"The paperwork calls them "Betas". Apparently the red, skinned-
gorilla creatures we fought through to get here were "Alphas"." Jarod
answered absently, his attention fixed solely on the papers.
Parker's 45 minutes had become an hour, and now nearly two hours.
Jarod had led them directly to this basement lab, almost as if he'd
known exactly where it was. And in a way he had. All of the weird
hidden keys and doors and labyrinthine corridors they'd made their
way through so far had given him an instinctive understanding of the
paranoid attitude that pervaded Umbrella. He'd known the research
would be hidden or sealed away down below the every-day, normal
activities of the hospital.
In fact, they hadn't been hidden, just protected by an elevator
requiring a recognized voice to operate it and then the pair
of "Hunter Alphas" in the corridor leading to the two rooms they were
in now. The Alphas were formidable, their mouths and jaws wider than
an ordinary simian and their teeth pointed. Added to that weaponry
were ridiculously long claw tips on the ends of their fingers. The
creatures would never have survived in the wild, they were too poorly
put together, but they made excellent guards with their unthinking
violence.
Parker now bore a poultice of herbs on her upper left arm, thanks to
the death throes of one of the creatures as she passed by. It had
spasmed just as she was edging past it in the narrow corridor. The
brutal claws were just as sharp after death as they had been in the
misshapen creature's life, and it scored to long gashes on her arm
and a third shallower cut. Jarod, afraid that the creatures had venom
in addition to their other modifications, had insisted on dressing it
immediately with a dressing comprising all three of the miracle herbs
he'd assembled.
Like him, Parker had been startled by the burning sensation, but it
quickly passed. Now she hardly seemed to notice the injury, but then,
the Betas were pretty interesting, in a morbid way. Where the Alphas
were obviously of simian stock, the Betas appeared to be, of all
things, mutated frogs. They were the same general size and bulk as
the Alphas, slightly larger than most men, and they were also
bipedal, with long claws tipping their "hands". But they were green
in coloration, with mouths wide enough to engulf a man to his waist
and small round eyes set to the sides of the broad face.
One of the creatures she was watching opened and closed its mouth
slowly, much like a fish forcing water through its gills, and
startling Parker. She'd assumed they were dead and suspended in
formaldehyde or something.
"Jarod!" She called, as it flexed it's clawed hands. "They're alive!"
Jarod looked up, his hands already shuffling the papers together into
a neat pile. It immediately clear to him that the creatures were
becoming agitated. One backhanded the glass tube containing it, but
the water it was surrounded with muted the blow.
"Let's go." He suggested, not willing to take the chance that the
glass would hold. "I've got what I need here."
"Right." Parker moved quickly to join Jarod at the airlock-type door
leading to the outer room. Both creatures were now thrashing around
in the fluid, although they'd done no discernable damage to their
containers. Still, Parker breathed a sigh of relief when the door
sealed behind them with a sibilant hiss.
"We're leaving now, right?" She didn't ask so much as demand.
"No." He winced inwardly in anticipation of her response and hurried
on to explain. "There's an antidote on the fourth floor, if these
papers are correct."
"Like a vaccine?" She demanded, already weighing the potential
benefit against the risks.
"Not quite. It needs to be refined, tested more, and put into an
appropriate base, but there's a good chance that it will at least
confer some immunity, even if it doesn't cure someone outright. If
nothing else, it's a good start."
"Damn it, Jarod, this isn't your problem to fix!"
"Yes it is." He answered bleakly. "I remember now. I remember doing
simulations on creating viruses to recode the genetic structure,
although I was told it was to be used to cure disease and birth
defects. I also remember working on a "tyrant" virus---a virus that
mutated itself and mutated its victim, with terrifying speed. I
refined it, trying to alter it into something beneficial. This is all
based on my work."
"Then why do you need their work on the antidote? Can't you just come
up with your own?"
