| 10:30 pm |

Laura's POV

While Tyler was sitting at the desk; going through most of Umbrella's archives in the mainframe system on the computer while I was pacing back and forth in the room. Waiting patiently for Chris to contact us while we were here, in this stuck-up security office.

I was starting to get worried about him and Piers, thinking that something bad could've happened to them. However, I'm only overreacting and I was well aware of that. Deep down, I knew that the guys were fully capable of taking care of themselves out there. They had each other to look after one another. 'What could go wrong?' I thought to myself.

"You alright Laura?" Tyler inquired, breaking my train of thought.

I glanced over at Tyler. Seeing him gaze up at me; concerned crossing his face.

"I'm fine Tyler, just waiting for Chris to contact us. That's all," I replied with a reassuring tone of voice, faking a smile.

As I directed my gaze over at Tyler, I noticed that he pulled up some old footage on the computer screen. Viewing the video from his seat. I walked up to Tyler while he sat at the desk, curious to know what he's been what to. I gazed down at the mainframe computer screen—seeing an old surveillance video being played from around precisely 7:30 am this morning.

I couldn't pinpoint the exact location of which sector the video feed was live-streaming from, but I knew for a fact that it was somewhere within the research facility. It was in some sort of large lobby area. A massive recreational lounge consisting of two long red leather sofas, four matching arm chairs, and four white birch end tables, surrounding a vast white birch coffee table.

Right up against the metal wall, below a small balcony, there were several bookcases. All filled with a variety of books, magazines, and other articles to read. To the left of the lounge, there's a little coffee bar; offering an assortment of drinks and snacks available to anyone passing by. On the right of the lounge, there's a wide staircase, connecting the first floor to the second floor with the balcony.

Everywhere within view, there were a lot of people out and about. A couple security guards with the black and yellow H.C.F. patch on their uniforms could been be seen posted all over the place. Mostly spotted leaning against the walls, manning the designated sector while holding their selected assault rifle in hand.

There were mostly scientists, researchers, and other doctors in the area. They were either walking from one place to another. Busy running errands, moving research equipment, getting to work, etc. Or, just relaxing in the lounge area while conversing with one another over a cup of coffee.

"Tyler, what are you doing?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'm trying to find out what happened before the four of us arrived here. While I was snooping around on here, I found this surveillance footage from earlier today. From this morning to be exact," He specified.

"From what I've seen so far everything looks normal." I rested both of my hands on the edge of the desk, leaning my body partially against it. "Have you found anything particularly out of the ordinary yet?"

"No, no yet. I'm working on it though."

I peered over at the screen—noticing two new figures appear on surveillance footage. A man and a woman.

The woman appeared to be in her early forties. She had greyish-green eyes, pale skin, bare lips, a thin physique, tiny but noticeable wrinkles around her eyes, and '5"6. Quite short compared to man practically towering next to her. Her short, curly, dirty-blonde hair was up in a mid ponytail, with a few grey hair strands seen sticking out at the end of it. The woman was wearing a long white lab coat, over her light green buttoned shirt, dark blue boot-cut jeans with a brown belt, and simple light-green tennis shoes.

On the other hand, the man appeared to be between either his early or mid thirties. Despite his youthful miens, I could definitely tell that he was older than the woman next to him, if not physically. He was '6"3, his short, silky blonde hair was combed neatly all the way back, pale skin, and retained a well chiseled and muscular figure. In spite of his dark demeanor, he maintained an impassive facial expression. Devoid of any signs of emotion at all, a type of look look that clearly said, "I'm not the type of person you would wanna mess with." Hopefully I won't run into him anytime soon.

The man was wearing a long black trench coat over his skin-tight black shirt and black pants, black leather boots, black leather gloves, and fancy black-tinted sunglasses covering his eyes. Judging from the material of his clothing and the layout his sunglasses, this guy must be pretty opulent, loaded enough to supervise a exclusive enterprise such as this one. 'What's with the black attire, and the sunglasses? Whoa... Is it me or did his eyes just glow red for second???'

They were on their own way just like everybody else, treading through the enormous crowd. When everyone saw them, people who were walking stood aside, clearing a path for them. Quickly, it grew silent within a matter of seconds, as the man and woman walked along the pathway erected for them. Heading up the stairs to the second floor. With that, they vanished out of view on the footage, and everyone went back to doing their own business.

