Republic of Edonia
October 2nd, 2013
It was cold outside when Chris Redfield arrived at the bar that he frequented after every mission, this was one of his most cherished places to visit after Piers Nivan's death. This was the location where Piers and his fellows managed to get him out of that hazy cloud of alcohol and numbing thoughts when post-traumatic amnesia took the best of him, leaving him broken down and trying –but failing- miserably to find a purpose on his life.
As he enters the tempting smell of food and smoke filled his nostrils, he walked over to the wooden counter where he greeted the bartender with a smile and a little chat; he had learned that her name was Allison after he deeply apologized for his behavior a few months back, he didn't took it personally that she didn't apologized for throwing a glass of vodka at his face or the nickname the bar staff had chosen for him: 'stray dog'; he knew he deserved it and was slightly pleased that they had changed the nickname to 'devil dog', it was an improvement after all.
"A woman came in looking for you, she's the one with brown hair and the green scarf." Allison spoke, motioning with her eyes to the back of the restaurant where a lone woman sat next to one of the windows taking small sips from a cup in front of her.
Chris wondered what her motives were as he walked towards her, momentarily putting aside his routinely task of having a light drink and a steak that Piers seemed to fancy so much to the point where after a mission they- like Chris had been doing alone for now- came to the rustic bar and ate a steak enjoying the simplicity of the moment, leaving job related topics aside and talking about themselves, their family, friends, ambitions and other trivial matters. And that was only just a fraction of what Chris recalled about his early years with Piers.
The brunette woman was staring at her now empty cup, unaware of her surroundings until he spoke. "I'm Chris Redfield; I heard you were looking for me?"
She looked mildly surprised when she acknowledged his presence and motioned him to take a seat in front of her. She tapped her fingers on the rim of the wooden table, opened her mouth in an attempt to talk but ending up sighing; Chris remained stoic with arms crossed trying to numb out the cold since he had ignored that the weather would turn up to be so chilly and opted to leave his jacket back in the hotel.
The woman finally managed to muster enough courage to speak "My name is Sarah Walker, maybe you've heard of me, or maybe not. I don't know."
"I have; you a-were Piers' girlfriend." It hurts to say those words, to mention him just in the past; he knows she feels the same way when she cringed slightly at the mention of his name and closed her eyes trying to remain in control and not break down in front of him.
"I am not here to pester you any further, I know that the…incident happened months back but you are hard to trace," She gave him a hollow smile that he returned with the same dull animosity "I want to thank you for everything you did for him." Chris's expression soften when he heard that, he honestly didn't excepted to hear those words, not from someone so close to Piers. She chuckled at a memory before addressing Chris again with melancholy "I still remember when he told me he was joining the BSAA, he was thrilled to know that the legendary Chris Redfield had been the one who chose him, we were all so proud."
"It was an honor working with Piers, he was not just a comrade but I considered him a part of my family, we all did. We went through many things together but what he did for me was-"
Reckless, foolish, a mistake
"One of the bravest acts I've witnessed in my life," He continued "I will never forget it and my gratitude towards him will never end."
She remained silent and nodded slightly as she held her gaze with Chris in understanding; she broke eye contact and unnecessarily straightened her coat before standing up, Chris eyes widen when he saw the sprouting belly under her coat.
"How far along are you?" He asked with astonishment.
"7 months." She answered with a sad smile.
He didn't congratulate her.
She left soon after; leaving Chris emotionally wrecked. Was there anything he could have done in Lanshiang to prevent Piers from taking that decision? He wasn't sure. But he knew that Piers was out there, somewhere; and just as he didn't give up on him, he wouldn't do it either.
Recent memories from a mission in the Middle East plagued his mind as his fingers absently touched the blood covered BSAA badge on his pocket; he and his assigned partner Greg Miller had gone to Iran to investigate a reported outbreak of the C-Virus, review the situation and send in specialists to apply the recently made vaccine Anti-C.
Tehran, Iran
September 1st, 2013
The busy and crowded streets of Iran's capital were unusually empty, the many shops and stores were closed and wooden barricades in the windows and doors were broken, exposing the inside of the stores and its now dead inhabitants; cars were parked with their doors open or crashed into the buildings; they could see debris from left to right being the only occupant in the silent streets.
As they walked further into the market, Greg started to softly whistle an unknown tune to Chris, soon after they heard a sound that made them stop dead on their tracks.
