Resident Evil: Umbrella Rising

Jeff was at the shooting range picking off the targets that were set up for him when his cell phone started to vibrate. The bland screen read Incoming call srg. Stevens. He opened his phone, and pressed it to the side of his face.
"Hello," Jeff said while he exited the shooting range.
"Jeff, it's Drake Stevens. We just recieved incoming orders from the higher ups about New Verneria," Drake spat out.
"We've been given the green light to go in, So were calling in everyone in the base to take care of the ongoing problem there. You have one hour to report, we leave in two. Got that, that's 1700 hours," Drake said
"Got any info on the situation at hand," Jeff questioned?
"Negative, you'll be breifed with everyone else when you get there," Drake retorted.
"The only thing I know about it is that we found one of Umbrella's labs so our top priority is to shut it down. Well thats all I know, so now you know as much as me. Just get here Lehman" He said.
"yes, Sir," Jeff said, but drake had already hung up.

-------- nearly an hour and half later----

Jeff had left his room and headed to the helipad. He brought his M4 carbine, three grenades, a customized beretta and magnum, and finally his trusty 8 inch survival knife. It was only a five minute walk from where his living quarters was positioned. the roar of the choppers had become deafning. He watched as the other 160 men boarded the choppers He was placed in squad B with nine other individuals. The chopper lifted into the air and began their flight to New Verneria.
"OK, I'LL MAKE THIS SHORT AND SWEET, WE FOUND ONE OF UMBRELLA'S LABS IN NEW VERNERIA. WERE GOING THEIR TO SHUT IT DOWN. THERE HAS BEEN A SPILL WITH SOME CHEMICAL'S SO WE MAY INCOUNTER SOME OF OUR UNDEAD BUDDIES. WERE DROPPING EVERYONE OFF IN THE TOWN SQUARE FROM THEIR YOU'LL HAVE TO FAN OUT AND SEARCH FOR THE PLACE. ONCE YOU FIND IT RADIO IN SO WE CAN SEND THE REST OF OUR MEN THEIR," General Jason Traveras screamed over the roar of the chopper blades.

[Brotherhood]

He held the girl in one hand and the M-16 in the other, watching as over a dozen Hunters ran around the street corner up ahead and targeted them, screaming.

“Holy shit! They’re coming!” Shouted Davis, bringing up the rear.

“Ryan, shoot for targets. Davis, triplets only! We don’t have enough ammo to waste on full-auto suppressive fire! Jackson, keeping moving backwards and cover me while I go check out the gate!”

He turned and ran as the gunfire started up, reaching the gate and grabbing for the handle.

The gate was bound shut by a piece of rope; it had been tied around the handle for some reason. The gate was slightly open, though whoever had put the rope there had done a good job of locking it.

“Jackson, take the girl.” Shouted Mitch, setting the M-16 down and taking out a survival knife sheathed at his boot.

“No!” Rebecca screamed, holding him tightly.

“I’ve gotta open the gate. Jackson will take care of you.” He said softly, and he set the girl down. She ran to Jackson and practically threw herself onto him, clutching him tightly and crying into his shoulder.
He turned back to door and began cutting; the rope was soaked with kerosene, though he didn’t have a lighter on him.

Behind him, Davis was crouched to one knee, rolling to the side and targeting the monsters in turn, pumping away with his Carbine.

Ryan was backed up against the broken remains of an SUV, firing his M-60 all over the street, his brow drenched with sweat as he struggled to control the heavy weapon. Their squad’s M-60 gunner was dead, and Ryan had to be one of the worst shots he’d ever seen. How he’d outlived the rest of his was a mystery to him.

He pulled away the last of the rope and opened the gate-

-And one of the Hunters was standing there, so close that its scream pounded his ears as it threw its head back. He reflexively moved to the side, swinging out with the knife, and the blade struck it where the throat would be in human anatomy.

Dark green blood flowed down its white underbelly as its scream was reduced to a throaty gurgle, and it fell backwards. It writhed wildly on the floor, probably paralysed neck down from the lucky strike, although he didn’t think he’d severed the bone; the knife had passed through its soft neck like warm butter.

