Anomaly (1)

Enrico sighed in relief when he heard Mendell. After fighting together, his trust for the young man was increasing. Even then, he still had some questions, like his unusual strength and uncanny detection skills. Normal people could not do what the young man just did, and it's beginning to make him curious.

Mendell did not notice Enrico's unusual expression and walked forward, carefully treading through the corpses. He had to investigate why the sudden change in enemy encounters happened this time. According to the Chronicler Books his other self had read, the numbers of enemy encountered were always the same, except for their abilities, which differed in every Chronicler's experience.

When Enrico saw his actions, he asked, "Mendell, where are you going?"

Mendell looked back. "I need to know where these zombies came from."

"Then let Kenneth help you."

Mendell shook his head. "I can do it alone. You better rest. We need all the strength to get out of here alive."

"I insist. Remember, you're the one that suggested that we shouldn't separate. Who knows another horde of those monsters might ambush you. Wait." Enrico went back inside the dining room and called, "Kenneth! Come here!"

Kenneth heard Enrico and ran to his direction. "What is it, Captain?"

"Help Mendell scout the area. I repeat. Don't engage with any monsters you meet unless necessary, okay."

"Got it."

"Go get some ammo for that kid."

Kenneth executed it immediately and soon, he was carrying several magazines on his hands.

Enrico nodded and led him to the narrow hallway. When he saw Mendell waiting for him, he smiled and said, "Here he is. Be careful, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks." Mendell looked at Kenneth, - "Let's go."

Enrico waved his hand and closed the door.

Kenneth gave the magazines to Mendell. "Here, take this. I know you're out of ammo."

"Thanks." Mendell took the ammunition and reloaded his gun. He hid the rest inside his bag. When he was ready, he gave Kenneth a thumbs-up sign.

Both of them cautiously moved forward until they reached a spacious area. There was enough room to move around so they were not that worried for possible ambushes. They searched every nook and corner along the way, reaching another narrow hallway until they reached an open door.

Mendell did not detect any dangerous presence but he kept hearing a hissing sound. He observed Kenneth's expression and concluded that he did not hear it. Even then, he still asked, "Hey, did you hear anything, like a hiss or something?"

Kenneth shook his head but he became more alert. Considering this was Mendell, he would not ask such things out of the blue. "Why?"

"Be careful. I hear a soft hissing sound. I suspect that it's another type of those monsters, maybe a snake or something," Mendell explained.

"Do you know where it's coming from?"

Mendell stooped down and leaned his head against the floor. He noticed that the sound became slightly louder. "It's coming from below."

"There's a basement inside this mansion? It's not too farfetched but damn..." Kenneth looked around and whispered, "Why don't we return and inform the rest of the group?"

Mendell stood up and continued walking. "Not before we investigate what's on the other side of that door."

Kenneth knew that it was useless for him to argue so he agreed. He followed beside him as he memorized the path that they were taking.

Mendell was still bothered by the hissing sound. He was sure that it was the Yawn, a menacing snake that served as one of the Bosses in Resident Evil 1. Although it was not that difficult to kill it, that was in the game and this was reality. He did not want to entangle on this and started a conversation with Kenneth, "Hey, did you always wanna become a police?"

Kenneth smiled. "Nah. I love experiments and stuff like that, so I studied to become a Ph.D. in Chemistry. I was actually chosen by Albert Wesker but I can't understand why I'm needed in STARS, especially during these types of missions. I was curious back then, so I joined. After training and knowing how to use a gun, I officially became a part of the Bravo Team. And fun fact, I am the oldest among them, heh!"

Mendel chuckled. "What's that thing on your shoulder?"

Kenneth knew what he was referring to and grinned. "This is a video recording device needed during operations."

Mendell remembered that a videotape could be taken from Kenneth's corpse back in the game. He was always wondering why Kenneth was overwhelmed by one zombie. Maybe his aim was not that good, he thought. Then, he remembered something and asked, "You only came here with a Samurai Edge?"

When Kenneth heard his question, he coughed lightly, and answered, "I'm not pretty sure. Somehow, three of our guns were lost. My rifle, Edward's Steyr Gun, and Richard's shotgun. We're not that crazy to face a dangerous mission using only Samurai Edges."

"Ah, that explains it."

They already reached the entrance and peeked inside. There they saw a small area with a birdcage on the right corner. To the left was a stairway that led to another entrance. Several tables were placed on each side.

