

Behind Jill the door to the safe room
opened. She reached for her gun but relaxed when she saw who it was.
“Chris! Scarlet! You’re ok!” she
called. Scarlet entered but Chris hovered at the doorway. A shadow had
descended over his face. “I found out about this hidden lab facility, there’s a
secret entrance leading to a complex underneath the mansion.”
“We should check there then,
finding that place might be key to stopping the Mysterons.”
“Right, I’ll show you.” They
headed towards the exit to find Chris pointing his gun at Scarlet.
“Chris, are you ok?” Jill asked.
“Who are you working for?”
Chris rushed at Scarlet and slammed him into the wall, forcing his gun to his
head. “You’re with Umbrella aren’t you? Did they send you to destroy all the
evidence, is that it?”
“Chris! Calm down!” Jill
shouted.
“The dog cages outside. I saw
them; they were closed when we arrived. So that means someone opened them after
we got here! But when that failed you released those lizard things to deal with
us!”
“I didn’t release anything, it
was Wesker who opened the Hunters’ cages.”
“Why would he do that? Why
would he kill himself?”
“I don’t know but it’s the truth.”
“Chris, you’re getting
paranoid,” Jill interrupted. Chris grabbed Scarlet and forced him down on to
the floor, still keeping the gun trained on his head.
“He died Jill! I saw it! One
of the those creatures managed to kill Wesker and he just got back up again!”
Chris pushed the gun further into Scarlet’s head. “You’re working for them
aren’t you? You’ve got the same thing in you as those creatures outside!”
“I’m only trying to stop the
Mysterons.” Scarlet glared up at him.
“You keep mentioning these things
but I haven’t seen them, all I’ve seen is God damn zombies. So I’m going to
deal with you the way I’ve dealt with all of them so far.”
“Chris! Don’t!” Jill shouted, but he wasn’t listening.
“Jill, you and I both know the
only way to be sure… is to shoot them in the head!”
“Chris! NO!” Her cry was
drowned out by the sound of the gunshot which echoed through the hall. The
single shell cartridge fell and chinked on the ground, and the hall was filled
with the soft thump of a body falling to the floor.
He stood there looking down at
the body, it wasn’t moving. It just registered with him that he’d ended a human
life.
He turned to Jill; her hand
hovered over her mouth. He got up and walked towards her.
“Jill, I…” He reached out his
arms.
“Don’t touch me!” She backed
away. Chris hovered, not knowing what to do. She walked over to the door, “I
think I can hear someone…”
“Jill…” Chris called, she
continued on. She carefully reached the door and pushed it open slightly. The
gun in her hand was now shaking but she knew it wasn’t the zombies that had
frightened her so much.
She tried to push it all away
and focus on the footsteps outside, they weren’t slow and dragged out like the
zombies she’d seen. These were a set of regimented steps, heavy boots clumping
in time keeping up a precise pace. As she heard them go past she peeked her
head through the door and saw a quick flash of blonde hair.
She threw the door open.
“WESKER? Is that you?” she
cried. But she saw instantly that it wasn’t Wesker. The figure slowly turned
round to face Jill.
“…Joseph?” she said in
disbelief. It was him, still wearing his red banana and dark grey STARS
uniform, and a grenade launcher slung over his shoulder. There weren’t any
signs of scratches or blood. He stopped in his tracks, and slowly turned to
face her.
“Jill, I’ve been looking for
you.”
Chris had just heard Jill call Joseph’s
name, who he’d last seen being torn apart by zombie dogs. But seeing him
standing there, completely unharmed, it was as if everything so far had all
been some weird distorted dream.
“Hey buddy…” he said, still
not quite believing himself, “…why you looking so down?”
So he wasn’t quite expecting
it when Joseph pulled a gun out and shot him.
“Chris!” Jill reached over to
where Chris fell.
“Don’t move!” Joseph shouted,
his gun now aimed squarely at her. She stopped, wanting to check on Chris who
was curled up on the floor. He shot a pained look at her. She looked up at her
STARS comrade.
“Joseph. Why did you do this?”
He didn’t reply. He walked over and grabbed her arm, violently pulling her up
onto her feet.
“You know how to reach the
laboratory, don’t you?” he asked, still pointing the gun at her chest. She
slowly nodded. He pushed her forward. “Show me.”
Jill quickly glanced back at
Chris, she couldn’t leave him like this. But Joseph pushed the gun into her
back and forced her on.
“No… Jill.” Chris gasped, their eyes
caught one more time as she turned round the corner. He tried to drag himself
forward, feeling the bullet still lodged in his shoulder when he tried to move.
Slowly, he started to pull himself up, propping up against the wall for
support. A large groan escaped from him as the bullet made a sharp stinging
sensation in his shoulder as he tried to move on.
But from behind him the
groaning sound continued.
Chris swivelled round to see a
zombie shuffling towards him. Joseph had left the door open and the zombie had
been able to walk right in. Chris reached for his gun remembering he’d dropped
it when Joe had shot him. In his current state he didn’t feel fast enough to
get the gun back before the zombie would be upon him. He reached for his knife
pouch and slowly pulled out the long combat knife. He was suddenly aware of
another sound from behind him, seeing another two zombies down the other end of
the corridor.
“Oh great…” he mumbled. Three
zombies with just a knife wouldn’t be easy. He cautiously approached the
nearest zombie, knife ready, reaching forward and stabbing the creature in the
head. He tugged back at the knife which had lodged itself in the creature’s
skull. It gave way and the thing’s body slumped forward. He didn’t have time to
bring it round before one of the zombies behind him grabbed hold of him and
opened its jaws aiming for his neck.
A shot rang out and the creature’s head snapped
away from Chris. The last zombie was dispatched with another clean shot through
the head. Chris turned to see Captain Scarlet emerge from the door.
“You’re still…?”
“Alive, yes,” Scarlet finished
for him. He reached his hand towards the back of his head. “Your shot wasn’t as
accurate as you thought. You hit me just below the head, in the collar bone,
painful but not fatal.”
Chris looked more nervous than
ever, his hand tightly gripped around his knife. It seemed he still didn’t
trust the Captain.
“How do you keep getting up
from all this stuff?”
“You’ve got to believe me when
I said I wasn’t working for Umbrella.”
“I’m not quite sure what to
believe at this point,” Chris muttered.
“Something happened to me a
long time ago, I was used against my will. That’s why I’ve tried so hard to
fight against the Mysterons. I can’t let it continue like this.”
Chris slowly lowered his
knife. At the very least he knew the captain could have killed him by now if
he’d meant to.
“Does that mean you heard what
happened?”
Scarlet nodded “That Joseph
was a Mysteron.”
“I saw him ripped apart, but
everything about him was fine, even his clothes. None of those zombies can come
back like that,” Chris was starting to realise, “but why’d he take Jill?”
