Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or any of its characters, only my OCs
9
Awakening
(13:46)
Joanne looked concernedly at William, who still slept on the bed. Extracting the bullets had been hard, but she had managed to do the best she could. She frowned as seeing William there brought unpleasant memories to her mind, and she shook her head trying to make them go away. Suddenly, William started grunting in pain and shaking uncontrollably. Joanne, alarmed, quickly took his hand by instinct and squeezed it with the same strength he had come to grip her hand. William clenched his other fist in pain as the nightmare anchored itself to his mind, making it real enough for William to think he was actually reliving the memory.
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"He's going to make it!" exclaimed Lynn. William's body kept convulsing as it absorbed the parasitic virus. His cries in pain filled the room, only assuring the experiment would succeed. He suddenly coughed up blood and his complexion became much paler. After one last convulsion, he dropped unconscious again, breathing slowly and blood seeping from his mouth. As the parasite made his way to his spinal cord, his body shrank and he started trembling… as one last scream left his mouth.
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William gradually calmed down and Joanne sighed, drawing back her hand as Albert slowly stepped into the room. He saw Joanne tend again to William's bandages. There he was, lying asleep on the bed, bandages all over his chest and panting slightly. Albert clenched his fist again, almost unable to control a fit of anger. Joanne noticed him and turned her face to him.
"He'll live, but he's in no shape even to sit up." Said Joanne, replying to Albert's unasked question, "The bullet almost reached his right lung and his shoulder will take a while to heal. It's been difficult, but he'll make it." Joanne then brushed off some blond bangs out of William's forehead, sighed and stood up.
"Tend to yourself. I'll stay here," said Albert. Joanne nodded and disappeared through the bathroom door. Albert sat on a chair next to the bed and leaned forward, staring at William with concern nobody could see. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, until he heard William grunt. William slowly opened his eyes and pulled a face in pain.
"Al-"
"Don't talk and calm down." Albert quickly interrupted him, "Joanne's managed to treat your wounds and now, she's tending to hers. How're you feeling?"
"Bad," he replied, staring at the ceiling. His voice had a hint of annoyance, which Albert instantly noticed, and he knew why the stroppiness.
"You're still ticked off, aren't you?" Albert asked leaning back, a smile almost appearing on his face. William moved his head away.
"What do you expect?" he snapped but then, he sighed, "Well, I am and I'm not, to tell you the truth."
"Circumstances required it, William."
"You told me, yeah. But I didn't see it coming; it'll be a hard one to let go."
"I'm not asking to be forgiven."
"I know that too," William said, "And I know I should be grateful; you're going to help me after all, so it doesn't make any sense being mad at you. Besides, we still have a long way to go till we end this."
Albert nodded, "You're right. I'll do what I can." This time, William gave out a short smile.
"Thanks."
Albert nodded again and exited the room, heading for the stairs, and William remembered again.
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Just a feeble smile coming from him was enough for a wave of memories to invade his mind, though they were just blurry and seemingly unrelated. William crossed the threshold and disappeared taking a turn to the right, leaving Albert slightly confused. Dispatching everything, he left in the opposite direction.
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Joanne appeared in front of Albert, the diary in her hands. They both shared a very short look, and Joanne proceeded to speak.
"I was wondering if we could have a look at it together," she said, growing tense. Albert stepped aside and entered again after her, "How're you feeling, William?"
"I already told Albert, it hurts," he replied teasingly, "I think I can sit up now." Joanne went to stop him, but he sat up, grimacing in pain, "That's better. Oh, you got the diary!"
"Yeah. Are you with enough energies to check it out with us?" asked Joanne taking the seat Albert had taken before; she placed the chair in a good position so William could look at it. William nodded as Albert crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against a chest of drawers behind Joanne with a serious expression. Joanne looked through the pages looking for an entry, and she didn't find one until she was at the middle of the book. Both read the entry with interest. It read as followed:
May 24th, 1960
We've made business with the companies and it's turned out quite well. In July, we're going to meet again and present our projects to each other. I have a feeling that we'll agree with each other and work together. Wouldn't that be something good for RBI?
"Nothing relevant on this one," said William.
"Not at all. The companies are mentioned, and this can only mean they're steps away from forming the Group." Albert chimed in as Joanne turned the pages until she found the earliest entry of July.
July 18th, 1960
We finally made it! We've established 'The Group' and we're working together now. The Agency will be working with us more closely and I don't know about the other. Maybe they'll be monitoring or something; I haven't gotten quite in touch with them.
"The Agency…" murmured Joanne. William frowned.
"You said the Agency and Umbrella hadn't been on very good terms, right?" William asked Albert, who nodded, "How could've they been cooperating then? If Umbrella joined the Group afterwards…" Then, it hit him, "Joanne, look for an entry dated in 1988."
-Why all the hurry?, asked Albert mentally.
-If I'm correct, an entry on that year should give us the answer to Umbrella's and the Agency's rivalry.
-You don't mean that tragic accident Joanne mentioned?
-I do, William stated firmly.
-I'll be damned if we're mentioned in there.
Joanne finally found the fourth entry of 1988 and the three read it carefully. Albert suddenly relaxed.
3rd April, 1988
This is unacceptable. Today, we've had a meeting with Spencer to talk about Marcus' 'unfortunate death', from his point of view. Assassinated… Nonsense! If I remember correctly, Umbrella had tight security, right? How the hell could Marcus die? Unless it was somebody in the inside who killed him… After this, the Group has dissolved. It looked like the Agency was the most affected, since they withdrew the first ones! We're going standalone now, each one of us against Umbrella.