"Did you hear that, captain?" Greg asked, aiming ahead and looking around for any signs of trouble.
"It was far ahead, move in."
"Yes, captain."
They carefully made their way to the 3 story building that served as a hotel; from the windows they could stop several civilians banging on the windows and shouting that came to their ears as a soft murmur.
"Maybe they need help, come on let's move." Chris said and started to run towards the building with Greg following behind, the closer they got the clearer the voices got. Chris had no experience with the Persian language so he asked Greg, who spoke it fluently for the meaning of their words.
"Can't make up a damn thing." Greg said annoyed, he walked further to the building and the screaming increased; Greg stopped with an expression on horror in his face.
"We need to go."
"What?"
"We need to go now!" Greg shouted and walked past Chris who roughly grabbed his left arm, stopping him.
"What did they say?" He demanded
"They are all infected in there, they have Chrysalids, and we need to call for back-up." Greg explained, making a rough movement to set his arm free from Chris's strong grip.
"Hold your line soldier," Chris spoke with despair to a frowning Greg , walking slowly to him and stopping a few inches away, giving the younger man a harsh stare "There are civilians in there battling for their lives; we will not retreat without aiding them, understood?"
"Yes, captain." Greg replied slowly, holding his captain's piercing stare.
Chris turned his back to Greg and pressed a small button on his earpiece, Greg stared at the building ahead, nervous; he had never dealt with the C-Virus before and after what the files said about Piers Nivans and the rest of Alpha team he was cursing his luck of being here, even if it was beside one of the BSAA's co-founders.
"HQ, this is Beta, we have civilians trapped on a building downtown, we will proceed to enter the building, requesting back-up." Chris spoke, a static noise was heard with HQ's reply.
"Beta this is HQ, proceed with caution. Back-up will be sent to your location shortly."
"Let's go." Chris said, Greg made no response but begrudged followed his captain.
Together they ran towards the elegant building stopping at the metal door and kicked it open, revealing a mess inside. The elegancy that it once possessed was gone, the lights flickered beneath them, giving an eerie atmosphere next to the shattered mirrors and turned desks, the gold colored fountain that once served as a classy ornament was filled with a mix of blood and water; signs and posters in English and Persian were hanging around either torn or falling apart, dried blood decorated the light brown walls as well as the cream colored marble floor; the two BSAA agents kept their guard up, inspecting carefully the first floor.
"Clear." Chris heard Greg's deep voice from his earpiece. They reunited at the second floor where they had seen a couple of civilians shouting, they were greeted with dim illumination on the narrow hallway that connected the rooms together; most of the doors were open, revealing the haunting interior.
Chris made a hand motion to Greg who just nodded and together they entered room 2. The body of a half-dressed young woman was resting against the end of the bed; her dull eyes wide open as a gash in her stomach let her insights visible. Chris gripped his gun tighter and aimed ahead, determined to find the source of the woman's death, Greg stared at the woman feeling uneasy and left the room behind Chris.
After inspecting the floor and finding it empty they made their way towards the second flight of stairs. Abruptly they heard breaking glass and a horrid scream, they ran towards the nearest window and witnessed a body falling down and hitting the asphalt below, immediately creating a pool of blood under the figure.
"Come on, we have no time!"
The agents worked their way through the hallway and stopped midrace. The strong smell of blood greeted them as well as dismembered bodies on the ground as they turned around the corner to enter the open area that lead to the stairs; not too far away from them several Chrysalids blocked their pathway, more wooden furniture was broken and bloody as well as many decorative vases and other ornaments.
"It was too late for them." Greg said softly, kneeling in front of a man's body that clutched a picture of a young woman tightly in his hand.
"That doesn't mean it's late for the rest, let's move." Greg stood up and followed Chris, they walked slowly towards the stairs ready to shoot if any kind of threat decided to sneak on them, the brown tinted cocoons haven't hatched yet and as they walked beside them Greg couldn't help but stare at the sickening scenario with curiosity and disgust.
