Resident Evil: The Recurring Nightmare of Hope
Chapter Six: Chasing Remnants
The drive through some of the more comforting environments of the French countryside was diluted by the constant verbal assaults from Chris, "Chris if I knew she was going to leave, I would have kept a better eye on her."
"I know that, Leon… This is my sister, I'm allowed to be a bit of a dick here," Jill snorts from the backseat.
"Just a bit of a dick, Chris? You've been biting his head off since he told you she was missing."
Chris scoffs at her remark, keeping his face forward as they enter the last half of their drive, his body performing muscle-memory checks of his own firearm without him thinking on the gun, "We have any information on who the buyers/kidnappers might be?"
The car curves around the slightly winding road as Leon turns the steering wheel, "My thought is it is the same group that infected Ashely Graham with the Plaga parasite. They probably used her as a test to see how well the Plagas worked at range."
"So," Jill types a note into the laptop, "we're dealing with Los Illuminados directly this time… Maybe we'll get some answers to what really happened in Spain."
"They won't be talking much when I'm done with them…" Chris clenches his fists tightly as he continues to stare out the windshield.
The car drones on down the country road as Leon comments to Jill about what they've encountered so far, even sharing a laugh at the fact Jennings wanted to use a code phrase. Chris's mind starts to drift off to remembering moments he's had with Claire, particularly the first time she mentioned she had a boyfriend. The road and trees before him change to reflect the home the two shared while she was in High School right before he left for the Air Force.
"No, I won't allow it," Chris crosses his arms as a younger Claire glares at him from her perch on top of the kitchen table with her legs crossed.
Her blue eyes cut into him as she quickly retorts, "He's a nice guy! And with you going into the Air Force I might need a strong guy around to protect me…"
"Nice try, little sister," Chris crosses the kitchen and pulls a bottle of water from the fridge, "but we both know you aren't this sweet little girl. You are a Redfield and a redhead at that. You have a temper that even scares me, no one would ever mess with you."
"Then how about for company? If I don't have someone around while you're gone, I'll go insane," she's grasping at straws now, which makes him smile.
"I'll make you a deal. Bring him by for dinner tonight, let me meet him… If things go well, he can stay in your life," she squeals in joy and wraps her arms around his neck, thanking him before running out the door to join her friends on their way to school.
As the memory fades and the fading sunlight of the Parisian evening fills his view, Chris sighs and glances over at Leon. She could do a lot worse he guesses, Leon can clearly handle himself, and the two have a lot in common. Chris can't think about that now, the last time he let his mind wander while on a mission, Wesker almost got the upper-hand on him. Chris sighs as the scene changes again, this time forming into the last room he remembered seeing Wesker in.
Chris pushes Claire behind him as he stares at Wesker, "You get out of here, Claire."
"But what about…" her eyes shift from her brother to Wesker.
"As a surviving member of S.T.A.R.S. I have to finish this," his eyes never move from the imposing form of Wesker before him.
"Just," she turns from him for a second before looking back and nodding, "remember your promise."
Chris nods back and as Claire runs off to safety, Chris turns and locks gazes with Wesker again, "I'll end this once and for all… Say hello to all my comrades you killed!"
The sunglasses that have been terrorizing them since the Arklay mansion are lowered to reveal sick and twisted eyes, "I don't know where you get your confidence, Chris…"
As Wesker marches toward Chris, the younger backs up against a racking of pipes. One is raised up and smacks the blonde man across the face before it is swung around and then dropped heavily again, but it stops against Wesker's arm, the weapon bent from the strength of the hit.
Claire…. Chris worries that he might not make it back before Wesker snatches the pipe from his hands and kicks him in the chest, knocking him back farther than should be humanly possible.
No, no longer can Chris afford to let his mind become unfocused, drift to any lingering thoughts. If he is to save his sister, Chris will need to be as cold and focused as he can while hunting down the bastards who took her. Nothing else matters at this point, nothing outside of rescuing his sister and putting an end to Los Illuminados. Chris barely registers that they have turned off the road and are parking until Jill taps him on the back of the head and motions for him to get out.
"Come on, we have to walk the rest of the way," Jill slides the Samurai Edge into her hip holster before loading a few more clips into the spare slots along the belt.
Leon checks his own VP70 before nodding at the two and slowly moving up the street toward the house Claire might be in, "Don't patronize me, Jill. I know what needs to be done."
Chris chambers a round into his 92F handgun before holding the weapon at a downward angle and slowly following suit behind them, not happy that he isn't taking point on this. Leon sweeps side-to-side for any signs of danger as they approach the driveway entrance to the location. Leon takes a quick look before swiftly moving to the other side of the driveway and aiming his gun as Jill moves into position where he once was.
Here we go, Redfield… Chris holds his weapon at the ready as he slowly counts to three, marking his movements in his mind before rounding the corner.
