Chapter 7: Back From The Dead

Pierre could hear the sounds of busy people scurrying along near him. He felt himself floating in some sort of unknown liquid, but didn't dare open his eyes. He could feel his hair drifting in the liquid away from his body. The cold air nipped at his wet face as the liquid slowly started to drain. Pierre raised his hand to his face and wiped the remaining liquid from his face as the tube finished draining.

Pierre involuntarily squinted his eyes as he opened them to the fluorescent lighting. The room he was in was a starch white and housed many floor-to- ceiling tubes. People in haz-mat suits ran around him while others fumbled at computer keys. As Pierre started to regain some of his memory he quickly looked down at his left side for any sign of a bullet hole. There was nothing there, not even a scar from where he had shot himself. His muscular white body glistened with water under the bright lights as his short-term prison rose from around him.

One of the many rushing scientist presented him with a pair of hunter green shorts to cover himself up with as he stepped onto the cold tile floor. He looked around the room for his fallen teammates as he was ushered into a room towards the back by the scientist. The scientist quickly led him into the room and went directly back out and locked it leaving him alone. The only sound in the room was the soft dripping of water off of Pierre's body as he stood there. His light blonde hair hung in front of his eyes like a veil. The room was made entirely of steel and housed no furniture what so ever. It was just a room, nothing more and nothing less.

His body felt strange to him, like it wasn't his at all. His skin felt like it was constricted in latex, and his blood felt like it was on fire. He hadn't grown much for five years he thought. He looked as though he hadn't changed at all, except his hair had grown a bit longer as well as his fingernails. The bustling of the labs that he had just come out of seemed to be deafening to him although with the steel wall he shouldn't have been able to hear anything at all.

As if on cue, a panel in the wall about four feet tall slid open. Pierre concentrated all of his senses on the newly opened path and heard what sounded like a low growl. The darkness of the small opening gave nothing away to him though, but he could hear the faint click of nails on steal. Pierre instinctively searched his hip for his usually holstered magnum, but found only empty air in its place. As the clicking sound grew nearer Pierre concentrated more on the empty space where it was coming from. The more he concentrated the more that the black seemed to swirl into a more seeable gray. He realized that when he concentrated on something he could see it better than any human should be able to.

Pierre could see the stumbling once dog in great detail before it even saw him. Its left ear looked as though it had either been torn off or bitten off since half of it was missing. As it walked hunks of its rotting flesh fell onto the steel floor. Its eyes were filled with a milky fluid, which would have made it impossible for him to see Pierre thought, yet some how it did.

As if reading Pierre's mind, the thing started running towards him. Running was an overstatement as it looked as though he was in slow motion to Pierre, but it was impossible because the thing was covering a massive amount of ground. The thing lunged at him with its ravenous jaws open awaiting contact with Pierre's flesh. Pierre easily dodged it and rolled around behind it. The dog stood dumbfounded at how he had missed his prey, but only for a moment as he quickly whipped around to find Pierre again. It found him without much trouble and made another lunge at him. Again Pierre dodged the oncoming attack, but this time wasted no time as he whirled around behind it. He grabbed the dog in the middle of its moist neck and pulled as hard as he could to the left.

Pierre must have underestimated his strength, because when he pulled on the dog's neck its body fell to the ground lifeless but he still held its severed head. He had never underestimated his own strength, but for some reason he had this time. Pierre dropped the thing's head on its body and brushed his hands off on his shorts as he walked across the room to the door he had come through. Before he could open the door, a familiar voice came over the intercom.

"How do you like your heightened senses, Pierre," Lord Spencer called over the intercom.

"I like them just fine, sir," Pierre called back not knowing if Lord Spencer had heard him or not.

"Good, so let's get you back with your team and brief you," Lord Spencer said as if he was Pierre's dad.

"Yes, sir" Pierre answered as he snapped off a quick salute to the air.

Pierre stepped through the cold steel door that he had come through moments ago. Waiting for him was a small group of men in combat fatigues each with an AK-47 slung across their back.

"Dupree, your team is awaiting your arrival in conference room 2. We have been assigned to escort you there," one of the soldiers reported.

