Chapter Ten: Another reason behind me wanting to finish this so quickly is cause I start my first offical job on Tuesday. I'll still keep writing (I'm thinking a sequel to this) but I've got a heck of a lot of chapters go to…
Birkin: She's got three chapters left.
Author: Shut up!
Birkin: What? Its true!
Author: Meh. You want to do the disclaimer?
Birkin: The Author owns nothing of what you see here, not me, Not Annette-not Wesker-not Resident Evil. She claims a few characters-namely Irene Wesker, Sherry Delaney, Michael Redfield, and many other NPCS who there are no names for.
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Never pretend to a love, which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
Alan Watts
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Spencer Mansion
"Fuck 24 Hours." She shot to her feet; "I'm getting you out of there now.
"I just-" Annette stared at the window and looked back down the hallway, "Need to think of a way how." She growled at herself and shot back down the way she'd come-the empty labs echo with the sound of her running feet.
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Spencer Mansion Morgue
"She…left."
"Probably came to her senses." Wesker said from the floor, "She's an Umbrella employee with the same training that we have. She wouldn't make a stupid mistake like trying to free two infected men."
William Birkin slid down from the wall and stared out of the window like a dog that had just seen its perspective owner walk down the street.
"William why are you so concerned about her?" Wesker coughed, "Its not like she-well she-"
She's the woman I'm dating.
Did that mean anything?
"Do you think we're infected?" Birkin said. His voice thick with emotion, "Honestly?"
"Honestly I'm not sure."
Everything serious, inhuman, and cold rushed out of Birkin in an instant.
"I don't want to die like this." He whimpered, "Wesker…I don't want to die like this. Here-alone underground."
"Don't worry…." Wesker's voice picked itself up in pitch, "Everything will be okay."
I hope.
"I hope…everyone knows what to do upstairs."
"You shouldn't have walked into the cafeteria like that." Wesker snorted, "Although I would have given a hundred bucks to see the look on their faces!"
"They're so ignorant." Birkin shook his head and wondered where "they" all were now, "Woods-she asked me if we were going to keep her and the rest of them safe."
"That's our job you know." Wesker sighed, "keeping people safe."
Birkin said nothing as he turned his head against the wall to listen for the sound of Annette's returning.
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Raccoon City Woods
A few miles outside of town.
If you chanced to be an animal on the eve that all these things were occurring-and if you chanced to be in a particular part of the forest-at a specific time-you would be treated to a very strange sight.
Michael Redfield, Chief of the Raccoon City Fire Department-and Mrs. Sherry Delaney Raccoon Medical Examiner-fleeing through the forest as if the hounds of hell itself were on their heels.
"Come on!" Michael Redfield leapt a log that had dropped itself in their path, "Run!"
"What were those things?" Sherry panted, "Why-Why were they in the house? That house is abandoned-I don't think anyone-anyone in town knows its there-"
Michael did not turn back. Ahead the landscape sloped upward. Train tracks crossed their path like scars on the landscape.
"We have to run! Keep moving!" he knew, he'd always known. Wesker had told him-and in a way the reason why they'd kept the mansion out in the backwoods had told him too.
Claire, Chris…how could your parents have brought you into such a horrible world? How could I have been a part of it?
He was a fireman, he put out fires. He was a good guy.
"Michael!" Sherry Delaney was panting heavily now, "What-What the hell-Where-Where are we going?"
"Over." On the other side of the tracks they would come to a wide green field. The other mansion couldn't be too far away-
And all around them night was descending fast.
Sherry wiped a hand through her hair, Redfield. What the hell were you and Umbrella doing here? What happened to those hikers? To that kid…. even running she could see that poor defenseless little girl-sitting in her tent-watching her sister…
Michael stumbled up the hill to the train tracks and emerged into a wide-open area filled with grass. In the distance the last rays of the setting sun dotted the tree-filled all American landscape with a rainbow of light.
There were three things wrong with this image.
Michael was looking at a police car, a Raccoon City Police Car. There was also a Highway patrol car-crudely stashed beneath the lengthening shadows of the trees. Amongst the cars were…personal affects. They were arranged as if for a graveyard, the cars were parked in a circle around various items that were worn away by the rain and elements.
Holy Shit.
"Michael! You need to tell me what's going on right now! Otherwise-I'm just going to fuck it and arrest-" Sherry came over the hill and stopped, "You."
"My god."
"All those disappearances." Sherry scrambled down the hill to the graveyard, "All those people who vanished in the woods. All those disappearances that Chief Irons covered up."
Michael turned to her, "Covered up?"
"He-" Sherry gripped her wrists, making a wall to protect herself from the horrors that were in this singular place, "He said-He said that there were coyotes. Wild animals. He called the EPA he said-he said-"
Michael saw the dim outlines of the red EPA truck parked in the shadow of one of the trees.