Jackson screamed behind him, and Mitch spun around, placing the blade in the waste band of his utility belt as he picked up his M-16 by the barrel.
A Hunter had Jackson from behind; its hands locked around the black marine’s head as he screamed on his knees, and with incredible strength it popped the head like a balloon, blood bursting all over the place.

Rebecca! Where’s-?

“Help me!”

He looked around and saw the girl running from a pair of Hunters to the other end of the street.

“This way!” Mitch shouted, and the girl ran in a semi circle in his direction. He aimed the M-16 at the one Hunter he could see, firing a burst into the white of its underbelly. It reeled back but remained on its feet, though he’d bought Rebecca some time.

Rebecca ran through the gate and he fired two bursts into the face off the other Hunter, causing the grey brain matter to blow backwards, released from the mangled, broken skull of the Hunter. As the second Hunter fell, he rolled to avoid the first’s leap of defiance, the three bullet holes he’d given it earlier grouped in a straight line, dark green blood flowing from them and slowly oozing down it’s abdomen.

The Hunter crashed into the wall above the gate and he fired a burst into its head as soon as it hit the floor.

He looked at the two remaining marines, who were struggling to keep the rest of the Hunters at bay.

“Pull back!” He ordered, running to Jackson’s mutilated body. They would need the ammo, and Jackson had half of the remaining 5.56mm clips for the Carbine and the two M-16s.

He shouldered both his own and Jackson’s M-16 and placed both of his hands under the big mans arms, dragging him towards the doorway. He looked left to see a Hunter coming right at him.

“Cover me!” he ordered to Davis, and Davis opened up, his Carbine on full-auto, armour piercing and explosive rounds ripped into the hunters, the thunder of the weapon blocking out the screams of pain.

Barely.

He was almost to the door when he motioned for Ryan to take over. Ryan dropped his empty M-60 to the floor and Mitch helped Davis, emptying the clip into the impossible monsters as Davis’s Carbine ran dry-

-And then Davis ran past him as he aimed the M-16 at the centre of the Hunters and unloaded a 40mm M-203 grenade. He could actually see the fat M-203 slug spiral into the target as it hit the centre-most Hunter square in the chest and reduced it to a smoking green heap in the middle of the road. The rest of the Hunters were knocked down by the standoff blast, and Mitch pulled the gate closed.

A Hunter screamed, and Mitch looked left to see one jump from the roof of the office building next to the passageway, falling towards him in slow motion, screaming.
No-
-No-


-------------


“No!”

Mitch awoke with sweat all over his brow, the dream still fresh in his mind. He hadn’t dreamt about Eagle City for a while now. The current mission had probably triggered it…

The mood of the men inside the ‘copter was as dim and dark as the rain clouds whipping past, all jokes left behind at the briefing. One of the soldiers, a young guy named Jeff Lehman, turned to look at him with concern. Mitch gave him the thumbs up and Lehman nodded, merely a soldier acknowledging another, and Mitch looked around the rest of the ‘copter, readjusting his helmet so the small camera attached to the side of it pointed straight forward, so it saw whatever he saw.

He was the sergeant and squad leader of Platoon B’s squadron Beta, and only two of the eighteen men were issued cameras with their helmets; the platoon leader, Jenkins, and the squad leader of Platoon B’s Squadron Alpha, Floyd.

They were Platoon B, behind Platoon A’s Black Hawk helicopter and currently flying over the town of New Verneria.

There were five helicopters and five platoons of eighteen men; basically, ever soldier available stationed at the base five miles west of the city. There were two squads to a platoon - Alpha and Beta - consisting of nine soldiers, and a single to platoon to each helicopter, and each platoon had a platoon leader and a pilot, which meant that a total of one hundred and twenty soldiers were being sent into Verneria; one hundred and fifteen on the ground and the five pilots in the air.