"No. The virus has been altered too much. It would take me months of
research just to get close. I've got to get a sample of this antidote
to work from. I've already gotten samples of the strain of T-virus
they were working on."
"I don't have to tell you how little I like the idea of us running
around with samples of that stuff, do I?" Parker mentioned, hiding
her trepidation behind her usual sarcastic front.
"Don't worry." He smiled faintly. "I'm making us inoculations before
we leave the hospital. We've just been lucky not to have gotten
infected yet."
"Gee, thanks, I feel much better now." Somehow she'd assumed that the
virus had lost its potency without new victims. Learning that it just
hadn't managed to get them yet didn't reassure Parker in the least.
"Fourth floor." He told Parker briskly, slinging his backpack into
place after having carefully stowed the paperwork in an outer pocket.
He picked up his shotgun and walked towards the door, knowing Parker
would follow eventually.
She sighed in exasperation, but indulged him. The news that they
could still turn in to one of those monsters unnerved her enough that
she was willing to give Jarod the benefit of the doubt in his
obsession over finding a cure.
"Besides, I have an idea for getting out of the city without fighting
any more monsters." He gave her a winning grin over his shoulder.
"What?" She demanded suspiciously.
"You'll see." His grin deepened. He still delighted in tormenting her
from time to time.
She swallowed another exasperated sigh, unwilling to give him the
satisfaction, and used the tape recorded doctor's notes they'd found
to activate the elevator. It was odd that the elevator only offered
three choices to them, but Jarod had postulated that those choices
were based on the doctor's clearance. This guy had obviously been
neck deep in the research aspect of this disease, and Parker felt a
certain amount of angry satisfaction to think that he'd either gotten
the virus, or, more likely, been killed at the hands of one of
viruses creations.
She and Jarod were each lost in thought as the elevator rose in its
preprogrammed route. They didn't pay attention, at first, when the
doors opened on the Doctors' Lounge, as they'd boarded the elevator
from that room, and new it clean of monsters. Normal humans, on the
other hand, they did not expect.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?"
Parker and Jarod swung their weapons to the ready without thought,
and the strange young man had them already covered. This tableau held
for several long moments before Jarod relaxed slightly and lowered
the barrel of his shotgun a fraction.
"You're with Umbrella, aren't you?" He asked, his voice deceptively
mild.
He recognized the green jacket the man wore, and caught a glimpse of
the red and white umbrella embalm on the back of it, which made him
immediately suspicious of the individual. He looked like a nice
enough guy, with brown hair a shade lighter than Jarod's and
similarly brown eyes, but Jarod wasn't going to trust him until he
knew for sure that the man was an innocent dupe to Umbrella, not a co-
conspirator.
"Yeah. We were sent in to rescue civilians, but you two are the first
I've seen that were rescue-able. As far as I know, I'm the last of us
left alive, though, so I don't know how much help I'd be at this
point." The boy's eyes were just as wary as Jarod and Parker's, and
his weapon remained ready.
"So what are you doing at the hospital?" Jarod probed. "Surely you
know that anyone here would probably be in the last stages of the
infection by now."
"Yeah, I figured that." The boy's Hispanic accent grew stronger as he
struggled with himself over some internal issue. "I'm looking for
something to fight the virus. My companion just got infected, and
I've got to help her out. She's saved my bacon a time or two and now
it's payback time."
"Didn't you just say you're the last one left?" Parker pounced on the
inconsistency.
"She's not an Umbrella Merc. like me, she's a cop---sort of."
"Jill?" Jarod asked instantly, not really believing it could be the
woman who'd clued him into this conflict, but hoping
nonetheless. "Jill Valentine?"
"How'd you know that?" The boy's gun moved to train on Jarod's
forehead.
"Jill and I met earlier." Jarod answered, relieved beyond measure
that she had survived this far, and concerned that she was now
infected. "She clued me in to a lot of what's been happening.
Probably saved my life. Maybe she mentioned me? I'm Jarod."
