Getting about mid-game now… Weird. It feels like just yesterday we started this…

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Chapter 10: From Bad to Worse

"Vee, how are you feeling now?" Leon asked, peering down into what appeared to be a large canyon or something of the sort.

"I'm fine. Really Leon." Vee said, trying to convince him to leave her alone for a while. Ever since HUNK had appeared, she was worried about what would happen if he were to show up again while Leon, Travis, and the blonde idiot she so despised were around. Travis was already suspicious of her and the life-sized Barbie Doll had a big mouth. If she was caught talking with him or Wesker, then things would become even more complicated. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't let things become even more out of hand as they already were.

"If you say so. I'll never understand how women think." Leon muttered to himself, taking the path down to where the cabin was. After rummaging through junk and finding some ammo and somewhat useful files that had no business being there, the four returned and took the path to where the gondola was but not before Vee spotted the merchant and waved, only to have him shake and shiver in fear.

At the end of the path, Leon ordered his companions to wait for him there. Grabbing Vee's rifle, who complained momentarily but was ignored, Leon stepped onto one of the moving carts. Vee, who was very upset, was about to storm away and take her anger out on the merchant but Travis stepped in front of her, barring her path.

"Would you mind stepping aside, please?" She asked irritably. "I'm not happy."

"No, Vee. Tell me what you've been up to." Travis demanded, but Vee just pushed passed him.

Travis and Ashley turned around when they heard multiple shots but Vee continued walking down the winding path, cracking her knuckles.

After turning back around and noticing Vee was gone, Travis ran down the path in an attempt to catch up to her but after getting to the bottom, Travis noticed a figure dressed in black standing by Vee. His arrival startled the figure who disappeared in a flash.

"There's only one person who can do that Vee!" Travis yelled, walking to her. "Tell me what's going on."

"I don't know what you're talking about. You must be imagining things." Vee said, dismissing him with a gesture of her hands.

"Vee-" Travis started but was interrupted by Ashley's screaming.

"Great, the Barbie has gotten herself into trouble once more. You can go handle that." Vee said happily, walking up to where the merchant was cowering in fear.

"Er!" Travis growled through his teeth, becoming somewhat frustrated with both girls, as he started running up the hill to find that Ashley was being attacked by a lone villager. Travis fiddled with his handgun quickly and was about to shoot when three bullets came protruding through the skull of the villager, collapsing to show Leon holding a smoking gun.

"Are you both okay? Where is Vee?" Leon asked, becoming somewhat worried.

"It's alright Leon. I'm right here." Vee said unenthusiastically, leisurely walking up the hill.

"I cleared the path. We need to go now." Leon stated.

The four loaded onto the steel transport, feeling crushed, and rode it down to the bottom. At the bottom, the four squeezed out of their cramped positions and back on solid ground. Leon motioned for the three to follow him, which they did. They took the path to the left that led to where Ada was nearly chopped up into pieces in the game. Leon swung around the corner with his gun raised, ready to fire. A villager lit one of the dynamites it was carrying and started to run toward the four. Leon shot the dynamite and did a classic cool guy pose after it blew the villager and it's surroundings up.

"Leon, please never do that again." Travis begged, looking somewhat confused after the whole experience. "No offense but that's just scary coming from you."

Vee just gave Travis a weird look and used the only explanation she could think of and concluded that he must be crazy. They continued to explore the small area until Travis stumbled upon the chest with one of the cat's-eye.

"Could come in handy." He said quietly to himself, pocketing the item.

Ashley paced back and forth slowly, while Travis and Leon looked around, watching Vee cautiously, who'd taken up brooding to herself near a path leading to more doors. The girl showed no sign of doing anything, though; she appeared to be deeply lost in thought. When their little group had reconvened, the unusually quiet Vee walked ahead of them, eying the surrounding woods guardedly as though she figured there was something lurking nearby. This, of course, was missed by the ever-oblivious Leon, but not Travis who knew from what he'd seen that something was definitely up.

The walk to the site that would become Mendez' final resting place was awkwardly silent, and when they reached the doors, Leon ordered his three companions to stay outside while he took a look around. After he had gone inside, Travis decided to find out what the heck was going on.

"I know what I saw back there," he said, and she became fairly riled by the statement.

"Are you Schizophrenic? I was not with anybody!" Vee yelled, looking around at the woods.

"You can't deny it anymore, Vee; we've both seen you. What are you trying to hide?"

Vee knew that Travis was right. He'd seen them himself less than an hour ago, and repudiating everything he and Ashley were saying was becoming futile. But she couldn't just come out and say what was going on either. So she stood in complete silence, staring at the ground.

"I want to know what's going on, right now," he said steadfastly.

Vee shook her head slowly. "I… I can't tell you…"

"You're going to get us all - "

"Please don't say anymore," she interrupted quietly, and then looking the building over, added, "It's awfully quiet in there… You don't suppose…"

At that exact moment, Leon came back outside, making both Vee and Travis jump.