As Jill and Leon keep a sharp eye out, Chris moves into the driveway and quickly shuffles up the asphalt as the house comes into view. The windows are dark and the house appears silent, but Chris soldiers on to a side door, his fingers quickly touching the knob to test for any traps before he waves Leon and Jill up the driveway, his own firearm now aimed at the windows for any movement. Leon tries the knob, but finds it locked, which gives Jill her cue to pull out a small leather pouch.
"Master of unlocking," a chuckle from Chris as Leon quietly repeats one of Barry's greatest lines.
Jill ignores them and pulls out a tension tool and a pick, the two working in tandem to silently unlock the door. Chris turns the knob from the far side of the door and pushes it open as Jill and Leon step in, guns aimed for chest shots to allow them to capture anyone they come across. As the trio sweeps through the house, one of them grows more agitated as they quickly find more and more rooms empty.
Once they have cleared the entire house, the garage, and shed outside, Chris punches through the wall of the kitchen, "Son of a bitch we were too late!"
11
There has to be something here… Claire is too smart to not leave some kind of clue…
Leon pulls out a flashlight from his belt and starts a search of the house for clues as Jill tries to comfort Chris. The first room he enters from the kitchen is a hallway with four doors; two on the left, one behind him, and one at the end. The first door is pushed open; this room being the bathroom, which he knows won't hold any clues. The next door is pushed open and reveals a small bedroom. Leon flashes the light along the floor before moving the beam of light over the furnishings, finding this room was probably where one of the kidnappers slept while the others kept watch. This room has been cleaned too well, leaving no trace of the men behind all this. The last door hides another hallway, this one traveling the length of the back of the house with one door at the far right side and two on the left side. The first door is a closet barely big enough to fit a vacuum let alone a full grown woman. The next door on the left is a room with several torn up holes in the floor with multiple scuff marks on the hardwood flooring.
"They had something bolted here," he remarks to no one as he runs a hand over the trails, noting something reflecting in the light.
Metal shavings, chains, someone was kept here. Judging by the number of scuff marks and the various directions they spread, this is possibly the room they kept Sherry in. Outside of the chain marks though, the room is fairly clean, which hints that Sherry was taken care of somewhat decently. Leon growls at the room before closing the door and moving across the hall to the last door, his hand shaking as it reaches to turn the knob.
They've already been through this room on their sweep, but actually looking at the room makes Leon's heart sink, "Oh god…"
There are random blood spatters that look as though they were attempted to be cleaned but they ran out of time. The same marks from Sherry's room are made in the floor at the middle of this one. The number suggests that it was a chair that Claire was bound too. There are a fair number of white fibers lining the floor, which makes Leon smile as he remembers when he taught Claire about knots and how to escape being tied up. His eyes turn to examine some of the blood marks on the furniture, the ex-cop's mind being put a little bit more at ease as the amount of blood signals a few beatings with little actual blood lost.
Leon sighs as he stands up in the room, his eyes still not quite registering what happened here, "Claire…."
11Seven Hours Ago11
"Hello again, Miss Redfield," the good doctor strolls back into the room as Claire hides the bloody knot in her hands.
Her eyes flash as her lips curl into a smile over bloodied teeth, "A check-up? So soon? You do have good bedside manner…"
A swift crack as the pointer is smacked across her face again, this time a laugh leaving her lips instead of a scream of pain, "What is this laughter?"
"Oh, just imagining what my brother is going to do to you if you keep ruining my face…"
"Yes, the infamous Chris Redfield. He was the one who ruined our plans in your Washington DC a few years ago," the doctor uses his jacket to clean the blood from the tip of the pointer as he circles her much like a vulture does a dying animal.
Claire feels his eyes examining her, taking in every detail, almost feeding on her. She can't help it when her skin crawls at the feeling of his leers as he places a hand on her shoulder, holding her down for no reason other than to reinforce his control over her. A sickly breath burns the back of her neck as he picks up her loose ponytail and laughs slowly. Claire hides a smirk as she imagines driving her knee hard between his legs the next time he is in front of her.
"I have a gift for you," Claire's ears perk as the sound of someone moving toward the room she is trapped in permeates the air.
Claire watches as the door opens, a figure emerges in the room shrouded by the bright light behind them, then a female voice makes her heart rise with excitement, then fall with dread as Sherry runs at her, "Claire!"
The girl's arms wrap around the redhead in a tight embrace as Claire notices the warm wetness of fresh tears as Sherry cries into her shoulder, "Sherry, I'm so sorry… I never should have left…"
Something odd is going on as Claire notices that Sherry's hands have lowered down her arms to the knot of rope and wire around her wrists, tiny fingers working to quickly untwist the wire. Sherry backs up from the embrace once the motion is complete, her face beaming with happiness as Claire holds back her own tears. There is movement behind her before Sherry is forced into another chair, the telescopic pointer tapping the floor between them.
