Author's Note: Advance warning about a large amount of Serbian lines in this chapter.

Chapter 10

The dull thumping of her own heart woke Rachael. More disconcertingly, she could feel just how powerfully it beat. Each pump was audible outside her body, and she could feel the engorged tissue moving. She tried to roll over, but she found that something had attached itself to her shoulder, catching on the floor when she tried to move. She tried to crack open her eyes, but found herself unable to do so. Reaching up, her hands felt heavier than usual and she wondered if she'd been drugged. But as her fingers touched her face and she felt the sharpened claws where small, pink nails had once been, the memories of everything came back to her.

With an anguished wail, she bolted up, her claws flying to her body, feeling every change once more. She thought maybe, maybe she had dreamt it all. A horrid nightmare, but waking up once again to her...her…

"Хеј шефе, то је будан!1" Rachael almost didn't notice the other man speaking, but turned towards the sound, hissing involuntarily. The man seemed to recoil by the sound of it, and as Rachael tried to listen, she found herself honing in on his general location by the smallest of sounds.

"Како агресивна је она?2" The voice sounded concerned, but not in a humane way. It was more like he was concerned something had gone wrong with a business agreement or something. "проверити3!"

She heard a gun clicking from the man in front of her, and she threw up her hands in an effort to block the shot from damaging anything important. The shot didn't come. Instead, the man shouted a few things at her, as if trying to provoke her. Finally, he did fire, but the bullets struck the floor beside her, causing her to scurry away from them.

"Idiote! Немојте оштетити робу!4" The second man shouted, and Rachael recognized the sound of a pistol being unholstered only a moment before it was fired. The man slumped over, hitting the floor only a few meters in front of her. "Оставите тело. Морамо да га нахрани некако.5"

Rachael heard the sound of footsteps exiting the room, but could still hear the slight sound of creasing clothes that told her she wasn't alone. Despite the number of people that had been in the room, she hadn't heard the body be moved, and the scent of blood that she could detect made her think that it was still there. The thought that these men would leave one of their own dead on the floor disgusted her.

What disgusted her more though was the vaguely appetizing way the smell danced across her senses. The smell made her stomach churn with hunger as she realized that she hadn't eaten in ages. She didn't even want to think about what her last meal may have been. Desperately, she tried to focus.

I'm somewhere guarded by men who I can't understand. I can remember...a man, but it's fuzzy. I need to eat… No matter how much she tried, her thoughts circled to the body, and her increasingly apparent weakness. It was only through adrenaline that she'd been able to sit up.

Crawling towards the body, she stopped trying to rationalize it to herself. She needed to eat, and she doubted that even if she could communicate with her captors that they would give her something real, if her new body could even handle it. Her claws settled on the corpse and she dragged it closer, only to find it being separated from her by the bars that made up her cells.

An urge built up in her, fueled by the desperation of not being able to get to the body. An angry hiss began to bubble up from her, only for it to turn into a gurgling noise as she heard her head splitting. With rising horror, she could feel the muscles of the inner appendage flexing inside her skull, wriggling its way out of her head, hitting the chilled air. With absolute horror and numbness, she tested the new appendage, undulating it in the air, feeling the rows of teeth claw at the air. Before she even had full control over her actions, she had found her way to the man's body, clamping down like a lamprey. As soon as the first bit of blood hit her stomach, she couldn't push back the revitalizing effect it had on her, flooding strength to her muscles. Carnivorously, she dug the teeth deeper, siphoning the blood from his body.

As she tugged his body for easier access, she heard his gun slid against the ground and she realized that they hadn't taken his weapons. Rachael realized she had to take advantage of the opportunity. Under the pretense of feeding, she began feeling for weapons. His rifle would be too big to conceal on her person, but she found a pistol along with some spare ammo in his pockets. To her great relief, some parts of her own FBC uniform still existed on her body, allowing her to store the weapon on her. She doubted anyone would be willing to give her a pat down. Rachael hissed in pain as she accidentally found his combat knife, slicing her hand on it. The pain only lasted for a moment before the wound began sealing itself back up, audibly knitting flesh together into what Rachael was sure would be a scar. As she drained the last of the man's blood, she hid the knife, just in case. From the feel of it, her claws would be more than enough, but one could never be too safe.

