"All the other doors are locked except these two." Chris pointed at two doors, one leading to the Birdcage Corridor and the other to the Dining Room.
"I can pick the locks if we need to?" Jill asked hesitantly, as nobody knew what could be waiting for us behind any door.
"Let's not tamper with any doors unless we have to. We have no idea what kind of security measures are in place. Don't want to set off a trap accidentally—not that you would, Jill." I replied, somewhat losing my point near the end.
"Copy, Captain," Jill replied with a small smirk, seeing me stumble over my words.
I moved towards the door leading to the Dining Room and said, "This way."
"Why that way?" Frost asked.
"Gut feeling," I replied and opened the door.
That was a big mistake.
The door opened to a large room with a very high ceiling that showed a walkway on the second floor. A long table filled the center, dust clinging to its surface, chairs lined neatly along its side. A chandelier high above cast dim light, stretching shadows across the floor. Wooden walls held several old portraits, their eyes fixed forward. To the right, a fireplace crackled with what seemed to be a recently lit fire.
But the team didn't notice any of these details. What they saw was a dozen shambling figures turning and moaning and growling, attracted to the noise of the door opening.
Team POV
Fear, frustration, anger—those were the feelings everyone felt as the zombies came into view. Wesker's face went dark, and a low growl of what seemed to be anger came out. Then he dashed into the large dining room, rushing the nearest zombie. He plunged the knife through its eye socket into the brain, pulling the knife out in a swift and clean motion and, with a strong kick, sending the now-dead zombie into two incoming zombies.
Chris, seeing Wesker dive into the small horde, rushed in to cover Wesker's blind spot. Jill, Barry, and Frost stayed close to the door and covered Chris and Wesker with covering fire, only when a zombie seemed to get too close. Chris fought more cautiously, tripping the zombies and stabbing the head after it was on the ground, while Wesker was like a whirlwind—slashing, dodging, jumping, grabbing. Zombies after zombies fell, and in the end, they were all dead.
Huff, huff, huff
"Is that it? I was expecting more," Chris said sarcastically, hunched over, breathing heavily, somewhat in disbelief of what had just happened.
"Looks like it," Jill said, lowering her handgun.
"Captain, you might want to check your gut because it was definitely wrong," Frost said, smiling as the rest of the team started smiling, except for Wesker, who looked confused and puzzled as he walked back to the rest of the team that was still huddled by the door.
MC POV
Again. This shit again? This room was always empty, especially at the start of the game, so why—why is it so different than the games I remember? Are these just coincidences, or is something causing this change? Damn it, I have a mountain of questions and no fucking answers. There is no point just standing here. If my game information is accurate for the most part, then we should be okay. If not… well, it doesn't really matter. It's not like I can do anything about it. Whatever, let's just keep moving.
THUMP!
Argh, fuck, that hurt. Did something hit me? I can feel the floor at my back, but what's on top of me?
Graaah!!
Oh fuck!
The zombie started moving, and its face was inches away, ready to bite and tear out a chunk of fresh meat.
"Get the fuck off me!!"
"Captain!!" Chris, Jill, and Frost screamed as the zombie was getting closer and closer.
BANG!
The zombie went limp. A smoking gun in the trembling hands of Jill as she ran towards me. I threw the zombie off me and said, "Thanks, Jill. I owe you one."
She came next to me and stretched her hand and said, "We are a team, no need for that."
"I'll take a pay raise if you're feeling generous?" Frost chimed in with a joking tone.
"Sure, if we get out of here—pay raises for everyone," I said, wincing, trying to get up to my feet. Chris came and grabbed my other shoulder to help me up and said, "Not if, but when we get out, Captain."
I smiled at him. "Correct."
"We should rest a little longer."
"Thanks for your concern, Jill, but I can manage. Plus, we need to find Bravo."
"Didn't find anything useful here except this." Frost held up a torn piece of clothing from one of the dead zombies. On it was the mega corporation Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company logo—the iconic red and white umbrella.
"Do you think Umbrella is connected to this nightmare?" Jill asked.
"Anything is possible. Best not rule out anything. Did you find a name?" I asked Frost.
"Yeah, the name on this uniform says J.J. It could be a janitor's uniform, but it's in really bad shape."
"Good work, Frost. Time to move. Everyone ready?"
Looking around, everyone gave me a nod.
This time we took our time and got into a fighting position, with me on the right side of the double door and Chris on the other, with Barry right behind Chris. Jill and Frost were 10 ft away from the door, ready to shoot just in case. I slowly twisted the doorknob and cracked the door ever so gently inwards for Chris to peek. When he gave me the signal, I pulled the door open and Chris rushed out first, followed by Barry, and lastly me.
To my surprise, the main hall of the mansion was completely silent, just like in the games. With a sigh of relief, we signaled Jill and Frost to come through and started looking around.
The main hall rises like a cathedral abandoned by time—vast, solemn, and heavy with silence. Marble floors gleam dully beneath a towering ceiling, where a grand chandelier hangs. Its light is pale and unwelcoming. Twin staircases curve upward with aristocratic restraint, their red carpets faded as if drained by the years. Just like the rest of the mansion—old, faded, but clean.