“The secret laboratory under
this mansion, Jill took the key card to access it. She’s the only one who can
get down there,” Scarlet said, “I’ll go after Joseph. We need to get out of
here, but we can’t radio for help.”
“I know a way.” The two nodded in
agreement. Scarlet headed off down the corridor, but Chris placed a hand on his
shoulder.
“Save Jill won’t you?”
Captain Scarlet nodded.
“Of course.”
Jill’s card activated the
hidden passage and an empty lift opened to greet them. The two stepped in, Joe
reached forward and pushed the button. The doors slid shut and the lift began
to descend. Jill turned to Joseph, trying to meet his gaze, but he stared
forward, hardly noticing her. The lift stopped and the doors ground open.
The underground complex was completely
different from the décor of the mansion. Large industrial machines lined the
walls, there were hardly any lights and a thick mist hovered from where a gas
pipe had burst.
Joseph gestured for Jill to go first, and
she did. Her footsteps echoed on the steel grating beneath her feet. Her eyes
kept darting around the lab, trying to find something that could help her
escape. As they carried on she saw something scuttle out of view. Ahead of them
there were strange twisted cries. She could see several creatures lurking in
the shadows. Some of them crawled around on the ceiling, clinging with hooked
hands and feet onto the gratings. They circled round the new visitors, aroused
by the smell of fresh meat but they didn’t want to approach Joseph. So the
things stuck to the shadows where they were most comfortable and snarled as
they went past.
They reached a bulkhead at the end of the
corridor, a card reader idly waiting for them. Jill saw the look in Joseph’s
eyes and pulled the card out again and swiped it.
The door slid open, slowly the
floor lights blinked on one by one beginning to illuminate the room. Jill
cautiously stepped inside.
The room was deserted but a
long row of computers and apparatus covered the wall at the end of the room.
All of it seemed to centre around one giant containment capsule placed at the
end of the room. Jill looked inside, the creature was twice as tall as her,
grey skin which occasional bubbled and blistered. On its chest its organs
seemed to be breaking out: she could see its heart pumping on the outside of
its body. Its left hand was a long extended claw. Jill had the sudden urge to
step away from it.
Joseph didn’t seem bothered by
the creature. He was typing away on the control panel, and several screens
popped up about viral research. One of them was about the creature in the tank,
the word ‘Tyrant’ was spread across the screen.
“You may leave if you wish.”
Joseph said, he continued typing. Jill thought of the creatures outside, she
could just hear them beyond the door scraping to get in. She turned back to
Joseph, eyeing his handgun; he kept it ready as he typed.
She edged closer, her hand
hovered as she looked for an opportunity. Joseph had finished and a small panel
opened up, revealing a vial of green liquid held inside. Joseph grabbed a
silver suitcase and put the vial inside, secure between the foam padding.
“What’s that?” Jill asked. Joe
turned to her almost with a look of nostalgia for his teammate, then it was
gone again.
“The destruction of Raccoon City
has failed, for the Mysterons’ plan to succeed I have to take the virus back
and finish the outbreak.”
“You’re going to re-infect
everyone,” Jill shouted. Joseph continued, and Jill’s hand curled into a fist.
“No! I won’t let you!”
She leapt at him, he swung the
gun round on her face and she fell back. She glared at him clutching her face
where blood was starting to dribble from her lip. He aimed his gun at her head.
A bullet drove into his
shoulder and he staggered back onto the control panel. He turned, enraged.
Scarlet was silhouetted against the doorway. Joseph slammed his fist down on
the control panel and the fluid in the containment pod started to filter
through.
Joseph fired at Scarlet, who
ducked for cover behind one of the large columns. Joseph grabbed the virus case
and ran off. Jill jumped forward tripping Joseph over, he fell head first onto
the floor dropping the grenade launcher. But he kicked back at Jill’s stomach
and she let go. He clambered to his feet and ran towards the exit. Scarlet
fired a few shots as Joseph ran off, but he disappeared through the door as it
sealed shut behind him.
Scarlet got up and headed over
to Jill.
“Are you ok?” he said as he
helped her to her feet.
“Fine,” she replied,
“shouldn’t you be dead?”
The containment capsule hissed
open and the monster inside stepped out. It saw them ahead and walked over to
them.
“Quick! Get the door open!”
Chris opened the door to find
the zombie dogs trying to get the last scraps off Joseph’s body. He fired at
one of them and the others suddenly became alert, one sprinted at Chris, he
turned the rifle round and bashed it in the head as it approached. He pulled
out his handgun again and fired at the remaining dogs.
He dropped the rifle and
walked over to Joseph’s body, digging around in the bulletproof vest and
pulling out a hand-held radio. He wiped it clear of the blood that had seeped
through and tuned it in.
“This is Chris Redfield to
Spectrum, come in please.” He grimaced at the wound in his shoulder; the
medical equipment hadn’t completely gotten rid of the pain he still felt.
On the radio static chirped
back to him before a voice picked up.
“This is Spectrum Helicopter
B27 receiving you.”
“We need immediate evac, are
you in any position to help?”
“Yes we can pick you up in a
matter of minutes.” Brad placed the microphone back on the receiver.
He turned back to look at Claire in the
back seat. Her head hung as she lay still on the seat. Brad turned back to the
controls.
“I know you are awake
Earth-woman.”
Her head lifted up.
“What are you going to do to
Chris?”
“Nothing.” His eyes stared
impassively ahead, Claire noticed how all his nervous mannerisms had completely
disappeared since she’d regained consciousness. She struggled in her seat,
feeling her hands tied behind her back. She gave up and turned to Brad, a
nervous tremor entered her voice.
“What about me?”
Brad didn’t reply, his
concentration fixed purely on the controls.
Joseph stood silently in the lift,
the case still held firmly in his hand. It seemed an interminable wait before
the lift reached the ground floor, the loud, constant whirring of the lift’s
mechanism the only sound he could hear. The lift stopped and the doors slid
open. Wesker was waiting outside. He lifted up his gun and fired a shot at
Joseph.
The first bullet from Wesker’s
magnum had gone clean through his head and the body immediately slumped to the
floor. But Wesker fired five more shots into his chest just to be sure. The
body jerked and writhed with each subsequent bullet. A silence hung in the air
as Wesker examined the dead body. Satisfied that it wouldn’t be getting up
anytime soon, he walked over to the body and grabbed the case. Joseph’s fingers
were still tightly clamped around the handle. Wesker wrenched it from his grip,
and calmly headed to the mansion’s exit.
Underneath the mansion shots
rang out in the dark corridors of the secret lab facility. Captain Scarlet
fired off shots at the creatures that seemed to be springing out of the dark.
Jill followed behind, reluctant to fire the grenade launcher for fear of
hitting something liable to explode; that, and it seemed best to save the
rounds for the Tyrant, which she was certain was still following behind them.
Scarlet fired at another
creature that was about to leap at Jill but he didn’t notice the one crawling
on the ceiling above him.