Pulling away from the corpse, Rachael willed the appendage back into her head, feeling the flesh pull itself back into a mockery of her face to cover it up. She could deal with all the things that had happened to her once she was free, but for now, she needed to stay focused. That had been what they taught her back when she was learning to become an agent. Panicking would only make her miss an opportunity. She thought back to the man in her mind.

Now that she was fed, her mind was much clearer and she could recall more. He was one of the few things she could recall from after the ship. Some of the details of the conversation came back to her. He had...injected her with some kind of antigen. He claimed that it had helped bring her out of her mindlessness. She couldn't recall much else besides the fact that he seemed very prominent in her memories after the ship. It was like there was something else…

After that, there was only a fog. She dimly recalled being taken from wherever she'd been, and she suspected that it was the same people who had her now. If that were the case, the most she could hope for was that whoever it was that had saved her would lead someone to her, if he hadn't been captured. Until an opportunity arose, though, she would wait.

Wait...for CIPHER.

Parker watched as the two men subtly sized each other up. Both were only peripherally aware of who the other was through third parties. When he thought about it, they actually shared a lot in common.

Even so, CIPHER and Raymond didn't seem to trust or like each other, gearing up on opposite sides of the room. Their standard gear had been confiscated for the time being, but they were being issued small arms at the minimum, along with body armour. CIPHER was also outfitted with a bit more in terms of defensive gear, considering that he was essentially a VIP for the mission at hand. Now that he was no longer in his standard outfit, Parker got the chance to better look at the man behind the mask.

It was evident to Parker that the man was largely of Baltic descent by the way of his appearance. His slightly dusty appearance and sullen expression spoke to a harder life there. Despite his gruff expression, he was fairly well kempt, with almost no facial hair. Even if he had, the blonde would have been hard to spot. His eyes lacked the usual brightness of blondes Parker had known, and were instead almost a murky grey. CIPHER's eyes were narrow, betraying just how much time he spent behind his visor.

On a more physical level, Parker could see that Raymond and CIPHER matched quite a bit. Both were lankier, with wiry muscle builds, especially when compared to Parker. At the same time, both of them had leaned towards handguns, though Parker's request for a Magnum had not only been denied, but would getting one would be hard enough. At the same time, after CIPHER's reputation was dug up by the force, his request for any melee weapon longer than a basic combat knife was similarly declined.

The local law enforcement had been more than willing to cooperate with the BSAA's European division in supplying transit and equipment. It had only taken a few hours for the BSAA troops to reach the station and begin prepping for what might end up being a firefight out of the location. For that reason, siege teams were being placed in reserve, just in case they needed to assault the building to back up in the intruding forces.

More presently, however, Parker had to make sure that neither man would kill the other on site. "You two are clear on the directives?"

"Of course. We enter silently and ascertain where Rachael is being held. From there, we spring her while trying to minimize casualties," CIPHER explained robotically as he checked his weapons. "Your equipment is good, for a government organization."

"It'd have to be," Raymond countered bitterly. "We don't mess around."

"No, they don't mess around. You are just like me my friend, if you recall correctly."

"That's enough," Parker interrupted, cutting off the argument before it started. "I will not have you two at each other's throats before the mission even starts. After we're done, you can duel with pool cues. But for now we need to get this done, and without creating any unnecessary risks. Do you understand?"

Both men nodded, equipping the last of their weapons. "All set."

"Ready when you are Parker."

"Good, then let's go. We don't have a minute to waste."

The convoy came to a stop and Parker immediately jumped down from the back, his men falling in behind him with quiet footfalls as they exited the vehicle. The two other vehicles pulled up only moments later, and the two VIP's exited the vehicles. Parker watched with apprehension as the men began rolling out the biohazard containment equipment. While all on the force were informed of the primary option for retrieving Rachael, even he had to agree that back-up measures needed to be brought along, just in case. Still, he never liked seeing the flamethrowers get brought out.

"Alright, we do this quickly and quietly. I'm sure you all heard Raymond during the way here. These men will not be reasoned with, so if the situation gets too hot, do not hesitate to fire. Still, this is a stealth mission, so avoid stirring the hornet's nest as long as possible. Understood?"

