Resident Evil

 

Children of the Seraphs

By: Xenogears

 

1 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. The characters Ryan Joseph Davidson, Anna Yamaguchi and Mark belong exclusively to me and may not be used by anyone without my permission. The stories Resident Evil: Silver Blood, Resident Evil: The Seraphs and Resident Evil: Children of the Seraphs are also copyright of me, and my not be used in any way without my exclusive written permission.

 

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Ryan picked up the cell phone and GPS from the mailbox, and checked his weapons. He had his three pistols, and an MP5A3 concealed in a suitcase he was carrying. Everyone was carrying their own weaponry too, and anything big like a shotgun or a grenade launcher was hidden in a suitcase. He wore his hooded sweatshirt tied around his waist because of the seventy-degree June weather, but he didn't seem to mind.

The cell phone rang suddenly, and he answered.



"Go to the Skokie Lagoons," Vickers said. "I'll direct you to the exact location, but for now go to the lagoons."



"How do you know where I am?"



"I'm using a GPS. Now go."



"I swear, if you did anything to her, I will kill you so slowly, you'll be begging me to end your pain."



"I gave you no promise of her personal safety. Better hurry if you want to help her..." Vickers taunted with a chuckle.



"I'm gonna tear you limb from bloody Godforsaken limb!"



Ryan crushed the "off" button, and took the driver's seat.



"Ryan," Claire said. "Let me drive."



"No."



"Look, you're in emotional distress. You might cause an accident or something."



"I'll drive carefully." His voice was tense and measured.



Ryan pulled the car out slowly enough, but hit top gear once he was on the road.



"I thought you said you would drive carefully?!" Leon shouted.



"Trust me," Sherry commented. "He is."



'Dammit,' Ryan cursed. 'I'm so sorry, Anna, I'm so sorry for not being with you...just hold on. I promise I'll get to you...and I'll kill that bastard...'



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Ryan kept all of his concentration on driving. He was careful to slow down at cop "hot spots," but the rest of the time he sped down the road as fast as he could while still controlling the car.

When they reached the Skokie Lagoons, they were given another call from Vickers. The Skokie Lagoons weren't really lagoons at all; they were simply natural forest preserves with small lakes and a river running through.

When he parked the car, Vickers called him again and gave him directions through the forest.



"From your position," Vickers said. "Walk five hundred paces to the right, and then keep going left until you reach a river."



Everyone followed his directions and ended up at the river.



"Now, from here," Vickers said, "cross the river and then go seven-hundred and fifty paces to the north. You'll end up at a large tree."



After continuing in their heads for some time, Ryan began to count out loud.



"Six hundred three...six hundred four..." he counted with each of his steeps.



"Ryan, slow down," Sherry called to him.



Ryan then threw his hands up in frustration.



"Shit. You made me lose count. Back to the river, everybody!"



And once again, they followed the directions to the letter, and found themselves at the large tree. There was a sudden clanging noise, and the tree slid to the side, revealing a passageway that led down.

The passage was well lit, so they didn't have much trouble moving around. At the bottom of the passage was a metallic door, which opened when they approached it. What they saw surprised them.

They had expected to see the usual from Umbrella: a lab that was made almost completely of a steel-like substance. What they found was what one might expect at a fancy airport hotel -- a furnished hotel lobby done in deep reds and golds, with a mezzanine beyond.



"What the hell...?" Chris said out loud.



"Ah!"



Without warning, Ryan fell to the floor clutching his head.



"What's wrong, Ryan?" Claire asked.



"My head...it hurts...like a bitch..."



Ryan gave another grunt of pain, and then attempted to regain his balance. With the help of Chris, he was able to get back on his feet. But something didn't feel right, Ryan noted. His senses reverted to those of a normal human's, and he could no longer feel electricity around him. As a test, he concentrated and punched his fist forward, but nothing came out. He tried again, concentrating harder -- still nothing.