"Hey Tyler, let's try fast forwarding the video a bit. Since everything seems perfectly normal here," I suggested to him.

"Sure, just give me a sec."

Using the computer, Tyler fast forwarded the video about ten hours later, where things were finally starting to get interesting. As everybody was out an about, doing their own thing, out of nowhere the sounds of screaming and gunshots resonated throughout the room. People started to easily panic; having no idea to what was actually going on. The majority of them were clueless whatsoever. However, some of them had the right idea of running away and fleeing for their very lives, before they could even find out.

Out of nowhere, soldiers with the Tricell logo on their uniform emerged into the facility—initiating a full-fledge bloody massacre. Anyone or anything that stood in their way, no matter who they are or what they looked like, they were shot until they dropped dead. Literally...

When they first entered, some of the soldiers split up from the rest of their primary platoon. Proceeded upstairs to the second floor of the facility. While the rest of them remained on the first floor. I just stood there, while watching the entire thing go down as one scientist after another was brutally murdered by these cold, heart-less troopers, until eventually not a single researcher in the lobby was left alive.

Subsequently, they were about to proceed upstairs when something monstrous and grotesque screeched loudly through the whole area. All of them simultaneously stopped—scanning around the lobby area to find what made that inhuman noise. Still, they weren't well-aware. Just as oblivious as the now dead researchers. I spotted the very culprits themselves; climbing swiftly and silently onto the ceiling above them. Digging their vast, malformed claws into the concrete ceiling to keep themselves in place.

Even in the light now, it's didn't take me long to put one and one together. These were the exact same creatures I saw earlier, crawling consistently around in cell block A, via surveillance. They had large, razor sharp teeth and claws. The brain itself was visibly uncovered on top of their head, leaving it's plump and fleshy biological structure heavily exposed.

Most the distinguishing feature about these creatures is that they don't have a pair of eyeballs like their repulsive counterparts, leading me to believe they're visually impaired. A component that doesn't seem to
hinder their overall performance as bio-organic weapons. Their outermost layer of skin was composed of nothing but abraded, sinewy, muscular tissue. Just as bare and uncovered as their brains as well.

The fearsome, fleshy creatures carefully began to form some sort of elite hunting circle, on the ceiling above the soldiers. Unexpectedly, a few drops of one of the creatures' saliva dripped onto the shoulder of one of the operatives standing right below them.

This didn't go unnoticed for long. The operative glanced over his shoulder, gazing at the thick, gooey substance on him, before he and the rest of them looked up at the ceiling. Spotting the gruesome hunters on the ceiling above them, growling inhumanly in response at their prey.

"What the– AAAAAARRRRGH!!!" One of the soldiers cried out. As he and everyone else got assaulted, one by one, by the grisly creatures.

Most of the platoon members fired their assorted assault rifles at the fleshy monstrosities, while a couple of them tried to make a run for it in a cowardly manner. Only to end up as the first victims of the malformed mutants. One soldier tried shooting one of the creatures coming his way, using his M249 SAW machine gun, and winded up shooting the surveillance camera instead. Prompting the screen go all staticky right as he got pounced on and ripped to shreds.

"What were those things...?" I asked Tyler, using an appalled tone of voice.

"I don't know, Laura." Tyler spun around in his seat, facing me for a brief moment. "However, this only means we need to keep our guard up and keep an eye out for them while we're here. They didn't seem friendly one bit." He spun back around, facing the computer screen once again.

'Tyler's right. No matter what happens down here, we have to remain focused and more alert than ever before. If those creatures were one of the countless B.O.W.s Uncle Chris mentioned that were created by Umbrella, surely there could possibly more to come roaming around this place.'

In spite of the gravity of our situation, that wasn't my main concern though. It was that man. The moment I laid my eyes upon that bastard, I immediately sensed something off about him. He certainly didn't look like the friendly or sympathetic type of guy if you ask me. He looked rather the complete opposite. Sinister.

Something is wrong. I don't know why, I had this strange feeling in my gut that I've seen him before. 'But why?? Why here?? How come he looked so familiar to me???' My harboring thoughts were interrupted when I hear Chris speak over the comm link.

"This is Chris. Laura, do you read me? Over."

I pressed my finger on my comm link. "I read you loud and clear, Chris. Over."

"Copy that. Have you guys seen anything out of the ordinary so far on surveillance since we've split up?" Chris inquired, over the link.

