A/N: Thank you for all of the kind feedback!
Wesker's 'opinion' on what is on the TV is not my own opinion, I am just trying to represent his character as best as I can.
Summary: After Resident Evil 5. Chris tries to return to normality whilst Wesker tries to regain his humanity. Wesker/Chris slash. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil, but I do own Penny the waitress.
Night of the Hunter
Chapter Two
Wesker walked up to the door that the woman in Room 52 had directed him towards. It seems that wearing a police uniform was working to his advantage – people would tell him the information he wanted without asking awkward questions. They just assumed that he was looking for someone to question about a recent crime.
He knocked on the door to the apartment and waited for Chris to answer the door.
There was no answer.
Wesker stepped back and kicked the door in, walking into the apartment. All of the lights were off and there were no signs of life anywhere. The apartment was silent.
xXx
There had been a gunshot.
Chris was certain of it. He was walking down the stairwell of the apartment, not wanting to take the elevator again – he hadn't felt safe in the enclosed space, and there was always the option of running on the stairs.
The only reason he had gone back to his apartment was so that he could get his wallet and buy something to eat – there was no food in the apartment and he didn't feel like going to the supermarket, so he decided that a small meal and a decent beer would be good enough that night. He would go shopping tomorrow, and he would try to convince Claire to go with him.
He wished he still had his gun with him, but the BSAA had taken it from him when they had arrived back in America. They had said that he wouldn't need it anymore.
It seemed as though the BSAA had no idea what some areas of New York were like.
Chris ran through the stairwell door and over to where the group of teenagers from earlier were, standing over one of them – there was a large pool of blood on the floor and staining the boy's t-shirt. Someone was making an urgent 911 call whilst the others used all of the medical knowledge they had to try and stop the bleeding. Chris pushed his way past them and knelt beside the boy.
"What happened?" Weak pulse. He isn't going to last very long.
"A policeman came in here." One of the teenagers explained, watching as Chris checked his friend's pupils to see if they were dilated and then pressed a hand against the wound, trying to stem the bleeding until the ambulance arrived. "He asked a couple of questions and then shot him for no reason. We were just kidding around – we didn't really want him to give us any money."
"Why was he here?"
The teenager thought back to when the man had come into the building. "He said that... he was looking for you! He asked us if we knew what floor you were going to."
Shit. Chris froze. "What did he look like?"
"He was tall, blonde... had really weird eyes..."
"I..." Chris stood up and took a couple of steps away. "I have to go... I... keep the pressure on the wound until the ambulance arrives... I..." He ran out of the lobby, not caring that his hands were covered in blood from the boy he had been trying to save.
xXx
"Claire, it's Chris."
"Oh, hi Chris." Claire switched the phone to her left hand and picked up the TV controller. She turned down the volume so that she could hear what her brother was saying. "Why can I hear the traffic? Where are you phoning me from?"
"A payphone on the street somewhere... Claire, I –"
"Why aren't you at home?"
"It's not safe for me to go home... he's back, Claire. I don't know how but he survived. You have to look after yourself Claire. Make sure he can't find you."
"Chris, what the hell are you talking about? Who's back?"
"Wesker."
"Wesker is dead." Claire said. "Chris, you're just paranoid. Maybe you should talk to the BSAA. They might be able to get someone to help you. You can move out of the city, get another job..."
"Claire, he's back. I know he is." Chris insisted. "Some kids were in the lobby of the apartment block and one of them was shot. They said that it was a blonde man dressed as a policeman and he had weird eyes... he was looking for me, Claire. He's going to find me because he wants revenge."
"Where are you?"
"I have to go. Stay safe."
"No, Chris don't –" Claire sighed at the tone that suggested Chris had hung up the phone. She replaced the phone in its holder and turned the TV up again. Maybe her brother needed to fall apart before he started to fix his life again.
xXx
Chris hurried away from the payphone, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He wondered if he even should've phoned Claire – if Wesker was alive it was likely that he had been keeping tabs on everyone he wanted revenge on – he probably knew everything about Chris's movements ever since he had come back from Africa.
He should've known that Wesker hadn't died in the volcano.
Chris had experienced paranoia before, but it had never been anything like this. Instead of feeling as though everyone was avoiding him he felt like everyone was watching him, waiting for Wesker to find him.
He dashed into a diner and sat down at a table as near to the kitchen as he could – if Wesker was alive and following him, he could always use the backdoor as an escape route. Chris scanned the diner, watching people drop their gaze from him. Why did he attract so much attention? So what if his appearance was shabby due to his old, worn jacket and the stubble on his chin. There were people who looked worse, like the fat, greasy, hairy man in the corner who Chris would've said was a stereotypical American truck driver.
