Fourteen
The Ashford Family Residence on Rockfort Island was teeming with life and merriment. The main hall was filled with dozens of guests, all of them members of the Ashford family, dressed in suits and dresses, wearing extremely expensive jewellery and talking about how their businesses were progressing or how their lives had been so great over a glass of wine. Waiters and waitresses were passing through the crowd of people, trays of food and drink perfectly balanced on their hands as they walked around the room handing them around to the guests. The kitchen was teeming with chefs and cooks running around, hurriedly preparing their meals with finesse and perfection.
And on the balcony overlooking the main hall was a man and a woman watching over their guests with a regal aura emanating from them and a smile of satisfaction placed on their lips as they saw that the ball was going along swimmingly.
The man was in his late 30s/early 40s, with greying blonde hair combed back, a moustache combed to keep every hair in place, dressed a black blazer, blue shirt, white bow tie, silver cuff-links embroidered with the Ashford Family emblem, black trouser and black shoes. Edward was a man who wanted to keep everything in perfection because if it wasn't perfect, it would reflect on the Ashford Family name.
His wife, Madeline, was spectacular in every word and sense. Her long blonde hair that fell past her shoulders was put into long curls, with a diamond tiara encrusted with rubies, emeralds and sapphires. Her face was perfectly applied with make-up, the right amount of eye-shadow, lipstick and mascara bringing out her face in more radiance than ever. She wore a black dress that reached to her ankles with matching gloves that reached to her elbows and matching high-heels.
Edward tapped his wine glass loudly to draw everyone's attention. The room fell into silence and everyone looked towards Edward.
"First of all I would like to say that it is a great pleasure and joy to me to see my entire family gathered here today. Everyone from my parents and grandparents to all my distant relatives," he said.
"Very distant relatives! Some of us live in Eastern Europe!" someone exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh momentarily.
"Secondly, I would like to say I very proud I am of all my family for their wonderful achievements. And I would like to show my gratitude to my perfect wife for organising this celebration," he said, gesturing with his hand to his wife, who put a hand over her heart and the other over her increasingly red cheeks as the cheers rang out.
"Also," he continued, "my son Alexander will soon graduate from university and will join me in helping to build our future company, leading our family into a glorious new age, keeping us all as one of the world's first and finest."
The entire room was in an uproar of cheers, hoots, hollers and whistles from all the people for a few minutes before the atmosphere calmed down.
He held up his wine glass. "A toast," he proposed, "to our future company and glory."
Everyone held up their wine glasses. "To Umbrella!!!" they all chanted, striking their glasses together and creating an echoing ting throughout the room.
Most of the evening had been spent dancing, talking amongst the other family members or enjoying the meals expertly prepared by the cooks. Edward was enjoying himself tremendously at this party; he was glad that his wife had organised this to celebrate the formation of their future company. But he couldn't help but notice that someone or something was missing from the party, someone important. Soon, he realized what, actually who, it was that was missing; Spencer wasn't here. It seemed odd that he wasn't here since Madeline had sent him an invitation and this party was about the formation of their company, so he should be here as well to take part in the celebrations.
He had expected Spencer to have arrived as soon as the party had started, for Spencer was a man who prided himself on punctuality. He didn't tolerate being late for anything, be it professional, personal and entertainment; he was always on time and arrived precisely when he meant to arrive. Yet it was strange that he hadn't arrived at the party at all.
"Madeline, has Oswell arrived yet?" he asked his wife.
She looked around, confused, and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see him here. I had sent him an invitation two weeks ago in advance about this. I wonder where he is?"
Before Edward could reply, his butler, Scott Harman, came up and tapped him on the shoulder, catching his attention. "Sir, Mr Spencer is on the phone for you," he calmly informed him.
Speak of the Devil. At least I can speak to him about why he isn't here.
Edward followed his butler to the office and picked up the receiver lying on the desk. "Hello Oswell," he greeted, sitting back in his chair.
"I am sorry Edward, that I can't make it. But there have been some new recent developments that had acquired my attention over the past few days," Spencer explained over the phone.
Edward understood completely. From what he had known, Spencer had been extremely busy with testing the Progenitor on the human subject he caught and making sure his facility in the Arklay mountains was impregnable to intruders. Edward himself had been busy, testing the effects that the Progenitor could have on certain species of animals, recording the varying mutations that occurred.
He had actually talked with Marcus about his research, in which he was working on leeches with the Progenitor. That had been all Marcus had told him, telling him neither why he chose nor what theory he was testing with them. Despite Edward's curiosity and polite questioning, Marcus seemed to be very reclusive and wouldn't say much about it. In fact, he seemed to get extremely irritated by the questions and that Edward was even still speaking to him about it.
That must be another development that Oswell has been busy with, Marcus' total absence in co-operation with us.
