Biohazard: Resident Evil VII

Chapter Ten: History Lesson

The heavy door opened up into a much larger room that was in far better condition than the rest of the house that Ethan had seen. Aside from the door he had come through, there were a few more spaced around the room, including one that looked like it was made of solid steel. It was surrounded by large windows, which were barred like the rest, and the center of the room was dominated by a pair of twin staircases that led to the second floor. Aside from being in better condition, though, everything was still dirty, and there were more piles of scattered newspapers and books all over the room's furniture.

"That over there's the way out." Zoe said, nodding toward the steel door. "Like I said, daddy keeps everythin' locked, but I don't think he's gonna be tellin' us much of anythin' right now, so we gotta find the key."

"Zoe, those pictures in the hall." Ethan replied as they moved across the room. "Your parents, they looked… what happened here? How did everything get like…

His words were interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the balcony overhead, and Zoe quickly shoved him against the wall in the shadows, while putting her hand over his mouth. At first Ethan was afraid that Jack had returned, but although the whistling and humming that could be heard above was male, it didn't sound like Jack. It had to be Lucas, and as the footsteps moved along the balcony, Ethan just hoped that he didn't come downstairs. Thankfully, he didn't, but he also didn't move on… in fact, his footsteps were now moving back and forth over a small space in a faster way as if he were… dancing?

"Oh, I'm gonna make Mia scream my name." Lucas sang as Zoe rolled her eyes. "And I'm gonna make the city-boy watch. Next I'm gonna shoot him in the face, oh, yeah, then Mia and Zoe gonna mud-wrestle… mud-wrestle… Mia and Zoe gonna mud-wrestle, and the winner's gonna be… me."

This really… really odd song carried on for a few more seconds; something about 'fuck the stupid old man', and 'burn the nasty old hag', followed by a lot more about Mia and Zoe, which didn't strike Ethan as something Lucas should've been saying, since as far as Ethan knew, Zoe was Lucas's sister. Finally, the song and dance ended with Lucas continuing on his way across the balcony, thankfully bypassing both sets of stairs, and vanishing after the sound of a door opening and closing.

"I wish I had a good excuse for Lucas… but there ain't one." Zoe said quietly, taking her hand off Ethan's mouth. "He had… issues even before all of… this happened. Come on, we'll hide in the old sittin' room."

Grabbing his wrist and basically pulling him along, Zoe looked up to make sure that no one else was up on the balcony, before leading Ethan over to a side door that was close to the steel one. The door opened with a loud squeak, just like every other door in this house, and it led into a small sitting room, just like Zoe had said. There was an old leather sofa, caked with heavy dust, along with an old fireplace that didn't appear to have been used in a good long time, and the walls were decorated with hunting trophies, both stuffed animals and mounted antlers.

Zoe shut and bolted the door while Ethan sat down on the sofa, and as soon as he stopped coughing from the dust that was kicked up, he saw that there were some more pictures, smaller ones, on the end table. The first one that he noticed was of that same little girl that he had seen in the hallway, and there was a name on it… Eveline… as well as a date… 2014… the year that Mia vanished.

"You should be okay in here for a while." Zoe said, walking over and joining him on the sofa. "I'm just gonna check that you don't have no concussion or nothin', and then I gotta see bout' findin' that key."

"Zoe, wait a second." Ethan said as she turned his head so the overhead light shined in his eyes. "Look, I know we're pressed for time, and your family wants to kill me, but we're okay for a minute, right? I just need to know what's going on here… I mean, how did your family go from the people I saw on the wall, to… this?"

The short-haired woman continued to check his eyes and his head, as if hoping that he would forget his questions, but then she noticed that he was still staring at her once she was finished, so Zoe sighed and sat down next to him. She then took a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket, along with a lighter, lit one up, and then blew out a stream of smoke that almost went unnoticed with all of the dust in the air.

"You remember the big storms of '14?" She asked, offering him a smoke, to which he turned down. "Everythin' was fine before that, but the floods got real bad, and people jus' kept washin' right up in from the bayou… daddy found Mia that night, nearly drowned like a rat… and then a couple hours later, he up and found her."

Zoe pointed to the end table, and it took Ethan a second to realize that she was pointing to Eveline's picture. Of course, this brought up a bunch of questions that he had about what the hell his wife had even been doing in Louisiana in the first place, since she had told him that she was going to a whole different part of the country, but he doubted that Zoe would know much about what happened before finding her… if that part of the story was even true.

