Disclaimer: This story is mine. It is based on the Resident Evil universe created by Capcom. Pray this terrible future does not come to pass.
Written by: Striker
Leon raised his bottle. "Hears to blowing shit up."
"Here, here." Came the reply. Beer bottles clanked together as the S.T.A.R.S. accepted Leon's toast.
Rick polished off his bottle and added it to his collection of empties. "Except for the creatures waking up and the fact that shit kept falling from the sky for fifteen minutes, that mission went pretty well."
"Damn straight." Jeff said. "We got the info, we got the viruses, and we got out with our asses. Don't tell me that's not the way things should be."
"Too bad I didn't get to go." Janet was still brooding over getting left behind.
James pointed his bottle at her. "Don't worry. Next time you will get to kick some major ass." James then turned to Chris. "What about next time? What's the next target?"
"Why don't you concentrate of figuring out how you're getting without crashing the car?" Chris replied. The S.T.A.R.S. were currently at an on base bar celebrating the successful mission. The team's spirits were definitely lifted. In true S.T.A.R.S. fashion, like Chris remembered from his days in Raccoon, most of the gang was getting smashed. The only ones not being affected were Chris, Stan, Jill, and Barry. Their years of heavy drinking had helped to build a tolerance to booze. "It's a good thing you guys car-pooled."
"Hey Chris." Claire said, her voice beginning to slur. "How come you ain't drunk?"
"Aren't drunk." Leon corrected.
"Whatever." Claire replied. "Why aren't you?"
Chris finished off his sixth bottle. "Years of beer pong and drinking contests."
"They used to call him Beerfield because he could out-drink anyone else." Stan said. "I beat him once, but he doesn't believe me."
"You never beat me." Chris said. "I would remember that."
Stan pointed at Chris. "You don't remember because you blacked out. It took four guys to carry you to your bunk. And I bet you don't remember how you spent a half hour over a toilet the next morning? I should know, I was in the next stall over."
"I could drink pretty well myself." Jess boasted. "I could drink a whole keg, no problem." Max started to chuckle. "What?" Jess asked.
"In what fantasy would that be?" Max said. Jess just rolled his eyes.
"You seem pretty well off Jill." Ada said, starting to feel woozy.
Jill smiled. "To join the Deltas you had to be fast, strong, smart, and able to handle liquor. Most of our drinking games involved Vodka or whiskey."
"That's nothing." Barry said. "I got my iron stomach from keg parties at college, victory parties with S.W.A.T., and get-togethers with the S.T.A.R.S. During that time, I've had some hard stuff."
"Try Jamaican Rum." Carlos said. "That stuff's 151 proof."
Chris shook his head. "That's nothing. While I was a drifter just wandering around, I had the privilege of drinking moonshine. That stuff is so potent they use it as gasoline. One sip will have you on your ass in no time."
"I know what you mean." Kelly said. "My father's brother made raspberry brandy. I had a sip of that and it burned all the way down."
"Marti Gras, Bourbon Street." Ark said. "That is the place to be if you want to get plastered. Women flashing everyone, people passing out, that's a drinking party."
"What would you know Ark. You were one of the people passed out." Carl said.
"No, you were passed out." Ark replied. "I was still standing."
Carl let out a short laugh. "Propping yourself up on a table is not considered standing."
"And just think," Claire said, "Rebecca and Eliza are missing all this fun."
Eliza stared at the TV, watching the T-virus antibodies attack the T-virus. "This is fascinating. These antibodies aren't just destroying the virus, they're devouring it. From what Ark got from the computer, these things should go after anything that resembles a T-virus."
"Only one problem." Rebecca said. "These antibodies don't recognize Wesker's virus as a T-virus. I've been trying for hours to get these antibodies to attack the virus Wesker has." She looked at a computer screen. The chemical make-up of the T-virus and Wesker's virus were displayed side-by-side. "They're both the same except for a few areas. One is the capsid. The antigens are different. If only we could figure out how to make an antibody that attacks the T and G-viruses without discrimination."
"You mean make them into NK cells." Eliza said.
Rebecca nodded. "Exactly. The only problem is how."
"We could engineer them." Eliza pointed to some lab techs. "I've had those people working on breaking down the chemical make-up of both antibodies. If we find out how the antibodies are made, we can use that information to modify a NK cell to attack any virus Umbrella has made."
"I think I know how we can make sure the NK cell kills the viruses." Rebecca brought up the make-up of the G-virus. "All three viruses have the same kind of protein in their capsids. This protein inhibits the body from making antibodies of its own to fight this thing. It also protects the virus from high temperatures. We can make the NK cells seek out this protein solely."