"My Seraph powers are...gone!" Ryan groaned.



"How do you know?" Leon asked.



"I just know!"



Suddenly, there was a hissing noise behind them and the door that they had used to enter the room was closed shut. Leon and Claire ran over to try to unlock it, but a loud blare from unseen loudspeakers stopped them.



"It won't do you any good to try and open that door," the voice boomed. "It's sealed."



Ryan recognized Dr. Vickers's voice.



"Let us go further," Ryan said into the ceiling.



"Let me think..." mocked Vickers. "Ummmmm...No. If you want to go on, then you must pass some tests I have designed for you."



There was another hissing noise, this time from the second floor of the room, and footsteps approached.



"I believe you met this kind of B.O.W. in Bhrams," said Vickers. "Let's see how you do against the Golem!"



Leon and Claire instantly recognized the figure that was stepping onto the mezzanine from a side entryway. It was a direct copy of the Silver Blood monster, but smaller. The muscular silver skin shone brightly in the light of the fake room, and their mouths showed their razor sharp teeth on their eyeless faces. They were horrified when three more came into view.



"Spread out!" Chris ordered.



Everyone quickly drew their best weapon and spread around the large open room, Chris with his AK-47, Leon with his Desert Eagle, Claire with her grenade launcher, Sherry with her two M-100P's, and Ryan with his MP5A3.



"A hairy predicament we got going on here, huh?" Claire commented, her back to Leon, as the Golems started to close in on them.



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Dr. Vickers looked at the monitors with a mixture of disappointment and exhilaration. The Golems were impressive creatures, but if this small team could defeat them, then they could not be deemed good enough to be used as guards. Still, there was more than one B.O.W. to deal with in the complex.



'I would like to see how they handle the Craws...' he thought.



"Very impressive," Vickers spoke into the microphone. "Please, move on to the next challenge."



He pressed a button, and a pair of doors opened across the room from the visitors. He checked his watch.



'Hmmm...' He thought with a smile. 'Perhaps I should go back to "check up" on Anna?'



Yes, that's exactly what he'd do.



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Chris tried to think of some way he could get them out of this without too much gunfire, but that thought was as quickly shot down as it was brought up. So, without too many options left, he switched his AK-47 to a three- shot burst, and aimed it at head level. He could take out at least one with a headshot.



PowPowPow!



After the shots were fired, one Golem lay on the ground dead, but the other three ran in separate directions around the room with remarkable speed.

Chris cursed, and looked around. He moved from his position just in time before a knee came crashing down in the place where he had just been standing. Judging by the direction the Golem had come from, it had aimed for his head.

Chris aimed to retaliate, but just as he was about to fire, the Golem had disappeared, and Claire was in his sights. He relaxed his aim, and allowed himself a moment of relief before returning his attention to the battle. Once again, the Golem came down onto the floor knee first, intent on crushing Chris' skull, and it had just as quickly retreated. He traced the passing blur to the upstairs balcony.



'Hit and run, eh?' Chris thought. 'That's a serious offense, boys.'



Chris waited for the Golem to jump down once more, and followed it with his eyes to the balcony.

He laid a spread fire in the area it had retreated to, and a loud hiss was heard. A moment later, the Golem lurched out from behind its hiding place, fell over the railing to the first floor and landed with a dull thud. It was still moving, slowly rising from the floor. Chris could count seven holes in its chest, and one just inches from its right kneecap. He didn't even bother to marvel at its endurance, and simply emptied the rest of his magazine into the monster, sending it to the floor once again.

His concern mounted when he found it was still breathing. Chris withdrew his Glock 17 and quickly fired two magazines into it before he had registered that it had died from excessive blood loss.



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Leon's eyes were fast enough to keep up with the creature, but his reflexes weren't as good as his eyes, so he found himself having a hard time hitting his mark. So far, he had counted that he had wasted seven out of eight rounds, and only one .50 caliber bullet had lodged itself in the Golem's abdomen. The creature was still running.