"Understood sir!" the men acknowledged in unison, readying their weapons. The teams broke into their divisions, all while the scouting and sniping team moved into position to monitor the outside of the base. The destination had turned out to be an old fort from the days of civil strife. According to Raymond, the Guns had a tendency to gravitate towards old military posts like this due to their familiarity with them. He noted, however, that the Guns tended to lack decent security, considering they were a primarily offensive organization, going after people rather than the other way around.

Parker himself was in charge of the group that would be doing the main insertion with CIPHER. Old schematics of the building showed a few likely candidates for the location of Rachael, and Raymond had further narrowed it down to one room based on his knowledge of the group.

"Everyone make sure to turn on your headsets before we go in. Everyone reading me?"

"Five by five."

"Alright, let's do this," Parker commanded, drawing his handgun. The teams split into the woods, quickly disappearing from view. Leading his team onwards, they approached the fort by the southern side. While it was on a downwards slope, the war in the area had caused sections of the hill to either be blown away or slide off, creating a series of natural trenches by which Parker's team approached the building, timing their advancements with the scout team's information. Once they were sure the coast was clear, they would advance to the next one.

As the moved, Parker watched CIPHER at work. The man was clearly trained. He moved with an efficiency that Parker hardly ever saw outside of the armed forces. Had he been wearing BSAA fatigues, he might have even mistaken him for one of the team. But the man was a mercenary, and one that had worked for Umbrella at that. Parker found himself wondering what had possessed him to comply so completely with the BSAA. Sure, he had been caught and compliance would lighten his sentence, but he had no reason to want to assure Rachael's survival. Even more strange to Parker, he had injected Rachael with anti-t. From everything he had dug up on the man, it seemed survival was his main objective. Injecting Rachael only introduced risk, so it seemed extremely out of character for him.

Parker didn't let the thoughts cloud his attention though as they approached the fort. Admittedly, it was more of a military base than a fort compared to the other Guns' bases. Parker didn't even need Raymond to tell him this was likely the HQ for the organization. Peering over the ridge, he was able to see their insertion point. One of the sections of fence that surrounded the complex had been destroyed in one of the regional conflicts and was left damaged. The overgrowth would also allow them cover as they approached the building. From there, they would get up to one of the cell windows on the ground floor and burn their way through the bars.

Sneaking through the underbrush, Parker thought back to the number of times he'd been forced to run from B.O.W.'s on the Zenobia due to a lack of ammo or just the inability to fight some of them at the time. It had been a crash course in on the fly stealth, taking advantage of obstacles to put some distance between him and the pursuer. And yet some never stopped, like Rachael. He almost wanted to laugh at the irony. She had spent so long hunting him on that ship, only for him to be the one to come and rescue her.

"Sir, ready to breach." Parker nodded and gave flashed a thumbs up as the man applied the thermite, making sure to make the hole in the bars large enough for the men to fit. Stepping back, he activated the complex, causing it to eat through the bars quickly. The careful application caused them to fall outwards, landing on the earth with little noise. Just to be sure, the man grabbed them and hid them in the brush in case the metal gave off a shine as the others quickly slipped through the window.

"Remember, all the men in this building are yellow right now. If something goes wrong, report immediately before the situation goes orange. If we can catch any of them unawares, we need to take it before the situation goes critical. Understood?" All on the channel responded and Parker approached the door of the cell. To their luck, it was unlocked, meaning they wouldn't have to attempt another breach.

Their pointman carefully cleared the door, pair breaching with one of the other men before signalling that the door was safe. The team slipped out into the hall, and turned to the right, following the left wall. CIPHER was kept in the middle, with one eye on him at all times as they progressed. It would only be a few hallways before they reached their target, but it was crucial to keep as quiet as possible. Parker just hoped that things were going well with the others.

The other men didn't notice, but he did. Raymond had noticed the second they had breached, which was only a moment after Parker's team. It hadn't been obvious from the distant inspection of the place, and especially on the older side where Parker's team had gone.

The Guns had done some repairs on the base.

