Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.
A puddle of water splashed under his feet as Chris walked through the sewers, which were beneath San Diego.
Chris found himself and Alice in a sewer which looked like everything he imagined a sewer to look like. This place was dark and filthy. Water could be heard dripping everywhere and the walls were stained with all sorts of things that smelled horribly. Puddles of dirty water connected beneath his feet. Really not a place Chris would love to hang around in. But nontheless, he was here with Alice as they made their way towards the ocean.
"Where are you from, Chris Redfield?" Alice asked all of a sudden, her voice echoing through the tunnels as she was walking ahead of Chris.
As they'd been walking for quite a while, Chris had already expected Alice to ask about his past, especially since she didn't seem to trust him completely yet. He'd already figured that she'd want to know everything about him, so it was only obvious that she started to ask questions now.
However, Chris only wanted to share certain things about his past so that he didn't have to delve deeper into the subject. And that was only because he also didn't fully trust Alice yet as she'd been the one to stop his bullet with her crazy powers, which was definitely something strange and maybe even dangerous. So he wanted to handle her carefully. Not revealing too much about himself was what he'd promised himself when he'd meet someone new and it always worked out okay. So he also didn't want to reveal too much about his past now.
"Manhattan. Moved there when I was 10 years old", Chris replied.
"New York, huh? Lovely city", Alice commented.
"Not that lovely as it seems", Chris murmured almost inaudibly with his head bowed down.
As Chris came to learn as he was growing up, he experienced that living in The Big Apple was always busy, stressful and expensive. That's why he couldn't blame his dad for leaving their family when he was just 14 years old. Ever since then, his mother had tried everything she could to keep the family afloat. But life only went downhill after that, which started with his mother becoming an alcoholic. However, he couldn't blame her. Had he been in the exact same situation she was in, he would've turned to the bottle too.
"Why's that?" Alice questioned Chris curiously.
"I don't have that much fond memories of it", Chris answered carefully.
"I'm sorry to hear that", Alice remorsefully replied.
"Yeah, me too", Chris sighed as he remembered his early life.
Alice didn't know what to feel for Chris. She still didn't fully trust him, even though he seemed to be honest about his personal life. She just needed to hear more about him before she could judge that she could trust him. She didn't know why she had such a hard time trusting Chris. Of course he'd shot a bullet at her just hours ago, but that didn't have to mean that he was evil or something. And of course Alice still had her suspicions about him, but maybe those suspicions would be disproved if she learnt more about him.
"So what did you do for a living?" Alice asked.
"I used to work for the U.B.C.S.", Chris shared.
"The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service?" Alice clarified for herself.
"Yeah, didn't take long, though", Chris sighed, "At least, not until the Outbreak."
Even though Chris had promised himself he'd never turn into an alcoholic like his mom, he eventually became one too at the age of 16. To escape from the busy life in the city, he used to hang out with his friends. And since he had an addicition going on, he had to find other means to get some money. That's why, even though he wouldn't be proud of it later, he used to commit robberies with his friends. This, of course, lead to several run-ins with the police. But every time, he'd managed to somehow stay out of jail. However, after a while, he finally realised that this life of getting drunk and going out nearly every night wasn't going to lead him anywhere.
That's when he saw an advertisement, calling out to young men and women to become part of U.B.C.S., a law-enforcing unit owned by the Umbrella Corporation. Since becoming a soldier was all Chris had dreamt about since he was just a little kid, he decided to go for it and pursue his dream, moving to Raccoon City to join them. That's when he finally realised what his purpose in life was all about. It wasn't about getting drunk or going out. No, it was about defending the honor of his country under the Umbrella Corporation.
After a while, Alice and Chris came upon a corner. Carefully, Alice looked around the corner to see if something dangerous was coming their way. After all, none of them knew whether or not there would be zombies in these sewers. So it was just best to be careful.
"So why you'd gone looking for your sister?" Alice continued to ask while she was observing.
"I did some things I'm not proud of", Chris explained, "That's why I need to..."
"Make amends?", Alice continued Chris' sentence questioningly after she'd declared that the area was safe and was now looking at Chris.
