Resident Evil
The Seraphs
By: Xenogears
Chapter seven
In
no way do I own the characters of Capcom's legacy, Resident Evil. They are used
for non-profit purposes, only for entertainment.
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Mark ran down the
halls toward Anna's room. He needed to tell her what was happening. He didn't
want to get Ryan involved ¾ Ryan was a 'newbie', and T-103s could be very
deadly.
He came to an
abrupt stop at Anna's door and opened it, not even taking into account that he
was entering a female's room.
"Anna! We've
got¾
"
He looked around
the room. It showed no signs of human occupation at all.
"Anna?"
Mark repeated. No response.
He walked in, and
looked around again. For the first time, he saw a note on her bed. He picked it
up and read it. It was scribbled in a quick cursive, as if she was in a hurry.
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Mark,
If you are
reading this note, then I am gone with Ryan to stop Dr. Vickers. When I found
out that Ryan was trying to escape, I realized that Dr. Vickers was insane. He
needs help, and he brainwashed us into thinking that what we were doing was
right. I hope that you can realize before it's too late, because I don't want
to hurt you. Time is short. I must intercept Ryan ¾ he's just about to leave.
Anna
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Mark felt that his
veins would burst from anger. The only thing that was going through his mind
was 'traitor.' How could she do this? The Seraphs had an obligation to the
purification of mankind!
He crumpled the
note in his hand, and made it burst into flames. He dropped the ashes to the
floor and stormed out.
'You will die,
Ryan Davidson...whether it is to be slow and painful or quick and painless is
still under consideration, but you will die, I can promise you that...'
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Meanwhile...
Ryan and Anna were
walking down the tunnel. They could see the ladder at the end of the tunnel,
standing in the gloomy light that leaked from around the manhole cover in the
ceiling above it.
They hadn't spoken
a word since entering the tunnel.
Then Ryan broke the
silence.
"Anna.
Question."
"Yes?"
"If you know
what you're doing is wrong, why don't you just kill Vickers?"
"There's a
mind block in the virus that prevents us from doing him any harm."
There was another
moment of silence, then Anna turned to Ryan.
"You smell a
little bit like smoke. Don't you?"
"Yeah, so
what?"
"Jeez, do I
need to read you the Surgeon General's warning?"
"No. I know
the label by heart."
"Then
why?"
Ryan paused.
"I made some
mistakes a while back. Some very stupid mistakes."
Anna told herself
that she would get nothing else out of him on that subject.
"Um...Why do
you wear that bandanna?"
Ryan looked at her
as if she had asked him to strip in front of her.
"What do you
mean?"
"Exactly that:
why do you wear that bandanna?"
"I ain't
tellin'."
'Desperate times
call for desperate measures...' Anna thought.
Anna performed her
'Super Duper Heart Melting Face Technique,' and switched to a child's pleading
voice.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty
please?"
"No."
"Pretty please
with sugar on top?"
"No."
"Oh come on,
Ryan!"
She stopped
abruptly. Ryan turned to look at her face. He kept his expression firm, but he
gave in.
"Fine."
"Yes!"
Ryan pulled off his
bandanna. The scar showed vividly in the gloomy light. Anna cringed.
"Ouch...how
did you get that?"
"Attacked by a
hunter."
"Whoa...You
were so insecure about that?"
Ryan's voice turned
stern.
"It's just
something I wish to forget."
"A moment of
weakness?"
"Did I ask
you?"
Anna backed off and
decided not to inquire any further.
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Ryan climbed the
short ladder to work the latch on the manhole cover. When it clicked, he leaned
into it, grunting, and it lifted enough for them to look through. They gazed
into what looked like a basement with a concrete floor, strewn with a few
cartons and crates, the room dimly lit from an uncertain light source. Anna
took the lead, hoisting herself quickly through the floor, Ryan close behind.
With a glance at the boxes, they crossed the basement to a set of stairs
leading upward.
"Let's not
forget to get some winter gear before we leave here," she said.
They went carefully
up the stairs, and at the top they instantly felt a chill. They were in the
living room. Sounds of the outside came from the dining room.