Albert and William were tempted to exchange a look. There would be trouble if Joanne found out.
"James Marcus' death? I'd never have guessed it was that!" exclaimed Joanne looking at William in shock. He frowned again.
"And three rivals, huh?"
-We still don't know something, Albert told his friend, -Which was the third company? They haven't been mentioned, not even once.
-God, we're out of clues.
Whilst Albert and William talked between them, Joanne had a look at other entries. She came across an interesting one, dated on 1978.
30th September, 1978
We're working with the Agency on a new project again, the 'Tyrant project', and we've helped them develop some kind of tracking devices to plant them with them. I wonder what they will do with them…
"The Tyrant project?" Joanne asked to herself.
"Hm?" questioned William.
"A 'Tyrant project' is mentioned here, carried out by the Agency. RBI developed for them a tracking device of some sort to plant the Tyrants with it. Strange…"
-This doesn't look good. Could that Tyrant project be ours? The one that created our bodies?, asked William, his voice trembling.
-It doesn't make any sense. For the Tyrant's body to work properly, it must have been of recent creation. Besides, remember Spencer mentioned they had been the ones who had created the Tyrants? How could the Agency be involved in that?
-It just keeps getting worse, William sighed, downhearted.
-Well, I have an idea, and Joanne's gonna help us, said Albert instantly, -William, we're going to go get your daughter and, at the same time, we're going to find out clues.
-How will Joanne help us in that?
-You'll see how, replied Albert, enticed by the idea in his mind: one of his typical, and he had to avoid smiling. William shrugged and leaned back against the headboard. "I'll make the arrangements."
"For what?" Joanne asked Albert.
"We're visiting," he told them with irony, "some friends." And he left the room.
"I have a bad feeling about that," said Joanne, "William, where are you going?"
"Not us, but you as well." He replied, and proceeded to tell her briefly about the situation. Joanne managed to give out a smile.
"I would've never thought you had a daughter," she said, making William laugh softly.
"I hope we can get to her."
"I understand how you feel," agreed Joanne, widening her smile, "I too had somebody to be with."
"If you don't mind me, 'had'?"
"He's gone."
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She slowly regained consciousness and felt her heartbeat, slow and steady. She was alive. She came to her senses at a very slow pace, feeling something cold against her skin, smooth and easing: water. And she started hearing muffled voices somewhere around her, shouting words that soon became understandable. What she couldn't do was see the outside; her lids were heavy and it was difficult to lift them. Everything was suddenly intelligible for her.
"She's waking up, sir, and she shouldn't yet!" She heard a man say. Her body began to respond and work, and she could slightly rise her head, focusing on hearing more.
"She's finally conscious… Sherry, can you hear me?"
At the sound of the name, she opened her eyes.
I hear you.
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William opened his eyes, breathing heavily after a bad dream. His chest ached, and not only because of his wounds, also because he had dreamt about Sherry, another memory that tugged at his mind. He sighed and swallowed as he stood up with difficulty. William was confused: he was healing at a normal human's speed, and that wasn't right. Still too dizzy to think, he slowly walked to the stairs after fetching his stained shirt and went them down limping.
Downstairs, he found Joanne reading her grandfather's diary, comfortably lying on the sofa. As always, her right side was not visible, and her left eye scanned the room as she lay down the book on her lap. She found him standing at the stairs.
"Hi. Something wrong?" she asked sitting up. William shook his head and raised his brow.
"Where's Albert?" he asked.
"He's upstairs, getting some rest. Fortunately, I could get that into his head; he's the most stubborn person I've ever seen." She laughed.
"You wouldn't know," he agreed with a smile.
"Can I take a look at your wounds?" Joanne asked. William felt a bit uncomfortable, but it was better that she examined them since he couldn't lower his head because of the pain. And so, he took his shirt off and exposed his wounds. Joanne stood up and placed herself behind him, taking a look at the wound in his shoulder. William then felt Joanne's cold fingertips on it and he couldn't repress a shiver: she was amazingly cold.
"Do they sting?" she asked.
"Just a bit."
"That's fine; they're almost healed and, luckily, your muscles have regenerated correctly. They'll still ache, but you'll be freer to move now." She explained as he wore his shirt again.
"Thanks." He said. A tense silence reigned between both, a silence in which William came up with another question,
"Why do you keep the right side of your face covered?" Joanne lowered her head, and William realised he hadn't done the right thing, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry, it's fine. It's just that… I can't tell you yet." She replied with a sigh. William couldn't help biting his lower lip.
"Okay."
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(25th February, 2005)
"You came here in the first place because of that?" inquired William.
"Not exactly, but now that things have taken quite a wrong turn, we'll have to use something to our advantage, won't we?" Albert replied as he loaded his gun and placed it in his shoulder holster.
In those two days, they had done the necessary to acquire the gear they needed for their 'little adventure', which only consisted on three weapons for each other. One was in a safe place in the house where they stayed, and the other two had ended up with them: a Beretta 90Two and a Glock 21; they weren't going to use anything else. Despite having supernatural abilities, guns always came in handy, and the Agency were a good bunch of real bastards: only God knew what they would have in store.
Joanne, who too was going with them, had picked a Glock 19 as she was kind of rusty in aim (as she had said), in spite having practiced a few times on shooting galleries, though that was a long time ago.
"I'll take the lead, William my back and you the rear, Joanne. I take it you're ready," Albert said, looking coldly at Joanne, who nodded, "Let's go, we got some work to do."