A/N 1-16-13 : Some small revisions done. I still plan on tackling this one even more.
A/N: This didn't turn out exactly as I had wanted, but it works (I really wanted Wesker to walk in with a zombie on a leash). Comment as you wish and lemme know what you think. Enjoy.
A Resident Evil Christmas
It was a cold December night. Snow had just begun to fall on Stone-Ville, a small town within the Arklay Mountains and the neighboring city of the runes that were once Raccoon City. There had been rumors of the city being rebuilt, but no one sane would want to walk the streets of where one of the worst outbreaks in American history had taken place only a few years ago. Some believe that Umbrella is still secretly operating deep beneath the runes, performing their strange experiments and their failed attempts to cover their mistakes.
A small farm house sat alone buried in a field of snow near the base of the mountains. A faint light glowed from inside the house, and light dancing across the white land. Inside, a woman with skin as pale as the snow outside and faded blonde hair shuffled around the house as if she had been ill. A man around the same age with dark hair and a well-toned figured worked silently at the stove.
The woman sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh, "We really need to redecorate this place. It brings back too many memories." She looked around at the warped wood floors, the peeling floral wallpaper, and the dusty light fixtures. The wind rattled the windows and the woman pulled her sweater closer to her body.
"We won't be here much longer so I don't know why you care so much what it looks like," the man turned off the burner and set his wooden spoon besides the stovetop. "It's just a house."
"An old creaky house that reminds me too much of Umbrella's mansions," The woman put her feet up on the chair next to her. "We could at least make it a bit more festive for Christmas."
"We have a tree," he pointed to the tree branch with a strip of ribbon thrown over the top of it in the corner of the room. "What more do you want?"
"Chris," she glared at him.
"Would you like to me to put a wreath around a zombie's neck and ask him to sing for us?"
The woman completely ignored him this time. Chris rolled his eyes, pushed the woman's feet off the chair and took a seat. He then put his arm around her, and pulled her close.
"Nothing is going to happen, Jill," he kissed her gently on the forehead. "There are no zombies or rabid dogs in these woods, and even if there are, we'll be ready for them."
Suddenly there was a loud bang at the back door. Chris felt Jill's whole body tense up as he reached for the handgun that hung from his belt. Jill tried to stand up but Chris pushed her back into her seat. He put his fingers to his lips before she could protest. She was far too weak to fight anything. They had only gotten back from Africa not even three weeks ago and Jill was still weak from her time with Albert Wesker. This house was only their temporary home until they could find a place of their own to settle down, and even here they couldn't catch a break from Umbrella and its monsters.
As Chris inched towards the window, Jill silently turned off the lamp, darkening the entire house. He couldn't see anything through the frost that had built up on the glass. There was another loud bang on the door. Chris's fingers quickly unlocked the door as he cupped his hand around doorknob. He could feel Jill nod from across the room even though he couldn't see her pale face through the dark. But the door flew open before Chris turned the knob.
"Merry Christmas!" shouted the silhouette from outside. "Man, it's dark in here. Claire, does your brother not know how to pay the electric bills?"
"Shut up, Steve. Maybe they're not home." Said the other silhouette who was obviously a woman.
"Who would want to call this place a home. It's a dump!"
Jill flipped on the lamp, hoping to match the voices with faces. Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside stood in the doorway. Claire was wearing a bright red sweater and held a casserole dish while Steve wore a goofy grin and a Santa hat on top of his shaggy brown hair. But Steve grin quickly faded when he saw Chris's gun pointing directly at him.
"Whoa, there. I didn't mean anything personal when I said the house was a dump or didn't pay the bills, because you obviously do," he pointed towards the lamp sitting next to Jill. He hadn't noticed her at first but he waved obnoxiously at her once he did. She gave him an awkward smile.
Chris still hadn't lowered his gun.
"Hi! You must be Jill," he held out his gloved hand. "I'm Steve, Claire's wonderful prince-charming of a boyfriend. Claire has told me so much about you." Jill silently shook it, unable to believe that Claire was actually dating this guy.
"Sis, I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell are you two doing here?" Chris's gun followed Steve as he exploded the house, muttering various comments about the decorating.
"Celebrating Christmas with you, of course!" Claire said as she set her dish on the table and hanging a piece of mistletoe from the ceiling lamp. "You two must be so lonely living out here by yourselves." She kissed her brother on the cheek.
