31. Chris

Several boxes filled with documents and other files filled Alpha Team's office. Some of the files were recent, but some looked as if they had not seen the light in ages.

Chris sat in his chair with his arms crossed, and his gaze focused on a handful of sheets resting on the table.

The disappearance vases in the area were more common than they had anticipated. After exhaustively reviewing each of the documents, Chris, Jill, and Barry had chosen some of the most likely cases. All of the incidents happened in the proximal area where Sierra Team had perished.

The local authorities had labeled the incidents shipwrecks as the area had numerous small islands and other rock formations traversed by strong ocean currents. The conclusion was reasonable and supported by geographical evidence; however, all the cases presented a common factor: in none of them, survivors or remains of the ships were ever found. The people had just disappeared without a trace.

"Seems like we stumbled with the European version of the Bermuda Triangle, huh?" Barry said, shaking his head, "Am I the only one getting fucking zombie vibes from all this? I'm willing to bet that those missing people got turned into ugly monsters at some point…"

"Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me," Jill replied, "but if our suppositions are right and those people didn't actually go missing but kidnapped instead, it'd be a safe guess to say that they should be somewhere close."

The area had diverse rock formations and small islands that did not appear on the maps. Many of those islands were uninhabited by humans, and following Jill's line of thought, any of these islands could harbor a secret research facility.

"BSAA found Claire in this area," Jill said, pointing at the blue space in the map and marking it with red tack, then she put another at the opposite side, "While Sierra Team received the rogue signal from here."

"The locations aren't even close…" Chris observed, "Damn it."

"Yeah, and considering her condition when she got found, there's no way she could have swam that far. I think it should be somewhere in this area, but we already looked there…."

"So we are back to square one…" Chris growled, punching the table, "Damn, these assholes are good at hiding…"

After reviewing the documents sent from Wales, Chris had hoped they'd get a clue of where Mobius was hiding, but it seemed that they would only find them when the group decided to show themselves again. Their lack of activity was, in some ways, extremely irritating, and it gave Chris contradictory feelings. In a way, he was glad they'd not attacked again, but by the other, he wished they'd show their faces so that he could find them and smash them against the ground.

"Claire was sure that she was in a psychiatric hospital, but there's nothing alike in the surrounding areas. Of course, they could have deceived her but still…" Jill sighed "I guess the only way we'll find them is if Claire recovers her memory or if Mobius decides to attack us again…"

"So basically, we are in a pit with no fucking idea of what to do…" Barry commented, "Yeah, Deja vú. We have another problem in there, too. Those monsters. What are we going to do if they send another army of those against us? Last time I checked, we can't call upon the sun at will..."

"And we don't know anything about the monsters that this new virus creates…" Chris said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

" Well, I take, you haven't read Claire's report. She was kind enough to write us a small "bestiary"..."Jill said, sitting back with a smile, "The things we saw in Med Center...Claire called them the Ugly-Hungry-Ones, UHO for short…."

"That name...Well, that girl does have a sense of humor…" Barry snorted.

"She...did that?"

"Yes, it seems that Claire can remember bits, so she wrote it all down for us…"

"That's considerate from her…"

"It's only about the two monsters we encounter until now, though. "

"Either way...that should help."

"So...what does she have to say about the Ugly-Hungry-Ones?" Barry asked curiously.

"Starting by the name…" Jill said, picking up the folder from her desk, "It seems that these monsters' primary focus is feeding. They literally live to eat. Blinded by the mutation, they mostly rely on hearing, so the best strategy is to avoid them by being quiet and sneaky. Their skin is highly resistant to physical damage due to an accelerated regeneration rate, so the only way to defeat them is by destroying them at a cellular level. Light, more precisely, UV radiation is the most efficient way..."

"Well, that's surely more practical than the sun…" Barry frowned "but even I know that UV radiation is not something you can carry around carelessly…"

"Claire put a note there ..." Chris said, looking at his own file, "I'll think of an alternative mean…."

"Of course, sweet old Claire…" Barry nodded, "What about our friends from the ship?"

"Those, too…" Jill said, flipping the page.

Chris did the same, and a smile appeared on his face as he read the first line: "Nasty-Crew". Claire sure knew how to pick names for the monsters in a way that made them sound comical.

"They are pack creatures. They move in numbers and follow a hierarchical organization with an alpha. They don't have the shield that the UHO has, but their regeneration speed is higher…"

"Well, that explains why outshot did nothing to stop them…" Chris reasoned.

