"Son of a…! You didn't leave a single drop for me!"
Mero stormed through the metal door and leaned over the control console, staring at the row of shattered glass containers.
Within the broken glass, faint traces of fluorescent green liquid clung stubbornly residual virus.
This should have been the primary objective of Mero's mission: the Tyrant Virus, also known as the T-virus.
A quick glance at the console showed a simple record indicating when the virus had been removed.
It read May 1998. All viruses had been cleared from the executive training facility. And now it was already July.
Mero's eyes blazed with fury at the extraction date.
Could something like this just be allowed to leak? This was practically the reason the Arklay Mountains had turned into a deathtrap of mutated creatures.
Those monsters were disgusting, yes, but at least they were dangerous.
Even a dog owner knows to use a leash. Could these flesh-eating zombies just roam freely?
Before even entering, Mero thought, If the virus was gone before I arrived, and now I can't get it, then I've come all this way for nothing. Damn it there's not even the raw material left.
He waved a hand and scanned all the data in the computer. Whoever had leaked the virus must have been doing it for months, spilling it bit by bit.
Rebecca's expression darkened.
"This is a viral research facility. Those mad scientists must have been creating viruses non-stop."
Mero remained silent for a long moment, as if some decision had settled in his mind. He lifted his head, placed a hand on Rebecca's shoulder, and spoke with a rare sincerity.
"Little Rei… it looks like it's time to get you out of here."
Rebecca swallowed hard.
"M… Mero… what… what are you going to do?"
Was it coming? Would he kill her to cover up everything?
"Of course not. I'm sending you out safely. Once you're above ground, find a place to catch a ride. Give me the address, and I'll make sure you get the payment once you're home."
Rebecca was speechless.
"Don't worry, Little Rei. I'll make sure you get home safely. Take a shower, lie down in bed, and everything will feel like a bad dream."
"As for your friend, I trust the Navy's training for him. He won't be in danger."
"Otherwise, are you planning to stay here forever? How else would your $100,000 get into my bank account?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"This facility has one last place we haven't checked," Mero said. "It's a freight elevator that leads to the surface."
"If he's not there, he won't be anywhere else."
"Alright…" Rebecca's face fell, but a determination sparked within her. Once she made it back to Raccoon City alive, she would expose Umbrella's horrifying experiments.
Of course, if they found her friend in the elevator room or if he had already escaped that would be even better.
After winding corridors and turns, Rebecca reluctantly followed Mero, who seemed to navigate the complex as if he had a built-in map. They made their way toward the freight elevator in the viral production area.
He had to be an operative. Otherwise, how could he know the layout so well?
When they reached the elevator room, both stopped.
Mero rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow slightly. Rebecca sensed a shift in the air but dared not speak.
Suddenly, Mero drew a shotgun from his back and handed it to Rebecca.
"Mossberg M590. Standard issue for SWAT. As a S.T.A.R.S. officer, you know how to use it, right?"
"Why are you giving me a gun all of a sudden?"
"Don't you think we're missing something after all we've walked through?"
Rebecca hesitated but then took the shotgun. She awkwardly released the safety and stared at him, wide-eyed.
"This viral incident… it was deliberate."
"While I was entering the executive training facility, I heard the mastermind's broadcast."
"He must be somewhere in this laboratory. But as we're leaving, he still hasn't appeared."
A chill ran through Rebecca. Goosebumps rose, and a cold sweat threatened.
Mero smiled.
"Relax. It's just speculation. When you play a game, you don't fight the final boss, and the game ends. Doesn't that feel strange?"
"Of course. Maybe he's just too lazy to care about us. He's gone."
"To think he ignored us completely… it's irritating."
"Don't scare me like that!" Rebecca's expression softened slightly.
Though Mero's words hit her at a deep level, she reminded herself as a police officer not to show fear and to maintain her professional composure.
Swallowing hard, she followed Mero into the freight elevator room.
The lights were long broken.
Only the emergency light in the corner flickered weakly, casting a murky red glow across the space.
The metal walls were rusted, streaked with deep brown stains dried blood. The smell hit only when she got close.
Rebecca held the Mossberg M590 and stepped carefully inside.
The steel floor was cold and sticky, each step echoing loudly, amplified in the enclosed space.
The elevator door was half-open, black as a gaping mouth.
Cables creaked above.
Squeeeaaaak…
Slow, heavy, deliberate. Something was moving above, inch by inch.
A damp, fetid breeze seeped in from somewhere, brushing against the back of her neck with bone-chilling cold.
Rebecca gripped the shotgun, barely breathing. She instinctively edged closer to Mero, voice trembling.
"It's… too quiet here."
No sooner had she spoken than a dull thump echoed from deep in the shaft.
A heavy body hit the steel floor.
Then came a dragging sound.
Slow. Wet. Sticky.
Layer by layer, from the bottom of the pitch-black shaft, it climbed upward.
Rebecca raised her gun toward the elevator door, thumb flipping the safety off.
The emergency light flickered across Mero's calm, piercing Eastern eyes.
Something was laughing in the darkness.
Not a human laugh, but a wet, sticky gurgle, like bubbles popping.
Leech slime dripped through the crack in the elevator door, drop by drop, onto the floor.
"Ah ! Billy!?"
Rebecca had just stepped to the elevator and looked up.
The iron gate was half-open.
A tall figure blocked the doorway. Broad shoulders, a thick back, wearing a vest. A large tattoo covered his right arm.
"Rebecca!?"
Lieutenant Billy Coen, towering and imposing, reacted immediately. He raised his handgun and, seeing Rebecca, his face lit with joy.
Relief and elation washed over him, but beneath his deep eyes lay exhaustion and shadows that never fully left.
Even for a former U.S. Navy lieutenant, this was no safe place.
Billy exhaled and looked at Rebecca and of course, he noticed Mero standing beside her.