A bit of stuff edited, but no real changes.  This is a few chapters of the personal thoughts of some of the S.T.A.R.S. from the first Resident Evil (gamecube version) as they search for answers, and some meet their doom.

Gathering Thoughts

Jill Valentine

What is going on in this place…?

I gagged as the vomit rolled from my mouth, burning my throat and leaving my taste buds shot.  My stomach strained through weakness, leaving my body drained of energy and my mind disoriented.  I leaned against the cold porcelain, trying to gather the strength to get up.  Before I could make myself rise, I again felt a rumble in my stomach.         

I had been walking down the dark hallway outside this room, hugging my gun between sweaty hands.  I had already seen more than I wanted to see.  A member of the Bravo team had been lying on the floor in a hallway, his vocal cords ripped out; blood painting the floor and flowing over his lifeless eyes.  Poor Kenneth…  There was not much wondering to be done about what had happened to him.  I had killed his attacker.

The sad thing was: his attacker had already been dead…

Then I had run.  I had heard the groaning sounds growing in my ears… but where were they coming from?  The room had begun to spin.  I could barely control my mind to see where I was going.  The noises and fear for my own life overtook my thoughts.  My heart rate sped, pounding on my chest, trying to escape.  My breaths came in gasps, unable to hide my panic.

I had jerked open the first door I had focused on…

All had been quiet.  I said nothing.  For a few moments, I even tried not to breathe.  I just listened for any sounds that would disturb the silence.  Strangely, even after all that had already happened, there were none.

I took a few more steps into the room.  I looked around, clutching my gun and listening to my own heavy footsteps.  I was inside a bathroom.  There was a countertop beside me, on which two dripping faucets were accommodated by a rather large sink.  I listened to the water drip on the stained marble in a rhythm that made me nervous by itself.

Before me, across the tile floor, there was a large marble tub.  Inside, the basin was filled to the top with murky water, impossible for me to see through.  From the faucet, the water dripped, combining with the sink drops in an unorganized fashion.  I must admit though, the sounds of water dripping slowly into more water was the much more chilling sound.

I had a bad feeling.  Though I could no longer hear the hungry groaning sounds from the hallway, I could still feel a presence.  Could it be… in the tub…

Part of me didn’t want to find out.  It was as though half of my mind was pulling one way while the other half pulled the other.  I put my hands to the sides of my head to hold them in place.  Was there something in the tub?  If not, I would at least know there was no threat.  If so…

I wasn’t sure what would happen, or what I was even thinking then, but I found myself slowly walking towards the tub.  I felt my fingers grip on the chain.  I felt my arm pull and the sounds of the draining water reached my ears.

It was a slow drain.  The water slowly gurgled away… almost as though there was something blocking its exit…

My heart jumped in my throat when I saw the arm.  The bloody, mutilated limb shot forth before me, breaking the surface tension of the water.  I don’t remember if I even screamed.  I stumbled backwards as the groaning body pulled its soaked and bloated form from beneath the water.  The eyes were glassy and absent, though I knew they could see me… or at least this creature could smell me.

From its gaping mouth ran blood and dirty water.  I felt something touch my back.  Turning only for a short moment, I noticed that I had only backed into the counter behind me.  The creature fell forward and onto the floor at my feet, I was at loss!  I was in too much panic that I could not even work my gun.

I pulled my feet away as the creature grabbed for me, determined to take me down to be his prey.  I could hear his teeth grinding below me: a sound like bone against bone…

I gasped in fear and worry.  What was to happen?  Had I made it so far just to be… eaten?  Which one of us would walk away from this?  Would he bruise my heel?  Or would I crush his head…?

That idea stuck with me as I surveyed the rotting, sunken flesh of his cranium.  It was worth a try…

Raising my boot, I crushed down with all my weight, smashing the monster’s face into the tile below.  I could hear the weak bones crushing beneath my shoe.  I saw the blood and the remains of the brain smearing out of the ears.  I pushed until the eyes ran out like jelly and the creature’s body moved no more.

Picking my boot out of the muck, I gasped for breath, catching my first whiff of the sour air.  The smell overwhelmed me, almost so much that I could feel it on my own skin.  It made me feel… unclean…

Putting my hand to my mouth at an eruption from my stomach, I ran around the corner to the toilet.  Now that I look back, I’m not sure why I even bothered spilling my guts in the tubing.  What would the difference have been if I had just let the chunks fly in mid-floor?  I’m sure the creature wouldn’t have noticed…

The creature was still there now, lying across the floor, soaking wet, head crushed in, courtesy of my army boot.  I was almost sure I could even see the cleat marks in the soggy flesh…

Though I didn’t think I’d vomit again, my stomach still felt weak.  There hadn’t been very much inside me in the first place.  Now my face was hot and I was sure it was breaking out with tiny popped vessels in the form of red dots.

I clenched my gun in one hand tightly while putting my other shaking member to my forehead.  I tried to gather my thoughts…

What was happening here?  Why was I stuck here in a zombie-infested house all alone where bullets were a luxury and your humanity was your best friend and your worst enemy…

Chris… that was why.  Chris had gotten lost.  If it were not for him… I could be home now… but then again… I could also be dead.  He had saved my life.  Poor Joseph had not been so lucky.  He had not been able to escape the dogs.  When I had seen them, I had been frozen with fear, stuck to the spot with no bullets and heavy feet.

The dogs had looked at me with lust in their eyes.  They wanted my flesh.  They had not even finished making a meal out of Joseph… greedy bastards…

Chris had saved me.  He had used his own bullets – his own protection – to help me.  He had pulled on my arm, though to a painful extent, I knew that I had to run as fast as he was.  I felt… safer.  As though I wasn’t completely alone.

We had then run to this place – this huge mansion – to escape.  The dogs waited outside, baring their teeth and growling viciously.  We hadn’t had enough bullets to take them all.  Chris had ventured off by himself, and now we were looking for him… and the others… the Bravos…

I slowly pulled myself up.  Chris had saved my life.  I… owed him something.  I would find him.  It was the least I could do.  Even if it meant putting myself at risk, what did I have to lose now?  I was already here.

I stepped across the blood stained floor, a new found strength in my stomach.  Raising my gun, I slowly opened the door of the bathroom.  The groaning sound already had reached my ears, and stepping out, I saw the gruesome refection in the mirror in front of me.

It was coming…

Planting my feet firm on the floor and gathering my thoughts and new determination, I twisted my body around… and began to fire.