Mendell and Kenneth made their way to the room. The first thing they noticed was a dead man sprawled on the ground, with its blood spilled all over.

Mendell picked up a weight holder and threw it against the body. Fortunately, it did not move. To make sure, he took another weight holder and did the same. When he saw that the lying corpse did not react, he approached it.

It was a young blond man, wearing a white collared shirt and black pants. He turned the corpse over and saw that there were gashes on his remaining arm and leg. There was an empty hole on his stomach.

Kenneth moved closer as well as he inspected the corpse. "Half-eaten...signs of something ominous in this place." He stood up and added, "Let's go back, Mendell."

Mendell nodded and walked toward the table. He picked up the only book that was on the table and scrutinized it. "Journal Entry." He was about to open another page when he heard a metallic sound right behind him. Quickly, he turned around and saw that the entrance leading to the dining room was barred with a metallic gate.

"Shit!" Kenneth ran to the gate and tried opening it but it would not budge. "Shit! SHIT!"

Mendell noticed that the birdcage was now opened and suspected that it was the trigger. "Did you just open the birdcage?"

Kenneth nodded. "There's a magazine inside. When I opened it, this happened. Shit!"

"Okay. Keep calm. We need to think things over and - " Mendell stopped talking when he heard several metallic sounds coming from upstairs. If his guess was correct, some sort of a gate was opened. "Kenneth, we're in trouble. I heard something from above, like the sound of an opening gate."

Kenneth gulped loudly as he wiped the sweat off his head. Then he turned on his walkie-talkie and said, "Captain, can you hear me?"

"Yes. Kenneth what's wrong?"

"We're trapped in here."

"Where exactly are you?"

"Just follow the path opposite where we previously went. It's hard to miss us."

"Understood. Over."

Kenneth hid the walkie-talkie back in his pocket and took a deep breath. "It's my fault. I should have not touched anything here."

"That's not true. Who can expect someone will waste any time to create a trap like that," Mendell refuted as he did the 'baseball' stance. He could now smell the disgusting scent getting stronger, rushing toward them. This time, he should be fast because their would-be attackers were Cerberus. But he also detected a scent which he was not familiar with. "A new monster, huh? Don't tell me it's a Boss or something..."

True enough, two Cerberus appeared right out of the entrance. A Cerberus chose to run through the stairs while the other one jumped from above as it targeted Mendell.

Mendell swung against the Cerberus and it zoomed like a ball. It crashed against the wall and guts were splattered all over.

On the other hand, Kenneth shot the Cerberus on the stairs but missed. Even though his last shot connected, it was not enough to kill the Cerberus. "Shit!"

Mendell knew that Kenneth had a not-so spectacular accuracy so he immediately slammed the log against the Cerberus, smashing its body like a pancake. "Don't worry. Just keep on shooting and don't let it get you. Keep a safe distance away from me so I can use my weapon properly."

Kenneth nodded and reloaded his gun as he leaned against the metallic gate that blocked their path.

Another set of Cerberus appeared, this time four of them. They all jumped altogether as soon as they saw Mendell.

Mendell did his stance and swung as hard as he could, hitting the two of them which collided against the wall. Just like the previous Cerberus, their bodies were smashed, some of their guts flew all over.

Kenneth shot the other Cerberus that Mendell missed, and lucky enough, all of his shots connected.

When the last one was about to reach Mendell, he dodged to the right and kicked it as soon as it landed on the ground. He followed it up by another swing, squashing its head.

As soon as they were done killing the Cerberus, another pack of Cerberus appeared.

Kenneth was about to start firing his gun when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Kenneth!" Enrico shouted as he peeked through the gate. "What's the situation?"

"There are lots of Cerberus coming from above. We already killed at least ten fuckers but the numbers are not decreasing!"

"Understood." Enrico looked behind and continued, " - Forest and Edward, help Mendell and Kenneth kill those dogs."

"Yes, Captain." They both said in unison as they knelt and prepared their sniping rifles.

"Kenneth, move to the other side. We'll snipe those things," Enrico further instructed.

Kenneth dashed to where the dead man was and started shooting.

As soon as the gate was clear, Forest and Edward started shooting, taking care that they would not hit Mendell's log.

While this was happening, Mendell was fighting another Cerberus that was sneaking, which suddenly lunged at him from above. He thrust the log upward and followed it up with a left swing. Kenneth finished it with a shot in the head.

Then they saw something which made them gasped.

Mendell frowned when he saw this. "Why are there spiders in this area?"