Chapter Three: Reasonable Edited by: Naoko Suki
"Ah Wesker!" He heard his name called over the line.
"Oh dear Albert, how's that girl doing!" Mr. Browns voice kept getting more enthused with every word.
"She is doing well. Currently sleeping right now though."
"Sleeping?" Brown seemed skeptical. "I thought that virus shit would erase the need for anything of the sort."
"Her brain hasn't fully recovered yet." Wesker was telling the truth.
"Oh. Well listen-" Brown continued without much thought. "-remember that Halloween party I told you about? It's early this year. I want to invite you to come with our newfound 'miss' you've been taking such good care of. My wife wants to meet her, such a jealous woman!" He let out a loud bellow of a laugh, and Wesker had to move the phone away from his ear.
"Be there? What are you talking about?"
"You know, bring our 'lovely miss' as your date!"
Wesker glared at the phone, but didn't want to upset his employer. "I can't risk that. Someone may recognize her."
"Well then figure something out! Please Albert. I'll do anything you want!"
Anything I want? I'll hold you to that. "Anything?"
"I give you my word Albert, anything and everything. My marriage needs to be saved." Wesker could hear Mr. Brown hold his breath after that sentence. The silence then ended.
"Alright, I'll see what I can do."
He heard the man sigh at the other end of the phone and thank him profusely. Wesker got some details about the event, and some mentions of meetings for the near future before he finally just hung up.
Looking over to the sleeping woman again, his face drooled with distaste. His 'date'? How ridiculous. What else is next? Pretend to fall in love? He supported his head with his arm. He still had to do it, but there was something that interested him. I wonder how Miss Redfield will take this news? Would she behave? Sitting back up, he made a few more calls and continued working, waiting for his 'date' to awaken.
Her dream felt like bits and pieces from a movie. Cut scenes from one place, then another from an entirely different time.
Run
I'm in a hospital standing above a man lying in bed. A woman turned to me;
"We did everything we could for now, but his body is very weak. I'm sorry-"
Switch
She was bent over the bed telling the man that he'll be alright.
Switch
I'm now speaking with another doctor. Tall with black hair and well built. She spoke with him, but a second later she was making out with him.
Afterwards, she accepted his proposal to date.
Switch
She was walking down an empty alleyway with an umbrella in her hands. Ducking down when someone yelled 'Get down!'. Shots fired, and she looked up. A familiar man. "Leon? What are you doing here?"
Leon's arm outstretched and she accepted his hand.
Switch
A man was arguing with her. He has auburn hair;
"Claire! I want to finish this football match!"
"No, Let me watch the X-Files for once!"
"Gimmie back the remote! Claire!" They were pulling the remove back and forth until she just let up and shoved it back to him.
"God Chris! Fine take it! I don't need it anymore; I've seen this episode before. Besides I have to get ready for my date tonight with Eddy."
"What!"
She instantly woke up from the yell of the man in her dreams. Typing was going on until the man creating the noise turned to her.
"Good morning dear heart."
"Oh. Good morning Albert." She rolled onto her back and rested her hands behind her head.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Kind-of. I had dreamt but they felt…weirdly real." She began to think to herself.
Eddy? Leon.
Chris…
Claire realized she was staring into nowhere and hopped up to go take a shower. She had finished within 15 minutes and noticed a large grey purse on the bed when she walked back out.
"Whose bag is this?"
"It would be yours."
Mine? She looked at it curiously before peeking inside, then dumping its contents out on the bed. A wallet fell out, and looking inside it carried her driver's license, credit cards and a few dollars in cash. Also on the bed there was some lip gloss, and a badge attached to a lanyard with a hospital pass on it. Almost as if she didn't want to see it, lastly there was a hand gun. She slowly reached for it, and as if her hands had a mind of their own they unlocked, cocked and pointed the gun forward. Her eyes narrowed.
Xx
She was sitting in a car with Leon. He was wearing his police uniform. In her hand, a handgun. They were running from something. Leon had just started to drive and a groan came from the back seat. Hands tried to reach for our throats.
"Get out of here Claire!"
Xx
She jumped back and dropped the gun on the bed.
"What the hell was that..?"
"What did you see Claire?" Wesker asked peeking above his sunglasses.
"I…I don't know. It looked human, but it made gargling and moaning sounds as if it was from an animal. His eyes were all white, and it kept trying to grab me. It was disgusting!" She fell backwards onto the bed. "This amnesia is getting really annoying."
Changing the subject, Wesker spoke up. "I've received an invitation for us."
Claire just looked at him. "An invitation?"
"For an early Halloween party." Claire looked confused to him. "Claire?"
"I know I don't remember much, but I really don't like the way 'Halloween' sounds. But a party?"
"You don't know what it is? Have you been to a party before?"
"Yes! But there's no way I'm going to wear that dress Chris! Forget it!" Silence remained in the room after her outburst.
"Uhh, why did I say Chris? Have I been asked before?" She felt embarrassed. My mind is really annoying me.
"I think I've been to a party before. But it was definitely a Christmas party at my hospital. I can kind of remember it."
Claire ignored the look she was receiving from Wesker and just went to watch TV.
His mind reeled at her fast progress at recovering. Let's put her to the test.
He told her that they were to go and run more tests on her. She naturally obliged and followed him. Walking down the locked hallways, Claire began to smell another human. Normally it was just the two of them, but when Wesker opened the door to the lab, there was another man handcuffed to the bed, sleeping. Instruments lay upon tables around the injured man, and the ECG beeped beside him.
"What the heck is this? Tell me why this man is here!"
"This is a test, Dr. Redfield."
