Resident Evil: Return of a Nightmare
Chapter 9
By Windra
Rowan had grown extremely dizzy since they had left the cell area. She was seeing double from time to time, and was getting light-headed. She shook her head, not sure what was happening to her, only to pause for a minute as the world began to spin.
Brad paused and looked back at her, and Rachel and Justin stopped as well. The former S.T.A.R.S. member walked up to her, and Rachel walked beside him, slowly pressing her wrist to her forehead. Her eyes softened.
"You're burning up," she said slowly, cocking her head.
"Do you have a medical room around here?" Brad asked.
"Yeah, it's upstairs..."
"I'll be fine...," Rowan murmered quietly, her voice somewhat out of tune.
"Kiddo," Justin whispered, stepping up beside her, "we gotta take care of that fever."
"No...seriously, I'll be okay..."
She was trying desperately to get them to keep going again, not wanting to slow them down. The other three could see the desperation on her face, and nodded, keeping close to Rowan.
There was only one problem...
The lights suddenly went off. The group stopped, looking around worriedly, chittering about Damien shutting the power off, but the words only came as murmers to Rowan.
She heard light footsteps behind her, but didn't know if the others noticed or not. Maybe it was because of her sicknesses, as rumors say that, when one sense grows weak, another grows stronger. And her hearing had become very sharp.
She was dimly aware of an arm wrapping around her head and mouth before she was enveloped in her own darkness.
Around two minutes after the lights went out, they flickered back on. The three remaining group members looked around the room in total confusion, not sure of what happened. They turned to look at Rowan, only to find that she was gone.
**********
[i]Please tell me I'm just dreaming...[/i]
Those were one of the many thoughts that raced across her mind as Rowan dwindled in darkness. She was seeing visions of the past...so many images of her friends, of the happier times in her life. But those only lasted so long before she began to see the horrors of late September that year, of the things she wanted desperately to forget.
She felt someone shaking her lightly, and she could feel the cold, cement floor below her. Her body felt cold, but burning inside. Over it all she could feel the delirium of her fever.
She groaned slowly, cracking open a single eye and feeling dizzy as she saw the world spinning. Wincing slightly, she opened her other eye and, as her vision cleared, could make out a young face hovering above her.
She blinked, then let out a low, slurred, "Wha?"
"Are you okay?" a younger voice asked in concern, cocking her head.
Rowan blinked in confusion, then began to sit up, looking at the person beside her and clutching her own forehead.
The girl beside her was young, around twelve-years-old. She had short blonde-brown hair that went down to her chin and had blue eyes. She had a red hair band on her head and wore a red tee-shirt with a black one underneath it. She wore a black skirt, black socks and a pair of black and white sneakers.
Rowan blinked again, then slowly nodded her head. "Fine...I think. Who are you?"
The child held out a small hand and smiled. "My name's Sherry...Sherry Birkin."
[i]Birkin? I heard that name before...[/i]
Rowan held out her own hand and shook Sherry's. "I'm Rowan Naton." She pulled away then, looking around the room they were in.
They were in a small cement room, a wooden door to the left of the room. They could reach it easily, had they not been in a steel cell like the ones her, Brad, and Justin had been in.
"Where are we...?" she said weakly.
Sherry shook her head. "The basement of this place, I think... I was brought here by a man...He brought you here, too."
Rowan cocked her head. "A man?"
The other girl nodded. "Yeah, he just left a second ago-"
She stopped as footsteps sounded nearby, and the door opened. A tall man walked into the room, frowning slightly. He had buzzcut brown hair and wore a pair of sunglasses that concealed his eyes. He wore a black leather bullet-proof vest and a navy blue long-sleeved shirt under it. He also had on a pair of navy blue-black jeans and black army boots. The thing about him that bothered her the most was that his skin was an almost ghostly white.
He paused, then looked at the cell, smiling when he saw that Rowan was awake, and walked up to the cell's door.
"Thank God you're awake!" he gasped. "I brought you down here after you had passed out upstairs. I was so worried!"
Rowan rose a brow, but backed away slightly. "Yeah, you took me away from my friends."
"Friends?" The man shook with laughter. "Honestly, you thought those people were good? I know them, and they aren't friendly."
The girl ignored that comment, and watched as the man walked up to her. "My name is Albert Wesker, and I can help you get out of here."
