Okay, you asked for it. (Well, some of you, anyway.) ;-) I got caught up on my networking class yesterday and celebrated with 2 whole hours of writing time! (I am still trying to figure out just why a Web Developer--as in designer of homepages--has to know how to put together and manage a network. If I wanted to go into IT I'd have gone to ITT, not a community college!)
Ooops, rant over, story continues now.
Resident Jarod?
Part 3/?
Rebeckah
The south wall of the room was nearly covered by a complicated looking communication center, and where the controls ended a set of utility shelves, filled with cardboard storage boxes, took up the remaining space. Then came three pairs of desks, facing each other, and butting up against the east wall. The north wall had a trophy case on the west end and another metal utility shelf on the east. In between them was a wall hanging with the S.T.A.R.S. emblem and a picture of the members themselves. Just in front of the wall-hanging was a stand-alone desk made of metal, unlike the wooden desks for the other members of the team. Finally, on a small table by the door, was a fax machine.
"You want to check out the radio? Maybe we can call for help." Parker suggested, moving towards the northernmost desk.
"I doubt it." Jarod replied, approaching the console anyway. "I tried to drive out yesterday, and nearly got shot for my pains. I don't think anyone is coming inside this city until the crisis has ended."
A snort came from Parker as she rifled through the papers scattered across the desk.
"You mean until everyone here is dead and half-rotten, don't you?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if something more proactive ended up happening." Jarod replied bleakly, moving from the useless console to the desk closest to him. "Jill said that Umbrella blew up the mansion where the first accident happened to destroy the evidence."
"I'd say a city of more than one hundred thousand souls would be a little harder to blow up." Parker argued, checking each drawer in the desk for ammunition. Two boxes of magnum bullets went into the other pocket to turn over to Jarod before they left the room.
"I wonder" Jarod grumbled darkly.
He and Jill found the boots at almost the same moment. He was searching through Jill's desk, and found her spare combat boots, in exactly the right size for Parker, and she was searching through the desk of Chris Redfield when she found his spare boots. They held up the prizes triumphantly in unison, grinning when they realized their synchronicity. It was one of the nicest moments they'd shared with each other since they were children.
"I think these will fit you." Jarod explained unnecessarily as Parker's smile faded slightly.
"I think these will fit you too." She told him, her voice still friendly, even though her expression was more thoughtful than inviting. She and Jarod were both silent as they laced on their finds.
"Jarod, I---"
"Parker, don't you---"
The both sat up straight and spoke at the same moment again. Parker subsided, flushing slightly, while Jarod narrowed his eyes in thought again, and started over.
"Parker, something about this entire situation keeps nagging at me, like it's familiar, but I can't think why." He told her= unhappily. "Do you remember anything like this? Ever?"
"No." Parker replied promptly, and with a shudder of distaste. "And I certainly think I would remember something if I'd ever been exposed to anything like this. But if you think you remember something, you probably do. I'm sure it will all come back to you eventually."
"What did you want to tell me?" Jarod shelved the problem, and focused on her abortive word.
"I just wanted to tell you=85" She paused, and with the experience that years of interaction with Parker had given him, Jarod knew she was having second thoughts.
"Spit it out, Parker." He urged her firmly, but not harshly. "For once you're in a position where you can say anything you like and Daddy will never know."
"I think this situation is familiar too." She told him, "But it's because it parallels my worst nightmares for what might happen at the Centre, not because I've got any prior knowledge. I can see the Centre creating a horror like this."
Jarod's eyes closed as a flash of memory surfaced from his mind.
"You can't control this, Dr. Raines." He was telling the gaunt man, his adolescent face pale and his short bangs slicked against his face with sweat. "It's a mutenogenic of pandemic ability. As soon as I come up with an antidote, it mutates again---and it's already crosses species boundaries once that I know of!"
"Excellent." Raines rasped, his eyes gleaming with avarice and more than a touch of megalomania. "A bioweapon is born."
"Dr. Raines, if this is ever released, there's no telling what would happen. It would make Ebola look like a summer cold!" Jarod tried again, desperately. Somehow, he had to make the man understand!
"Don't worry about what it can do, just refine the stuff for me. Then I'll send Saunders in with your shot."
Jarod was already trembling, feeling his body demanding the drug they'd been feeding him, but he resisted.
