Deadly Silence: Resident Evil

Chapter Thirty Six: Wesker's Plan

The forced march that Valentine found herself on didn't last as long as she imagined, simply being pushed through that other door that had been closest to the morgue, and into another section of corridor that branched off in two different directions. Off to the left was a darkened metal grated door, which the young woman assumed was the elevator that Wesker had mentioned, while to the right was a heavier door, solid metal, with an emblem of a red circle and lightning bolt painted on the concrete floor in front of it.

However, instead of taking either of these options, Valentine was pushed straight forward, toward a smaller door where the junction hit a dead end. Burton turned the knob, pushing open the door into what looked like some kind of staff kitchen or break room, with its sink, counters, and refrigerator, all illuminated by a couple of table lamps. This was good, since the main lights didn't come on when the big man flipped the switch, leaving the place in a dim yellow glow.

"All right, just sit down, and don't move." He said, almost sadly while pushing her into one of the metal chairs surrounding the small round table. "I'm going to do everything I can to convince Wesker to spare you, but you need to behave, okay?"

"You think he's going to let me live after all this?" Valentine asked, fidgeting around in her chair. "Barry, look how many of our friends he killed… I know your family is in danger, but do you really think he won't kill you just as soon as he's done with the rest of us?"

She could tell just by looking at him that he wanted to help, but with the threat of people from Umbrella, the same people who had allowed all this to happen to their own employees along with the people of the Arklay Mountains, ready to start torturing his wife and children… there really wasn't much that the big man could do. Still, there had to be a way… some way to get Burton to see reason.

"Barry, what if we overpower Wesker together when he comes in?" She suggested, continuing to move around as if uncomfortable. "He's responsible for all this, no one has to know that he forced you to help, and then we can use him to get your family released."

"Look, Jill, I'm sorry, I really am." Burton replied, his voice breaking a little. "But do you think that a man smart enough to lure us here and set this whole thing up, wouldn't have a plan for if we turned on him? This is my family we're talking about… I've seen what happens to men who lose theirs, and… I'm sorry."

Well, in that case, the young woman was sorry as well, at least for what she was about to do to him. See, the whole time that they had been sitting there, waiting patiently for the Captain to return, Valentine hadn't been moving around because she was uncomfortable… but because she was using the lock picking tool hidden up her sleeve to undo her handcuffs. The locks were simply enough, it was just a bit hard to reach… until they were finally both undone.

Rubbing her wrists behind her back, the young woman waited patiently for the right moment, which came about a minute later when her captor looked away for a moment, just long enough to stretch his neck, but it was long enough. Jumping to her feet, and grabbing the lamp off the table, she swung it at the startled man, reducing the amount of light in the room by about a third as the object shattered across Burton's face, nearly making him fall over.

It was enough, though… enough for her to grab the magnum revolver, and aim it at him after pushing Burton the rest of the way down to the floor… but then she got a surprise of her own when he took out his backup pistol, and had it aimed right back at her only an instant after he hit the floor. She had known that the shotgun slung over his shoulder would be useless as long as she got the revolver, but Valentine had forgotten all about his 9mm backup weapon, and now they were at a stalemate.

"God damn it, Barry, he's gonna kill both of us!" She exclaimed, trying to keep the heavier weapon aimed. "Don't make me shoot you."

"You don't have children, Jill, I don't expect you to understand." The big man replied, sitting up a little more. "But you'll understand this: Without the hammer pulled back, my revolver's trigger is a lot harder to pull than this Beretta, so if I so much as see your finger starting to move, I'm gonna let you have it."

Crap, he was right, but what was the young woman supposed to do, surrender and get killed like all the others, while Wesker got away with… whatever the hell he was doing there? Not a chance, but… what was she going to do if she couldn't pull the trigger in time or even pull the weapon's hammer back? Suddenly the stalemate was ended when a lot more light filled the room due to the door being opened, and her eyes hadn't even adjusted yet before the revolver was knocked out of her hands.

She had waited too long, Wesker had come back, and now she felt his knee going into her stomach, before he kicked her in the rear hard enough to make her fall on her face out in the hallway. There was no way that the young woman was going to be able to win against both of them, but maybe she could escape… yeah, she could run away and find Redfield and Chambers… or maybe not, since she had only gotten up to her hands and knees, while the Captain was already coming back out into the corridor.

"You had one simple job, Barry." He said, watching as Valentine slowly pulled herself up. "How am I supposed to trust you with all these secrets, if you can't even keep control over one little girl?"