“Get down!” Jill shouted. She
fired a grenade at the creature. It burst into myriad flames and dropped from
the ceiling. Captain Scarlet ran on and Jill leaped over the burning carcass.
“Call the lift back!” Jill
shouted, Scarlet was just a few steps ahead of her. She levelled the grenade
launcher, getting ready to fire in case the Tyrant came back into range.
“It probably won’t work!” Scarlet
shouted. He had nearly reached the lift. “He’ll probably have sabotaged it so
we can’t use it.”
His finger jabbed furiously on
the lift call button. His face filled up with surprise when it actually worked.
“Oh, maybe not…”
“It’s coming!” Jill shouted.
Both of them turned round and stared down the dark corridor. They couldn’t see
anything but they both knew it was coming.
Chris had heard the first shot hang in
the air. He listened out when five more shots came through. He ran over to the
mansion’s main hall, trying to figure out where the shots had come from. As he
entered the hall he saw someone enter from the second floor. He could see it
wasn’t Scarlet or Jill so he ducked behind the large stairway, and waited for
the figure to descend the steps.
He aimed expecting to see
Joseph at the floor, but was surprised to see another person he thought dead
instead.
“Wesker?” he whispered, then
he realised he must be the same as Joseph. A Mysteron. He aimed the gun at his
head. And fired.
The creatures had started to
move off. It seemed to Scarlet that some of them were just as scared of the
Tyrant as they were. Others seemed to have gone on the defensive, worried that
something else was coming to take their prey, and the two could hear odd
screams of the creatures dying and gurgling. The Tyrant’s heavy footsteps were
now echoing through the corridor. Jill had the grenade launcher ready, Scarlet
aimed his handgun, knowing it wouldn’t do much. He briefly stared back at the
lift controls and wondered if it would ever make it in time.
Then it finally appeared. The Tyrant
stepped out of the shadows, the lab lights slowly illuminating its grotesque
muscular body. Jill fired the grenade launcher. Too soon. The round missed the
creature’s body and it continued to walk through where the round had lit up the
surrounding wall. Scarlet leaned forward, trying to get off at least one shot
that could slow it down. He aimed for the creature’s heart pumping on the
outside of its body. He fired and the bullets hit their target. The round was
too insignificant to kill it but it paused for just a brief second. Long enough
for Jill to finish reloading the grenade launcher and fire again. This time she
followed Scarlet’s lead and shot it right in the heart.
The round exploded in the
centre of its chest and the creature let out a giant moan. Finally the lift
arrived and the doors slid open.
“Quick! Get in!” Scarlet
shouted. The two poured into the lift and Scarlet quickly jabbed the up button.
The lift slowly began its ascent, managing to carry them away from the lab. It
was over. Scarlet let out a sigh of relief.
“Umm… Captain?” He heard Jill
say and he turned round to find what had disturbed her. Lying on the floor of the
lift with several bullet wounds riddling his body was Joseph Frost.
“What?” He was baffled. “Who
could have…”
Suddenly a giant claw tore
through the floor of the lift, tearing straight through the Mysteron Joseph.
The claw retreated and tore through again. The lift suddenly halted, shaking
and throwing the two off their balance.
“Oh God! It’s coming through!
What do we do?” Jill shouted trying to gain her balance in the lift and avoid
the claw as it came through the floor again.
Scarlet pointed to the service
hatch above them. “Get onto the roof of the lift! It’s our only hope!”
Wesker turned just in time to
see Chris fire at him and barrelled out of the way. He ducked for cover behind
one of the pillars in the hallway. Chris got up, keeping his gun trained on
where Wesker was hiding. He slowly approached the pillar coming up round the
side to find… nothing. There was no one there. Wesker had disappeared.
“What?” Chris’s gaze hadn’t
moved from that spot. There was no way Wesker could have just vanished. “How?”
Suddenly something slammed
into Chris, the force sending him flying into the wall. He looked up see it was
Wesker. In a blur Wesker ran towards him and clamped his hands around Chris’s
throat and dragged him up the wall.
“You…” Chris tried to gasp and
Wesker stared impassively up at him, “…You’re a Mysteron.”
“A Mysteron?” He nearly
laughed, but instead he threw Chris across the length of the hall. Chris landed
on his back, before he could get up Wesker was right at his side. He stamped
his foot down on Chris’s neck, slowly pushing down.
“I’m not one of those
mind-controlled slaves.” He took off his sunglasses. His eyes were a deep fiery
red with slit pupils, they almost seemed to glow in the dim light. “I’m
something so much better.”
Chris made a noise, not sure
if it was a gasp of surprise or whether he was just running out of air.
“Working for Umbrella does
have some advantages. You know, if I try hard enough I can probably crush your
neck.” Wesker pushed down harder still, Chris desperately tried to struggle
against Wesker’s grasp on his neck. But the pressure just increased.
He couldn’t breathe; everything around
him started to go black.
Jill grabbed onto Scarlet’s
hand and was pulled up onto the roof of the lift. The lift was starting to
shake violently under the Tyrant’s repeated attacks. Jill quickly clambered up
the service ladder and Captain Scarlet followed suit.
“What do we do if this thing
realises how to climb ladders?” Jill asked.
“Panic.”
He didn’t want to think about
that possibility. Underneath he could hear the Tyrant still tearing the lift
apart. Scarlet looked over to the lift cable.
“Wait! Jill! Shoot out the
lift cable!” he shouted.
“Right!” She looped her arm
around the rung of the ladder and pulled the grenade launcher round to aim at
the lift cable. She fired one round and the cable burst into flames. Scarlet
covered his eyes feeling the heat of the round. The cable gave way and snapped,
causing the lift to fall. The force kicked up a cloud of dust and Jill fired
the remaining load of grenades down into the lift. The lift exploded bringing a
mass of metal sheets flying in the crowded shaft. Flames were beginning to
rise, and the two continued their ascent.
“Do you think I got it?” she
asked.
“I think you just might have…”
Scarlet replied.
Suddenly the building shook
and Wesker was thrown off his balance. Chris reached forward taking a giant
gulp of air. He reached his gun and brought it to bear on Wesker, who had
grabbed the case and was rushing towards the exit. Chris fired off a shot, but
Wesker had already disappeared. Now he was gone Chris just collapsed on the
floor, violently coughing as he tried to get his breath back.
The helicopter… he had to get
to the helicopter…
Chris forced himself up,
massaging his neck. Then he remembered the gunshots. Maybe Wesker had gotten to
Jill and Scarlet before him. He rushed up the stairs trying to remember where
the shots had come from.
Jill pulled the emergency
release and the doors slowly ground open. She clambered onto the floor and
breathed in the fresh air from the corridor. Scarlet followed seconds afterward
and collapsed on the floor. The two lay there for a while, taking a brief
moment of respite. They exchanged glances and Jill put her hand on her head and
laughed.