"Nope, she didn't." But the gun finally came down as the young man
decided to trust them, at least a little. "But if she helped you,
maybe now you can help her. She's really sick. That Nemesis thing
managed to infect her somehow."
"Nemesis thing?" Parker didn't like the sound of that.
"Big guy." The mercenary said shortly. "Can't miss him, every time
you kill him he comes back stronger than ever, and he's been gunning
for Jill from the start."
"Why?" That was from Jarod.
"I don't know. All he ever says is, S.T.A.R.S."
"Sounds like he's after Jill then." Jarod agreed grimly. "She's
probably the last S.T.A.R.S. member left alive in the city."
"Look, it's been fun, but I gotta find her an antidote quick." He
replied briskly, tapping his gun impatiently against his leg. "So, if
you got any ideas, now would be a good time to share them."
"I think there's something on the fourth floor." Jarod told the young
man, willing now to trust him. "I've been going through the paperwork
left by the doctors, looking for a cure myself."
"You one of them?" Jarod was pretty sure that the man meant one of
the researchers that created the virus, as opposed to one of the
doctors.
"No. I didn't create this virus." He answered, telling his remaining
guilt to shut up and stay put when it stirred in his belly. "But I
know enough microbiology to decipher the notes they left behind."
"Good enough." The boy was trusting, Jarod thought with
amusement. "Let's get going then. I'm Carlos, by the way, and you
are?"
Jarod turned his face towards the elevator wall as Carlos turned the
full force of what he obviously considered to be irresistible Latin
charm on Parker.
"Not your type." She answered quellingly. "But you can call me Miss
Parker, if you need anything."
"Brrrr." Carlos shivered with mock fear. "Sorry, your Highness, just
being friendly."
"Miss Parker never got the chance to learn how to be friendly." Jarod
teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "She's been too busy being
efficient, intimidating, and bossy."
"And don't you forget it, Ratboy." She replied serenely, recognizing
his intention to lighten the atmosphere.
Carlos, watching their interaction, leaped to the obvious conclusion
that they had a "Thing" going and soothed his manly ego with the
thought that she'd have gone for him if she hadn't already had a man.
Probably she was just hiding her attraction to him to protect this
Jarod guy's feelings. Besides, he hated "bossy" in a woman.
"You really think there's something to help Jill up here?" He asked
Jarod as the elevator rose.
"I think so, but I might be wrong." Jarod answered cautiously. "The
notes I found in the basement indicated the serum was stored up here,
but someone might have removed it when the disaster started."
The door opened, and all three occupants heard and recognized the
familiar click-click-click sound of a slowly approaching Hunter.
Carlos sighed in exasperation, Jarod's jaw clenched, and Parker
rolled her eyes.
"Let me." She ordered, moving into the hallway and placing her back
against the wall to the right of the elevator.
Fortunately, the elevator was at the end of the hallway, and not in
the middle where they'd be vulnerable from two sides. She raised the
magnum, which they'd found to be slightly more effective than the
shotgun, and sighted on the corner where the Hunter would have to
approach. It was just too bad that the Hunter decided to make one of
their extraordinary leaps, which had the effect of making it
materialize at the end of the hallway, rather than simply appear.
Parker lost a few valuable seconds adjusting her aim, while the
Hunter sprinted towards her. It was amazingly fast for something with
short, bowed legs, but Parker was an expert marksman. The bullet flew
from her gun to the creature's tiny brain as if it had homing device
implanted, and the Hunter screamed horribly, arching its back in
agony as it died. She shuddered in response, some atavistic part of
her mind insisting that this sound portended danger, not the end of
danger.
As soon as the echoes died down, all three humans listened intently
for the sound of another Hunter, but it was blessedly quiet. Parker
announced the "all-clear" and the trio moved out of the elevator and
down the hall. This hallway was wider than the one in the basement,
and they all edged past the twitching corpse without mishap.