"Wesker, you piece of shit." The young woman replied, now standing up. "You can berate Barry all you want, but you know he'd crush you if you didn't have people holding his children. What the hell kind of man does that, anyway? The kind with a tiny…

Her words became a startled gasp when the Captain suddenly punched her in the throat, completely cutting off her air supply, and causing her to fall to her knees, hands on her neck as she tried and tried to take in a breath. Barely anything came in, though, and soon tears were running down her cheeks. This was only temporary, but hurt like hell, and a simple rule of combat was that when someone can't breathe, they can't fight, making it easy for Wesker to give her a hard uppercut to the chin that knocked her on her back.

"You're lucky that I'm on a strict deadline, you little brat." The Captain seethed, grabbing her by the hair and painfully yanking her up to her feet. "Or else I'd show you just how tiny I am."

Twisting one of her arms behind her back and pushing it upward as far as it would go, Wesker kept his grip on her hair, pulling her head back as far as it would go, so that the young woman was in as much pain as possible as they started walking. At least Valentine could breathe again, but that didn't do her much good, since her captor was holding her so that she was completely immobilized.

"Barry, make yourself useful, and push the button for me." He called when they were in front of the elevator. "And then go up to the conference room and keep an eye on Chris and Rebecca… I've got them handcuffed to the table so they can't move… or is that too much for you to handle, too?"

Burton slowly walked over to them, and gave a kind of helpless look to her before pressing the elevator button… hanging his head and walking back toward the other corridor on this level. A few seconds later the big man was gone, off to do more of the Captain's bidding, and leaving the young woman alone with him as the cables inside of the elevator shaft started to move, bringing the car upward.

"Wesker, why are you doing all this?" She asked with pain in her voice. "What's the point of killing everyone in STARS?"

"Because there was a little accident here a few months ago." He replied as the car reached the top of the shaft. "Umbrella's experimental T-Virus escaped containment, and now that all useful field data has been collected, it's time to destroy all the evidence of everything that happened here… now move."

As soon as the elevator car stopped moving and the doors opened, Wesker shoved Valentine forward, and then pinned her up against the side wall so that he could use one had to push the down button. The doors closed a second later, and the elevator vibrated a little as it started down. Just how many sub-levels did this estate have, she wondered? And more importantly, why was the Captain taking her down there?

"Destroying STARS is Umbrella's intention." He continued, grabbing her hair again to restrain her. "It was hoped that after that first investigation last spring, everything would be forgotten… but then the accident happened, and the Mayor got all uppity… so it was decided to simply kill all of you, and destroy this place to hide any evidence of Umbrella's wrongdoing."

"So you're just the cleanup boy, is that it?" Valentine asked as the car came to a stop. "Just another slave to Umbrella, like all these… things? I can forgive Barry because his family is in danger, but you're nothing but a God damn…

Bash! Suddenly pulling her to the side, and then slamming the young woman's head into the wall, her words were stopped just as the elevator door opened, Wesker kicked her legs out from under her, and then started kicking Valentine in the stomach as soon as she had fallen down. He kicked her in the stomach, ribs, and chest about a dozen times until she was no longer able to move, but then the young woman screamed when he grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her out of the elevator car.

"There's no one holding Barry's family, you fucking moron." He explained while dragging her down this sterile white hallway. "I played him an audio recording I made from the home invasion scene in Deathwish, and like any stupid, concerned parent, he bought it. And as for being Umbrella's cleanup boy, I'm not retrieving anything for them. I'm keeping all the data for myself."

Shit, it was too late for her to be able to tell Burton that his family wasn't in danger after all, and now the big man was just going to be sitting there watching Redfield and Chambers, all the while thinking that some Umbrella goons were ready to kill his daughters. But no, it was just Wesker… it was all him from the very start. Dewey, Frost, Sullivan, Speyer, Aiken, and Marini were all dead because of this selfish asshole, and… and if she wasn't careful, the rest of them were going to follow.

There was absolutely nothing inside this corridor, just a long stretch over to a fancy looking metal door that had a card reader next to it, and not surprisingly the Captain had one around his neck. Taking the car off, and sliding it across the reader, the red indicator light above the door turned green while a sharp beep was heard, and then there was a hard thud as the internal locks were heard disengaging. Whatever was behind that door, it must have been pretty damn important.

"I have some good news for you, Jill." Wesker said, putting the card back around his neck. "You wanted to know what this is all about, you nosey little brat? Fine, then… I'm going to show you the Tyrant."