breaching shells. Otherwise, we’d be SOL if we wanted anything broken into.”

“You good to keep going or do you need to stay here?” Enrico met my eyes and took my measure.

“I’m with y’all til the end,” I said as I stood up and grabbed my rifle. “Let’s get this shit over with.”



Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, my muse has been mostly on my other stories.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 24

“Did you hear that?” Jill asked Barry once they had sealed the door behind them and Frost.

“Yeah,” the older man replied. “Sounded like gunfire somewhere in the facility/”

“Not sure where though,” Frost said as he gasped for breath. “The acoustics of this type of building might be screwing with our perception of where sounds are coming from.”

“Well, we should probably stick together,” Barry said as he checked the chamber of his shotgun. “I do have the breaching rounds if we need them, after all.”

“Alright, Frost, you’re on point, Barry, you get the middle and I’ll bring up the rear,” Jill gave short pointed instructions.

“Where do we start though?” Barry asked.

“Looks like we came through some sort of servant’s entrance,” Joseph Frost said as he looked around. “We should probably see if there’s some sort of medkit around here before we move on.”

“Sounds good,” Jill replied as she looked around the small room. “We’ll take that hallway when we’re done, then we’ll move and see if we can locate some members of Bravo Team or maybe the rest of Alpha.”







“Why are there so many of these things?” Captain Marini asked as he led the STARS Bravo team through the hallway of this mansion. “You'd think they’d have sent commandos in to clean this site up like they did the rest.”

“Maybe they did,” Dewey replied with a shrug as he killed another zombie with his handgun. “Those reptile things might have gotten to them, and given the damage they caused to Mark, I doubt a full commando team would be alive if they got ambushed by enough of them.”

“You may be right there,” Forest said as he nudge a zombie's body with his booted foot. “These guys don’t look like they’re all that important to any of Umbrella’s operations. These guys are dressed in the sort of clothes a server would wear.”

“Never know with Umbrella,” I said as I moved past the dead with a slight wince. “Could have been important lab workers that never managed to escape for all we know.”

“Well, it’s up to us to ensure that whatever happened here gets out to the public,” Kenneth said as he turned his camera on for a handful of minutes to get some footage of the dead zombies that littered the ground. “We’ll be the only ones with evidence of what happened here after all.”

“Just got to make sure that Umbrella doesn’t just write this off though,” Rebecca said as she brought up the rear with Aiken. “There’s a lot of ways to fabricate evidence or cover things up after all.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Captain Marini said as he slowed to a halt. “I think this leads to a basement, stack up.”







“Well, it looks like they encountered something a bit lethal,” Wesker smirked to himself as he looked at the blood-soaked shirt that was left in the room he had followed the bloody footprints to. “I wonder who the clock is ticking for now,” He mused as he stepped out of the room and looked around at his surroundings, trying to figure out where he suddenly heard footsteps coming from.

Turning around, he saw something that he had thought was dead for many years. “Ahh, Lisa. I had thought it was too good to be true when I heard that you were dead.”

The creature that had once been Lisa Trevor simply stood there for a moment, examining him before letting out a screech and charging at the man who had contributed to her suffering.

Palming the flashbang that Chris had given him, Wesker pulled the pin and closed his eyes as he released it, the flash of heat and sound deafened him as he opened his eyes and saw Lisa curled up on the floor flinching away from the grenade that had just gone off. Turning and walking away, Wesker used his knowledge of the mansion to navigate to a hidden elevator. Pressing the button, he made his way down into the depths of the Spencer Mansion, where his next objective lay waiting.

Author's note: A bit short as I get back into the swing of things regarding this fic.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 25


“Well, it looks like Bravo Team has performed above and beyond what could have been expected,” Wesker muttered to himself as he looked over the camera recordings from the Umbrella Executive Training School. “If I wish to profit from this I should ensure that the BOWs are capable of handling them.”


Wesker began downloading the recordings to a CD and also began looking at what specimens might still be available for activation to use against both Bravo and Alpha Teams.


“It appears that the extraction team left some Lickers behind,” Wesker then glanced up at one of the camera monitors and smirked wickedly. “Yes, I remember you, YAWN,” Wesker looked at the giant snake as it slithered around some parts of the mansion. “We’ll have to see about luring you into Bravo Team. Their wounded member should slow them down after all.”

Wesker then typed in a series of commands that would set in motion the awakening of two Tyrants in the laboratory that he was standing in and would unleash the Lickers that were in stasis as well.


“Now, let’s check up on Chris,” Wesker went back to the hidden elevator and pushed a button, the doors closing on him and the elevator beginning the journey back up.








Chris leaned back out of reach of the zombie that was trying to bite him and shoved his MP5 into its face, squeezing the trigger as he did so before turning and killing the zombie that was trying to come up behind him and get a bite.


“Man,” Chris sagged a bit after the last of the zombies in his area had been killed. “Where did all of these things come from?” He took a minute to catch his breath before continuing to walk down the hallway, picking up a small keycard off of one of the corpses as he moved past.