"Negative captain, we haven't seen anything except you two traveling down the main corridor. Everything else looks normal so far," Tyler replied, as he looked over all the monitors. Finding them walking down the massive corridor.

"How far are we from cell block A?" Piers questioned us.

Tyler clicked on a file on the mainframe computer; opening a digital map of the whole entire facility. He persistently kept glancing from the digital map and the surveillance monitors—trying to pinpoint Chris and Piers's exact location and figure out a possible route they could take to cell block A that was the most secure and efficient at the same time.

"You're still pretty far from it, Piers. If you guys keep going straight though, you two are actually quite close to a shortcut," I spoke up, right as I devised one from the map.

The two of them picked up their pace concurrently, the instant I mentioned a shortcut.

"Just about ten feet up ahead, there should be a door on your right. It leads to one of the research laboratories here in the facility. After you guys head in, keep going straight until you see a grey old-looking steel door with an oval window and a large black biohazard sign on it. It'll lead straight to the cell block area, where you'll find Claire," Tyler informed them, as he overlooked the live surveillance from the research laboratory he told them about.

"Thanks Tyler, we're on our way," Piers thanked him.

The guys followed the directions given to them; eventually making their way into the laboratory. They take a moment to observe their new surroundings, until Chris spotted the door they're looking for, located on the other side of the room. The guys dashed across the room in a hurriedly manner, having to navigate through the never ending isles and rows of table and step over the decaying corpses of scientists laying on the tiled floor. Once the two of them managed to get to the other side, Chris walked over towards the grey old steel door, attempting to open it. It didn't work. It was locked.

The door had two separate locks on it. The first one was an electronic key card panel, positioned right above the door handle. The second one was an access control keypad, with a small, rectangular shaped screen above the small numeric keys on the wall. Right beside the door. Tyler noticed this inconvenience right away—using the mainframe computer to see if he could bypass through the encrypted locks on the door.

"Tyler, the door's locked. Can you bypass through the locks on the door using the mainframe computer?" Piers questioned my boyfriend over the link.

"I'm working on it bro, just give me a sec."

As a of couple minutes passed by, Tyler was able to hack into the control key pad and unlock it for them, but not the keycard panel. They were going to find the keycard themselves, in order to unlock the door and gain access to cell block A.

"Sorry guys, I can't bypass through the lock on the door. You're gonna have to find the keycard for it. That's your best bet," Tyler explained to them, over the comm link.

'Great... Just great!' I thought sarcastically. 'It's gonna take a miracle to find a single keycard in a place like–' My internal ranting was cut short when I see Chris kneel down beside a nearby corpse—pulling out the very keycard they needed right out of the dead scientist's pocket. 'Huh, looks like luck is on our side today.'

Chris stood back up, treading over back towards the door with the keycard in hand. We were close, so close... So close to reuniting with my mother, but something just had to go wrong...

Just as Chris was about to unlock the door with the keycard in his hand, an alarm abruptly began to go off. Red lights were suddenly flashing all over the security office, and throughout the rest of the facility.

"Warning...! Unauthorized personnel have been detected in the main elevator! I repeat, unauthorized personnel have been detected in the main elevator!" A female robotic voice announced over the intercom. 'Shit!'

I hastily peered over the various monitors hanging on the wall in front of us, finding the very one that displayed live feed from the interior of the elevator. Inside, there's a huge group of soldiers with the Tricell logo on their uniforms, all except one man. He had short, ginger hair, blue eyes, and light colored skin. Wearing a white buttoned up shirt, with his sleeves rolled up, a black and white diagonally striped tie, a blue bullet-proof vest with a brown leather side holster, brown leather gloves, dark blue pants with a black belt, and black thick-soled shoes.

"Initiating the lockdown sequence in all sectors within the facility. Locking all doors and exits until further notice," The female robotic voice stated over the intercom. 'Double shit!'

Behind us, the door behind us closed all the way. Locking itself automatically. 'Well, there goes our only way out of here!' I thought, as I started to panic even more. I glanced over the monitor again—seeing the elevator stopping and locking itself in place within the elevator shaft. With all those Tricell operatives trapped inside.

And to top it all off, the surveillance monitors started shutting off one by one, kicking is out of the mainframe computer's database and it automatically shutting itself down.

'What this all a set up???'