Leon paused to reload, and he suddenly found something powerful hitting him in the stomach. He fell several feet backward and tried to recover as quickly as he could. Judging by what the Golems had been capable of in Bhrams, he was surprised that his entire gut hadn't collapsed from the blow.

The Golem came at him with running strides, and with every bit of effort he had left Leon wrenched his body to the side.

Just a second later, there was a roar, and Leon looked over to the Golem to see that its entire left leg had been blown away. Claire was holding a grenade launcher pointed at the Golem. The Golem actually managed to stay on one foot and jump away, only to come back for Leon. By this time Leon was on his feet again and he dodged, making the Golem retreat once again. It was considerably slower, but still quick. But Leon had just enough time to replace the empty magazine and load a bullet into the empty chamber.

When the Golem came back again, it was met with an onslaught of .50 caliber rounds from Leon, and .38 caliber rifle fire from Claire.

It fell to the ground, gravely injured. Leon pointed his Desert Eagle at the Golem's head and fired, finishing it off.



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As Ryan soon found out, fully- and even semi-automatic sub machine guns were not his forte. He had counted less than ten bullets out of 64 -- two magazines -- had hit the Golem. What infuriated him even more, was that they were only 9mm bullets. If they were 5.56mm's, then he thought that the thing would be rolling on the ground by now. Even Sherry with her M-100P's was having trouble. He cursed as he withdrew his/Anna's Colt .45.

As he could tell, the Golem had no trouble at all moving around, and loved to do so: it would jump around a few times, usually five, and then come rushing in at Ryan, so it kept him on his toes.

After the fifth shot he fired, he hit the Golem in a kneecap while in mid- flight, sending it crashing to the ground.

There were mixed sounds of gunfire and the Golem shook as its body was riddled with bullets -- and even one napalm grenade -- from the others. It gave one last violent shudder, and then fell silent.



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The next room wasn't what they had expected. A large lit warehouse filled with crates and boxes piled up at least twenty feet high. Leon recognized it immediately as the Hunter room back at the Bhrams labs.



"Everyone," he said, his voice a whisper. "Watch out. If it's anything like what I encountered in Bhrams, there are probably Hunters in here..."



"Wha?" Ryan said nervously. "Y-you're kidding...right?"



"Sorry, Ryan, but no."



They readied their weapons. Leon his Desert Eagle Magnum; Claire her grenade launcher loaded with shrapnel rounds; Ryan his Colt .45; Chris his AK-47; and Sherry her Colt Python.

They stood in a back-to-back formation, waiting for any sign of trouble. After a few tense moments, Sherry spoke up.



"Are you sure there's even anything in here?" She said, her guard temporarily down. "I mean, look around. I don't see anything."



"Don't bet on it," Chris said. "If I know Hunters, they're pretty quiet until they want to strike. That can be anywhere between five seconds to five minutes."



A sound came from one corner of the room. Everyone's hearts jumped out of their throats, and they almost fired at the sound, until they found it was just a canister hitting the floor. Then again, it couldn't be just the wind.

Then came the bone-shaking cry of a hunter. It was followed by six more, and then the beings jumped out from behind the boxes. They were unlike any Hunters that they had encountered before. They possessed seven arms –- three to each side, one on the back -- along with one large eye in the center of their foreheads and a large, gaping mouth that resembled a pelican. They still had the standard characteristics of a Hunter, though: green, scaly skin; long, sharp claws; and that unmistakable cry.



"These apparently aren't our ordinary everyday freaks," Leon remarked.



"Since when are they 'ordinary?'" Chris replied sarcastically.



Everyone raised their weapons at the creatures and fired. Leon was sure that a few of them were hit, but they didn't even seem to realize it, for they just jumped high into the air, and latched themselves onto the ceiling.

Leon adjusted his aim, only to find that they were gone. He scanned the room with his Desert Eagle, a sickening panic rising from the pit of his stomach.

