Meeting (3)
"Ugh..." Mendell grunted, his eyes slowly opened. "Where am I?" His mind was still muzzy from the overconsumption of his soul power, so he did not rise immediately. Then everything sank in. The last time he remembered before fainting was his body flying like a thrown ball.
He inspected the surroundings while he was standing up, believing that he was in a tram station. There were some blood traces at the left leg of the bulletin board. He moved closer and smelled it, only to discover that it was his blood. "Now, I know who's responsible for stopping my flight. Thank you, I guess."
He was wondering if he got some regenerative abilities after increasing his level. Nevertheless, he did not dwell on it much longer because he still had to do some urgent matters. He thought of conducting some tests to determine as to what extent his healing power was after he escaped this hell.
Along the way, he saw a few dead zombies lying just beside the chairs within the waiting area. Upon closer look, he observed that all of their heads were filled with bullet holes. He sniffed the air and he could still capture the scent of gunpowder. "The fight's still recent. Wait... this familiar smell. It's Kenneth!"
He quickly headed to where Kenneth's scent was and reached the stairs. There was a zombie with a splattered head lying just a few meters away from him. This made him more worried and climbed up until he reached the top. Then he saw someone lying on the metallic floor. After crossing the narrow ledge, he reached the platform.
Mendell searched Kenneth's body for any bites or scratches. Luckily, he found none. He touched Kenneth's forehead and felt that he was having a fever, even though he noticed that the cop's breathing and pulse were normal. His rumination stopped when he saw his knapsack on Kenneth's back. The familiar towel on his left arm and right leg. He realized that Kenneth opened his bag.
Mendell took his bag back and opened it. True enough, Kenneth did touch his belongings because his scent still lingered on every item, including the leather-covered notebook. "Did he read it?" he asked himself.
When he was sure that he did not miss anything, he shook Kenneth's shoulders lightly. "Wake up. Hey, wake up."
Kenneth was roused up from his slumber. He was surprised when he realized who was before him and blurted out, "Mendell?!"
Mendell smiled. "I guess it's me. Happy to see me?"
Kenneth chuckled, only to moan in pain right after. "Damn! These wounds are hurting like hell..."
"What happened to you?"
Kenneth told him what he did earlier. When he was done, he apologized, "Sorry for using your things without your permission."
"Nah, it's an emergency. Anyway, can you move? We still need to find an exit from this terrible place." When he noticed that Kenneth was apprehensive about something, he asked, "What's gotten into you?"
Kenneth took a deep breath before asking, "Who exactly are you?"
Mendell knew why Kenneth was acting like that but he still acted innocent. "You've seen my records. And I've already told you that I was a mercenary. Why are you curious about me all of a sudden?"
"I know that with your uncanny senses, you've already found out that I've read your book. I understand that by asking this, you might kill me to keep your secret but I don't care. I just wanna know the truth."
Mendell sighed, knowing that he had to answer him if he wanted to clear his suspicions. If his memory served him right, Kenneth was a very curious person. Besides, he could not take Kenneth's life because his efforts would then be in vain.
According to his other self's memory, implicating a major villain without any pieces of evidence would make the mission impossible to continue, because of its drastic increase in the difficulty level, triggering the world to reset, thus erasing the Chronicler's existence. The same thing would also happen if a Chronicler killed those villains before the actual date of their death. Informing the inhabitants about the future events were prohibited as well. Luckily, a Chronicler could still tell them about past events that had happened, as long as it would not contradict with the first rule.
Mendell carefully thought of an answer that was consistent with his previous statements and started talking. "You see, my team belongs to a secret organization comprised of mercenaries and agents. May 19, 1998, we were given two missions - a search and rescue operation to look for a rich man's daughter and an investigation about the gruesome murders in several locations within the Arklay Mountains. It was too late when we found her inside a cabin mutilated and half-eaten. Our only choice now was to execute the last mission and started our investigation right away. Our contacts told us that the RPD was also doing their investigations so we took note of everyone who was handling the case, just in case we needed outside support. We discovered a terrible secret at the expense of my team's lives, that these gruesome murders were done by engineered monsters."
Kenneth nodded. "Yeah. July 9, the RPD assigned the case to STARS and we also found the terrible deaths that happened within the Arklay Mountains, leading to the same conclusion that the RPD had - a cannibalistic cult was the culprit. With the decision from the higher-ups, we were deployed into the Arklay Mountains yesterday to look for the gang, not expecting that we will encounter monsters instead."
Mendell paused for a while and drank some water before continuing, "Over a month, from May 13 to June 13, at least 20 victims were discovered - seven hikers from out of town and thirteen locales. We traversed the forests within the Arklay Mountains and discovered several suspicious buildings. A training facility in the east, a mansion and a dormitory in the west, several underground tunnels, and another dilapidated cabin. All of my team members died while conducting this investigation. At this time, the higher-ups believed that I was dead as well, thus, our team was taken out of the list. Since we're delisted, I decided to go back to the city to report what I know. But I have to look for a trustworthy person, that's why I was keeping the profiles of police officers inside my journal. "
Kenneth raised his hand, and asked, "Officer Kenny told me that you went to the RPD to report about your missing family. Why did you allow them to go there despite knowing the dangers within the forest?"