"Damn, this is nice. You know, in a creepy way," said Frost as everyone was looking around, part awe, part apprehension.
"It looked abandoned from the outside, but inside seems lived in. Old, but definitely lived in," Barry remarked for the first time since entering the mansion.
"Alright, check every door but don't go through any. Jill, Chris, Frost—you three check upstairs while Barry and I will check the first floor."
"Understood."
As soon as the other three were far enough away, Barry turned around with fury and vindication in his eyes. "I fucking knew it. This whole time you were just pretending."
"For fuck's sake, Barry, enough. I didn't want any of this, never did. I hoped you would see my actions and understand."
"Actions? Are you trying to piss me off? Because it's working. You son of a bitch—you're the one holding my family hostage, and now you have the audacity to say this bullshit."
"Jesus, Barry, it was a bluff. I lied because I didn't have a choice—it was an order, and I had to do it. But your family doesn't even know, nor does Umbrella, that I didn't follow through, okay!"
Barry looked taken aback by that revelation. Both relief and exhaustion hit him.
"Sigh… yes, you are right. I'm not one of the good guys, but I am the only one here that is helping, and without my help you will all die. That's not a threat, Barry—it's a fact. I know more about this facility than almost anyone, and Umbrella put in a lot of effort to get the data they are after. The things we have seen so far are only the tip of the iceberg. There are far more terrifying monsters Umbrella has in store."
"That was a nice speech and all, but I still don't buy it. Not until I see my wife and daughters."
"That's fair. But know that I am trying to make sure that you do just that, as well as the rest of the team."
"Yeah, we'll see," Barry said and walked away to the other side of the main hall to start checking on the doors.
Fuck me, that was tough. It's not a perfect answer, but hopefully it gets Barry off my ass, and I can focus on other things, like the differences here from the games. He was right about one thing, though—I do need to tell the others, but I still haven't fully put together the story yet. There is no way in hell I'm telling them that I was reincarnated. They will think I'm just lying or crazy, so I need to use Wesker's past as the base for my story. Fuck it, I'll figure it out later.
< few minutes later >
"Most of the doors are locked, and they have strange symbols on them."
"Jill, you think you can pick the locks?" asked Barry after Jill finished reporting their findings.
"Maybe. It would take some time, though. The locks look custom-made, and it could be tricky."
"What about that one?" I pointed towards the top of the staircase where a large oil painting was hanging, and red and blue curtains were drawn down, almost covering what looked like a well-hidden door.
"Damn, didn't see that one. Nice catch," Chris said as we all started moving towards the staircase to investigate the door.
Pushing the drapes aside, we could see a metallic door that was rusting on the edges, poorly covered by what looked like wallpaper, but it was starting to peel off the door. I gave everyone the universal sign to stay quiet and slowly pushed against the door. As soon as the door opened, the cold air hit everyone. The smell of dirt mixed with rotting vegetation came through next as the view opened to the outside. Tall fences covering what seemed to be a cemetery—the very same one we ran into in the forest.
Stepping out, the dead silence was eerie, like back in the forest. No animals, no birds, not even insects. A few steps led down to a dirt path. To the right, a small metal fence with a door leading back somewhere into the mansion. The path also led further down towards more graves, but one was much larger and cleaner than the others, with something glinting on it.
"Stay tight, diamond formation. I'm taking lead this time, Chris," I ordered. In my gut, this felt wrong again. Something was missing, but I couldn't figure out what.
Chris looked as if he wanted to argue but stopped himself. Maybe he was starting to trust me? I can hope, right?
We moved slowly towards the large grave, small rustling sounds all around us as the wind blew through, and the sky lit up from the lightning in the distant clouds. We reached the grave, and on the tombstone a carving of a cupid holding a bow and arrow was etched. However, the arrow was a golden arrow with a green jade tip embedded into the tombstone. I picked up the arrow, separated the jade tip from the shaft, and put it in my pocket.
Then we all felt the ground shake as the grave itself started to slide away to reveal a hidden stairway down.
"Okay… this place is weird," Chris said as the hidden passage opened.
"Nice, Sherlock. You figure that out on your own?" Frost jabbed at Chris with a smirk.
"Smart ass," Chris shot back.
"That's what my mama always told me," Frost laughed, looking smug for winning this shit-talk round.
"Come on, stay focused. We're going in," I said with a small smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.
At the bottom of the stairs was a small room with four statues of faces with missing parts, and on the other side was a small book on a pedestal, and right above it from the ceiling a coffin was hanging with five chains holding it in place.
"Shit," I murmured, looking at the empty coffin, which should not have been empty.
Crrrrk.
The room started to shake as if the ground was splitting in half. Dirt and debris started falling around the team as they started to run back out of the room, up the stairs. As soon as the team was out, a large hissing sound could be heard from all around them.
"Get to the door. NOW!" I yelled as everyone started running back towards the mansion.
BOOM!!!
Something very heavy and big hit the ground, blocking our path back to the mansion.
Hissssss
From the cloud of dust, a gargantuan mutated adder snake, 40 ft in length, uncoiled. Its scales, sharp and jagged, scraped against each other like steel plates. It opened its maw that could swallow a grown adult whole and lunged.