The 0714 Files: File #1 Inferno (Remake 2)

Chapter 63

We step onto the lift and I smack the button to take us down, the corridor ahead is filled with steam from the boilers in the room. It clings to my skin, makes the air thick and hard to breathe for a minuscule second when we first enter it—

I don't miss the screech belonging to those plant creatures. "Goddammit," I groan, grabbing my shotgun. Spotting one ahead that hasn't stood up yet. "Run past it!" I shout, doing so myself. Leon follows behind without question.

Another stumbles towards us through the steam and I clench my teeth. "Get the fuck out of our way!" I'm desperate to get us to the emergency train before it's too late as the explosion of the mansion plays over and over in my mind. There's no coming back if we are caught in that. Aiming, I shoot it in the head. Watching it stumble back, taking the stun as a chance to dart past it. Only to come across a third one, "Give me a break!" I fume at the sight, running and aiming, firing another shell at its head.

"Keep going!" Leon shouts as I crash through a door with an exit sign to the side of it. We freeze for a second at the thick branches and vines that have grown through the concrete, meaning Plant 43 had grown all the way into here. Jesus, how big is this plant? What if it makes it to the surface? What would that cause then? A full-blown environmental disaster for this area at the very least, just like with Plant 42. "There's a ladder!" Leon grabs my hands and moves towards it, where he crouches and moves to climb first. I follow as soon as he's far enough down to do so.

He's waiting at the bottom, and as soon as my feet are settled on the floor. We turn for the door ahead—

Something drops from the vines and ceiling. Standing to reveal it's the Tyrant that's chased us everywhere else tonight. "Is this a fucking joke?" Leon insists as it stalks forward.

Scanning behind us, "Around here!" I yell, turning and racing in a circle around the platform. Vegetation hangs over us as that thing remains hot on our tail.

We make it into the next room, not stopping as it chases us effortlessly. Even after we're met with the wall of suffocating heat and smoke from the pipes and boilers all overheating.

"Eight minutes until detonation."

A zombie stands as we race past, snarling ferociously. It's ignored as we run out of the room into a relatively small passage into the next area. This one just as stifling as the last. A bridge leading us to safety is squished in between all the pipes in here.

We're close to the door when there's an explosion and the door is blocked off by a wall of fire. I turn to ask Leon what to do next—

That thing is behind us, an arm zips towards me lightning fast. Its fingers grip my skull, lifting me from the ground like I'm made of feathers. "Madeleine!" Leon shouts as I kick my feet out, ready to scream for help—

There's an explosion, forcing the thing to let me go and I stumble as I land on my feet hard. Leon and I trip into the railing beside us. I grab the metal, hissing at the heat burning my fingertips from the metal sitting beside the fire.

A second explosion from below splits the bridge apart completely. A third slightly above knocks us down as something in the structure breaks. Leon gives a sharp yelp while I give a cry as we hit the floor beneath us, hard. It takes everything in me to push up onto my hands and knees, trying my best to ignore the pain radiating through my entire body at the fall—

The bridge above us gives and drops, threatening to hit Leon and my heart drives right into my throat from terror—

He rolls out of the way towards me. Panting as sweat lines his forehead. His cheeks are bright red as he moves onto his hands and knees now. I stand, "Leon, c'mon," I grab the back of his bullet vest. I pull him with me into a frantic run from the room. I'm unsure if that thing's tracking us or not, and my energy is running on fumes now.