A blur of movement to the right. A blur of movement to the left. A blur of movement right in front of him.



"Hit the deck!" Leon shouted.



He said it just in time, for he saw the Hunters fly past where they had been standing, and saw their claws crash into the wall. All six of the Hunters were busy trying to get their appendages out of the concrete wall.

Leon fired his Desert Eagle into the closest one to him, hitting it squarely in the back. This time, it cried in pain, a large gaping hole in its back. But that's all it did. A shot like that, maybe one more, would have most likely killed a normal Hunter, but this one was still busying itself with its arm.

Just as Leon was about to fire again, Claire shouted "Fire in the hole!" and a shrapnel grenade went flying past him into the wounded creature, exploding in the hole that Leon had created. It screamed again, this time a gargling cry, and once again continued to try and get its claw out of the wall, but it seemed to loose all its strength, and fell limp. Leon was sure it was only because the shrapnel had punctured a few vital organs. He looked over to Claire and gave her a nod. She returned it with a smile.

He looked over to the others, and saw them busy with the other Hunters.

There were only three of them left, and they had dislodged their claws from the wall.

Two of the creatures were slowly walking towards them, as if they were enjoying watching them struggle. Leon took one, and fired off a shot. It hit its target, but the Hunter simply staggered a bit, then started to pick up its pace. Leon fired again, this time hitting it in the lower abdomen. The creature stumbled once again, and gave a cry of anger once it regained his balance.



'Come on,' Leon thought desperately. 'Die you--'



Click.



He had heard the unmistakable sound many times in his life, but never before had it seemed so loud as it did now. His magazine was empty. Deciding to scold himself for not reloading later, he dropped his Desert Eagle, and reached for his SPAS 12 that was slung over his shoulder.



'All right, now,' Leon thought. 'Be loaded with slugs, not 12 ought buck...'



Leon perched the gun in a head firing position, resting the stock against his shoulder, and waited for the Hunter to close in. He knew that he would have to be quick, for Hunters had a tendency to jump attack. If he went too soon, the creature would simply adjust its aim. If he was too slow, he'd be cut in half.

He watched its movements closely, waiting for the proper moment. He then saw the Hunter hunch bring its right claws back. He took that moment to run and dive forward. He saw it go overhead, and gave quick thanks to God. Just as he was about to stop sliding, he turned his body around and pulled the trigger.



BLAM! Cachunk.



The creature was hit by the 12-gauge slug in the right leg before it landed, and thus, fell forward. Leon got up and started to walk toward the Hunter, pulling the trigger every few steps. Once he was point blank and the Hunter was uselessly clawing at him for blowing off its legs, Leon stopped.



"See you in hell, you freakin' abnormality."



BLAM! Cahunk.



The slug tore right into its throat, and it gave one last gargle that Leon took as a cry, and it fell silent.

Leon looked over to the second Hunter, who just fell to the floor, punctured with various gunshot wounds all over its body.

Leon was about to get his gun and give the signal to go when Ryan spoke up.



"Uh, hey," he said nervously. "Wasn't there one more?"



Everyone's eyes went wide. Leon started to reload his shotgun, while the rest were busy looking around.

After a few moments, when they started to calm down a little, there was a sudden, high-pitched cry, and Ryan gave a yelp of surprise. Leon snapped his attention over to Ryan, who was now struggling to fend off a Hunter who was on top of him. Apparently, all its other arms had been blown off, for only its back arm remained. Leon didn't take any notice of that, though. He aimed his SPAS 12 and--

Shit. The shot was too risky. The Hunter nearly covered Ryan's entire form, and thus he wouldn't risk firing off a shot that could hit Ryan as well. But, still, he had to do something.



'But what?!' His mind screamed.



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Ryan had been scared to death of Hunters ever since that one back in Bhrams slashed him across the forehead and gave him his current scar. No one needed to remind him of that. So when he ended up in a room full of enhanced Hunters who seemed to be more resistant to pain and could take more overall punishment -- in short, one of his worst nightmares -- how else was he supposed to act?