Platoons A, B and C had been assigned to hidden Umbrella Labs that they’d uncovered around town. Mitch’s platoon were heading to the one in the north side of town. It was mostly underground; above ground was a small fish warehouse. He and Floyd would definitely be going in, as the squad leaders had been given all the codes they would need for the locked doors in the Labs. He had a folded paper with them all on in his back pocket, and had memorized all three codes unless he happened to lose it.

The odds are already looking a lot better than they were in Eagle City, that’s for sure. There are nearly ten times as many men this time, and this time you know what to expect. What the hell are you so worried about?

“Alright,” came the booming voice of Jenkins as he came from the cockpit, “ETA of the target point: 1 minute. I want you all locked and loaded. M-16A2s or M4A1s with three clips each. Night Observation Devices. Four M68 frags and a few more weapons of choice. CAR-15s to the assigned personal with a maximum of six shotgun shells each. LAWs are optional. Now move like you’ve got a purpose!”

Mitch already had his H&K and his survival knife, so he took an NOD from the shelve, hooked four grenades to his utility belt and took down an M4 Carbine along with three clips to go with it.

He stepped up to the door on the east side and opened it, looking down over New Verneria. It was bad; the rioters had been at work and there was fire and bodies everywhere. He could make out what looked like cops shooting at some virus carriers, and they were about to jump right into the hot zone.

There it is.

They came to a stop over the small warehouse in the middle of a large gated compound, and he and Jeff Lehman threw out the rappelling gear for the eastern door.

“Okay, two at a time. Alpha left and Beta right.” Jenkins ordered, and Mitch and Lehman hooked themselves to the wire. Taking a last look back inside the ‘copter, he started his slow fall into the city.

[Sevion]

Reilly was busy packing while watching the news. He had not yet realized that the emergency brodcast system was on. When Reilly looked up and noticed his heart beat rose rapidly. He read the statement that he should stay inside and to not contact anyone. All Reilly knew was that he wanted to leave now.

When Reilly was done packing he decided to grab his gun. He looked out the window for the first time since yesterday and saw the chaos. He opened the door and steped outside. He heard gunshots but decided to continue. While he was walking he saw the gun shop and decided it would help to get some ammo or maby anothere gun.

When Reilly steped inside he realized that many people had already thought of this. The only gun that was left was a shotgun with enough shells to get through the city safely. Reilly looked up and saw a man..or whatever it was coming towards him."stay away from me," Reilly yelled. The man keeped on coming. Reilly raised the shotgun and fired. The mans head exploded and he fell to the ground. Now Reilly decided to run out of the city. He ran out the door and into the city.


After running past many infected people. He stopped when he saw some people with weapons and ran towards them. At first they threatend him but then asked him if he was ok. Reilly nodded his head and asked" what are those things," "They are all infected with the T-Virus,"

T-VIRUS?

[2ndPower]

Something was wrong.

Well, of course things were wrong when you where scheduled for termination, but something was definitely unusual, but Karl couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He was still alive.

It's a little odd, the feeling of calm you get right before you're about to die. Karl had always expected to be afraid of death, but instead, when the decree was passed, he was at peace. It wasn't neccesarily a good feeling, but it wasn't bad either. But that didn't change the fact that something was still amiss.

He opened his eyes. Everything was just as it was when he was put under. Floating in the amniotic fluid, naked, tubes puncturing his skin and going down his throat, keeping him fed and drugged. Wait! That was it! He wasn't drugged right now. Why? From what the men in charge had said before he was put away, he was to be killed while still in stasis. And yet, he was coming out of it. He looked outside for the answer. There were four people in the room. The fluid prevented him from making out much in the way of details, but he saw two lying on the floor, and two standing by the control panel. One of the standing people was pointing something at the other, who was operating the panel. From what he could see, the two on the ground and the panel operator were scientists, while the one pointing at the other was not. The fluid started to drain, and Karl lost his bouyancy and floated to the base of the stasis capsule. He could see more clearly now. The two on the floor were dead, and the man was pointing a gun at the scientist. The fluid finished draining, the capsule opened, and the surviving scientist ran out the door. The man ignored him, and stepped up to Karl. He started ripping out the tubes. The pain was excrutiating, but Karl did not try to stop him. Pain was a part of life, and this man was setting him free. Finally free of his tubes, Karl slumped forward, and the man caught him. Karl caught a glimpse of brown hair and a tribal tattoo before he faded out.