"I'd rather not, Sir. I know that it's hampered my work, not helped. Half the time I'm so groggy from its effects I can't even think straight. The other half---well, I've had hallucinations." He admitted reluctantly, knowing he didn't want Raines to see any weakness in him, but knowing even more firmly that he didn't want another shot of that damned drug.
"You'll receive the drug as long as I say so." Raines had rebutted with a cruel smile. "Sydney left you in my care, and I'll call the shots until he returns. Now get back to work."
With that he'd turned and dragged himself out of the room, oxygen canister following behind him like a faithful dog. Young Jarod had shuddered, not just from the effects of the narcotic they were feeding him, and turned back to the lab table, his heart sinking as he realized again that he should never have trusted Sydney.
"Jarod?"
He could tell by the tone of her voice that Parker had been trying to get his attention for several minutes.
"Don't you think we should get going now?" She repeated, her patience obviously fraying down to almost nothing.
"Yes." Jarod agreed quickly. "Let's get out of here."
She gave him a look that said more clearly than words that she'd worm his flashback out of him sooner or later, but survival was clearly the priority at the moment.
"Where should we go?" She asked, instead of probing.
"I wish I thought we could make it to the hospital." He murmured, almost to himself. "I'm sure they've got research going there on this thing."
"Go outside? Have you, by any chance, noticed the armies of the undead marching around out there?" She countered, her voice edging into shrillness.
"Actually, yes, I have." He retorted with a certain grim humor. "And I'm not eager to try my luck out there again either. But maybe we won't have to. Take a look at that map of yours, and see if you can find the Captain's office. Didn't you say there was something off about him?"
"He fairly reeked "bad cop"." Parker agreed unhappily. "And something about him didn't seem quite sane."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know." Parker was clearly irritated at her lack of hard evidence. "He just seemed to be too creepy, even for this place. And, well, I'm accustomed to men looking at me, but when he did it felt like he didn't see me, just an object, like a painting or a statue."
Jarod almost grinned. Anyone who could look at Parker and see a statue was obviously no longer sane.
"Okay, here's our route." He said, instead of sharing his observation. He didn't know how long their unspoken truce would last, and he wasn't about to damage it by reminding Parker of just how attractive he found her.
"If we go through this door," his finger pointed at a door on the other end of the hallway they'd entered through. The hallway simply followed the length of the S.T.A.R.S. office, and then turned to cover the length of the far wall too. At the end of that turn was the door he meant.
"If we go through here, we come out in this little waiting area. From there we can reach the library, which opens up onto the balcony we saw above the lobby. That will take us around the lobby to here---" His finger stabbed at the only other door that opened up on the balcony, opening up to offices directly above where he'd met up with Parker.
"According to your map, that's the Chief's secretary's office, and the Chief's offices are down this hall behind her."
"Maybe we should simply backtrack through the downstairs area we've already traveled." Parker suggested nervously. "We have no idea what might be lying in wait for us along this route."
"But we do know that there is at least one room full of infected officers, probably all ready to take a bite from us by now." Jarod pointed out patiently. "And we don't know where there might be stairs over there to get us up to the second floor. The map keeps that area vague, probably because it deals with places where they interrogate suspects."
"Okay." Parker agreed grudgingly. "I know you're right, but before we go, I have to tell you about something."
Jarod turned to face her, keeping his expression encouraging.
"There's at least one monster roaming this place that I know of." She confessed reluctantly. "I've heard---something roaring in the distance, and I heard some of the officers talking about something they called a Licker. It's a manlike creature, with a long tongue that actually took someone's head off."
Jarod swallowed queasily, not even wanting to think of something that was so formidable it used its tongue as a weapon.
"I'm sure there are more that we don't know of yet."
"Well, now we know to be on the lookout for them." He encouraged her, hoping she couldn't see his own trepidation. "It's just one more thing to be aware of."
"Right." Parker obviously made the effort to return herself to the disciplined, detached state of mind that made it possible for her to accomplish the tasks the Centre frequently sent her on. "Let's go, then."
They were extremely fortunate. The zombies waiting on the other side of the hall door were far enough away that Parker and Jarod could dodge them easily. The library was a haven of silence, and the balcony had the corpses of at least 4 zombie officers, indicating that someone else had passed through there. Jarod hoped that those bodies meant that Claire was somewhere in the building, and okay.
