Luther stumbled into his cabin and barely reached the toilet in time. He puked into it. A couple of seconds longer and he would have puked out in the hallway. It felt like he was puking his insides out.
Alice had trailed behind Luther only to lose him on the second level. She didn't know which cabin was his, but it didn't matter as she noticed the open door next to her sleeping quarter. Turned out Luther's cabin was right beside hers. She entered his door and leaned in the door way, watching Luther clean himself up at the sink.
"You know you could have said you weren't feeling well back there. You didn't have to hide it."
Luther looked up from the sink as he wiped his face with towel. "The meeting was more important. And trust me. I didn't feel like this at the start of the meeting. I feel like shit now."
Alice moved from her leaning position and followed Luther to the edge of the bed he was now sitting on.
"Let me check your temp."
"No really I am fine Alice," he stated while swatting away her attempts at checking him.
"Shut it and hold still." Alice was stubborn. And when she needed something done, no one was going to stop her. She grabbed Luther's arm only to release it just as fast.
Luther stopped struggling after looking at the puzzling face of Alice. Her face showed something between shock and anger. Uh oh. Did he make her mad?
"When were you bitten Luther," Alice demanded.
"What are you talking about? I never got bitten. I didn't even get a scratch from a zombie. Really," he replied to her.
Alice could tell he was telling the truth. But what she felt was not that of a normal person. He was infected.
"But you are infected. I sensed it when I touched you. My powers allow me to sense those with the T-virus around me. How I didn't notice it before is beyond me."
"I am not infected Alice! Why don't you believe me?" Luther couldn't help but feel agitated. It felt like Alice was calling him a liar. And if it was one thing, he was not a liar.
"Because it's hard to when I can sense you are infected on a massive level!" she exclaimed at him. Alice had to refrain from screaming at him. They didn't need unwanted attention.
"Look you can check me for bites." Luther rose from the bed. He was halfway from picking up his shirt over his head before crumpling to the floor.
"Gah! What the hell," Luther gasped. He felt a pain like no other surge through his entire body. It felt like fire was moving through his veins and arteries. He clasped his right arm as what felt like a series of needles poking it grabbed his attention.
Alice watched as what seemed like something crawled through Luther's right arm. As if a creepy crawly decided to house itself in the man's skin and flesh. But it wasn't an animal or some odd out of the world creature. No. Alice knew this all too well as she remembered experiencing it herself. It was the T-virus running its course in a victim that could bond with it. She watched Luther spasm in pain as she was helpless in alleviating it.
Alice clasped his shoulder and kneeled beside him. She remembered the pain that she experienced back during the fall of Raccoon City. She had been getting some guns and clothing from Surplus and More, an army/navy surplus store, when a spark of pain hit her. She hadn't known she was infected at that time. The pain and her heightened abilities made her aware of it though as she moved through the city in search of an exit or possible life.
K-Mart walked into the cabin as she had begun to worry after Alice left in search of Luther. She wasn't expecting the sight in front of her. A Luther very much in pain and Alice just sitting on the edge of the bed watching him.
Alice's eyebrows were furrowed up in worry as she glanced from the collapsed form of the man in front of her to the teen at the door.
"He is infected and I think it's the same as me. Go get Claire please," Alice asked K-Mart.
"Alright but will he be ok? I mean we should get him down to the medical people."
"It's temporary pain. Trust me. I have gone through it before," she informed K-Mart. K-Mart nodded and ran out of the room and to the control deck where she hoped Claire would be. And sure enough, the redheaded leader was in there alone looking at the ships systems.
Claire could see the look of panic on the teenagers face. "Something wrong?"
"Yea it's Luther. Hurry!" she told Claire before turning around to run back down the hall and onto the stairs again. Claire was right behind her, following her down to the second level where Luther was.
Claire entered the room to find the sorry form of Luther on the carpet floor. "How long has he been like this?"
"He is infected Claire. I just don't how he could have been infected though." Alice's face showed no emotion. It was the usual deadpan serious look that she seemed to be perfect at portraying. Claire disliked seeing that expression on such a pretty woman.
"Does that mean you have to take care of him?" K-Mart asked weakly. It was a nicer way of saying shoot-him-and-get-it-over-with-because-he-was-infected type of thing.
"I don't think you will have to do that," Luther replied calmly. The pain was gone and he was feeling good, if not better than he ever felt before.