'An open window?'
Ryan thought.
He corrected
himself when he saw what caused the draft. There was a gaping hole in the
corner of the ceiling that went all the way through the roof. The dining room
table had been split in two. Wedged between the pieces was a huge red metal
cylinder the size of a garbage drum that had the white words "T-103"
and the red-striped Umbrella logo on its side.
Ryan was puzzled,
but Anna recognized the label.
Before they could
make a move, a hissing sound came from the cylinder as steam shot from long
cracks in the surface. A panel in the side of the cylinder fell to the floor,
and what they saw was a pale-skinned giant figure dressed in a black trench
coat. The figure's eyes snapped open.
Without thinking,
they both drew their weapons and fired simultaneously, all the while backing
up. Anna was aiming for the head, and Ryan for the kneecaps.
The volley of fire
didn't seem to deter the T-103.
'Damnit! Die!'
Ryan's mind screamed. In the aftermath of the first shots, he could hear a
creaking noise from behind them. The wall was moving to close them in.
The Tyrant rushed
toward them, its fist poised to strike. They both dodged to the side, narrowly
escaping the fist as it smashed into the wall where they had been.
Ryan and Anna
reloaded and fired again. The Tyrant loomed between them. It turned its face
toward Anna.
Ryan leveled both
his firearms at the hulk, and fired at the back of the its kneecaps.
On a lucky shot,
Anna punctured its right eye. It fell to one knee. Ryan thought he should run
for the door, but Anna stopped him.
"We need to
kill it or it will come after us until it's been neutralized!"
Ryan looked at his
hands. It was time to employ his seraph powers.
'But how?' he
thought.
Anna acted quickly,
and shot out the dining room light on the ceiling. Ryan wondered momentarily
why she would do that, but it quickly occurred to him¾ she was making it easier
for him to use his abilities.
Anna, who seemed to
be reading his mind, called out, "Reach out with your mind and 'search'
for the electricity. Then 'order' it to conduct and attack the T-103!"
Anna thrust her
fist forward and a jet of water shot out, hitting the T-103 squarely in the
face. The force was not enough to knock it over, but her plan was to help
Ryan's power with the electricity to be more effective.
Ryan closed his
eyes and tried to pull all his mental power together. For the first time, he
noticed that he could sense things that he couldn't normally sense before, but
he knew he could pay no attention to them now. He was feeling out for one
thing, and one thing only.
'Electricity,' he
thought.
"Hurry
up!" he heard Anna say. "It's getting up!"
Ryan's
concentration was slipping, when he felt a sensation all around him. Focusing
on the wires behind the walls, he found a source of electricity. Then, he
directed all of it to the blasted light fixture that hung above the Tyrant, and
he ordered it to strike.
He opened his eyes
and found the Tyrant only ten feet away from him, and bolts of electricity from
the ceiling were wrapping the figure in a glowing, spitting halo of high-power
current.
The water Anna had
called up multiplied the effect, as she had planned. But she knew that Ryan,
who had never before drawn on so much power, would be feeling a sudden
headache.
The lights in the
house flickered.
The Tyrant was
shaking violently, and holding its head as if in pain.
Anna saw Ryan
gripping his head in pain, but she could tell that his concentration still
held.
'Just a few more
seconds...' she silently urged him. 'Come on, Ryan!'
She knew that if he
continued, his brain could explode, but if he stopped, the Tyrant would simply
get up and kill them.
Just then there was
a dull explosion and a splattering noise, and the T-103 fell to the floor in a
lifeless heap.
Ryan broke his
concentration, almost falling to the floor, but Anna caught his arm.
"Nicely done,
Ryan," Anna said gratefully.
Ryan was busy
regaining his balance on his own. He shook off her grip.
"I'm
fine," he said coldly.
Without a word he
crossed the dining room, heading for the front door. As he reached it, the door
opened for him on the other side.
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Everyone had heard
the gunshots coming from Anna's house. There was no question about it: Someone
was alive in there.
'Probably not for
long if we don't get there fast,' Leon thought.