The secretary's office was also empty of threats, but Jarod and Parker found a cache of ammunition. When they finished loading the bullets and shells into their backpacks the packs were uncomfortably heavy, but neither complained of the weight. Better sore shoulders and back muscles than eaten! The find lifted their spirits so much that they entered the hallway through the back door of the office with an almost optimistic frame of mind. It didn't last long.
"Dear God!" Parker breathed, looking at the ugly creature drooling down at them from the ceiling.
It did look like a man---like a man who'd been skinned alive. The hands and feet were tipped with impossibly long claws, and the hips were set wrong for a human. Certainly the way it flattened itself along the ceiling would have been impossible for a normal human to have achieve. Where the eyes should have been were two, fish-belly- white swollen bumps, about the size of a man's palm. There were dark slits in the bumps than might have opened into eyes, but it was hard to tell.
As Jarod and Parker stared at it in disbelief, it dropped from the ceiling to the floor, twisting to land right-side-up like a cat in mid-fall. They backed up slowly while it advanced on them, claws clicking ominously and a low, sibilant hiss emanating from it. When the tongue flashed out suddenly, extending to nearly a meter in length, and barely missing them, Jarod was finally able to act.
He hurriedly swung the shotgun up to his shoulder and squeezed off a shot almost before he'd gotten it up. He didn't take the time to aim, instinct warning him that he didn't want that creature to cover the few inches that were between them and the maximum reach of its tongue.
It took three shots to kill the beast, and Jarod pumped another shot into its head just to be sure, before they edged cautiously past it to turn the corner of the hall. Fortunately, it seemed to be the only one, and its presence had pretty much eliminated the other mutated dangers that might have been lurking otherwise.
"I assume that this is your Licker." He told Parker dryly, hoping she didn't notice the residual tremor in his voice.
"I think so." Parker managed to reply, even though she was more than a little nauseated by the almost human remains of the monster.
Now that the threat of the Licker was gone, Parker and Jarod had time to notice an acrid scent in the air, the unmistakable residue of a fire. When they rounded the corner they saw that the fire had been the corridor itself. A helicopter had obviously crashed into the roof, half of it coming through it to block most of the remaining hallway. The door to the Chief's office should have been right next to the ruined chopper, but there was a gaping hole instead.
Once again, it was clear that someone had been through this area. The hole in the wall wasn't a result of the crash, it was obviously due to an explosion. Jarod suspected that the explosive itself was some form of plastique, which was far more easily controlled than most alternatives.
Whether it was the unknown person, the recently deceased Licker, or the burning helicopter that prevented anything from penetrating the Chief's suite, they encountered no dangers as they made their way to the office through the maze of halls. When they reached the office, it too was empty, and the wall behind the desk had a gaping opening. This opening was obviously an intentional entrance, although it was just as obviously a concealed entrance.
"Look." Parker pointed grimly at the trail of blood that ran from the top of the desk through the opening.
"I think we have to follow it." Jarod told her, knowing she'd rather not.
"I think you're right." She agreed, but without any enthusiasm.
Jarod motioned her to watch his back, and peeked cautiously down the hall revealed by the entrance. It was empty, with only an old- fashioned, metal elevator box at the end, and it was obviously heading down at the moment. Jarod stepped into the hall, waving Parker to follow him, and hurried to look down the shaft. With any luck he'd be able to see the occupants of the elevator...
The panel that hid the entrance slid firmly back into place the moment Jarod and Parker entered the hidden hall, startling them both. Jarod couldn't find the triggering mechanism to open it back up, and they both turned towards the newly returned elevator with an air of resignation. Since they couldn't return the way they had come, they'd have to follow this new path. Neither one of them was really happy about the lack of choice, but, realistically, they knew that it couldn't be any more dangerous than what they'd already overcome.
"Keep well behind me." Jarod whispered to Parker. "I want a back up, and I want to know nothing is going to creep up behind me while I'm busy."
"Okay." Parker whispered back, knowing their caution was probably useless, but unable to resist the urge for quiet.
They entered the elevator together, and kept their weapons at the ready for the short ride down. The dank stone wall of the hallway that greeted them at the bottom did nothing to lift their spirits. The resemblance to a medieval dungeon was enhanced by the flickering, burning torches that lit the passageway at 6 foot intervals.
