A Night in the Darkness

I. Welcome to Hell
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Rebecca Chambers knew complete darkness, save for the dim line of pale moonlight peeking under the door. She couldn’t say for sure how long she had been where she was, but her body was stiff from lack of movement.

She was in a closet. A dark, silent refuge. She had wandered into the mansion just as the sun was rising over the Arklay Mountains, her body and mind pushed past it’s limit from the night before. On the train…

She had expected the return of sanity when she had entered the mansion. Perhaps even the rest of her team. Or so she had hoped.

She hadn’t expected more zombies. Mindless, shambling corpses lurking around every shadowed corner. She had thought the worst was over. But of course it wasn’t that easy.

Zombies. She cringed at the very word. A day or two ago, the idea would have made her laugh. Unfortunately, she was wiser now.

When she had joined the S.T.A.R.S. team, she had expected tense situations. At eighteen years old, she knew she was the youngest member of the force to date. But never, in all of her wildest dreams, had she ever expected this. Hiding away in a closet, her ammunition spent, in a house where dead people got up and moved around. And from what she had seen on the train and in the labs, she could guess that the walking dead weren’t the worst things lurking in the dark.

Rebecca jumped when she heard footsteps in the room outside the closet. She stood perfectly still, breathing as quietly as she could. A zombie had lumbered into the room a few hours earlier, moaning and shuffling dangerously close to the door she stood behind. It seemed that her unwanted visitor was back.

A shadow eclipsed the light peering under the door, the figure standing just on the other side. Rebecca clenched her fists, steeling herself. She couldn’t hide in here forever.

She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing of use. Her gun was empty. All she had was her knife. She grimaced at the idea of getting so close to a rotting body. But it was better than nothing.

She clutched the knife tightly in her hand, reaching for the door with the other. Before she grasped it, the knob began to swivel back and forth, making Rebecca’s heart skip a pulse.

They know how to open doors…? She thought frantically.

The door swung open and Rebecca pounced, throwing all of her weight towards the figure standing in the doorway. Surprisingly, however, the silhouette quickly stepped to the side. Much too agile for a zombie, Rebecca thought.

She stumbled to the floor, eyes clenched shut. It was over, she thought. After all she had survived through, this one mistake would cost her life.

But the pain didn’t come. No shambling, groping undead. Instead, she heard a familiar click. A gun. Rebecca looked up to face the person standing over her. It was a young woman. Older than her, but certainly not past her twenties. Her short, auburn hair was mostly hidden under a beret, and her light blue eyes were narrowed, the gun trained on Rebecca’s face. Rebecca recognized the woman. She was a member of S.T.A.R.S. The Alpha team, probably.

“Get up,” the woman commanded. Rebecca complied slowly, not wanting to appear at all threatening while a gun was trained on her. The woman’s eyes followed her, scrutinizing her. Rebecca saw her gaze soften as she recognized the uniform.

“Are you… Are you Bravo team?” The woman lowered her gun, dropping her firing stance. Rebecca nodded, her hazel eyes locked with the other woman’s blue ones.

“You’re the new recruit,” the woman continued. “The chemist. Rebecca, right?” Rebecca nodded, surprised that anyone on another squad would even know her name. A few Bravo members still had trouble remembering it.

“Rebecca Chambers,” she finished her name with a smile, brushing a lock of her short brown hair out of her eyes. The woman in the beret smiled back.

“I’m Jill Valentine,” she said. “I’m on the Alpha team. We’ve been looking for you guys.” Rebecca’s entire face lit up. Headquarters had sent in a rescue party?

A small clatter drew both women’s attention to the doorway. Shambling into the room was a rotting corpse, arms outstretched, fetid jaw gaping. Jill automatically raised her gun and took aim at the approaching thing. As Rebecca watched, however, Jill hesitated, lowering her gun.

“I have to save as much ammo as I can,” she said angrily. “There’s no end to these things. It‘s better to just avoid them.” She looked to Rebecca and motioned her head. “Come on.”

…

It wasn’t as bad with someone with you, Rebecca thought. By herself, the hallways had been deathly silent, causing her to jump at her own footsteps, let alone any other noises she had heard. She had immediately sought a hideaway.

It was easier now that Jill was with her. Rebecca couldn’t deny that she was in over her head. This was her first big assignment, after all. She knew that the older woman was scared, as well, but at least she seemed to know what she was doing.

That was the silver lining. The more Rebecca talked with the Alpha team member, the more bleak their situation became.

“So…” Rebecca could hardly finished her sentence. For a moment, she had thought it was all over. “W-we’re trapped here?”

