Act VI: Magic
"The quarterback of the football team asked me to prom. He was drop-dead sexy. When he picked me up, I expected . . . magic. We'd never really spoken before, but I'd daydreamed about him before. He gave me a rose corsage and kissed my check. There was no sizzle like I'd imagined. He took me to the dance, played the role of a polite, disinterested gentleman. When he dropped me off, he was cool and distant. I eventually learned that his mother had picked me as his date because my mother had a position in society. So much for the magic moment."
At the opposite end of the room was a door leading out. I headed toward that. But halfway to the door, there was a computer. It was high-tech, and looked like a sheet music stand. I paused in front of it. It was a touchscreen computer, and when I tapped the screen, it came to life. Several icons blinked for my attention. Video Feed won my attention.
I tapped it, and the screen blossomed into new options. There were images from the cells, two per screen. Under each was a name. I took a deep breath and started scrolling through them, doing my best to memorize the names and what had become of the people.
Somewhere near the middle, I saw his name. Jason Teague. My prom date who hadn't been the slightest bit interested. His cell showed a figure, roughly his size and shape, lying on a bed, facing the wall. Whether he was alive, dead, or undead, I really couldn't tell.
I checked the cell number and continued forward until I reached Cell #33.1. I tapped the glass with two fingers, eyes locked on the motionless figure. It didn't move. Or did it? I narrowed my eyes, leaning forward.
"I wasn't sure if he meant anything," a man said from somewhere behind me. "But when I found him here, it was too tempting to lure you in. I'm surprised that you came alone though. I guess Christopher didn't teach you better." He had a heavy, fake British accept.
I kept my eyes on the figure of Jason Teague, cursing myself for wasting my last shot on a mere zombie. But even as I watched, the figure sat up and started to turn. Its motions were clumsy and disjointed. Undead. I knew what I would see before he turned, hungry dead eyes to me. So I looked away.
Turned my back to him. "Congratulations, Wesker," I said. "You caught me."
"And now I'm going to kill you," he said. He launched toward me. The thing with Wesker is that he's pretty fast. He doesn't have lightning speed or anything like that, but he is faster than the average fastest man alive. Wesker uses his strength like a sophisticated bull in a China shop. He likes to break things, but he likes to break them slowly.