"Daddy put the little girl in Lucas's old room." The short-haired woman continued, taking another puff. "He had me get her some of my old clothes, bein' that her's was all wet and dirty, but then everythin' went to hell. The power went out, and then mama jus'… mama just went plum nuts. She attacked me, and daddy sent me to get some rope to stop mama from hurtin' herself, but… when I got back, he was goin' nuts, too. He was stabbin' himself, and tryin' to drown mama, so I ran and hid."

Zoe was starting to get choked up as she told this story, and that was understandable, since everything that Ethan had seen tonight was messing with his emotions as well, so he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her as she cleared her throat, and she reacted by dropping the cigarette. At first he was worried that he was upsetting her, but then the short-haired woman suddenly scooted up against him, bringing her feet up onto the couch as if a cat trying to curl up. It had been a really long time since he had sat with a woman like this, hell, three years since he had even sat with his own wife like that, so he wasn't sure what was appropriate.

"I saw daddy drag Lucas away." Zoe continued as he hesitantly put his arm around her to sort of pat her on the back. "He was yellin' some nonsense about bein' a happy family, and showin' our devotion, and I know I should've helped Lucas, but I was scared, so I ran out to my place to hide, and there was Mia, all passed out on the floor. Lord knows how she got out there, but it looked like she tried to scribble some kinda note, but Eveline showed up before I could read it. Don't rightly know what happened next, but I woke up at the breakfast table, and things jus'… things jus' been wrong ever since."

She had started to cry a little bit, but managed to stop and regain her composure, sliding back from Ethan after wiping her eyes on his shirt. He felt so bad for her, and wished that there was more he could've done to comfort her, but… but, it was difficult enough trying to comfort himself. He was just so wrapped up in finding Mia, staying alive, and trying to make sense out of this whole nightmare… but it did feel kind of nice to sit with Zoe like that.

"I know that things seem, uh, bad… Zoe." Ethan said, trying to make her feel better. "But, hey, that was a cop in the garage, and when he doesn't report back, it's only a matter of time before his friends show up, right? Then when they do, you, me, and Mia can all get out of here."

"Sounds great, but it ain't that simple." She replied, picking up the fallen cigarette and ashing it on the floor. "I don't know how to explain it completely, but, my family and me, and Mia, we're all… infected with a kinda… well, I'd say a kinda mold, but you'd jus' look at me like I was stupid. We can't leave the property like we are… one guy tried; one of them Sewer Gators tried, you know, them ones from YouTube. You know, ba-da-daa-da, Sewer Gators. He tried to leave, but he turned all white, and… let's jus' say he died."

Ethan remembered Travis mentioning the Sewer Gators before, and he couldn't help asking what happened to them, but immediately wished that he hadn't. Apparently Jack had caught them snooping around that other house, but they hadn't been as lucky as he had. One of them had been killed on the spot; his face beaten in by Jack before the others even knew that he was there. As for the other three, well, according to Zoe, one of them became infected and was welcomed to the family… the one that tried to escape. The next one was apparently killed by Mia in the kitchen, as hard as that was to hear, and the last one was given to Lucas, but although the short-haired woman didn't know the details, there really hadn't been much left when he was done.

"Right, that's enough sittin' around." Zoe said, standing up, and putting her cigarette out on the old fireplace. "Now, I'm gonna see if I can't find where daddy put that key, so you jus'… stay here, okay? And lock the door."

She didn't wait for his reply before leaving the room, and as she asked, Ethan re-bolted the door once she was gone. It was nice that she was willing to go and find where the key was, so that he didn't have to risk getting discovered by Lucas or Marguerite, but at the same time he felt a little ashamed for letting her put herself in danger, since who knew what the rest of the family would do to her for helping him… especially now that he had killed the family patriarch. Through the walls, he had been able to hear her footsteps as she went up the stairs, and went through a door, but then everything got quiet for a while.

"Listen, you dumb fuck!" Zoe suddenly yelled, making him jump a little. "I wanna go out to my place for a while, and I'm needin' the damn key in order to do that. I know it's a lot to ask from you, Lucas, but maybe, jus' maybe, do you think you could pretend that you're not a damn retard for a minute?!"

"I am not a retard, you stupid bitch!" Lucas could be heard yelling back. "Look at me, I'm Zoe, I'm a spoiled brat, and everyone should kiss my ass cause' I got boobies and a college degree, and I'm… oh, hi, Eveline. Did Zoe wake you up with her big, stupid… yes, I know we're a happy family… but she started… fine, I'm sorry I called you names, Zoe… yes, I mean it… the key's in the slaughterhouse, now get out so Eveline can take her nap!"

Well, it seemed that Zoe had been successful in discovering where the key was hidden, but as Ethan heard her footsteps coming back down the stairs, he just hoped that it wouldn't be too hard to find. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone knew about what he had done to Jack yet, but like with everything else, it was probably only a matter of time.