Chris still followed Steve around with his gun, "Chris, put your gun down. He's fine. The virus has been completely out of him for years."
But it wasn't the virus Chris was afraid of when it came to Steve. It was everything about him besides the virus. He was just a weird individual with terrible jokes. "He still acts like the seventeen year old kid I met –"
"And you still act like an asshole when guests come to visit you."
"I'm not an asshole." Chris protested.
"You can be," Jill felt the need to throw her opinion in as well, but with a smile of course.
"Fine," Chris put away his gun and stretched his muscular arms above his head. "But all I have is a pot of soup which I made for only Jill and myself."
"We'll make some more food! I'm sure we can find some herbs around the outside of the house. Green, yellow, blue, and red." Steve repositioned the Santa hat on his head.
"It's the middle of winter," Chris pointed out.
"Oh…. Well, I think Claire packed some. Didn't you, sweetie?"
"Don't worry about it. We have some extra herbs in the cupboard," Jill pushed herself out of her chair.
Suddenly, there was another knock on the back door.
"Who can this be now?" Chris asked.
"Another zombie?" Jill smiled at Chris.
"Oh! I'll get it!" Claire squealed excitedly as if she knew who was at the door. Steve gave her a concerned look from behind his mouthful of bread.
She cracked open the door and the light from inside flooded on the man that stood outside.
"Leon!" Claire threw her arms around the bundled up Leon.
"Hey, it's nice to see you too, Claire," He held her in a strong embrace. Steve gave a moan of protest from inside the house.
"Hey everyone," Leon closed the door behind him. "Chris, thanks for having me, although it was a mighty fine bitch to find this place. I didn't think I would ever return to somewhere so close to Raccoon City." The men gave each other a quick handshake and hug.
"Nah, don't thank me. This was all Claire's doings. Jill, come see Leon."
"And mine!" Steve threw his hand up into the air. "This was my ideas too!" Leon and Chris completely ignored him.
"It's good to see you again, Jill. I can't believe you're alive."
Jill laughed quietly. "Sometimes neither can I."
"Now I have to ask. When did you two…" Leon pointed back and forth between Chris and Jill.
The couple smiled as Chris slid his arm around Jill's thin waste. "We're partners for life in more senses than one." The two smiled.
"And they say I'm corny," Steve mumbled under his breath.
"Leon, I want you to meet a friend of mine," Claire grabbed Steve's hand and pulled him forward. "Leon, Steve. Steve, Leon." The men shook hands. "Leon basically saved my life. We escaped from Raccoon City together and he also helped me find Chris."
"I'm Steve, (Steve squeezed Leon's hand a bit tighter.) Claire's wonderful prince-charming of a boyfriend. I helped her escape from Rockfort Island where she and I first met and fell in love. Although, I'm sure you already know that." Claire thought she had seen Steve puff out his chest slightly and stand on his tiptoes.
"Actually, no," Steve shuffled his feet. "She hasn't mentioned much about you other than you were once infected by the T-Veronica virus." Claire's face burned and quickly distracted herself by helping Jill prepare dinner for the growing group, although she could feel Steve's eyes dig deep into her back.
Leon on the other hand tried to put a smile back on Steve's face my mentioning that he liked Steve's hair, which just so happened to be the same haircut as Leon's. Steve didn't smile, but instead pouted to the other side of the room.
Leon shrugged and decided to help Chris and the women with dinner.
There was another knock on the door.
"Oh, don't tell me. It's another one of your ex-boyfriends," Steve said to Claire as he threw open the door to find a large man with slicked back black hair. "Shit! I didn't know John Travolta was joining the party!" Steve backed away from the door.
"Very funny, kid." The man at the door pushed his way through followed by a small short haired woman.
"Rebecca!" It was Jill who acknowledged her guests this time.
"Jill! We all thought you were dead! I'm so happy you're alive!" The woman squealed like little girls and despite her weak body, Jill couldn't resist the hug of an old friend.
Chris, Leon, and Steve all eyed the strange man who looked strikingly similar to John Travolta. The man awkwardly scooted his way around the table, looking at Rebecca Chambers out of the corner of his eye as if he hoped she would introduce him. He gave up that hope when Claire joined in the squealing.
