"Freeze!" screamed the panting man as he aimed his assault rifle at Arthur's chest.
Making sure not to make any sudden gestures Arthur lifted both his arms and slowly turned towards the man, his assailant didn't seem to relax even a little and eventually he noticed his hands were shaking, his fist closed.
With a loud sigh Arthur forced himself to relax and not charge the highly trained mercenary with the assault rifle, it was much harder than it should be.
"Lower your weapon!" Sophia screamed from behind one of the beds to the side pointing her gun at the man's head.
For a few seconds Arthur thought things would end up badly as the mercenary started to think about things, he could even see some drops of sweat running down the man's face but reason seemed to win and he lowered the rifle, Arthur let out a breath.
"Who are you!" Screamed Sophia coming out from behind the bed with Jason still hidden behind her
"Everybody calm down" The man tried to start but Sophia was having none of that.
"Answer the question!" Arthur cringed at her shrill voice, it was the mercenary's time to put his arms up.
"Calm down, my name is Carlos Oliveira and I'm with the UBCS"
"What the fuck is that" she asked coming even closer and, narrowing his eyes, Arthur stoped her with a hand on her small shoulders.
Arthur knew this was probably one of the good guys but there was no need to enter the his reach and tempt him into trying to disarm her.
"It's some Umbrella mercenary team or something" he commented before Carlos could answer.
"The fuckers you said started all of this?" she briefly turned his way and he nodded "are we gonna kill him?"
"No, I'm here to rescue survivors!" Carlos protested while sweating even harder, it seems the guy didn't like the way this was going
"Liar!"
"Lower the gun Sophia" Arthur told her while sitting down, he had briefly enjoyed the tension in the room but snapped out of it before things could escalate, he had to get a grip!
"What, but you said Umbrella was evil!"
"Yep" he confirmed and then decided to explain "But thats Jill Valentine and he seems to be trying to save her so I'll give him them benefit of the doubt, besides I doubt the leadership tells everyone they're evil"
"Who are you?" Carlos asked confused and wary "How do you know Jill"
"I'm from the police, she's S.T.A.R.S, do the math man" Arthur deflected, he had no idea if he was actually a member of the force or just thrown in the universe wearing the uniform without a backstory but he wasn't about to explain that "Lower the gun Sophia he's going to help us"
"Fine!" she pouted and Arthur held back a snort "So she's S.T.A.R.S huh, don't look so tough"
"You did well kid thanks" she dodged his hand batting it away from her hair but seemed happy as she hid her gun away.
"Alright Carlos what's really going on here, you're with a S.T.A.R.S member so I assume you're one of the good guys but I just saw another two of your companions enter the building and one tried to kill the other so I'm confused"
"What, you're sure about that?" he almost screamed and Arthur forced himself to remember.
"Yeah, we were watching the building when a black guys wearing your uniform entered, another guy came a few minutes latter and ambushed him then you showed up and he got distracted so the black dude tried to blow them both up, probably failed too"
"Motherfucker!" Carlos screamed and punched the door, them he punched it again and again "Fucking Nikolai, Nikolai has been fucking with us the whole time!"
"Who the fuck is Nikolai?" Sophia mumbled while sitting in the bed opposed to Jill and picking the suffering woman with her boot.
"Probably their leader" Arthur commented offhandedly, then he remembered the guy from the game and nodded "Told you the leadership was evil"
More or less satisfied with the way things were everyone relaxed into the room and Carlos went to check up on Jill, Arthur was happy enough to give the guy time while poking at his own wounds, the hole on his shoulder was almost completely gone and he was almost sure his ribs weren't even cracked anymore, he wondered if he would become like Wesker and be immune to the virus but he doubted it, his bouts of anger, hunger worst perhaps was his inconsistent memory, one moment he could remember the plot for a game he hadn't played for decades just fine and the next he would forget something that happened less than an hour ago.
"You're gonna be fine chica" Arthur heard Carlos whispering while checking the wound on her arm, when finished he stretched his back "What now?"
"Now we search for a viral suppression treatment and then a way to get away from this place, you have any idea where to start?"