"A test?"
"Yes. You need to save his life. If you don't and he dies, you fail."
"What the hell do you-"
"Put your gloves on."
She stared at Wesker, her eyes glowed an even brighter red. She put on the gloves; "What now?"
Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw Wesker pull a gun and shoot the man in the blink of an eye. The man didn't even wake.
"What the hell are you doing!"
"What's more important, doctor? Why I did it, or this man's life?" The ECG began to beep louder and more frequently, thumping through Claire's head.
She screamed in response. "But I don't remember a thing from college! How the heck am I suppose to save him?"
"Focus, doctor."
"Wha-? You idiot! I-" She stopped herself, and looked to the patient. Focus… Take a deep breath… In the corner of her eye she noticed Wesker was sitting in a chair and observing her.
The gunshot wound was in the middle of the man's chest. She ran her fingers over the hole in hopes to understand. "Come on… come on...I should know this." He's dying Claire… You need to help him.
Her eyes shot open, and let out a grunt of a chuckle. "Ha!" As if once again her body had a separate mind from her own it began to act.
"Subject: Male; Age: Mid Thirties; Bullet wound has been found in the center right of his chest. The bleeding is minimal, thinking it did not strike any tissue and had stopped at his rib. Pulse: Unstable; Administering 1.5 milligrams of morphine."
Her body went mad fast. After placing an oxygen supply mask on his face, she cleaned the wound with a disinfectant and used the forceps to gracefully remove the bullet. She then used her scalpel to horizontally hut a 3 inch opening to collect the chips of bone. She then took a drill and created two tiny holes in the broken rib and attached them together using a metal plate. She closed him, stitched him up and used antiseptic to clean up the skin. It looked like he hadn't even been hurt in the first place, all in record time.
Claire took a deep breath and wiped her brow with her forearm, smiling. "I did it. I just focused and everything came back to me. I've done this before! He's stable but I need to take some chest x-rays and some blood tests. His blood had a very strange smell."
Wesker saw that her happiness was short lived when she turned to face him. Her eyes only grew fiercer.
"And now that I'm done this little 'test' of yours, tell me…" She crossed the room in a split second, pulling Wesker up by his collar. His glasses fell to the floor. "What the fuck were you thinking, huh? You shot the man, and really relied on me to save him? And what if I didn't remember?" She yelled with all her being.
"He would have died then, dear heart." His calm voice did nothing for her anger, and just made her push him back into a wall still grasping his collar tightly.
"That's all you have to say? 'He would die' ? He's an innocent human being Albert! You had no right to up and fucking shoot him! He could have died on my watch! Answer me! Why'd the hell you do this?" She kept screaming, but wasn't prepared when Wesker grabbed her wrists and flipped her against the wall. Her hands pinned above her head and their noses being mere inches from each other.
"I did it to see if my theory was correct. And it was, like it always is. You seemed to remember something by touch, smell or hearing certain things. You want an example? Remember your gun, your necklace, and the party? Be reasonable Claire. It's the only way you're able to remember." His temper was mild at first, but he remained calm for her sake.
"I know you want to help me. I do thank you for that. But that doesn't change the fact you shot him to teach me!"
"He would have died in two days time. With or without the gunshot. Tell me Claire, why did you want to run a blood test?"
"Well it's a normal thing to do, but his blood smelt so strange. I almost wanted to puke."
Wesker sighed. "He's infected. He's one who has lasted from an outbreak."
"An outbreak? From where? How?"
"You'll understand when you remember more."
Claire scoffed. "You're like a parent. It's like telling me 'You'll understand when you're older.'" She let out a deep breath, her eyes returning to a more pale red. She then stared into his eyes before getting annoyed again.
"I got my answers. Would you let me go now?"
"Of course." He smirked.
Wesker dialed someone on his phone and a clean-up crew came behind them when they left. They made it back to the room and Wesker sat down at his desk again. Claire stayed standing.
"So, did I pass the test?"
"The victim is alive, so yes. You've passed."
"Good… I suppose. But don't you dare ever make tests like that anymore." She said glaring at Wesker. She then turned and walked to take a shower, wrote some more in her notebook, watched TV, then passed out in bed.
Like last time, he waited until she was in a deep enough sleep. Her breathing was the key to know when she was. He took a hold of the notebook once again and began to read;
17th November, 4:45pm Ach! I'm 32! (WTF!)
This day was. CRAZY. First my dreams, or well, memories. The black-haired man is still a mystery, I don't know if it's this 'Eddy' man. It looks like I was pretty close to him. Warm and happy memories! But when I touched the gun; Is that how I met Leon? He's a police officer? And that thing behind us in the car?
I definitely have more questions than answers.
And that 'test' surgery. I felt like myself, like I was in my place of comfort! I was glad I helped him, even though I was told after he was going to die anyways. It felt awesome grabbing Albert's collar. It's funny, but I wanted to do that for a LONG time! I WANT MORE ANSWERS!
P.S. Albert, please stop reading my notebook. It's private y'know? :)
Wesker sighed and smiles. She knew he read it. Of course she would. It didn't matter. He was curious as to who the black haired man was. She thought she was close to this man. As well to tell the truth, he was quite surprised with her strength when she grabbed his collar and pushed him back. Her recovery really was coming along nicely and the virus was doing its job.
One thing that wasn't common between her and her brother was that even when she was angry, she still called him Albert. He began to tolerate it. He wondered if she'll take longer to recover her memories if she continues with 'Albert' rather than 'Wesker'. He quit the thought since it was a risk to even rely on such a theory.
He placed her notebook back on the table and returned back to his computer.
