I'm in a bit of a hard time with the story. If you have any ideas it would be great. I got a job for a few months and then I was let go, simply because someone insulted me on the anonymous survey by name. Even my manager thought that they were just frustrated with something else; simply by the way they worded the paragraph, however he had to let me go, only because they named me. Sorry for the wait. I feel this chapter has been rushed. And I have some real writers block. PS as I write this, I'm wearing my Umbrella Corp. shirt. A friend of mine compared this story to a slow version of the Hades and Persephone myth. Do you agree? Also, no one has voted, oh well.
6 months later
Kentucky hadn't worked out as much as it could have. The uncle had died that month and the new guy in charge had sent them away. Genna, having retreated into herself, made it difficult to get many of the things done that they had planned to do. It was infantile, but Leon supposed that it was survivor technique and left her alone to figure it out herself. She was caught in her own mind. The ideas that came to her in the middle of the day, or at night, scared her to death.
Would he find us today? If he does, what will he do to me? What will he do to Leon?!
At first, when Leon and Genna found the abandoned house, she wouldn't leave. She spent every waking moment tidying up, fixing things, cooking, and sleeping. She barely ate. She was getting used to the environment, its sounds, its feel, and then the idea that paranoia was coming upon her entered her mind, and she realized how true it was. Now, that she realized that, she could battle it.
Leon noticed that one day her demeanor completely changed; it came completely out of the blue. Her frown deepened and her jaw clenched. An angry feel entered the house, she was angry at herself. She got up from the wooden chair and table; the chair fell to the ground. She ran to the door, grabbed an axe that was by the door, and ran out with a highly determined war cry. Leon dropped the pan that he had in his hand and ran to her. He found the troubled young woman going all at it at one of the trees thirty feet away from the house. He assumed she had cracked, he slowly went to her. However he just stood there, for maybe an hour? He didn't count, but it felt so long. He didn't know how to approach her.
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
Every swing of the axe, her body weight went into. Her body twisted as the axe went into the bark of the tree, almost as if the tree was her mortal enemy. And with every thunk, a grunt and a cry left her mouth. She stopped suddenly when a hand came upon her shoulder. She screamed and with a last swing, she put everything she had into the axe and it fell into the defenseless tree she let go of it. There, the axe was stuck in the tree. It was as if her anger at herself drove her to fight. Fight against her own self. And for the first time in five months, she felt the sun on her skin.
She turned to Leon and smiled. The first smile in three months. That was her second beginning, she decided she couldn't be frightened about the outside anymore. She would go and do something. Even if that basterd catches her, she would still make her life a happy one until that day.
She started to get out of the house and into the forest, just thinking and making music to help her calm down. Sometimes, she just went there to scream until her voice was raw. Sometimes she would go and ride or repair her new horse. And sometimes she would just go to sing. Normally, she hunted as Leon went into the town to bring home the bacon, as it were. On occasion, when she left to go into the woods, Leon looked after her. He would see her dance and play her violin. In the music her mind was clear. No Wesker looming over her mind, the horror and fear were only caught in the back of her thoughts. She was in a different place, environment, and without family. It was understandable.
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Genna left to go to the river with her horse and ride. Leon and she had started to relax in their attempts of dividing themselves from the town, especially since they needed supplies, winter is coming (A/N: Lolz!). Leon was curing some meat; he and Genna had gone out two days ago and caught some wild boar, hare, and venison. The meat was salted and was curing in the basement. That was just from two days ago; they still had many types of meat stocked up for the winter as well as grains and wheat. Salt was getting expensive but thanks to Leon's ability to do manual labor, hunt, and… well, be a jack-of-all-trades, and Genna's ability to repair mechanics, sing, and play the violin, they were able to have many stores of salt in the curing basement, as well as many other supplies. Firewood would be somewhat easy since they lived in a forest.
Yes, everything would be ready for the winter. If he was right, this would be the first time Genna would ever see snow. He remembered that Genna had freaked when she saw the trees change color. He couldn't help but laugh at her amazement. Really, they were just leaves. It took them a long time to rake, barrel, and store. They would be good for fertilizer in the spring.
"Leon, the trees! Look up, the leaves are purple." Genna was shaking him out of sleep. He groaned as he was starting to wake up. Through his barely cracked eyes he could see her hair was a mess and already started to darken into a mix of brown and blonde. Her natural waves had grown lately and the strands had become a nest over night. His eyes started to open more. He saw her night dress, it had a light blue color and the hem fell to her knees. Its long, princess sleeves would often hide her hands.
Her arm was pointing out to the window his bed was pushed up against. As he looked to the right he could see that, true enough, the leaves had started to turn. Leon felt the bed move and he saw Genna crawling onto his bed. She smiled and they looked out the window and watched the leaves fall, only to get up when their stomachs growled.
He chuckled again, thinking about that morning. When he was done with hooking up the meat to cure, he heard a knock at the front door. He didn't think that Genna would be home so soon and he didn't lock the back door, so it must have been a villager needing help. Leon walked around to the pump near the stairs; he quickly washed the salt and blood off his hands and ran up the stairs into his room. He walked slowly to the door and into the kitchen that also had the living room and went to the front door.
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Genna had given up Night Wood to Ali for safe keeping. However, she had gotten another horse out of the deal. It was only recently that she had realized how bad of a model it was. It squeaked and groaned as only machines that aren't new can. She had yet to name it. Call her old fashioned or weird for naming mechanical things, but it seemed to make them more real to her.
