Chapter 16: Meeting (4)
Mendell was uncertain if there was a trap inside. He picked up a block of cement and threw it forward, waiting for any sudden changes or movements from the walls or floors or ceiling. "Well, I guess there's no choice but to advance forward."
After conjuring his customized spear, he carefully trod his way to the end of the pathway. Luckily, there were no accidents. He pressed his ears against the door, searching for any sounds at the opposite side, if there was any. "It's silent but zombie scents are far too strong here." After a few minutes, he turned the knob and found out that it was locked. Although the loud noise might attract the zombies' attention, he still kicked the door without hesitation and it flew open.
True enough, there were at most twenty-five bodies lying all over the floor. Some were even sitting on the chairs while a few others were sleeping on the double-deck bed. The area was just enough to house ten occupants comfortably. Clearly, this room was overpopulated. Then, all of them started moving.
"As expected," Mendell uttered while he stabbed the head of a zombie and forcefully pulling it out, severing it completely. He flicked the head to the other zombie and smashed its head, splattering brain guts all over the floor. A zombie tried reaching his foot but he raised his leg and stomped its head, crushing it completely. When he noticed that some of them were already standing, he stepped back slowly as he moved to the door.
Two zombies lunged at him simultaneously and were about to reach Mendell successfully when he leaped backward as he thrust his spear forward, its pointed edge passing through a zombie's head. He quickly swung his spear to the right, pushing the other zombie sideways while severing the head of his previous target.
Another wave of zombies marched forward, growling because their prey was resisting.
"Cute." Mendell hit the leg of the next zombie, toppling it on the floor. He did this with the nearby zombies as he kept some distance. When he saw another three zombies lunging at him, he dodged backward once again while stabbing the middle zombie and swinging his spear sideways, throwing the left and right zombies against the wall. He moved his spear closer to him and kicked the stuck zombie on its belly as hard as he could, and its body was torn apart. Once the zombie was removed, he continued his slaughter. "Come, little zombies. Follow me."
As if the zombies understood him, some of the zombies growled louder and lunged forward.
Mendell did his usual tactic and finished them immediately. Even though he was fighting intensely, he was always attentive to his surrounding. When he sensed that he was at the hole entrance, he immediately went out to the open space to have more leeway with his spear.
Kenneth was still investigating the zombies he killed near the bulletin board when Mendell and the horde of zombies exited through the hole. He quickly aimed his gun and started shooting as he slowly headed to the stairs.
"Save your bullets!" Mendell shouted as he swung his spear like a baseball bat, hitting their feet as they stumbled and smashed their heads while they were on the floor. Like a dancing master, he killed the zombies much easier this time because there was a lot of space for him to move around and execute some attacks. When he saw the last zombie approaching him, he kicked it on its belly and rushed forward as he bashed its head while it was still staggering. He checked the corpses if there were still living zombies. After he was sure that everything was killed, including those zombies he killed inside that small room inside the hole, he moved to where Kenneth was and waved his hand. "It's safe now!"
Kenneth witnessed how Mendell killed the zombies and gulped loudly. Luckily, he was on his side because he knew he had no chance when fighting against him unless he had a nuke or something. He decided that he would not use his gun when Mendell was around to save more bullets, unless it was an emergency. He put his gun back to the holster and approached him. "That was fast."
Mendell chuckled. "Well, don't underestimate them. Even though their mobility is their weakness, they're quite strong so you better stay away from their hands."
"I'll take note of that. So, have you found anything interesting?"
"I'm about to do that. Can you help me with that?"
Kenneth nodded. "Of course. I'm not an invalid, you know. I can do simple things like that."
"Good. I'll look inside the hole entrance while you do your search here. I'll be back in a jiffy."
"Okay." Kenneth wasted no time and walked toward the nearest zombie and searched its pockets.
Mendell went back to the hole entrance and did his inspection as well, carefully looking for the ID card in their clothes. Much to his dismay, he did not find one. He kicked the bodies sideways to clear the path until he reached the room and went inside.
It was a normal room. Several posters of young women in bikinis were tacked on the walls. Four double-decked beds were found opposite each other. At the rightmost corner, there was a box covered with glass, with a sign, saying, 'Authorized Person Only'. When he looked through the glass, he could see a PVC card owned by Mark Sharp. He broke the glass and picked up the card. "Well, I hope this works."
Mendell rummaged the drawer and found several notebooks and documents. He took everything with him and skimmed the documents, smiling because several important names were mentioned in it. "This can serve as evidence." He placed them inside his bag.
