Code Veronica: Resident Evil IIIS

Chapter Twenty Nine: Dr. Alexia Ashford

There was a bright light shining in her eyes as Claire slowly opened them, blinking a few times to bring her vision into focus, and discovering that… she was in a different place. Last time the young woman had managed to regain consciousness, she had been buckled into the passenger seat of an old snow truck that Steve had somehow managed to steal, and once he was done expression how happy he was to see her awake again, the young man briefly explained that they were driving over to the nearby research base to get help.

However, he had barely finished that explanation, when everything went wrong. From out of nowhere, something gigantic had burst its way up through the icy terrain, looking like a huge white snake or maybe the tentacle of an even larger monster as it searched around the area for a moment before coming right at them. Wrapping itself around the truck like an anaconda, this thing had the strength to not only lift the vehicle off the ground, but also throw it back the way they came… causing them to crash and then roll several times across the ground, and then… well, then nothing until right now.

Claire was still in bad shape; her head was pounding, she was dripping sweat, and every inch of her body felt heavy and fatigued at the same time. Maybe if she sat up it would help with the pressure in her brain, the young woman thought as she tried to sit up, only to fail. So she tried again, but something was holding her down, and it took Claire a minute to be able to turn her eyes down far enough to see that the reason she couldn't sit up was because she was strapped down to some kind of examination table with her arms out to the side.

"Steve!" She exclaimed weakly once she turned her head to see him lying on a similar table a short distance away. "Steve… wake up!"

He was out, just like she had been until about a minute ago, and the young woman was about to try calling for him again, when another sound reached her ears. It almost sounded like someone's bare feet walking across the concrete floor, and then there was a bit of shuffling, before a… needle on a record player? Yeah, it had to be, since music started playing after a few seconds of the player crackling, but the music was kind of old. Struggling to turn her head far enough to see where it was coming from, Claire was only able to see the scientific machines that lined the walls of this place, but there was definitely someone else there… someone who was singing along as the song continued.

"And I ran, I ran so far away." A soothing female voice sang with a British accent. "I just ran, I ran all night and day… I couldn't get away."

Whoever it was in the room with them was gathering some things from around the different cabinets, which the young woman guessed was a laboratory equipment, and that was a really bad thing if they were still in Umbrella's custody. Claire tried calling for Steve a couple more times, but he just wasn't waking up, at least not until a woman with long blonde hair casually poured a beaker full of water onto his face while she walked past, causing the young man to cough as he was jolted awake.

"Reached out a hand to try again." She continued singing while grabbing one last thing from on a far counter top. "I'm floating on a beam of light with you… a beam of light with you… and I ran, I ran so far away."

This woman wore a white lab coat along with… not much else by the look of things, and her hair was damp as if she had just gotten out of the shower, but these details were forgotten once she set all of her cases and medical equipment down on the small wheeled-cart in between both examination tables. Once it was all laid out the way she wanted it, the blonde woman selected a couple things that she was about to bring over to Claire…

"Get away from her!" Steve yelled, his voice squeaking for a second. "Leave her alone!"

Surprisingly, the blonde woman did as he asked, setting the equipment back down onto the cart, but then picking up a small capsule that almost looked like the smelling salts that boxers used. She broke it open, turning the young man's words into a startled cough when both halves were put under his nose, and then the blonde woman shoved each one into his nostrils so that Steve had no choice but to keep breathing them in. He cried out in agony, squirming around and pulling at the restraints while their captor once again picked up the equipment for Claire, and this time there was nothing to stop her.

"Sorry for the interruption." She said, holding one of the young woman's eyes open while shining a small light inside. "Some patients can be rude, but it's mostly because they're scared, especially the boys for some reason. All right, now we're going to just take your temperature while we see where all this blood's coming from."

At first Claire thought it was Sir Alfred once again made up like his sister, who was looking down at her, but that was impossible since not only were this woman's eyes green instead of blue, but she looked a lot younger than the Commander… roughly the same age as Elza at the most. She made small talk while putting an old fashioned thermometer under the young woman's tongue, and then unzipping what was left of her orange jumpsuit, before picking up a small cassette tape recorder.

"Subject One of… whatever date it is, is a notably attractive Caucasian female, approximately nineteen years of age." The blonde woman clearly stated after pushing the button. "Examination is being performed by Dr. Alexia Ashford at Ashford Base, and my preliminary findings are not good."