“We finally made it!” she
cried.
“Jill! Scarlet! Are you
alright?” They both heard a voice calling to them.
“Chris!” Scarlet shouted as he
recognised the figure rushing down the corridor. Scarlet sat up. Jill looked up
delighted to see him again.
Chris rushed towards Jill and
lifted her to her feet, holding her in a tight embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re ok…” he
whispered. Jill pulled back so she could see his face.
“Me too,” she said simply and
leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
“So, what do we do now?”
Scarlet interrupted. Chris and Jill pulled themselves apart. Chris paused,
trying to go over events in his head.
“Something happened…”
“What?”
“Well…”
Wesker was already half way
down the mountain path, the long grass brushing past his feet. His body was
raging; he was going so fast that his movements were almost a complete blur,
but even so he kept his pace, there was still the virus sample to consider, it
wouldn’t be much help if it was broken.
The experimental virus inside
his body was raging. He examined the spot where the Hunter had driven its claws
through his chest; already the wound had completely disappeared. There was no
evidence of the original attack save for the large tear in his uniform, though
he could still feel a few ribs trying to slide back in place.
Wesker skidded to a halt. It
was pitch black but he could see perfectly. A lone figure, pale, gaunt and
wearing a long black coat stood in amongst the maze of trees. Standing as if
he’d been waiting for him this whole time.
“Are you from Umbrella?”
Wesker asked, “You can tell them I decided to ‘relieve’ them of the remaining
virus sample and all its research. I’m sure that once the city incident is
revealed to the public they’ll be getting a lot of negative press. So you can
tell them I’ve taken the opportunity to remove as much evidence of their works
as I could.”
“You are mistaken. My name is
Captain Black, I am only interested in the virus, it must be released in
Raccoon City.”
Wesker laughed.
“You seem to underestimate the
potential this virus has. The most powerful biological weapon in the world,
such information can make someone very powerful indeed.”
“I am not interested in such
things, it is you will be the one to release the virus.”
“Yes, well. As much as I would
love to do that I think I might decline.”
Wesker raised his gun and
fired at the figure, but by this point he’d already seemed to disappear. An
eyebrow raised itself from the veil of his sunglasses.
The man slammed into Wesker,
knocking the gun out of his hand. Wesker kicked back at the man but he’d
already disappeared again. He took off his sunglasses and scanned the forest,
keeping an eye out for any movement.
Wesker’s arms jerked up to
block Black’s punch, he kicked back but the captain moved just out of his
reach, Wesker lunged forward and punched him but Black ducked and the blow
missed. This man managed to block all of Wesker’s punches, even though he was
moving at superspeed. Wesker rushed forward and punched Captain Black in the
stomach, a blow that should have shattered his ribs, but he didn’t seem at all
affected.
Wesker stumbled back and saw
his gun on the ground. He reached out his hand and leapt for it.
Throughout the mountainside of
Raccoon City a gunshot rang out. It echoed through the whole valley. Just
coming down the mountain path, Scarlet stopped, Jill was supporting Chris up as
he limped from the bullet wound. They all halted.
“That was Wesker’s gun.” Chris
recognised the sound.
“Who was he firing at?” Jill asked.
“We won’t know by standing
here,” Scarlet said, brushing the long grass past his feet as he continued,
Jill followed his lead.
Scarlet ran ahead. He reached a circle of
trees in the forest and came to a halt. Jill and Chris emerged seconds later.
They saw Scarlet examining something on the ground.
“What is it?” Jill asked.
Scarlet stepped back so they could see.
Wesker’s body was sprawled lifelessly
across the ground, the suitcase containing the T-virus had gone.
Scarlet turned the body over, a bullet
had entered through the top of his spine and exited through his head.
“What the hell?” Chris
exclaimed. Scarlet had a look of complete dread on his face.
“What is it, Scarlet?” Jill
feared the answer.
“Wesker is in the hands of the
Mysterons.”
A Spectrum helicopter touched
down on an opening further down the mountain path. Claire looked out the
windscreen, she could see a figure waiting in the field, wearing a black
uniform and dark sunglasses despite the fact it was the middle of the night.
His hands were firmly gripped around a suitcase. As soon as the helicopter had
touched down he calmly walked over and got into the seat next to the pilot. She
saw his eyes glow a vibrant green under the lenses of his glasses as he turned
to examine Claire in the backseat.
“A little insurance,” Brad
noted.
Wesker sat down and Brad
pulled the helicopter up once more.
Scarlet, Chris and Jill rushed
down the hill, losing their footing in the steep steps. In the distance they
heard the whirr of an engine.
“What’s that?” Chris asked.
“It’s the helicopter,” Scarlet
realised.
“Why is it so far away?”
It appeared rising just above
the trees, Chris waved his arms as it took off.
“We’re over here!”
It didn’t pick them up, but
turned tail and headed back to Raccoon City.
“Wesker must be on that
helicopter,” Jill realised.
“How are we gonna catch him
now?” Chris exclaimed.
Scarlet examined the
surroundings, in the distance further down the mountain Scarlet could see the
ranch house they’d passed earlier.
“You two wait here,” he said
and rushed off down the hill, “I’ll be back soon.”
”Wait! Where are you going?”
Jill shouted but Scarlet didn’t reply and disappeared down the hillside.
At the ranch house came a very
loud knocking at the door. Rake, the owner, got up and trudged towards the
door; the knocking just got louder and more infuriating. Two dogs were
anxiously barking and scraping at the door, and their owner shooed them away.
“Alright, I’m comin’,” he
shouted as he undid the lock and opened the door. A red uniformed officer was
panting heavily from the rush. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an
identification card.
“Captain Scarlet, Spectrum…”
“Where is Scarlet?” Jill
shouted, continuing to support Chris as his wound was getting worse.
Suddenly a large blue tank rolled
out of the trees and skidded to a halt. Spectrum logos covered the exterior of
the SPV. The door slid open and Scarlet was seated inside.
“Get in!” he shouted, the two
obeyed, clambering into the giant vehicle. Scarlet pointed to some boxes at the
back. “You should be able to find some medical equipment in the back.”
Chris looked around the
interior of the craft as Scarlet brought the engines roaring back to life.
“Why can’t we get one of
these?” Chris asked.
“You don’t quite have the
budget.”
“We have the budget for a
helicopter.”
Scarlet considered.
“Maybe…”
As the helicopter continued on
its way towards Raccoon City, Wesker kept the suitcase on his lap. A call came
through on the Spectrum waveband.
“Wesker, this is Captain
Scarlet.” Wesker calmly reached forward and picked up the microphone.
“Good to hear from you
Captain.”
“If you don’t stop and put
down right now, we will open fire and shoot you down.”
“You wouldn’t do that
Captain.” A mocking smile spread across Wesker’s face. “You wouldn’t want to
cause any harm to our young Miss Redfield would you? Say hello to your brother,
won’t you?”
