Chapter 13:

The door slid open again. Arynn and the soldiers were greeted by yet another individual. Arynn's eyes widened as she faced the man. Without hesitation, she whipped out her knife and held it close to his neck.

"—Happy to see me?" the man asked cracking a smile.

Arynn smiled too. If she applied the right amount of pressure, she could inflict a serious incision into the man's neck. Nothing was going to hold her back this time.

"Sorry I had to leave you back in the office, but you understand…don't you?" he spoke under his breath watching Tripper and Hernandez.

"No I don't," she replied as she immediately sliced the side of his sleeve instead.

Peter grabbed his arm in pain as the blood seeped through the opened black material.

"Now I'm sure you understand…don't you?" Arynn simply stated as she walked away wiping her combat knife on a paper napkin off one of the tables.

"I take it you two crossed paths before?" Tripper interrupted.

Arynn and the man glanced over at Tripper with cynical looks.

"Yes," the man said as he patched himself up, "I tried to help your friend here when she was in a predicament with some treacherous gandharvas."

"I thought those were confirmed as terminated subjects," Tripper announced.

"No, Captain Tripper, they are alive and well, populating various parts of the city," the man replied.

"How do you know my name?" the commando asked.

"As much as the military has tried to keep a close tab on all of Umbrella's operations, Umbrella has been keeping tabs on each branch. I know everything about the Air Force's so-called Special OPTs. Gathering data and secret tests, I'm surprised you don't know who I am." He snickered.

"So who are you then?" Hernandez blurted.

"Oh. I'm sorry, where's my manners," The man started, "I'm Peter. And I'm responsible for saving your little friend's life."

"Sure if you call sedating me and leaving me in a locked room without my things…" Arynn said.

"I didn't sedate you. You fell unconscious of your own free will," he said.

"Sure…" she replied, "oh and by the way, where are my things?"

"I have them. You don't have to worry about where they are. You won't need them anyway…"

While the two squared off, Lt. Campbell slowly made her way to the entrance of the chamber. She took out an electronic key and slid it along the card reader. There was a small chime and the glass door opened. The creature looked up and watched her walk to the metal stand. There was a small remote. She picked it up and then walked out of the enclosure.

"Hold on, where do you think you're going with that?" Hernandez spoke nearly scaring the woman.

"I'll take that," Peter replied, taking the remote from Campbell's hands and slipping it into his cargo pant pocket, "It's of no importance to you."

"What is Project Sabriel?" Tripper demanded.

"Ahh yes. One of Umbrella's prime research subjects into embryonic technology. But also one of its downfalls…" Peter said.

"It was a failure from the beginning," Danielle added.

"Well of course, the massacre of Umbrella employees could explain that…" Arynn cynically replied.

"That only covers the surface of the problem," Danielle continued.

Tripper butted in, "What you've done down here goes against all laws of natural selection," he said, "it's been my personal duty to see to it that freaks like you spend the rest of your days in prison for what you've done to the people of Raccoon City."

Arynn could see the rage developing in Tripper's eyes as he talked. She wondered what he knew about the massacre—about the numbers of victims turned and killed during the outbreak, and importantly how much of it Umbrella denied afterwards. The company got away with practically murder. And she witnessed it all, people killing people, animals hunting in the streets, and law enforcement abandoning their civil duties to escape. It was sheer anarchy. If only the rest of the world knew…

"Don't tell me, you have a change of heart, Captain." Peter said, "If I remember correctly, wasn't it you that suggested rebuilding on contaminated ground? You already knew the severity of the situation, yet you still wanted to forget about what you and others did—destroying the lives of every individual in this damned city."

"What?" Arynn said as she turned to look at the commando.

"Don't listen to him," Tripper replied.

"Arynn, Umbrella isn't the only evil entity in the world. Remember behind every corporate giant is the assistance of the government. Why do you think the Air Force was sent down here? I'm sure it wasn't just for a simple data collection."

Hernandez took out his berretta and aimed it at Peter.

"I wouldn't pull the trigger if I were you," the man said as he took out the remote.

He pointed it towards the glass chamber. They all looked and saw that he had released the locks on the clamps that held the subject. Now free, the subject quickly stood up, stretched and turned to face them from the glass.

"What you're looking at is the next evolution in bio-weaponry," Peter stated, "with this specimen, we've been able to harness massive cellular growth of muscle and brain tissue. The average human only uses 15 percent of his brain, Dorus uses 50 percent. It is able to memorize double the languages that a child can in the first years of life. But really, you all are in for a treat. Dorus is a great example of things from the past—obsolete and outdated—a thorn in my side."

Peter pressed a button on the remote and instantly the subject's head exploded, sending patches of flesh everywhere.

Danielle gasped. Her face showed a look of horror as she watched the lifeless body of her beloved subject fall to the floor.

"All of my work…" she whispered, "You monster…" she confessed as she turned to Peter. "I have put countless hours into Dorus, how dare you!"

Danielle pulled out her gun and aimed her gun at Peter. She was so furious that her arms made the gun shake.

"Oh Danielle, don't worry about Dorus. It was always discussed that research on it was a waste of resources. You live in the past. I've always told you, that you should live for tomorrow. Put down the gun. We have better things to attend to."

"No I won't!" she shouted.

"Yes, you will. Now put down the gun."

The lights in the room started to flicker and the hairs on the back of Arynn's neck began to rise. Something was disrupting the electricity in the room. She didn't know what it was and began to take steps back towards the door. She tried to get Tripper's attention but the commando was locked with rage on Peter. There was a slight rumble along the floor and that's when Arynn saw it. The body of the fallen specimen was convulsing! Suddenly the lights went out. Arynn turned and ran for the door. With all of her strength, she pried the door open using her knife and escaped. She didn't know where she was going but she ran as fast as she could away from what was about to happen. The door pushed shut and there was screaming and gunfire inside.

She found herself once again turning her back on people who relied on her. First her brother when he was attacked by the infected Dobermans, her cousin Angel when she was ripped to death by an infected police officer, and then Thomas when he couldn't reach the car and they were right there on the limits of Raccoon. "Thomas," she whispered, as she stopped and took a minute to close her eyes. He was in her reach, he was right there, but they got him and she had to leave. A minute later, the nuke touched down and she barely made it out before the smoke of radiation saturated the air.

"Arynn!" yelled a voice from down the hall in the path of the sealed room.

Arynn turned and saw Tripper, he was gripping his stomach and hunched over.

"Help me…" he managed to say before collapsing to the floor.

She ran up to his unconscious body and strained to pull him down the hall. She had to hurry. Dorus was probably a live and looking for another victim. From in the hall, she could hear the bloodcurdling screams of Danielle and Hernandez. She wasn't sure about Peter but she didn't want to find out.

The wounded soldier's weight made it hard for Arynn to quickly move. She struggled with him down the corridor and turned onto another dimly lit passage way. Taking out the tag, Arynn forced her hand to stop twitching and slid it in the reader. She tugged Tripper's body right into the room then barricaded the door.