"Don't worry Oswell. My wife will understand," he reassured his friend.
Spencer sighed, obviously knowing that his wife had been planning this for some time and would be disappointed about his absence. "Tell her I am sorry, but we have many new additions to our future company and new assistance for our work," he stated. There was a brief pause before Spencer spoke again. "Have you seen the new mainframes?" he asked.
"You mean the Red and White Queens?" Edward replied.
"I see you have already found out about them."
"I have been storing all my research data in the Red Queen's data storage and have uploaded all my security system controls to the White Queen's master control," he informed Spencer.
"Very good Edward. I'll have a look over your reports to see what you have discovered for our corporation. In the meantime, I suggest you enjoy the party. Good day." With that, Spencer hung up.
Edward hung up as well and went out into the main hall, getting lost in the crowds and the merriment. He would continue working on the Progenitor later, but he would spend his current time with his wife in the party...
He was lost. That was all that was needed to sum up the situation George Trevor had put himself in. He had escaped from the cell two days ago and had only just found his way out of the labs and tunnels beneath the estate. Now, he was lost amongst the maze of hallways in the estate.
He had been searching for his family in the labs before heading out through the tunnels to the estate. He searched through all the rooms of the labs, the large main lab with the huge stasis tanks in the very bottom, the power room, the morgue and the other lab rooms. But he found no trace of his family anywhere in the labs. Come to think of it, he found none of the guards or the scientist anywhere either. The whole laboratory was deserted, yet he had dismissed the thought as just a stroke of good luck.
He then made his way out through the tunnels, no sign of the guards or scientist there either. He would have thought that was strange if he didn't have this terrible fever and throbbing headache. Every time he tried to remember any part of the estate, he lost it in a wave of pounding pain and scorching heat, losing it to the shroud that seemed to have permanently settled over his head. He just couldn't remember any part of the mansion's design, even though he could remember clearly he had helped build it.
He had also nearly got himself killed going through the tunnels. He was crossing over a new piece of construction that Spencer had obviously started without his knowledge and it had collapsed under his feet. He would have fallen to his death had he not tripped over a metal bucket that had been left out in the open and landed on the stone ledge on the opposite side.
He was now desperately trying to find a way out of the estate's halls but he still couldn't remember anything about the design. He thought about using a window to escape but couldn't because large metal shutters had covered them, with no way to raise them from any of the rooms, and all doors to the outside were locked and reinforced.
And if that wasn't bad enough, he felt even more considerably ill. He seemed to have this nauseous feeling buried deep in his stomach, his arms and legs seemed to ignore his commands to move the way he wanted them to move and he felt much weaker from being unable to find any food to eat, along with the growing depression that he hadn't found his family.
I bet this is all just a sick game concocted by Spencer. That insane, twisted monster.
He knew that Spencer was doing this, viciously taunting him by denying what he needed and making sure he suffered to the very brink of sadistical torture.
He found himself in another hall that his warped mind couldn't seem to recall and his legs soon gave way from brief exhaustion. He took deep wheezing breaths and crawled along the ground for a few metres, before he lay down on the carpet to gain some rest. He knew that he needed to find food and water soon, before he became too weak to stand up again. But he soon noticed a small object in front of him and his eyes widened in shock.
That shoe. It's Jessica's!! He's got them, Spencer's got them!!!
George reached out and weakly grasped it, tears coming to his eyes. This high-heel shoe did belong to Jessica; it went with one of own design of dresses. He could clearly remember everything about his wife, their wedding, their honeymoon, their college romances, everything involving him and his wife together was firmly etched in his mind, and he always savoured the thought that his wife was safe and happy, looking after their daughter. But the thought of her suffering in intense pain and agony at the hands of a sadistic insane demon for a man was too much for him to bear. Even more so if she was dead.
No, she isn't dead! Spencer wants you to believe that. You have to find her and Lisa! And if you can't, you have to get the police and come down hard on Spencer's twisted work!
Yes, that was what he needed to do. They were here somewhere or outside in the world, safe from Spencer. He couldn't give up yet, not now, not when he was so close to beating Spencer's game. He stood up and wiped his eyes clean of the tears before he stumbled down the hall, looking for an escape.
He would escape, God help him, he would. And Spencer may try as much as he liked to stop him, but he would get out. Then Spencer would be the one running, because once the law saw this, he was a dead man...
Sorry for the late update. I have been very busy writing chapter 17, which is a very detailed chapter on Umbrella's past. I have decided to post these two chapters as a way of saying thank you for your patience and for favouriting me and my story. I really appreciate it.
Anyway, I have to get back to writing the other chapters. I may also be bringing in some more well-known and favourite characters in the RE world. Wesker and Birkin are soon going to be making their big arrival in this story soon, and I have to make sure I get their personalities right.
Well, thanks for reading the story so far. Stay tuned for future updates!!