Resident Evil: Interludes

Shades of Gray

Chapter 1: Recruited

Her heart was pounding as she entered the hospital. It was clearly understaffed, stress and fear were palpable in the air, and she wasn't even supposed to be there. She had been reluctant enough to even make the trip, worried about what they wanted to ask her. That worry had escalated into outright panic when she arrived at Chris's house to find only rubble, debris, and a police cordon. The worst part had been that even most of the police were dead, some with their throats ripped out and others with their skulls smashed in, blood and gore staining the street and making her gag in horror. The only living police officers said they had arrived after the attack, and they had only been able to tell her that the survivors had been rushed to the hospital. They had seemed panicked, frantically talking on CB radios to other units in an attempt to coordinate their efforts across the town; from what she had overheard before leaving, they were intent on tracking down a blonde woman.

I left to avoid all this. I should leave now, while I still have a chance.

"I'm looking for Chris Redfield," she said uncertainly to the receptionist.

"Mr. Redfield was discharged this morning." After a moment, the haggard-looking woman added, "He's still in the building, though, as far as I know."

But if Chris was discharged… She started to ask who had been just brought in from his house, when a voice cried, "Rebecca?"

Turning, she saw Barry Burton running towards her to pull her into a crushing hug. Dressed casually and beaming, he hadn't changed a bit. She smiled in spite of the situation. She hadn't seen him since the funeral when they thought Jill was dead, and that had been her first visit in many years. "It's good to see you, too, Barry."

"I'm glad you decided to help us; we really need you."

She pulled away from him. "Barry, all I agreed to was to come here. I left all those years ago because I wanted to forget. I'm not cut out for fighting the Umbrellas of the world."

"But Rebecca—" He sighed and said, "Come with me."

He led her back towards the hospital rooms, and she followed despite a sinking feeling. She had been right—they wanted to pull her into the fight again. She knew the situation was bad; she had watched the news as the Organization's attacks devastated the world and virtually destroyed the B.S.A.A., terrified that she would hear her friends' names among the dead. She had worried about Billy Coen, too, that they might somehow find him. And as her old nightmares had resurfaced, she had known that she didn't want to get involved.

She suddenly realized they were heading towards intensive care and stopped worrying about herself. "Barry, what happened?" she asked, all of the worst possibilities running through her mind. "Who's in ICU?"

"Jill and Claire," he said, looking grim. "And Steve Burnside's dead again."

"How—what—what's going on?" she stammered, trying to get a hold on the bombshells he had just thrown. Jill and Claire had been the ones rushed in? And Claire's friend who had died years ago had died again? Not for the first time, she wished she had stayed in closer contact with them despite her worries.

"You can visit Jill," Barry said, "although she's probably still out. Claire isn't allowed visitors yet except for immediate family, because she took a bad blow to the head and needed emergency surgery—they say she'll be fine, though," he added quickly at her alarmed look. "In fact, she was awake long enough to tell Chris…" He looked down at the ground.

"Tell him what?" she asked, starting to feel desperate. "Barry, I don't know anything about what's going on here!"

Leon walked into the hallway, dressed in black, with a combat vest over his shirt, a large pack across his shoulders, a satchel at his side, and multiple guns strapped to his back and waist. Her first thought was to wonder how things had gotten so bad that he was allowed to carry that much weaponry in a hospital, and her second thought was to wonder why he looked almost like he was going to war. He was checking over his equipment.

Closely following him was Chris. Also toting guns and glaring darkly at nothing in particular, he snapped into a radio, "This is a matter of life and death! I need at least a vague direction to go on!"

"Chris!" Barry shouted. "Look who's here!"

"Rebecca?" He hurried over, clipping the radio to his belt. "I'm so glad you came…but I need to be leaving."

Barry caught his arm. "You can't just head off in a random direction, Chris."

"I can't just sit here and wait, either!"

"Chris," Leon said, walking over to join them, "do we still want Rebecca to be our spy? Now that Alex knows about her, she might tell the Organization."

"Wait a minute!" she interrupted, staring at the three of them. This was too much all at once. She felt like she was drowning in the waves of random statements being thrown at her. "I didn't agree to do anything! I just want to have a normal life, okay?"