XXXXxxxxXXXX
Chris watched Jill's chest rise slowly up and down as she breathed. Jill was still asleep as she had been after the battle on the top deck. He gave a soft sigh and scooted his chair to be closer to the still form of his comrade. He smiled a bit as he recalled the first day he met Jill.
Chris walked a long corridor in the S.T.A.R.S main corporation building. Only the best trained here and he was one of them. It was his first day of physical contact training. Hand-to-hand combat sorta thing. It wasn't new to him as he had some experience when he was in the marines. Best of his group at shooting, combat, support, basically everything. Not that he would brag about such stuff, it was just that he was good at it. Fighting was his thing.
"Nice of you to join us. Took you long enough," a rough voice exclaimed. It was his former commanding officer who took the job before Chris did. Chris knew that serving his country was what he liked. He enjoyed it but really wanted to settle down. He had enough of the military style of living and being in such a respected top notch unit like this is what captured him.
"Yea I decided to take your advice and enlist into this. It's for the best of the best after all," Chris replied haughtily.
The booming laugh of his former officer echoed in the combat room. "Hahaha. Well let's see it go to some good use. There is your sparring partner. Just don't get your ass kicked like I know you will." He pointed to a man across the room kicking at a punching bag. No it wasn't a man. It was a woman. Her short cropped black hair swept from side to side and she landed hard blows on to the sandbag. He could see the perspiration falling down her neck and on to the blue shirt she wore. An indication of her hard workout.
"You are really going to make me fight a girl?" Chris asked a little too loudly. He couldn't fight a woman. It wasn't his style.
"Maybe you should watch your mouth before I kick your ass and make you regret saying that," the woman stated as she walked toward him.
Chris tried not to stare but couldn't help it. The lady was hot for someone to be in the force. The usual women he saw were big and muscular, just borderline feminine from where he had been. It was so depressing not to see a hot chick in his marine group that he thought he would be forever condemned from getting a girlfriend. Or even laid again for that matter.
"What a rude and obnoxious guy. Bet you are one of those sorry looking Marines that are all looks and no brains. You really are getting on my nerves," She said as she stopped in front of him. She could see she hit a nerve as an angry expression covered his face. It made him look cute.
"And so are you. Why don't you just shutup so we can fight now. That way I can show you how to fight correctly considering those kicks you were throwing earlier looked sloppy and weak," Chris stated angrily. The look on her face turned from slightly angry to pure rage. Oh he got her mad. But that was what he was aiming for anyway. She insulted him and deserved that retort back.
As soon as Chris stepped on to the practice mat, the lady, whom he didn't even know her name, sent a series of punches at him. He managed to deflect most of them before sending some of his own. They danced across the mat throwing punches and kicks here and there. Both kept their distance as they tried to learn more about each other's moves before trying heavier hits and tricks.
"Ready to give up yet?" Chris asked while wiping some blood from the side of his mouth.
"Not a chance," came the response from his opponent.
Just as Chris was rounding up for another kick, the woman aimed for a low kick that swept him off his feet. His moment of weakness caused her to pounce on him. She pinned him down by sitting on top of his waist and holding his arms down with her own.
"I think I've won." Her smile was contagious as it caused Chris to smirk and relax a bit. He wasn't going to argue. He got his ass whooped by a girl and accepted it like a man. Looks like his commanding officer was right about him getting his ass handed to him.
"Yea I'll admit defeat," he muttered. Chris felt like his honor took a bit of a blow.
The woman continued to smile as she got up and offered a hand to help him up. "The name is Jill. Jill Valentine."
Chris took her hand and got up from the mat. "My name is Chris. Chris Redfield."
He could tell it was the start of a new friendship and possibly more.
Chris shook his head of the memory and averted his attention to the Jill in front of him. He didn't care if her hair was now long and blondish or if she had powers. Jill was Jill and he wasn't going to move from her side. He still had the same feelings he had always had for her.
Chris grabbed her cold hand and covered it with his own. "You use to always want to be better than me ya know that? Ha."
"What are you talking about? I am better than you." The response startled Chris. He looked up to see a smirking Jill looking at him. Valentine was finally awake. And she remembered him.
I hope that clears up the reason why Chris is so concerned for Jill from previous chapters. And how did Luther get infected? That will be answered in the next chapter :) I'm still trying to update as soon as possible but school is actually very demanding this year.