He stepped back and ducked when Leon told him to. In fact, he was the first one to do so. After that, he fired off a shot or two, but the rest of the time he was too frightened to shoot them. Thankfully, now it looked like the ones that were coming for them were now dead, thanks to the others. Now, maybe they could --

Now wait a cotton pickin' minute. Aren't there more of those things?



"Uh, hey," Ryan said nervously. "Wasn't there one more?"



He could actually feel the shock in their eyes. They had been so busy with the first two survivors that they hadn't noticed the third one take cover behind the boxes at the far corner of the room. He gripped his switchblade in his left pocket, and started to pace nervously around the room as he started to give off a cold sweat.

The sudden Hunter cry a few minutes later made his heart jump out of his throat. He faced the source of the noise and saw it before the others did. Maybe the next thing that happened was a small part of his Seraph powers that hadn't been affected -- he didn't have time to guess -- but he actually saw the Hunter leap across the room in slow motion. A sudden panic washed over him once he realized the direction of the creature's jump. Him.

Time quickened back to a normal pace, and he felt a heavy weight smack him squarely in the chest, and send him to the floor, the back of his head hitting the ground. An explosion of pain went through him and his vision became blurred. His gun went flying out of his hand but he held on to consciousness for dear life, because he knew the end result if he failed to do so. He then saw the Hunter's dorsal arm raise and prepare to strike him. His body immediately cleared his vision and erased any pain he had as he brought his hand up to meet the claw.

One hand grabbed the thing's wrist, and the other grappled with the claw as if he were playing "Mercy." A new pain came rushing from his left hand grappling with the claw as it dug itself into the back of his hand, scraping his bone. He felt the wet warmness of blood seeping out of his hand.

He grunted in pain and focused all his strength into keeping the thing at bay until one of the others could get a good shot at it. He then realized that the Hunter was completely covering him, and that the only way the others would have a chance of rescuing him would be if they took the risk of hitting him as well.



'I'm not going to die!' He thought desperately. 'I'm going to save Anna!'



He knew that his .45 was knocked away, and that his other guns were out of reach. Then he remembered his switchblade. He quickly let go of the Hunter's wrist, and felt the claw come closer to his face. It was less than three inches away from him. The Hunter, perhaps thinking that it was winning, gave a small shrill, and he could feel the reek of its breath against his face. This caused Ryan to work faster. Using his now free hand, he grabbed his switchblade, and finding the switch he extended the blade. With a war cry, he jammed the blade into the space where the Hunter's head met its body, and sent it falling backward.



As soon as he was free, he dove for his .45. Grabbing it, he then turned his body toward the Hunter and fired off the remainder of his magazine. That, coupled with the firepower of the others, killed the Hunter quickly. Ryan got up and retrieved his switchblade, and cleaned it off. Only then did he examine his wound. It was bleeding pretty badly.



"Let me see that," Claire said as she came up to him. She took out a bottle of isopropyl alcohol from her side pack and quickly poured it over Ryan's wound. He cringed at the burning, but kept his mouth shut. Claire then wiped the wound clean and bandaged it. He could still feel hot, fresh pain throbbing from his left hand.



"Are you okay?" Sherry asked in a concerned tone, coming up close to him.



"Yeah," he answered, wringing out his hand. "It hurts and stings like a bitch, but I'm alive if that's what you're asking."



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Leon took the lead into the next room. This one was made to look like a bank of the Mississippi river: lush forests of green surrounding a large river. The trees and water looked and felt real, and even the temperature was fixed to make it feel like springtime. A wooden bridge connected the two sides of the river. There were no sounds or wind though, giving it a creepy feel.

They walked carefully, as they didn't want to disturb anything.



Rustle...



They stopped and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but they couldn't deny the sound. Leon gave a hand motion to stay silent, and they waited for any other noise to confirm their suspicions about not being alone.



