The Spencer Estate loomed ahead, a shadowed monolith nestled in the cradle of the Arklay Mountains. Mist clung to the iron fencing like a shroud. Trees groaned in the wind. Lightning cracked above, illuminating the gothic mansion in pale white light.
Jasen stood at the treeline, his eyes narrowed beneath the hood of his tactical cloak. His weapons were slick with blood—some infected, some fresh. The trip from the Marcus encounter to here had been anything but quiet.
Mutated wolves had flanked me along the ridge, forcing me to scale a rock face and cut through a bramble-thick animal trail. Two more Cerberus packs ambushed me outside the mansion gates, forcing me to unload nearly half my shotgun shells before they fell.
Now I'm low on ammo, bruised, winded, and bruising more with every breath—but I was here.
I moved quickly across the gravel courtyard, boots soaking in puddles, eyes scanning the second floor for movement. The last window on the right glowed faintly. Candles.
Jill?
Or Wesker.
I didn't waste time. The front door had already been forced open—Bravo Team. Maybe even Alpha.
Inside, the mansion was just as I remembered it from the games—and infinitely worse in person.
The grand hall was a cathedral of creeping dread. Red carpet. A twin staircase. Faint music from a broken phonograph echoing in the background. The smell of rot lingered beneath the polished wood and aging velvet.
Raising my pistol and moved left, past the armor-lined corridor, heading for the west wing.
That's where the first horrors waited.
The first zombie was kneeling over a STARS uniform.
Kenneth.
The infected looked up, blood dribbling from its jaw, and lunged.
I pivoted, shot twice—center mass, then the head.
Kenneth's killer dropped, twitching. The other body barely recognizable.
I grimaced. "Even knowing it was coming doesn't make it easier."
I moved on, deeper through the corridors.
Traps.
Pressure plates.
Puzzle doors.
Like some twisted murder house engineered by mad architects.
At one point, I was forced to roll through a hallway just as a massive pendulum axe sliced down from the ceiling. Another corridor erupted with flames when I opened a door the wrong way, barely ducking back before it engulfed the entry.
The zombies came in waves.
Some slow, shambling.
Others twitching violently, their heads jerking like broken marionettes.
The worst was the mutated spider in the greenhouse—its legs stretched across the ceiling, the abdomen bloated and leaking toxin.
I ducked into a storage room just in time to avoid a webbed ambush. I burned the creature out with his last phosphorous round, watching the flames crawl up its grotesque form until it collapsed with a hiss.
"I swear this was easier behind a controller," I had muttered.
I kept moving, following the path Jill had once taken in the original story. Through the broken piano room. Past the emblem puzzle in the dining hall. Down into the crypts.
And finally—
Into the armory hall.
There was shouting.
A door slammed ahead. Gunfire echoed off the stone.
Jasen sprinted forward and turned the corner—
And nearly collided with Chris Redfield.
Chris had his rifle up, eyes wide, clothes stained with ash and blood. He froze when he saw Jasen, gun ready.
"Who the hell—?!"
Jasen threw up one hand. "Hold it! Not infected. Not hostile."
Chris's finger twitched near the trigger. "Then who are you?"
Jasen slowly pulled down his hood and removed the face wrap.
It's Jasen. I'm here to help."
Chris stared at him for a long second yelling "what the hell are you doing here".
And then the lights flickered.
A low growl echoed from the dark hallway behind them.
They both turned.
Snarls.
The hallway behind them erupted in noise. Dozens of infected shuffled forward—dogs, two zombies in STARS gear, and what looked like the mangled corpse of a hunter, half-skinned and dripping.
Jasen turned. "No time. Help me clear it!"
Chris didn't hesitate. He stepped in line with Jasen, the two moving like a synchronized fireteam.
BOOM!
Chris blasted the dog mid-leap.
Jasen shot the zombie in the jaw, then switched to his knife for the second, slashing its tendons before embedding his blade in the side of its head.
"You're good," Chris muttered.
"Thanks you too."
A shriek echoed down the hall.
"Hunter!" Chris yelled.
"I see it."
Jasen sidestepped as the hunter lunged. He emptied three rounds into its midsection, then ducked as Chris shoulder-checked it into a stone pillar and finished it with a round to the skull.
The hall fell quiet.
Panting, they reloaded side by side.
Chris turned to Jasen.
"You gonna tell me what the hell is going on? Where's Jill? Where's Barry?"
Jasen glanced at the hallway.
"Safe. For now. Okay first Barry and I—took down Chief Irons. The guy was in deep with Umbrella."
Chris froze.
"You what?"
Jasen nodded. "He was helping them cover this whole thing up. Barry found proof. I helped expose him. You've seen the rest back at the city."
Chris stepped back. "You've been planning this?"
"Yeah. And there's more. Wesker—he's not who you think he is."
Chris raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"He's working with Umbrella. Always has. He's the reason your here. This whole mission—it's a setup. A field test for Umbrella's bioweapons. Your the test subjects."
Chris stared at him, eyes filled with disbelief and a growing storm of fury.
"You're serious."
Jasen nodded.
Chris stepped back again, visibly trying to process it.
"Why didn't you tell me? Or Jill? You could've trusted us."
Jasen lowered his head slightly.
"Because you're a straight arrow, Chris. A damn good one. But this required a sniper's touch. Quiet. Precise. One wrong move and Umbrella would've buried all of us before we even got close."
Chris exhaled through his nose, still processing.
"You still should've told us."
"I know. I'm sorry."
Chris stared at him for a long moment.
"Fine. I hear you. But no more secrets. You want my help, you be straight with me from now on."
Jasen nodded. "Deal."
Chris slung his rifle.
"Good. Just be ready when Jill finds out. She won't take this quietly."
Jasen gave a half-smile. "Wouldn't expect her to."
"Alright," Chris said, squaring his shoulders. "Let's find Barry and Jill—and finish this."
Side by side, the two men headed deeper into the nightmare.