He grabbed Claire’s hair and
wrenched her forward, she grimaced but didn’t say anything. Wesker pulled
tighter and she let out a cry.
“…Chris!”
Chris reached forward in the
SPV’s seat.
“…no.”
Scarlet turned back, not sure what to do.
The SPV was placed half way up the mountain slope; Scarlet had a clear shot of
the helicopter.
“You can’t shoot them down!”
Chris cried.
“What can we do? We can’t let
them get away,” Scarlet shouted. A silence followed before Scarlet came up with
an idea. “I’ll fire a dummy round.”
It was a risky suggestion but
he couldn’t just let the Mysterons get away. He pushed the button and the
missile fired.
Brad saw the missile alert
light up on the helicopter’s scanner. He manipulated the helicopter’s controls
to avoid the shot.
Wesker lowered his head, brow
creased in frustration. He suddenly grimaced, then reached out his hand and
clamped it round Brad’s arm.
“Wesker?” Brad queried.
“You…” Wesker looked up at
him, a look of hatred in his eyes. “You make me feel sick.”
He suddenly jerked Brad’s arm and the
helicopter was sent spinning out of control, right into the path of the
missile. It suddenly exploded and Brad furiously tried to pull the helicopter
back on course, but it was too late and the helicopter crashed into the ground.
Scarlet, Chris and Jill stared
at the screen in the SPV, unable to believe the sight before their eyes.
“I don’t understand, I
missed!” Scarlet tried to justify himself.
“You…” Chris gasped, “you killed my
sister!”
He turned around reaching for
Scarlet but Jill pulled him back.
“We don’t know that!” Chris
turned to face her. “If we go to the crash site she might still be alive.”
Scarlet roared the SPV’s
engine back to life. “Right! Let’s go!”
Claire choked and coughed as the thick
smoke swirled around her. Someone tore open the helicopter doors and reached
down for her, she tried to move away from them but once they managed to grasp
her arm she couldn’t break out of the steel grip.
“Get out,” the voice
commanded. She was pulled up out of the helicopter, and thrown to the ground
landing in amongst the grass. She coughed as the cold night air whipped past
her. She tried to regain her senses and forced herself up, seeing the person
who’d thrown her descend from the helicopter. She pulled herself up and tried
to run, it wasn’t a second before the man caught her and slammed her back down
onto the floor. He loomed over her and kneeled down on top of her; she could
feel the gaze of his eyes burning into her through his glasses.
“Do exactly as I say, I won’t
hesitate to kill you and be assured I don’t need any weapons to do this.”
Claire clamped her eyes shut, then he pulled her up onto her feet and pushed
her forward. Claire tried to look into his eyes. She could have sworn, just
before he had caused the helicopter crash that his eyes had been red.
The SPV reached the wreckage
site in a matter of seconds. Once it skidded to a halt Chris jumped out and
rushed to the crash site.
“Claire!” His voice echoed
around the place, but nobody answered. Jill and Scarlet followed behind as he
reached the site and threw the helicopter door open.
“Is there anybody in there?”
Scarlet called to him.
“No.” He got down and stared
back at them, “Wesker and Claire… they’re gone.”
He collapsed onto his knees,
Jill went over and crouched by him. Scarlet looked into the cockpit, seeing one
body which had been sent through the window, a large spike of glass sticking
out of his body.
“Chris, it’ll be ok,” Jill
kept reassuring him, “it means she’s alive and that means we can still save
her.”
“We need to figure out where
they went,” Scarlet announced. “If they can’t get back by helicopter what other
route can they take?”
Jill looked out across the
mountainside before she came up with an answer. “The train. There’s a train
line that leads straight into Raccoon City, that would be the fastest way to
get back.”
“Right, let’s get there as
fast as we can,” Scarlet said. Jill got up to follow him and Chris trudged
along behind. Jill turned to him and took his hand, they both got into the SPV
together.
Wesker had led the way down
the mountain path, keeping a firm grip on Claire’s arm so she couldn’t escape.
He hadn’t said anything since they’d left the helicopter and just kept pushing
her forward. They were heading towards an old run-down shack, to the left of it
Claire could see a railway tunnel leading out of the mountainside.
Wesker opened the door to the
shack, shoving Claire inside. It was bare and it seemed nobody had been there
for years. A wooden chair was pulled up next to an old table, another door was
on the other side of the room. The only item to decorate the place was an old
typewriter, an ink ribbon still fitted inside.
Wesker reached over to the typewriter and
tapped down on the keys, jabbing several letters onto the sheet of paper.
Wesker/ 02/ U.LAB ENTRANCE
--NC0394--
From behind the door a lock
clicked; Wesker led Claire over to the door and opened it. It led to a set of
stone stairs that didn’t fit the rundown appearance of the shack. A couple of
lights lined the walls but Claire couldn’t see what was at the bottom. She
hovered at the entrance, trying to see down when Wesker pushed her forward.
“Move.”
And she continued down the
steps.
As they descended down the
steps, the lights slowly faded. Claire tried not to lose her footing in the
pitch-black passageway but Wesker seemed to traverse his way just fine.
As they went further down
Claire started to hear the distant sound of machinery. Industrial clunks of
automated machines started coming into focus as they got closer and closer.
They reached the end of the
stairs and Claire could see the shape of a door illuminated by the lights of a
keypad. Wesker punched in another code and the door opened.
Behind the door two soldiers
wearing black armour displaying the Umbrella corporate logo suddenly came to
attention. They lowered their guns when they saw who was standing there.
“Commander Wesker…” the first
one said, the helmet visor covering his eyes, “we weren’t expecting you.”
“I need to speak to Dr.
Marcus,” he said. The guards nodded, one of them examining Claire. “I caught an
intruder, she was trying to infiltrate the laboratory. I’ve taken her into my
custody for now; take her down to the platform. I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Yes sir,” they both replied
as Wesker continued on his way.
The SPV stopped at the bottom
of the mountainside, the entrance to the tunnel in plain sight. The three
officers descended from the SPV, guns at the ready. Scarlet surveyed the
surroundings.
“There isn’t a station near
here?” he asked.
“No, the line is supposed to
go straight to the next city,” Jill replied.
“That means they couldn’t have
got onto the train already,” Scarlet noted, “They were on foot so that means
they can’t have beaten us here. They must be somewhere in the vicinity. We’ll
go ahead and check the tunnel.”
Scarlet led the way and the
two followed behind him.
Dr. Marcus was in his study
going over various reports when someone entered. After everything that had
happened over the last few hours he wasn’t in the mood for visitors but he
calmed down when he saw who it was.
“Commander Wesker, I’m glad
you’re here.” He addressed the new arrival.
“I need the train ready to
leave for Raccoon City,” Wesker said simply, noticing a long black coat hung up
on a peg. He walked over and put it on, a perfect fit.
