Enjoy this next chapter which should keep you all amused for quite a while until I start posting more. Any reviews or questions are always welcome!
Chapter Five
As the preparations were put into play Rebecca only watched the pair load up the group's most recent find, an old delivery truck complete with armoured sides.
Carlos had originally found it amongst the rusting heaps in a junkyard near Cairns and although the owner who sold it to the 'couple' was laughing when they drove it off, the vehicle seemed more reliable then it appeared. With all the newer modifications the old delivery van now resembled an armoured truck then anything else. Its sides had been reinforced with steel while the large heavy doors at the back had thick securing locks preventing them from suddenly swinging open. This was done with good intentions; the unusual cargo that would be riding in the back wasn't the type that such trucks carried.
It was decided that only the bare essentials be taken with the group, things such as plenty of ammunition for the weapons was definitely a must and also various food supplies in the event of getting stuck out at their unknown destination.
Standing at the opening of the large outdoor garage Rebecca only shook her head, "I still don't understand where you three are actually going to"
Handing Carlos a satchel containing a few clips of ammunition Jill turned to face her, "Actually we have no idea ourselves just a bunch of coordinates given to us by Trent is all we have to go on"
"How do you know he isn't leading you into a trap?" Rebecca asked in a sceptic tone. "It seems strange you're always willing to trust Trent and his bizarre emails he sends you"
In many ways Jill had silently agreed with Rebecca, it did seem strange that a few days after the 'raid' on the Glasshouse Mountains lab an email popped up into the inbox from the mysterious Trent. Ever since moving into the Tableland region Trent had not contacted them and Jill had assumed he had not caught up with their new location or another type of situation she didn't want to think about that would permanently prevent him from ever speaking to the group again. Trent had been with the group from the very start and his knowledge of all of Umbrella's shady dealing was at sometimes scary but very useful.
The recent email had been classified as 'scary' due to the fact it had coordinates and a map of the Australian deserts. It almost seemed that Trent had been very aware that the program he had given to the rebels called 'the map' had been destroyed so instead of giving another copy of the lost map pointed them to their next destination. Even the message accompanying the map and coordinates was a typical aspect of Trent and Jill had memorised the strange email word for word in case it was needed later on.
Far beneath burning sands lie four spheres, the poison each spew forth has killed the land and its inhabitants, journey to the dead centre and clamp the pipes shut but beware of the eye in the sky that is ever watchful and never sleeps.
Thinking about the weird message Jill only shook her head; it seemed as confusing as when she first saw it. It does seem strange that Trent suddenly pops up out of the blue after a long silence but what else can we do? We don't know where the other labs in this country are, as we no longer have the map to show us.
Shrugging and stepping away from the truck Jill began to make her way back to the house, "In a few hours we'll find out if Trent's led us astray or not, I'm hoping it's not a wild goose chase into the desert region that's all"
"I can't believe you're being so casual about this"
Carlos approached the pair from behind, cutting Jill off before she could speak, "The group trusts him and I guess Trent's never lied to us, thing I don't understand is what he's getting out of it I mean doesn't he normally want something in return? A file? A code?"
"One of the many mysteries surrounding Trent I suppose" Jill replied as she turned to watch DarkClaw pace back and forth in his pen. She then glanced towards Rebecca; "You'll be ok taking care of DarkClaw while we're gone?"
Rebecca only sighed, "I don't have much of a choice in the matter but how long will this 'trip' take? I only have a few more weeks before I have to travel back to the states and resume my nursing duties"
"If we fly out by at least mid afternoon today we'll be there by six then the rest of the journey will take three weeks to travel to those coordinates that Trent gave us" Jill said.
"All along hoping that those directions don't lead us into trouble" Carlos remarked grinning. When seeing that neither Jill or Rebecca were impressed by the remark he only shrugged and backed away, "I'm joking ladies, everything will be fine but I think I better check the engine before we leave just to make sure"
Rebecca was now watching as DarkClaw attempted to dig into the soft muddy dirt inside the pen only succeeding in getting covered in more mud, "There's not much to him, DarkClaw I mean, all you have to do is make sure he has fresh water, exercise and plenty of chocolate, kind of like a dog I guess, without the whole chocolate thing though"
"We'll be gone three weeks tops and if you have to leave earlier it's ok don't stress about it" Jill said as she started for the steps. "I find it very hard to believe that DarkClaw will starve to death if we're gone a few extra days"
"You haven't been studying his metabolism, that monster burns up more energy four times as fast as a human being, sometimes I think that Umbrella practically gave DarkClaw to us because he was eating them out of house and home"
Stepping up onto the wooden veranda Jill narrowly avoided walking through a large clear puddle that carried the faint aroma of chemicals and sugar.