"Yeah…" Carlos answered while looking at him oddly "Some of the doctors seemed to have developed a cure I just have to sintetize it"
"Great, Sophia and… the boy" fuck what was the boy's name again? "can stay here and guard Valentine while we go finish it"
The mercenary was immediately relieved, willing to let his charge alone with two kids but worried about the fully grown strange man, while he reloaded his weapons Arthur pulled out both handguns and left the stronger one besides the girl while hoisting the other, it wouldn't be much use to him but in an emergency.
Shouldering his trusty crowbar Arthur spent a few seconds making sure the shotgun was secure in its strap, he also saw a broken metal trolley and, after kicking it a couple dozen times, managed to pull a piece wide enough to use as a shield against the average zombie.
Carlos himself finished rearming himself and put on a cold compress on Valentine's forehead to alleviate her fever, changed the bandage on her arm and gave her some water, the woman was looking a little better than when they arrived but not by much.
"Alright Sophia stay here and guard Valentine with Jonas we're gonna be right back"
"It's Jason but fine, but you better come back alive"
"Don't worry we'll be back, that guy's too well trained to die to a simple zombie he'l keep me alive"
"Idiot"
Arthur turned away and tried to leave but something grabbed him by the back of the pants, for a brief second he almost reacted violently, his nerves being on a hair trigger but he knew he was safe, there was no place for a zombie to slip inside the safe room, turning around he crouched down until he was eye level with Jason and managed a thin smile this time
"I don't want the bad things to get you" the boy whispered and sniffed "Mom left and the bad things got her"
"Don't worry kid, didn't you see how I dealt with the things?" Arthur released a little laugh and gave the kid a hug "We're gonna be out for an hour or two and before you know we'll be back alright"
"Don't go!" Jason grabbed his shirt and Arthur looked towards the girl in search of help, for once Sophia decided to be helpful and took the boy off him
"I'll be back in a second you'll see"
Taking a deep breath he left the room following Carlos, they both advanced carefully making sure no zombies were waiting to ambush them, the hospital was utterly destroyed with dried blood everywhere.
Arthur stopped to look at a fallen nurse, her head hang loose to the side and her belly was burst open with guts spilled over her legs and organs missing, he knew he should want to throw up, to find it disgusting but he just couldn't do it, he was hungry.
Then Carlos twisted him by the arm and slammed him face first into the wall putting a pistol against his jaw "How the fuck did you know I needed the cure"
"I didn't know" he sighed and tried to avoid getting shot in the face
"Bulshit, why the fuck did you follow me then"
"Because I'm taking care of two kids and need a suppressant myself" He cursed quietly lest the kids hear them.
"What?"
"I'm infected ok, one of those mutated things mauled me and I don't know how much long I'll last"
"Shit" Carlos pushed him on the wall and retreated but still "Why me?"
"Desperation" Arthur said simply, it had the benefit of even being true he didn't really know which one of the men was Carlos "I needed someone to look after the kids when I turn"
"You're kidding right… you're not kidding, fuck me" Arthur had to smile, yeah the guy wasn't looking foward to taking care of two brats and a sick woman
"So… why are you after a cure?" Carlos thought about things but eventually decided to trust him, lowering the pistol.
A hunter burst through the window it's right arm swiping quickly towards the mercenary's head, Carlos had the reflexes of a well trained soldier filled with adrenaline, he rolled aside and aimed the gun.
Arthur dropped the crowbar knowing it wouldn't quite make it against this beast, lifting the metal shield he managed to block a second blow with only a little deformation before Carlos unloaded his entire clip on the beast making it stumble aside and lift its arms to protect its face.
Pulling up the shotgun Arthur advanced on the hunter and, before it recovered, got the barrel of the weapon over a gap and pulled the trigger point blank, then he pumped the gun and shot again.
The hunter recovered faster than expected, batting the shotgun aside, sending a third shot wide and revealing a half destroyed face, both eyes destroyed but mouth still working and attempting to bite Arthur's face off.
Then Carlos unloaded his assault rifle on the wounded face and blew it to kingdom come covering Arthur in mutant blood and leaving both survivors breathing hard and wide eyed, then Arthur offered the man a hand and pulled him up.
"Alright, where's this cure you said you found?"
"The documents I found said they keep it on an underground laboratory accessed from the elevator on the south wing of the hospital"
The lights went out from the building once again and they both froze before Carlos managed to find two flashlights, after looking through his backpack the mercenary had an ugly face.