"I don't believe I'm blind, so I can make my own way up there," Pierre spat over his shoulder as he pushed by the men. The men realizing that Pierre was a very dangerous man immediately back off not wanting to end up like the Cerberus.

Pierre was in no mood to play with these want to be soldiers seeing as he was in a rush to meet up with his team again. His newly heightened senses were going to wreak havoc on his targets, Pierre thought as he strolled over to call the rusty elevator. He was eager to see his new and improved team, since he hadn't seen them in five years. The elevator came to a shuddering halt, and Pierre quickly walked in and pushed the up button since there were only two floors. The elevator slowly started to crawl its way to the top as Pierre unsheathed his knife and cut his hair. He hated having it any longer than eye level. The elevator finally made its way to the top and the rusty doors opened. He was met with a short skinny girl with short light blonde hair and who wore a green jacket over a white tank top and dark blue jeans. Her head was hung low and an older looking scientist was escorting her. Probably a new experiment, Pierre thought as he made his way through the dimly lit narrow hallway. Why it was so narrow or dark was a mystery to him, but he walked over to the wall directly in front of the elevator and pressed his warm hand against the cool tile. The wall smoothly slid open revealing a wooden door that he quickly stepped through.

The room was very simple, unlike most of Umbrella's rooms. The room was completely wooden with only a rough oak table and five chairs occupying the room. A small lamp hung from an expensive looking chain above the table; which gave the room a dungeon like feel. Sitting among the table were his teammates Marius and Madison. Marius's hair had grown quite a bit and was in bad need of a cut, but beyond that Pierre couldn't tell a single difference in him. Marius was dressed as Pierre was in some simple hunter green shorts. Madison on the other hand had grown quite a bit. She was no longer a scraggily little girl, but more of a dangerous looking predator. She had muscled out quite well during her time in stases, and filled out nicely on top Pierre noticed. The main thing that Pierre noticed about her though wasn't physical but more of a feeling of a killer about her. She wore the tank top and shorts that she had been presented with when she had come out of stases he presumed.

Pierre was quickly greeted with a short smile from both Marius and Madison as he took his seat at the end of the table. On the table was a manila folder that was bulging with its contents. Madison slid the folder across the table to where Pierre sat.

OPERATION: SHERLOCK

IT HAS COME TO UMBRELLA'S ATTENTION THAT THERE HAS BEEN AN UNAUTHORIZED OUTBREAK IN BULLS GAP, WI. FROM WHAT WE HAVE DEDUCTED FROM INTELLIGENCE RECEIVED FROM THE FACILITY BEFORE CONTACT WAS LOST, THERE HAS BEEN A CONTAMINATION LEVEL OF 10. ALL OF THE FACILITY ALONG WITH THE SURROUNDING CITY HAS BEEN CONTAMINATED WITH THE T-VIRUS. ALL PERSONEL ALONG WITH CIVILIANS ARE TO BE CONSIDERED HOSTILES AND ARE TO BE DEALT WITH AS SUCH. YOUR TEAM WILL NEED TO GATHER ANY BATTLE DATA YOU MAY COME ACROSS. YOU WILL ALSO BE REQUIRED TO LOCATE AND ACTIVATE THE SELF DESTRUCT SYSTEM UNDER THE CITY TO DESTROY ANY INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE AGAINST UMBRELLA. YOU WILL LEAVE HQ VIA NIGHT HAWK HELICOPTER AT APPORXIMENTLY 23:00 HOURS AND ARRIVE AT 03:00 HOURS.

"Captain, I have already located and secured our weapons for the mission along with battle armor," Madison reported.

"Good, then we won't need to waste any time with that. Our horse is scheduled to leave in fifteen minutes so let's not keep them waiting," Pierre ordered as he stood to leave the room.

"Sir, I wouldn't have liked anyone else to kill me," Marius playfully said as they stepped out into the narrow hallway.