Marcus continued. “Well, so
far we’ve only managed to load a third of the specimens Birkin ordered, we
weren’t expecting…”
“You don’t need to worry about
Birkin’s orders anymore,” Wesker said, then he suddenly paused, his brow
creased in agitation and it occurred to Marcus that he looked ill.
“Erm, Commander Wesker, we
heard there was an incident in Raccoon City. Do you know what…”
“I need the train to set off
for Raccoon City immediately.” Wesker hovered by the door.
“But we’re still…” He caught
the look in Wesker’s eyes even through the sunglasses; he tried to leave.
Wesker’s hand shot out in front of him, blocking off his exit.
“I simply need the train to
leave and me to be on it. Understood?”
“Yes sir,” the scientist
stammered, “I’ll have it done right away.”
Wesker descended the stairs
into the train station hidden under the mountain. Usually all the Umbrella
shipments would pass through this post before being shipped off to the outside
world. The operations had ground to a halt following the sudden loss of
communications from Raccoon City.
The sentries had been trying
to do their best to get the train ready for departure. Having heard vague
reports from the City most of the staff had been sent off to assist the UBCS
forces, so now a skeleton crew was working furiously to get it working again. Wesker
had ordered all the sentries to get the train ready, offering no explanation
for his sudden orders. A sentry came to meet him as he reached the bottom of
the stairs.
“Commander Wesker, we’re just
about done. We still haven’t managed to load all the specimens but…”
“I thought I made it clear to
Dr. Marcus I don’t care about the specimens, just as long as the train leaves.”
“Yes, sir…” The sentry headed
back. The train was a huge supply train, no one had managed to get their heads
round the idea of one person using it for the sake of a short journey into the
city, but they followed orders regardless.
Wesker headed into the front
cabin. A driver was making last minute checks on the systems, and two sentries
were standing guard.
“Commander Wesker,” the driver
addressed him, “the engines are started and we can leave when you wish.”
“Thank you, now get out.”
“Sir?”
“It doesn’t take much brains
to drive this thing, I don’t need any help to make a simple trip to the city.”
He turned round, meaning the sentries as well. They all vacated the train and
Wesker went over to the controls. The doors hissed closed and he started the
activation sequence.
Scarlet and the others
advanced along the tunnel line. Every step they took echoed down the
hollowed-out mountainside. They hadn’t found anything. Chris held a torch
illuminating the tunnel ahead.
“There must be something
here,” he whispered. They hadn’t found anything so far, but they kept going
none the less.
Jill’s foot hit something on
the floor. She checked what had disturbed her.
“Hey, there’s a piece of track
that leads off right into the wall.” Jill shone the torch so that the others
could see. The track seemed to separate from the main trail but there wasn’t
anywhere for it to go and it seemed to disappear straight into the wall of the
tunnel.
“Why’s this here? It doesn’t
make any sense.”
Their thoughts were interrupted by a low
rumbling sound that spread throughout the tunnel. Ahead of them the entire
tunnel wall opened up revealing the way to a large facility complex. A set of
trains stood stationary at their posts though lots of people seemed to be
crowded around one.
The STARS members and Spectrum
captain pushed their backs to the wall hoping they hadn’t been noticed. They
kept silent, trying to figure out what all the activity was about. But everyone
seemed too busy to worry about any intruders.
It seemed the men had finished
in their duties and one of them signalled that the vehicle was ready to leave.
It slowly wheezed into life and started to glide out of its holding place.
Chris spied the logo on the
side of the train. “Umbrella…”
Scarlet faltered, a wave of
sickness suddenly overcame him.
“Are you ok?” Jill asked. Scarlet
regained his composure.
“Wesker is on that train,” he
said.
“How can you be sure?” Chris
asked.
“I just am.” He headed
forward. “We need to get on.”
The head of the train headed
past the opening and Scarlet jumped on, reaching for a handrail on the side.
Chris followed suit and then reached out his hand to Jill. A sentry spotted them
and gave the order to open fire; the shots just missed and Jill let go of
Chris’s hand, falling behind.
“Jill!” he cried as he saw her
try to outrun the shots, she grabbed onto another rung a few carriages down.
Chris got ready to jump off and follow her but a hand pulled him back.
“What about Jill?” he shouted.
“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine,”
Scarlet said, “After all, she’s the one with the grenade launcher.”
Chris conceded and the two of
them both got to work on opening the side door.
Jill’s lock pick had made
short work of the security device and she entered the carriage. There weren’t
any guards but she still kept her gun ready. There weren’t many lights but she
could see the place was filled with storage boxes. She examined them wondering
what was inside. They didn’t seem to be biological containers, they were much
more conventional weapon containers. She tore the lid off one of the supply
boxes. Inside were rows of grenade rounds. She picked up one up and examined
the inscription on the side. It listed several volatile chemicals, most of
which she didn’t recognise the names for. She pocketed several capsules and
loaded one into the empty grenade launcher. Then she continued her search down
the train.
“Commander Wesker.” A call
came through from the base, and Wesker picked up the microphone.
“Yes?”
“We saw a number of hostiles
who boarded the train just as it was leaving. We were unable to stop them sir…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with
them myself,” he replied.
“By yourself sir?”
“Yes, that is what I said.”
Wesker put the microphone down and headed back into the train.
He entered the next carriage
and the other person inside flinched at his appearance. Claire struggled to get
up with her hands still incapacitated; there was a look of complete fear in her
eyes now. She tried to move as far away from Wesker as she could, he didn’t
seem to care.
“Come with me,” Wesker
ordered.
“No.”
He halted and craned his head
round to face her. He rushed at her and slammed her into the wall. A pain shot
through her back as Wesker pinned her into the wall. A whimper escaped which
she tried to hide. Wesker lifted her head up to face his.
“You will do everything I tell
you. Understand?” She nodded slowly. Wesker released his grip and gestured for
her to go first.
He led her down the carriage.
They reached a compartment where a set of cylindrical capsules lined the walls.
Inside were odd black swirling shapes. Claire realised each of these was an
individual object, creatures, slugs of some sort, or possibly leeches.
Wesker stopped and grimaced
again, this time needing to lean against the wall for support. He seemed to be
hiding how much he was affected by these attacks. She paused, not sure whether
to approach him.
“I feel ill. Sick.” He turned
to her, a possessed look in his eyes. “Is it you?”
He reached forward and grabbed
her, clamping his fist round her neck.
“Are you the one doing this to
me?”
“I…” she gasped, “I don’t
know!”
He gripped tighter still, she
struggled to get the words out.
“Please, I’m not…”
He let go and pushed her into
the carriage. That feeling washed over him again, but he knew it wasn’t coming
from her. He walked out the carriage and typed the number on the panel so the
door glided shut and the locks bolted closed.
“No!” Claire rammed herself
against the door, it failed to budge. She slumped to the floor, resting her
forehead on her knees.