How long it was before Karl woke up again, he didn't know. He was on the floor, and it was very cold. There was something by his head. He sat up and looked. A piece of brown paper, and scrawled on it were the words FOR YOU. He looked around. He was alone. He picked up the piece of paper, and something heavy fell out. A handgun. He picked it up and examined it. Not very powerful, but that was a good thing since he lost his right arm in the experiments. He checked it. Full clip, one bullet chambered. He looked around again, seeing if there was something else he could use as well. The paper! There was something on the other side. He looked at it. Experiment room, personnel, exit, this was a map of the lab!!! He checked it, wondering where he should go next. He'd need some clothes, or something, so the locker room was his best bet. He stood up to his full six feet and one inch of height. He was a slender man, but not quite skinny, and his black hair and dark eyes gave him a bit of a fearsome look. He walked to the door, but it was locked. No matter, he checked the pockets of one of the fallen scientists, found a card key, and used it to unlock the door. Gun, map, and key in hand, he walked into the hallway.

There was a low moan, and a soft shuffling around the corner to his right. He considered the situation. Being approached by a naked man with a gun was not the most normal of circumstances, and he wasn't sure how this one might react. However, it sounded like he or she might be hurt, and if not, he could probably find some use for a hostage. He walked around the corner, and was shocked by what he saw. Lab robes in tatters, hair falling out, skin ripped apart, a female scientist shambled towards him, hunger in her blank eyes. The smell was horrible!! He stumbled back a step, she stumbled forward two. Reaching out for him, she opened her mouth in an obvious biting position. Panicked, and with too much stuff in his hand to fire the gun properly, he swung his elbow into her face. With what was probably the grossest thing he'd ever witnessed, his elbow sank in a couple of inches with a squishing sound, snapping through bone as though it were cardboard. The woman started chewing on her own face, utilizing the dent Karl had created for her. With her thus distracted, Karl ran.

There was a dead body in the corner of the locker room, a bloody slash where his throat should be. Karl ignored it. He instead turned towards the lockers, searching for something adequate to wear. Some of the lockers were locked, but most were opened, and he did find a few clothes that were about his size. Apparently a few of the workers here really liked their black, but Karl thought that it was appropriate for this situation. When he was finished, he was decked out in black steel-toed work boots, black pants, a dark gray tank top, and a long black trench coat that went down to the center of his calves that he draped over the place where his arm used to be. Finished dressing himself, he searched the rest of the lockers. There was his sword!!! He had been carrying it when he was captured, and apparantly one of these bastards had taken it as a trophy. He slung it over his shoulder, arranging it so there'd be easy access for it from his left hand.

It occurred to him that he probably should escape now. The woman he'd encountered in the hallway sounded eerily like the beings that had been seen in Raccoon City a couple years ago. But the people here had taken Karl away from his life and turned him into their own, personal plaything, and Karl wanted revenge. Thus determined, he set out into the rest of the lab.

(RP: OOC- Sorry this took so long, I had a lot of work with the new school year)

He Slid his way down the rope into the city which was infested with the result of man abusing its scientific ability. Shots, screams, growning, and moaning were the only sounds he heard as he entered the city. When Jeff had finally reached the warehouse, he removed his rappelling gear and unslung his gun. There they were in the hot zone, Jeff, Mitch and the rest of his squad, right in the hot zone. It wasn't even a minute before the smell of human flesh started to attract the virus carriers. "Find cover and start to open up on these sorry sons of bitchs," Squad leader Floyd said. Every one started to hide behind cars, trees, mail boxes, garbage cans and whatever else was lying around.

