-Heart of Stone-
He was relieved to be completely alone, relieved to wear a clean shirt. Chris stood over one of the sinks, staring into the mirror at his reflection. His sister and Eva had bought a hunter green t-shirt, free of blood and dirt. He turned the faucet and splashed cold water on his face. Staring in the mirror drew him to look at eyes spotted with green flecks. Proof he had the R-Virus.
Strangely, now that Umbrella was gone he was feeling better about his infection. He was feeling better..about everything. He had hoped to go through life, avoiding becoming infected by a virus. But he wasn't ignorant and knew that was the ideal. The former agent knew throwing himself in the path of criminals and terrorists, especially those arming themselves with biological weaponry, severely raised the chance of a bad end.
At least he hadn't been infected with the T-Virus or a similar atrocity. The victims were some of the more tragic he'd seen. Human beings rotting, forced to roam with nothing but mindless, ever-lasting hunger. What he knew about his own virus was little. According to Wesker, examination of the R-Virus showed halted aging. That was old news. Presently, his injuries, hours old, were practically healed like he'd never been wounded. He would heal faster than a normal human. That was new.
If a wound was fatal, he had to wonder whether the injury would heal. The other day he died for a minute or so. Krauser providing life-saving measures to bring him back was the reason he was alive. Obliterator appeared to be having a lasting effect. It weakened him in the process of nearly destroying his body from the inside out. He was no biologist or expert on the human anatomy, but he knew a thing or two about getting hurt and feeling pain.
While he was time-traveling, he could feel what the machine was doing to him, messing with his insides. At one point, he even thought it possible his heart would explode right out of his chest. The pain had been so sharp and severe.
Chris shut the water off, giving his rugged complexion a final glance in the mirror. Short, slightly ruffled hair, and the faint outline of facial growth. The shadows under his eyes weren't too defined. Eva would say he looked ninety percent. She really did give a lot of much needed levity to his life.
There was movement behind him. Chris narrowed his eyes, staring into the reflective glass and noticing a door at the back of the bathroom. An entry and exit door for someone wishing to use the bathroom who was coming in from outside. It came to him that he did see the closed door when he walked in. Now it was partially open.
Chris spun around in time to catch a fist to the center of his face. The blow stunned, knocking him off balance. Hands fisted in his shirt, lifting him from the ground, and his head was slammed into the mirror. Another fist struck him, hitting nearly the exact place as the first.
He managed to grab his assailant, gripping him by the shoulders, but he never got any farther. The attacker began wailing on him. He'd seen who it was in the brief moment of respite before the attack turned brutal. Darius Greene must have trailed them from the mall or the electronics place. The only way he imagined the guy could have known where they were was if he had his own people searching for them. That was as far as his thought process went.
The next time he had a conscious thought, he was lying on his back, face hit over and over. He could feel warm blood everywhere and he could do nothing but take it. The attack had just been..unexpected.
Irrational, complete and total hatred radiating off this man was unexplainable. Chris could not wrap his head around it or come close to understanding. Greene didn't know him, but he sure seemed to loath him.
The relentless assault abruptly ceased. Chris didn't feel like he could move whatsoever. He laid there, Greene's weight a burden keeping him down flat, and listened as he heard Leon's voice.
"Greene, how did you find us?"
"I have a better question. Why did you find us?" Krauser queried.
"Chris! Oh my god!"
That was Claire and he figured everyone had come running into the men's bathroom to his rescue. He should probably feel grateful. He was feeling pathetic and weak instead. Plus, his face really, really hurt. One eye was puffing up and he knew his face was likely a mass of swelling and bruising.
The last thing he wanted was to be moved, but he was dragged from the ground. Chris was forced to face the group of five come to save him. An arm locked around his throat and one of his arms was yanked behind his back, jerked upward at a painful angle. Angry words breathed loud into his neck.
"This is your fault. You and that bitch just couldn't die, could you! I gave you the cure. Why couldn't you use it like she did?"
"How did you know I used it?"
Chris kept his head upright, although he wanted to drop it to his chest. The arm on his throat tightened, cutting off his air supply. He spoke by his ear.
"Umbrella may be defeated, but I, little girl, am not. My men have been watching you since you set foot inside that facility. They know you took the cure and they know this one didn't."
