Chapter 10

"I will be so happy when those things are gone," Wesker said, still looking at the static on the camera feed. "It's been almost twenty years of this. It's about time that they are gone."

"Then let's do this," Jake said.

Wesker no longer protested Jake's plan. The taunting from Dave and Alice was enough to build his resolve to go fight them. He went over to the kid and started showing him how to control the labs.

Chris walked away from the men as they spoke. He needed time to think about his strategy, for not only killing the monsters, but taking Wesker into custody.

He rubbed his face, feeling his stubble, and making a mental note that he should shave soon. That is, if he had the chance to shave after the next few hours. Chris felt so angry. He was angry with himself for trusting Jake, for losing focus, and now for trusting a man who had the same genetic blueprints as Albert Wesker. Should he just kill them both now? He could do it. He could sneak up on them both, kill them, and then call in support.

No one would ever question him. One of these men is a carbon copy of a man hell-bent on destroying the world and the other was his son, Public Enemy No. 1 in the States. Chris had a reputation of ridding the world of madmen and their creations. This would only add to his reputation, possibly awarding him more honors.

But no, he wouldn't kill them.

Jake may have threatened his life, but could he blame the kid? All he wanted was a father – a good father to replace the crazy one he had. Both Claire and Sherry saw some good in him, and he could trust those women with his life. He would trust their judgment a bit longer, but it was wearing thin.

Wesker, on the other hand…

Chris couldn't help but get the feeling he was hiding something. He wanted nothing more but to capture him and take him in for questioning. But could he convince Jake let him do it? Could he trick Jake somehow?

He racked his brain for ideas, for any plan to make sure that everyone survived this ordeal and he could get Wesker back to the BSAA without Jake interfering.

Nothing came to mind.

"Chris, you ready?" Jake called.

"As I'll ever be, I guess," he called back.

Chris jogged back to Wesker and Jake.

"They're stuck in that hallway right now," Wesker said, pointing to the last remaining camera. Dave was pacing the length of the hallway and back as Alice enveloped his whole body. It looked like a shade gliding back and forth, getting ready to haunt.

Wesker indicated that he and Chris should stop by the weapon room before Jake opened the electronic doors to the prison.

"Nothing in that room will kill them," Wesker said as he voiced his idea, "but they will slow them down."

"That could mean the difference between life and death for us," Chris said.

"Exactly."

Wesker walked over to a table set up next to the doors. On top sat five sets of radios. He gave one to each of the men and donned one of them himself. Each radio came with a hands-free ear piece.

The equipment gave Chris a sense of familiarity. He couldn't count the amount of times he had to don a radio for his missions. The routine made him feel like this was just another BSAA assignment.

"We'll let you know when to open the double doors and when to close the cells," Wesker said. "Remember to only close the cells we call out. If you hit the master switch and close all of them at once, you may trap one, or even both of us."

"I got it man," Jake said, irritated. "It's not like you told me a thousand times already." He rolled his eyes as he got back into position behind the computer.

The kid gave a thumbs-up to indicate that he was ready.

"Just one sec," Wesker said.

The clone took off his lab coat and hung it up on a coat rack nearby. He picked up a green jacket and put it on in its place.

"That looks bad-ass," Jake called from his position.

Wesker smiled proudly. "Thank you," he said. "It was a gift."

Chris couldn't care less about the whole interaction. "You ready?" he asked, looking at Wesker.

"Let's go kill some of Umbrella's left over experiments."

With that, Jake hit the switch to open the door to the labs.

As they opened slowly, Chris felt a wave of familiar emotions: fear, anger, and excitement were all rolled up into one strong feeling. He had a flashback of the door to the lab under the Spencer Mansion. Back then, he didn't know what he was getting into.

But even knowing what lied ahead, Chris couldn't help but feel so small. Anything could happen from here.

Wesker was through the doors before Chris even had the resolve to step forward. Once he did take a step, he was ready for anything.

Just gotta dive in.

"This way," Wesker said as he walked down the dark hallway.

"Should've brought flashlights," Chris said. With a whirr, the doors closed behind them, only confirming his statement that additional light was needed.

"There'll be some in the weapon room," Wesker said. Without losing his stride, he took off his sunglasses so that he could see better.

After several yards, they came up to the first room on their left. Chris remembered it as the lab with chemical equipment.

"Can we check this room out?" Chris asked. He wanted to check to see if there was anything from there he could use.

"Let's get flashlights first," Wesker said. "They took out most of the lights and I didn't have replacement bulbs."

"Good idea," Chris said.

Chris thought for a moment and realized that this was the first time he was alone with the man. Jake could only hear what they told him over radio.

"Hey…Al…" Chris said, hesitantly.

Wesker smirked. "I thought you said you wouldn't call me that."

"Well, I was hoping I could ask you something."

"You can ask me anything," Wesker said, looking at him curiously. "My life is in your hands."

"How is it that you ended up different from Wesker?"

The clone looked confused. "I already told you – my DNA is similar, but still different enough for the upgrades to work."

"No, no," Chris said quickly, "I don't mean physically. I mean, why was he a madman trying to kill people and why did you devote most of your life to killing monsters?"

"Oh," Wesker said, stopping in his tracks. A wave of sadness came over his face. "George Trevor."

"The architect?" Chris asked, confused.

"Yeah, and Dave," Wesker added, "but mostly Trevor. Dave was one of the scientists trying to administer the upgrades to me. The first two times he injected me, I got so sick I almost died. He asked to stop, but they told him if he did, they would kill him and just have someone else do it. Dave thought it was better that he be put in charge, to make sure I stayed alive.

