by Angel Ramon
Maria puts the amber ball on the first clock and it jumps from 2 to 6. The middle clock goes from 12 to 4, the third clock remains unaffected. Maria then puts the Emerald ball on the third clock and it jumps from 45 to 0. The middle clock now reads 4:00.
“Hmm… that doesn’t seem right, but anyway here’s the last ball.” She says not so confidently.
She inserts Obsidian ball into the middle clock and it jumps from 4:00 to all the way to 1:30. Nothing happens. At first Maria is all confused and she takes a minute to think about what she is doing.
“Hmm… Interesting. It seems these balls are weigh different and when put into the clocks they change the clocks differently. It could be that I can’t be perfect with the first and third clocks because then the ball in the middle clock will affect the time as well, both hour and minute. Let’s see if I can see a pattern…” She thinks in her head.
Removing all the balls the middle clock resets to the original 12:45 time. She reinserts the Amber ball into the first clock and sees the middle clock jumps four hours head.
“I understand all that matters is the middle clock, the other two are just there to help and throw me off at the same time. In otherwords, I can’t worry about the first and third clocks, only the middle clock matters. That makes it a bit easier.” She continues to think in her head.
When she puts back the Obsidian ball back into the middle clock, she sees the clock jump 9 hours and 15 minutes. Finally, putting the emerald ball into the third clock causes the time to jump 45 minutes.
Once again she removes the balls and the middle clock resets. Studying what she witnessed she decides to insert the Obsidian ball into the first clock and the time jumps 9 hours to 9:45.
“Ok, so all I need is 3 hours and half hours. Sounds easy enough, oh… Charles you built yourself quite the brainteaser here. Too bad it comes at a time where if I don’t solve it I’m a dead bitch.” She says to herself.
She inserts the amber ball into the third clock and the time on the middle jumps 60 minutes back to 9:45 to Maria’s shock.
“Ok… so all I need is three hours and half hours once again. Shit this is one weird puzzle. I’ll be having nightmares with clocks for a while
Finally, inserting the emerald ball into the middle clock causes it to jump three and a half hours to exactly 12:15. The middle clock begins to make a slow melody. After the melody stops the first clock resets to 12, the third clock resets to 15, and the middle clock opens up revealing a gear.
“What the hell just happened? Oh my lord, I’ll never see clocks the same ever again. Either that or I might have taken LSD by accident.” She is shell shocked by the outcome of the puzzle.
After getting over her shock, she grabs the gear.
Picked up a gold gear. This is a small gear and there is an insert in the middle for the other gear. Perhaps the gear comes in two parts…
“Where could the other gear be? It looks like I might have to pick the lock for the funeral parlor after all and where could Danny be. I haven’t seen him for a while. I hope he’s ok or I hope he’s still on my side. I can’t help but not to trust that Nicolai guy, he looks more crooked than my dirty uncle.” Maria becomes concern about her situation.
She heads out of the room and back to the dining room. She begins to pick the lock for the funeral parlor and after a bit of a struggle, she finally picks the lock. With her shotgun in hand, she opens the door carefully.
Entering the parlor, she is marveled by the stained glass in the ceiling and how it’s been up there for over 200 years without falling. The parlor is rather small in size, but filled with cherry wood benches and these events were usually reserved for the upper middle class. At least that is what Maria can tell by the scenery.
The room is quiet and Maria continues to investigate the area for the other gear. She heads towards the back of the parlor to continue investigating. At the altar she finds a pickup.
Picked up Acid Grenade Rounds. Acid rounds: 6.
These rounds are effective against living things and experimental creatures. They’re ineffective against plant creatures and creatures of the Earth.
“More hardware for my baby, looks like me and you are gonna be best buddies.” Maria says humorously after getting the new ammo type.
When she reaches the back of the parlor, she finds a chest that is open.
Picked up a sliver gear. Maria puts the two gears together to get the Bell Tower Gear.
