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Chapter 4: Estelle

Yuri slowly woke up from his unconsciousness. His vision was groggy at first, groaning as he slowly opens his eyes and lifts his head up. He attempts to move his arms, but quickly found that he can't because he felt them being restrained. He squinted as he began to regain full consciousness. Eventually, he regains his vision and finds himself sitting in the middle of a dark, empty room.

He vividly remembered being captured and brought into a pickup truck. After that, he got to see the face of his captor and immediately recognizes who she is. Estellise.

There's no mistaking at all that it was Estellise who captured him and brought him into his place. But why? Why did she captured him and destroyed his earpiece, completely cutting his communication with Nolan? He lets out a sigh. The only way he's going to know is to go out of here and find her. Hopefully, she won't try to kill him and let himself explain that he's here to help her.

Yuri looks down and sees that his arms are being tied around the back of the wooden chair he's currently sitting on by ropes. He also sees that all of his pockets on his vest are opened and the ammunition and grenades that were inside them are gone. He turns his head and sees that the pistol is missing from his gun pouch around his right leg. He turns to the left and sees that his machete has also been removed from his pouch. He tries to move his wrists and he felt that they are being tied by another rope. He then tries to move his legs but they are also restrained and being tied to the legs of the chair by ropes too.

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and leans himself forward. It looks like he doesn't have any other choice. He abruptly throws himself back which causes himself and the chair he is sitting on to fall over. The wooden chair smashed into pieces and Yuri winces and closes his eyes in pain as the back of his head hits the ground.

When he opens them, he slowly stands up without using his hands and the ropes that were originally tied around his legs and arms fall freely to the ground. Only his wrists are still being restrained.

He looks around the room and sees that it's completely empty. The only thing that resembles an object is the wooden door in front of him. Yuri takes a deep breath once again. If he can't open the door because his hands are tied, then he'll just have to knock it down.

He bends his body forward and stood still for a moment. After a while, he charges towards the door and slams his head and torso against it, knocking the door down. He finds himself falling down and landing on top of the now broken door.

Yuri groans as he slowly staggers up from the floor again and looks up. He finds himself standing in a corridor with fluorescent lighting. Upon looking at the design of the corridor, he can instantly tell that this building is a hospital. Or it used to be. The corridor was a huge and horrifying mess. At the left side, there is a trolley bed that has fallen over and both the walls and floor are filled with blood stains and debris.

He cautiously walks down the corridor. He looks at the doors on both sides. Some have blood stains splattered on them while some have gigantic holes burst through them.

As he walks further down, he sees the reception desk at the left side. Papers are scattered along the desk and across the floor and the chair where the receptionist originally sat has fallen over and stained with blood. He also notices some footprints on the floor, not made from dirt, but by blood.

Yuri was sickened by what he sees. It actually reminded him of one of the terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan which he and his squad broke into, except this looks much worse and gruesome.

He continues walking down the corridor until he arrived at a pair of huge wooden doors. He slowly pushes through them and enters the waiting area where he sees even more fallen chairs scattered everywhere. The walls and floor are again stained with blood. He turns his head to the wall and sees a blood smeared handprint.

Yuri held back the urge to throw up and continue walking forward. He pushes through another pair of wooden doors and he now enters the Intensive Care Unit area. He turns his head to the right and widens his eyes in horror.

It was an open area with six beds placed in the same room. There are dead infected people strapped to the beds with leather belts around their wrists, waists and ankles. Their eyes are rolled back and have bullet-holes shot squarely through the middle of their foreheads.

Did Estellise really did all of this?

He turns his head back to the front as he continues walking forward. He now walks over to the room beside the open area. He looks through the glass sliding door and sees a body strapped to the bed inside the room. Behind the bed were two shelves filled with several medicine bottles and chemical flasks.

To his surprise and horror, this body isn't like the infected bodies he saw earlier. This body isn't gray but rather in its normal pale flesh skin tone. This person is actually a normal human being and completely free of any symptoms of being an infected. The horrifying part however is that just like the bodies he saw earlier, it had a bullet-hole shot through the middle of his forehead.

Who killed him? Is it Estellise? If so, why? Why would she kill someone who isn't infected by the Rosch virus?

He turns his head and sees that at the left side of the room, there is a table that has an oven and a tape recorder placed on one side and a sink built into it on the other. Above the table is a huge whiteboard with several photos pasted on it. The photos seem to be post-mortem snapshots of the faces of many infected people who have been strapped to the same bed, and the last photo is a snapshot of the same person who is currently lying dead inside the room right now.

Does that mean the person currently strapped to the bed was actually cured by Estellise, only to be shot by her afterwards? Why would she do that?

Yuri inches towards the glass door, trying to take a closer look at the photos when suddenly, he heard a click. Yuri swiftly turns his head and sees Estellise pointing his own pistol at him. He froze as he sees the icy glare on her face.