Something in her mind clicked, and Rowan remembered the words Jill had told her when she first met up with her and Brad in Raccoon City.
[i]"The S.T.A.R.S. team was divided into two groups. The Alpha Team had me, Brad, Barry Burton, Joseph Frost, Chris Redfield, and...Albert Wesker."[/i]
Rowan got on all fours and began to crawl backwards from Wesker's outstretched hand, growling, "Get away..."
Wesker rose a brow as he continued to advance. "What's wrong? I mean no harm."
[i]"Enrico was shot down by someone we thought was on our side...Wesker. It turned out Wesker was working with White Umbrella, a branch of Umbrella that specialized in bioweapons experiments."[/i]
"Stay away..."
"You're just a bit delirious, that's all. It's okay, I won't hurt you."
[i]"He had threatened Barry that he would have his men kill his family if Barry didn't cooperate, so Barry was forced to cover up for him. But when Barry overheard Wesker tell me that no one was waiting outside of Barry's house to kill his family, he ran in and gave Wesker a smack on the head with his gun. Wesker soon came to his senses, sicked the Tyrant on us, and put a self-destruct sequence on the mansion, but was killed by his own creation in the process."[/i]
"I swear I won't hurt you!" Wesker cried.
Rowan was royally pissed off. The anger and fear welled up inside her until she let it all out in two words.
"FUCK OFF!"
Wesker froze, looking at her in slight shock, but then frowning. "Language, child, I mean no harm."
Sherry was shaking with fear, looking at Rowan and Wesker, not sure who to side with. Rowan never broke eye contact with Wesker.
"You're a lying sack of Umbrella scum...," she hissed.
Wesker frowned deeper. "I beg to differ. I may work with Umbrella, but they have done nothing wrong. They are just a pharmaceutical company that makes medecine to-"
"-turn people, animals, and plants into flesh-eating, mindless monsters," Rowan finished for him with a growl. "And you used to work for the S.T.A.R.S. Team in Raccoon City, you were the leader, actually. But you betrayed them."
Wesker opened his mouth to speak again, but Rowan cut him off. "You used them and tried to kill all of them, but were unsuccessful. The problem? You were killed! But how are you alive?"
Albert gritted his teeth, knowing that this girl knew way too much. "Brat...," he hissed, placing his right hand on his sunglasses. "Fine, you are correct, but I am still alive. Do you wish to know how?"
Before she could answer, the man slipped off his sunglasses, revealing two yellow reptillian eyes. Sherry gasped, jumping back and shivering, and Rowan simply stared at him.
"You injected a virus into yourself, didn't you?"
Had he been able to control his rage, Wesker would have realized he was about to let everything about him slip. "Yes, the G-Virus, right before I...'died'. I came back with super human powers, and now I am strong enough so that no one can stop me!"
"You wish...," Rowan whispered, and Wesker glared at her, quickly wrapping his hand around her neck lightly and lifting her above him. Rowan was too weak to reach for her dagger.
"What did you say, little girl?" Wesker hissed.
"I said 'you WISH!'" she spat. "You will be stopped, whether you like it or not!"
"Oh? And how do you suppose that that will happen?"
Rowan gave a maniacal grin, and, in a split second, sent her foot flying into his crotch. Wesker's eyes widened as he crumpled to the ground, his grasp on Rowan's neck loosening.
"Super human or not, you still have that weakness!"
The girl looked at Sherry, and the younger child knew automatically what to do. Sherry jumped up and ran to the door, closely followed by Rowan, who slammed the cell door shut and locked it. The two darted out of the room, Rowan stumbling over her dizziness, and Wesker managed to get on his feet, running to the door of the cell and grabbing onto it. He twisted it off of the hinges, and blasted through the door the two children ran through.
The children were nowhere in sight, and Wesker gave a loud growl, kicking the cement wall and leaving a large dent in it. He frowned and began running down the hall, searching for them.
Rowan and Sherry, in the meantime, had gotten into a nearby ceiling vent and watched him run. When he was well out of sight, the two snickered, and headed off to the opposite direction in the vent.
They would get out of the building. They would find Brad, Rachel, and Justin, and then they would all get out. They had to, or they would feel Damien and Wesker's wrath.
*~*~*~*~**~
Special thanks to Qwerty for the Wesker idea!