“Yes! Now I can get that clock going. Hopefully I won’t be too late for the chopper or at least the pilot will hear the clock when it rings. It’s almost 12 o’clock, time to get moving.” She says as she hurries to the top of the Bell Tower.
When she gets to the middle of the funeral parlor, she hears a loud crack from the glass above…
Chapter 9
When the glass breaks, a flesher comes down into parlor to the shock of Maria. The flesher screeches loudly, Maria backs up slowly to the door trying to escape the room. The flesher sticks out its tongue trying to cut Maria in half. She is able to dodge out of the way and pumps a shotgun blast onto the flesher. The flesher begins to claw towards her and slashes her. Maria is able to jump over the slash.
She runs from the flesher back to the altar, the flesher follows her. When she reaches the altar the flesher jumps towards her with its claw ready to cut her. Maria is able to duck under the attack and the creature jumps over her. With the creature having its back turned, Maria finishes it off with a couple of shotgun blasts.
Shotgun Ammo: 24
“Whoa! That was a close one.” Maria says while catching her breath.
After the jump scare, she goes up to the top of the bell tower. When she gets the top of the tower, she hears a loud scream.
“Ooo… Maria!” Nemesis says surprising Maria.
“What the hell are you doing here?” She asks in complete shock.
She sees a live cord next to the downed light and thinks about using it against Nemesis.
What will Maria do?
1. Fight Nemesis
2. Use the cord
You have chosen choice #2.
Maria takes the cord and waits until Nemesis grabs her. Once it grabs her, she sticks the live cord onto the creature. Nemesis gets electrocuted and falls over the concrete railing onto the floor.
“Sucker!” She says boastfully.
She climbs up to the machine room and spots a reloading station next to the clock.
Maria mixes one jar of gunpowder A and gunpowder B to get gunpowder C.
She mixes the gunpowder C with Gunpowder A to get gunpowder AC. She loads the gunpowder AC into the reloading station and gets acid rounds for the grenade launcher.
Picked up +6 Acid Rounds. Acid Rounds: 12
She loads the gunpowder B into the station and gets shotgun shells.
Picked up +7 Shotgun Ammo. Shotgun Ammo: 31
She sees where the gear belongs and places the gear onto the clock. Once the gear is in, Maria starts the clock and once the clock strikes 12 it begins to ring.
“Yes the bell is ringing! I just gotta hope I’m not too late.” Maria says in hope.
Meanwhile a chopper is indeed flying over the area and the pilot hears the bell tower ringing.
“Wait a minute I hear the bell ringing and I see a survivor!” The pilot says.
Over the megaphone the pilot says to Maria, “Hey young woman, stay right there. I’m here to pick you up!”
Maria taking a deep breath in relief knowing she’s ready to get out says, “Finally it’s all over. Poor Danny, where can he be? I hope he gets here soon, but I can’t worry about that. Angel, I’m on my way to you and together we will defeat Hybrid!”
As the chopper gets closer, Maria hears the sound of a rocket being loaded. After a quick second, she spots a rocket heading towards the chopper.
“No!” She screams as the rocket hits the chopper dead on.
She looks below and spots Nemesis with the rocket launcher in hand.
“You bastard!” She screams.
Nemesis aims for her and she avoids direct impact, but the blast is large enough to knock her down to the courtyard.
Maria is lying down unconscious and Nemesis approaches her. Nemesis takes out his tentacle and sticks it in Maria’s mouth. He sticks in a parasite carrying the Broken Arrow virus and the parasite goes into her body spreading eggs for its embryos.
Nemesis prepares to finish Maria off figuring the embryos will be born quicker on a dead body. Before the creature could do anything though, Danny comes to the courtyard. He begins to shoot at Nemesis.
“Get away from her you creep! Why not try someone your own size?” Danny screams at Nemesis while shooting his assault rifle.
Nemesis rushes towards Danny and deals a hard right punch to him. He goes down hard and doesn’t get back up. Although Danny goes down, the confrontation gives Maria time to get back up.
“Why do I feel so weak and sick? What did that bastard do to me?” She says not knowing that she has been infected with the Broken Arrow virus.
