there was nothing.
Frowning, Chris took a few steps toward the room's
second entrance and crouched down, brushing at the
dark tile floor. There was a dried crust of blood in the
shape of a boot heel between Richard's body and
the plain wooden door ten feet away. He stared at the
door thoughtfully, tightening his hold on the Beretta.
Whatever killed him is on the other side, maybe
waiting for more victims.
"Chris, take a look at this."
Rebecca was still kneeling by Richard, her gaze
fixed on the bloody mass of his torn shoulder. Chris
joined her, not sure what he was supposed to be
looking at. The wound was ragged and messy, the
flesh discolored by trauma. Strange, though, how it
didn't seem very deep.
"See those purple lines, radiating out from the cuts?
And the way the muscle has been punctured, here and
here?" She pointed out two dark holes about six inches apart, each surrounded by skin that had turned
an infected-looking red.
Rebecca sat back on her heels, looking up at him.
"I think he was poisoned. It looks like a snake bite."
Chris stared at her. "What snake gets that big?" She shook her head, standing. "Got me. Maybe it was something else. But that wound shouldn't have killed him, it would have taken hours for him to bleed
out. I'm pretty sure he was poisoned."
Chris regarded her with new respect; she had a good
eye for details and was handling herself remarkably
well, considering.
He searched Richard's body quickly, coming up
with another full clip and a short-wave radio. He
handed both to Rebecca, tucking Richard's empty
Beretta into his waistband.
He looked at the door again, then back at Rebecca.
"Whatever killed him might be back there."
"Then we'll have to be careful," she said. Without another word, she walked to the door and stood there,
waiting for him.
I've gotta stop thinking of her as a kid. She's outlived
most of the rest of her team already, she doesn't need
me to patronize her or tell her to wait behind.
He stepped up to the door and nodded at her. She
turned the knob and pushed it open, both of them
raising their weapons as they edged into a narrow
hallway.
Straight ahead were a few wood steps leading to a
closed door. To their left, an offshoot of the hall,
another door at the end. There was blood smeared on
the walls bordering the steps, and Chris was suddenly
certain that it was Richard's; his killer was behind
that door.
He motioned down the offshoot, speaking quietly.
"You take that room. You run into any trouble, come
back here and wait. Check back in five minutes either
way."
Rebecca nodded and moved down the narrow hall.
Chris waited until she'd gone into the room before
climbing the steps, his heart already thudding solidly
against his ribs.
The door was locked, but Chris saw that there was a
tiny shield etched next to keyhole. Rebecca was
turning out to be more useful than he could have
possibly imagined. He took out the key she'd given
him and unlocked the wide door, checking his Beretta
before moving inside.
It was a large attic, as plain and unassuming as the
rest of the mansion was ornate. Wooden support
beams extended from the floor to the sloping ceiling,
and other than a few boxes and barrels against the
walls, it was empty.
Chris walked farther in, his guard up as he scanned
for movement. At the other side of the long room was
a partial wall, maybe four feet by nine, standing
several feet from the back of the attic. It reminded
him of a horse stall, and it was the only area that wasn't open to view. Chris moved toward it slowly,
his boots against the wood floor sending hollow
echoes through the cool air.
He edged to the wall, training his Beretta over the
top as he peered down, heart pounding.
No snake, but there was a jagged hole near the
floorboards between the two walls, a foot high and a
couple across and a strange, acrid odor, musky, like
the smell of some wild animal. Frowning at the scent,
Chris started to back away and stopped,
leaning in closer. There was a rounded piece of metal
next to the hole, like a penny the size of a small fist.
There was something engraved on it, a crescent shape.
Chris walked around the side and into the stall,
keeping a wary eye on the hole as he crouched down
and picked up the metal piece. It was a six-sided disk
of copper with a moon on it, a nice bit of craftsmanship.
Inside the hole, a soft, sliding sound.
Chris jumped back, targeting the opening as he
moved. He backed up quickly until his shoulders
brushed the attic wall, then started to edge away
and a dark cylinder shot out of the opening,
lightning fast. It was as big around as a dinner plate
and it hit the wall inches from his right leg, wood
crunching from the impact.
-oh shit that's a SNAKE-
Chris stumbled away as the giant reptile reared
back, pulling more of its long, dusky body out of the
wall. Hissing, it raised up, lifting its head as high as
Chris's chest and exposing dripping fangs.