Birds were singing and the forest was somewhat alive. It was getting colder and the furs that Leon and Genna collected had become warm clothes, hoodies, and shoes. The cold weather has been hard on Genna. Being raised so near the equator had her so unused to the cooler weather of the southern state. Her hood was up and her scarf was wrapped around her face. She had pants on, but she also had a long skirt over it to keep her warmer.
With her thighs and knees wrapped around the saddle and her hands clutching the reins, she made her way to the river that runs through the woods. It started out as a brook and goes into the river. As she was riding, she thought about what she would do. Her bags on the saddle jostled as she quickened the trot. The air was getting colder over the days and soon she wouldn't be able to ride outside as much anymore. She didn't know what to do with her horses if it came to actual snow. Leon wasn't done with the shed-like stable yet, and the cool air would probably freeze the metal joints on the horse.
Yes, it's true; she knew she wasn't ready for winter. They have enough provisions, true, and the house is a not so little wooden cottage now, not like the shack they had found six months ago, but would it keep the snow out? They had built a chimney and fireplace in each room. It was the first things that she had Leon do when they arrived. She already couldn't stand the cold. They redid the walls, floors, and roof. They dug a well in near the house. That and the rivers should give them more than enough water. She couldn't help but think over what was going on for the next months.
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But, as the young woman was thinking and dealing with her own demons, something was stirring. Deep in the dungeon of a hidden prison, a stasis container held the Unstable King. His face, twisted into a scowl even in sleep. Frozen, but conscious, he fought against the ice like substance all around him for the past six months. He tried to move, this way, or that way, but he was frozen. Stuck until they could find his mate. But, he wanted to find her. She was his. No, she is his. With that thought he fought harder, and unknown to all, a small crack in the glass appeared in the back of the container at the base of the metal holding it in place.
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William Burton's clone was going over the plans for the manor. It was already in the process of being built, but he just wanted to make sure that it would be excellent; after all, this was for the new wife of the king and his own close friend. The manor is being built in a wooded area in a long abandoned island. He thought that it would be close to what the new queen was used to, and it was miles away from any mainland, so the queen couldn't run.
William thought with a heavy heart at what would happen to her. He knew what would happen. He wasn't blind to reality or to his best friend. He would try his best to make her as comfortable as he could though. It was a job he used to do long ago anyway. Even long before the outbreak of Raccoon City, Umbrella higher ups would take mistresses against their will, usually by threats and blackmail. The mistresses had full access to anything and were shown everything; it was a power play, so they knew who the master was and what could happen to them if they spoke out.
Will, Annette, and other scientists and faculty staff –who knew what was going on- tried their best to comfort the women. Make them as happy as possible. They would befriend them and almost make them family. Annette hated that the higher ups did this as a game. She got in trouble speaking out against it in a few board meetings, but Albert was a favorite of Spencer and he was able to shield Annette as much as he could. For that William Birkin was thankful and so was his clone.
True, Albert never took a mistress, but that hadn't meant that his bed was empty. His friend could be quite feral in bed at times. Or so he was told by his wife who would talk with the women. That poor girl, she would be Albert Wesker's wife, in every way. While, his friend was raised to be a gentleman early on in his life, and he could act like one, it didn't mean that he was one all the time. He thought about having a medical staff on standby for the first year of her 'stay' at the manor. Just to be safe. However, he knew Albert would get rid of them in seconds of being dropped off.
The clone rubbed his eyes; it had been a long six months. They had looked all over the Floridian peninsula and they were expanding their search outward in all directions. On the table the blueprints for the manor were on, the files of the search in Tortuga were scattered around him. There was nothing there. Still the abandoned fort, the island was empty and no one was found, let alone the new queen.
Where could she possibly be?
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Leon walked over and looked through the peep hole. His heart sunk. Three Umbrella officers were standing in front of his door. Shit. Two were shuffling their feet and the one in the middle appeared to be the leader. The leader knocked again. Leon quietly walked backwards. Maybe they didn't hear him before, maybe they'll give up.
"We know someone's here. Now, answer the door."
At that, he swallowed his fear and walked slowly over to the door. Foreboding was storing deep within his gut. He unlocked the door and greeted them outside. "Hello, officers, sorry it took me so long." He stated politely. You had to be polite to the ones you didn't know. "What's the matter?"
The one in the middle took out a photo and handed it to Leon, "Have you seen this woman? She is under investigation of fourteen murders." The photo held a picture of Joan. It was a candid shot, she was handing a horse to a customer. She was dirty with oil and grease, but she was smiling, probably joking with the man in the photo. Her hair was about to fall out of her oily ponytail from the wind that was blowing. "If you have seen her, tell us."
"No," Leon started to lie, lying was easy to him, "but, fourteen murders?" at that he was surprised. So, that's how their putting it. Women murderers have been few and far between. Killings made by women, not so much, but to be considered 'murder' is a rare thing indeed.
"Yes, fourteen, brutal murders. Are you sure you haven't seen her?" the officer pushed the photo into Leon's face again. Leon pretended to think about it and shook his head again.
"Yes, I'm sure." He answered firmly. He handed back the photo and the leader swiped it. They were obviously tired and had a long trip. They wanted to go as much as he wanted them to leave. With his stern answer they left. But that didn't lift the uneasiness that was bunched up in his chest. Would they even find her when they leave?