"Are you alright?"
Rebecca jumped as David practically screamed in her face, just a shadow in front of her. Claire let out a little shriek. "Sorry!" David called. "Come on! Other building!" Barely able to see, Rebecca stumbled outside, Claire right next to her. David came up behind them, touching their backs, guiding them toward the second building. The 'copter was still moving away from them, north to south, but it would run out of things to look at very soon – and then they'd land and come looking. That the helicopter was from Umbrella was a given; the only question was how many had come, and whether or not they were to be captured first or just killed outright. As they fell through the door to the second build– ing, it dawned on Rebecca what David had done. The Umbrella thugs would see the first bullet-blasted door and assume that their quarry was hiding there.
And he only shot through the keyhole of this one. They'll see it eventually, but it buys us a little more time…
She hoped. The darkness was almost as cold as outside and smelled like dust. A low light flickered on, David hooding his flashlight with one hand, just enough for them to see that they were surrounded by boxes. Big ones, small ones, cardboard and wood, stacked on shelves and on the floor all the way up to the slanted ceiling. In the brief second that David shone the light across the mammoth room, they saw that there had to be thousands of them.
"I'm going to see what I can do about the door and cut the lights," David said. "Find us a place to hide. It's our best option until we know how many there are, what scenario they're employing. They might have spook eyes, the floor's no good – somewhere high up and in a corner. Shelves would be best. Got it?"
They both nodded and the light went out, leaving them in a complete darkness; before, she could at least make out shapes and shadows. Now, Rebecca couldn't see her hand in front of her face. "Which corner?" Claire whispered, as if the chill black nothing they stood in demanded silence. Rebecca reached out and found Claire's hand, placing it against her back. "Left. We go left until we run into something."
She heard a whisper of movement behind them, as David went about his preparations. Taking a deep breath, Rebecca put her hands out in front of her and started to edge forward.
Every door off of the lengthy corridor was locked, with the exception of a utility closet past the elevator; there, they found absolutely nothing of interest, un– less shelves of paper towels and styrene coffee cups were interesting. They'd tried the elevator again, with no luck, and there didn't seem to be a fuse box or override switch anywhere near it. Not surprising, but Leon still felt a pang of distress. The other three were probably really worried…
… and you're not? What if something went wrong up there? Maybe the "test" part of this place is above-ground. And maybe Reston unleashed some of Umbrel-la's warrior specimens up there, and right now Claire is… "What say if we run across one more locked door, we use up our grenades? I've got two of 'em," John said, looking irritated. They'd just tried the ninth door in the silent hall, and were almost to the north– ernmost curve. For all they knew, they'd already passed Reston, or the passage that would lead them to him.
"Let's at least see what's around the corner before we start blowing things up," Leon said, though he was also losing patience. It wasn't that he'd mind damag– ing some Umbrella property, but that just wasn't the priority – reuniting the team was. They'd already decided that if they didn't find him soon, they'd go back to the cafeteria and try to get one of the workers to fix the elevator, and to hell with Reston; the mission would be a bust, but at least they'd all be alive to fight another day.
Assuming we're all still alive now…
They reached the corner and paused, John raising the M-16 and lowering his voice. "I'll cover." Leon nodded, moving closer to the inner wall. "On three. One… two… three…"
He took a running step away from the wall, drop– ping into a crouch and pointing his semi down the west leg of the corridor as John whipped the rifle around the corner. The hall was a lot shorter, no more than sixty feet, dead-ending in an open, doorless room. There was a door on the left…… and somebody moved across the opening at the end of the hall, the darting shape of a man.
Reston.
Leon saw him, a thin guy, not too tall, wearing jeans and a blue work shirt. Mr. Blue, just like they said… "Hold it!" John shouted, and Reston turned, startled and weaponless. He saw the M-16 and jumped away from the double-wide opening, maybe heading for an exit -
– and Leon ran, pumping his arms for speed, John quickly passing him in a full-on sprint. They were inside the room in a flash and there was Reston, pushing desperately at a door on the right. He threw a terrified glance over his shoulder as they barreled into the room, his eyes wide with panic. "It won't open!" He screamed, his voice on the edge of hysteria. "Open the door!"
Who's he talking to?"Give it up, Reston," John growled -
– and behind them, a metal sheet crashed down over the opening, shutting them into the room with a brutal, heavy dang. Leon looked down, saw that the floor was plate steel and felt the first stab of unease. Reston spun around, his hands in the air, his narrow features contorted with fear. "I'm not him, not Reston," he babbled, his pale face slick with sweat -
– and behind them, a face appeared at the window in the metal door, distorted by the thick plexiglass but obviously grinning. An older man, dressed in a dark blue suit.
Oh, no…
The man looked away for a moment, one hand reaching up to touch something Leon couldn't see and a smooth, cultured voice floated into the roomfrom a speaker in the ceiling. "Sorry, Henry," the man said, his moving face warped by the glass. "And allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jay Reston. And whoever you are, I'm very glad to meet you. Welcome to the Planet's test program."
Leon looked at John, who was still pointing his rifle at the near hysterical Henry. John looked back at him, and Leon could see the awareness dawning in his dark eyes, even as it dawned on him.They were in extremely deep shit.
Yes!
Reston laughed giddily. The gunmen were trapped, and the three on the surface were probably already being picked up by the teams – he'd handled his situation, and handled it brilliantly.