The monsters were vicious they ripped through gates, fences, and whatever else stood between them and their food. Brat-aah-tat-tat was the only noise that could be heard as platoon B started to unload on the zombies. Men started shouting, "they're breaking though, They're breaking though." Jeff was picking off as many men as he possibly could without wasting excessive ammo. The zombies were moving at an incredible rate bullets were running through them and yet nothing worked. Everyone started to pull back to the warehouse to regroup and reorganize.

Jeff was running towards the building, when marines started to pour out of it, followed by giant spiders and monsters codenamed as lickers. Out of the corner of his eye Jeff saw Mitch signaling him to come to him. Jeff started blasting away at one of the lickers which were hunting him down. Three rounds pierced the pinkish grey flesh, the monsters redish brown blood started spraying all over the floor. Brad, the heavy weapons marine of the platoon was firing his chaingun on a row of zombies closing in on him, when a licker came up behind him and squezed his head off with its tounge. The monster turned his attension towards Jeff and sprung at him. The licker was about three feet away from him when Floyd blew his head right off its shoulders with his M-14 carbine. Jeff was able to regroup with Mitch, Floyd, James, and, Bryan in the back of the warehouse where the monsters exited from. When....

[2ndPower]

13 bullets and 4 zombies later, Karl here, in the file room, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. There were a couple of interesting things he had found.

Subject A-859285
Part of Project DEMON. Was put through the same procedures as all other subjects, but the substances injected were confined into his right arm. Unfortunately, A-859285 appears to be completely immune to the T-virus. We have taken a blood sample, and set him for termination. If we can identify the gene that grants immunity to the virus, it could be a powerful tool, and we'd also be able to identify who to "remove" from the general population, so that gene does not spread. It'd be interesting to see how he reacts to other strains of the virus, but that is not a risk we can currently take.

Hmm. Sounded familiar. Well, it was good to know he was immune, but what exactly was the T-Virus? He'd heard reports, but had never actually paid attention. He looked through the files for an explanation. He didn't find anything directly describing the virus, but he did find this in a locked cabinet that he had to kick open:

Living Weapons:

Zombie
The affectionate term for a human virus carrier. Indeed, they show many zombie-like characteristics. The T-virus reworks their systems, and can even affect and raise the dead. Zombies are much more resilient than the average human, feeling little pain, and surviving mortal wounds, but their bone structure is weakened. However, zombies will fight on in spite of mortal wounds. Some variants of the T-virus will alter a zombies cellular structure if left alone long enough. These zombies become the dreaded Crimson Heads.
Use as a weapon: Low. They're weak, slow, can't take orders, can't use any sort of weapons, and attacks anything still alive. Best use is as a mop-up tool after the virus has been released into an area.

Crimson Head
The evolved form of a zombie. Many of the problems that plague normal zombies are corrected. Their bone structure is back to human levels, they can run, they have some degree of a thought process. As an added bonus, they grow poisonous claws out of their fingertips. They can take much more damage than the normal zombie. Caution is to be taken, though. They will attack anything in sight other than other Crimson Heads, but including normal zombies. They are also extraordinarily vicious. The only obvious physical differences from regular zombies are their hunched posture and red skin, so in dark areas, they may be mistaken for the normal zombie.
Use as a weapon: High, although extreme care must be used. When set loose in an area, they will systematically destroy any other form of life they can find. With their speed, durability, and the fact they don't need to bite someone to attack, they can devastate an entire platoon in a short time. While they still cannot follow orders, they work together in perfect unison.

The rest of the report was torn off.

Karl stood. There was nothing else of great import in any of the rest of the files, just day to day happenings, more research notes, stuff like that. He did find a box of letter openers, though. He distributed them around his clothing. They were pretty sharp. They could come in handy.

Checking his map, he walked out and into the next door over, the security room. They'd probably have more weapons there. But something on one of the security screens caught his eye. It was focused on the outside, where some sort of armed force was mowing down zombies. He peered to the screen, trying to make out who the force was and where they were going. There was a sudden motion in the bottom corner of it, a flash of swiftly moving zombies. As they ran, they were attacking zombie and human alike. Those must be the Crimson Heads he read about!!

