"Well done!"
Alice lowered her weapon and gave Nathan a smile. Nathan only returned a bitter smile:
"But now all the rifle ammo is gone. I'll have to rely on the pistol. Oh, and remember—when fighting these monsters, aim for the head. I've found only headshots can truly kill them. I wanted to tell the others, but never had the chance. I even shouted it earlier, but I don't know if they heard."
"I noticed that when you were fighting alongside them," Alice nodded knowingly. "But more importantly, let's hurry. We need to regroup and get out of this cursed place. Who knows what else might appear here?"
"Agreed. That's what I think too."
Discarding the empty rifle, now nothing more than a useless stick, Nathan drew a pistol and took the lead, chatting intermittently with Alice and Rachel as they walked.
Before long, they returned to the laboratory area. At the front, Nathan gripped his pistol tightly. He heard Matt—who had somehow freed himself from his handcuffs—cry out in alarm. Nathan quickened his pace toward the source.
Not far away, Matt lay across a desk. A blonde woman was on top of him, snarling and trying to bite his neck.
Without hesitation, Nathan raised his pistol, aimed, and fired decisively, killing the zombie.
"Thank you…"
Though saved, Matt showed no joy. He pushed the woman aside, crouched, pressed his face to her forehead, and stroked her cheek silently as tears fell.
"Um… who was she to you?"
"My sister."
"Ah… my condolences."
Realizing he had asked a foolish question, Nathan turned away awkwardly, picking up some documents nearby to distract himself. He wanted to learn what kind of virus was being researched here, and what properties it had. To his surprise, he found he could read the English perfectly, something that astonished him.
Normally, a man should easily push away a woman attacking him. But Matt, freed from his cuffs, couldn't push her off. He nearly succumbed to her bite.
This suggested the virus might enhance physical strength. The earlier security guard zombie hadn't looked muscular, yet his strength was terrifying. Now this female zombie was the same. Nathan couldn't help but feel curious.
"…Umbrella thinks it can act lawlessly. But I… we cannot tolerate its actions."
"What?"
Matt's sudden words made Nathan look at him again. Matt bluntly confessed he wasn't a policeman at all, but a man with a criminal record, blacklisted by law enforcement agencies everywhere.
He explained why he was here, and why the mercenaries had captured him. He and his companions had come to steal Umbrella's illegally researched virus samples from the Hive.
Among his companions was his sister, who had infiltrated the Hive. But somehow, she had ended up like this.
Nathan sympathized, but only to that extent. He had no intention of joining Matt in fighting Umbrella. He wasn't an idealist. He was just an ordinary man worn down by society, thinking only about what to eat tomorrow and how to find a decent job.
Taking down the world's largest corporation was a grand ideal he had no interest in. He could only sigh and admire it slightly—nothing more.
While Matt and Alice discussed their lofty goal of defeating Umbrella, Nathan and Rachel studied the documents.
They didn't linger long. Soon, they set out again to find the others. Safety lay in numbers, and Kaplan's wrist computer held the crucial map. Without it, they were lost.
As they searched for a path, Nathan glanced sideways and noticed something strange. In one laboratory, a group of zombies had gathered as if at a party.
Though he hadn't made a sound, they all turned their heads toward him in unison.
"Run!"
Facing more than twenty zombies, Nathan didn't hesitate. He bolted, and the others followed instinctively.
In their frantic flight, with little planning, they ended up back at the Red Queen's chamber.
The door was closed but not locked. Nathan yanked the handle down, opened it, then turned and shouted:
"Hurry! I'll hold them off! Get inside!"
Sweat pouring down his face, he raised his pistol toward the approaching zombies.
Rachel, Alice, and Matt rushed past him. Nathan fired at the closest zombie.
The muzzle flashed, and the zombie reaching for Rachel fell backward, tripping another behind it.
Three shots bought them a moment. Then, at Alice's urgent cry, Nathan dashed inside.
Bang!
The metal door slammed shut, trapping the horde outside. Their sounds vanished.
"Whew… this is the most thrilling day of my life. Way scarier than a haunted house…"
Hand on his hip, Nathan exhaled deeply, calming his racing heart. He marveled at his own act of covering the rear, then turned to Kaplan, one of the two surviving mercenaries. Pointing at another door, he asked:
"Where do we go next? Can we use that door?"
"No. Those things are waiting for us there."
"Then is there an escape route in the Red Queen's chamber?"
Nathan pointed toward the mechanism tunnel.
"For safety, the mainframe chamber has no other exits. I'm afraid… we're finished."
Kaplan's voice was heavy with despair.