Despite feeling a little weak, she stands up looking at Nemesis. She pulls out her grenade launcher and loads in the acid rounds. She fires 3 rounds at Nemesis and all hit the creature. Despite the shots hitting Nemesis head on, the creature remains standing strong. Nemesis runs towards her and attempts to punch her, but she’s able to side step out of the way.
Acid Rounds: 9
Condition: Virus!
She tries to run in order to get some room from Nemesis. However the virus in her body weakens her. As a result, she falls to the floor giving Nemesis time to turn around. Nemesis turns around and goes after her again, this time he grabs her and throws her into the bushes. The bushes are filled with thorns that cut into Maria’s skin and she begins to bleed.
Nemesis stretches and does a running punch to a weakened Maria.
Condition: Caution (Level 1)
Nemesis picks her up and while saying its catchphrase, it punches Maria repeatedly until Danny is able to get back up and begins to shoot Nemesis catching its attention.
Condition: Caution (Level 2)
“Ooo… Danny!” Nemesis says to the shock of Danny.
“Looks like the ugly freak show finally learned my name after all!” He replies.
He shoots Nemesis and dodges its attack trying to distract it until Maria is able to get up. After a couple of minutes, Maria gets up and tries to shoot Nemesis, but sees Danny is in the way.
“Danny! Get out of the way! He’s mine!” She orders Danny away from Nemesis.
She shoots several rounds at Nemesis and all of them hit the creature. Nemesis kneels down and Maria pulls out her pistol. She slowly walks towards the creature and prepares to finish off Nemesis by shooting it right in its eye.
Acid Rounds: 5
“Nice try Nemesis, but you’re just another one of those failed Hybrid Experiments. You wanted Maria? I’ll give you that bitch!” She says arrogantly as she is about to pull the trigger on her pistol.
Just as she’s ready to pull the trigger, Nemesis grabs her gun and is able to pull it from her. The creature pulls her gun and throws it towards the bushes. It grabs Maria by her throat and begins to choke her.
Danny grabs his survival knife and stabs Nemesis in the back to get its attention. Nemesis lets go of Maria and gives chase to Danny. Nemesis punches Danny to the floor and tries to insert a tentacle on its hand into Danny’s mouth.
Maria gets up and begins to launch the remaining acid rounds at Nemesis. She runs out of acid rounds, but Nemesis does go down on the floor. She rushes towards Danny with the limited energy she has and checks up on him.
“You ok Danny? Thanks for saving me. I don’t think I would have survived.” Maria thanks Danny.
“No sweat sweetheart.” Danny replies.
While both are talking, Nemesis gets right back up without any of them realizing.
“Wait a minute, that bastard is back up. Maria, watch your back!” Danny screams trying to warn her about Nemesis.
Condition: Danger
Before Maria could react though, Nemesis lands a hard punch knocking her out. Danny jumps up and runs to get room. He shoots his rifle while Nemesis runs towards her. The creature grabs Danny and attempts to insert the parasite again. Danny spots his survival knife on the back of Nemesis and pulls it out. He stabs the vial creature in the eyes blinding it and pumps a clip of ammo before Nemesis finally goes down.
He uses an incendiary grenade that he has and uses it to burn the creature’s outer shell.
“Ooo… Danny!” Nemesis says as it goes down on the floor.
Danny sees Maria is still on the floor not moving an inch. He begins to think the worse has happened to her.
“Maria, are you alive? Please tell me yes!” Danny asks an unconscious Maria.
At first he gets no response from her, so he pushes her hoping she’ll feel the push and regain consciousness.
“Don’t die on me girl! Come on get up, come on!” He keeps pushing Maria to get up.
After a minute passes her eyes begin to open and she speaks saying, “Where am I? What happened to me? I feel so weak and sick. I think… Nemesis might have put something in my body to… kill me.”
She begins to vomit and becomes unconscious again.
“Knowing Hybrid that monster is probably infected with the Broken Arrow virus and infected Maria with the virus. I better hope the new hospital has an antidote to cure Maria. She might not have much time left. I better hurry.” Danny says while picking Maria up and transferring her back inside the tower.