Mendell was taken aback by his question, even though his expression stayed calm. He paused for a few seconds before answering, "I tried convincing them but they didn't believe me. And I can't just tell them about monsters and stuff like that because I was very sick at that time. They'll just laugh at me, thinking that I was hallucinating or dreaming, thinking that it's real even though it's fake. So, I decided to follow them but when I arrived at the Arklay Mountains, I couldn't find their whereabouts. I asked for help from the police to conduct a search and rescue to look for my family but you know what happened."
"So, do you know the origins of these monsters?"
Mendell shook his head. "The only thing I know is these creatures are manmade. I don't know who the culprit is but I'm sure that somewhere inside the places I've told you earlier, there should be documents that can tell us who the true perpetrator is."
"Then, do you know where this is?"
"Sadly, I don't. This is my first time visiting this place, and I hope this will also be the last time."
Kenneth chuckled. "Anyway, thank you for telling me your story. Even though there are still many things I'm confused about but those can be saved for later, that is, if you're willing to tell me."
Mendell just smiled weakly and helped him stand up.
"Thanks. No need to support me. I can walk on my own." Kenneth started walking, " - Besides, you need both of your hands to be unhindered. You're my bodyguard, after all."
Mendell rolled his eyes and walked past him. "Let me be in front. When a monster is sneaking behind us, I can just use you as bait to save myself."
Kenneth snickered and followed behind him. He had wasted his last three bullets against the zombie who attacked him. He knew it was not enough to kill it so he decided to use extra help from outside - gravity and trash can. Fortunately, his plan worked and the zombie fell to his doom, headfirst. He knew he was like a sitting duck but he had no choice. Who asked him to be weak, he thought.
They headed for the metallic door just several meters away from the stairs, passing by the dead zombie along the way. Too bad, they found out that it needed an ID Card to open it.
"Now what?" Kenneth muttered.
"Wait, let me think." Mendell checked the log icon, finding out that it was still greyed out. He did not know the reason behind this and all that was left was a gun and his customized spear. His rumination was disturbed when he saw Kenneth inspecting the door, tracing his fingers on its surface. "What are you doing?"
Kenneth pressed his ears against the door and knocked again. After doing it several times, he moved his head away from the door. "Nothing, I was just curious. Anyway, this is made of steel. Very hard and compact. A thousand times stronger than pure iron."
Mendell clenched his fists, saying, "Well, let me try this."
Kenneth understood his plan and moved a few meters away from Mendell.
Mendell nodded and started punching the door as hard as he could. After a few attempts, he realized that the door did not budge at all. "I still need to level up more to increase my strength. if I wanna be like the punching boulder Chris..." he said to himself.
"As expected. I've seen these types of doors, they're very sturdy. We have those as well back in the lab I've worked with before joining STARS," Kenneth explained. "If my suspicion is correct, then this place leads to a testing site or a laboratory of some sort." He stared at Mendell, and asked, "Do you think this is related to those monsters?"
Mendell shrugged his shoulders despite knowing that Kenneth was right on his track. "Maybe. I don't know. If we can find some documents inside here stating its purpose, then it will make our life easier."
"I guess so."
Mendell opened the minimap. After careful inspection, he noticed that there was a pathway just beside the bulletin board. When he looked behind, thanks to his sharp vision, he was able to see the hole from where he was standing. And he could also detect a horde of zombies in the hole's direction. "Okay, I think the first thing we have to do is find an ID Card that can open the door."
"Indeed. So, where should we start our search?"
"Maybe one of these zombies has an ID card? Search this area while I go inside that hole," Mendell stated as he pointed at the right area where the bulletin board was. "After you're done, find a hiding place, like the platform you climbed up. Just shout as loud as you can as soon as you detect a monster. I trust your judgment."
Kenneth knew that it was not wise for him to follow inside the hole where the zombies came from, so he agreed and said, "Take care."
Mendell took out some ammunition inside his bag and gave it to Kenneth. "Here, take this."
"Thank you." Kenneth reloaded his gun and started his inspection, starting with the last zombie he fought earlier.
Mendell rushed to the hole area and punched the rest of the wall to make it wider. He looked inside and saw a narrow pathway leading to a door.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Shuree143
Shuree143 Fun fact: Zombies in this game refers to most humans that have succumbed to the t-Virus (either through the contaminated water supply or infected bites and scratches from a virus carrier).
The researchers at the Umbrella Corporation called them "zombies" in reference to the Haitian Folklore zombies, which are said to be recently dead bodies reanimated by necromancers for use as slave labor.
Since some of the traits of zombies are the decomposed skin and the lack of pulse, they are often mistaken for reanimated corpses.
Unlike the walking dead, human beings who die naturally in this game will not reanimate into zombies.
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