-The Fallacy of Umbrella-
Their plane landed in North Carolina around one in the afternoon. The private airplane had been provided for them, courtesy of Wesker's seemingly unlimited connections. Chris knew he had ways of getting things done, but he never realized how easy it was until he started working with him in an unofficial capacity. He did wonder if most of the man's connections remained in place simply because they were too afraid of what might happen should they decline helping. It was an hour long drive from the landing strip to the Umbrella facility. Their group of six sat in total silence the entire way.
He kept his concentration on the revenge he would reap once they infiltrated the facility. This time he didn't care if any of the employees got out before the building exploded. His conscience told him many Murphy Pharmaceuticals workers were unaware they worked for Umbrella Corporation in disguise. Plenty of employees probably didn't know there were illegal experiments conducted at all. But he was ignoring what he knew and placed mental targets on anyone there because he was beyond angry.
Umbrella murdered his sister and thought they'd gotten away with it. Chris hoped they lucked out and the president of Umbrella was inside the facility. He would choke the life out of Murphy with the man's very expensive tie. As the nondescript black van drew closer to the compound, some of his fury was moving further into the recesses of his mind. Melody was attracting his attention.
The woman appeared to be showing signs of discomfort and nervousness. For a bio-weapon, she was scarily human. From her place behind the driver's seat, Melody's eyes darted in his and Eva's direction.
He wasn't sure which of them she was looking at repeatedly, but it was getting to him. It made him think she might know something she was purposefully keeping from their group. The silence was good for leaving each of them time to physically and mentally gear up for the attack. He didn't try to ask Melody what her glances were about. He couldn't push it out of his thoughts either though.
Chris used the drive to get the feel of how the others were faring. There wouldn't be another preventable death like the pilot, Steve. He would do everything in his power to prevent it. He knew how important it was to familiarize oneself with the conditions of teammates and ascertain they were prepared and of sound mind. For instance, he could tell up front, Ada was worried how he would perform out in the field so soon after suffering a casualty. He knew this because she would shift her eyes to peer at his reflection in the mirror on her visor every now and then.
There was good reason for the others to doubt his performance on this mission because of Claire's murder. He wasn't doubting himself one bit. He was ready to watch Umbrella crumble to the ground and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize seeing that happen.
Krauser was sitting behind Ada's seat playing with his combat knife and Chris could tell he was eager to arrive. Someone who toyed with their knife as much as the soldier did enjoyed using it. He had no qualms about Krauser's readiness. He did worry for Eva. The two of them were seemingly human again and for him it changed nothing. The majority of his life he'd run into danger and come out relatively unscathed, at least physically. With Eva he wasn't so sure.
Apart from Claire's death, the young girl hadn't experienced real loss. Yes, she'd died in Africa running out in front of Chris to prevent him from getting killed. The action was entirely selfless and brave, and he was concerned she might do something like that again to save one of them. If Eva did, she wouldn't come back to life like she had before.
She seemed as cured of the virus as he was from the experimental injection. So while they would now be capable of aging like normal human beings, they could both die like them too. Chris felt that odd sensation he always seemed to get in the pit of his stomach when he thought about Eva for an extended period. He still couldn't understand what it was or why he felt it.
Although Wesker's face was void of emotion and he wore dark sunglasses, he knew the man had the same concern for Eva. He had seen the two of them interact plenty to know Wesker was capable of being a father worried for his daughter's safety.
The van was slowing down. It drove off the road and came to a stop by the line of trees on the side of the road. Trees were scattered all around the compound, which was now in sight.
"Something's wrong," Wesker said, turning the engine off.
The six of them exited the van and made their way back to the road on foot. Looking upon the facility, Chris saw immediately what Wesker must have seen. The front access gate for arriving and departing vehicles lay open. The metal of the gate was warped and bent inward, as though a large vehicle rammed straight through. He walked toward the damaged gate and heard footsteps signifying the others were following. When he was almost at the gate, he drew his handgun. There was a white truck with a crushed hood in flames beside what was likely a guard station just inside the gates. Ada went over to check the small structure and waved a hand to gain their attention.
"Two guards down. A lot of blood. They're dead." The woman in red peered farther into the open doorway. "Single gunshot wound to the back of the heads."
Eva glanced sideways at her father. "Sounds like a pro."
Krauser narrowed his eyes upward and scanned the length of the expansive building before them. "Somebody forced their way in. I don't think they've found their way out yet. Let's move."
The man had his weapon drawn and kept it lowered in front of himself as he headed to the left, following the trail of destruction. It appeared the same large vehicle veered to the side of the building, leaving tracks and a portion of the side wall caved in. Krauser turned the corner just ahead of Chris and abruptly stopped. One large vehicle hadn't torn up the inner perimeter of the Umbrella facility, but three.
Three big semi trucks sat along the side of the building, near a set of double doors and another dead guard. The back sliding doors of the trucks stood open and after Eva hopped in and out, she reported there were empty gun racks. This had been a full on assault. Chris jogged over to the front of the black semi closest to him and reached up, resting a palm on the hood. The metal was still warm, signaling the engines hadn't been turned off for long.
"Warm! Hasn't been long!" he shouted to the others.
He noticed Melody starting to wander off, fascinated by something no normal person would be.
"Melody! You're with me!"
He waited for her to come to him before proceeding to the double doors. He hesitated right in front of them, tightening his grip on the handgun.
"Don't wander off," he told her, then pushed through one of the doors and stepped inside.