Pierre felt calmer than he ever had before with his team. Some how the time in stases had not only heightened his team's senses but also their skills. They seemed much more professional and worthy to be his teammates, he thought as he stepped into the back of the Night Hawk to slip into his battle armor and issue weapons. As his team filed in behind him on the Night Hawk and began to change into their combat armor Pierre couldn't help but look at Madison. She had aged quite well; her body was lean and strong as she slid into her armor. Pierre was quickly brought out of his daydreaming as Marius stepped beside him awaiting his issued weapons.

Pierre had almost forgotten how intimidating Marius was when he was in full combat armor. His broad shoulders and strong arms were enough to make any grown man cower in fear. His face was hidden behind his black bulletproof helmet, but Pierre could imagine him flashing him one of his friendly smiles. Steel gun racks lined the back of the helicopter. Each filled to the brink with every kind of gun you could imagine, along with ammo stashed in the many cabinets.

"Everyone will keep the same weapons that they had in Operation: Sleeping Tiger, if you can remember that far back," Pierre announced to his team.

"Will we be using the same codenames?" Madison asked as she looked up from the gun racks.

"Why would we? So the zombies don't know who we are," Marius said smugly.

Pierre quickly raised a hand to signal that there would be no room for that. He quickly hid a chuckle though as he saw the look on Madison's face. As the Night Hawk's wings began their rhythmic hum Pierre's team strapped them selves into their seats.

As the helicopter began its journey over the various terrains Pierre looked over at Marius only to find him mumbling to himself. Pierre quickly thought back to try and recall if Marius had ever done that before.

"What are you saying?" Pierre asked coolly.

"Nothing, just something I remember one of my teammates saying every time before he went into battle. I thought about it when I was dead," Marius said more than a little embarrassed at the fact that he had been caught.

"Well, let's hear it," Pierre said more understanding than usual.

"It goes, this is not a game of chance. I know every rule, every exception. I know how you think you will win, and I know how you will lose. I know the inexorable mathematics of our battle, and I see your death. He used to say that before every field test all the way up to the day he died," Marius said as he looked at the floor waiting for Pierre to jump on him about it.

"I think that should be our team motto," Pierre said to Marius's surprise.

"I second that motion," Madison said from her seat.

As Pierre looked around the dark helicopter he noticed that the time in stases had done more than heighten their senses. It had made Madison more professional and stripped her of her cockiness. It had made Marius more playful and not as shy. And it had Pierre more understanding and willing to cooperate. Would these be new weaknesses for his team to over come? Would they be ammo for their enemies? Pierre hurriedly shook his head to forget the questions as he looked over Bull's Gap.

"ETA five minutes," the pilot called from the cockpit.

Pierre looked over the small city that was blanketed in darkness. The buildings were all small, nothing over three stories. The streets were covered in small decorative streetlights and street signs. It was the stereotypical American city. In the middle of the town though was their targeted landing point, right on top of the Umbrella facility that towered over the small town.

Umbrella had placed it in the middle of the city to try and avoid making it look like they were hiding something by most of their facilities being located outside of town in most cases. This particular facility was made to look like a regular business building. It was completely made out of glass to allow the "employees" to look down at the city below and was emblazed with a huge red and white Umbrella insignia on each side. Unaware to the public, buried deep below the building was a very intricately placed testing facility.

If memory served him right they had been working on various new BOWs there, including one of the new Nemesis III Prototypes. While many of the facilities were still working on the Nemesis II, the more advanced facilities would be working on the Nemesis III, which was the "future" of Umbrella many scientists seemed to think. They could blend in with their terrain and actually learn from their surroundings. The most remarkable part about them though was that they still had the look of humans. Quite an improvement over the highly mutated predecessors that could be easily spotted. Unfortunately, the Umbrella scientist had not been able to completely stop mutation of the BOW only slow it down remarkably, so they would after time look like the predecessors.

Although the sound of the helicopter's wings were deafening to his new heightened sense of hearing, he could just make out the sounds of moans coming from the streets below him. This small town would be the real proving ground for his team; Pierre knew that for a fact. Lord Spencer only sent his most trustworthy team in for a containment mission. With all the monsters lurking around every corner, it would be a great accomplishment just to survive. As the Night Hawk began its decent to their touch down point, Pierre quickly readied his team and himself.