When Rebecca saw the puddle she looked at it and frowned, "Please tell me that's not what I think it is?"
Jill only smiled, "Might as well get some experience while you're at it"
Rebecca only groaned and went off in search of a mop and bucket.
Turning the doorknob for one of the veranda's doors Jill stepped inside the semi darkened farmhouse. As she started to switch the lights on Jill heard a soft voice call her name.
Facing the sound she realized it was Alyssa who was sitting on one of the leather lounge chairs in the large living room/kitchen area.
When approaching Alyssa, Jill could easily see that the girl was upset by something that went well beyond the target practice earlier on. As she sat down Alyssa took a deep breath and rubbed the left side of her head, she seemed at first unable to talk but as her green eyes locked onto Jill she began to speak in a soft whispery voice.
"Jill can I tell you something? Something that I've kept a secret ever since you rescued me?"
Jill only nodded, though in the back of her mind she knew that what was about to be said was not going to be happy and cheerful, "Go ahead I'm listening"
Alyssa lowered her hand and clasped both together and sighed, "Before you came…actually it was a week before…" her eyes darted away from Jill's gaze for only a moment then returned, they were filled with fear and sadness. "He did something to be Jill, Griffin put something in my head and I'm only remembering it now"
The chair that Jill was sitting on suddenly became very hard and cold as a chill crept up her spine. Those words, those exact words sound so much like…shaking her head Jill turned back towards Alyssa while trying to keep her calm composure, "What do you mean by that Alyssa?"
But Alyssa only shifted away from Jill and it seemed that she wouldn't say anymore. She instead lifted up the left side of her white hair and pointed with her free hand, "Griffin drugged me then put a microchip in there somewhere I think it was on the left side but I could be wrong, either way I have a piece of machinery in my skull now"
"Is that the reason why you don't want to use guns? Because you're frightened you'll turn into another Alice?"
Alyssa turned back to face Jill and slightly nodded, a single tear slipped down her cheek, "He made me kill someone Jill and there was nothing I could do to stop it, I just think that maybe…I'm away from him now and I don't think that Griffin can command me but just in case"
Jill leaned in closer and spoke, "It'll be ok Alyssa, we've all managed to survive the last two times something's nasty happened we'll figure this out too"
Alyssa shook her head and moved even further away from Jill, "My abilities are nothing compared to this, Umbrella's using me and there's nothing in the world that'll convince me to stay with you guys, I know you've all been really good to put up with everything so far but I can't risk the fact that I might hurt someone" she paused to wipe the tear from her cheek. "I'm changing Jill and there's not a kind word in the entire world that will make me feel all better inside!"
Jill only sat back in the chair and folded her arms, she was still getting over the shock with what Alyssa had said previously but had allowed the girl to speak, everyone was tense at the moment and letting off steam was the best option, "Well if that's how you feel Alyssa I won't try and convince you to stay but hear me out ok? Soon Carlos and I will be leaving for the desert regions near Birdsville, now there's plenty of places I'm sure you could easily disappear into and no one will find you, by coming with us you'd get a direct route into such areas and if you want to leave soon after then neither Carlos or I will stop you, does that sound plausible?"
Alyssa seemed to think about what Jill had just said for a few moments before replying, "You're not going into that place just for fun though?"
Jill shrugged, "It's what we do but if you want to tag along then you're more then happy to"
Clenching her left fist tightly Alyssa looked up towards Jill, her green eyes flashing with hatred, a side that was rarely seen in the girl, "When do we leave?"
The tight closing walls of the underground facility had started to gnaw at Alice the moment she had travelled down into its depths. There had been a time long ago in her past that she had journeyed into another facility similar to the Sphere complexes but such events were vague and couldn't be remembered properly. The only thing Alice could recall was the terrible feeling of being under all those tonnes of dirt and cement thinking for one moment what would it be like if it suddenly came all crashing down. In order to maintain her balanced and clear mind Alice practiced with her two swords whenever such a feeling came over her.
She had managed to locate a room that was not only far away from Griffin's gaze but also free of cameras. The room appeared to be a small operating theatre that hadn't been properly set up yet and the only way that someone could see her was if they happened to peer through the large glass window on the right side wall.