"We're gonna have to be careful I'm running out of bullets"
"I'm already using a melee weapon here" Arthur said and adjusted his bent shield "let me block the average zombie and save the bullets for the mutants or if we get overwhelmed"
"Can you do it?" The man questioned while giving Arthur an once over, he must not have looked very good "those things are strong and won't stop".
"It's easy when you're not worried about bites anymore" Arthur joked and caused Carlos to grimace "Just make sure you're not infected"
Killing zombies turned out to be a lot easier with trained help, Carlos had found a broken iron pipe and Arthur just blocked the zombie's mouth before breaking its knee then they both ganged up on the fallen body, he still got bitten another 4 times when more than one zombie appeared and there was an accident with a fallen body that nearly turned into a tragedy but they reacted fast enough and the thing didn't break through the latino's thick pants.
Arthur was left without two fingers on his left hand when he misjudged a block and bleeding from various bite wounds when they finally made their way down a stairwell.
The first underground floor was filled with fleshy growth on the walls some of which Arthur could see pulsation slowly as if alive, blood was everywhere but he initially didn't find any corpses or even zombies then Carlos stopped and crouched down using his people to lift a very dry piece of leather, it ripped and broken pieces of bone fell from inside.
"Shit, I think it's time for the guns again" Carlos commented and got up.
"Yeah, you got any grenades there too?"
"Think we're gonna need them?"
Arthur didn't answer but he saw Carlos adjust his belts so it became easier to access the extra clips and two grenades still secured there, Arthur himself tried to find a way of keeping both his shield and the shotgun on hand but it was too awkward and, in the end, he decided the shield was more trouble than it was worth when they found a huge hole on one of the walls leaving a trail through several rooms.
"Don't tell me we have to go this direction" he cursed under his breath.
"Alright I won't tell you" said Carlos while lifting his rifle and stepping over the hole trying to avoid some of the gunk left on the ground "Hey at least it's a much faster path"
"i think this time I'd prefer to take the long way around"
"Me too"
Stepping through the third hole they entered what looked like a much cleaner place, both the walls and floor were a clean white and there were still weak reverse lights working on the ceiling Arthur concluded they had finally entered the laboratories.
Hearing a faint thumping sound to the left Arthur turned and saw three man and a woman half buried into a pulsating and wet sack of blackened flesh, for once his hunger didn't make him uncomfortable, not even his t-virus addled brain could find the thing anything less than disgusting.
Arthur started walking again when his boot crushed a fallen pen creating a noise too loud in the empty laboratories, they both froze for a seconds and then waved their guns searching everywhere for enemies.
"Help" came a low, raspy voice from the man in the middle of the sack, he had woken up and was reaching out to them with a very weakened arm.
"Fuck they're alive" Arthur couldn't help but whisper before trading glances with Carlos, then they both aproached the sack and started to examine each of the victims three of them were alive.
"It hurts" the medic cried and awoke the second man which could barely move his head and groan, too weak to even talk but still started crying.
Carlos grabbed the living man hand and pulled up a knife to hack at the sack, the dark flash turned up to be more like a gelatinous muck parting for the knife's blows but quickly filling the opening, Arthur grabbed the second survivor's below both armpits and, making sure his footing was secure, heaved.
The man released a gasp and cried harder as his lower body came loose a little and some of his chest came out of the gunk, he was naked and the flesh Arthur could see was blackened as if it had died, Arthur heaved again and everything came loose the lack of resistance sent him falling back on his ass cradling the man to his chest, then he looked down to see the damage and retched.
The man was missing both legs and most of his belly had shrunk from lack of moisture, most of his intestine spilled out but still connected the man to the remainder of his body, worse small black leeches were locked on the man's remains bloated up on his fluids.
Arthur didn't know how the man was still alive but he understood immediately none would survive, the leeches must be doing something to keep his body working for some reason.
"Holy shit" Carlos exclaimed while looking at the bisected doctor then gulped.
Arthur's eye meet with his partner and, almost without feeling, he drew the small pistol and pressed it to the still surviving man's head, Carlos nodded and he pulled the trigger killing the man instantly and splashing a little more blood on his face, he was still sitting there when Carlos pulled his own sidearm and shot both survivors in the head too, almost a minute later he hoisted the sidearm and stepped away from the sack of leeches.