Chris looked strained. "Rebecca, we need you. Because you left when you did, it looks like the Organization lost track of you. We need someone we can trust that they don't know about." He sighed. "Alex knows about you, but I'm not entirely convinced she won't let us destroy the Organization. She might tell them, but she might not. That means you're still our best chance! Please, Rebecca! Please."

"Who's Alex?" she asked, both because she didn't remember hearing the name on the news and because she didn't want to answer his unspoken question. Chris was a friend. She still had many good memories of working with him in S.T.A.R.S. She couldn't turn him down when he was pleading with her—but she didn't want to do this.

"A psychopath and a traitor!" Barry growled.

"Alex is—" Chris's radio crackled, and he grabbed it. "Yes?"

"Part of our perimeter was broken through, north along the main road leading to the highway." The voice on the other end of the radio sounded distraught. "The injuries match those from the attack site."

"I'm on it," he said, running out of the hallway with only a shouted, "Please, Rebecca!" as a farewell.

"You aren't going with him?" she asked Leon. She didn't know him as well, having only met him a couple of times. From what she understood, he was working for the government now.

He shook his head, but he looked conflicted. "I've been ordered to stay here and wait for the intel I need to infiltrate Alex's castle."

"But who is he?"

"She," Barry corrected. He sighed. "I think I'll go see if Jill is awake, tell her what's going on."

Rebecca watched him walk away, feeling upset and confused. Everyone was in a state of panic, and the Organization and this Alex woman were at fault. She didn't understand why she had never heard of her, if she was this deeply involved with the attacks.

"It's been a mess around here today," Leon said. He rubbed his head. "As far as I can understand, Alex is the only survivor of a secret project called Project W. Her full name is Alex Wesker, and she joined the B.S.A.A. calling herself Kirsty Anderson."

"Alex Wesker?" she interrupted, feeling sick. Even with the number of years that had passed since the mansion incident, there were times when she still couldn't believe their captain had betrayed them.

"Yeah." He held his hands out and shrugged. "Project W. Chris really wasn't up to explaining. Now the government is on the job; as soon as their spies locate her castle, they're sending me in to derail her operations and try to kill her." He sighed. "So we're a little short-staffed right now. That's why we want you to work on the Organization."

"I don't understand," she said. Alex's surname kept repeating itself in her ears. After evading the past for so long, it had finally caught up with her. She had to get out of here—but what if ignoring this meant her friends died? I'm a civilian now. I can't do this. She struggled to piece together what was going on. "If Chris is going after Alex now, why didn't you go with him? You could take her out more easily together!"

He closed his eyes. "That's the second thing I'm waiting on. Supposedly, Alex is immortal. We don't have a plan to kill her yet."

"Then what is Chris doing?"

"Alex captured Sheva. Chris just wants to bring her back alive."

She had never met Sheva, but now she understood why Chris had seemed so upset. His sister and partner hospitalized, another friend kidnapped by the person responsible… The B.S.A.A. was gone; she knew he must feel like the odds against them were insurmountable. Rebecca sighed. "You really need my help, don't you?"

"Yes."

"What do I have to do?"

"We can put you in a position where you can work your way into the Organization. You'll need an alias and a way of contacting us to get you out. All we want you to do is find concrete proof that the Organization is or isn't G.P.C."

"The Global Pharmaceutical Consortium? They're the Organization?"

"It sure looks like it." He grimaced. "But most of our information came from Alex."

She took a deep breath. "Just get in, get the proof, and get out. No fighting, no outbreaks, no B.O.W. attacks?"

"That's the plan."

"I'll do it."

Author's note: Hello again, everyone! First, no, this is not the sequel I spoke of when I finished my Resident Evil 6, although clearly it is a sequel. This is a short "bridge" story that will connect the two longer stories and save all of you from having to endure tedious exposition at the start of RE7. RE7 itself looks like it's going to be long and complex enough as it is. Second, you should be aware that as of chapter 2, Revelations will be retconned into this continuity. You have been warned! :)