Greene loosened his hold against his throat. "I hold you accountable, Mr. Redfield. Once you found out about Obliterator, you couldn't let it go until you destroyed it. Umbrella killed my family and kidnapped my brother to be experimented on for years. They used Skye to operate that machine, therefore it belonged to me. My brother, my blood, mine!"
"You've lost it," Leon uttered. "You're completely insane."
He was sick of this shit. People who would take it upon themselves to claim righteousness when they hurt the innocent in order to achieve personal, selfish gains. The callous disregard for human lives and the cruelty with which they would treat anyone who they deemed insignificant was common. Greene Greene was no different from any of them.
He had enough playing hostage. Wrenching the arm from his neck, he pulled away. Greene maintained the grip on his limb for the most part, though Chris did turn to look at the man harboring a vendetta. An iron tight hold on his wrist was dangerously close to doing serious damage. He ignored the strong discomfort and focused on his words.
"You wanna find someone to blame?" Chris sputtered out through the thick blood gathering in his mouth.
He spit the blood on the floor. "If you want someone to blame, take a look in the mirror."
"Don't you talk to me, Redfield. In my opinion, you're just another freak resulting from Umbrella's reckless desire to experiment on anything within reach that has a genetic code. You know, rumor has it you can die now. But your eyes tell me you're not cured, so there must be something special still inside you. Interesting..."
"Wow... I agree with Leon. You're insane."
Greene didn't spare the mentioned Leon a glance. He was looking from Chris to the others. Eva was inching her way closer and Chris figured Greene was well aware how quickly Wesker and Krauser could move, so they definitely warranted keeping an eye on.
"You will die for ruining my chance at claiming what was rightfully mine," the badly scarred man declared, glaring. "You all will pay for killing my brother too!"
"He wasn't your brother anymore!" Eva yelled, anger altering her tone. "He was a monster, or a freak as you so fondly call by-products of Umbrella. And in the end, you wanted to use him just like Umbrella did."
Chris saw it coming but didn't have the energy to kick his instincts into gear to defend. Greene twisted his arm and slammed a booted foot in his side, sending him crashing against the wall. He slammed his fist to the door instead of Chris's head. He responded to the pissed son of a bitch with his own upset.
"You brought this on yourself when you decided to use bio-weapons created by the same people you hate. When you made that choice, you made it my job to come find you and put a stop to you. You're no better than them. Actually... You are exactly-like-them."
"Chris..."
Wesker was advising to stop angering the man who beat his face into a temporarily new configuration. There was good reason for the warning. Greene looked extremely ticked off, more so than before.
"How the hell did you survive that machine, Redfield? No one has ever survived it. I want what's in your blood. The idiots at Umbrella lost their research and samples of the Regenerative virus in one of the many facilities that leaked a virus. The Wesker girl has been cured so that leaves you."
"Let Chris go! Why are you doing this? What do you want?"
The knock on the door must not have been simply in anger because someone hit it hard on the other side. Greene pulled Chris with him, away from the wall. They were still thrown back to the floor by the explosion that put a giant hole in the spot the door used to be.
Rain poured, the storm continued to rage, and lightning illuminated the soldiers standing outside. They were armed with either handguns or assault rifles. The variety of gear and clothing led Chris to conclude the approximately dozen men worked for Greene.
Greene smiled at Claire, ready to answer. "The world, Ms. Redfield. I want the world. Is that so shocking?"
Sprawled on the ground, he saw the eyes latching to him. Chris realized he ought to get up because Greene was exuding a threatening presence. He shifted, pushing to his feet, and remembered his weapon. He put a hand over the holstered gun, hoping it would be enough to deter an attack.
The soldiers outside retained their current position. They made no sign of getting involved. Probably awaiting instructions or a sign from the leader.
Greene smirked. "The world will come eventually. I have no choice but to start small. I want the virus running through your veins, Chris Redfield."
He would like to think he would have made it away from him. But he hadn't expected the psycho to lunge forward, grab his shirt, and proceed to bite him on the shoulder after tugging the shirt out of the way. Greene's clamped teeth broke through skin and he failed to keep in the scream.
He was dropped to the ground without further regard. Wheezing to bypass the shock and pain, he fought to gather his faculties.
Smiling through bloodstained lips, Greene pulled a vial stored in his assault vest pocket and placed it to his lips. He let the blood pour from his mouth into the container. Chris looked to the others in time to witness Wesker's eyes flash red and in the next instant he was throwing himself at Greene. The waiting mercenaries opened fire, making him divert his path to dodge incoming bullets.
