Chapter 14:

The image of moving pieces of flesh played in her mind. Did Peter know what was going to happen? The bomb that went off in the creature's brain must have triggered some type of instant cellular regeneration. Arynn thought about Hernandez and Danielle—poor bastards, caught in the tyrant's path. She wondered where the creature was now and what shape its body had morphed into.

She put Tripper against the wall. She couldn't risk carrying him with that thing running around. She wasn't sure what Dorus was capable of. From what Danielle and Peter said, Dorus was probably a most fierce predator yet seemed inferior to whatever else creation Umbrella concocted. If Sabriel was terminated and Dorus was obsolete, then what was the current pride and joy of the corporation? She had to find out.

The room was small with a single table off to the right and a clipboard. Arynn strained to read the words written on top, "Contamination Room Log Sheet". Contamination for what? She thought. Taking Tripper's glock, she cocked it.

Using the tag again, she opened the next locked door. The label read, "RL-02". It was dark inside and she tried desperately to find the switch. Her feet nearly slipped on something wet on the concrete floor. Without even looking down, she knew what it was. She didn't need to see it. Her hands felt a button and pressed it. A humming came on and the lights overhead flickered. Around the room, she saw specimen samples in aquatic chambers and binders filled with various documents and paperwork neatly stacked on metal tables along the wall. This room had to be one of the main rooms of data collection. The specimens were familiar, same as the ones in the basement levels of the hospital. The only difference was that these particular specimens were farther along in development—bigger bodies, larger heads, longer limbs, and more horrific mutations. Arynn finally looked down to see what she had stepped in. To her surprise it wasn't blood. It was clear. She knelt down and touched the substance. Feeling it between her index finger and thumb, it was thin and smelled strong. Carbon Dioxide? She searched around the room for broken glass or anything disturbed that might have fell over, there was nothing. She walked over to the nearest table and opened up one of the binders:

Redorus:

Evolution of Dorus…child-like volunteer recruits. Quick reflexes and agile movement. Similar to the Gandharvas, the Redorus consume flesh at will and only what their bodies can allow. Possess primal hunting instincts Signature sound is repeated when Redorus finds potential food.

Arynn looked back at the aquatic glass capsules with the floating specimen of Redorus. The Redorus must have been those children out there. The words, "recruit and volunteer" echoed in her head. These poor kids did not volunteer to be hosts for Umbrella's freakish experiments. How was Umbrella able to recruit these children without their parents knowing?

"I bet you're wondering how they did it…" echoed a voice from somewhere in the room.

Arynn turned around and saw Peter standing in front of the exit with a large slash cross one of his cheeks.

"You know," he continued as he paced the side of the room, "Children are very easy to persuade when it comes to their parents…"

"What exactly did you do to them?" Arynn questioned, watching him open random binders and snatch out documents.

"See as a researcher, you learn what makes people feel at ease and what makes them feel violated. And like my uncle, I acquired a significant amount of data on cell development in the early stages of human life and also cell deterioration during the early stages of death. I found that if I took human embryos and spliced them with already infected full grown animals, I could manipulate genes and create…well my own living, breathing subjects."

"You manipulated those children's genes?"

"No more than that," Peter whispered, "I got to them right before the impregnation procedure occurred. Those proud parents welcomed new additions into their families..."

Her eyes narrowed and instantly she lashed out at Peter, only missing him in the process. He dodged her swing with a laugh.

"You see one thing about Alexia that I did not agree with, was her foolish solution of injecting herself with the virus and being put to sleep for those long grueling years."

He grabbed the gun away from Arynn and flung it across the room.

"See I had a better plan. With the outbreak of the virus and the spotlight on little experiments that a few of my colleagues worked on, I couldn't risk my prize research being discovered. So I hid it."

"You hid Sabriel?" Arynn asked.

"No! Stop talking about this Sabriel. He was an earlier experiment gone wrong! I don't wanna hear that name!" he shouted putting his hands to his ears.

He jolted back and grabbed her arm. "You wanna see him?" he yelled, "then see him!"

He dragged her to the corner of the wall and pressed a pressure pad along the cold surface. The wall moved to the side and a dark passage appeared. He pushed her into the darkness. She struggled with him but she couldn't shake his grasp.

They came to a door and he opened it. The lights came on inside and before them stood a 10 foot high glass enclosure. It was filled to the top with water and a humanoid floated inside.

"Oh my god…" Arynn said as she grabbed her mouth. She recognized the pale face. It was a face that she had seen long ago. She walked up to the glass and touched it.

"Who is he?" she turned to ask Peter.

"He was with the company from the beginning, helping with the architecture of some of our finest facilities. He got too curious in my uncle's research. So my uncle used him as a test subject. You see the proto-type Tyrant that Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield found back in the mountains was a later version of this man. Over time, my research team added new elements to his development that surpassed even the latest tyrants found around Raccoon. He even surpassed my uncle Alexander."

He came close to Arynn and whispered in her ear, "His name used to be Nathaniel Residvius…but we came to call him, Sabriel…"

Arynn's heart was beating fast, her mind was racing, and her head was feeling light. It was as if everything she ever thought was true was a lie. How was this man related to her, and what did that mean? Why didn't she turn when the zombie scratched her arm back at the edge of the city? Why did Thomas suffer the pain of cell rebirth when she felt nothing driving away from the imminent doom of the nuke? Was it pure luck? She didn't want to think of the possibilities. She didn't even want it explained. She wanted to erase these thoughts and continue her mission.

"Why do you think it was always hard for you to get your blood tests results back, to take physicals without getting a funny look from your gym teachers? They didn't know what they were dealing with, you didn't know, no one knew. Only Umbrella…" Peter continued, "Every move you made in Raccoon was traced. Every article you wrote in the local paper was read and recorded. Every relationship you ever had was studied and researched. I've waited since my uncle died to see you're in the flesh, to watch you breath and thrive. You learned quickly in your classes, you were no ace, but you were good at observing, mimicking, and manipulating your way to the top."

Arynn looked up at the face and made out the nose and eyes of the man. She touched her own nose and cheek bone structure.

"Here, see for yourself," Peter said holding up a small mirror.

She peered into it with widened eyes. She had the man's lips and nose. This was all too weird and too much for her. She took a step back. She couldn't handle this. She never expected this. She turned and ran.