"Uh, hi," he held out his hand to who he believed to be Chris. All he knew about the hosts were their names and he obviously knew who Jill was. He guessed the buffest looking man was Chris. "The names Billy Coen."
While the men introduced themselves to each other, Leon couldn't help but ask. "If you don't mind me asking, weren't you involved in some massacre in Africa a couple years back? I had heard a man by the name of Jack Krauser mention something about it before."
Billy laughed awkwardly as he handed Chris his coat, reviling his grey wife-beater shirt and his large sleeve of a tattoo on his right arm. "I was on the plane, but I was totally innocent other than that. The bitches sentenced me to death for something I didn't do. The guy who had the honor of chauffeuring me around got mauled by some demon dog, and then Rebecca found me coincidently on that damned train."
"So lemme get this straight," Steve cut in and raised his voice so everyone could hear. "Everyone here is a zombie killer?"
Everyone looked at one another and all laughed, "Pretty much."
"And you, Steve my friend," Chris put his arm around Steve. "have the honor of being the only one here who has ever transformed into a wild wildebeest."
"I was a monster, thank you very much." Steve shoved Chris' arm off him. Everyone in the room laughed.
"Hey, Leon," Claire shouted from across the room. "Where's Ada?"
All the women "Ooowwww"ed, causing Leon to faintly blush. "I couldn't tell you. She's always running off when I need her."
"But you tracked me down, why can't you track down her?" Claire asked.
"Because Ada doesn't get herself put into jail," Leon smiled at the woman who he could consider to be his younger sister.
"Yeah but if I hadn't gotten put into that institution, I would never have meet Steve." She ran over to Steve and threw his arms around him like a child would her best friend.
"Now you act like you like me." Steve responded as he tried to brush Claire off. She gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
"Billy, Rebecca tells me that you play the piano?" Jill said as she put the last finishes on the table setting. "I would play but I don't really have the strength in me." She coughed lightly into her elbow.
Billy blushed, "I play a little."
"A little? He's amazing!" Rebecca grabbed Billy's tattooed arm and pulled him over to the dusty piano in the back of the front room of the house. "C'mon, Billy, play for us."
"I don't think so." Billy protested.
"Aww, c'mon, Billy. Please? It would actually bring some life to this dead house." Rebecca asked taking a seat on the worn couch.
"Yeah, Billy, play for us." The men all mocked. Billy rolled his eyes.
"Fine. But just one song," He grumbled. "And I'm not singing along." He added under his breath.
The house guests all gathered around the piano as Billy played what sounded like "Jingle Bells" buried under a think layer of dust. When he finished, everyone helped put dinner on the table, except for Steve who had sworn he had seen an old radio somewhere in the backroom.
Everyone took their seats at the table and waited for Steve to get back.
"I'll go find him," Claire said pushing back her chair, but right when she stood, a scream filled the house.
"Steve!" Claire yelled.
"Guys! There's a man in there!" Everyone drew their guns. Chris, Billy, Leon, and Rebecca led the way while Claire, Jill, and Steve covered the back door.
The house was silent until an unpleasant voice broke the silence. "Really, Chris. You think I'm here to crash your little Christmas party? Although, it's hardly a party."
"What do you want, Wesker? Sheva and I killed you. You were in a freaking pit of lava and we blasted off your head with two rocket launchers." Chris said stepping closer to Wesker with his gun drawn out even further.
Wesker laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you or your friends. I'm just here for a few laughs and some eggnog."
"You have got to be kidding me," Jill couldn't believe her eyes or her ears.
"Now move aside. Where is kitchen in this dump?" There was one noticeable difference about Wesker other than the fact that he was alive and happy. He was in a wheelchair. And he also grinned like a fat kid eating cake when he got his eggnog. Maybe those rocket launchers did more than Chris first realized. Or maybe Jill spiked the eggnog more than she realized.
But whatever Wesker's deal was, this was the first Christmas Chris had celebrated with his family and friends in years. He had his sister, the love of his life, some good friends, oh and of course, Steve. How could he forget Steve. But even with Wesker sitting in his kitchen, he felt good. For the first time in a long time, he could relax.
He finally took his rightful place at the head of the warped kitchen table, poured himself a glass of eggnog, and joined in on the holiday spirit.
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