"You think they got his phonecall?"
"This can't happen!"
Sherry dropped to her knees.
"Oh god…this can't happen. Chief Irons loves this city, he told me so. He said, "Its like a lady we all have to protect. He-he was a good man. He brought in a criminal-he gave everyone a fair trial-he didn't bribe any judges…and I believed him! I believed him when THIS was going on!" she gestured helplessly at the parked cars, "All these people…whatever was in that place…that horrible, horrible place…"
"Sherry…" Michael stepped over cautiously, "Its not…your fault. Its not Daniel's fault either."
"Daniel…works for them." Sherry's eyes were dead, "I just realized that. He does data processing and Internal Technical SHIT!" she balled her hands into fists, "He lies to me-why didn't he tell me about this?"
"I don't think he knew. I didn't know."
"Why…did they ask you to steal corpses?" Sherry stared at him with curious eyes, her green orbs darkening like a cat's in the night, "What kind of corpses did you take?"
Michael rubbed his nose and wrapped his arms around his body, trying to think of what kind of bodies he'd taken.
"Burn victims…" the bodies from that textile fire, the bodies from that house fire. He'd piled them all in the back of his van with the ceremony of a gravedigger, "Bodies where they'd been mutilated-closed coffin shit." He shook himself, "I can't imagine why."
"I can." Sherry was peering ahead into the darkness, "Lets find shelter." She peered back at the cars, "Daniel said that they were doing something with viral work?"
That would explain the fact that half the fuckin' hospital staff is made up of Umbrella employees.
"But-" Mike's voice was slow, "What would viruses have to do with me stealing corpses?"
"Maybe…" Sherry reached the EPA van and pulled open the red door. Various cages littered the back of the van along with animal capture equipment. She eyed a shock-stick critically.
Not enough apparently. She sat back and studied Michael. Both were sweaty-and Michael had a great gash on his head that was still oozing blood.
"I asked Wesker once." Michael pulled the door shut behind him, "He said they were doing "Beneficial work" what do you think that meant?"
"Maybe they're experimenting on those bodies." Sherry leaned against one of the cages gripping the shock stick, "I can't think why though. And then there's all these people…"
"Listen." Michael leaned forward, his eyes wary, "If we can get to the other mansion, they would be able to tell us everything. Maybe even provide us with protection."
"Or maybe we'd just end up being the next batch of corpses on the operating table." Sherry growled, "I'm staying right-
The woods around them echoed with a roar.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!" Sherry bolted to her feet. The dust and grime covering the windshield of the EPA van obscured the world from view-but a large dark shape moved about before them.
"Bigfoot?"
"Fuck that Michael!" Sherry dove towards the front, "Help me get this thing going!" the front was a pale yellow-a half eaten burrito that had seen better days was sitting in the well of the car. Oh yuck…
"Sherry…" Michael was scrambling in the back, "WE DON'T HAVE THE GODDAMN KEYS!"
Sherry Delaney screamed as two bright red eyes outlined themselves through the gloom. It was crouched on the hood staring in at the both of them.
"SHERRY-OH MY-"
"Keep absolutely fucking still." Sherry whispered. She was frozen against the faded seat, "Absolutely. Fucking. Still."
The thing moved foreward sniffing. Michael crouched behind the seat, feeling around the floor. I'm going to wet myself. If that thing looked at him the way it was looking at Sherry… I'm going to die knowing that in the last moment I was such a baby that I actually-
His fingers closed on a round dog's head. Dimly beneath his thumb he could feel the raised eyes-and attacked to that plastic head…
KEYS!
He smiled.
"Sherry."
Sherry Delaney did not move. Her breathing was loud and raspy.
"Sherry. I found the keys."
"Give them to me quickly."
He was about to object when the insanity of the situation hit him. I want to drive when there's a great big beastie sitting atop the car?
He dropped the keys into her lap.
Slowly, Sherry raised a pale white hand to the ignition. The thing was still sitting atop the car-although now Michael thought he saw an expression of boredom in the creature's demonic red eyes. Does he really not see us?
The car started with a roar and Sherry was thrown back.
Through the windshield, Michael saw a brief glimpse of long fangs and frightened red eyes as the creature went exploding through the grime-back through the seat-and into the part of the car where he was.
The thing roared.
The van bounced over a hill of grass and the door flung itself open. Dim white shapes could be seen at the edges of the field moaning and heading closer-
The thing was tangled up in itself. It seemed to be large dog-overly large-with pieces of rotting flesh falling off of its thick black pelt. Its teeth were entangled with its leg that had fallen beneath it…
It was trying to chew it off.
This thing was not going to stop.
Michael grabbed one of the cages and brought it down upon the creature's head.