He should have expected as much, considering the poor shape many of the bases were in after the wars. It seemed the repairs were a bit more recent, as the paint was slightly better in quality that what a lot of the old bases had. Still, it seemed that they hadn't bothered to fix the security systems, as he could easily spot many broken camera mounts and smashed card readers. It seemed they had taken the place by storm, leaving it much more susceptible to attack.

It hadn't mattered much until they turned the first corner. Where there should have been a door, they instead found a barricade, sealing the room beyond off. The decision was made to turn around and backtrack out, but as they heard footsteps down the corridor behind them, they knew things were about to go loud. The leader of the squad quickly signalled the men to provide a distraction while he sent out the info.

"Situation red, the layout's different. They've changed some of the doors and we've been cornered. We're going loud!" the man explained quickly, just as one of the troops lobbed a flashbang around the corner, causing the guards to stop in surprise moments before being blinded. No time was wasted as the BSAA advanced on them, shooting both quickly. The sound of bullet fire, though not as loud as usual, was sure to be noticed, and the signs of conflict would be found.

Raymond drew his pistol, his senses bristling to awareness as his training came back to him. He fell back almost instinctively, moving in time with the team as they attempted to push towards the objective. It wasn't long however, before a bigger, more aware group of men found them and took out a couple of their men. The team split itself quickly between the two doors beside them, using the doors to suppress the enemy assault. Raymond cursed as he looked around the room. There had to be some way to get to Rachael. Spotting a vent, he realized that they were unlikely to have changed the vent layout due to how much effort it would take. Without hesitation, he shot the bolts off the vent, using a pile of crates to crawl up into the vent.

Following the curve of the vent, he soon realized he was above the enemy position. He could see men taking position to either side of the hallway, spraying weapons fire down towards the BSAA troops through the vent grating. Quickly, he grabbed a flashbang, dropping it moments before unloading with his Magnum on the men. He was suddenly glad for his earplugs, as he was sure that the sound of a Magnum going off in a vent would have certainly deafened him if not for that. As it was, he could practically feel the shockwaves of each bullet. Soon, however, the men were dead and he shouted for the men.

"Raymond! What are you doing?" the captain asked, confusion evident on his face.

"I can get to Rachael through here. I'm loaded lighter than the rest of you, so I can fit through the vents. If I see any obstacles along the way, I'll keep you up to date," he promised.

"Parker, you catch that?" the captain asked over the coms.

"Raymond, we've almost reached the target. Wait for us to breach before exiting the vents, and don't draw attention to yourself. Bravo, move out. We've gone loud, so let's take a few of these bastards out, okay?"

"Understood." With barely another thought, Raymond watched as the men sprinted off towards their objective. Not wanting to waste any time, Raymond began the task of crawling through the vents. Silently he pulled himself along, carefully trying to avoid banging anything too noisily. He found himself holding his breath as he crawled, his muscles straining as he tried to control each tiny motion.

Soon, he found the room he was looking for at the end of a 4 way intersection. Jackknifing himself around the corner, he carefully pulled his feet clear of the sharp corner, his gun in his hand. Approaching the vent exit, he found himself squinting at the light streaming in. Once he actually reached the grate, he peered through, searching the room. Carefully, he used his headset's built in camera to send the image to Parker, making sure the team would have the drop when they barged in.

While he was waiting, Raymond took the time to scan the room. Despite the danger Rachael supposedly posed to them, the guard was light. A grand total of four men, discounting the dead one, guarded Rachael. They seemed nervous, however, which Raymond has learned to never underestimate. He hoped Parker had been at least half-trained in stealth, or the team could very well end up startling one of the men.

After searching the rest of the room, he realized that he was delaying observation of the most crucial detail: Rachael. Holding back the urge to sigh, he forced himself to look at her, almost immediately drawing his eyes away from her. It took all his self control to not slam his fist into the vent, right there. Forcing himself to maintain his gaze this time, his hate gave way to nervousness as he realized that she was not only awake, but looking right at his position. Despite knowing he was hidden, he had no doubt in his mind that she knew he was there. His heart stopped as he realized that one wrong move on either of their parts and he was toast. Even given how hidden he was, if even one shot got through the grate, it would likely hit his head and that would be that.