“I’ll have to see if I can find out what this goes to,” he muttered to himself as he checked a corner and then cleared it, coming to find Captain Wesker killing a zombie with a smooth headshot from his handgun. “Captain Wesker!” Chris called out as he approached. “Any luck in finding the others?”


“That’s a negative,” Wesker shook his head, the ever-present sunglasses hiding some of his facial expressions. “I also haven’t been able to get a radio message out to Mr. Vickers as of yet, it seems something is jamming us.”


“Damn,” Chris shook his head. “I thought I heard gunshots a while ago but I guess that was you.”


“Maybe,” Wesker shrugged. “Could have been the rest of Alpha Team too, we might as well split up again to see if we can find anything. I’ll meet you back here in a half hour or so.”


“Copy that,” Chris nodded. “I’ll be back here in thirty mikes,” Chris started to walk away and then stopped and looked over his shoulder at Captain Wesker. “Good luck Captain.”


Wesker just nodded before turning around and walking in the opposite direction.








“Nope!” I said as I peered around the corner and began backing up. “I’m out, you guys can handle whatever that is, but I’m out.”


“What?” Dewey asked with a smirk on his face. “I’ve never known you to be scared of anything before.”


“I don’t deal with snakes,” I replied as I checked my magazine and itched my hand down for a 10mm handgun that had been replaced by my Sig P226 when I loaned the Glock to Dewey.


“Yeah, and that is one big motherfucker,” Forest said as he shouldered his SR-25 and peered at the giant snake that appeared to be resting at the moment. “Should we try and take it on now, Captain? Or should we just try and bypass it?”


“Bypass it for now,” Captain Marini replied. “No sense in pissing off something now that might be able to take one of us out.”


The rest of Bravo Team responded in the affirmative as they moved quietly through a secondary room, bypassing the giant snake entirely.


“Now, we need to see if we can find some sort of blueprints for the place,” Captain Marini said quietly, not wanting to wake the sleeping snake. “Let’s see if we can find some sort of library or office space of some kind, try and get a better idea of the big picture around here.”








“Did you see that?” Jill asked as she thought she saw movement ahead.


“I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye,” Barry replied as he slowed to a stop and looked around, his shotgun at the ready.


Joseph, bringing up the rear, stopped and looked behind the trio, checking the rear, and then seeing that it was clear, he turned around and peered up ahead, trying to see if he could spot the movement that the other two had mentioned.


“I don’t see anything,” Frost said with a shrug. “Maybe it was your imagination.”


“I’m not so sure about that,” Jill said as she relaxed her posture a bit. “But I can’t figure out what it was so I guess we can move forward.”


As the trio began to move forward, a massive figure lurched out from the darkness of the corner of the ceiling, its muscular body tensing as it snatched Joseph and jumped away, Jill and Barry turned at the sound and began firing their weapons into the area where the figure had disappeared to.


“Joseph!” Jill cried out as they began to chase the sound that the figure made as it ran, the gunshots punctuating the noise as Joseph seemingly tried to kill the humanoid as it carried him. One last gunshot echoed through the air as a roar sounded in the distance.

 

[ATP]

So,Apocalypse is on schedule.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 26


“Dammit!” Barry swore as he and Jill rounded the corner, seeing the dead body of Joseph Frost accompanied by the body of whatever creature it was that had dragged him away.


“What the hell is that thing?” Jill asked as she poked it with a rifle. “Looks like someone got fed steroids and turned inside out.”


“Whatever it was, it managed to tear up Joe in no time at all,” Barry said as he knelt and ripped the dog tags off of the Alpha Team member’s neck. “We’ll have to come back and recover his body at some point. He deserves a proper burial,” Barry continued taking care of some final rights and then turned quickly as he heard a sharp intake of breath from his partner.


“Barry, don’t make any sudden moves,” Jill breathed out as she saw two more of the creatures that had just killed Frost perched on the ceiling.


“Focus fire on the closest one?” Barry whispered back.


Jill just nodded, not wanting to speak for fear that the creatures would move quickly.


Jill flipped her fire selector switch from single to full auto, the small click seemingly setting off whatever triggers the creatures were waiting for.


Pulling the trigger, Jill stitched a line of rounds up and into the creature, leaping to the side and continuing to fire as it leaped past while Barry slam-fired his shotgun, operating the pump as fast as humanly possible until he was out of rounds.


“Reloading!” Jill called out as she fished another magazine from her magazine pouch and slammed it into her rifle.


“Covering!” Barry yelled back as he shoved another shell into his shotgun and fired it before drawing his Samurai Edge to continue firing while Jill was reloading.


Seeing the first creature die, the second jumped out of the way, seeming to fade into the darkness of another hallway, leaving Jill and Barry alone with the dead


“You got his dog tags?” Jill asked Barry as she slapped the bolt release on her rifle, sending the bolt home and chambering a new round.


“Yeah, I got 'em’,” Barry replied as he reloaded his shotgun.