[Sevion]

After realizing what was happening Reilly took off and feared for is life. Reilly knew that the city gate were closed but frankly didn't care. Suddenly Reilly looked up and saw a pinkish creature with a long tounge. the creature lunged at Reilly but he took quick action and leaped to safty. Reilly then bolted toward the faint sounds of gun-fire.


When Reilly reached the army he ran up to one of them and held his hands up. "im human don't shoot he yelled" they lowered their weapons. Reilly was quick to head to the middle of the crowd when he saw the collection of weapons he couldnot help but take some. Reilly took an aka 47 with plenty bullets and he also took a automatic pistol with a few clips.
after that Reilly went back to the front of the crowd and waited....

[Brotherhood]

(Excellent post there, 2nd Power. I like the way you’re taking things, not even needing a real map and such. I always **** up when it comes to buildings… I hope this one goes okay.)

(By the way, Sevion. I highly doubt the U.S Military would use an AK-47. That’s guerrilla warfare. And I wrote this post last week, so I’m sorry you aren’t mentioned.)

Out of the eighteen marines in the squad, only five of them had followed him into the target warehouse. Mitch could hear gunfire outside, as well as the occasion explosion of a frag grenade. What the hell were they playing at?

“Okay, Marines. I’m going back out to get some of the others in here! Floyd, baby sit these guys until I get back, will ya?” Mitch ordered, hoping that his helmet cam had picked up everything his sub-consciousness had.

“Wait up, sir!” Jeff Lehman shouted. “That’s suicide. You saw how they ripped Brad apart! And he had the heavy weapon!”

“Don’t worry, kid.” Mitch said, checking the clip in his weapon. “I’ve done this before…”

He barely registered the muttered “So have I.” from Lehman as he kicked the door open and targeted the first zombie. He had seven rounds left in his first clip, and he didn’t plan to use up any more than that. He’d kept the weapon on semi-auto to save ammo, and he’d noticed that he’d been one of the only ones to shoot the zombies in the head. Why hadn’t they listened to Colonel Crowe back at the base? A headshot was the only way to drop the vegetables!

He dropped two zombies, one of which was a Crimson Head, though he hadn’t let it get close enough to him to try out its shiny new claws. Sighting two Privates back to back, keeping a horde of zombies at bay, he ran forward and shoulder tackled the first zombie, and then crushed the skull of the second with the stock of his Carbine. Then he reached for Brad’s corpse and picked up the Minigun.

“Kowalksi! Ramone! Rendezvous with Phillips and head to the target building! Ramone, you’d better have this.” He yelled, spinning his weapon around and shooting a third zombie one handed as he used his other hand to throw the heavy Minigun roughly at the short black Marine. “And aim for the goddamned head!”

He ran over to the rest of the squad; they’d formed a parameter near the target building’s gates and were blasting any forms of the undead, but at the same time spraying the undead full of lead outside the compound.

“Harry, close the damn gates!” Mitch shouted, dropping to one knee and taking out a licker with three shots to the brain. The first two went wide as it climbed down the side of the warehouse, but the third hit dead on centre.

The fat Marine roughly slammed the gates shut and snapped the dead bolt. The hard, steel walls should be able to keep out most of the zombies, but the typical Licker could just climb over.

Mitch shouted for them to pull back into the target building when a Web Spinner came up on his right. The last round in his clip went wide as he stumbled over the mutilated body of a fallen soldier, and the Web Spinner rose up, its legs waving in a deadly dance as a thin line of white shot from its body. Mitch rolled to the other side, trying to draw the H&K as it turned around to bear on him.

He raised the compact handgun and was about to fire when there was a long burst of automatic fire and the Web Spinner was ripped apart. He looked left to see Jeff Lehman stood at the entrance of the Warehouse, the smoking steel of his Carbine pointed at the dead arachnid.

Mitch gave him the thumbs up and followed the rest of the survivors back into the Warehouse.

Five minutes later…

“This is Nighthawk 2. Sergeant Benson, give me a SITREP.” Came the voice of consciousness next to his ear as his earpiece crackled to life.

