[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The muted, gray-greenwallpaper sported paintings of generic scenery andgentle landscapes, not a bone or fetish in sight.The first door on the right was locked, a carving ofarmor on the key plate.Jill remembered the list on thecomputer, something about knight keys, but decidednot to bother with it for now.According to Trent'smap, there was a room on the other side that didn'tlead anywhere.Besides, if Wesker had come this way,she didn't imagine that he was locking doors behindhim.Right, just like it was unlikely that Chris woulddisappear; don't assume anything about this place. The next door she tried opened into a small bath-room with an antique feel, complete with a ceiling fanand an old-fashioned, four-footed tub.There was nosign of recent use.She stood for a moment in the stale, tiny room,breathing deeply, feeling the aftermath of the adrena-line rush she'd had in the corridor.Growing up, she'dlearned how to enjoy the thrill of danger, of sneakingin and out of strange places with only a handful oftools and her own wits to keep her safe.Since joiningthe S.T.A.R.S., that youthful excitement had fadedaway, lost to the realities of back-up and handguns,but here it was again, unexpected and not unwelcome.She couldn't lie to herself about the simple joy thatoften followed facing death and walking away.Shefelt.good.Alive.Let's not have a party just yet, her mind whisperedsarcastically.Or have you forgotten that S.T.A.R.S.arebeing eaten in this hellhole?Jill stepped back into the silent hallway and edgedaround another corner, wondering if Barry had foundChris and if either of them had run across any of theBravos.She felt like she had an advantage with themaps, and decided that once she'd checked out thepossible escape, she'd go back to the main hall andwait for Barry.With the information on Trent'scomputer, they could search more quickly and thor-oughly.The corridor ended with two doors facing eachother.The one on the right was the one she wanted.She tried the handle and was rewarded with the softsnick of the bolt retracting.She stepped into a dark hall and saw one of thezombies, a hulking, pale shadow standing next to adoor, maybe ten feet away.As she raised her weapon,the creature started toward her, emitting soft hungersounds from its decaying lips.One of its arms hunglimply at its side, and although Jill could see jaggedbone protruding from the shoulder, it still clenchedand unclenched its rotting fist eagerly as it reachedout with its other arm.The head, aim for the head.The shots were incredibly loud in the chilly gloom,the first blowing off its left ear, the second and thirdpunching holes into its skull just above its pallidbrow.Dark fluids streamed down the peeling face andit fell to its knees, its flat, lifeless eyes rolling back intoits head.There was shuffling movement in the shadows atthe back of the hall to the right, exactly where shemeant to go.Jill trained the gun on the darkness and waited for it to move closer, her entire body wiredwith tension.How many of these things are there?As soon as the zombie cleared the corner, she fired,the Beretta jumping lightly in her sweating hands.The second shot punctured its right eye and it imme-diately collapsed to the dark, polished wood of thefloor, the sticky, viscous matter of the blown eyeballflecked across its skeletal face.Jill waited, but other than the spreading pools ofblood around the dead creatures, nothing moved.Breathing through her mouth to avoid the worst of thestench, she hurried to the back of the hall and turnedright, down a short, tight passage that dead ended at arusting metal door.It creaked open and fresh air flooded past her,warm and clean after the morgue-like chill of thehouse.Jill grinned, hearing the drone of cicadas andcrickets on the night air.She'd reached the final leg ofher little excursion, and although she wasn't outsideyet, the sounds and smells of the forest renewed hersense of accomplishment.Got a secured path now, straight to the back of thisplace.We can head north, hit one of the logging roadsand hike down to the barricade.She stepped out onto a covered walkway, a mosaicof green stone surrounded by high concrete walls.There were small intermittent openings near theceiling of the pathway, accounting for the faint, pine-scented breeze.Ivy trickled down from the archedopenings like a reminder of the outside world.Shehurried down the dim passage, remembering from themap that there was a single room at the end and to theright, probably a storage shed.She turned the corner and stopped at anotherheavy-looking metal door, her smile fading as shereflexively reached for the handle; the keyhole wasplugged.She crouched and poked at the tiny hole, butto no avail.Someone had stopped it up with epoxy.To the left of the door was some kind of diagram setinto the concrete, made of dull copper.There werefour hexagonal depressions in the flat metal plate,each fist-sized hole connected to the next by a thinline.Jill squinted at the legend etched beneath, wish-ing that she had a flashlight as she struggled to makeout the words.She brushed a thin layer of dust off ofthe indented letters and tried again.WHEN THE SUN.SETS IN THE WEST AND THEMOON RISES IN THE EAST, STARS WILL BEGIN TOAPPEAR IN THE SKY.AND WIND WILL BLOW TOWARDTHE GROUND.THEN THE GATE OF NEW LIFE WILL OPEN. She blinked.Four holes - Trent's list!Four crests, and something about the gate of new life - it's a combination mechanism for thelock.Place the four crests, the door opens.except that means I have to find them first
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]