"First kill?" Carlos asked as he helped Arthur push the body aside and brush the few newborn leeches that were attempting to attack him
"Yeah, at least one that wasn't a zombie you know" Grabbing one of the leeches that had managed to latch on to his leg and squeezing it dead, looking at the ground he saw a wave of finger sized leeches making straight for him.
Getting up Arthur spent the next three minutes stomping on every leech he could see and Carlos let him even if he didn't help, when he ran out of the little things he was breathing hard and looking angrily at the still pulsating sack.
He had to remember this was all gonna be gone soon, he wanted to kill it all with fire right this instant but he could settle to watching it die in nuclear fire instead.
When both man stepped over the next wall they frowned as they saw a few leeches bigger than their hands crawling towards them.
"I have a bad feeling about this my friend" Carlos said while stomping a few leeches.
From a corridor to the right came a man charging them, his body was filled with leeches all over making as wide as a bear and almost 2 meters tall, the leeches formed a wall all over the human body inside moving by crawling over each other into a disgusting pile, the smell of rotten blood so strong even their abused noses from the death everywhere could sense.
The creature was fast, not sprinting fast but it still moved fast enough they were unlikely to lose the thing if they ran, without choice they raised their guns and opened fire, the leeches were cut down in droves, pieces flying everywhere but new ones just flowed through to fill their places.
Arthur was still missing half the shots when the thing came less than 12 meters from them and Carlos shifted his aim down, managing to blow through the less armored leg and cause the thing to drop down less than 5 meters away.
Without a leg the chances the thing could chase them down dropped to minimal so Carlos turned away to leave wanting to conserve bullets, Arthur saw the attack as it began, the leech colony pulled its arm back and flung it forward towards them sending half a dozen huge leeches flying.
Turning his weapon Arthur tried to shoot some of the incoming leeches but his terrible aim just wasted the bullet, in desperation he tried to push Carlos out of the way at the same time as he blocked the leeches with his own body, only two hit him with the strength of a slow baseball and he immediately managed to grab one and fling it back but the second one twisted and bit down on his chest managing to hit him right where his vest didn't protect him and started drinking.
Carlos noticed his predicament when he was pushed and managed to pull them both to safety as the second leech projectiles were launched, Arthur's own attacker managed to get two big draws before rage filled him and he squeezed its mouth shut with all his strength managing to crush the engorged maggot.
"Fucking mad scientists, why the fuck did they have to experiment on leeches" Arthur cursed and he tried to press the wound close and stop the generous flow of blood "Why couldn't they chose something harmless like a ladybug"
"That would actually be worse you know" Carlos laughed while pulling a spray from his own supplies "Can you imagine the problem with clouds of killer insects?"
A generous application of the spray later and his wound stopped bleeding and were even starting to scab
"the fuck is this thing its damn effective"
"Heal spray, umbrella makes it from some kind of green herb" Carlos thought about it a little and shook his head "It's not made to be this effective though"
"Nevermind let's get out of here before that thing makes it over here" Arthur shook his head, there was no need to dwell on what affects the virus was having on his body.
Then the leech man turned the corner and they could see a mass of leeches in place of its missing leg, the beast was slower since it was forced to drag its leg but it still almost caught him in a lunge.
Dodging back Arthur unloaded his shotgun on the thing point blanc to little effect while retreating while Carlos helped, then both weapons clicked empty.
"Fuck, Get away from this thing!" Was Carlos' warning as he pulled the pin on one of his grenades and shoved it deep into the mass of leeches managing to pull his arm back before it got stuck.
They ran, Carlos still in front they ran as fast as they could towards their goal, a few seconds latter came the explosion, it was muffled by the monster's flesh and the sound of meat splating against the walls.
Turning a corner they both plastered themselves against the walls and peeked back,, the explosive had worked well, the body the leeches were using had been blown up and thrown everywhere on the corridor, unfortunately all the splattered blood were already attracting new leeches which were coming out of the ventilation and raining down upon the gore from the ceiling.
