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They walked over the da way to a soft, faded gray that hid all but the brightest stars

Rebecca walked quietly alongside Billy, noticed that the clouds were clearing out It would be another hot su her best not to shiver; the sun wouldn&039;t be up properly for another half hour, at least She was tired,that the long, horrible night was finally at its end, that a new day was here, was enough to keep her fro

At the end of the da to a door The went up, Billy first, and stepped into a turbine roos around ce the walls There were two doors The north door dead-ended in a storage roo, fenced corridor to another door

"Keep going?" Billy asked, and Rebecca nodded It was probably another dead end, but she wanted to keep fro as possible They&039;d witnessed enough death and destruction already; she didn&039;t want to have to go back for seconds

She paused as Billy started down the walk, noticing a silvered edge to the heavy door It was reinforced with steel, and there was a keycard reader next to it Soed a stick under the bottoht, reaching down to touch the glistening wood When she pulled her hand away, slender strings of goo clung to her fingertips, stretching away from the stick

For a half second, she had a confused idea that for some reason, the leeches had propped the door open--then shook it off, re herself that there were leeches all over the facility She wiped her hand on her vest and caught up to Billy, as alnum

The door was unlocked, and Billy pushed it open Another ce down another short hall Billy stepped inside, sighing, Rebecca sighing along with him Would this place never end?

The rooh they couldn&039;t see anything froht They&039;d taken two steps inside when they heard the click of a lock, the door sealing behind the

Billy stepped back to the door, rattled the handle "It was closed before Doesn&039;t h--"

Rebecca heard so then, a low sound that made her heart skip The sound quickly rose, becah from the room beyond the entryway

Without a word, she and Billy walked away frohtly, stepped around the corner--

--and froze, staring at the vast sea of life that surrounded them, that seemed to cover every square inch of wall, that dripped and crawled across the ceiling, the floor Leeches, thousands of theh and wide, split by a s the back wall Incinerators lined a central construct that rose to the ceiling, openings in themetal door on the south wall, set back into a recessed doorhich appeared to be the only other way out--if they wanted to run through all those leeches, which Rebecca most definitely did not The cavernous space was bi-level, a catwalk encircling the central construct, an open fire at one side of the upper walk casting a flickering glow over the black, bubbling sea that washed across the rooure, a tall, broad-shouldered youngin the salt-scented, rotten air

"Welcoain, a leech curled on each shoulder, others trailing down his extended arlad you could join us You&039;re the guests of honorAfter all, this is your wake"

Rebecca only stared, stunned into silence, but Billy took a step forward, raising his voice

"You&039;re his son, aren&039;t you? Or his grandson?"

Rebecca knew i Of course

"That&039;s right," the youngwidely, a fiendish sover his body like water, like a , dark hair shortened, turned white His youthful features , his eyes changing color, the pupils enlarging In seconds, he was no longer the young h his smile was just as cold, just as brutal

It was Billy&039;s turn to be silent, as Rebecca breathed out the name, unable to believe that it wasn&039;t another trick, another false face "Dr Marcus?"

The o, Spencer had h his hive es were blurred and dark, indistinct in shape and color, but the feelings were as clear as they had been on the day he&039;d lost his life

He had been expecting an attack for some time, but it had still co in his lab, the children playing in the pool at his feet, when the door burst open--and then there was gunfire, loud and final He re at the holes in his chest, his gut--and re into the rooasped his last breaths Albert Wesker and Willia!

He reer that clawed to the surface of his dyinginto the pool, the children scattering as everything went to black

and then the hts of the ed, pale and ugly in death, but loved, so very loved by the hive mind He had been their God, their creator and teacher, their father They swaled and strained to enter the gaping holes that had been blown through his poor flesh

Marcus found his voice, telling the two stunned watchers what they needed to know, to understand "They leftit all to the ruin of time They didn&039;t understand, you see Time as needed It took years for the T-virus inside my queen to reconstruct, to evolveAnd to become the variation that created what I a his moment in the sun of their wonder "So, you are correct I arandson--and every other extension, all other offspring, the union between Marcus and his queen My queen She lives inside of s to her children"

At the intensity of his joy, his trius, tickled their way across his most fa, laughing aloud at the revulsion that crossed the faces of his two young guests If only they knew! The phenomenal rapture he felt as part of the hive, its leader and follower--Marcus&039;s death had freed hireater than his human life ever would have allowed

"I scattered the virus," he said "The world will knohat Ureed have contrived Uod for what he created I am the archetype of a new man, far superior to the lonely pattern of hu to join the hive, to unite as one ain, his face curled in loathing, his voice tight with it "You&039;re drea You&039;re a sick, twisted freak, whatever you are--and the world will seek you out, but only to kill you, to put an end to your insane delusions!"