S.E Chapter 9- truth and trust
Authors note; With Joseph Creed dead and taken care of, there is no excuse for Kevin to avoid revealing his past to his partner. When all is said and done will she still be able to look at him the same way, or will uneasiness set in. Silent Hill is Konami's; Resident Evil is Capcom's.
Images filled the white space that had stolen Sheva's vision for a moment, playing out the past memory like a movie. She was looking at a drinking glass, a pair of gloved hands around them before the gaze was lifted to look around J's bar, a frequent hangout in Racoon city; she was seeing through Kevin's eyes. He had just found out that he failed the S.T.A.R.S admittance test again and came to drown his sorrows in alcohol; it seemed no matter what he he just couldn't get in. A cute blonde waitress passed by but he only shot her a quick smile, gaze looking back down at the counter before his shot was downed. The sudden sound of someone banging in a slow lazy motion caught his attention, a man leaning against the outside of the bars window, moaning and swaying; he was obviously drunk, or so the cop thought. The bar tender tried to shoe him away saying they were closed but the figure wandered over to the door and staggered in. Seeing as words weren't getting through to the man the barkeep walked over, pushing the man towards the door and repeating his sentence he said earlier. What happened next no one had expected; the drunk gripped the other mans shoulders and bit down hard on the area in between neck and shoulder cuff.
With a yell and violent push out the doorway, the barkeep freed himself and made sure to lock the door soon after.
"Son of a bitch bit me." He cursed under heaving breathes. Another bang against the glass startled him to his feet, several more staggering forms pressing against the window and moaning like the first; many of them had chunks of flesh missing from their faces and arms with horrible, fatal wounds that should have had them lying lifeless on the ground. It was by this point that Kevin stood up, a bad feeling telling him something was very wrong in his once peaceful environment. Unable to take the pressure of so many bodies pressing against it, the front door collapsed allowing the horde of twenty or so undead to wander in. Their first victim was the helpless owner who, while trying to heal his arm and calm his nerves, tripped in panic and was unable to escape his fate, screams of pain and horror his last.
While half feasted on the fleshy morsel, the others had their expressionless eyes set on Cindy the waitress and Kevin. Their sheer numbers blocked the only way out but the young woman knew another. Quickly hoping over the bar she uncovered the key to the staff room; a staircase that led to the roof would be their ticket out. Firing of the few rounds he had, Kevin covered her while she fumbled with the lock, hands shaking violently. By the time she opened the door the zombies were a hair away and Kevin knew both of them wouldn't be able to make it in time, he needed a distraction if he was going to get out alive. She turned back to usher him in but was instead met with a rough shove to the shoulder, landing face first on the floor at the zombies feet. Her high pitched scream was followed by her crawling helplessly backwards towards the door, only for it to be shut in her face. On the other side Kevin braced it, hearing her fists pounding being overwhelmed by the zombies moan and in a matter of seconds she was done for; her agonising screams followed by the squish of flesh being punctured made the officer shut his eyes tight, praying for her to die so the sickening feeling would go away.
It never would, the guilt he felt for condemning the girl to death would haunt him; he was a cop and his job was to protect, he didn't even know who he was. Several successions of banging on the door along with nails scrapping down the surface of the wood were enough to make Kevin back away. He felt sick to his stomach but now was not the time to feel guilt, he had to survive and without hesitation he ran up the stairs.
'Every man for himself.' The words echoed in his head but seemed foreign, just what had he become? Reaching the top of the steps brought the flash of white back into Sheva's vision, the memory that Alessa wanted her to see ending there.
When both partners came to Sheva had a look of utter disbelief on her face, Kevin averting his eyes to the ground away from everyone.
"Police officers are supposed to protect the innocent right Kevin? That was a pretty low thing to do to poor Cindy." Alessa toyed with him, keeping the same tone the entire time. His face, although looking at the ground beneath his clenching fists, was torn between anguish, guilt and rage.
"I've shown you my most guilt ridden memory and I've punished myself day after day for it; isn't that enough? Can you leave me the hell alone?" he begged through a tense and grinding set of teeth. The dark haired girl tapped her finger against her chin before giving her answer.
"I suppose so, you seem to have learned your lesson no need for Pyramid Head to do you in like the crazy guy." She walked past the seven foot tall demon, his guttural moan a reply to her silent command to follow.