"Shit, I don't think that did much good"
"Stopped the thing didn't it" complained Carlos with annoyance in his voice
"Yeah but there's probably more Leeches now than there were before and we left at least four bodies back there for them to take over"
"Shit" They both stayed there starring with horror and fascination at the gathering leeches for a few second before snapping out of it "We better hurry then come on"
As they advanced Arthur couldn't help glancing up at the ventilation shaft from time to time as they started searched from room to room for the stored cure, the remaining rooms were not completely destroyed, many of them even had working lights from what he assumed were emergency generators.
"It's here" Said Carlos as he unfurled a map from one of his pockets and checked again.
"Great, what were we looking for again?"
"The cure, we're searching for the cure" Carlos said while looking at him strangely
"Right" Arthur nodded and prepared to enter the room when something hit the ventilation shaft on the ceiling and they both turned their weapons towards it.
A second bang caused the metal to deform and, after a third, a second creature covered in leeches fell down on the middle of the corridor, Carlos reacted fast throwing another grenade at the thing, the creature actually reacted batting the projectile aside and retreating from it, the explosion still sent a few leeches flying and damaged the creature's right arm but it was soon recovered.
"Fuck!" They both said and hurried inside the room.
Locking the door behind them Carlos started dragging a heavy freezer in front of it, Arthur put his shoulder against the Freezer and started to help, the sharp noise of it dragging along the floor hurt his ears but, when the door shook on its hinges after a heavy impact he managed to hurry up and pile some more items in front of it.
"What the fuck does it take to kill that fucking thing!" Carlos complained
"Just find the cure, I'll hold it back" he told them.
Fixing his position he pushed against the freezer with his back and made sure the beast wouldn't budge it from the entrance, each hit caused his feet to slid away a little but he managed to push it back into place and continue blocking the entrance, Carlos started reading the labels from the freezers.
"Found it!" Carlos said and slammed the lock on one of the huge freezers with the but of his gun until he broke it, inside were a pack of twelve vials.
"Great, ugh" Arthur grunted from his position against the door "Give me one and then lets go"
Carlos searched the room and found a syringe inside a drawer, taking it out he prepared a dose before approaching Arthur "Alright lets exchange"
Arthur waited until he felt another blow to his back and than quickly changed places with Carlos, taking the syringe he sat down and read over the notes on the cure, it was a viral suppressant that would destroy the disease in case of a recent infection, cause it to go dormant in case the viral load was already too great or simply fail in case of a later stage infection.
"Crap this thing is strong" grunted carlos after receiving the first blow and managing to keep the freezer from tilting over.
Sitting down Arthur pulled back the sleeve of his shirt and found a vein before inserting the cure, the liquid sent a wave of cold flowing through his arm and caused his veins to bulge out from his arm, his muscles locked in place and sent he felt like an extremely strong cramp through his entire right side, it took a full minute to pass, then he turned aside and threw up a stream of vile black mucus on the ground.
"Ugh…" Arthur cleaned his mouth with an arm and pushed his sleeve back down "Now how the fuck do we get out of here"
"You think we can burst through a wall?" Carlos half screamed "Or use the ventilation?"
Picking up a metal chair Arthur swung it with all his strength at a wall but it didn't even chip the thing, he did it two more times anyway just to make sure but the wall seemed sturdy enough to withstand anything, dropping the chair he asked "Got any more grenades?"
"Nope, I don't think the shotgun will do it either, now help"
"Fine let me think" putting his back against the door helped hold the leech man back even as he made sure to cough some more gunk away from his partner, then he had an idea "The thing seems attracted to blood, think they keep some bags here?"
"Yeah on the third cabinet on the back wall"
Dashing towards the cabinet he found at least a dozen blood bags kept refrigerated but still liquid, grabbing them all he pilled them all up at the farthest corner of the room and ripped one in half spilling the blood all over the floor, then he ripped another one until coppery scent of the liquid filled the room, behind the door the Leeches grew more frantic.
Dashing away from the blood and on his way towards the door Arthur noticed two white cylinders, grabbing them both he smiled as he read the labels, liquid nitrogen.
"Let the thing in, its gonna go right for the blood"
Carlos retreated from the door and vaulted over a table and asked "And if it doesn't?"
"Then we hope at least one of us can make it" Arthur said and handed the man half the vials, then one of the cylinders and chose to stand on the opposite side, the but of his shotgun ready to smash the liquid nitrogen open and cover the creature in it.