Eliza stared at the screen. "And we can have the NK cells use chemicals to detect the proteins."
"I don't really know how to do that." Rebecca said. "I only went to college for bio-chemistry, not genetic engineering."
"Well I learned how to with Umbrella. Time to use Umbrella's techniques against them." Eliza patted Rebecca on the back. "Becky, you just give me the chemical formulas, I'll do the rest."
"OK." The women got to work on the NK cells. It took several hours, but they had finally created a small batch. "Let's see if this works." Rebecca carefully added the modified NK cells to a dish containing the T and G-viruses, plus Wesker's virus. In a few seconds the NK cells were attacking and consuming the viruses at and alarming rate. "I think we did it."
"We better make sure." Eliza said. They tried the test three more times. For the third and fourth tests, they placed the viruses in blood. All three times the NK cells eradicated the viruses. In addition, the NK cells didn't attack the blood cells. "Looks like we have a success." Eliza said.
"We better tell Chris. He'll be pleased about this." Rebecca placed the new T-virus vaccine in an incubation chamber and left with Eliza.
Chris opened the door and half-pulled, half-dragged Jill through it. "I think you had too much to drink."
"I'm fine Chris." Jill said, grabbing a chair for support. She turned to Chris and gave him a seductive look. "Why don't we continue our celebration upstairs?"
"I would, but when I have sex I prefer that the person I'm having it with be coherent." Chris replied. "Chances are you'll pass out as soon as you lay down."
"KNOCK, KNOCK BRO!" Chris turned to see Claire and Leon stumble through the door.
"Can't you pass out in your own house?" Chris asked.
"The night is still young." Claire said.
"It's six Claire." Chris said. "Go home."
"Can't a guy feel welcome around here?" Leon made his way to the couch. He missed and landed on his rear. "Good thing I can't feel that." He started to laugh uncontrollably, as did Claire and Jill.
Sherry ran through the door. "Man, it sounds like a pack of hyenas in here."
"That's what we call drunk." Kathy entered after her. "I'm glad to see you're having a great time. I had doubts about bringing Sherry over here."
"Chances are she would have seen them like this later tonight." Chris said.
"I might as well warn you, the others are coming over." Kathy watched Barry walk though the door. "And here comes one now." Barry just smiled and kissed his wife.
"Watch it Barry," Jill said, "You might get her drunk." Her comment brought on another fit of laughter.
Soon the others had filed in. Some quickly took seats while the others stood, or more precisely leaned, around the house. Chatter followed, mostly about the mission. Chris took Kathy aside.
"How were the kids doing while we were gone?"
Kathy looked towards her two daughters. "They were scared. After the last time, they were frightened that something bad might have happened." She lowered her voice a bit. "Also, it seems that Sherry and Rott have been getting close."
"Oh." Chris nodded. "Were they?"
"Yes."
"And did they?"
"Don't know, but probably yes."
Chris looked at both children, and then at the "adoptive" parents. "Better wait and tell them later. Why does it seem that the more shit we go through, the more close we get?"
"Love arises in the most unexpected of places." Kathy said. "Even during the dark times. Just remember that these relationships make your team stronger. To quote John Lennon, all you need is love."
"Guess you're right." Chris placed a reassuring hand on Kathy's shoulder. "Don't worry, this will be over soon."
Just then, Rebecca and Eliza bolted through the door. "WE DID IT!" Rebecca shouted.
"Did what?" Carlos asked.
"We found a cure for the virus Wesker has." Eliza said. "And get this, it also cures the T and G-viruses."
"That's great." James said. "How did you do it?"
Rebecca scanned the house. "I would tell you, but you wouldn't either understand or remember."
"Let's just say we used the blood samples from Wesker, Jill, and Sherry, plus the data we got from Chris' laptop and the virus samples Max retrieved." Eliza said.
"I knew it." Claire pointed an accusing finger at Chris. "You did steal Sherry's blood."
"Sorry for keeping you all in the dark, but I thought it was best if only a few people knew." Chris looked at Sherry. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Sherry said.
"This calls for another celebration." Jess said. "GET SOME MORE BEER!"
"No, I got a better idea." Chris said. "I'll tell a story. This involves beer and an anniversary of sorts. This is the anniversary of the first time I spent the night at Jill's house." He pointed to Jill, who had a "please don't tell them" look on her face.
There were whistles from the group. "TELL ME MORE!" Ark called.
"This is a true story. Barry can quote me on this." Chris said.