He saw the house
lights flicker from the distance.
'What the hell is
going on in there?'
When they reached
the house, they heard a faint 'thud' from inside.
Leon went for the
door and stopped, listening to the voices inside. There was a female voice that
he didn't recognize, but he clearly heard Ryan's voice from behind the door.
He yanked open the
door to find a surprised Ryan looking at him. Was that Anna, behind him?
He felt Sherry
pushing in front of him, and she reached out to embrace Ryan.
"Thank God
you're okay..." Sherry said. "Couldn't you have come back
sooner?"
Leon noticed that
Ryan's face darkened, and Anna suddenly found something very interesting about
her shoes.
"No...I
couldn't have. Sorry I worried you."
Leon looked at the
dining room and what was left of the Tyrant sprawled out on the floor.
"What happened
here?" he asked.
"A dead
Tyrant," Ryan responded. "Nothing else."
Leon wanted to
probe for more answers, but Claire interrupted.
"Come
on," she urged. "We have another lab to destroy."
Sherry let go of
her grip on Ryan, who was bent over digging through the front closet for
something warmer for him and Anna to wear. When he rose to walk out the door,
she went with him, and Anna followed.
When they reached
the hotel lobby, Ryan introduced everyone to Anna, and told them about the map
he had found.
"As we thought
before," Claire said, "it has only two floors."
"Where did you
get this, Ryan?" Leon asked.
"I...uhh...found
it the last time we went to the labs, I just forgot to show it to you
guys." Ryan wished they would drop the subject.
"Are you
sure?" Sherry asked. "I was with you the whole time, and I didn't see
you pick up a map."
"I picked it
up when we were in the file room. You weren't looking...my way. Can we go now?
We have a job to finish."
"Let's just
get some rest first," Chris said. "We need to be fresh in the
morning."
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As they went on
their way to their rooms, Ryan stopped Anna at the door and pulled her aside.
"What is
it?" she asked.
"Are you sure
you want to come?"
"O-of course.
Why not?"
"Because of
your former allegiance to Doctor Vickers."
Anna's expression
turned downcast.
"No. I'm not
sure I can go through with this. But I want to. He has to be stopped. And...I
want to save Mark."
Ryan paused to look
for the right words. When he didn't find any, he said it as straightforward as
he could.
"No offense,
but I think that it may already be too late for him."
Ryan was expecting,
"No you're wrong" or "He'll come to realize," but she
simply looked at the floor. She had no comeback.
Ryan started to
reach a hand out to her, but stopped. Shaking his head, he placed any ill
feelings for her aside, and reached for her shoulder. She looked at him with
tear-stained eyes.
"It'll be okay..."
he murmured to comfort her.
She just stared at
him. After all his coldness, this sudden show of affection took her by
surprise. For a second, he thought that Anna would hug him and start breaking
down, but only a few tears flowed down her face. Just the way that Ryan knew
her: independent and strong willed.
"Yeah..."
she muttered implacably.
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Sherry had been
watching Ryan and Anna talking. Anna had looked like she would break down at
any second, but surprisingly, she remained steadfast and barely cried. At what,
Sherry had no idea.
She leaned over to
Claire and whispered.
"Something's going
on here between those two. I don't like her."
Claire grinned.
"Jealous?"
Sherry went on the
defensive. "W...wha?! No, no! Not like that! He's like a brother to me.
Nothing more!"
Claire's grin
widened, if such a thing were possible. "Sure...whatever you say..."
Sherry was fuming
on the inside, but she controlled herself. This wasn't a time to act like
children. They were going to an Umbrella lab to destroy it. Whether it would be
their last time or not, no one could know.
'We're goin' to
survive this one...and all the labs afterwards if need be.' Sherry thought.
But she still
couldn't shake the feeling that something bad¾ something out of everyone's
league¾
could be around the corner.
My thanks go to:
Mayumi_H/Copyeditor
F.
Buckley/Proofreader
Red Kat 9/Beta
Reader
Catalina/Beta
Reader
Draft: 3/27/01
Final: 5/20/01