"Besides we don't need to torment you, you'll do that to yourself for the rest of your life. As for you Ms. Alomar...I'd do some deep thinking before becoming this man's partner.' Alessa had nothing more to say from that point and if her need to punish the man faded, so did Pyramid head. Casually the dark pair strolled out of the so called sacred monument, the inhabitants far away into various parts of town, frightened out of their wits at the fact that evil had breached their weak defence; they had no safe place now. It was a silence that seemed disturbing, the partners suddenly feeling uncomfortable and strangely alone in each other's company. Kevin dared not to speak, mostly because he wasn't quite sure what to say to Sheva after what she'd seen; he only wished he could know what was going through her head at the moment.
"I'll...I'll take pictures of the scene as proof of Creed's death, you can start heading out and I'll catch up if you'd like." He said ever so quietly. Her lack of vocal response told him she was uneasy, complying with his suggestion when she stood up and walked swiftly to the door, not even bothering to look back. He rubbed and squeezed the back of his neck feeling completely lost; there was nothing he could say now that would ever change his past actions. Reaching into his back pouch his fingers found their way around the digital camera, pulling it out and hearing it beep in conjunction with the flash, capturing the image of gore and the uncovered suitcases; he had found them after only five minutes of searching, their contents several containers of virus samples from the G virus to some unknown organism that could be none other than his latest creation. He shut the cases and hoisted one in each hand, ready to catch up to Sheva and leave the nightmare of a town behind him forever.
Was it a crack of thunder that echoed through the air outside? His initial thought was that but when Sheva yelled in pain afterwards he could no longer mistake the shot from a gun for weather. Worry drove him ever faster to the doorway, the image of a figure lying on her side and shuddering violently growing ever larger as he drew closer. She was lucky, the bullet was in her shoulder and there was no exit wound, but without proper care the situation could worsen. As he knelt down he looked up towards the middle of the front yard, squinting to get a better identification of the perpetrator; to his horror it was Cybil, gun still held in front of her while her head tilted slightly to the side.
"Cybil what the hell do you think you're doing?!" he put pressure on his partners wound, never taking his gaze off the police chief. Each breath Cybil took was laboured, forced in a way just as her actions were by a greater power. Gravel crunched under each footstep, her stride even and calm to match the eerie look in her blood red eyes. The hand holding her gun rose once more this time aimed for the man shielding her initial target and another bullet was let loose from the barrel, Kevin ducking just in time while the metal projectile whizzed past his ear.
"Stop what you're doing or I will be forced to shoot." He was dead serious on the threat; since he never really had a strong connection with the woman he wouldn't think twice about killing her, but at second thought he wondered if the town would punish him for that as well. With only a few feet between them the cop didn't seem to be stopping any time soon and in a second Kevin's gun was unclipped from its holster, aimed directly at her forehead. She mimicked his actions and he clenched his teeth, preparing to increase the pressure his finger held on the trigger, but something odd stopped him. Cybil's back began to hiss and smoke, the officer rolling to the ground in pain from the creature's detachment. A flesh coloured, leech-like demon slid off and began to crawl away to safety, its life ending when a boot stomped down aggressively on top of it. Kevin's gaze went from the boot up to the torso and finally the face of the new comer and he couldn't believe it; Cheryl had somehow tracked them down and just save all of them from death.
Since Cybil was solely focused on her target, she never heard Cheryl run up behind her; completely unaware of her presence, her back was doused in the red liquid called Aglophotis, only known by Cheryl and Harry to be the chemical that repelled demons. When she had entered the town, she followed the directions her dad had left on a note from long ago and found the place it was stored. Her gaze broke away from Kevin when her adoptive mothers groans sounded, kneeling down and supporting the veteran cops head on her lap.
"Cheryl...how did you know...about that red liquid?" she spoke in broken sentences between shaken breaths.
"You can thank dad for that, his notes really did come in handy. Now rest, you've been through a lot." She cooed stroking Cybil's hand in comfort.
"One more question, how in the world did you know where to find us?" Cheryl stalled for the moment, putting some thought into her next sentence; they would have found it suspicious but fatigue had taken its toll on their minds.