Rustle...



This time, they readied their weapons, and looked further into the brush.



Rustle...snap!



Sherry gave out a yelp of surprise as she fell to the ground. She fired her .380 seven times at the thing that was holding her leg until there was a gurgling sound, and then once again, silence.



"What was that?" Leon asked.



"It was a claw," Sherry responded as she rubbed the area where she had been grabbed. "That's all it was: an over sized claw!"



Then there were the sounds of cicadas off in the distance, mixed with the sounds of snapping.



"Run!" Leon commanded.



They took to their heels across the bridge, and didn't look behind them as they crossed it. Leon turned around and levied for Ryan's switchblade. Ryan tossed it to him, and Leon then cut the ropes that were holding the bridge to a post, making it unusable. They started forward, when the sounds of the cicadas and snapping greeted them from the new side. Leon gave a silent curse, and aimed his gun at the brush.



"Uh...I don't mean to make it sound worse than it already is," Sherry said. "But look behind us."



Everyone else turned around and saw what had to be hundreds of the claw monsters climbing into the river, and they started to swim across.



"Oh, shit," was Claire's reaction.



"We don't have much of a choice. Go!"



And once again, they started to flee from the creatures, this time going straight through their lines. As Leon ran through the forest, he could feel their presence and the snapping at his legs. He was about to give up the hope that they were going in the right direction, when he could see a metal door in the distance. Form here, it looked as if it were floating in midair with more of the forest behind it.

There was a 'Whoa!' from Claire, and Leon looked over to her to see that a claw had grappled on her leg. Leon instantly aimed his Desert Eagle and blew the abomination to shreds. He ran over to her, helping her to her feet. The spot where she had been grabbed was bleeding slightly, but Claire had also fallen in a wrong way, so her leg was in pain.



"I think I twisted it," she said, referring to her ankle.



"Can you get up?" Leon asked, his voice laced with disquiet.



"Yeah."



With the help of Leon, Claire was able to get to her feet just as the gunfire started. The others were covering them. Leon could see the door clearly now. Only twenty yards away. Thinking he could save more time, he picked Claire up and ran toward the door.



"Hmmm...my knight in shining armor has come to carry me away..." Claire calmly mocked.



"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" Leon asked.



"Because being in your arms is like being in the safest place in the world."



Leon grinned. A few moments later, they reached the door, and as soon as the others came in after them, Leon punched the 'lock' button on the control panel, bringing it down on an approaching claw monster. It squirmed and tried to get free, but the door held it firmly in place.



"Bite me." Leon hissed.



Leon brought his boot down on the part of the creature that was in the room they were currently in, closing the door behind it. There were several hits at the door, and repeated cicada sounds, but the door remained firm.



The group took a look at their new surroundings. They had finally reached the lab part of Dr. Vickers hideout.



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Dr. Vickers looked around at the corpse in front of him. He had been one of the human test subjects that he bought off of some slave trader from a third-world country. The first had been fed to the Hunters. Vickers smiled as he recalled what had happened.

The first person had been dragged from their holding cell and brought to a wide and open pit, one that was closed with a one-sided door lock to keep anything from getting out. The man had begged for his life in every way imaginable, offering him even money, but Vickers had simply ignored him and pressed the button to release the Hunters.

The man gave a scream of terror as the various doors in the pit began to open, and very hungry Hunters began to fill the pit. They rushed at him, and his screams soon became gargled as his throat was ripped open. The Hunters literally tore him apart, and left only what was left of his epidermis and clothing.

The hunters then went back to their cells, and waited for their next meal.

The new body in front of him was dead due to the result of injection of one of the Seraph viruses. The former young woman's blood type was not compatible with the virus, so it killed her, slowly and very, very painfully. After she had taken the syringe out of her arm, she had begun to shake violently as if she was having seizure. Within the next few seconds, she gave an inhuman scream, and her veins began to pop out of her skin, something that was medically impossible by today's standards.