A pale colored hallway was straight ahead, a fork at the end of it. Chris glanced over his shoulder and waved Eva to the left. She nodded understanding and moved forward to the left. Krauser followed her and Wesker outpaced them both, taking the lead. He, Melody, and Ada would be going right.
He started down their path with Melody practically stepping on his heels every five seconds. Ada took the rear, vigilant but refraining from drawing her weapon. While Chris was alert, sweeping his gaze and weapon from side to side, Ada was the opposite. She walked casually behind them, as if she did this sort of thing all the time and there was no need to be careful. He had the feeling the operative could hold her own if anything happened.
Chris slowed his steps. Two doors before them and a left turn. He turned the handle on the first door. Locked. He moved on to the second door and this one opened easily. The room beyond contained sleeping quarters for employees. Six identical bunk beds lined the room, and there was a set of lockers and two writing desks. Ada went to search the lockers while he made his way to the desks with Melody. There was nothing that caught his eye on or around the first desk. He turned to the second desk where the bio-weapon was opening and shutting drawers at random. The former agent doubted she knew what to look for.
He joined her when she shut one of the bottom drawers. He thought he spotted something which piqued his interest and reopened the drawer.
"Wait."
She lowered her arm, stepping out of his way. Chris removed a dark red, compact book. It appeared to be a journal belonging to one of the employees. He flipped the journal open. The pages were dated so he searched through until he got to the last couple of entries. The first entry he came to was dated four days earlier.
Played poker with some of the day shift guards last night. No luck again. Lost over a hundred bucks. Should really stop gambling but there's nothing else to do in this creepy place. Greg and I went exploring after the game out of boredom when our shift started. Wanted to see what those obsessive lab guys are always up to at all hours of the night. I swear the scientists never sleep.
The people in charge here are up to way more than making medicines. Greg and I found out for ourselves when we explored the second basement level. In one of the labs, there was a sleeping man in a large cylinder full of some kind of fluid, connected to all sorts of tubes. What was he doing in there? Human testing is illegal. What the hell is going on around here? -Neil
Chris read the entry silently while Melody stood close. When he looked up he found she was done searching the desk. She was scanning her eyes across the numerous bunks filling most of the space in the room. Ada was still opening lockers and searching through each but she paused to glance in their direction. She noticed the journal in his hands.
"Anything of interest in there? Read the last couple of entries. Might give us some information about this facility. Could tell us what we might have to deal with."
He peered down at the pages of the journal. "The next one in here is relatively short. From three days ago."
Melody was shifting toward him to listen as well as he began to read aloud.
"Greg was more disturbed by that guy in the tank we saw yesterday than I was. Said he was going back down there to see what else he can find. I'm not sure I even want to know what else could be down there. -Neil"
Chris agreed with the security guard. Umbrella did a lot of questionable things, especially when it involved their experiments and test subjects. These journal entries were proving what he suspected. These security guards thought they worked for a pharmaceutical company, not a corporation performing secret experiments in an attempt to create biological weapons for maximum effect on the world.
He moved on to read out loud the second to last entry. This one was dated two days ago and the writing was scribbled sloppily, barely legible, like the guard jotted his thoughts down in a hurry.
"Greg never came back from the B2 labs. When I asked my supervisor, he told me Greg quit and was gone for good. We're friends. He would never leave without telling me. He didn't even take any of his stuff with him! I'm gonna get to the bottom of this."
Chris went to the final entry.
"Man in blue..inject..can't think. Greg's dead..feel warm, burning...itchy, itchy. So hungry but too sick to get up..want food..pete come..smell yummy so I eats him..taste good but still hungry. Can't thinky..tired..want food..so hungry..hungry..."
He closed the book, frowning. Ada shared his look and was the one to voice what they were both wondering.
"Am I correct in assuming the one who wrote in the journal became infected with the T-Virus? Umbrella is still trying to use that zombie-making disaster of a virus?"
The T-Virus had all but failed Umbrella and he figured they had no more use for it. That virus created far more trouble for the corporation than any of their other viruses. The T-Virus was the most unpredictable of their viruses and created mindless beings. The closest to control they had for subjects infected with the T-Virus was with the tyrant model, capable only of programming with a few instructions. Basically, Umbrella long ago moved on to more..productive means of infecting test subjects.
"He wrote 'man in blue'," he mentioned. "Melody used the same phrase to describe Murphy. He must have been the one to infect the guy with the T-Virus, which means he's probably here."
Ada appeared to agree with most of what he was saying, but not all.
"What I can't seem to understand is if the president of Umbrella is here in this facility, why would he infect an employee with the T-Virus and then let him wander, free to infect others?"
Chris didn't really have an answer for her. He tried his best to come up with one though.
"Maybe he grabbed whatever was handy to stop this guy's snooping. Maybe he didn't mean for the guard to get away after he infected him with the virus."
He set the journal down on the desk and glanced Melody's way. "Or maybe your creator is just sick and twisted enough to intentionally let the T-Virus spread throughout his facility."
Melody looked thoughtful. "In preparation for an outside attack?"
Chris nodded. Exactly what he was thinking. Ada closed the last of the lockers in what turned out to be a fruitless investigation into the employees' belongings and gazed over at them.
"It seems Murphy may be coming to the conclusion we're on to him."
An explosion echoed from a fair distance away. Close enough or major enough to cause the walls and floor to vibrate a brief time. He narrowed his eyes like he would when he wasn't sure what was going on. He voiced what occurred to him as soon as it did.
"Or at least that someone is on to him."
They were definitely not alone in the building and not the only ones determined to inflict damage on Umbrella.