***
While Danny takes Maria inside, Nemesis gets back up. The tentacles on its right hand begin to grow to the point where they replace its hands. Nemesis no longer sports the black trench coat and its ugly flesh is revealed. The influence of the Broken Arrow virus becomes stronger and Nemesis becomes bulkier.
Nemesis screams loudly, “Maria! Danny!”
Chapter 10
Danny’s Playthrough
Weapons: Assault Rifle, Survival Knife, and Incendiary Grenades.
He remembers there is a bed as one enters the Bell Tower. Heading to the bedroom, he lays Maria on the bed.
“Don’t worry rest up and I’ll be back with a cure in no time.” He says confidently.
He pushes a bookcase to block the window in case there are any zombies outside looking to get in.
After leaving the room, he heads to the room of Chronos. He remembers spotting a door blocked by a bell. Pushing the bell, Danny is able to clear the path to open the door.
Once he opens the door he can see the hospital on the next block. He also sees a horde of zombies ahead of him, but using his assault rifle makes quick work of the zombies. When he gets to the middle of Jamaica Ave, he is ambushed by a couple of dogs that approach from the site filled with crashed cars.
One of the dogs jumps and scratches him causing minor damage. He runs as the other dog jumps at him. He turns around and makes quick work of the dogs.
Assault Rifle ammo: 97%
When he approaches the hospital, he sees more zombies ahead. To conserve his assault rifle, he uses one of his grenades to burn the zombies to a crisp.
Incendiary Grenades: 5
The hospital is known as the Cypress Hills Community Hospital and was built last year mostly to deal with common injuries that would take place in nearby Highland Park. It’s a very small hospital only dealing with smaller cases while bigger ones are referred to the bigger hospital a few miles away. Also it was built to help combat the Broken Arrow virus outbreak. The building was funded by the city of New York to combat Hybrid. However, conspiracy theorists question that and believe that this is a Hybrid Corp. property where they conduct experiments from right under the noses of the mayor.
Danny enters the hospital where the reception area looks like it has been ransacked. When he walks in deeper into the reception he spots a Lizarda ready to strike.
The Lizarda jumps up and tries to perfo
rm a jumping slash attack on Danny. He sidesteps just in time and begins to pour bullets into the Lizarda killing it. After killing the creature, he takes a look at the area only to see many dead bodies. Some of the bodies are those of actual humans while others are those that have become zombies.
“Damn, what has Hybrid done to this place? I can’t believe that I been getting a paycheck from these monsters. Just like Maria said, these people had to die so that Hybrid could keep their cover up alive. Lord, have mercy on these souls. The moon shines a bright white, but all I see is a hellish red along with dead bodies.” Danny says sober almost shedding a tear.
He sees something on the counter of the receptionist desk.
Picked up a First Aid Spray.
There is also a button to activate the elevator that was locked due to an emergency situation. He presses the button and heads to the elevator. When he gets to the elevator he sees three buttons besides the main floor. There’s a button leading to the second floor, one for the basement, and one for the sub-basement. The button to the sub-basement has a keyhole next to it and it is set to the locked position.
“Perhaps that’s where they keep their materials at, but then again who knows what is could be.” Danny says in his mind.
He decides to start from the top and go to the second floor first. When he reaches the second floor, there are a couple of flea drainers on the ceilings. Luckily for Danny, his good vision enables him to spot the creatures. He shoots the first fleas with no problems, but the other one vanishes and he has no idea where it could have gone.
The hallway has a sleek looking design with neon blue lights on the floor, chrome doors, and a rather futuristic looking wall design. The windows looking into the rooms are made out of a special fiber glass that is bulletproof.
He sees 6 doors, but only three are accessible. The other three are boarded up. He starts with the first door and finds a treatment room where the bed is empty. When the door closes, a Lizarda surprises Danny from behind. He gets slashed from behind by the creature. His HBCS suit prevents the scratch from being anymore serious.