Reaching the mansion undetected was pretty simple because there was a hole created by El Gigante earlier. I pushed my back against the wall and looked at Miss Rika on the other side, focusing not to miss her hand sign.
She raised her right hand and made some signals.
I understood it and gave a signal back.
Nodding, Miss Rika quickly took cover and signaled me again.
We entered through the hole and immediately heard some noises.
Miss Rika put up her finger on her lips and gave me a warning look. She signaled to be quiet and follow her. She moved stealthily and I followed suit.
I could hear the sound of heavy breathing coming from the darkness ahead, accompanied by growls. The growl of a monster that would be more than happy to kill us.
From the sound, it was probably either a zombie dog, or worse, Cerberus that had been infected with T-virus.
It was a good thing we decided to be careful and slow rather than rushing in. Otherwise, we might have ended up dead or bitten.
Peeking over the corner, I saw three mutated dogs with blood and saliva dripping down its maws. The dog was a mix of canine and reptilian features.
It had a thick tail and a scaly skin that looked like it had been covered with armor. Its head resembled a wolf and it had four sharp claws instead of paws.
Cerberus was patrolling the hall, sniffing around. It slowly moved toward our direction, and when it stopped at a spot where it could smell us, it barked loudly.
It was a loud and piercing noise, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the building.
'Oh, fuck,' I thought.
I looked back at Miss Rika and saw her taking her Desert Eagle out of its holster. I also took out my revolver and pointed at the Cerberus.
As the dog started to turn its head towards us, Miss Rika pulled the trigger without hesitation.
BANG! The bullet went right through the dog's skull.
But that wasn't enough to put it down completely. It staggered back, blood flowing out of the wound. Miss Rika then shot it twice more in rapid succession. Each bullet pierced through its head, and finally it fell dead.
One dead, only two left.
"Cover me." She told me and I nodded.
Miss Rika sprinted toward the remaining dogs while firing at them. She was moving at full speed so I quickly shot a cover fire to prevent the dogs from catching up to her. I managed to shoot one of the dogs in the head, leaving only one of them alive.
Miss Rika was now right in front of it, her gun aimed straight at its face.
The dog let out a howl but she didn't give it time to do anything else. With a single pull of the trigger, her bullet went straight through its forehead and it collapsed instantly.
"Nice," I commented as I approached her. She gave me a nod and said nothing else.
"There are footprints on the ground." Miss Rika said as we walked down the hallway, looking for the entrance to the laboratory.
"Yeah, and it leads to that door." I pointed at the end of the hallway.
Based on the trace, the owner of the footprints were carefully moving. They tried to avoid any danger and didn't make any sound as they moved around. I couldn't tell exactly how many people were here but I guessed it must have been around ten people.
"Ten, maybe?" Miss Rika said. "But they were in a rush so they didn't check every room carefully."
"Yeah, I agree with you." I replied with a smile. "Or they already know their target. There is one footstep clearly different from the others, it might belong to Leon."
Miss Rika didn't say anything, just continued walking. When we reached the end of the corridor, she opened the door and stepped inside the room.
Inside was a spacious area filled with shelves full of books. A few couches were placed around the middle of the room along with tables covered with papers. It looked like someone had left their research material here for future reference.
"Nothing here." She muttered.
I nodded, "Let's go upstairs." I said and went out of the room.
As I stepped outside the room, I noticed something on the ground. A trail of dried blood led into another room. It was fresh enough for me to smell the iron in the blood. The footprints also led to the room so it was obvious that the previous visitor of the mansion came to that room too.
Noticing the same thing, Miss Rika gestured to me to stop. I crouched and slowly approached the door. Miss Rika then kicked the door open and we both quickly pointed our gun at the room.
There were no monsters, nor there was any sign of life.
Instead, I found myself looking at a gruesome sight. Several dead bodies lay scattered across the floor, their heads crushed like grapes and their bodies mangled and twisted beyond recognition.
"Jesus," Miss Rika muttered beside me, her expression turning grim. "They are STARS members, our people."
"Yeah, and I can see that the weapon is still there. But the ammos..." I trailed off and looked at the bodies again. "Yeah, nothing. Just the weapons are left."
It seemed they were attacked and killed before they even realized what was happening.
"They are being attacked by an enemy with a weapon. A super human with strength to tear humans limb to limb, or something." I said.
Narrowing her eyes, Miss Rika touched the corpses to find clues on who was responsible for the murder. There was no trace of struggle on the corpses or around the area. It seemed they died without even fighting back, as if they were killed instantly. Their guns and rifles weren't used, their melee weapons were still on the table, and even the hand grenades weren't used at all.
"Something strong attacked them." I added. "A Tyrant, a mutant, a zombie, or..."