"I told you he was strange!" Parker hissed unhappily as Jarod started out ahead.
He shrugged a silent response. There wasn't anything they could do about it now, all they could do was go on and hope for the best.
He'd only gotten a few feet ahead of her when the unmistakable sound of door opening and closing made him freeze in his tracks. The sound of approaching footsteps made him search frantically for a hiding spot in the empty corridor. They made do with a deep well of shadow, right next to a turn in the tunnel. If the returning person didn't look behind him they'd be safe enough.
Fortune was with them. The man, thick, burly specimen, with dark, graying hair and the remains of a snappy suit covering him, made his way confidently back to the elevator, not looking to the right or the left as he went. His assurance would probably end up getting him killed, but neither of the two watching him really cared.
"That the Chief?" He asked Parker when the elevator had carried him out of sight.
"Yes." Parker couldn't hide her shudder. Not even Raines could make her feel as inconsequential as that man had. "Let's find another way out before he comes back."
"I hope there is another way out." Jarod replied soberly.
At first it didn't seem that his hopes would be answered. The passage ended in a room that Parker recognized as one dedicated to taxidermy. For once she was glad that Cox had oozed his way into the Centre, as she looked around at the preservative chemicals, and surgical instruments. If she hadn't already encountered this scene in his underground room, she'd have been seriously unnerved. As it was, the presence of a very beautiful, very dead, blond woman on the table in the center of the room didn't help at all.
"A trapdoor." Jarod had ignored the contents of the room in favor of finding a bolt hole. A hole was literally what he found.
"Please don't tell me he was planning to stuff her for posterity." Parker ignored Jarod and the other contents of the room to study the woman with morbid curiosity.
She hadn't been killed by either the Licker or a zombie. Except for the clearly fatal hole in her side, she was completely unmarked. A zombie would have done far more damage, as would the Licker, which seemed to enjoy beheading its victims. Besides, if that hole wasn't a gunshot wound, then Parker was more than willing to eat her own shoes.
She finally tore her attention away from the girl, just in time to observe Jarod levering up a two-foot-square, metal panel. It rose grudgingly, the hinges had obviously rusted, but it finally revealed another hole and a ladder which lead even further down. It was too dark to see where the ladder ended, but Parker had already decided she'd rather go down and risk the unknown than try and pass the madman who blocked the other way out.
"You go down first." Jarod suggested, apparently thinking along the same lines as she was. "I'll lower the trapdoor behind me as I climb down. With any luck, he'll never know we were here."
"Fine." Parker agreed, willing to risk any number of mutant monsters, if it meant she didn't have to meet the Chief of Police. She'd already concluded that he'd killed the girl, and that he was even crazier, and scarier, than even her brother.
Moments later they had both descended the ladder and found themselves on bare metal catwalk, suspended in what was obviously a system of natural caverns and tunnels. The walls were narrow and close here, but they were natural, not carved out by the hand of man. A peek through the metal grill that comprised their bridge showed that this fissure extended down a distance that would be fatal, at the very least, if they were to fall.
The walkway extended ahead of them about ten feet and then veered left for another six. There were no side paths, opening, or ladders in sight. With no other options open to them, Jarod and Parker followed the walkway to its end and halted, looking at each other in confusion.
"Why would anyone build a walkway that doesn't go anywhere?" She questioned thoughtfully.
"It goes somewhere." Jarod replied. "We just have to figure out where and how."
The button wasn't hard to find, once they looked for it. Parker pressed it decisively, and a metal ladder clattered down from above. She would never have admitted it, but she was glad they were going up again, and not down further. Something about these musty and damp walls disturbed her, and she didn't want to know why.
"Up?" Parker asked rhetorically, knowing there wasn't anywhere else to go.
"After me, this time." Jarod agreed. "Who knows what's waiting up there?"
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Parker objected, unwilling to let Jarod behave as though she were some kind of fragile flower. "I wasn't head of Centre security for nothing, you know."
"Parker, the monsters you've dealt with have all been human. Who knows what's up there? I've already honed my reflexes making it on foot to the police station. I'm betting they're a little better than yours right now. Besides, a shotgun beats a berretta any time."
"No argument there." Parker surrendered gracefully. "I'll wait you scout, Tonto."
Predictably, Jarod had no idea who Tonto was, but he swallowed his curiosity and climbed.