Chris and Scarlet headed down
the train, there was no sign of Wesker. This just seemed to make Chris even
more tense. Scarlet went first, readying his bowgun.
“He’s around here somewhere,”
he said. His nausea was getting worse but over the years he’d slowly grown used
to it.
They headed down the train. There still
wasn’t anything, but Scarlet was sure they were getting closer.
Jill continued down the carriage,
she’d gone past the supply carriages and had entered the more normal sections
of the train. All of it seemed surprisingly bare, some of the carriages looked
like they were designed to hold more creatures but all of them were empty.
She approached the door at the
end of the carriage; she could see into the next one through a small circle of
glass in the door. In it were the same containment capsules she’d gone past,
except that these seemed to have something in them. But apart from those
creatures there didn’t seem to be much else, but when she looked again she
noticed another figure sitting in the room.
Jill opened the door to find
Claire. She rushed over to her, taking the knife from Claire’s pouch and
started to cut into her bindings.
“Who are you?” Claire asked.
“I’m Jill,” she replied, “I’m
with your brother. I’ll have you free in a …”
“LOOK OUT!”
Wesker appeared, punching Jill
in the stomach. The force of the blow sent her flying across the carriage.
Wesker ran towards her but she still had the knife in her hands, she lunged at
Wesker but he dodged and grabbed her arm. He twisted her arm back and pushed
down on her back with his foot, slowly wrenching her arm off.
“Too bad,” he replied, he
pulled her arm back further, Jill screamed as she felt the muscles pull in her
body.
Wesker’s head snapped forward
as something blunt and heavy struck him. He simply craned his head to see what
had hit him. Claire stood there holding a pipe, she hesitated seeing that he
didn’t seem affected by the blow at all. She panicked and rushed to hit him
again.
Instead he threw Jill at
Claire. The two barrelled into the wall. Wesker got up and slowly approached
them, then he seemed distracted as another attack overcame him. He turned away
opening the train door, tapping some buttons on the control panel.
“A little something to keep
you two busy…”
Jill got up and ran towards
him. The door closed behind Wesker as the locks activated. Jill slammed her
fists on the door as it shut.
“Damn you Wesker!” she
shouted; she could still see him through the glass. He looked at her
triumphantly. “I’m going to kill you!”
He laughed at the remark and disappeared
down the train. Behind her, she could hear several of the capsules opening up.
Scarlet and Chris approached just in time
to see Wesker leave, he was heading up the ladder leading to the train roof.
Scarlet climbed up first and Chris followed. They got up only to find Wesker
waiting for them.
“So good of you to join me,”
he greeted them.
“This doesn’t have to go any further,”
Scarlet said levelling his gun “The Mysterons’ plans have already failed, you
don’t need to try to re-infect the city.”
“I have no interest in
carrying out the Mysterons’ plan.”
“What?” Scarlet exclaimed.
Wesker lowered his glasses and the tinge of green in his eyes disappeared.
Scarlet gasped in surprise, then tried again. “If you can get yourself free of
the Mysterons’ control then you don’t have to do this.”
“I don’t care what fate
befalls Raccoon City, I’ll just have to keep the virus for myself.”
“And you think the Mysterons
will let you?” Scarlet asked.
Wesker didn’t reply, he just
continued.
“Once this disaster comes to
the public’s attention Umbrella will surely be shut down and all their research
will disappear. Apart from anyone who managed to grab hold of it before that
happened.”
“You can’t be serious!”
Scarlet shouted. A grin spread over Wesker’s face in reply.
“What did you do to Claire?”
Chris shouted.
“Your sister? I don’t think
Jill or her will be joining us anytime soon.”
Chris yelled out and charged
at Wesker with his fists raised.
Wesker swivelled round and
tripped Chris up then he brought his fist down on Chris’s wounded shoulder. He
screamed in agony, then Wesker kicked him in the stomach sending him rolling
down the train.
Wesker rushed at Scarlet.
Scarlet wasn’t prepared for Wesker’s speed and his punch hit him right in the
stomach. Scarlet doubled up but raised his arm to block Wesker’s next blow, the
force of the punch nearly shattered his bones. He grabbed Wesker’s next punch
and the two were locked together, Scarlet trying to push him back with all his
might. Wesker flipped Scarlet over and slammed him onto his back. He yelled out
then Wesker’s hand grasped his neck to cut the sound off.
“You! You’re the one!” Wesker
said, a look of revulsion crossing his face. Scarlet started to fade into
unconsciousness as he felt his windpipe being crushed. “You’re the one making
me feel like this! I don’t know what you’ve done to me but I will make you
suffer!”
Jill and Claire struggled to open the
door. The seal slowly unbolted and gave way just enough for them to open it,
while around them the leeches were slowly slithering forwards. They ran towards
the ladder.
“You go first!” Jill shouted.
Claire ascended the rungs to the roof.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Claire opened the hatchway to
the train roof, hurried up the ladder and crawled up on the roof.
Wesker turned round to see her reach the
rooftop. He forgot Scarlet and immediately ran towards her. Claire went to grab
her knife but Wesker was already there, he hit her sending her hurtling down
the train.
He looked down to see Jill
ascending the ladder. She shouted Claire’s name, Wesker spun round and slammed
the hatch cover back down.
“Wesker!” He heard his name being
shouted. Chris threw a punch at Wesker, then he clamped his hands together and
brought them down on Wesker’s face. They hardly seemed to throw him off his
balance. He hit Chris back, and the soldier was knocked to the floor. Claire
ran to check on Chris, and Wesker turned his attention back to Scarlet.
Those leeches were still
coming swarming around the bottom of the ladder. Jill loaded the special rounds
into her grenade launcher and aimed into the horde. The explosion took out the whole
floor of the train as well as the leeches, leaving it as scrap metal behind on
the tracks.
The train suddenly tilted and
everyone was thrown off their balance. It started to shake violently. Scarlet
slid across the roof and nearly fell off. Wesker dragged him back up and
slammed him to the floor, he started punching him with every word he said: “HOW
– ARE – YOU – DOING – THIS – TO – ME?”
Claire drove her knife into
his back; Wesker reeled round and hit her. He got up and grabbed her neck
lifting her off her feet.
She struggled in his grip but
couldn’t break free. His eyes scanned her up and down.
“Such a shame…” he sighed and
then threw her off the train.
“NO!” Scarlet leaped forward,
grabbing Claire’s arms. The sudden new weight caused him to slide towards the
edge of the train but he caught his footing on the side.
Below them the scenery blurred
past, he started to pull Claire up and she reached her foot over the side.
Wesker loomed over them, he
stamped his foot down on Scarlet’s hand. Scarlet yelled out and released his
grip on Claire. Wesker slammed his foot on Scarlet’s other arm but he refused
to let go. Wesker pushed harder; something started to crack.
Claire pulled herself up and
grabbed onto Scarlet, reaching for his gun holster; she aimed at Wesker’s face
and fired.