Chris nervously looked back at Alice, but hesitated whether or not he should confirm it. After all, it was a touchy subject and he doubted whether or not he should tell Alice all. After all, he'd just met her mere hours ago, so he didn't know if she could be fully trusted with these sorts of things. Normally, he wouldn't have shared these sorts of things with a complete stranger at all, but somehow he felt like there was something different with this woman. There just was something trustworthy about her.
During his time with the U.B.C.S., Chris began to realise that he had to make up for his past mistakes with his sister Claire. After their mother was killed in a car accident, Claire was the only living family member he'd left. She was there for him when he came home drunk nearly every night, taking off his shoes and getting him to bed. It was like she was the bigger sister, instead of him being the bigger brother.
That's why he'd made it his mission to find her. The guilt of putting Claire through the most terrible times of her life was just too unbearable for him to carry. That's why he needed to make amends with her, how badly she'd possibly hate him. He just wanted this guilt to go away.
"I get it", Alice said, dropping the subject.
Alice had already noticed about Chris' nervousness that he didn't want to delve deeper into his relationship with his sister, which was understandable in her opinion. She also had some things that she'd rather not share about herself, such as what Umbrella did to her and a few other things about her past. Things that were rather too personal to her. So she completely understood Chris about this, if not only for herself wanting to keep certain things a secret. So instead, she changed the subject.
"So, this was your plan of getting to the ocean and getting us a boat?" Alice asked, her voice echoing through the damp tunnels as they continued on their way again.
To Alice, the sewers looked exactly like the sewers that were beneath the Hive in Raccoon City. That's why she had a strange feeling of deja vu as she was walking behind Chris as she'd let him go in front. Every moment, she expected a zombie to just show up out of nowhere. But until now, they hadn't encountered any undead creatures, which was much to her relief.
Chris sighed at the fact that Alice had changed the subject, for which he appreciated her. Not only was his relationship with his sister a subject he'd rather not talk about, but it was also something he only shared with his sister. Only she knew about certain things and it wasn't somebody else's business to get into it. That's why he was glad that Alice seemed to understand this and changed the subject.
"Why'd you ask?" Chris asked relieved.
"Because they can get here too, especially now that we ditched the car?" Alice said, referring to the zombies above them and also being the obvious one.
"At least here are less undead than in the streets above us", Chris replied.
"You think?" Alice continued, thinking of the horrible things that had went down in the Hive.
"Yeah", Chris said, "What, are you afraid or something?"
"No, it's just that I've been down this road before", Alice said.
Suddenly, Alice realised that she'd just revealed something about her past. Something from her past she didn't want Chris to know about yet as it was too early to tell him about it. First, she just wanted to feel comfortable with him before she could reveal too much about herself. But now there wasn't any avoiding the conversation that was about to follow. She knew Chris was about to ask her questions about her past. After all, she'd also questioned him about his past, so it was only fair of him to return the favor. But now it was just too early to tell him something about her past life.
However, now Alice had to learn to trust Chris with one of the secrets from her past, even though she didn't trust him enough yet. However, she didn't have a choice but to answer his questions. She could still lie, but what was the point in that? Chris seemed like a valuable asset to her. An asset she didn't want to lose by lying to him. So it was just best to answer him truthfully, even if the conversation would lead to Umbrella's involvement in her life.
"And where was that?" Chris asked curiously.
"Raccoon City", Alice answered truthfully.
All of a sudden, Chris stopped dead in his tracks. The mention of Raccoon City suddenly surprised him, because it meant that this woman had also been there, just like himself when he was with the U.B.C.S. Obviously, she didn't remember him being there. Otherwise, she would've mentioned knowing him. This was quite a coincidence.
"What?" Chris asked surprised, "When?"
"5 years ago", Alice replied.
"You're kidding, right?" Chris asked.
The last thing Chris had heard about Raccoon City, was that it was nuked to the ground by a defected power plant. Or at least, that's what Umbrella had told everyone who'd managed to make it out of that city alive. And if it wasn't for him believing them, he would've gone back there to find out what exactly happened there. He was just that curious. But now that Alice was telling him she'd been there too, there was no need to go back there anymore as he already got confirmation of his suspicions.
Still, it was hard for him to believe her. Of course there was the possibility of Alice making it out of Raccoon City before the nuclear explosion, but what if she was there the moment that power plant exploded? What if she'd escaped just in time? And how did she escape back then? This reveal sparked Chris' curiosity even more than it already had.