“Then let’s find the others and get out of here,” She responded. “If Bravo Team ran into these kinds of freaks then I doubt any of them are still alive, so let’s just find Chris and the Captain and get outta here.”


“Marini is one tough SOB though,” Barry replied. “If there’s a chance that any of them are still alive then we owe it to them to see if we can at least recover their bodies.”


“Sure,” Jill shrugged. “Preferable with some special forces and a lot more firepower up here.”


“If we could reach Brad then I’d have already called him to go get backup,” Barry reminded Jill. “Now let’s get moving, there might be more of those things out there for all we know.”







“You just had to piss off the giant snake!” I yelled at Edward as we split off from the rest of Bravo Team, my side aching as the bandages began to slip and I started to bleed again.


“It was a goddamn sneeze!” Dewey yelled back as we cut another corner and then ducked down as the snake rammed into and through the wall of a T-shaped corridor.


“You think we lost it?” I asked as I passed my rifle over to Dewey and drew my handgun while checking the wound in my side.


“Nope,” Dewey replied as he began shooting at the giant snake that rounded the corner to come after us again. “It’s back!”


“Eyes and mouth look like the only unarmoured targets,” I said as I fired my pistol at the roof of the snake’s open mouth.


“We don’t have enough penetration to get through the scales,” Edward said as he sling my rifle and bodily grabbed me to begin running again. “We’ll have to improvise.”


The two of us eventually found a room with a giant fish tank of some sort, a catwalk hanging over it as the snake’s body causing the walkway to buckle slightly under the extra weight.


“Ed, just keep running,” I said as I glanced down into the water and saw a mouthful of teeth. “Don’t stop for anything.”


Reaching the end of the walkway, we began running down the stairs as a giant shark shot up and caught the snake in its jaws, the snake curling around the shark as the two began to struggle for supremacy.


“Not a fucking word,” I breathed out to the other Bravo Team member.


“Got it,” Edward nodded as we slowed down and looked back at the tank. “Who do you think will win?”


“Doesn’t matter,” I shrugged. “Whichever one does will just be pissed off at us for getting away and want to kill us even more.”


“Point made,” Edward said as he tried to hand me my rifle back only for me to wave him off.


“I can’t use it very well right now,” I said with a small gesture at the wound that had resumed bleeding. “Speaking of which, we’re going to have to stop in a minute for me to redo this, otherwise I may bleed out.”


“Too bad our radios aren’t working,” Edward sighed wearily. “We could have used some backup again.”


“We’ve made it work all night,” I replied as we found a small room for us to hide in while I redressed my wound. “We’ll regroup with the others eventually, with yet another crazy story to tell them.”


“What a fucking day,” Edward leaned back against the wall. “When we get back to Raccoon City I’m going to sleep for a week.”


“Keep that energy,” I pulled my bandage tight and grunted as it compressed the wound on my side. “It’s what will get us out of here alive.”








“Is this the right address?” Rain asked as she pulled the Hummer down the streets of Raccoon City.


“Looks like it,” Kaplan said as he looked up from the map. “Think there’ll be enough space for all of us?”


“Anything will be better than the HIVE after tonight,” Alice said with a groan as she stretched out in the back seat next to Natalia and J.D.


“Looks like it’s a 2/2,” J.D. said as he found the fake brick and opened it to reveal a spare key. “Let’s see what the interior’s like.”


“Pretty sparse,” Rain said as she drew the handgun she kept concealed and cleared the main rooms of the house. “But at least it’s furnished.”


“Ladies go shower first,” Kaplan said as he set his backpack down on the kitchen counter. “We’ll see if there’s any grub left in the house.”


“He’s got two showers,” Alice said. “I’m okay with waiting for the two of you to finish.”


“Sounds good to me,” Natalia replied, her accent becoming stronger for a minute. “I’ll try not to take up all of the hot water da?”


“Even a cold shower would be welcome!” J.D. yelled back with a grin as he poked his head out of the fridge, an armful of containers and ziplock bags stacked up carefully. “Man, he’s got some pretty good leftovers here, he even labeled and dated them.”


“Just save me something good,” Rain called out from the master bedroom’s attached bathroom. “You know what kind of food I like.”


“Wilco,” J.D. said as he began to preheat the oven for some of the leftovers. “I’ll make sure we all get something decent.”


“Wake me up when the other two are out of the showers,” Alice said as she reclined on the couch. “I’m taking a nap.”


“I’m glad we pulled all of our cash out,” Kaplan said as he glanced at the laptop screen. “Looks like Umbrella just closed all of our accounts due to us being registered as ‘dead.”


“Damn,” J.D. shook his head as he handed a slice of pizza to the resident technician. “Looks like Mark was right.”


“I’m still decrypting the files,” Kaplan said through a mouthful of pizza. “But it looks like this sort of thing goes way deeper than I could have ever imagined. It’s like anyone who was actually important knew about the kind of things Umbrella was into.”


“Is she on the up and up?” J.D. asked under his breath just loud enough for Kaplan to hear.


“Yeah,” Kaplan replied. “She checks out. It looks like most of the people at HIVE were doing legitimate research on things that are approved by the WHO and CDC. It was only a small percentage that were into the freaky shit.”


