"Uh, Brad, was it like this when you came here before?"
Murphy, the team's most frequent jokester, spoke with a voice that was noticeably dry.
The narrow alleyway was packed with hundreds of body bags, stacked so densely the end was nowhere in sight. Some of the zippers hadn't been pulled tight, leaving the horrific, contorted faces of the corpses exposed to the air, making one's skin crawl at the sight.
Brad's pupils contracted slightly as he shook his head rapidly. "No..." he said, his voice trembling. "At least, when I parked the helicopter here a few days ago, this place was empty."
Carlos let out a heavy breath, his expression grim. "It looks like the situation inside the hospital is much worse than we imagined. These people... they were probably the ones who fled to the hospital right before the crisis broke out."
As the group sighed in low voices, they were about to move forward when Lear suddenly spoke, his tone urgent: "Run!" Before the words had even finished hanging in the air, he was already rushing deep into the alley, carrying Jill.
"What do you mean—" Carlos began to question, but suddenly froze. The corpses lying inside the body bags had begun to struggle eerily, raspy groans squeezing out of their throats.
This kind of old-fashioned narrow alley was cramped to begin with; with the piles of corpses, the remaining path was wide enough for only one person to pass at a time. Once trapped in the middle by zombies, everyone except Lear would be in grave danger.
"Move! Move! Move!"
Carlos and Murphy were the first to pull their triggers. The bullets tore through the zombies' skulls with powerful impact, violently slamming those struggling to climb out of their bags back down.
Fortunately, they were all well-trained soldiers and SWAT, and they quickly formed a column, covering each other as they charged toward the alley's exit.
Sherry was third from the back, shielded in the middle of the group. Just as she was about to burst out of the alley mouth, her ankle was suddenly grabbed by a half-rotted palm.
A zombie had crawled halfway out of its body bag, its maggot-infested mouth hanging wide as it lunged to bite her ankle.
Seeing this, Lear instinctively moved to turn back and help.
However, Brad, who was right behind Sherry, subconsciously stomped down, crushing the zombie's hand and shoving her out of the alley. In doing so, he left himself no time to dodge the zombie's lunge.
In the blink of an eye, the zombie pounced onto him. Just as he thought he was a dead man.
"Bang!"
A bullet whizzed past his ear.
"Hey man, now's not the time to wait for death!" Tyrell, bringing up the rear, had acted with lightning reflexes, blowing the zombie's head apart with a single shot.
The group finally burst out of the alley. Looking back, they saw the narrow passage filled with a dense crowd of zombies continuously standing up, roaring as they chased after them.
Murphy looked at the horde and couldn't help but curse, "Dammit! Is the hospital morgue full? They're piling the dead outside; this hospital might as well just go out of business!"
When no one replied, he turned to look at Lear and the others, only to find them staring at him with strange expressions. At that moment, Tyrell, who was at the rear of the group, stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Murphy, do you know? This hospital is run by Umbrella. Going out of business is absolutely impossible, but there's another possibility that's much more likely."
With that, he walked over to Carlos's side, and the two of them headed out first to scout the way.
"What other possibility?" Murphy was utterly confused.
Brad patted him on the shoulder helplessly, his voice heavy. "The hospital's morgue... it must be at full capacity."
"Full... full capacity?" Murphy reacted instantly, his face turning pale. "Then how many people had to die..."
Regardless of the thoughts swirling in their minds, once they left the alley, they quickly shook off the zombies, and before long, the hospital came into view.
The group entered the Main Hall, which was a complete wreck. Dark red blood splattered the floors and walls, and cluttered tables and chairs were overturned everywhere.
The doctors, nurses, and patients who should have been here were all nowhere to be found.
Carlos, Murphy, and Tyrell raised their weapons and began searching the Main Hall, while Lear carried Jill into the temporary ward next to the reception desk.
He laid Jill gently onto the bed. By now, nearly her entire arm had turned a bluish-black, and something seemed to be writhing along her veins beneath the skin.
Seeing Jill's condition, Sherry hurried over, took her hand, and whispered something to her.
Watching the two of them huddling together, Lear turned his head toward Brad, gesturing for him to step outside to talk.
"That little girl is really strong. To go through so much at her age," Brad said to Lear once they were outside. "Just now, when she was caught by that zombie in the alley—if that had been me as a kid, I would have been crying my eyes out long ago, but she didn't make a sound."
"You were brave too, really, Brad," Lear looked at him sincerely. "You completely ignored your own safety to save Sherry. Thank you, truly."
Brad gave a carefree smile. "Maybe. You know something, Lear? I've been a coward my whole life, but after everything these past few months, I've ended up living like someone I don't even recognize."
"But living like this makes you happy, doesn't it?" Lear replied with a smile.
Just then, Carlos walked over.
"We finished the sweep. The Main Hall is safe, at the very least. Tyrell has hacked into the front desk computer, so he should be able to find Dr. Bard soon."
Lear shook his head.
"Jill's situation is critical. I can't just sit here and wait; I'm going in first to scout the path."
Carlos started to say something, but remembering Lear's combat prowess, he finally nodded.
He pulled out a walkie-talkie and said seriously, "I've set the channel. If Tyrell finds anything, I'll notify you with this."
Carlos paused for a moment, looking at Lear before continuing, "If you run into any trouble—I know that's unlikely given it's you, but if it happens, let me know. We'll head there immediately."
Lear took the walkie-talkie, gave a slight nod, and turned toward the doors leading deeper into the hospital.
As he passed the busy Tyrell, the man didn't even look up as he called out to Lear.
"I intercepted some encrypted data from the hospital network. It mentions an unknown B.O.W. codename. The files indicate it's extremely dangerous and likely somewhere inside the hospital. Stay sharp."
"Got it. I'm counting on you to find the location as soon as possible," Lear responded in a deep voice.
Tyrell finally looked up at him. "Don't worry. This is my specialty. Ten minutes max."
Having received his answer, Lear stopped lingering and headed straight into the depths of the hospital.
In truth, he didn't need Tyrell's help at all to locate Bard.
He remembered perfectly well that Dr. Bard was currently in his own office within the Experimental Area.
And without Nicholai there to sabotage things, Bard was very likely still alive right now. He didn't need to bother looking for a cassette tape; he could just fight his way through.
The zombies wandering the halls posed no threat to Lear. He pushed forward, quickly reaching the entrance to the Experimental Area.
"Dr. Bard, I am Officer Lear of the R.P.D. Open the door; I'm here to evacuate you."
Statics hissed from the intercom, followed by a raspy, middle-aged male voice.
"R.P.D.? Heh. I saw you on the monitor coming in with Umbrella's people. You're just trying to trick me into opening the door!"
Hearing the response, Lear's voice turned cold. "I don't have time to debate you. Now! Open this door right damn now!"
"Worry about yourself first!"
(Translated by yourtl.app)