"Sherry here has been most useful to us, donating her own blood to our cause as we trade the G-Virus within for our materials…" Claire hides the dread as she realizes this is the usual play: the bad guy giving away his plan as he intends to kill her soon enough.
Small movements are important as Claire works to slide the wet rope off her hands, knowing she needs to buy some time, "We cured that…"
A slender finger waves negatively in reply as the doctor leans down and smirks, "You made it dormant. G is incurable I'm afraid. With recent information we gained on Umbrella Bio-ware not seen on the Black Market, we found a way to reactivate it and have found a very lucrative way to fund our organization. Miss Birkin is a walking petri dish for one of the greatest viral threats on the planet."
Two fingers are free so the rest should be easy as Claire prepares to reply, but is cut off by the girl she was here to save, "There is no reason for her to be here… I've been participating well, haven't I? I've done everything you asked…"
"See, that's where you are wrong…" the doctor turns from Claire to address Sherry directly. "We want you to be more… Directly involved in the transactions… We found that the G-Virus we extract from your blood has a terrible shelf-life.. The fresher, the better…"
Claire watches as what color remains drains from Sherry's pale face, "Why would yo-"
The doctor crumples in a heap to the floor as Claire drops her interlocked hands across the base of his skull, "Keep talking."
Sherry awkwardly continues her question as Claire works quickly to undo the rope and wire around her legs, her body working automatically as her mind continues scanning the room for weapons and a quick escape. Aside from breaking something apart with too much noise, not much is useable to aid in their swift exit. Claire lifts the blonde teenager to her feet and silently moves toward the door, her ear pressed against it, listening for sounds of who might be there and how dangerous they might be.
"Doc has been in there longer than normal, we should check on him."
A deep voice replies next, the same one from when she awoke, the accent decidedly American with hints of some time spent in Spain, "I'll take care of it when I feel like it is necessary. You need to start cleaning up the house so we can change locations before they arrive."
Sherry is shaking against Claire, just like she did back in Raccoon, so Claire squeezes her hand tightly as they make their way over to the table in the middle of the room, "Here, hold this."
The table is flipped on end and Claire pulls Sherry down behind it, bloody fingers reaching around it to pick up the pointer of torture from the unconscious body of the doctor, "Fine, I'll check on it just to shut you up."
There is a near silent gasp from the blonde woman as the door is flung open, a loud growl filling the room as Claire is sure he has spotted the knocked out doctor on the floor, "There is no escape from here. Give it up, Claire."
Blue eyes peer over the top of the table to get a better look at the man and at first glance, she really wishes she didn't. Everything about his attire screams ex-military, his stance shows some serious training and the knife resting on his shoulder almost sings with the souls the blade has probably taken from this world. The man takes another step in, using a chuckle to hide the sound of his knife being drawn from the sheathe. A reflection of light from the blade illuminates the red beret on his head, Claire forcing herself to remember the emblem on the hat.
Quickly Claire breaks the pointer and uses the sharp edge to carve the design into the bottom of the table, circles it, then carves a line from it to the edge of the table, "Enough games!"
Hopefully Leon or Chris will find her clues, as the mysterious soldier drives the blade into the table and reaches over to lift both women into the air by their necks, "You two are becoming pests to the plan…"
Before Claire can remark, or Sherry can scream, the two are knocked together and rendered unconscious, Find me, Leon…
11
"Anything useful in… What the hell did they do in here!?" Chris promptly enters the room as Leon cascades much of it in light from his flashlight.
"This is where they held Claire," Leon runs a hand across the table as he spots scuff marks on the edge.
The older man growls and remarks, "Fancy table, not gonna help us find my sister!"
"Claire is a smart girl. She is a Redfield after all. She might have found a way to leave us some clues once she got free for however long she was free," the blonde male examines the table closer, stopping when he finds a unique mark on the edge of the top.
The mark drags under the tabletop so he flips it over; smiling wide at the image she left them to note one of the people involved, "What did they call most of the Air Force?"
"Derogatory or actual nicknames?" Chris has brandished his own flashlight and is examining another part of the room as Jill joins them, mouth agape in horror at the scene.
"Surprise me," Leon sketches the image into a pad of paper before slipping it into his back pocket.
"Entertaining derogatory name was Chairforce. I personally like 'zoomies'. Why?"
Leon points to the table and asks, "What you make of that, Zoomie…?"
Chris drops down and stares at the symbol, an eagle emblem with the rank of Lance Corporal, "A Lance Corporal in the United States Marines. Puts this guy in mid-forties by my estimate. Anything else?"
While Chris determined what the symbol meant, Leon found another marking settled around the uprooted bolts where Claire's chair was situated, "Yeah… A strange marking, looks like a cross of some kind…"
Jill and Chris both glance at the marking, Jill backing up as Chris clenches his fists, "I know that mark…."
Leon judges their reactions and finds himself not wanting the answer, "Who?"
"Los Illuminados…" Jill's voice is quiet, as though she is trying to remain hidden from some monster out in the shadows.
END