"His only confidant was Trevor, who at the time, was losing his wife and daughter to experiments." Wesker sighed heavily as he told his story, "When everything was going down, and they started to go after Trevor, he got me out. He designed the labs and the Mansion, so he could get me out the quickest." Wesker looked straight at Chris. "They both begged me not to let Umbrella get to me. I was my own man and could make my own choices."

"And you came back?" Chris said, amazed.

"I couldn't let both Dave and Trevor die in vain," Wesker said, looking away and shaking his head as if to keep tears from coming.

"Oh," was all that Chris could muster.

If his story was true, Chris understood why Wesker would have stayed at the labs for as long as he did. Had the HAOs monster still been alive after Piers died, Chris would have chased it down until it was completely erased from the world. He would chase it for twenty, fifty, or even one hundred years if that is what it took to kill it.

Chris shook the thought from his mind.

Without a word more, they pushed forward until the weapon room was on their right. Chris saw that the door was damaged, like a wrecking ball had come through, leaving a large distortion in the middle. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to it.

"This is the set of electronic doors that Dave and Alice damaged, but couldn't get through," Wesker said, answering the question before Chris had a chance to ask it. "I don't think they know which way is the way out, which is good for us."

"Will it open like this?" Chris asked.

"One way to find out," Wesker said. He tapped his radio on in his ear. "Jake, open the weapon room."

"You got it," Jake said over both headsets.

The door whirred and started to move, but it only opened a few inches.

"Here, help me pull on it," Chris said. He wasn't sure if he could open the door on his own, especially since he was only at half strength from crashing his truck.

He wrapped his fingers around the edge of the door. Wesker did the same just below him. They both pushed with all their might. The process was slow, but they could open it just enough for the both of them to squeeze through.

"I don't think Jake will be able to close that again," Wesker said.

"Hopefully he won't have to," Chris answered. He walked to the center of the room, taking it all in.

Chris was in heaven.

Gun racks lined the walls, filled with the greatest weapons from two decades ago. If he had had this arsenal back during the Mansion Incident, Chris would have had no issues whatsoever. One wall was solely devoted to shotguns.

The first thing Wesker did was grab a set of flashlights. He handed one to Chris.

Chris took the flashlight and quickly checked to see if it worked. When it did, he put it in his pocket.

"Do these work?" Chris asked, running his hand over a grenade launcher that sat in the middle of the room.

"They should," Wesker said. "Definitely check the weapons you choose for ammo and dry gun powder," Wesker pointed to a large cabinet in the corner of the room, indicating that those items could be found there, "but these have been untouched for years."

"I don't want to bet my life on 'should,' Wesker," Chris said.

"Then let's practice," Wesker said. With that, the clone went over to the cabinet and reached behind it. He pulled out two large targets – white posters with red bulls-eyes on them. Chris laughed as he saw someone had drawn a grotesque doodle of a zombie on each poster. His laughter ceased when he realized he was laughing at someone who had worked for Umbrella.

Chris picked up as many weapons as he could hold. To his delight, he found a Samurai Edge, just like Barry's old side arm. He was very fond of the weapon: it was always reliable. Chris found a holster hanging from a hook and donned it, placing the handgun at his side. Next, he found an AK-47. He didn't really like machine guns – they drained ammo quickly and had low accuracy. He took it just in case he needed to react quickly. Finally, he found a shotgun, a Riot Gun, that he could use. The shotgun was his favorite. He had to be close range, yes, but most of the time, monsters could get close to him. A shotgun would do damage, but it would also blow them back so that Chris had enough time to escape.

After making his selections, Chris analyzed each gun carefully, making sure that on the surface, nothing was wrong with them. He looked over at Wesker to find that he also chose a Samurai Edge handgun and a Smith and Weston Magnum.

"Your hand's going to hurt after you use that Magnum," Chris said. "Those bitches have real power."

"Don't worry," Wesker said, polishing the weapon in question, "I've used it before." He was grinning ear to ear.

Chris wasn't comfortable letting this man have weapons at all. He wasn't sure if his sob-story from before was true. The only reason he wasn't dead now was because he was sure he could over-take the man in a heartbeat. Now that the clone was armed, taking him down would be a lot harder.

Wesker set up the targets when Chris indicated that he was ready.

He aimed the handgun at the doodle zombie's head and fired.

"What the hell was that?" Jake said over radio. Chris assumed he heard the gun go off from the surveillance room.

"Just practicing," Wesker said back over radio.

"A warning would have been nice," Jake said angrily.

"Hey Jake," Chris said, "We found some weapons we like, but we have to test if they still work."

"Haha…smart ass."

Now that Jake was out of range to shoot him, Chris felt comfortable making jabs at the kid again.

Chris and Wesker tried out the remainder of their weapons. Everything worked except Chris' machine gun, which jammed. He switched it for another. After he was satisfied with his selection, he moved back towards the door.

"You don't want the grenade launcher?" Wesker asked, surprised.

"I thought about it," Chris answered, hand on the door, "but this room is too small to test it, and I think the lab itself would be too small to use it. I could launch a grenade and blow both of us up."

"All good points," Wesker said, "but here, take these just in case." Wesker walked over and gave Chris two hand grenades. "I'm going to take some as well."

"I would rather have them and not need them," Chris agreed.

After attaching the grenades to his belt, Chris squeezed back through the door. He had to take some of his weapons off and push them through to the hallway first before he could fit. Wesker did the same.

Suddenly, both Chris and Wesker heard loud crashing noises, like when they were watching the monsters on camera. It was coming from the double doors at the end of the hallway, towards the cells.

"They know we're here," Wesker said.

Jake wasn't the only one who heard them testing out their weapons. Chris was angry with himself for not thinking. He and Wesker gave away their position and any element of surprise that they may have had before.

Chris drew his shotgun.

"I guess it's time."