Chapter 13: A Little Close to Home

It was a week later, and Dr McDoughal called another meeting. They all sat around the long, marble table in the conference room. Lachlahn stood up.

"You're probably wondering what this meeting's all about. Well, we have learned that Umbrella is planning to start an outbreak somewhere."

He let this sink in, and there was amount of noise as everyone discussed it under their breath. Lachlahn held up his hand.

"Now everyone, we have to work out where it is being planned to be executed. We have prepared the vaccines to the first two viruses, as we have discovered that the Z-Virus is not releasable yet. We know that this operation must be large scale, as our sources claim that four new, very powerful B.O.W.s have been selected for use."

"They'd all be different, right? In Raccoon, there were only about two that were meant to be released. Nemesis and another one I heard about. But four......" Rachelle went silent. Linda looked up.

"What could be so important that they need four B.O.W.s?"

Danielle looked at Annette. She shook her head and shrugged.

"That's what we're trying to find out Dr Birkin," Lachlahn answered, turning to Linda. "This one has us worried."

"Damn right it does," Vincent said gruffly. "What if this one is close to home?"

"Or in one of the big cities, like Los Angeles or New York? How will they stop the virus spreading further then?" Vanessa asked. Lachlahn held up a silencing hand.

"We don't know. That is why all preparations are being made to stop the virus when it first starts to seep out. When that happens, we will be the first to know."

Annette turned to Danielle and whispered something to her. Danielle thought for a moment and nodded.

"You're right..." She looked up. "How do you all know it's not here?"

They all went silent and looked at her. Lachlahn leaned both hands on the table and looked at her.

"What?"

"I was just offered an interesting point. How can you be sure that Umbrella doesn't know all about Bio-Counter? And that it wasn't just trying out its new toys in Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City. We all know that the purpose of luring S.T.A.R.S. into the mansion was to 'test and record' live battles with the monsters. You said yourself that Umbrella knows about Bio-Counter. It's just that you're sure that they don't know the location of the HQ. What's to say they don't? That they're not just biding their time?"

Linda looked up at her, then across at Annette for the first time. And she recognised her.

"Annette Birkin. You know something, don't you."

They all looked up at the blonde. Lachlahn scrutinised her for a moment.

"Annette Birkin? That same Annette Birkin whose husband was responsible for the viruses that caused the downfall of Raccoon City and its surrounding area? You're an Umbrella scientist, aren't you. Then why are you here?"

Annette looked down at the table, not saying anything. Danielle put a hand on her shoulder and came to her aid.

"Annette is with us. Don't worry about it, I trust her greatly. Just give her a chance."

Lachlahn motioned to her. "Well Annette, do you know something?"

"No," Annette shook her head. "I was just considering the possibility that no one else seemed to be touching at. None of the authorities or the civilians thought that Raccoon City would be a target for the virus. No one saw it coming because no one believed it would happen. At least not there. I didn't think it would happen either. It was all Umbrella's fault that it even occurred, as if it isn't obvious anyway. If they hadn't stuck their noses in, then maybe....."

"Were you having second thoughts, Annette? William was in over his head, don't you think? You were too," Linda pressed. Annette tried to shy away from the attention. Danielle shook her head.

"Listen. Enough of that. I'm sure she'd rather not be reminded. It's over with now. It's just that we've all learnt to expect the unexpected, not just take it as it comes......"

"But to stop it before it starts," Rachelle finished for her. "I agree. Umbrella's too much like that, to just go and do something that you wouldn't expect them to do. Maybe you shouldn't go throwing all your protection away just because you got a tip-off that the outbreak would occur in say Denver, or Phoenix."

Lachlahn stood, silent. Not a person at the table uttered a word.

"You do have a good point. Lachlahn is smart to take precautions. I'm surprised that no one else thought of it."

Annette shrugged. "I was just thinking that maybe it was something they didn't consider. But through the process of elimination, it would most likely be the T-Virus, the last samples of the G-Virus were destroyed in Raccoon, it no longer exists. And unless Umbrella was fast to finish the testing of the Z-Virus, they can't be ready to release it yet."

"But it's still a possibility, that. Isn't it?"

Annette nodded in reply. Danielle and Annette were standing on the balcony of one of the small houses in the Village Sub-Compound where the Bio-Counter employees and their families stayed. It was dusk on the 8th of October, a week after they had escaped Raccoon City.

"Dani!" Jill called her from one of the rooms inside the house. Danielle walked slowly inside to see what it was. Jill handed her the phone, her face white. Before Danielle even touched the phone, she was very concerned. It took a lot to make Jill so pale.

"Jill? What's wrong?"

Jill pushed the phone into her hand. "It's Dr Birkin. She has some bad news."

Danielle picked up the phone. "Linda?"