Chapter 9
By Windra
Rowan had grown extremely dizzy since they had left the cell area. She was seeing double from time to time, and was getting light-headed. She shook her head, not sure what was happening to her, only to pause for a minute as the world began to spin.
Brad paused and looked back at her, and Rachel and Justin stopped as well. The former S.T.A.R.S. member walked up to her, and Rachel walked beside him, slowly pressing her wrist to her forehead. Her eyes softened.
"You're burning up," she said slowly, cocking her head.
"Do you have a medical room around here?" Brad asked.
"Yeah, it's upstairs..."
"I'll be fine...," Rowan murmered quietly, her voice somewhat out of tune.
"Kiddo," Justin whispered, stepping up beside her, "we gotta take care of that fever."
"No...seriously, I'll be okay..."
She was trying desperately to get them to keep going again, not wanting to slow them down. The other three could see the desperation on her face, and nodded, keeping close to Rowan.
There was only one problem...
The lights suddenly went off. The group stopped, looking around worriedly, chittering about Damien shutting the power off, but the words only came as murmers to Rowan.
She heard light footsteps behind her, but didn't know if the others noticed or not. Maybe it was because of her sicknesses, as rumors say that, when one sense grows weak, another grows stronger. And her hearing had become very sharp.
She was dimly aware of an arm wrapping around her head and mouth before she was enveloped in her own darkness.
Around two minutes after the lights went out, they flickered back on. The three remaining group members looked around the room in total confusion, not sure of what happened. They turned to look at Rowan, only to find that she was gone.
**********
[i]Please tell me I'm just dreaming...[/i]
Those were one of the many thoughts that raced across her mind as Rowan dwindled in darkness. She was seeing visions of the past...so many images of her friends, of the happier times in her life. But those only lasted so long before she began to see the horrors of late September that year, of the things she wanted desperately to forget.
She felt someone shaking her lightly, and she could feel the cold, cement floor below her. Her body felt cold, but burning inside. Over it all she could feel the delirium of her fever.
She groaned slowly, cracking open a single eye and feeling dizzy as she saw the world spinning. Wincing slightly, she opened her other eye and, as her vision cleared, could make out a young face hovering above her.
She blinked, then let out a low, slurred, "Wha?"
"Are you okay?" a younger voice asked in concern, cocking her head.
Rowan blinked in confusion, then began to sit up, looking at the person beside her and clutching her own forehead.
The girl beside her was young, around twelve-years-old. She had short blonde-brown hair that went down to her chin and had blue eyes. She had a red hair band on her head and wore a red tee-shirt with a black one underneath it. She wore a black skirt, black socks and a pair of black and white sneakers.
Rowan blinked again, then slowly nodded her head. "Fine...I think. Who are you?"
The child held out a small hand and smiled. "My name's Sherry...Sherry Birkin."
[i]Birkin? I heard that name before...[/i]
Rowan held out her own hand and shook Sherry's. "I'm Rowan Naton." She pulled away then, looking around the room they were in.
They were in a small cement room, a wooden door to the left of the room. They could reach it easily, had they not been in a steel cell like the ones her, Brad, and Justin had been in.
"Where are we...?" she said weakly.
Sherry shook her head. "The basement of this place, I think... I was brought here by a man...He brought you here, too."
Rowan cocked her head. "A man?"
The other girl nodded. "Yeah, he just left a second ago-"
She stopped as footsteps sounded nearby, and the door opened. A tall man walked into the room, frowning slightly. He had buzzcut brown hair and wore a pair of sunglasses that concealed his eyes. He wore a black leather bullet-proof vest and a navy blue long-sleeved shirt under it. He also had on a pair of navy blue-black jeans and black army boots. The thing about him that bothered her the most was that his skin was an almost ghostly white.
He paused, then looked at the cell, smiling when he saw that Rowan was awake, and walked up to the cell's door.
"Thank God you're awake!" he gasped. "I brought you down here after you had passed out upstairs. I was so worried!"
Rowan rose a brow, but backed away slightly. "Yeah, you took me away from my friends."
"Friends?" The man shook with laughter. "Honestly, you thought those people were good? I know them, and they aren't friendly."
The girl ignored that comment, and watched as the man walked up to her. "My name is Albert Wesker, and I can help you get out of here."