Claire didn't understand a lot of the medical terms that this woman, who claimed to be Alexia Ashford… as in the real one, was saying, but she knew enough from watching General Hospital that things were looking bad. For a while there was silence as Alexia took a small sample of her blood and put it under a microscope, well, silence except for how loudly Steve was crying from the smelling salts stuck in his nose, and once the blonde woman came back, she used one hand to stroke the young woman's auburn hair as if petting a dog while turning back on the recorder.

"Blood type O Negative, no signs of disease present… surprising given obvious lower birth." The blonde woman continued. "Diagnosis as follows: Advanced fatigue and malnutrition, mild frostbite on the fingers and face, signs of significant internal bleeding from blunt force trauma, as well as large bruises… and finally a critical infection from going without treatment. You poor thing, you're getting worse, too… I estimate that Subject One will expire within an hour."

"No!" Claire whispered hoarsely, coughing up a little more blood as she pulled at the restraints. "No… please!"

In response to this sudden outburst, Alexia casually set the tape recorder down before picking up a small bottle, and lightly wetting a rag with the container's liquid contents. The blonde woman then covered the young woman's nose and mouth with it, forcing her to take in a breath through the chemical, and the effect was… calming. Well, after the sharp odor that stung a little to breathe in, but it was now safe to say that Claire wouldn't be struggling any time soon, allowing the blonde woman to put a different tape in before walking over to Steve's table.

"Subject Two is a whiney little nancy-boy, looks about seventeen if I had to guess." Alexia commented much more sternly than when discussing Claire. "Soft hands, thin wrists… just the kind of pretty boy my brother likes to crush on… probably listens to Chicago… goodness, look at him cry from the smelling salts… it's hilarious. I'd say… perfect candidate for T-Veronica resumed trials."

She then reached for the capsules stuck in his nose as if going to remove them, which Steve eagerly held still for… only to scream when she instead pinched his nose, causing all of the powder to be inhaled by him at once. The blonde woman giggled to herself, doing a sarcastic mockery of how he screamed and flopped around for a moment, before clearing her throat and then walking back over to Claire. This time pulling up a rolling chair so she could sit down, Alexia gently removed the collar that had been put on the young woman's neck when she arrived at Rockfort Island, releasing some of the pressure.

"Claire… Redfield." She read after scanning the collar's bar code on a nearby reader. "Lovely to meet you, Ms. Redfield, I'm your new doctor, Alexia Ashford. I wish I had better news, but you seem to be dying, so… how can we make this easiest for you? I could smother you with a pillow, dope you up… dope you up and then smother you… the possibilities are quite endless, but… the final decision rests with you."

"Please… I don't want… to die." Claire replied, her voice breaking as she started to cry. "I don't… I don't…

Alexia began stroking her hair again, replying in a soothing voice that no one ever really wants to die, but that it was a natural part of life, no matter how much the blonde woman wanted to keep as many subjects around as possible. Naturally this upset the young woman even more, prompting her new doctor to lean forward and give her a kiss on the forehead, before offering to get her some water or maybe change the music playing to something more soothing, like The Rolling Stones, but that death was imminent.

"She is not gonna die!" Steve yelled, trying to fight the pain he was feeling. "Get the hell away from her, you sick fuck!"

Politely asking to be excused for a moment, Alexia took a deep breath of her own while standing up, and then cleared her throat before walking back over to where the young man was still trying to free himself from the restraints, red in the face from the salts and trying not to break down completely. Sighing loudly, the blonde woman gently took one of his hands into hers, and then caused Steve to shriek like a girl when she quietly broke one of his fingers with a wet snap.

"I am consoling a terminal patient, you insensitive prick." Alexia said sternly, somehow remaining calm while breaking another one of his fingers. "She has less than an hour left to live, and I swear to every God you've ever heard of, that if you startle Ms. Redfield again with your incessant… bitch-moaning… that I will invent new ways to make you feel pain, and even the Ashford Root won't be able to… hey, wait a moment."

The young man was still crying and screaming because of his two broken fingers, but the blonde woman was suddenly elated to happiness, seeming to forget all about him after letting go of his hand. Now giddy almost to the point of skipping her way back over to Claire's table, Alexia was barely able to contain herself when it was announced that she was finally going to be able to continue with an experiment that was put on hold when she was put on ice… whatever that meant.

"Don't you see what this means, Claire… may I call you Claire?" She asked excitedly. "I might have a way to save your life!"