"Hi! I'm Penny and I will be your waitress tonight!"
"Oh... erm... hello."Chris was startled by the waitress' sudden appearance. Great. Today I get stuck with the perky one. Usually, he ended up stuck with a middle aged waitress who looked as though she had never smiled once in her life.
"Can I get you anything to drink?"
"A cold beer, please."
"Are you ready to order any food?"
"I haven't had a chance to look at the menu yet." Chris growled. Did this woman really expect to come over here almost straight after he had sat down and take his order?
"Okay! I'll be back over in a few minutes with your drink." Penny grinned and scribbled down the order. "If you have any problems, just tell me or one of the other members of staff." She walked away, heading towards the kitchen.
xXx
Wesker flicked the lights on and walked into Chris's kitchen. He went straight to the fridge and opened the door. The fridge was empty and Wesker kicked the door closed, sighing. It seemed as though he wasn't going to get anything to eat.
He wandered over to the worn leather sofa and threw himself down on it. He found the TV remote under one of the cushions and flicked the on button.
"News."
Flick.
"Sports."
Flick.
"American Idol."
Double flick.
"Sports."
Flick.
"Stock markets."
Flick.
"News."
Flick.
Wesker raised an eyebrow. "Babe channel? My, my Chris... what are you subscribed to?" He said as though the other man was in the apartment with him.
Flick.
"Jerry Springer. Ugh."
Flick.
"Shopping channel."
Flick.
"Christian TV. Enough said."
Flick.
"Geography channel..." Wesker caught sight of a volcanic eruption on the TV, with a map of Africa in the bottom left corner. He scoffed and changed the channel again.
xXx
"Here's your beer!" Penny chorused as she bounded over to Chris, carrying a tray of drinks. She took one of the bottles and a glass off the tray and placed it on the table in front of him. "I'll be back in a few to take your order!"
"Wonderful. I can't wait." Chris said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He watched as the waitress walked away, wondering if he could request a new waiter or waitress without being kicked out of the diner. He poured his beer out and took a sip of it. It was so long since he had drunk a cold beer – it had been so long since he had been given any time to relax.
He wondered what the others were doing at that moment in time.
Jill was probably locked up in a cell at the BSAA headquarters, being interrogated about her involvement in the Uroboros Project.
Sheva was probably trying to rebuild the destroyed areas of Africa and repair all that had been lost – the places, the people... she was probably launching a massive BSAA funded clean-up operation with Josh by her side – both of them felt wronged by what had been done to their home, and both of them wanted to remember their fallen brothers.
None of them were worrying about whether Wesker was dead or alive. Jill didn't have to worry, seeing as she was going to be given a new identity – a new life – away from this mess. Sheva was certain that Wesker had died in the volcano, as she had told Chris plenty of times before he had left Africa.
Chris was disturbed from his thoughts by Penny's sudden reappearance.
"So what can I get you?" She asked, whipping out a small notepad and clicking her pen.
"I haven't looked at the menu yet." Chris replied. Why couldn't she just come over whenever he called her? Why did she have to be so... so...
"Oh, okay." Penny said, her grin faltering slightly. "Well, erm, I'll just... I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order, okay?"
Chris nodded and picked up the menu as the waitress walked away, her grin now replaced by a slightly down expression. He felt bad as he scanned through the cheap and brightly coloured menu, trying to pick out something to eat – the waitress had only been doing her job. Everyone else in the diner was happy and smiley and she had got stuck with him – probably the most depressed person in there – and the only one on his own.
When Penny approached him again he made an effort to smile.
xXx
Wesker switched off the TV and threw the remote down onto the sofa. TV had never had any appeal to him anyway, but he had been bored and it had been something to do. He got up off the sofa and walked over to the one closed door in the apartment. He turned the handle and pushed the door open, revealing Chris's small bedroom.
There was a double bed in the centre of the room, with a wardrobe pushed up against the far left wall and there was a chest of drawers under the window on the right. Another door led into a small en suite bathroom, with a small mirror fixed to the wall.
Wesker stopped in front of the mirror, inspecting his reflection. He ran a hand over his hair to fix the loose strands back into place. He brought a hand up to his cheek and made sure that the skin was healing. He tugged down the collar of the shirt he had acquired and saw that there were still a few patches of red on his neck, contrasting against his pale skin. Wesker flicked his gaze back up to the mirror, staring into his eyes – his only flaw.
The blonde man walked out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom, where he walked over to the chest of drawers. He opened the top drawer, raised an eyebrow and made a sound of amusement, and then closed it again.