Linda Birkin's voice was broken and sombre. "Danielle? We need you to come around here to Research right away. Bring everyone. I think Annette was right."

Danielle almost dropped the phone. "Wh... what? How?"

"Just come around here. It'll be more than crystal clear. Just hurry."

Danielle hung up the phone and turned to them. "I think we've got a problem."

They all stood in the dimly lit room, the only real light coming from the ultra-violet lamp of a specimen case. Linda and Annette were standing over the case, Linda writing on a clipboard. Carlos had Jill in his arms, nursing her protectively. Rachelle and Barry stood alongside each other, sharing the same stony expression. Danielle was also looking into the case, studying the creature inside.

It was some sort of plant, but, unlike any other plant, this one writhed and squirmed, thrashing its vines at the glass of the case. There was a bulbous growth that sprouted several vines, of which the creature used two as arms and two as legs. It was ugly, and kept hissing at them from behind the glass. Annette shook her head.

"It looks very much like the G-specimen IVY.... But if it were a virus orientated creature, it should be able to spit-"

Suddenly the little creature shot a spray of sticky-looking, sizzling liquid from its mouth. It hit the glass and melted a small hole in it. Danielle nodded.

"Acid. It can spit acid. Linda, have you called Lachlahn yet?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Don't you think you should?"

"It's been years since he's even looked at one of Umbrella's monsters. He wouldn't be able to ID it. But you've just come away from these types of creatures, I figured you may be able to identify it as a viral origin. But if that was a confirmation on the fact that it was generated by the virus, then that's all I need to know to raise the security alarm."

Jill nodded. "That would be a brilliant idea, Dr Birkin."

"If that virus takes hold, you can say goodbye to your little operation in the mountains," Rachelle pointed out bluntly. Linda nodded and picked up the phone on the desk beside the tank.

"Nathan, put me through to Dr McDoughal. I think we have a problem."

All it took was that one phone call. Before Linda had even finished speaking, security had already been notified, and guards were beginning to turn up outside the buildings and in them, armed with heavy artillery. They were taking no chances. Linda looked at the monster in the glass case as she described it to Lachlahn.

"It has a mouth, yes. The lips are in three petal-like sections. The bulb is sort of longish. It's a speckled greenish colour," Linda responded to Lachlahn's unheard questions about the creature. She nodded. "Yes doctor, I will. Right away." She hung up. "Dr McDoughal wants it destroyed," she explained, reaching down into a drawer under the bench and producing a vial of liquid and a syringe. She filled the syringe with the liquid and put her hand cautiously into the case. As she did so, the creature jumped up and bit her hand. She pulled back with a shriek and knocked the case onto its side. Her white latex glove turned red where the monster's teeth had broken through, and the monster fell from the overturned case and scurried across the floor.

"Grab it!" Linda barked, wincing and nursing her bleeding hand. "Don't let it escape!"

Rachelle quickly put her foot down on the creature's vines as it scrambled past her, trapping it under her heavy boot. Barry took the needle from Linda and injected the contents of the syringe into the monster. Linda winced in pain and gripped her hand, trying to stop the blood that was flowing freely from the side of her right hand. Jill came over and helped her take off the glove.

"Here, I'll give you a hand."

Linda smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Jill. There's a first aid kit in the drawer of that desk over there," she directed, pointing. Carlos went over and got it, bringing it back to the table and opening the lid. Jill set to bandaging the wound as quickly as she could. Linda looked over to where Barry, Rachelle, Annette and Danielle were standing over the creature, which was now twitching slightly.

"Is it dead?"

Barry tentatively lifted the twitching creature by the back of the bulb and brought it over.

"There was enough arsenic in that syringe to kill a bull."

"It's dead," Linda confirmed, still nursing her hand. "And Dr McDoughal is now seeing that nothing gets in or out of this compound which has more than the usual quota of limbs."

Danielle shook her head. "What if it's too late? How do we know that the virus isn't already spreading as we speak? What about you, Dr Birkin? That bite is almost certainly infected."

Linda nodded. "Normally I'd be running around yelling about it, but many of the employees, including myself, have been vaccinated against the T- & G-Virus. But all the same, more than two thirds of the employees aren't. As for your theory, well it could be right. But we can't really do anything if that is the case. Once the virus takes any sort of physical hold...."

"It's adios munchachos," Rachelle finished slowly. Linda nodded.

"And once the virus begins to spread, there is no stopping it. I'm sure you've learnt that in the past."

They all nodded. Their eyes turned to the plant-like creature, lying still on the bench. Linda shook her head.

"Let's just hope that we found out in time."

What's going to happen to them now that signs of the virus have shown up in Bio-Counter?

With the encompassing concrete walls of the compound, how can they escape?

Find out in Chapter 14: Nowhere is Safe…