"Don't shoot them, try to find a way to walk around them." Chris said, Greg only nodded as he carefully walked around the cocoons, still staring at the Chrysalids until he heard the sound of breaking glass nearby, he turned around quickly and hit one of the cocoons with the tip of his MP-AF; Chris turned just in time to see Greg stepping back slowly as the one of the cocoons hatched and a Napad started to make its way out of the fleshy interior. Chris tried to reach him but the rest of cocoons started to hatch in a chain reaction; he heard Greg shooting several times as he stood unable to help as he was struggling with the mutations; a Strelats passed right under Chris, hitting his legs and making him fall to the ground. He moaned in pain and turned into his right side to witness Greg getting hit by the strong arms of one of the Napad.
"Greg!" He shouted and ran towards him, barely missing the deadly projectiles that came out of the Strelats mouths and kneeled in front of his partner's unconscious body, a trail of bright red blood trespassed through the fabric on his uniform. He cursed loudly and dragged him body away from the corner and towards the hallway with one hand, shooting his own MP-AF with the other. He gently placed Greg's body against the wall and focused on shooting the creatures; they started to close in and he realized that his ammo wouldn't last for long. He quickly kneeled beside Greg, taking his ammo and reloading his gun before returning to his task and successfully managed to kill a few Strelats and watch their body dissolve into red particles. He aimed towards a Napad and pulled the trigger but was greeted with a loud click that indicated that his magazine was empty once again.
"Shit!"
He could try to reach Greg's gun but he couldn't leave his side, not in his current state. He had to protect his comrade from these monsters at any cost. He adopted a fighting stance, ready to use his fists as a last resort; a Napad ran towards him at full speed followed closely by four Strelats but they were hit by a powerful electrical discharge coming from one of the windows that led to the street whose glass shattered loudly; he shielded his eyes with his arm from the blinding light as the dead bodies of the mutations turned into red dust.
Piers!
Chris ran towards the window where the electric energy had flooded the room and looked fanatically around, there was nothing out there in the empty streets.
The sound of a chopper was near; their back-up was already there. He watched the agents descend from ropes and run towards the building they were in reaching the second floor in a few minutes and taking the unconscious Greg outside, Chris lead them to the third floor were the civilians had made a sloppy job at barricading the door and lead them outside, providing each one of them with Anti-C.
Chris got out his cellphone from one of the pouches on the side of his leg after hearing it emanate a loud high pitched noise, as he slid the phone up he was greeted with bold red letters on the screen.
Nivans, Piers
BSAA
Accessing private files
Wesker, Albert
Project, W
Uroboros, Virus
Tehran, Iran
August 31th, 2013
A young boy waited inside an abandoned house pacing back and forth, waiting.
He heard a noise that caught his attention and jogged to a near window where one of the wooden planks that were placed as a barricade was missing, giving him a sight of the outside scenario. He watched with horror as several Napads fell from the ceilings into the dirt street in front of the house he was currently in. The boy let out a small gasp and backed away from the door until he felt someone grab his shoulders from behind; he quickly turned around, fear etched into his features but tranquilized as he saw a hooded man.
The man walked slowly towards the poorly barricaded door but stopped before opening, turning towards the boy.
"I believe we had a deal?"
The brown-eyed boy hurriedly checked through his pockets and pulled out a shiny red apple, handing it carefully to the strange man, he took it and threw it in the air, catching it with his left hand before moving a few wooden planks out of the door and opened it, calmly making his way outside the house. The boy wanted to follow him but opted to stay inside, pocking his head through the door with concern.
"Are you going to keep your promise?" He asked the man, incredulous if he was going to save him at the cost of a mere apple.
The man threw the apple in the air a couple of times, watching silently as the Napads moved closer to his position; Jake Muller removed his white hood and threw it at the ground, the Napads took it as a sign of hostility and ran towards him; Jake turned his head slightly towards the boy as he bit the apple and drew his handgun out of its holster.
"Fair's fair, kid."
He shot skillfully, hitting the targets without missing whilst hearing the gasps of the kid behind him, he didn't judge the poor boy but it was a stupid move to stay out there in the open with those things lurking around. He continued to shoot until eventually only one Napad was standing; he placed his gun back on his holster and cracked his knuckles. Better put on a show for the kid, after all he paid for his services, didn't he?
With a smirk Jake ran towards the Napad standing a few feet away from his and grunted when he delivered a strong blow to the creature's face; his eyes widen when he saw metal and flesh ripping the Napad's hard skin apart, missing Jake's body by a few inches. Jake fell on his side and rolled on the dirt part, coughing as a small cloud of dust formed around his body. He watched the Napad fade away in the same red debris as the others; he quickly got up and pointed his gun at the strange threat, as he backed away slightly he bumped his side into the kid who had following him to see if he was alright.