Mitch looked around the shaken Marines and shook his head, hitting the transmit button.

“Not good. We’ve already lost seven men, including Jenkins. Floyd and myself are going in as planned. We’re going to have the rest of the squad form a parameter outside, giving us a clear path if we make it alive. We’ll be taking in PFCs Jeff Lehman and Bryan Davis. Over.”

“What about WIAs? Over.”

“That’s a negative. Nobody alive has been injured, so we’re all clean. Either way, we’re down to eleven men. Requesting permission to enter the Labs. Over.”

There was a pause, then, “Are you sure you want to do this? We can pull you out now if you’d like. With the operation sabotaged, you have a reason for leaving the area. Over.”

“Nah. I’d rather complete the mission, and I’m ready to go in now. Another day I might not be as motivated. Over.”

“Okay, Benson. You’re in. Do what you gotta do. Over and out.”

Along with Jeff, Bryan and Floyd, Mitch climbed into the relatively small elevator, remembering the last time he’d been acquainted with an elevator in a T-Virus crisis he’d almost had his face burnt off by Chimera acid…

With the elevator on, they knew the power was online. Setting the fail safe wouldn’t be a problem. As the doors closed and the elevator began it soft hum of descent, Mitch knew there was no turning back…

[Sevion]

um im OOC im switching the Ak with a machine gun and when i next post should i just pretend you included me in your post?

[Brotherhood]

(Hey. Keep those to the OOC thread. I'll switch my post over there when you've switched yours.)

(Just come along later. You can follow us down if you want...)

[2ndPower]

(OOC: This'll likely be my last post for a couple of weeks. Going on vacation. And thank you, Brotherhood.)

Karl watched as the marines made their way through the zombies, and waited until the red "Elevator Active" light came on in the security console. Great! They were apparantly coming down here, which meant that he'd get some help, possibly. They might just tell him to go home, or they might kill him for being one of Umbrella's experiments, but that was a risk he was willing to take. He found no weapons in the security room and he was running low on ammo, so he'd need the help. Besides, he had something that they could use: the map. Perhaps he could barter for their help. He stepped out the door, into the main hallway.

After a while, he was forced to stop. There was a large mob of zombies clogging up the hallway. These weren't here the last time he went through, and most of them weren't wearing lab clothes, like all the other zombies he had encountered. They must have come from somewhere, but where? Karl stopped thinking about that as they turned towards him. That way was blocked off, he'd need to find another way through, but first, he needed to get out of here. He turned around, but there was a smaller number of zombies closing in behind him. How did they get there without him noticing? He was low on ammo, so he'd have to get past them using alternative measures. He pulled out two of the letter openers, and threw them at the closest zombie of the large mob. One went wide and struck another zombie in the flank, but one connected and stuck into his target's knee. That zombie stumbled a moment, and Karl stepped up and kicked him solidly in the abdomen, knocking him backwards, taking a few other zombies down in the process. With them slowed, Karl turned to the other group, and unsheathed his sword. He supposed a normal person would have to worry about their blood being a contaminant, but he was immune, so what did he care? Swinging high, he hacked the head off of two other zombies, his blade cleaving through them easily, and threw a sidekick at another. The kick knocked him back, similarly to the earlier zombie, and Karl trampled him on his way through. He kneed the next zombie he encountered and slashed his sword behind him, skimming along the stomach of a zombie and spilling out its innards. A small group of zombies fell on that one, trying to devour the exposed guts. Karl took the opportunity to slip by them, and out through another door, locking it behind him.

He appeared to be in some sort of important office. It was lavishly furnished, completely out of keeping with the rest of the lab. Unfortunately, the only obvious way into or out of the room was the way he just came through. He checked his position on the map to confirm this. Yep, it appeared he was trapped here for the time being. He looked around for something that would help him. Was that a reciever for a PA system? He was fairly certain it was, the thing that the principals in grade schools were always using. He walked over to it, pondering over what to do next. He wanted t