"Did everyone hear that? Damn it!" Somehow the last line sounded very different from the rest. However, when the mangled soldier lying near the entrance began to rise, I realized there were plenty of corpses in the room, and the virus had only just started to affect them. But how much time had passed? Ten minutes, half an hour, or more? I think somewhere between the first and the second. For me, though, it feels like more than a day has gone by—that's what constant tension does. Yes, as soon as I get the chance, I'll finish off the squad and crawl straight to Birkin—to get my nerves treated!
It's better to grapple with an almost indestructible mutant carrying the G-virus than to fray my nerves like this, waiting every second to be discovered and have my carcass ventilated with bullet holes.
But as I'd counted when I crawled into the room myself, only about a dozen zombies delayed the squad for barely half a minute. And judging by the severed limbs and heads, the hooded man took out most of the attackers. Well, yes, shooting when zombies are standing between comrades, with a real chance of hitting the wrong one, is—put mildly—not a good idea. So the squad dealt with those who were in favorable positions, and my dinner finished off the rest.
I crawl into the corridor behind the squad. Oh, lucky me! Not only is there no one here, but judging by the dissatisfied comments of the increasingly irritated Foue Eyes, there isn't much light either. Conclusion: no one will notice me here, so I take up my position above our victim again and wait for the right moment. Still, the amount of blood really bothers me, considering how fresh it is.
We move down the corridor and suddenly find ourselves back in its counterpart—the one we'd left just a couple of minutes ago. Damn it, are they going in circles? Then again, what makes me think we need to go straight all the time? The archive is definitely somewhere else; that's obvious. And before this, they'd been heading for the server room.
"What the hell?" Beltway said in surprise.
"Shall we cut it?" the blonde said it a little too cheerfully as the squad stopped in front of a breach in the wall. Yeah, maybe I should just leave? After all, Lickers aren't strong enough to break through walls even as a group, and I don't want to stumble into another nasty surprise. A Tyrant would most likely crush me like a lamb. Nemesis is a monster among monsters, and Hunters may not be roaming around alone. And by the time you break through the scales of those reptiles, you'd be completely exhausted! I don't want to attack them head-on either, where they're softer—they'd tear me to pieces with their clawed paws. After all, these monsters will be stronger than Likers, and their paws are more impressive.
"It could be dangerous," Foue Eyes said. Girl, you read my mind!
"Is the lab assistant chicken out?" the blonde teased.
I'll kill you first if you get everyone into trouble. No—on the one hand, that's what I need, but on the other, I don't want to run away from too much danger, and with nothing to show for it.
"Let's go." Lupo gave a short nod and stepped through the breach together with the silent hooded man.
We climbed another flight of stairs and found ourselves on the next floor, in a similar arched corridor… full of special forces! Now I could appreciate up close both the coordination of the Umbrella mercenaries who had taken cover and their armor, which calmly withstood the occasional hit. Hmm. How did that blonde manage to injure her hands back then? Although, considering her inclinations, I don't even want to know! Maybe she strangled prisoners with her bare hands and finished off the wounded the same way?
But if they still try not to take unnecessary risks even with such armor, then it means that it has a limit of durability. Which makes sense. And normal person would still get bruises from repeated impacts, armor or not. When I put on that miracle, I won't care—shoot me point-blank if you want—but for living people, it's unpleasant at the very least. And if a shot slips through, it's fatal.
While I was thinking, the Umbrella squad had already finished and moved on. I decided to stay a while longer, and after climbing down from the ceiling, I drank my fill of blood again. There were no survivors, but first, I suddenly felt hungry again (despite my last hearty snack), and second, my ass was hinting at an approaching threat. Or maybe I was just too nervous and saw danger everywhere. And really—why let three dozen fighters go to waste? Besides, I'd picked up some important information. It turned out that Echo-6, whom they were supposed to assist, would arrive in the city in only forty minutes. These fighters had been sent from the cordon surrounding the city to gather preliminary information and secure a foothold in order to support the incoming detachment. Apparently, some of them had decided—at their own peril—to dig in at City Hall.
But I did get a bit carried away and lingered too long, so I rushed after the squad through corridors, rooms, and stairwells, practically galloping… along the walls and ceiling!
I only caught up with them at the entrance to the archive. In the meantime, moving by the light of their silhouettes, I easily determined from their tracks that they'd encountered special forces twice more—small groups of a dozen and fewer, apparently the military ended—and had clashed with zombies at least a dozen more times. In one place, the corpses of the infected lay piled on top of each other. The Foue Eyes and Ghost turned around again, but once more, not seeing me, they decided to open the archive door. Yeah, they wouldn't remain so careless for long; their first encounter with the Lickers would teach them to watch not only the floor, but the walls and the ceiling as well.
🎁 Bonus chapter for 50 power stones!
The next bonus chapter will be for 100 power stones.