The dog screamed-screamed and lifted its great head to snarl at him.
"Bye poochie. Give my re-" he grabbed the dog by its hind leg, "guards to SATAN!"
He threw the creature from the van.
The dog was heavier then he'd expected. The beast managed to rake him with its claws before dropping only a few feet from the van, which promptly drove away. Michael winced and examined his arm.
Thick red gashes exposed muscle and bone. The blood was everywhere. He swayed as he tried to climb into the passenger's seat.
Sherry was focused intently on driving the van going far faster then Michael had with their jeep. Why the fuck did I drive out here so fast? I should have just called ahead-I have Wesker's number… what was it? There was a five…and another five…
"Do you have any idea where this mansion is?"
"What?" Sherry was staring at him from the passenger's seat. The red van entered the trees and she and he were shrouded in darkness.
Why can't I remember that damn number?
"Michael? Are you alright?"
"Keep-driving. I'm fine." He smiled at Sherry.
I'm not fine. I feel like I'm going to hurl. And that damn dog-
"Oh shit! You're hurt!"
The van swerved to a stop before a patch of trees and the sound of a small running stream.
"Keep driving Delaney!" Michael winced, "Come on, its not that bad-those things are still there-out there-after us-"
"I'm going to fix you up."
"Fuck you Delaney!"
"Fuck you too." She climbed over the driver's seat and headed toward the back, "I'm going to fix you up."
They ended up reaching a compromise. Sherry drove-slower now-and Michael worked on his arm. The cut ran deep-and he was getting dizzy and he continued to feel sick.
Can't let Sherry know…
The little red van bundled down the roads less traveled as it moved into the night.
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Spencer Mansion
A mile or so away
Annette LeDour had to leave.
She had to go get a doctor or some kind of help-but right now she was preoccupied with Kelly woods the medical examiner-and her assistant Matthew.
"They really say that they're infected?" Kelly looked nervous. She'd done her red hair up in a bun behind her head, "But the Alarms would have gone off."
"That's what worries me. Is there any chance that the power could have been cut? "
Kelly had moved the scientists-upper and lower-into the large dining room. A few who had been listening scuttled back to inform their associates.
Annette sighed, "Gather all the senior researchers-we need to come up with a contingency plan."
"Right."
And more importantly-a cure.
"Did they say what kind of virus it was?" Matthew asked, "That might help us in curing them."
"Progenitor." Even the name made Annette shiver, " they said it was progenitor."
"That doesn't make any sense." Kelly's voice was confused. Her eyes darted to Matthew and back to Annette, "P's unstable. There's no way it could have evolved like that. It was never-"
Completed?
The word hung around them like a smoky cloud.
"That was Dr. Birkin's diagnosis." But he could have been trying to scare her-to get back at her for sleeping with Wesker…
I wish I knew what the hell was going on!
"We can keep the personnel up here for 24 hours." Kelly said, "But we have to worry about what kind of response we're going to get from Umbrella Paris."
Annette frowned.
Umbrella had lots of contact with its employees-but it was divided into two separate companies. Umbrella Red (The United States Branch) handled Research and Development-which many of the senior researchers was a kind of slander on the "Red blooded American" joke.
Umbrella White handled…the rest.
"They can't come here! They've got no cause!" Annette said Shrilly, "There's no precedent-"
"Two of their Senior Researchers are incapacitated. The company cares."
They care about their research. Every employee dreaded the day that Umbrella White would march by for an inspection.
And this isn't just an inspection…
"They'll be here in a couple of days." Kelly shrugged, "So we have time to prepare for them."
"You." Annette turned to her, "You called them-you're a-a-whatever they call it-"
"Double agent? Mole? Reporter?" She smiled, "Please Dr. LeDour. I'm here to serve. Medical Examiner is my cover yes…but I do work for Umbrella White."
"Jesus."
"No, Board of Directors representative."
Annette sighed and leaned against the wall. This was the last thing she needed.
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Somewhere Deep in the bowels of the Spencer Mansion.
The person responsible for all of this smiled widely, singing to the spirits of the damned that lingered in the hell-bound labs where the good doctors performed their research. It was more then a job-it was joy.
Revenge.
A hand picked up a silver ring of keys-large-but with only two. Soon it would come time to lock this mansion up just as they had the first time when the good doctor Marcus had proved disloyal to the corporation.
But the Corporation will fall as well, and then, and then, the world will be my personal hell …
They couldn't cover things up forever.
She'd make sure of it.
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Author's note: Evil weekend. Anyway, there's chapter ten. More intrigue (Spies! Ooh! And you thought this couldn't get anymore exciting) Chapter Eleven is forthcoming! Thank you to all the reviewers! *Huggles * I live on your compliments and such. Flames are also welcome-as well as advice.