“Good,” a weight seemingly lifted off of J.D.’s shoulders. “I was worried I’d have to shoot her.”


“Nah,” Kaplan finished off his slice of pizza before reaching for a plate of biscuits and gravy that J.D. set on the counter in front of him. “We’re clear.”

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 27


“You hear that?” Jill asked as she walked through a small section of the Mansion. “Sounded like gunfire.”


“Yeah, sounded close too,” Barry said as he double-checked the load in his shotgun. “You ready to go see who it is?”


“Yeah,” Jill replied. “I’m ready to unravel this mystery.”


The two of them began jogging, moving towards the sound of sparse gunfire.


“Blue Blue Blue!” Jill yelled as she saw who the two people moving and shooting were.


“Jill?!” Edward asked as he killed a zombie and made sure the area was clear.


“Ed, it’s damn good to see you,” Barry said as he clasped arms with the other STARS member before turning to look at the wounded medic who was standing beside on overwatch, his side held with one hand and a pistol in the other.


“Jill, Barry,” Mark nodded at the two of them. “Where the hell have you guys been? We’ve been fighting for our lives up here on the mountain.”


“We didn’t get authorization to come look for you guys until about four or so hours ago,” JIll said as she glanced down at her watch. “And we’ve already lost Frost to some sort of strange creature in the mountain, and we lost track of Chris and Captain Wesker immediately after we located your crash site.”


“Well, we’ve had one hell of a night,” Edward said with an exhausted look in his eyes. “We just got split off from the rest of Bravo Team by some sort of giant snake a little while ago, and now we’re trying to figure out where they are.”


“The rest of Bravo Team is alive?” Barry asked.


“All of us were there before we got seperated,” Mark said as he press checked his Sig. “Given our night though, I’d rather have eyes on our teammates.”


“Agreed,” Ed replied to his partner. “Would hate to have to kill them after becoming one of those things.”








“Shit!” Captain Marini swore as Bravo Team splintered once again to evade some sort of monster. “Roll call,” he said after the snake had passed.


“I think I pulled something in my leg, but I’m here,” Forest said as he used his rifle as a crutch to stand up again before steadying himself on a wall.


“Here!” Rebecca called out from where she was partiallly buried underneath some drywall. “Kenneth hit his head, and he’s out.”


“We’ll have to carry him then,”Marini said as he and Forest dug the other two members out of the debris. “At least until he’s conspicuous enough to walk by himself.”


“Is the video camera intact?” Forest asked. “We need to at least save what footage we already have.”


“Let me check,” Rebecca said as she dug through Kenneth’s pack, pulling out a slightly dinged camera that was still functional. “We’re good, but I’m going to swap out the tape for save keeping anyway. It should be fine with all of my medical gear.”


“Alright, I’ve got Kenneth, just keep me covered,” Marini began to pick up the big man before Rebecca stopped him.


“Wait,” Rebecca said as she dug into a pouch and pulled out a plastic vial. “I’ve got smelling salts, let’s give them a try before we try going through this entire mansion with an unconscious teammate.”


Cracking the smelling salts open and holding them a distance away from Kenneth’s nose, Rebecca kept careful watch and made sure that she was able to catch his head when he jolted awake.


“What the hell was that?” Kenneth asked as he jolted upright from where he was laying on the ground. “I remember some sort of giant snake, and then just nothing.”


“Yeah, you got hit pretty hard,” Rebecca said with a calming smile. “You good?”


“I’m good,” Kenneth accepted Marini’s hand as he stood up. “Is the camera okay?”


“Yeah, we checked it, and swapped out the tapes just in case,” Rebecca replied.


“Good,” Kenneth said as he rubbed at a sore point on his shoulder. “I’d hate for all of our work so far to be in vain.”


“Well, you’re alive, that’s more important than any more evidence we could have picked up,” Enrico said as he patted the other man on the shoulder. “Now let’s go find Ed and Mark and get back to Raccoon City, we’ve spent way too much time in these mountains.”








“I shall have to consider allowing that recording to be a part of what I sell,” Wesker mused to himself as he watched the battle between Yawn and Neptune. “Yawn seems to be the superior experiment, I shall have to consider more studies in that area.”


Wesker then looked at another camera feed, seeing that some members of Bravo Team had met up with Jill and Barry.


“Well, it looks like it’s time to plant some seeds here,” Wesker smirked as he located Chris on the feeds, plotting out a path that would lead him to the other Alpha Team member.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 28


Lisa watched the Hated One, the one who she remembered as he walked through the mansion. When she had tried to confront him before, she had been blinded by some sort of thing, but this time, she would be prepared for that.


Letting out a screech of anger, she dropped down, her chains echoing in the hallway, and began chasing the Hated One, intent on hurting him the same way that she hurt, and making him scream the way that she screamed when he stabbed her with the things.


He was alone, and that was a good thing, it meant that she would be able to pursue her hunt until it was finished and she was sated.