His head snapped back, he
grasped his eye and stumbled backwards. His glasses fell to the floor, broken.
Scarlet pulled Claire up. “You
and your brother need to get off the train, now!”
She nodded and ran over to
Chris, Scarlet turned his attention back to Wesker.
He saw Wesker stumbling back
and quickly grabbed him, forcing him into an arm lock. Wesker struggled,
blinded but losing none of his fury. Suddenly he froze, he couldn’t move in
Scarlet’s grip.
He panicked as he tried to
realise what had happened, at the head of the train he saw Jill, she held the
grenade launcher in her hands.
Then he realised, the sickness
had overwhelmed him completely and in his head a terrible voice echoed through.
Albert Wesker… No! … You have failed and
defied the Mysterons. For this you shall die…
“No…” he whispered.
“Oh, take it like a man,”
Scarlet said.
Jill fired the grenade launcher at
Wesker’s chest. The figures of Wesker and Scarlet disappeared under a fireball
as the rounds exploded. Their bodies clung together in a charred heap, then
separated when they rolled down the train and were flung apart by the force.
Jill jumped from the train as
it started to sway alarmingly. It came off the rails and crashed; the
ammunition in the back compartment detonated exploding in a large flame that
engulfed the whole train.
From all the way down the
track Jill could see the pillar of smoke obscure the morning sky. She watched
before she dropped the grenade launcher which now felt too heavy to hold in her
hands.
A friendly voice called to her
and she turned to see Chris and Claire approaching her. They asked what had
happened and where Scarlet was. She told as much as she could make sense of,
but was glad to be interrupted by the sound of a Spectrum helicopter flying
overhead to pick them up.
“Colonel?” White picked up at
the mention of his name; Lieutenant Green was diligently tending to the
computer as messages continued to come in. “I’ve just received a report from
Raccoon City, they tell me that a Spectrum helicopter has just picked up the
remains of Alpha Team and the girl who was reported missing. Another one is
just picking up Captain Scarlet right now.”
“He isn’t with them?”
“It seems he had an accident
involving a grenade launcher.”
A smile briefly spread across
the Colonel’s face and then vanished as he got up from the seat he’d been glued
to and walked over to the window.
“Are you alright Colonel?”
Green asked. Colonel White continued to look over the azure horizon before he
answered.
“The Mysterons didn’t destroy
the population of the City but I fear they’ve still succeeded in some way. The
Umbrella laboratory has been completely destroyed and that means the medicinal
supplies for America will be at a halt until more can be shipped in from
Europe. And an inquiry will have to be made into the state of the company
itself, we still don’t know the full extent of the experiments they were
running. It wasn’t the Mysterons that created those
creatures…”
Captain Blue headed to the
roof of the RPD building. Ochre was radioing in most of the RPD officers still
on patrol as they had set about clearing the streets and checking for
survivors. Grey was still commanding the UBCS as they were clearing away any
remaining zombies. He’d been a bit redundant since Dr. Fawn had started to get
the recovery situation under control.
The sun glared into his eyes
as he stared up to watch the helicopter touch down. Blue came over to greet the
survivors as they limply descended from the helicopter.
“It’s good to see you’re all
ok,” he said. Chris came over to greet him.
“Same here,” They headed down
into the corridors of the RPD building; Chris and Jill seemed relieved to be in
the familiar building once more.
A set of paramedics pushed the
trolley down the corridor and they all looked to see who was on it. Captain
Blue recognised the features of his old friend, though he still hadn’t
recovered and lay still on the stretcher. Jill went over to the body and
brushed her fingers through Scarlet’s singed hair.
“Thank you, Captain.” She
reached forward and kissed his cheek. Claire came over and did the same thing.
From down the corridor Leon
and Carlos watched as the two girls crowded around the captain.
“Do you get the feeling that
should have been us?” Leon asked, but Carlos just shrugged.
Chris shot them a glance and
they both shuffled off trying not to be noticed.
The paramedics continued to
wheel Scarlet off to Dr. Fawn’s office. Jill clung to Chris’s arm as Captain
Blue addressed them again.
“You’ll have to go with
Captain Magenta to give a full briefing on what happened,” Blue said to the
STARS members. “I think Colonel White will be interested to know what happened.
I think your remaining team mates will be happy to know you’re back as well.”
Chris and Jill nodded, Claire
hovered by them and Chris turned to his sister.
“You’ll be alright won’t you?”
he asked, she nodded back and Chris and Jill headed down the corridor. Claire
headed back to the roof. Captain Blue watched as Chris and Jill met up with
Barry and Rebecca and got into an enthusiastic talk. Then he followed in the
direction Claire had gone.
Claire stood by the edge of
the roof overlooking the city. Captain Blue headed over to her.
“You ok?” Blue asked. Claire
turned round and smiled half-heartedly.
“Yeah,” she said and went back
to admiring the view. Blue walked over and watched with her. Up here it was
oddly quiet, you could almost mistake it for being a peaceful normal day, but
if you looked closely at the city you could make out the crowds of people
trying still trying to sort out the problem, either clean-up crews checking for
any remaining stragglers or people trying to clean the streets, attempting to
get back to their old homes.
“How’s Sherry?” she asked.
“She’s fine, she’s downstairs in
one of the rooms. She fell asleep waiting for you to come back.”
Claire smiled, looking out
across the streets.
“It’s strange thinking how we
could have died today,” she said; she was shivering slightly and and Blue put
his arm round her shoulders.
“We’ve gone through quite a
lot today, but we survived, and that’s the important thing.”
She smiled at him, it was
turning into late afternoon and a warm breeze swept across the city. A Spectrum
helicopter was taking off and Captain Blue was sure that Scarlet was on it. The
helicopter headed off to the shape of Cloudbase that could be made out in the
distant skyline. They both turned to each other and looked out onto the
horizon.
The wind whipped through the
valley outside the city. Out here the wildlife was undisturbed, all the
activity had focused round the city and no one paid any attention to a single
body which lay forgotten in amongst the fields. Twisted and tangled the remains
of a STARS uniform peeked out from under a singed black coat. It lay there peacefully,
unmoved as no one noticed it.
Suddenly the body’s eyes
flared open, a glowing mix of green and red.

Author’s thanks:
Thank you to Hazel for checking through this continuity crazy
story.
Thanks to Chris for making this site.
Thanks to my brother and Shane for listening to my mad ideas as I
tried to work this whole mess.
Site’s disclaimer:
This story is based on characters created by
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson for the TV series Captain Scarlet and the
Mysterons, and on characters created for
the game Resident Evil.
CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS copyright © of
trademarks materials, owned by ITC/Polygram/Carlton. Information of the series are all been taken from
copyright © materials (books, magazines, videos, T.V. media, comics, etc) owned by
ITC/Polygram/Carlton.
RESIDENT
EVIL is a trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTD. CAPCOM ®
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