"What the hell are you doing outside your room?" She asked icily.

"Ma'am…" Yuri said. "I can expl-"

Estellise lets out an angry yell as she abruptly charges towards Yuri and tackles him. She pins Yuri against the wall behind him and places the pistol under his chin. Yuri breathes heavily as he stares down at Estellise in sheer shock.

"Who are you?! Tell me!" Estellise demanded.

"I'm Yuri Lowell! I'm here to rescue you, Estellise!" Yuri immediately answered.

"How do you know my name?!" Estellise bellowed.

"The people who sent me told me about you!" He yelled back.

"Who sent you?" She narrows her eyes.

"Nolan Mathias!" Yuri replied.

"Are you sure it's not Alexei Dinoia?" Estellise asked coldly.

Yuri stares back at her wordlessly. "Who's Alexei?" He asked incredulously.

Estellise continues glaring at him for a moment before she finally removes the pistol from under Yuri's chin and backs away from the soldier. "I believe you. Judging by your expression, I believe that you're not one of his men. But doesn't mean I won't continue keeping a close eye on you." She said. She holds up the pistol at Yuri again and moves to the side. "Move."

Yuri had no choice but to oblige. He walks forward and after he passes by her, Estellise stood behind him and she places the pistol on his back. "Keep moving." She said flatly. Yuri then continues walking forward and makes his way out of the ICU room with Estellise closely following him from behind. They both reenter the waiting area.

"Stop." Estellise ordered and the two stop at their tracks. "Turn right." Yuri turns to the right and sees a staircase leading to the bottom floor. "Move!"

Yuri then makes his way to the staircase and slowly walks down the stairs. Estellise continues following him closely from behind. Yuri tries to remain calm. Hopefully, he will later be given an opportunity to explain to Estellise that he really isn't her enemy.

When they reach the bottom, they arrived at the foyer where there is more blood stains splattered on the floor and chairs fallen over and placed everywhere. The reception desks are completely empty and there are also empty pill bottles and lids left aside on both the desks and floor.

"Keep moving. I'm getting hungry." Estellise said, pressing Yuri's pistol against his back. She escorts Yuri to the back of the reception desks and over to a door located behind them.

While still pointing the pistol at Yuri, Estellise turns the door knob and opens the door, leading to a small room with a dining table, four chairs and fridge inside.

"Get in." Estellise said. Yuri steps into the room and she closes the door behind her.

"Would you mind cutting these ropes around my wrists?" Yuri asked.

"Why the hell should I do that?" Estellise asked glaring.

"I swear…I won't hurt you." Yuri said with his tone softening.

"I still have your gun in my hand. If you ever try to lay a finger on me, I will shoot you." Estellise then puts Yuri's pistol into the pocket of her lab coat. She takes out a pocket knife and places it on top of the ropes tied around Yuri's wrists. Yuri stood still as Estellise starts cutting the ropes.

"Tell me, Estellise. Have you been staying in this facility?" Yuri asked.

"Yes. For a very long time." Estellise replied, not looking up at him and focusing on cutting the ropes. "I don't know how long."

"Seven years." Yuri said.

Estellise widens her eyes and stops for a moment. She looks up at Yuri and asked incredulously, "Seven years? It's been that long?"

"The virus hit this place in 2010. Now, it's the year 2017." Yuri said, turning his head and looking back at her.

"Wow." Estellise lowers her head. "Time flies." She continues cutting the ropes and said, "Also sir, just call me Estelle."

"Estelle?"

"Yes. It's what my fellow scientists usually refer me as and I'm used to it."

"Very well…Estelle." Yuri said, turning his head back to the front.

When Estelle finally cuts off the ropes, she quickly drops her pocket knife, draws out the pistol and aims at Yuri's back again. Yuri slowly raises up his hands.

"I told you Estelle. I won't hurt you. Because I'm your ally." Yuri said.

Estelle sighs and lowers the pistol. "You may take a seat." She said as she puts the pistol back into the pocket of her coat. Yuri turns to the table next to them. He grabs a chair and sits down while Estelle goes to the back of the room and heads to the fridge. She opens it, revealing several potatoes inside it.

"Do you eat potatoes?" She asked.

"Yes I do." Yuri said. "And don't tell me that's all you eat for the last seven years."

"Unfortunately yes." Estelle said dully as she grabs two potatoes and closes the fridge. She turns to Yuri. "And if you're wondering how I get them, there's a field behind the building. I grow and harvest them every day. And don't worry, they're not cold. The fridge isn't connected to a socket. I just use it to store them."

She goes over to the table and takes a seat. She extends a potato to Yuri, who takes it from her. "Bon appetit." She deadpanned before she starts eating her own potato.

Yuri takes a moment to look at her. She clearly looked like she hadn't had a decent shower for years. Her pink hair had no brilliant sheen and its dull tone reminded him of the color of rust. Also, her eyeballs are horribly sunken. Ugly gray bags are sagging underneath her light blue eyes, as if the girl had been without a decent amount of sleep for a long time.