She scoffed as the Hated One began to run away in fright, with a roar she chased, intent on her revenge before she rounded a corner and saw that the Hated One had found a member of his pack.


Swinging her chains at the duo, she aimed to cripple the Hated One and kill his packmate, her chains hitting the leg of the Hated One and causing him to stumble to his knees.


Roaring in victory, she lurched forward, intent on grabbing him and taking him with her. But then there was pain, and she shied away from the pain, shielding her head she backed away as the pain increased. Then, seeing an escape, she ran away, intent to resume her chase later.








“What the hell was that?” Chris asked Wesker as he helped him up to his feet.


“Some sort of creature that I angered in some way,” Wesker replied as he brushed himself off and readied his handgun once again. “I evaded it once before with the aid of the flashbang that you gave me, it must have wanted me dead since I was able to evade it once before.”


“Good work,” Wesker said as he did a rough check on his leg by putting more weight on it. “I was trying to find you and let you know that I found some data that indicates one of our Alpha Team members was working with whoever engineered this whole incident.”


“Who was it?!” Chris asked angrily. “I’ll help bring them into Chief Irons myself.”


“I’m not sure,” Wesker said with a small shrug. “But it most likely would have had to be someone skilled in both breaking and entering without leaving a trace behind. Or someone who was able to have access to our helicopters the entire time.


“Which pretty much narrows it down to Jill, Edward, or Joseph,” Chris said angrily. “Edward is likely dead or lost in the forest, so that leaves it down to Jill or Joseph.”


“That is the same conclusion that I came to,” Wesker agreed. “Don’t let them know that you’re onto them, should you encounter them, it would be better to take them by surprise should the right time come.”


“Agreed,” Chris said as he looked around them.”You seem to be better at finding the evidence around here than I am, so let’s split up again. I’ll continue to look for everyone else on Alpha Team, while you look for the rest of the information that we need to pin the traitor to the wall. “








“So you’re not going to tell us what happened up here?” Barry asked.


“Not while we’re still in this mansion surrounded by more freaks,” Edward replied with a glance at me. “We’re going to be trying to regroup with the rest of Bravo Team and then we’re out of here.”


“They were trying to see if there’s a basement like the other complexes we’ve encountered,” I agreed. “We know the general direction they were headed, so we should meet up with them sooner or later.”


“Will you at least tell us what did that to you?” Jill asked as she pointed at the wound in my side they had just watched me pack and then rewrap.


“Some sort of giant lizard,” I replied. “The claws are probably the most dangerous part of them, they managed to just slice through Ed’s MP5 like it was nothing.”


“So beware of the claws, got it,” Barry said. “Anything else we should know?”


“Pistol caliber rounds did nothing to them, and my 5.56 didn’t do more than scratch them, it required my 10mm to put them down for good,” I shrugged. “Well, that or a solidly placed grenade or knife.”


“Alright,” Jill said once we had finished discussing some of the creatures and how to kill them. “We’ve been stationary here for far too long, let’s start moving”


“Wait,” Edward said as he heard something around the corner. “I hear that snake again.”


“Stupid fucking snake,” I muttered as I reached for the one frag grenade I had left. “That shark better have left you hurt.” I rounded the corner and saw the giant snake with bloody gashes all over it as it tore into a group of zombies for food.


I pulled the pin for the grenade, counted down from three, and tossed it right into the snake's mouth as it opened wide to spray poison, some of the poison hitting my ballcap before the grenade disappeared into its gullet.


“Choke on this you stupid snake,” I muttered as the snake began to try and move on us before exploding into small chunks of gore.


“Mark, you might want to get rid of the hat,” Ed said as he gestured to the poison that was dripping down the side of it.


“Nah,” I said as I took the ballcap off and used some dirty gauze to wipe the poison off of it. “I’m keeping this thing,” A small design had traced itself down the black ballcap as the poison had eaten away at the black dye. “I might even copyright the design.”


“Well, your hat,” Ed shrugged. “Now that your grudge match with the snake is taken care of do you mind if we continue linking up with the rest of our teammates?”


“No, I’m good,” I said as I spat on the body of the dead snake. “Let’s go.”


Author’s note: This was meant to be written yesterday, but I felt like I had gotten hit by an Isekei truck.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 29


Chris Redfield walked through the mansion alone, his MP5K at the ready to face any threats, the night had been a strange one, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to encounter after the zombies and the bear, but whatever it was, he would be ready for it.


“Dammit,” he exhaled as he saw two bodies and one of the zombies at the end of the hallway. “That’s Joe,” he rushed forward and got closer to the corpses, killing the zombies that was tearing into the body of his dead friend.


What was left of Joe was leaned up against the wall with his hand still on the MP5 that had delivered the killing blow to the monster that had killed him, with his other hand was clutched in a fist around something.


Kneeling down, Chris looked around his friend’s neck for something that should have been there.


“Someone already found your tags,” Chris muttered to himself as he stood up and turned around to consider the creature that Joseph frost had killed when he died.