After he was done with the cabinets, he searched the beds and turned it over, making sure that nothing important was hidden from him. This time, his search was fruitful because he found a Mossberg 590 shotgun. "Why in the world does a strong shotgun was hidden here? Who in the world is living inside this room?" Even though he was curious, he did not dwell on it any longer and grabbed the shotgun, only to find out that it was still fully loaded. His smile broadened as he immediately assigned it to the fourth slot. At once, a shotgun icon appeared right beside the gun. To complete his happiness, he found two boxes of shotgun shells and hid it as well. When he was sure that every nook and corner was thoroughly searched, he exited the room.
Mendell still saw Kenneth investigating the corpses when he got out of the hole entrance. He approached him and asked, "Any positive result?"
Kenneth looked behind and smiled. "Well, I didn't find any access cards but I found out the identities of these zombies, back when they were still human." He took out a small notebook and continued, "This is owned by Diego Mohica, an employee working inside the Arklay Laboratory. According to his entries, the laboratory was built under the Spencer Mansion, which I suspected to be the very mansion we just escaped from. And I was surprised that this laboratory was owned by Umbrella USA!"
Mendell was ecstatic when Kenneth discovered a crucial document. He could use this to his advantage and inform them of some information about the origin of the threats and other details that could help them understand the enemies. "So, the documents I found were accurate. The outbreak is really related to Umbrella..."
Kenneth nodded. "I myself can't believe it. As a chemist, it was my dream job to become an Umbrella employee but Albert Wesker invited me to become a STARS member. Well...back to the entry. There was much boring stuff written in this journal but the mood changed starting from May 11 entry. According to Diego, there was an accident in the Arklay Lab that day but he had no idea how it happened. May 13, the virus began spreading out of the said facility, and the Cerberus that they kept turned feral. I guess those were the Cerberuses we encountered inside the mansion, huh?"
"I agree. And I guess those zombies that we killed were employees of Umbrella."
"I also have the same conclusion. Anyway, on May 15, one of his friends was shot dead while escaping the mansion grounds. He knew something was wrong with the keeper, who was becoming more violent as days passed by. He avoided the keeper and spent his time inside the dormitory from May 16 to June 2. On June 3, he escaped the mansion through a secret tunnel, riding a tram that led to the Executive Training Facility. Do you think it's the very same tunnel that we just passed through?"
"There's a very high probability, considering you've found his body here."
Kenneth made a slight sound indicating that he agreed as well and continued, "On June 4, he heard from a friend that Martin Cluckholm killed himself the day he escaped, saying that the mansion was now overrun with zombies. On June 8, he found out that the chief researcher, Dr. John Clemens went back to the lab and tested himself, finding out that he was infected by the virus. The doctor relayed a message to one of the survivors that they must warn his girlfriend, Ada Wong, to be careful. His last entry was dated July 19. There were only two lines written - He is alive. James Marcus is alive. I wonder who he is. Looks like an important person."
"Dr. James Marcus...I've seen that name." Mendell took out the documents he found inside the bag and showed it to Kenneth. "Here. There are some interesting things revealed in these documents."
Kenneth took the documents from him and started reading. His frown was getting deeper as he turned from one page to another. When he was done, he returned the documents to Mendell and massaged his head. "Looks like this is more complex than I thought."
Mendell nodded. "So, what do you think about it?"
"I'd consider them baloney if I read these documents before I encountered those monsters. But now, anything is possible. But who would expect that someone who died ten years ago will suddenly appear, alive and well? James Marcus, one of the founders of Umbrella...why would Umbrella kill one of their founders?"
"Power struggles...differences in ideals...there are many things that could trigger such events. Anyway, our guess was right." Mendell pointed at the metallic door, "That direction will lead us to the Umbrella Executive Training Facility. I don't know what horrors await us but I guess we have no choice if we want to discover the truth, right?"
Kenneth took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. "I guess so..."
"Let's go."
The duo headed for the metallic door. Mendell took out the Access card and swiped it on the scanner, and they heard a clicking sound. When the door was fully opened, they saw a hallway leading to a ruined room.
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A younger-looking James Marcus watched the screen before him when he noticed an alarm signal blinking at the right panel. "Oh, so someone opened the Tram Station Gate." He checked the camera installed in that area and recognized the two people right away. "So, those ants really arrived here."
He inspected the other screen and discovered that the woman and her companion arrived at the Training Facility Basement as well. "Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen...these ants truly deserved to be punished. Humanity should really be executed." After pressing some switches on the panel, he cackled. "Since the four of you're here altogether, I shall grant you a gift for your deadly meeting. I hope you enjoy these Eliminators."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Shuree143
Shuree143 Fun fact: The Eliminator is a primate-based BOW, one of several early prototype weapons developed exclusively by James Marcus during the test phases of the t-virus capabilities as a weapon, but before the selection of a specific host for the strain.
Developed alongside the Eliminator were the Lurker and Plague Crawlers.
Due to the drastic decline in its overall intelligence, mass production of Eliminators were stopped.
These enemies are first seen in Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.
Weekly Power Status
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