"Go home, we're done!" Jake said to the boy but he was frozen on his spot, staring at the monster ahead of them; he gently placed his hand on the boy's chest and made him get behind him, paying no more attention to that the boy was quivering in fear.
He was infected, the beige colored uniform he was wearing was bloody and torn mostly on his right side, and a dark green scarf was loosely covering his neck and part of the bullet-proof vest he was wearing. His shoes were filthy with dirt and blood along with his pants that were torn in the knee area exposing dried blood among the flesh. But that wasn't the reason the boy was scared, he had seen J'avo before; what scared him the most was his right arm that almost touched the ground. It was covered in pulsating sacks of grey skin and was inserted with pieces of metal; what it was supposedly his hand twitched, moving the claw-like fingers in a closing motion as a ray of energy burst from his shoulder to the tip of his slim fingers but it didn't end there, a gash covered the right side of his face exposing the muscle and giving his iris a dull white color. Jake noticed a small badge on the left side of his side that read A-POS, he had a sudden realization and addressed the infected who stood unmoving in front of them.
"You're that jarhead that was with Redfield in China, what the fuck happened to you?"
For a moment he didn't reply and just stared at Jake whose gun was still pointing at his head and had his index finger on the trigger, he switched his gaze to the boy behind Jake who watched him wide eyed.
"I need your help." He finally said, his voice was coarse and his jaw tensed after speaking from the pain the energy waves inflicted against his skin.
Jake scoffed and placed his gun back on its holster, he ushered the kid away to the adjacent street against his will and stayed watching until he ran towards the main road, then he turned to the mutated Piers who stood his ground observing his movements as Jake calmly made his hay towards him.
"I know what you need, Harvey Dent," Jake said, ignoring Pier's glare and the violent twitch on his mutated hand "They have made a cure now, that is what you should be looking for."
"It's too late now." Piers answered slowly, a wave of pain hit him hard making him drop on his knees and clutch his right side with his left hand hissing in pain, Jake could see under the torn vest one of the tough sacks of grey skin pulsating.
"You sure know how to get fucked up real nicely." Jake said before offering his hand to Piers to help him get up, he ignored it and slowly got back at his feet; Jake crossed his arms annoyed "Well someone's ego is still being a massive bitch."
"I didn't realize we were talking about you now." Pier retorted, gritting his teeth; he then sighed and decided to leave the hostilities aside, this was not the place or time to bicker with him "I need a pint of your blood."
"That would come with a price; the extras would be sold separately."
Piers closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, pain came and went with the energy waves, and he felt as if his body was being slowly torn apart under the sun's rising heat. "Look at me, do you think I have the money to pay your for that?" Piers spat, glaring at the younger man standing close to him.
"I never said anything about money did I?" Jake couldn't ignore those thought sifting on his head; he was debating whenever he should open a forgotten chapter of his life or move on ignoring his past and trusting the little knowledge he had about his father. "I won't ask you for money; I want to see Wesker's files from the BSAA database."
Piers stared at him with an unreadable expression on his face, was he having doubts? Jake didn't knew, but he was being way to generous, first with the boy and then with this guy, he vaguely remembered that his name was Piers but he did remembered that he was Chris's little puppy.
"You don't trust me and I don't trust you," Jake started when he didn't got a fast response "But get this into your thick head, the odds are against you."
"I know I'm not going to change!" Piers suddenly shouted, his voice echoed through the empty streets "If this works, if I can stabilize this thing… " He let out a shaky breath and stared at Jake, his chest moved up and down and his hand started to twitch one again, he had no intention to continue.
Was Jake feeling pity for the man that once hated him?
Yes, because he realized that the hate he felt for himself was even greater than the hate he had towards him.
"What happened?"
"I did it for the future." Piers said, Jake didn't question him any further.
The red head let out a small sigh before speaking "I'll give you what you want," Piers' head snapped up and he stared intently at the man, his eyes slightly narrowed "If it works, you'll give me access to the files."
He was going to regret this, he knew it. He was no scientist, but if the vaccine couldn't work against him, neither would his antibodies. But there was a slight chance that he would make it, he wasn't fully mutated yet, he could think, he was still himself.
"You've got a deal."