"The two best ways to kill them is by causing damage in a way that is faster than they recover…"

"Grenade voilá…" Barry smirked.

"Also, it says that for a faster victory it is best to destroy the alpha. If the alpha is gone, the rest of the monster won't attack anymore; but we must be cautious since apparently, it releases poisonous gases that can either kill you or infect you…"

"That was, probably, what happened to the Sierra Team and the ship's crew..." Chris said bitterly, "I don't think we saw the alpha, did we?"

"I wasn't paying attention…" Jill admitted, "again, they seem to be blind, so if avoidance is a good trick."

"I don't remember Claire being so much into the stealth and avoiding wave…." Barry said, rubbing his chin, "she was a little more into Chris's style of shooting and kicking butts…"

"She was probably forced to change her strategy while in captivity…" Jill reasoned, "God, you don't think they actually made her face all those creatures, would they?"

"Those bastards are crazy...Honestly, that might have been it…"

The idea had crossed Chris's mind on numerous occasions since they had met Claire, and although the sequence of subsequent events had kept him too busy to dwell on that question, the idea often appeared in his mind every time He had free time.

All the evidence indicated without a doubt that Claire had been a prisoner in the eight months of her disappearance: the wounds, the scars, as well as her physical, mental, and emotional state were proof that the woman had had bad times wherever he had been. There was also the fact that she had been drugged almost 100% of the time, according to Hiwamura's assessment.

Also, if they analyzed Ananke's words, Claire had been treated as an experiment. The question was, what kind of experiment? Would it have been one like the one on the Russian island with Alex Wesker? Or was it something else?

Chris had a lot of questions, but as they went, they would continue to accumulate without the hope of finding an answer.

"I hate to say this, Chris…" Jill said, shaking her head "but perhaps the only way we will find a way to catch Mobius is if Claire remembers…"

Chris looked at Jill sternly. Of all things, that was, exactly, what Chris would do up to the impossible to avoid if he could help it. Claire seemed to have recovered significantly since returning to the USA. The image of the terrified, confused and pain-filled Claire he had seen in their reunion in Wales was painfully etched in the mind of the elder Redfield, and Chris would do everything possible to prevent his sister from falling into that state again. He didn't want to see her broken and suffering ever-again, and if keeping those memories forgotten was the way, he would keep it like that.

"No...that's a big fat no. I'm not making her remember whatever atrocities they might have done to her. She's coming back to herself again. I am not going to spoil it and break her again. We will find another way…"

"Chris, but have you thought that maybe those memories will return eventually?" Jill asked him, "I mean...look at what she wrote. She knew these creatures, their behavior pattern, and the way to defeat them. That's obvious knowledge she gained from those experiences. As painful as it might be, you can't simply stop her from remembering…"

"If she remembers it on her own, then I have no say in the matter, but I won't push her into remembering…"

In a way, Chris knew that his thinking wasn't entirely about Claire. It was not a lie that he was afraid of what such memories could do to his sister, but Jill was right. Claire was probably their best chance of clearing things about Mobius.

Still, Chris didn't want Claire to remember.

"She's happy and well now...I'm not ruining it by forcing her to remember…"

"Well, I guess Chris has a point there. I don't want to see her go through all that crap again. God knows that she deserves a bit of peace. " Barry nodded.

"My point exactly. Mobius will attack again. We will catch them one way or another, but I want to spare Claire as much as we can. She's already doing a lot by working with the virus, and, hell, her health won't help either…"

Both Jill and Barry looked at each other with a frown. Claire's health issue was easily dismissable. The woman seemed to be healthy, or at least she made it so that people wouldn't notice she was feeling ill. It wouldn't be the first time that Claire played that game. Chris remembered once when Claire was 13 that she had caught a bad cold, but pretended that she was okay, just because she wanted to join him in a camping trip with Barry and the rest of his teammates. He had to admit that she had done quite well acting as they walked the trails in the forest and climbed the mountainside; it wasn't until night time when he went to check on her that he noticed the 39°C fever she had.

"It might take longer to find them, but as long as Claire is safe, I think we can hold in there…" Chris said.

"Yeah...I guess." Jill replied thoughtfully.

There was a silent pause that was soon broken by Barry's sudden laughter.

"What's so funny, Barry?" Chris asked, frowning, "Mind sharing the joke?"

"Well, I was thinking that... the longer we take to get rid of those fucking assholes, the longer Claire will remain as Mrs. Kennedy…"