The second drawer contained underwear, and the third and fourth ones contained various shirts, t-shirts and jumpers.
Wesker walked over to the wardrobe and flung open the doors. There were various jackets and trousers hanging up in the wardrobe, along with more shirts. He stripped off the clothes he had 'borrowed' and took a shirt and trousers out of Chris's wardrobe. Wesker rummaged through the clothes hanging up, and took one of the hangers out to inspect a leather jacket that was hung on it – the leather would be much more tasteful than the jacket that he had obtained from the police officer. He shrugged the leather jacket on and placed the NYPD jacket on the hanger and placed it back in Chris's wardrobe.
During his rummaging, he found a couple of large cardboard boxes at the bottom of the wardrobe. He tore the layer of duct-tape off the top of one of the boxes and pulled the cardboard flaps open, revealing what looked to be military memorabilia, most likely from Chris's time in the United States Air Force. Partly concealed at the top of the box there was a photograph of a group of young, handsome pilots and other aircrew standing in front of a fighter jet. Chris was standing on the ladder leading up to the cockpit with his flying helmet tucked under his arm. Wesker pulled out the photograph, and heard something metallic clinking. He reached into the box and pulled out a pair of dog tags with 'REDFIELD' and a serial number stamped on them. The chain was broken, as though it had been snapped – most likely when Chris was kicked out of the Air Force. Wesker was confused as to why someone would keep memories of an event that could've ruined his life.
xXx
Chris was almost the only person left in the diner. The only other people were a group of loud teenagers in the corner, still finishing their drinks and toasting to something – probably a college paper that they had passed.
Penny approached the table and stopped beside him – even though he had started smiling when she came over, she was now aware that he was obviously down about something. "Are you ready for your bill?"
"Erm, yeah. Thanks." Chris gave her a quick smile. "I'm just drinking up if you want me out of here."
"Oh, I don't mind if you stay a bit longer." Penny smiled, and then glanced over to the group of teenagers sitting in the corner, wolf-whistling and laughing loudly. "You're a bit more bearable than some of the other customers."
"I can only imagine the kind of riff-raff you get in here." Chris said, taking a sip of his second beer. Only now was he starting to pay attention to the waitress – she was pretty in a plain way, and reminded him a bit of Jill with her smile.
"Tell me about it." She rolled her eyes and smiled at Chris again. "I'll just go and get your bill – I won't be a moment."
Chris watched over the top of his beer glass as the waitress headed for the counter and began to talk to one of the other waitresses. They giggled and both looked at him, and Chris gave Penny a small wave which made her blush.
He leant back in his chair, feeling slightly relaxed at having some normal social contact with human beings and not yelling orders at them whilst trying to escape from a hoard of mutated human beings. It reminded him of when he had been younger, back when he was in the Air Force and just after he had joined S.T.A.R.S – often when he went to a bar with some of his colleagues they would have a competition to see who would be able to chat up the best looking waitress... and sometimes they would even try to chat up the ugliest waitress that they could find.
Penny walked back over to the table. "Here's your bill. It comes to a total of... seventeen dollars and ninety four cents. Which method of payment are you going to use?"
"Cash." Chris said and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He leant forwards, holding out the money and smiled as best as he could. "So when does your shift end?"
xXx
Wesker heard a key turning in the lock of the apartment door. He was back to sitting on the sofa, staring into space. He smirked when a young woman walked into the apartment and stopped, staring at him.
"Hello Penny. You can leave now."
"What? I – how do you know my name?"
He gave her a blank look. "It's written on your nametag."
"Penny, why don't you go and –" Chris froze as he walked into the living room and saw a very familiar blonde man lounging on his sofa. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, hoping that it was just a horrible hallucination.
"Hello Chris." Wesker purred, sitting up on the sofa. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Chris, who is he?" Penny asked, taking a couple of steps backwards, looking towards Chris for an explanation.
Wesker directed his attention to the waitress. "I said you could leave now."
Penny looked up at Chris, feeling frightened of the man in his apartment "Chris? Who is he? Is he your roommate or something?"
"No." Chris grimaced. "But he's right. You should leave."
"But –"
Chris exploded. Why wouldn't she just listen to him? Why couldn't she realise that the tone Wesker was using and the tone that he was using meant that there was something dangerous between the two men? "JUST GET OUT!"
Penny turned and fled, now taking Chris seriously.
Wesker got up off the sofa and walked over to the apartment door and closed it, then put the chain on it and twisted the lock before turning his attention back to Chris. "I think you and I need to have a little chat."
A/N: Hopefully, I will have chapter three up soon. It depends on how well I'm coping with revision and other fics I am working on.
Any comments or feedback are appreciated.