With each passing moment, his heart beat loudly, fearing that Rachael would give away his position. It would be a fitting end, her causing him to die in the act of redemption. But she did nothing, only stare at him intently. Her mouth twitched slightly with what he had at first thought were ragged breaths, but quickly realized was her thinking to herself. He could only imagine what thoughts could be going through her head at the time.

He wished suddenly that he could tell her that help was coming, to warn her of what was happening. But he found that all he could do was wait. Wait, with his magnum trained on the men inside.

Parker took no chances. As soon as the door burst inwards, he levelled his shotgun at the man in the fatal funnel. He didn't even have time to think before his brain stopped functioning. Aiming for the head was a habit Parker never quite kicked after the Zenobia. He was still surprised when a Magnum shot fired from the vent at the other end of the room, instantly killing a man.

But was surprised him most was when Rachael pulled her own gun, killing one of the last two men before charging the bars and spearing the other with her massive claws. Even so, he managed to get a few pistol shots off. Rachael seemed to shrug off the damage as she pushed her claw further into him, tearing through organs and bone before tossing him aside with a snap. Parker was almost grateful for the help before she turned her gun towards them, spraying at the ground.

"STOP!" Raymond shouted, slipping out of the vent with a roll. He aimed his Magnum at Parker as he did so, forcing the men's attention on him. Parker could tell he had no intent of shooting him, as Raymond's finger was nowhere near the trigger, but it served its purpose. The momentary distraction had likely saved Rachael's life.

"Wh...who are you?!" Rachael demanded. "Answer or I shoot!"

"We're the BSAA. We're here to get you out of this place. Please, we're your friends," Parker insisted.

"BSAA...I remember you…" Rachael muttered. "You stay back!"

Raymond stepped back in surprise as Rachael pointed her claw towards him, but he complied, raising his hands complicitly. "Rachael, it's me, Raymond. You can trust these men. They just want to help you."

"Why would I trust you?! You LEFT me! I DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" Rachael accused, swinging the gun to face him, but he noticed that she didn't fire immediately. In fact, her arm seemed to shake nervously. Had she been able to express it on her face, Raymond was sure she would have been indecisive, but as it was, anguish was the only expression that it could portray.

"Because he's right," CIPHER interjected, stepping forward. "We just want to get you out of here. Please, Rachael, put down the gun. He's not the enemy. Without him, we wouldn't have been able to get to you. He never meant for you to die Rachael. He's trying to save you."

"Then why didn't he stick with me? I was all alone when they attacked…"

"I was a coward," Raymond admitted angrily. "I saw what they could do with Terragrigia. I thought maybe, maybe if I worked with them I could be spared. I was afraid Rachael-"

"You think you were afraid?! I could feel them start to eat me before she chased them off! How do you think it feels to be eaten?! You let me die," Rachael insisted, her grip on the gun slipping. The weapon hit the ground, firing off a round a few feet to the right of Raymond. Her legs failing, she fell to the ground, her breathing ragged as she repeated the phrase "you let me die," several times.

Parker watched the scene with a heavy heart. Carefully, he opened the door to the cage, causing a few of the men's grips to go to their guns, but he motioned them down. He stepped towards Rachael, feeling an unknown bravery inside himself. "Come on. Let's get you out of here."

Extending his hand to her, he waited with bated breath as she looked to him, shakily reaching her hand out. She drew a breath of surprise when he clamped her hand firmly, ignoring the slime and hard texturing. Helping her to her feet, he slung himself under her shoulder, helping her to her feet despite the sharp and annoying protrusions poking against his side. "I'll help you out. CIPHER!"

The man nodded, taking the other side. Parker nodded to the men, who turned and left the room, ready to lead back to the breach. He made eye contact with Raymond quickly and the two men shared a moment. Finally, Raymond nodded confidently, following the men with a deadly gait. "You ready?"

"Are you, big man?" CIPHER retorted, prompting a snort from Parker. Together, the two men bore Rachael's ragged and sad form on their shoulders as they followed after the team.

Hey boss, it's awake!

How aggressive is it?

Check

Don't damage the goods!

Leave the body. We have to feed it somehow.