Everything seemed to move faster from that moment on.
Wesker and Krauser were combating the mercenaries who were letting their gunfire go wild. The bathroom was being ripped apart, concrete and porcelain shattering and spraying everywhere in pieces. A hand touched his arm, causing Chris to look up and find Leon crouching down. He stayed low to avoid bullets, examining the fresh bite in his shoulder.
"It's pretty deep. That bastard..."
"Where's Eva? And Claire?"
He didn't answer. He helped him stand and they made their way over to the stall nearest the inner entry. Eva and Claire had taken cover there. Chris skimmed his sister quick and was assured she was all right. He then turned to Eva.
"Are you alright?"
Eva gave a disbelieving laugh regarding his horrible appearance. "Am I alright?"
Her eyes lowered from his messed up face to his ruined shirt. "Your shirt, Chris. You barely had it five minutes and look at it."
"Good thing you brought me two then, huh?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah..."
A bullet struck the stall at a spot uncomfortably close to Claire's head. Almost in perfect unison the four of them ducked down lower. It would do no good to forget the fight going on around them with unsuitable cover as protection.
The gunfire grew more sporadic and let up altogether in less than twenty seconds. Footsteps came closer. Leon gestured for Chris to remain with the girls while he drew his sidearm and readied for whatever approached.
Krauser and Wesker. Leon didn't relax much despite it not being Greene or any of the mercenaries. He did lower his weapon to his side, stepping out so the rest of them could get out too. Through the hole in the wall, the storm continued on, louder than ever. No enemies in view.
"They're gone for now," Krauser said. "Seven dead and the other three ran away. Greene fled with them."
"We need to get out of the city," Wesker added to the assessment. "They'll be looking for us."
"Why?" Eva questioned. "Why would they come after us?"
"To kill us, Eva," Chris said bluntly. "As long as we're in this city we're in danger. Greene doesn't care about reasoning. He just hates and he's targeted each of us for destroying what he wanted. Doesn't matter to him there is no real logic behind his hatred."
"Great..." she muttered.
Chris got to a sink. The one left the most untouched by the attack. He began washing up and felt, rather than saw, Eva come to stand beside him. She put her head to his shoulder tiredly and sighed in exaggerated fashion.
"We'll get out of here and it'll all be okay."
He wondered if she was saying it to reassure herself.
Free of blood, his face remained a batch of large bruises and small cuts. His right eye was swollen completely shut and the other was bloodshot. Chris was not feeling positive. He was a marksman and shooting was his best skill. His vision was strongly compromised. Eva lifted her head and laid his extra shirt on the counter in front of the sink.
"Get this one bloody and you're stuck with it. Got it?"
He smiled softly, careful not to wince. He didn't want to admit to her small movements hurt. Claire saw it though. She could always see right through him.
"Hey Eva, bring me that bloody shirt. How do you think we should dispose of it?"
Eva went to join her when he removed his shirt for her to bring over. He could hear them debating whether it would be possible to flush it or not. Chris didn't waste time getting the other shirt on and checking his gun and bullets. Forty-five rounds.
"Put your gun away, Chris. You are in no condition to fire a weapon."
"Shut up, Wesker. I can hold my own."
"I'm sure you can. It would be foolish to try this time."
Chris glanced in the cracked mirror to check on Eva. She was occupied with his sister. The perfect opportunity to say what he wanted concerning her dad.
"I know you haven't stopped your planning, Wesker. Uroboros might be the past but you're probably cooking up something entirely new. Don't deny it."
The expressionless man spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "No doubt, the authorities will be arriving in minutes. Even with the storm, all the noise could not have gone unheard."
Wesker leaned in close, speaking directly into his ear. "You're right. Uroboros is the past."
He straightened and moved off to speak to Krauser.
While he admitted to the part about Uroboros, he said nothing about what he could be planning or working on. Wesker hadn't confirmed or denied his accusation which told him volumes. Chris looked at the daughter of the man whose actions forever altered his life, hating his belief was right. He hated it for Eva's sake. She deserved better.
Chris could already see in her the happiness at curing immortality. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Yeah, he figured Eva Jane Wesker would end up with a relatively good life. He was sure of it. Free of the virus, she could be free of the need to fight and risk her life. Her father had chosen this life, not her.
Of course, first they had to make it out of the city alive.