"Excuse me?" Alice asked offended.
"There's no way you could've survived that nuclear explosion over there", Chris said.
"Well, I did", Alice told him.
"How?" Chris asked.
Alice sighed. Now came the hard part of her telling the truth. Now she had to tell Chris about her being an Umbrella-experiment with psychic abilities. There was no other way around it. Of course she could still lie about it and tell Chris some other explanation about her escaping Raccoon City. But then again, what was the point in lying if she didn't want to lose such a valuable asset? Exactly, none.
However, Alice was afraid Chris wouldn't believe her, just like he didn't believe her about surviving Raccoon City. That's why she, at first, didn't want to tell him about her and Umbrella, just like with everyone else that had wanted to know about her past. She just was afraid to be called a freak once again, or at least to be thought about as a freak. She just didn't want to be judged by what crazy stuff she could do. No, she wanted to be judged for who she currently is. But still she wanted to take a leap of faith with Chris, so she just decided to tell him the truth.
"I got seized by Umbrella's scientists", Alice explained.
"What'd they do to you?" Chris asked.
"Experiments", Alice said.
"What?" Chris asked shocked.
Ever since he'd started working for Umbrella, Chris had heard rumours and whispers about Umbrella testing their viruses on living human beings, but he'd never gotten a confirmation of those rumours, which is why he didn't believe those rumours. And that's also why, after the world's population had turned into the undead, he guessed that some sort of virus or sickness had struck the world. A virus no company could've ever developed, especially not the Umbrella Corporation. In his eyes, they were just a harmless pharmaceutical company and not some sort of company that released all sorts of undead monsters on the earth, which was why it was hard for him to believe Alice.
Also, now that this woman was telling him about her being one of Umbrella's experiments, he just couldn't believe what he was hearing. No way Umbrella had actually experimented on living humans. Just no way. They would've been arrested if something of the like ever got leaked to the media. So it was just impossible in his opinion, which was also the reason why he had a hard time believing Alice.
"They've injected a virus into me", Alice continued to explain.
"That's why you were able to stop that bullet I shot at you", Chris said, thinking about what happened earlier.
"Exactly", Alice said, "That's why they need to pay for what they've done to me."
Chris nodded in understanding, but it was still hard to believe this woman. Not only was what this woman was talking about very illegal, but this was also something that she could've just made up. But then there was also the fact that she'd stopped his bullet in mid-air with her mind, which was also something worth considering. There just was no logical explanation for the things Alice had done, so there seemed to be nothing left than to believe her to be telling the truth.
However, if this woman was telling the truth, he couldn't blame her for being so careful and tense, but also vulnerable and insecure, all the time. If what she was saying was true, than he didn't feel anything but reget for working for the ones that did this to her. He just couldn't understand why such a large company would ever have to rely on the testing of humans. That was what was so disgusting about Alice's story.
And of course he still had the choice to believe her or not, but he'd already known Alice long enough to know that this woman wouldn't just lie to him. He could just tell by the look on her face when she was telling him this. After all, it was the same look she had when he was telling her about his history just minutes ago. A look that showed sincerity and honesty.
"I understand", Chris said as he began to walk again.
"You do?" Alice asked, relieved that Chris didn't seem to be freaked out by her.
"Of course", Chris answered, "If I can believe that people can rise from the dead, then I can believe this too."
"Look, I know it's hard for you to believe me", Alice said, still afraid Chris wasn't buying her story, "But I'm telling you the truth."
"Don't worry about it", Chris just said.
Alice sighed with relief. Finally, someone seemed to believe her and he didn't call her a freak. This alone made Chris Redfield someone who she could trust, but he was also an understanding and honest person to be around with. With this in mind, a relieved Alice and Chris walked further through the sewers, their footsteps echoing through the dark tunnels.
Author's note: Just a little character development between Alice and Chris. I hope you like it.
As for the ones who don't like the background I've written for Chris, I can only tell you that I wrote it this way, because it fits better with the story in regards to future chapters. So I hope you don't mind.
Also, I'll be reducing the flashbacks from now on. With this, I'm not saying that you won't get to read anymore flashbacks in future chapters, but the amount of them will be less than in previous chapters. Feel free to give me feedback on this and the previous chapters of this story. Comments and reviews make me want to write more. So please keep them going. Thanks in advance.