On the fifth try the beast managed to cause the freezer to fall back and they saw the door was already halfway destroyed, without obstructions the leech-covered zombie slammed into the door and sent splinters flying while ripping its hinges right off the wall.
Arthur held his breath but the thing didn't even look at him charging right at the blood packs, they traded glances and ran spilling out of the room like bats out of hell and dashing back towards the exit.
"I can't believe that worked!" Carlos screamed and laughed.
"Less…. huff… talking more…. running" Was Arthur's only answer as all of his muscles were still aching from the cure and his left arm had started to send waves of pain through his body, he just focused on running and forgot everything else, even safety.
As Arthur rounded a corner he didn't hear the squelching noise followed by a loud retching but he felt the splash of some disgusting liquid on his chest hard enough to cause him to stumble and fall back on his ass, some of the liquid spilled on to his unprotected hand and the right side of his face and, in seconds, he screamed as they started to burn and release smoke.
"Fuck!" screamed Carlos as they almost collided, then the man grabbed the back of his police vest and pulled him back over the corner.
The pain was almost unbearable as Arthur crawled away at his face trying to scrap the stick acid away from his flesh but only making it worse, finally Carlos managed to pin his arms back and release his smoking vest.
As Arthur was left screaming and struggling on the ground he pulled a bottle of water and some bandages washing the chemicals from his face and then cleaning them up as best as he could with the bandages, enough so that Arthur managed to get himself back in control and just curl up in a fetal position riding out the waves of pain instead of screaming like a madmen.
Spying out from under the corner Carlos saw the horse sized leech crawling over the remains they had passed on their way in, the thing had raise a thin neck and was preparing to spit another wave of acid, he ducked back in time for the acid to pass him and hit the wall starting to sizzle up and eat away at the material leaving some melted sludge at the borders of the thing, then he turned and released an entire magazine aiming for its mouth.
The giant leech released a terrifying screech and retreated back a few centimeters, blood dripping from its skin but it was clear they were only superficial wounds, leaning back Carlos dropped another clip and reloaded the gun.
"The… cylinder" Arthur rasped from his fetal position, it was still too painful to help but he had dragged the liquid nitrogen all the way here, Carlos nodded.
Dodging another wave of acid the mercenary dashed into the corridor and grabbed the cylinder with one hand before hurling it towards the leech, his aim was great and the cylinder bounced off its head, then a wall and rolled a meter in front of the thing, taking aim Carlos waited for the beast to crawl over the cylinder and opened fire.
Arthur was expecting an explosion, instead the bullets punched holes into the cylinder and caused the liquid to spill out into a cloud all over the creature, the Leech tried to retreat but it was too slow as the substance covered its front freezing its flesh and mucus, a minute later and the leech was still alive but seemed to be in extreme pain, most of its front was frozen and, in some places, pieces of the creature had broken off.
Turning the corner again Carlos unloaded another clip of the beast finally causing it to retreat back over the holes it had made crawling away at a slow pace with it's entire front including its mouth destroyed.
"Shit, you okay there" Carlos returned and crouched down while making sure nothing approached them
"Cough… no, don't think so" Arthur whispered while finally managing to take a deep breath and look at the damage to his hand.
The acid had only splashed a little over his hand but it had eaten the tips of two of his fingers and created a hole in the palm of his hand almost a centimeter wide, his face was worse, no acid had gotten into his eye thank god but he had lost his ear, a lot of his hair and most of his cheek being left with some of his teeth exposed, Carlos pulled out one of his last remaining healing sprays and applied almost the whole can on his wounds before soaking some bandages in the thing and wrapping it around his face Arthur ended up looking like he had gone through surgery.
Just the bandages touching his exposed wounds were already causing excruciating pain and, for a while as he laid there on the ground, Arthur considered putting a bullet through his head.
It's not like it would be permanent, Rob had told him death would just send him into another world anyway and at least the pain would stop but, thinking about the kids being left alone here he knew he couldn't do it.
Arthur lost all sense of time as he tried to overcome the pain and eventually, his skin got used to the sensation of the bandage around him, the healing spray must also have worked wonders because the pain wasn't unbearing anymore and, warping an arm around Carlos shoulders, they managed to reach the stairs going up, it seems they had made it, now they just had to deal with a giant murderous bioweapon, a traitor and escape a city about to be hit with a nuclear missile.
It seems the easy part was done.