THE UMBRELLA CONSPIRACY

I can blow away zombies and monsters with the best of 'em; show me a spider and I lose my freaking mind.

The short, empty tu

The metal door creaked open and she stepped in, feeling the change in the air immediately. The tu

Jill gri

Jill hesitated, gazing wistfully at the small shaftand then turned around, sighing. She had to at least take a look.

She walked into the stone corridor that stretched in front of her, the temperature immediately dropping back to the now familiar unpleasant chill. The tu

Frowning, Jill walked toward the giant rock, trying to make out the blue object. Halfway down the dim tu

She stepped into the small offshoot, examining the worn stones at its opening. There was a small door to her right, and Jill realized that the passage and room could be hidden by way of the mechanism, the walls turned to block the entrance.

Jeez, it must've taken them years to set all this up.

And to think I was impressed with the house…

She opened the door and looked inside. A midsized square room of rough stone, a statue of a bird on a pedestal the only decoration. There was no other exit, and Jill felt a sudden rush of relief as the implications sank in. She could leave the underground tu

Smiling, she stepped back out into the corridor and started toward the giant rock, still curious about the blue thing. As she got closer, she saw that it was a book, bound in blue-dyed leather. It had been thrown carelessly against the base of the stone, laying face down and open. She slung the Remington across her back and crouched down to pick it up.

It was a book-box. Her father had told her about them, though she'd never actually seen one. There was a cut-away section of pages behind the cover where valuables could be hidden, though this one was empty.

She flipped it closed, tracing the gold-leaf letters of the title, Eagle of East, Wolf of West, as she started back toward the elevator. Didn't sound like much of a thriller, though it was nicely bound.

Snick.

Jill froze as the stone beneath her left foot sank down a tiny bit-and she realized at the same instant that the entire tu

Dropping the book, Jill sprinted for cover, arms and legs pumping as the rumbling grew louder, the tripped boulder picking up momentum. The dark opening of the offshoot seemed miles away – -won 't make it, go

In a final, desperate burst of speed she dove for the opening, crashing to the floor and jerking her legs in as the massive rock rolled past, missing her by inches. Even as she drew in her next gasping breath, the boulder hit the end of the tu

For a moment, it was all she could do to huddle against the cold floor and not throw up. When that passed, she slowly got to her feet and dusted herself off. The heels of her hands were abraded and both her knees bruised from the ru

Jill unstrapped the Remington and headed for the elevator shaft, very much looking forward to leaving the underground behind and keeping her fingers crossed that whatever came next, it wouldn't be cold.

And that there wouldn't be any spiders.

The basement was flooded, all right.

Chris stood at the top of a short ramp that led to the basement doors, staring down at his own unsmiling face reflected off of the shimmering water. It looked cold. And deep.

After he'd left Rebecca, he'd continued down the hall and found room 003 at the end, the ladder to the basement level tucked discreetly behind a bookcase in the neatly kept bedroom. He'd descended into a chilled concrete corridor with buzzing fluorescent lights overhead, a dramatic change from the plain wood and simple style of the bunkhouse above.

At least I found the basement.

It appeared that killing Plant 42 was their only option for escape after all. He'd seen no other exit from the bunkhouse, which meant that it had to be past the plant's room or else there was no back door, a thought that left him distinctly unsettled. It didn't seem possible, but then, neither did a carnivorous plant.

And you won't find out until you get this over with.

Chris sighed, and stepped into the water. It was cold, and had an unpleasant chemical smell. He waded down to the door, the water sliding up over his knees and finally stopping at mid-thigh, sloshing gently. Shivering, he pushed the door open and moved inside.

The basement was dominated by a giant glass-fronted tank in the center of the room that extended floor to ceiling, a large, jagged hole toward the bottom right-hand side. Chris wasn't that good at judging volume, but to fill the whole area with water, he figured that the tank had to have held several thousands of gallons.

What the hell were they studying that they needed that much? Tidal waves?

It didn't matter; he was cold, and he wanted to find what he needed to find and get back to dry land. He started off toward the left, slowly, straining against the push and pull of the gently lapping waves.

It was totally unreal, wading through a well-lit concrete room, though he supposed it was no stranger than anything else he'd experienced since the Alpha 'copter had set down. Everything about the Spencer estate had a dream-like feel to it, as if it existed in its own reality far removed from the rest of the world's…

Try nightmare-like. Killer plants, giant snakes, the walking dead-all that's missing is a flying saucer, maybe a dinosaur.

He heard a soft sloshing behind him and glanced over his shoulder… …to see a thick, triangular fin rise up from the water twenty feet away and slide toward him, a wavering gray shadow beneath.

Panic shot through him, an all-encompassing panic that seared away rational thought. He took a giant, ru

He whipped his head around, eyes burning, searching for the fin and saw that it had halved the distance between them. He could see it now – a shark, its rippling, distorted body sliding easily through the water, ten or twelve feet long, its broad tail lashing it forward – the black, soulless eyes set above its pointed grin. -wet bullets misfireChris stumbled away backwards, knowing that he didn't stand a chance of outru