Gripping both handles of the swords in an iron hold Alice darted forward swiping the air in front of her as she fought invisible opponents.
Although the main weapon that security around all the facilities used were MP5s a type of semi automatic rifle Alice still favoured her twin blades over any gun in her collection, even the various squads of loud cocky soldiers feared her swords. Despite the fact that many saw swords as useless in defending against heavy gunfire the way that Alice wielded both of the customised blades defied logic. She could easily cut through a mass of heavily armoured enemies before they could draw their weapons to fire.
Just as I did in the Glasshouse Mountains Alice thought as she twisted both the swords in her hands.
She could tell that Griffin had been very upset with the fact that the entire squad had fallen to the weapons but there was a plausible reason: they had refused to get out of her way when an enemy had been spotted. However Alice hadn't been 'punished' for cutting down the security squads in fact Griffin had only given her a harsh warning before retreating back into his safe little haven. Similar was the warning and threats when Griffin had exited the elevator half an hour ago. He'd only 'advised' that she keep her emotions under control or further restrictions would be put into place.
Chuckling to herself Alice leapt into the air preforming a perfect flip before landing on her feet. That idiot thinks he can control me with a silly remote and words little does Griffin know that I'm the one controlling him.
It was true in the fact that Alice slightly feared the remote that Griffin always carried, whenever he pressed it a sharp high pitch frequency sound that was only meant for her ears would sound off. But if the remote were to be taken away he would lose his power.
Griffin had been after all too preoccupied with the lab brat's clones and a skeleton staff of jittery white-coated researchers only manned the facilities.
Revealing who truly was in charge would hopefully come to light soon.
The strange black suited Trent had met with Alice a few times before she had left with Griffin for the Sphere labs. Although she didn't trust the man she only listened to what he had to say partially ignoring his long speeches until it was mentioned that she keep watch over Griffin's actions.
Holding out the right blade Alice threw it up into the air and caught the handle before it hit the ground. Trent, another fool who thinks he's untouchable, he put himself at a big risk talking to me, at anytime Griffin could have been listening, yet he seemed to know that might happen.
Trent had used some very choice sentences during his last meeting; he appeared to understand Griffin's tyrannical hold over whatever complex he would be stationed at and if something should happen to him….
Thinking about what Trent had said made Alice smile, he must have known about the fate of Dr Isaacs, killing him was quick and easy if there ever came time to do the same to Griffin, Alice wanted his death to be painful and slow as possible. Though Alice couldn't stop thinking that Trent had purposely played on her position and emotions to create a type of profile on her thus seeing her as another of his little errand runners who would take down a rival so he could rise through the ranks but she easily dismissed it. There were more important things on Alice's mind then silky voiced committee members who no doubt feared her as they did each other.
Bringing both blades up in front of her Alice crossed them and then parted them before swinging backwards in a downward thrust.
Suddenly her entire left arm shook as her muscles began to tense up all along it.
Dropping both swords Alice then fell to the ground bringing her shaking left arm close in towards her. The pain from the clenched muscles only seemed to get worse and even though Alice gritted her teeth to block out the pain she cried out, the new sensation of agony was an emotion her mind had forgotten a long time ago.
In a few minutes however the shaking was over and the muscles in her arms slowly unclenched themselves. Straightening out her left arm Alice first shook it then lowered the limb so it was touching the cold cement floor, her face clouded with fear and surprise as she stared back her arm.
Still sitting in a kneeling position on the floor Alice shut her eyes and sighed, twice this had already happened and each time pain had followed. It was something that she could never tell Griffin lest she'd become a human pincushion, as he would assume it was an anomaly that needed to be inspected and written about.
With time and patience Alice had hoped that such a thing like the muscle spasms would pass but it was still a worrying issue as it had only recently arisen.
Slowly rising from the floor Alice went to retrieve her fallen blades.
She suddenly became aware that someone was watching her.
Turing to face the large glass window Alice saw Griffin standing on the other side staring back at her in a casual cold gaze. After a few moments Griffin shrugged while smiling cruelly and began to walk down the steel corridor.
Sliding the swords back into the scabbards strapped to her back Alice exited the room, she didn't want to know how long Griffin had been watching her or if he'd seen her shaking arm. She only wanted to get out of the confining underground tunnels and up into the fresh air outside the facility.