Seeing something move in the corner of his eye, Chris pulled his submachine gun up to his eyes, shifting his eyes back and forth to try and see what it was that had caught his vision.


Then, hearing a groan behind him, he turned and saw the body of Joseph Frost standing up and lurching towards him. The thing clenched in his hand now identifiable as a fragmentation grenade with the pin pulled but the spoon held down.


“Oh fuck,” Chris said as he backpedaled away from the live grenade and stumbled over the corpse of the monster, fallig backward just as an identical creature leaped over him and tackled Joe’s body to the ground.


“Shit,” Chris said as he saw the grenade rolling around on the ground underneath the creature as it tore in to the dead STARS member’s body.


Then the grenade went off, sending shrapnel flying in every direction while Chris was knocked backward and to the ground from the concussive blast.








Meanwhile, a massive tube with a creature called a Tyran finished the process to awaken the monster within.


“We’ll have to see how Bravo team handles this,” Wesker said as the elevator took the first of two slowly waking Tyrants up to the surface. He then turned and began flipping through the cameras to locate exactly where they were.


“Oh, they’re in the garden, this should be interesting,” Wesker muttered as he zoomed in on the action that was taking place.








“Why are there more of these giant lizards here?’ Rebecca asked as they killed another one with a well placed grenade from Captain Marini’s grenade launcher.


“They probably like the humidity and the heat,” Kenneth said as he shut down the camera to pick up his weapon again. “I’d keep an eye out for more of them, they may try to make this their home for now.”


“Expect more lizards with razor sharp claws that can cut through steel and are capable of tanking most of our guns, that’s just terrific,” Forest snarked as he looked at their surroundings. “What’s next supersoldiers, mutant alligators in the sewers, something else?”


“Who knows what the kind of people who can make these sorts of abominations get up to,” Captain Marini muttered as he surveyed the area. “Looks like there’s some sort of path and a stairway up ahead that leads down into the greenhouse.”


“Given the other crazy stuff we’ve found in random places we might as well check it out,” Rebecca said with a shrug. “We might actually find something worthwhile while we’re down there after all.”








“Hey! I think I found out what caused that explosion,” Barry said as he knelt down and checked Chris Redfield’s vitals. “Looks like a frag went off, took what was left of Joseph with it along with whatever it is that Chris was fighting.”


“I’ll make sure Chris is good to go,” I said as I took over while Barry began guarding me along with Jill and Edward.


“Vest is intact, looks like the body here absorbed most of the shrapnel,” I said as I continued checking for any overt wounds. “No bite marks from what I can tell,” I said as I flipped him over and frowned. “He’s got a pretty nasty gash on his head though, I’m gonna wake him up and see about taking care of it.”


Grabbing his shoulders, I began shaking Chris, but when he didn’t wake up I opened up my med kit and broke out the smelling salts.


“I didn’t want to do this,” I sighed as I cracked open the container and held it a distance away from his nose, allowing the salts to do their job.


As soon as the odor hit his nose, Chris jolted upright, instinctively grabbed my arm that was still in front of him and put me in an arm bar.


“A little help here,” I said as I struggled against my own training. “I don’t want to have to kill the guy to get him to let go.”


“Hey Chris, you awake man?” Barry shook his hand in front of Chris’ face, the other man blinking and then recognizing the older man before letting me go.


“Dammit,” I groaned as I looked down at the messed up bandage that had been covering the giant wound in my side. “You tore the gauze. I flipped Chris the bird once he was lucid enough to recognize me. “You’re lucky my blood’s already clotted for the most part,” I hastily rewrapped what was left of my gauze before turning and beginning to clean out the gash on Chris’ head.


“Sorry man,” Chris apologized while he winced at me digging some debris out of the wound on his head. “SERE training sticks with you even after you leave the Air Force.”


“Fuckin’ Chair Force,” I shook my head at the other man. “Next time you can wake yourself up in a hostile environment.”


“Chris,” Edward nodded at the other man now that he was present enough to notice the other Bravo Team member. “Good to see that everyone on Alpha made it here to join us in this shitshow.”


“Except for Vickers,” Jill chimed in as she stepped into view. “That chickenshit took off and left us for dead pretty early on.”


“He’ll be back,” I muttered harshly. “Or I swear to God above that I’m haunting him for the rest of eternity.”

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 30


“Get down!” Rebecca yelled as a giant vine tried to crush most of Bravo Team. “It’s coming by for another pass.”


“Try aiming for the vines, maybe we can tear them off if we put enough rounds into them,” Forest said as he tried hitting the main body of the big plant only to cause minor damage that seemed to heal up as soon as it struck.


“Try and get the vines to stay in one place for long enough for me to put a grenade into each one as they come by,” Captain Marini instructed as he pumped his MGL to rotate the cylinder to an incendiary grenade.


“Working on it!” Forest said as he dove out of the way of one of the vines that was trying to kill him. “But they don’t want to stay still.”


“Burning it!” Captain Marini said as he fired an incendiary at the main body of the carnivorous plant. “Let’s see how you like fire.”