The hallway turned north and then veered back to the west, with a
hall bearing south opening up about halfway down. They turned down
that hall, deferring further exploration in the hope that their prize
would be in one of the two rooms they could see down there. Jarod
tried the first door, and found it locked. He and Carlos moved down
to try the second door, but Parker rooted around in her jean pockets
and knelt before the locked door.
The two men entered the second room as Parker began the delicate
process of picking the lock, using a lock pick set she'd picked up
from the S.T.A.R.S. room back at the police station. She succeeded
after two abortive tries, just as the men walked back out in the hall.
"We found a wall safe, but it's locked." Carlos informed her glumly.
"I could crack it, if I had the right equipment." Jarod grumbled.
"Well, I've opened this door, let's see what's inside it."
Parker stood, refolding the tools she'd used into their slender black
cloth carrying case and stashing them back in her jeans. Then she
opened the door and stepped boldly through.
Bodies. The room was full of bodies. Two were medical personnel, on
either side of the door, and another three were obviously victims of
the virus. They were quiescent, but Parker didn't trust that they
were actually dead. She stopped just inside the door, and gestured at
Carlos and Jarod to wait where they were. Her eyes swept the room
again, looking for anything helpful.
Nothing looked especially useful, and she was about to leave, when
she decided to look over the medics a little more closely. The one
closest to her, was clutching a crumpled piece of paper. Parker
crouched down and carefully pulled it from his stiff fingers.
At her movement, the civilian body closest to her came to life, so to
speak, and began to drag himself towards her. Parker briefly
considered killing him, but decided to save her ammo. She stepped
quickly over the doorjamb, pulling the door shut behind her. They had
yet to have encountered a zombie that could open doors, so that
pretty well solved that problem.
"What'd you find?" Carlos eyed the paper eagerly, obviously concerned
about the amount of time he'd been away from his friend Jill.
"Numbers." Parker answered slowly, checking out the bloodstained
paper with a lowering sensation of disappointment. "Three Five One."
"Do you think---?" Carlos threw a hopeful look at Jarod who shrugged
slightly.
"That could be the combination." He agreed, heading back for the
other door. "It seems too simple, but it could work."
To Jarod's amazement, it did work. The safe opened with a gust of
cold air revealing rows of test tubes in two holding racks. Jarod
intercepted Carlos'
Questing hand and pulled it down, gesturing the other two to move
back slightly.
"Let me do this, who knows if they've got another trap set up."
Parker nodded at Carlos to do as Jarod said, and backed up a few
steps herself. She watched with veiled concern and Jarod cautiously
lifted the first of the racks into his hand. Nothing happened.
Jarod carried the tubes over to the wide window ledge and returned to
pick up the second rack, closing the safe door on his way back. He
then studied the labels on the tubes for several long minutes.
"Parker, see if you can find some syringes and needles in the
cabinets over there." Jarod ordered over his shoulder as he carefully
selected several vials. "And some of those rubbing alcohol wipes."
"You found it?" Carlos demanded with youthful excitement.
"I think so." Jarod smiled reassuringly. "First I'm going to
vaccinate the three of us against the T-virus. It should make us
immune, but one never knows, so don't take stupid chances, okay?"
Carlos nodded, presenting his left shoulder without objection as
Jarod filled three syringes with a blue colored fluid. Parker winced
slightly when Jarod jabbed the needle into her biceps and he did the
same when Parker gleefully reciprocated the shot.
"Okay, this'll be a lot like a tetanus shot, no, more like a typhoid
shot." He corrected himself. "You're going to have a sore arm in a
couple of hours, and the area around the shot will probably swell
somewhat and be hot to the touch. You may even develop a fever and
general body aches, like a case of the flu. That's because this
injection is actually dead t-virus cells, which will stimulate our
immune system to produce antibodies. You're body will think you've
been infected, even though you aren't, and react accordingly until it
eradicates all trace of the foreign cells."
Part 6