Then, her skin began to actually turn inside out, and she was screaming all the way. When her brain along with her other vital organs had begun to show -- Vickers guessed that it was because of her bones melting away, but even he couldn't be sure of that -- her screams had stopped, but she was still shaking, and the heart was still beating, which meant she was still alive. She had finally stopped when her entire body had been turned inside out, which by Vickers watch, took about twenty minutes.

Vickers called for his assistants, and they hauled the corpse off, with orders to throw it in the Hunter pit.

Also judging by his watch, if the intruders had indeed survived, they should have been out of the Craw testing ground by now. Vickers considered it a pity that he could only make three testing grounds, even though he had somehow managed to get back under the payroll of Umbrella, saying that as soon as he got the viruses back from the terrorists, he would give them to the higher ups ASAP. Of course Vickers had had the viruses all along. He just needed to get some decent funding. Who gave a damn about Umbrella? If he could get a decent army of Seraphs and brainwash them, then he had nothing to fear from them. Hell, he could even destroy them.

One thought popped into his head. Maybe he would let the intruders make it as far as to his personal lab. Then he could somehow apprehend them. What made him want to do this, was to let Ryan see Anna and all the mental and physical trauma she had endured. To make him feel an emotional pain similar to the one that Vickers himself had felt when Mark was killed.

He remembered that that was the only time he had cried since childhood. He cried out of the loss of a fine specimen, not a son of sorts. His crying eventually subsided and then that sadness slowly manifested itself into rage. Now, he was given the opportunity to release his rage, and he would.

It was going to be a fine day for him, oh yes it was.



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"Welcome," came Vickers voice over the loud speakers. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you at last. Please come in my most expected guests."



"What have you done to Anna?" Ryan growled back at the voice.



"Why don't you come to where I am to find out? I'll lead you to me."



"Ha!" Sherry said. "You think that after putting us though all of that based on your directions, were going to listen to you again?"



But Ryan wasn't listening. He was still bent on finding Anna.



"Where do we go?" Ryan asked.



"Easy," Vickers replied.



"Ryan!" Leon protested. "What makes you think you can trust him?"



"I don't care if I trust him or not. I need to find Anna. I just got the feeling that he'll lead me to her." Ryan replied without emotion, or recognition of the others.



Vickers gave them the directions, which they followed. He led them down several twisting corridors, and they eventually ended up at a hallway with a single door at the end.



"Stop," came Vickers command.



They complied and waited for the next set of directions.



"Ryan," Vickers said. "Enter the door at the end of the hallway. Alone."



"Don't do it Ryan!" Claire told him.



But, as if in a trance, Ryan took a few steeps forward. That was when Claire grabbed him. Ryan quickly retaliated by grabbing Claire by the arm and restraining her. Leon was about to help her when Ryan spoke in a menacing tone:



"You will not stop me from helping her. Ya get me?" His grip on her arm loosened a bit, and his voice softened at his next words. "She saved my life before. Now it's my turn to save hers."



Ryan then gently released his grip on Claire and continued down the hallway in a determined walk. This time no one stopped him. Ryan soon disappeared behind the door. After that, a blast door suddenly slammed down in front of them, and the door behind them was sealed shut. There was a hissing sound, and yellow smoke began to vent out of the ventilation shaft.

Everyone tried to find another way out, but none could be found in the short time limit they had. They started to hack and wheeze, and then, one by one, they all fell to the floor.



= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =



Ryan entered the new laboratory cautiously. He kept a firm hand around his Beretta 92 and his other hand close to his pocketed switchblade. The room looked like operating rooms that could be found in hospitals around the country. It wasn't very big, but it was enough to send shivers down one's spine.

At one end of the room stood Dr. Vickers. He had had a little plastic surgery done on his face, Ryan could tell, but he still looked very similar to the last time Ryan had met him.