The plant seemed to scream, the sound not anything like Bravo Team had ever heard before, it echoed through their skulls and made them cover their ears to prevent the sound from being worse.


“What the hell was that?!” Marini yelled out as he shouldered the MGL and fired another grenade into the giant plant, this time a high explosive one that tore chunks off of the main body of the plant.


Forest, the next one to recover from the noise, shouldered his SR-25 and started filling the hole that had appeared in the giant plant with rounds as fast as he could pull the trigger, the open wound not being able to regenerate while he filled it with 7.62 NATO rounds.


“Keep firing,” Captain Marini ordered as he fired four more grenades before ducking back behind a pillar to reload. “Don’t let it heal up!”


“Copy that!” Forest said while Richard began firing his Benelli M3 into the plant’s open wound as well.


“Kenneth is down!” Rebecca said as she dragged the big pointman behind cover while killing the few zombies that tried to find the source of all the noise. “I think the noise rattled his brain a bit! He’s stable, but I’m keeping him out of the fight!”


“Copy that!” Captain Marini yelled back as he stepped back out from cover while Forest ducked back down to reload his SR-25 again. “Fire in the Hole!” he yelled as he fired all six grenades in rapid succession, the incendiaries combined with the HE rounds causing the chunks of plant matter to catch on fire as they blew off of the plant. And finally, with one last ear-pounding shriek, the plant creature collapsed, seeming to be dead.


“Keep shooting,” Marini said as he checked his load of grenades and frowned, finding that there were only around nine left. “I don’t want to use any more grenades when we might need them in the future.”


“I’ve got a frag,” Richard said as he pulled the grenade out, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the remaining plant matter. “Frag out!”


“I think it’s dead,” Forest said as he stood up from his crouched position, pulling the magazine from his SR-25 and checking how many rounds were left before shoving it back into the receiver. “Can we leave now, boss? I’m tired of having to kill giant monsters.”


“We can leave when we get the rest of Bravo back together and have a ride out,” Marini patted the sniper on the shoulder. “Let’s go check on Kenneth.”


“He’s awake, but I’m fairly sure that his eardrums are busted,” Rebecca said with a sigh. “He’s bleeding out of his ears even with the ear protection that he had on, and has to read my lips to fully understand me.”


“So he’s going to have to hold onto the back of one of our vests,” Marini said with a heavy sigh. “Alright, we’re going back into the mansion, and we’re getting our team and getting off of this godforsaken mountain. Even if we have to walk the entire way to do it.”








“I don’t remember there being an elevator here before,” I commented as we entered the main room. “You remember seeing anything like that, Ed?”


“Negative,” Edward shook his head. “I’d have remembered an elevator. Someone must have taken it up here.”


“Well, let’s check it out,” Jill stepped forward with Chris right behind her while Barry brought up the rear. “Might be something important.”


Then, the group of five began to hear heavy footsteps from around the corner.


“What the hell is that?” Chris asked as an eight-foot-tall monstrosity stepped around the corner.


“Yet another impossible thing we’re going to have to kill,” I said as I saw the red eyes glow as it glared at the five of us. “Edward, can I have my 10mm, I’m not sure that my Sig will do much to that thing.”


“Yep,” Edward passed me the handgun over while still staring at the creature. “You’ve only got the mag that’s in there though, we’ve pretty much used the rest of it.”


“Well that’s great,” I snarked as the creature started charging. “Guys, we should probably kill this thing now before something else comes along.”


Barry just stepped forward and shot the creature with his Remington 870, causing it to stagger back at first before it braced itself while pushing the massive clawed hand out in front of it to block any more incoming shots.


“Just pour on the fire!” Chris yelled as he emptied his SMG’s magazine into the giant. “It can’t take the combined firepower!”


Raising my Sig, I carefully aimed for what looked like an exposed organ on the right side of the creature, my 9mm rounds impacting it and causing the creature to roar as it turned its focus onto me.


Running at me, the creature tried to swipe at me with the clawed hand but I dove out of the way, feeling my side begin to radiate pain as I hit the ground with my injured side. Ignoring the sharp spikes that felt like they were digging into my side, I staggered up and ran away from the creature, dodging claws as the rest of the STARS team shot the giant.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 31


“Now that the giant has been dealt with,” Chris started as he panted from having stabbed a combat knife into the exposed organ of the giant that had been trying to kill them. “Would anyone care to tell me what the hell is going on here?”


“You want the long version or the short one?” Edward asked as he reloaded the rifle he had borrowed from me. “Because I’m not sure we’ve got time for the long one, and it takes the rest of Bravo Team here to tell it properly anyway.”


“The short version then,” Chris nodded as he straightened up.


“Barry and I are in the dark too,” Jill said with a small smile as she helped me up from where I was resting after the fight. “So we’d like the short version now, with promises of the full story later.”


“Long story short, Umbrella Corporation is doing some shady research up in these mountains,” Edward said. “Mark and I ended up in a lab, while the rest of Bravo Team dealt with some sort of training facility.”


