The train slowly came to a stop. The mercenaries cautiously moved out. Black Haired was the first to follow. The glasses girl took a look at Zheng and the others, and followed them out. As One was moving further away, the rest moved out also.
Outside the train was a platform. Zheng recalled the movie. This was the beginning where people wanted to enter the Hive, and the entrance to the underground lab.
People followed the platform and soon came to the lab entrance, where a metal door blocked their way. On the door was a set of special symbols denoting the company of this lab and the danger of this place.
Zheng and the others followed the mercenaries to the door when a woman in red skirt suddenly turned to One and asked, "I want to know who you people are and what's going on here."
One looked at her then waved to the other mercenaries. They took out some devices from their bags and started unlocking. He then said to the woman, "You and I have the same employer. The mansion above us is an emergency entrance to the Hive. You are security operatives placed there to protect that entrance."
Zheng remembered this scene. This was where Alice asked about the cause of this event. Even though he had seen the movie and knew the truth behind it, experiencing this scene in person gave him a surreal feeling.
Alice seemed a little lost. She rubbed her wedding ring, and muttered, "What about this?"
One said, "Your marriage is a fake. Just part of your cover to protect the secrecy of the Hive."
"And what is the Hive?" One of the non-mercenary westerners asked. Zheng recognized this person also. Spence Sparks, he was the cause of this event. A business spy attempting to steal the T-virus.
One turned to a mercenary, "Show them."
He nodded, and brought up a screen on the laptop.
"Raccoon City, nearest urban center. The mansion where we found you and gained access to the train, which in turn brought us to the Hive."
A building that looked like a bee's hive appeared on the screen.
"The Hive itself is located underground deep beneath the streets of Raccoon City. A top secret research facility owned and operated by the Umbrella Corporation... Our position on the map is indicated by the heat signature."
As One explained, our location was shown on the laptop. We were standing on the platform on top of the Hive. Zheng knew this was a safe place but, not long afterwards, this area would become a death zone.
"And them?" Alice pointed to Zheng and the others.
Zheng panicked. They thought they were guests of this world and the cast would not interact with them. They would only need to avoid those monsters. Who would have guessed the main character would talk to them?
One said, "They are also security operatives. Company has their registered files. But I question if there's an error in corporate orders. Aside from one person, everyone else is just ordinary people."
This was probably the identity God gave them.
Spence then asked, "Why can't I remember anything?"
"The Hive has its own defense mechanisms, all computer controlled. A nerve gas was released into the house. Primary effect of the gas: complete unconsciousness lasting anything up to four hours. Secondary effects are varied, but can include acute memory loss."
"For how long?"
"Subjective. An hour, day, week."
Another non-mercenary westerner said, "So you're saying this place was attacked?"
One looked at him, "I'm afraid things are a little more complicated than that."
Zheng recognized this cast member also. He was Matt Addison, who came here looking for his sister, a researcher inside the Hive. She found out the corporation was researching the T-virus and attempted to contact the government. The person she contacted was Alice. But before she could steal the virus, Spence stole the virus and leaked it. She later got infected and became a zombie.
Zheng was thanking the gods. He watched a lot of movies because his life was so boring. And sci-fi and horror were his favourite genres. Knowing what the plot was and who the main characters were would increase his chance of surviving. It's common sense that the main characters won't die whether it's a movie or a novel.
At this time a voice came from the door, "Sir! We've breached the Hive."
One nodded, then he looked at Zheng's group and sighed. He turned around and led the mercenaries to the door.
The door opened under the computer's control. It was totally black inside. One called a mercenary, "JD!"
That person nodded and put on night vision goggles. One paused for a moment, he turned to Black Haired and said, "Zhang Jie!"
Jie took his desert eagle and just walked in. Zheng knew Black Haired also knew the plot. In Resident Evil 1, as long as the central computer system stayed on, they would be safe there. But once the computer system got shut down, this place would be filled with zombies and hunters.
It didn't take long for Jie to turn on the lights. The whole room was lit, you could also see a scenery of the modern city through the window. A scene that Zheng had enough of in his life.
The mercenaries and everyone went into the room. A female mercenary said, "Halon gas has dissipated."
When Spence stole the T-virus, he broke a vial of it. Then the ventilation system spread the virus throughout the Hive. Everyone inside was infected. When the central computer system found out, it isolated the Hive and injected halon gas. The only thing left in the lab were zombies and hunters.
It seemed like Resident Evil was a popular movie. Everyone in Zheng's group saw it. All of them were leaning on the windows and looking outside. They weren't worried at this moment because they knew this was still a safe place.
Matt suddenly said, "Makes it easier to work underground, thinking there's a view."
Zheng hesitated a moment then put out his hand, "Zheng Zha... Uhm, I may be a security operative."
Matt's hands were handcuffed because his files were not in the corporation. He turned around with a bitter smile, "Handcuffed, I don't think we can shake hands like this... And I forgot my name."
Zheng gave him a friendly smile. Matt was a nice person in the movie. He was also an innocent person. He was just here to look for his sister and he tried to protect Alice until the end of the movie. He was one of the people that lived at the end.
On the other side, One and a few mercenaries got the elevator door open. But it was pitch black inside. They threw down a flare and saw that the elevator was at the bottom with the wires cut off.
"Looks like we're taking the stairs."
One turned to everyone, "Through the stairs, we must reach the bottom in ten minutes. Everyone follow."
The mercenaries were well trained, Alice had T-virus, Spence and Matt's stamina weren't bad either, while Jie had gone through three movies already and probably enhanced himself.
Of the remaining six people, even though Zheng was a office worker, he liked to exercise and spent a day in the gym every week. According to him, this helped him 'take care' of those women.
Glasses Girl looked skinny and, as a girl, her stamina was weaker than a man's. But she was smart enough to get a hold of the corner of Jie's shirt. So Jie supported part of her weight. He looked at her for a moment then continued moving in front of her.
The chubby dude looked about twenty-eight. Before long, he was panting, and his speed slowed down.
There were three more people. A middle aged man, probably a laborer. He was not running fast but kept up with everyone. A middle aged woman. She was doing worse than the chubby dude. She's at the point where she's walking step by step. The last one was a boy in his teens. His face looked very common and his body didn't seem strong. But like the middle aged man, he kept up with everyone.
After a while, the chubby dude and middle aged woman could no longer be seen. Zheng was following close to Jie all along and suddenly heard, "Two out."
Zheng asked curiously. "What two out?"
Jie sneered, "Them! Don't think of my words as a joke. This is a real world. We will die here. Perhaps you are still not taking this seriously and think of this as a movie, right? Being more than three hundred feet away from him you will explode, this is one of the rules. They are going to die!"
Bang!
Just as Jie finished his sentence, two explosions came from above. Zheng's group looked toward it with a daze, but aside from the stairs there was nothing else.