Not even Miss Rika expected this kind of attack. This was a full-scale assault. It was planned.
Someone was planning this. Someone was leading them, commanding the zombies. A mutant or human. Or maybe... something worse.
A zombie apocalypse is bad enough, but this one was orchestrated by someone. The fact those zombies moved systematically was enough proof.
"Shit. Get ready to fire at my command."
I could tell that Miss Rika was panicking a little, and that made me worried as well. But she quickly composed herself and took her position.
"Ready when you are, leader." I replied to her and took my own spot as well. "What are the orders?"
"We're gonna give them a little present before they reach the mansion," she answered. "Just focus on the few special ones. There should be some zombies that control the others, just like what happened to us."
She took aim, and so did I.
Through the scope, I tried to identify the zombies that might cause a problem, but can't find any. All of them were normal zombies that you could find anywhere in the street.
Of course their numbers had dwindled, but there were still more zombies than humans in this world right now.
Still, I managed to see some special zombies among them. They ran faster and attacked with their hands. They didn't look like your typical slow walking zombie. These guys were strong.
"We'll start firing once they reach that tree over there," she said. "You see our target?"
We watched the zombie horde as it got closer and closer, and we waited for them to pass that particular spot.
And we fired our first shots.
A few seconds later, I fired my second round.
Our shots hit two of the zombies in front of the group, one of the special zombies. It stumbled down and the other zombies tripped on it, slowing the advance. But they quickly recovered and kept running forward.
And after our first shot, they began to notice us and changed direction. Some of them moved toward the cliff, running like a madman as they climbed the slope.
"They noticed us!" Miss Rika yelled and started shooting again. "Cover me! I will keep firing!"
I aimed at another special zombie, then another, and fired.
My shot missed the head and instead went into the chest, blowing up a hole on the body. My aim was good, but not enough to deal with such a fast moving target at this distance.
We were more than 400 meters away from the mansion.
Miss Rika's second shot managed to kill another special zombie. She quickly changed the magazine and started to shoot again.
Shot after shot was fired, and she kept killing more zombies with every single one of them. But she was slowly being outnumbered, and her speed wasn't fast enough to keep the number of the horde in check. Soon they would reach us, and then we would be surrounded.
And the zombies would tear us apart.
I aimed and shot again. Another head exploded.
But there were so many, too many of them.
Knowing we would only dig our grave if we stayed here, Miss Rika ordered us to leave. I quickly packed everything, grabbed my sword, and ran down the cliff. We passed the trees and jumped down to the ground, running as fast as we could to avoid getting caught by the zombies.
While running, I asked Miss Rika.
"Are we moving to a new spot?"
"Yes, we have to. But don't forget about our main mission," She answered while panting hard. Sweat dripped from her forehead. "We will climb up a tree to avoid these zombies. That will put us in a tough spot but we have no choice."
Indeed, climbing up the tree allowed us to dodge those zombies. They couldn't climb or think, and even though we were visible to them, they didn't come closer than that.
We climbed a tree with a lot of leaves that would cover our presence.
"Phew, that was close. At least we are safe for now." I said to myself, and looked at the mansion. "Although it seems like they're not exiting the mansion soon. The zombies have spread around the garden."
"Yeah, I can see them," Miss Rika replied, panting. "But I can't see Leon. Maybe he had entered through that hole. I can only pray that he is okay. We can't do anything for him."
She paused, her eyes locked onto something far away. Something inside the mansion, probably.
"We can only pray that he is fine..." She muttered again.
Then her expression turned serious. "Anyway, the mansion has a lot of secrets. We guessed there was a hidden laboratory in it. It should be a big laboratory, but no one knew the entrance."
"Once again, we have to be alert and make sure no one enters the mansion," she continued.
Some zombies walked past us, seemingly trying to find a way to get to us, and we could hear them growling and hissing.
It was nerve wracking.
Miss Rika suddenly tensed up and looked at something far away.
I followed her gaze, and I saw the source of her reaction.
It was a monster. A humanoid monster, similar to the tyrant.
But it wasn't a Tyrant.
With a large body, pale white skin, and bulging muscles that were exposed, it was obvious that it was a different creature. A monster. It was bigger and taller than any normal human. It looked like a cross between a gorilla and a human.
On its hand, a large club with spikes on it. It was dragging it like a caveman would do to its weapon.
The club was made of bones, and it was bigger than the size of an average adult. With its gigantic size and powerful muscles, it was no wonder it was strong enough to carry it.
Miss Rika was staring at it with disbelief, unable to believe her own eyes. She had never seen such a creature before.
However, I was different. I recognized this monster. I knew exactly what it was.
A mutated in Resident Evil, a monster called the El Gigante.
"Miss Rika..." I whispered quietly to her, "That one is bad news."
While Tyrant was a monster made by the T virus, an experimental virus made by the Umbrella Corporation, El Gigante was made by Plagas parasite.
Two monsters created by two different viruses. The fact that they were together meant... It wasn't just Umbrella involved with this whole thing. Another corporation, a company that could make monsters as well, was behind all of this.
Most possibly a cult from France that worshipped the Mother virus and the ancestor of Ashley, Saddler. It's an organization called Los Illuminados.
We had another enemy. The worst-case scenario I could imagine had just become a reality.
"What is that thing?" Miss Rika asked me. Her voice trembled as she spoke. Her eyes never left the giant creature.
There was no need to hide it from her. She knew I entered the game, she would find out about this sooner or later.
"Is that the name you call that thing?"
I nodded and took my rifle.
"Yes, I know this thing. I know its strength, and we need to stay away from it." I replied.
"Just what we need. Another monster."