Jill swung around another corner, her gun held out before her. She dropped her aim after making sure the next hallway was clear.

“I’m afraid so,” she said, the two of them continuing down the next corridor. The carpet under their feet rustled slightly as they trod upon it, and Rebecca found herself looking over her shoulder every few steps, her hazel eyes scanning the moonlit corridor for anything shuffling and ugly.

“Those dogs I mentioned could be waiting outside for us, for all we know,” Jill continued. “We split up to look for another way out. I’m hoping there’s some kind of radio around here, somewhere. I can get a hold of Vickers, and we can get out of this mess.”

Rebecca nodded, taking in everything Jill was telling her. They were trapped, with one Alpha member already dead. Rebecca couldn’t imagine how Jill must have felt. Rebecca herself was fairly new, but she knew that team members were often very close. The thought brought another question to mind.

“So… am I the first Bravo member you guys have run into?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Rebecca knew something was wrong. Jill looked away, her eyes focusing on anything but the young woman next to her.

“Rebecca,” Jill said. Her voice was artificially level and flat. “When was the last time you saw the rest of your team?” Rebecca felt her pulse quicken. This couldn’t lead to a good answer.

“I got separated from them after we landed,” Rebecca said. “On the train. I haven’t seen them since.”

“Train?” Jill asked. “What train are you talking about?” Rebecca just shook her head, looking rather forlorn.

“It’s a long story…” Jill made a mental note to further inquire about it later. For now though, the poor girl deserved to know what had happened to her team.

“Rebecca… we haven’t received any sort of contact from any of your team members…” Jill said. “We found you helicopter in the woods… we found your pilot inside…”

Rebecca looked at her feet, the moonlight through the windows reflecting the tears streaking her cheeks. They flowed freely as Jill continued.

“I saw Kenneth downstairs…” Jill said. Rebecca didn’t raise her eyes, but she thought she could hear Jill’s voice quivering with tears, as well. “He’s gone… there was blood everywhere…”

Jill wiped her eyes dry. This was no time to get emotional, especially not the both of them. It was hard, though. She had known Kenneth. He’d always been so friendly.

Presently, the two of them were at the end of the hallway, two large wooden double doors looming before them. Rebecca turned her gaze up to Jill. Her tears had stopped, leaving only her shining eyes as evidence of crying. Jill admired her strength. She was so young, too.

“What about the others,” Rebecca tried.

“We don’t know yet,” Jill said. She felt a little better with a question that was easier to answer. “Like I said, we haven’t received any sort of contact, but that could mean anything. They could be fine.”

Rebecca nodded her head. Her other teammates could still be alright. She tried not to get ahead of herself, but she felt her spirits brighten immediately. Jill met Rebecca’s smile with her own.

“Well, we’ll never find them if we don’t get going,” Jill said. “I want to get out of here, don’t you?”

Rebecca nodded again, even laughing a bit. The two of them turned to the double doors before them, Jill grasping one of the brass handles. It groaned open at her tug, and she stepped inside, firing stance held in step. Rebecca followed tentatively.

It was another hallway. This one was much dimmer, with only two windows, the bright moonlight filtered by dingy curtains. The hallway was dark, the far end invisible in the darkness.

Jill trained her gun into the dark, motioning her head for Rebecca to follow her. Rebecca closed the door behind her, jumping at the large echoing thud. Another noise followed, one they both recognized.

Jill turned too late, her gun knocked from her grasp. She was pushed into the corner of the hallway, her assailant reaching vapidly at her face trying to claw at her. In the dim, dim light she could see the dull, glazed eyes of the corpse, it’s jaw hinging and unhinging. She couldn’t bring herself to hitch in the breath to scream. She could already feel the thing’s breath on her face.

The zombie leaned it’s face in, instinctually trying to bite her. Jill silently struggled against it, feeling dizzy from lack of oxygen. One of the thing’s arms was pressed directly against her throat. Her head spun, the dark hallway getting darker. The zombie leaned closer, eager to feed.

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Hey everybody. A couple of things I want to put out there.
*It's been a while since I've played the original Resident Evil, so for those who read my last fic, this one is going to follow the original order of events and such even less.
*As I've mentioned elsewhere, I am normally a horror fiction writer. Since Resident Evil is more up that alley, this fic might turn out that way.
*I know there's a lot of plot development, but please bear with it. I plan on making this fic good (duh, I guess).
*Lastly, none of the rating/sex acts/whatever listed in the title are going to appear in the first chapter, but I'll get there, adding more as I go. Read, Rate, Review, and Enjoy!!! (That's my catch phrase, I guess)