"Let's just say you have an angel watching over you." Cybil seemed to accept the answer without question, closing her eyes gently to nod off for only a minute; although only sitting on the church stairs, the group for once felt secure in the eerie silence of the town. With the aid of their partners, both injured and dazed party alike were supported by the shoulder, their long walk out of the town taking about an hour to complete; in that time something seemed odd, not a single monster attacked them and the only noise around was the gentle whisper of a breeze. At last Jack's inn came back into view, Cheryl opting to drive the bike with Cybil as passenger and Kevin placing Sheva in the back, a piece of his shirt torn off to cover the wound temporarily. No one said a word to one another heading back to town, the trip to Silent Hill feeling like a reoccurring nightmare to the cops and a new one for the agents.
Helicopter blades cut through the air, a physical reminder that they were back in the outside world again but not at all freed from the nightmare that at any moment their world could come crashing down. Cheryl had come back up to the roof after making sure her mom was comfortable in the first aid room, watching the partners load their gear back up for the final trip home.
"I have to first give my thanks to you two, without your help my mom couldn't have made it out there alive." Kevin glanced at her, giving only a faint smile. "And secondly, about all that probably happened to you in that place during your mission, I'm so sorry. I know my words won't make the memories go away but trust someone whose gone through it before; there is life after sorrow and pain." Cheryl would never know exactly what they went through and Kevin couldn't get angry at her, he just wanted to go home and forget the place ever existed.
"We'll survive, after all we're a part of the B.S.A.A. Tell Cybil to take it easy and you guys watch yourselves out here; I know how dangerous this occupation is." He was very good at bullshitting his brightened attitude, completely fooling the girl into thinking he was alright. On the outside he seemed easy going but on the inside he felt like screaming in a fit of rage; everything that just happened seemed far too surreal and it had turned him numb. They ascended into the evening sky, watching Cheryl's figure grow ever smaller. He looked over to the other side where Sheva had chosen to lay down, far away from him. She wasn't sleeping but her mind seemed miles away, either lost in a sad thought or just trying to ignore him.
'You'll never know that the hardest part of this mission...is making amends with you partner.' He sighed deeply, crossing his arms over his chest and settling down for a much needed nap; despite the horrible nightmares that followed him he dozed off quickly, never noticing the tear that trickled off his partner's cheek; inside her mind she fought against a million thoughts while they were carried home.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
From one hand to another the final report on the Creed case was put, Chris opening the folder and cringing slightly at the first photo, being the one of Joseph's mangled pile of a corpse.
"Are you absolutely sure it's him?" Chris asked a silent nod his reply.
"I saw him die right before my eyes, so did Sheva." Kevin had seemed different to the older Redfield ever since his return; calm, collected and not a sense of sarcasm to be heard. It didn't seem like the ex cop at all.
"What did this to him?" a shock of panic ran through his body, knowing there was no way Chris would believe the truth. Despite all the horrors the other had seen in the mansion, there was no explaining the evils of the desolate town.
"Nothing, he went insane in the end; threw himself into a wood chipper." Chris let out a deep breath, probably thinking of a reason why humanity had become what it was after Kevin told his little lie.
"Seems about right, you're dismissed now. You look like you could use some sleep."
"Tell me about it." He half grunted while turning for the door.
"When you see Sheva tell her I want to debrief her as well." Kevin's hand stopped on the knob at this, knowing the state of his partner was worse off than his.
"Do you think maybe you could just let the debriefing slide, she's not feeling too well."
"How come, what happened?" Kevin didn't face his superior at the question, just opened the door and headed out.
"We've just been through hell and back; I don't think things will ever be the same between her and I. I got to go." he shut the door at the end of his sentence, causing Chris to rise from his chair. His concern an curiosity both screamed in his head, begging to know just what had happened to the two partners, but constant nagging of the subject would probably only make things worse. Sheva closed herself away from the world; she didn't want to see anyone at the time and she finally had flushed out all the confusing thoughts in her head. Was Kevin her friend or foe; who could she trust if not him. The answers would come eventually but for the evening she'd let herself slip into blissful sleep, the nightmares of her parents death haunting her ever still.
Sooo,
very, long. The mission is complete but the story is not over yet.
One or two chapters more will sum everything up; reviews will bring
you good people to the end of this tale.