"Nothing much in there, except for this," he said, holding up what appeared to be Mendez' glass eye.

"It's like a bad sequel to Captain Ron," Vee murmured, studying it oddly.

"There was no one in there?" Travis asked, wondering why it had been so quiet.

"Nope. Come on, we should get back now before someone does show up."

Travis and Vee exchanged questioning looks, despite the ongoing battle. If Mendez wasn't in there, then where was he, and why didn't he have his eye?

With that in mind, they followed Leon uneventfully back across the ravine, and down to where the entrance leading to the castle was. He held the eye up to the retinal scanner until he heard the door unlock, and went to throw it over his shoulder, but Vee stopped him.

"You know what, maybe I'll hang onto that," she said, taking it from him and pocketing it.

"You want to keep it?" Leon said in disbelief, looking at her like she was insane.

"Yeah. I'll put it with Cuppy," she said, smiling for the first time in a while.

"Don't bring that up," he responded, looking a bit ill at the thought.

"What is a Cuppy?" Ashley asked, apparently a little disturbed.

"A cooked fish head I keep in a jar of alcohol. It was from the first fish I ever ate in a restaurant that still had the head attached," she explained, and the blond girl looked like she'd just had a stroke, but it did shut her up. "I even made him a top hat."

Thinking it might be best to move on before the conversation got much further, Leon led the way through the entrance. It was deathly still on the other side of the doors, and as they walked up the hill, nothing happened. There was no sign of any villagers, or the truck that was normally there. Everything was completely still.

This change bothered Travis slightly, considering the disappearance of Mendez earlier. He tapped Vee on the shoulder to get her attention, but she didn't respond, being too rapt in whatever she was thinking about.

"Vee, this is getting weird…"

"What?" she said, looking around to realize how empty the area was. "Oh. No last-ditch effort from the village?"

This all was very confusing and odd. The other plot changes had been seriously weird, but this was highly unsettling – it seemed like everyone that was usually in that area had disappeared.

They crossed the drawbridge, entering the castle and taking a look around. No one. There didn't appear to be anyone in the vicinity. Maybe someone had gotten there before them?

After a long stroll around, finding random things, they went to head inside.

"Um… I think I'll stay out here for a little while longer…" Vee said, before Leon could fully open the door, and received skeptical looks from all of them. "What? I need some more fresh air. I don't feel so great."

"Okay, Vee. We'll be back out to get you when we're sure the area's clear," Leon said. He trusted her enough that if she was feeling a bit under the weather, he assumed she'd stay put.

He led the other two inside, while the fatigued girl stayed behind, leaning heavily on the wall. Everything felt like it was starting to fall apart, and one false move could completely destroy the whole foundation that was already established. Travis was onto her, Alfred wanted to kill her, and if he didn't, Wesker probably would.

When Travis had seen her with Wesker earlier, he had stopped by briefly to inform her that he would be needing her assistance very shortly… He just didn't say with what. She sighed heavily, wondering what was going to happen, when she was greeted by a familiar voice.

"I thought you should know," said Wesker, coming up to her from the left, "That I am aware two of your companions know about me."

"It wasn't my fault," Vee replied nervously, turning to face him directly. "I didn't tell them."

"Well, what do you intend to do about it?" he asked astringently.

"I don't know… They haven't said anything yet… Maybe they won't."

"You should hope that they don't say anything. Because if anyone tries to mess up my plans, you're the first person who's going to hear about it," he said, almost amused by the effect the statement had on Vee's expression.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said with a shudder as he turned to walk away, and eventually flitted off.

Vee was very uneasy at this point. Was she like a magnet for trouble, or something?

As if that question had been the instigator for a whole other problem, at that very moment, she heard another voice from behind her.

"Vee, what were you doing talking to Wesker?" someone asked calmly, but in a tenor laced with mixed emotions.

"Claire," Vee said cheerfully, failing to hide her anxious tone as she turned and spotted the obviously upset woman. She wasn't totally surprised by the fact that Chris' sister had shown up and knew who she was, but why now of all times? "I – I can explain. It's not what it looks like!"

"Then what is it?" Claire was feeling a combination of hurt and aversion. She just couldn't fathom how this girl that she had known for a while now could ever get mixed up with someone like Wesker.

"Please don't tell Leon!" she pleaded, "I don't know what he'd do - "

"Probably disown you," she said somberly.

"That sucks," Vee muttered, at a loss for other words, and the normally jovial Claire took on a dark tone.

"You are going to explain to me and him both what is going on, right now."

"But – I can't! Wesker will kill me!"

"You will," she said, picking up a twig and snapping it in half. "Or I'll hurt you."

Vee swallowed hard. She had her doubts that the typically placid Claire would actually do that, but not wanting to find out for sure, she pointed to the door dejectedly. "Come on, we'll go find him."

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Okay, time for me to go get busy on finishing some things… Leave us a review and let us know what you think!