"Hello, Ryan," Vickers greeted in an eerily friendly voice.



"I want her back," was Ryan's only reply.



Vickers paced around the room a little. He stopped at a table at one corner of the room and picked up two empty glass vials. He twiddled them around in his fingers a bit, then looked straight at Ryan.



"Do you know what these are?" Vickers asked.



Ryan shook his head.



"These are the vials that contained the viruses that were infused into both you and Anna."



Vickers held up one of them.



"This was the AW-virus," Vickers then held up the other. "And this was the AE²-virus."



Vickers then walked over to Ryan and placed them in his hand. Memories of the virus being infused into him made him flush with anger. Ryan quickly pocketed the vials, each of them filled with bad memories.



"What are these for?" Ryan asked with dangerous edge to his voice.



"Nothing," Replied Vickers. "Just think of it as a gift, Ryan."



"I want her back!" Ryan repeated, this time shouting.



"You will see her soon enough," Vickers sternly answered. "You kids these days have no patience."



Vickers then turned his back to Ryan and walked to the other side of the room. Ryan clenched his fists in rage, and gritted his teeth.



"I don't have any time for this crap!"



Vickers once again ignored him, and continued on.



"Do you know what the word 'Seraphim' means?" Vickers asked.



"I'm an Atheist. How would I know anything about the bible, or whatever?"



"The Seraphim are the highest choir of Angel in Heaven."



"So?"



"So? Can't you see? I have found a way to make humans into Angels. You are an Angel of Heaven, Ryan. You have been bestowed the great gift of bringing balance back to the world."



"What the hell are you talking about?"



"My dream, Ryan, is to purify the human race. By loading the Seraph ambrosia into a few missiles and firing them at key points in the world, the unworthy will perish, and a new race of human will be born. A race under the eyes of God. The Seraph!" Vickers' voice had taken a tone of madness, and he raised his hands to the ceiling as if he were preaching to the choir, as he spoke the last few sentences.



"At first I thought you were crazy," Ryan said venomously. "Now I know that you're well beyond that."



"Why do you want to save her?" Vickers asked out of the blue.



Ryan took a mental step backwards. He wasn't expecting this kind of question from the supposed madman. He took a few minutes to go over the reasons he had, and when he finished, he found that he had none. Or at least none that he was willing to admit.



"I..." was all Ryan could say.



Vickers gave a chuckle.



"Is that all you can say? 'I'? My, my, Mr. Davidson. You are quite a pathetic person if you don't have a better reason than that. Or have you forgotten that she is carrying your children?"



Ryan dropped his head, then raised it to meet the back of the crazed scientist. No, he wouldn't give him that pleasure. He had too much honor to defend here.



"My reasons are not of your concern," Ryan said in a defiant tone. "They are for me to know and for you to wonder."



Vickers turned to Ryan once again, this time with a huge smile on his face.



"I already know the reason you're here. You don't need to deny it. Go ahead and say it, it'll give you a peace of mind."



"How about this," Ryan replied, his voice full of sarcasm. "I give you the finger," He proceeded to do so. "And then you turn Anna over to me while I still have the thought of letting you live linger in my mind."



Vickers' smile turned to a frown.



"And how about this? No."



Vickers then raised his hand, and Ryan felt a stinging sensation in the side of his neck. He looked around the room, and saw a lab assistant holding a dart rifle. Ryan looked at his neck and saw a red dart lodged in his neck. He started to stumble over to the person that had fired at him, but by the time he had reached half way, the drowsiness and vision blur had all but overtaken him. His last thought before he lost consciousness, was hopefully it wasn't a poison dart.









As you can tell by the differences between the draft and final dates, this has been on my PC for a long freaking time. I must also apologize to the readers for the long delay; I had a whole bunch of stuff going on, so I couldn't remember to send this to my editors, let alone post it.



Draft: 7/2/01 (9:29PM)



Final: 6/1/02 (9:10PM)



Ja ne!