"I'm quoting ya." Barry said.
"Then let's go." Chris continued. "The Raccoon S.T.A.R.S. had just completed a mission and went to Grady's Inn to get smashed. Well after a few hours half of us are down and out. Joseph, Edward, Brad, Enrico, they were all out of it. Anyway, Jill gets up and starts pulling on my arm. "Let's dance Chris," she says. "Come on, let's dance," I tell her "No Jill, you're too drunk, sit down." And all through this Forest is telling me to go for it. Barry also is watching, as are a few people. Well Jill gets two feet from the table. "Come on let's…" She stops in mid-sentence, her eyes roll into her head, and she drops. Boom. Hits the floor hard. Everyone in the bar is looking at use right now. Forest is staring at Jill, his head tilted his a glassy eyed look, and says, "At least she passed out before she hit the floor." After that it's time to go. I end up carrying Jill out of the bar over my shoulder to Barry's car. We take Jill home first. I take her up to her room and plop her on her bed. Well, I'm wasted myself, so I open Jill's window and tell Barry that I'll walk home. After Barry drives off, I sit down in a chair in the corner of Jill's bedroom and fall asleep. The next morning I'm awaken by Jill screaming. She had assumed that I had climbed in her window the night before and was watching her. She was calling me a pervert, prick, anything you can think of. I'm trying to explain, she won't listen. She's telling me to get out and chases me downstairs. She is screaming bloody murder. She's saying that she's going to kick my ass and I'm trying to talk. Well I get out of the house and I run like hell. Later on at the station I walk into the office and she gives me the look of death. Then Barry asks if I made it home all right. Jill tells him that I broke into her house. He tells her that I took her home because she passed out. Jill turns red and everyone else starts laughing. She had told them her version of the story. So that's the first night I spent at Jill's house."
Jill had hidden her face in her hands. "Thank God no one will remember that story tomorrow." She muttered.
"Good job girls." Chris said. "We'll tell Peterson tomorrow. Now everyone go home and try to recover."
The group left, still talking about Chris' story. When they had all left, Jill glared at Chris.
"What possessed you to tell that story?" Jill asked.
"It was the beer." Chris replied, standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Now what about your proposal?"
"Yo Chris. Am I interrupting something?" Stan was standing next to the front door. "Cause I need a place to crash."
"There's a spare room upstairs." Jill said. "You can sleep there."
"Great," Stan said, "Why do I have the feeling that I'll be listening to a low-budget porno tonight."
Chris just laughed. "All I'm thinking about tonight is sleeping."
Peterson stood behind the radio operator. It had been a while since the team left. He turned to the door as Chris, James, Jill, and Ada entered.
"You wanted to see us Major?" Chris said.
"You look like hell." Peterson said. "I thought you might want to know about this."
"What is this about?" James asked. "And why call just us?"
"Cause you four may have experienced this before." Peterson answered. "Yesterday we got a report from Fort Mercer up near Stofield, New York. "It's a small base. The call was from a Major Penworth. He said that he saw a missile explode over Stofield at quarter-after two. We lost communication with the base five hours ago. We sent a team this morning. They should be there now."
"I got them." The radioman said. "Echo team, what is the situation?"
"This is not good." Came the response. "There are crashed cars and small fires over the town. The military base looks deserted, as does the town."
"Do you see any signs of life?" Peterson asked.
"Not yet… Wait, we see something moving in the bushes. I think… OH MY GOD, RETREAT!"
"What's going on?" Peterson asked, panic in his voice.
"WE zzzz TACK BY zzzzzz BIES! SE zzzzzz DEATL zzzzzzz." The radio went dead.
Chris was sure he could make out one word, zombies. "I want to take a team there to find out what happened. I want to see for myself."
"Permission granted." Peterson said. "I hope to God this doesn't mean what I think it does."
"Neither do I." Chris said. "Neither do I."
Author's Comments: Good news, Rebecca and Eliza made a cure for Umbrella's viruses. Bad news, something bad is going down in Stofield. This cannot be good. All right, a few things. One, don't ask how I know the proofs of those alcoholic beverages. Two, I'm not a biology wiz so if there is a discrepancy on how the cure was made, my mistake. Three, I just had to get those guys drunk and tell that little story. And four, I did match up Sherry and Rott. I definitely know I'm going to get hammered for that.
What happened to Echo team? Chris is
determined to find out. What he does find may be the final push towards war.
The countdown winds down and Armageddon is about to begin. See this in RE
Armageddon: Part V, Chapter 10- Breaking Point.