Something in her mind clicked, and Rowan remembered the words Jill had told her when she first met up with her and Brad in Raccoon City.
[i]"The S.T.A.R.S. team was divided into two groups. The Alpha Team had me, Brad, Barry Burton, Joseph Frost, Chris Redfield, and...Albert Wesker."[/i]
Rowan got on all fours and began to crawl backwards from Wesker's outstretched hand, growling, "Get away..."
Wesker rose a brow as he continued to advance. "What's wrong? I mean no harm."
[i]"Enrico was shot down by someone we thought was on our side...Wesker. It turned out Wesker was working with White Umbrella, a branch of Umbrella that specialized in bioweapons experiments."[/i]
"Stay away..."
"You're just a bit delirious, that's all. It's okay, I won't hurt you."
[i]"He had threatened Barry that he would have his men kill his family if Barry didn't cooperate, so Barry was forced to cover up for him. But when Barry overheard Wesker tell me that no one was waiting outside of Barry's house to kill his family, he ran in and gave Wesker a smack on the head with his gun. Wesker soon came to his senses, sicked the Tyrant on us, and put a self-destruct sequence on the mansion, but was killed by his own creation in the process."[/i]
"I swear I won't hurt you!" Wesker cried.
Rowan was royally pissed off. The anger and fear welled up inside her until she let it all out in two words.
"FUCK OFF!"
Wesker froze, looking at her in slight shock, but then frowning. "Language, child, I mean no harm."
Sherry was shaking with fear, looking at Rowan and Wesker, not sure who to side with. Rowan never broke eye contact with Wesker.
"You're a lying sack of Umbrella scum...," she hissed.
Wesker frowned deeper. "I beg to differ. I may work with Umbrella, but they have done nothing wrong. They are just a pharmaceutical company that makes medecine to-"
"-turn people, animals, and plants into flesh-eating, mindless monsters," Rowan finished for him with a growl. "And you used to work for the S.T.A.R.S. Team in Raccoon City, you were the leader, actually. But you betrayed them."
Wesker opened his mouth to speak again, but Rowan cut him off. "You used them and tried to kill all of them, but were unsuccessful. The problem? You were killed! But how are you alive?"
Albert gritted his teeth, knowing that this girl knew way too much. "Brat...," he hissed, placing his right hand on his sunglasses. "Fine, you are correct, but I am still alive. Do you wish to know how?"
Before she could answer, the man slipped off his sunglasses, revealing two yellow reptillian eyes. Sherry gasped, jumping back and shivering, and Rowan simply stared at him.
"You injected a virus into yourself, didn't you?"
Had he been able to control his rage, Wesker would have realized he was about to let everything about him slip. "Yes, the G-Virus, right before I...'died'. I came back with super human powers, and now I am strong enough so that no one can stop me!"
"You wish...," Rowan whispered, and Wesker glared at her, quickly wrapping his hand around her neck lightly and lifting her above him. Rowan was too weak to reach for her dagger.
"What did you say, little girl?" Wesker hissed.
"I said 'you WISH!'" she spat. "You will be stopped, whether you like it or not!"
"Oh? And how do you suppose that that will happen?"
Rowan gave a maniacal grin, and, in a split second, sent her foot flying into his crotch. Wesker's eyes widened as he crumpled to the ground, his grasp on Rowan's neck loosening.
"Super human or not, you still have that weakness!"
The girl looked at Sherry, and the younger child knew automatically what to do. Sherry jumped up and ran to the door, closely followed by Rowan, who slammed the cell door shut and locked it. The two darted out of the room, Rowan stumbling over her dizziness, and Wesker managed to get on his feet, running to the door of the cell and grabbing onto it. He twisted it off of the hinges, and blasted through the door the two children ran through.
The children were nowhere in sight, and Wesker gave a loud growl, kicking the cement wall and leaving a large dent in it. He frowned and began running down the hall, searching for them.
Rowan and Sherry, in the meantime, had gotten into a nearby ceiling vent and watched him run. When he was well out of sight, the two snickered, and headed off to the opposite direction in the vent.
They would get out of the building. They would find Brad, Rachel, and Justin, and then they would all get out. They had to, or they would feel Damien and Wesker's wrath.
*~*~*~*~**~
Special thanks to Qwerty for the Wesker idea!