“Turns out Wesker worked for Umbrella for years before he ever joined the Army,” I chimed in as I opened up my pack and dug out some ibuprofen. “We think he might have sabotaged our chopper so we would end up crashing in the mountains.”


“You got any proof to back up those claims?” Chris asked. “Because I trust the Captain, he’s had my back in this mansion.”


“You’d have the check the chopper for yourself,” Edward shrugged. “And Captain Marini and the rest of Bravo have our evidence, and we don’t know where they are currently.”


“Well, I’m sure that the noise in here will draw them in sooner or later,” Jill said. “Should we wait here for them to show up?”


“I like that idea,” I said with a groan. “I’m okay with taking a break until the rest of STARS shows up.”


“Of course, you would be okay with that,” Jill said as she shook her head. “Your favorite thing to do when your favorite thing to do when not at work or working out is to sit and read in that apartment of yours.”


“Just because you go out clubbing doesn’t mean that all of us enjoy that,” I snarked back. “Besides, I go to the range with you guys to blow off steam all of the time.”


“Range time doesn’t count,” Edward argued back. “It’s work related so it doesn’t get included in your list of hobbies.”


“Fair enough,” I nodded my head. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to go out and do stuff all that much.”


“Yeah, but we make you come and hang out with us anyway,” Jill punched my shoulder a bit as we both slid down the wall to a resting position. “Because we think friends shouldn’t stay cooped up for long periods of time without being around other people.”


“How many rounds of 10mm you got left, Mark?” Barry asked me as he slid the cylinder over on his.357 magnum to reload, sliding the cylinder shut with a snap of the wrist once he had dumped the speed loader in.


“Maybe half a mag left,” I replied as I slid the magazine out and checked the round count. “Yeah, maybe eight rounds left. We’ve had to use it on a ton of stuff up in these mountains.”


“Well, I think I’ve got a box in my pack,” Barry said as he pulled off his small backpack and tossed it to me. “It’s been in there since range day, so no idea how many rounds are left in the box, but it should help fill up at least one or two extra mags.”


“There’s twenty-one rounds here,” I said as I opened the box and began loading the partially full mag before loading it back into the Glock. “That’s enough for me to have two full mags. Thanks,” I nodded to the bear of a man.


“You’re welcome,” Barry responded as he accepted the backpack and put it back on. “Use them wisely.”


–

–


“Good, you guys are alive,” Rebecca said as the remainder of Bravo Team entered the main entrance area of the mansion. “Mark, I need you to help run some checks on Kenneth if this area is secure, he took some pretty nasty hits earlier and I need a second opinion.”


“So you guys are actually alive,” Chris said after a minute of shocked silence once the rest of the battered group had walked in.


“Bruised, and a little beaten, but we’re alive,” Enrico said with a smile at the sight of his friends. “It’s been a hell of a day, but I think we’re through the worst of it.”


“Nice piece you got there,” Barry said as he looked at the grenade launcher that was slung over the STARS captain’s shoulder. “Where’d you find that thing?”


“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Enrico said as he shook his head. “It’s been quite useful though with all of the monsters we’ve encountered over the last while.”


“Given what we just faced I can believe that,” Jill said as she stood up. “We figured we’d wait to see what’s down at the bottom of this elevator once we got the rest of you guys here.”


“Given most of the crap we’ve found was in underground labs, I think it’s a safe bet there’s something important down there,” Forest said as he lowered Kenneth to the ground so that Rebecca and I could do some quick aid.


“I’ll stay here and mind Kenneth,” I said with a gesture toward my side. “Rebecca can take care of any injuries you face down there, just don’t leave us behind.”


“We’re not leaving any of us behind,” Captain Marini stated firmly. “Let’s go finish this,’ he began moving toward the elevator, the rest of Alpha and Bravo Teams in tow.

 

[AmosTrask]

I’ll stay here and mind Kenneth,” I said with a gesture toward my side. “Rebecca can take care of any injuries you face down there, just don’t leave us behind.”


“We’re not leaving any of us behind,” Captain Marini stated firmly. “Let’s go finish this,’ he began moving toward the elevator, the rest of Alpha and Bravo Teams in tow.

I do believe this is what is called foreshadowing. Very much so. It's not subtle at all at it. Damn it Mark! You know the Horror Movie Rules . . . NEVER SPLIT UP! 😆

 

[ATP]

I do believe this is what is called foreshadowing. Very much so. It's not subtle at all at it. Damn it Mark! You know the Horror Movie Rules . . . NEVER SPLIT UP! 😆

Yeah,now at leas part of them die.

 

[MarkWarrior]

I do believe this is what is called foreshadowing. Very much so. It's not subtle at all at it. Damn it Mark! You know the Horror Movie Rules . . . NEVER SPLIT UP! 😆

In this case, it wasn't actually foreshadowing... Mark and Kenneth would quite literally be a liability down there. With both of them being walking wounded after all. Yes, Kenneth is able to still shoot and kill zombies and other monsters, but he can't hear the callouts that the team is giving him. So he passed on the camera and is staying behind with the OC.