He also looked at her clothes. Her white shirt, red tie around its collar, the white lab coat she wears over them, the dark red skirt, black stockings and black shoes are all dirty and covered with a diverse variety of blemishes and stains, making it clear that her clothes haven't been washed for years.

She may not be an infected, but she sure does resemble one.

Yuri couldn't help but feel pity and sympathy for her. She has still trapped on this island for seven years now and how she wish she can return to the mainland and experience peace and freedom again.

After swallowing her food, Estelle looks up at him. "You said your name is…Yuri Lowell, am I right?"

"Oh." Yuri snaps out his thoughts. "Yes. You're right."

"Nice to meet you, Yuri. It's been a while since I actually met another human being." She paused and shrugs her shoulders. "A human who isn't infected, of course."

Yuri puts his potato aside before inquiring, "Estelle, may I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead."

"Is it true that you found a cure?"

Estelle nods her head. "Yes. I did. Finally after seven years working on this damn island, I found it."

"And so you later contacted the US military through that signal tower back at the village. But were you the one who destroyed it?" Yuri asked.

"Yes, I did." She answered.

"Why would you do that?" Yuri arches an eyebrow.

"So that Alexei and his men won't track down my signal and find me after I do so. I had to contact the military back on mainland as quickly as possible."

"And what was that trap at the tower? The one which I activated and knocked me out?"

"I set up that trap too. Usually I use them to capture the infected and bring them to my lab. But for this case, if Alexei and his men actually do come and try to get me, I capture one of them first. But instead, I caught you. Sorry about your earpiece by the way. I thought you were one of his men after all."

"Speaking of the cure, back at the ICU room, I saw the body of an uninfected man. Was that man normal and free of symptoms because he was given the cure?"

"Yes." Estelle nods her head. "When I cured him, I was absolutely surprised. I'm surprised that I actually did it. I finally created the cure to the Rosch virus."

Yuri narrows his eyes. "And did you shoot him after curing him?"

Estelle's eyes grew cold. "Yes."

Yuri slams his fists onto the table immediately after getting his answer. "Why would you do that?!" He asked, raising his tone and sounding angry.

"Because I cannot let the cure fall into the wrong hands!" Estelle snapped. "Definitely not into Alexei's hands."

"Who's Alexei?" Yuri inquired, feeling that it's time to get the elephant out of the room.

Estelle puts down her potato and places her arms on the table. She pauses for a moment before looking back up at Yuri. "Colonel Alexei Dinoia…he's a god damn psychopath…and a monster. He killed…everyone I knew." Yuri notices that tears are starting to form in her eyes. "He gave an access card to a soldier, letting him into our experiment labs and steal samples of the virus."

"Hades…" Yuri uttered.

"Hades then gave a sample to Alexei and…" Estelle stops for a moment to take a gulp. She then struggles to continue explaining while suppressing her sobs. "We watched him…infect one of my friends and…she transformed right in front of us. She bites the nearest person…and then that person also turned and…and then everybody but me turn into…monsters…I managed to escape alive…and when I got out of the facility…I just kept running…and running…I never stop running…"

Upon finishing her explanation, Estelle hangs her head and closes her eyes, letting her tears finally pour out and roll down both sides of her face.

"Hey." Yuri whispered as he gently pats Estelle's arm. "It's alright." He paused for a moment before asking his next question, "Do you know what happened to Dr. Schwann Oltorain and Colonel Niren Fedrok?"

Estelle responded by shaking her head. "I don't know." She said barely above a whisper as she opens her eyes. "Everything happened so fast. And all I just want is to get out."

"And I assume after you got out, you came here and since then, you continue your team's mission to study the virus and eventually find a cure." Yuri said. Estelle nods her head. A wan smile appears on Yuri's face. "Your team would have been proud of you."

"Yeah. They would." Estelle uttered. She lifts her right hand up and wipes off the tears off her eyes

"Why is Alexei hunting you?" Yuri asked.

"I don't know." Estelle shrugged. "He's an unpredictable mad man. Probably for some reason has a grudge on us scientists and just wants to kill us all. Including me."

"Estelle." Yuri stares at Estelle boldly. The scientist looks up at him with red eyes and tearstained cheeks. "I am sent to this island to rescue you. And I promise you. I'm going to help you get out of this place. I will keep you safe. And I won't let Alexei find you."

Estelle silently grabs Yuri's left hand and tightens her grip around it. She and Yuri both stare squarely into each other's eyes.

"Promise me…you will get me out of here alive." Estelle said to him flatly.

Yuri solemnly nods his head. "I will."

END OF CHAPTER

Sovereign: I hope you all enjoy this chapter. This weekend, I'll be going on a holiday trip so expect the next update on May 10th. Until then, read and review!