Chris ran halfway across the room and spun, firing
at the massive, diamond-shaped head. The snake let
out a strange, hissing cry as a shot tore through one
side of its gaping mouth, punching a hole through the
tightly stretched skin.
It dropped back to the floor and whipped itself
toward him with a single waving push of its muscular
body, at least twenty feet long. Chris fired again and a
chunk of scaly flesh erupted from the snake's back,
dark blood spewing from the wound.
With another roaring hiss, the animal reared up in
front of him, its head only inches away from Chris's
gun, blood gushing from the hole in its mouth-
-Eyes. Get the eyes-
Chris pulled the trigger and the snake fell across
him, knocking him to the floor, its body thrashing
wildly. The tail slammed into one of the thick support
beams hard enough to crack it as Chris struggled to
free his pinned arms, to at least hurt it worse before
he died and the cold, heavy body suddenly went limp,
sagging bonelessly to the floor.
"Chris!" Rebecca rushed into the room, and
stopped cold, staring at the monstrous reptile.
"Woah!"
His boot found one of the wooden supports and
with a tremendous shove, Chris managed to wiggle
out from beneath the thick body. Rebecca reached
down to help him up, her eyes wide with awe.
They stared down at the wound that had killed the
Creature the black, liquid hole where its right eye
had been, obliterated by a nine-millimeter slug.
"Are you okay?" She asked softly.
Chris nodded; a few bruised ribs maybe, but so what? He'd literally been inches from certain death, and all because he'd stopped to. . .
He held up the copper crest, having to pry his
clenched fingers from around the thick metal. He'd
held onto it throughout the attack without even
realizing it and looking at it now, he had a gut
feeling that it was important somehow. . .
. . . maybe because you were almost snake-food for
picking it up?
Rebecca took it from him, tracing a finger over the
engraved moon.
"You find anything?" he asked.
Rebecca shook her head. "Table, couple of
shelves . . . what's this for, anyway?"
Chris shrugged, looking back down at the bloody
hole where the snake's shining eye had been. He
shuddered involuntarily, thinking of what would have
happened if he'd missed that final shot.
"Maybe we'll figure it out somewhere along the
way," he said quietly. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Rebecca handed the crest back to him and together
they hurried out of the cold attic. As he closed the
door behind them, Chris realized suddenly that al-
though he'd never cared before, he now absolutely
hated snakes.
Barry walked heavily up the stairs in the main hall,
the knot of dread in the pit of his stomach tightening
with each step. He'd been through every room he
could open in the east wing and had come up empty-
handed.
The same horrible images played through his mind
over and over as he trudged up the steps. Kathy and
Moira and Poly Anne, terrified and suffering at the
hands of strangers in their own home. Kathy knew
the combination to the gun safe in the basement, but
the chances of her making it down the stairs before
someone could get in. . .
Barry reached the first landing and took a deep,
shaky breath. Kathy wouldn't even think to run for the weapons if she heard someone breaking through
one of the windows or doors. Her first priority would
be to get to the girls, to make sure they were okay.
If I don't turn up those crests soon, nothing will be
okay.
He hadn't seen a phone or radio anywhere in the
house. If Wesker couldn't get to that laboratory, how would he be able to contact the people at White
Umbrella and call off the killers?
Barry reached the door on the upper landing that
led into the west wing. His only hope was that either
Jill or Wesker had managed to find the three missing
pieces. He didn't know where Wesker was (although
he had no doubts that the rat-bastard would turn up
soon enough), but Jill would probably still be search-
ing upstairs. They could split up the rooms she hadn't
checked and at least rule out the least likely areas. If
they couldn't uncover any more of the crests, he'd
have to go back through the east wing and start
ripping apart furniture.
He opened the door that led into the red hallway,
lost in thought and very nearly ran into Chris
Redfield and Rebecca Chambers as they stepped out
of the doorway on his right.
Chris's face lit up with a broad, beaming grin.
"Barry!"
The younger man stepped forward and embraced
him roughly, then backed up, still grinning. "Jesus, it's good to see you! I was starting to think that me
and Rebecca were the last ones alive. Where are Jill
and Wesker?"
Barry pasted a smile on as he fumbled for an
acceptable answer, feeling almost sick with guilt.
Lying to Jill hadn't been easy, but he'd known Chris
for years. . .
-Kathy and the girls, dead-
"Jill and I came after you, but all the doors in that
hall were locked and when we got back to the lobby,
the captain was gone. Since then, we've been looking
for you two and trying to find a way out."
