CHAPTER II

Further Cruelties of Evil

Since the events at the laboratory Claire hadn't been able to sleep. Of course she would doze off, but nothing ever longer then an hour or two. Every waking moment her mind was on Chris, and worries of him were enough to keep her up at nights. Was he alright, where was he taken, will they ever see him again? The questions were the worst part because they never had any answers.

For all Claire's sorrow there was one person whose suffering may even surpass her own.

Since the laboratory Jill had gone through three phases. First denial; this can't be happening, Chris can't be gone again. Second was anger; how the hell could we let them take him? Why the fuck is this happening? Lastly there was sadness, which is maybe Jill's way of showing acceptance; Chris is gone.

Whatever her phase may be everyone else was busy trying to come up with a plan to find Chris. Everyone had ideas, but as far as to where to begin no body had a clue.

The four of them were all staying in Claire and Chris' little apartment in Paris. Claire had grown to hate Paris; horrible things seemed to happen here. First there was her capture at the Umbrella headquarters, and now this. Given there have only been two major instances, but it still was enough to make Claire loath the city of love.

Now that she had time Claire was starting to wonder why she infiltrated the facility in the first place. At the time they had no idea there was a laboratory there. They where just hoping for some documents, but thinking back were the documents worth the risk? At the time probably not, and now. defiantly not.

It wasn't until three days later that any action was taken; or rather any action was decided to be taken.

Jill had just come out of her three phase process. No body had said a word to her since the incident, no one had dared to. She came out of the room that she and Claire were sharing on the third day. Barry, Carlos and Claire were all talking about hundreds of not important things, but as soon as Jill came into view everyone went dead silent.

Jill stared at each of us. In a small, yet determined voice she says to everyone.

"Were going to find him."
The five words were so final, so set, so exactly what Claire needed to hear. Getting up from her spot on the couch Claire moved over to Jill so they were face to face.

In a voice that was just as determined, just as final Claire said to Jill.

"I know we are."

And that was it the balls were moving. Now there was no force on earth, not even god damn Umbrella, was going to stop them.

As the others were talking at the dinner table Claire quietly walked over to the window. It was a clear blue sky day, the kind of day that just made you want to go and accomplish something, and it did.

Talking to no one in particular Claire whispers into the air.

"We'll find you Chris no matter what."

Claire knew they would too. She never believed in anything so much in her life.

* * *

Confusion, utter confusion. That's what Chris Redfield woke up to when he found himself in a cold, dingy, dark cell. That, and a splitting headache.

For the life of him Chris couldn't remember anything after they infiltrated the facility that one of Carlos' pals hinted about.

Did they make it into the facility? Where was everybody else? Where they alright? What about Claire.what about Jill?

It wasn't the cell that was torturing Chris, it was his own mind.

Chris spent what felt like forever in that tiny cell. Nothing had changed for what must have been a few days, except for the bread and water that was shoved under his cell door three times a day.

Slowly with all time Chris suddenly found himself having he was able to sort of put together what had happened at the facility.

They had gotten in with relatively no problems. Only a couple of sudden run-ins with a few hunters, but nothing that they couldn't handle. It was when they discovered the laboratory that things started to get blurry.
They were looking around Jill had just discovered something when WHAM! There was blackness after that, but eventually down the line Chris came back to. He saw that the place was coming down and men dressed in black were taking him away. Too weak Chris didn't put up any resistance, he instead put all his strength in getting at least one glance at Jill to make sure she was safe. Searching feverishly around the room Chris spotted Jill.

The walls were coming down around her, but still she stayed were she stood her eyes never leaving his own. There was nothing either of them could do. They were trapped in two different worlds. Their eyes never left each other until Chris was forced out of the room, and out of Jill's sight.

From that point Chris' story was short. They had only walked a few paces when one of the men knocks Chris out with the butt of his gun. From there things went black again until he woke up in the god forsaken cell that he found himself in now.

Time passed so slowly in the cell, and with Chris' only form of entertainment being the creativeness of his own mind he knew from the start that he was in trouble.

His mind couldn't stay clear of all the awful things that were going on in his life. All the people that had suffered because of Umbrella, the comrades he had lost, Claire and that happen to her such as leaving college and losing Steve. Then there was Jill, there was a whole list of troubles just with her alone.

Chris was so grateful when his cell door finally opened and someone came into his little humble cell. That gratefulness, however, was short lived as soon as Chris caught sight of who was actually coming into his cell.

"Hello Redfield," snarled a familiar voice. "Long time no see."

"Wesker," Chris replied through gritted teeth.

Umbrella had formed a lot of hatred inside of Chris, but no hatred could ever amount to the level that Chris held for the man, or monster, standing in front of him.

"I'm glad you're as happy to see me as I am of you Redfield. Like I said it's been awhile."

Wesker's voice always had an arrogant, taunting tone to it. Chris use to ignore it back when he was under Wesker's command. Now the sound just drove him mad with rage.

"So tell me how the others are? How are Miss Chambers and Mr. Burton, or your darling sister?" Chris had to use every ounce of strength he still had in his body not to attack Wesker then and there.

"Oh and I bet Jill is looking sexy as ever."

That was it. All that time of with holding his anger for this one man finally boiled over. Chris not thinking or acting launched himself on top of Wesker.

It was needless to say Wesker made short work of him. Chris hadn't even brought his arm back for a punch when Wesker gave him a powerful kick in the stomach. Chris' body was forced to the back of the cell where he felt his back crunch against the cold cement.

Wesker stepped over his knelt down body. He was laughing what sounded like a sinister cough.

"Redfield there's no room for your lucky tricks in here. Even someone as moronic as you should realized that."

Still catching his breathe Chris asked.

"Wh.what do you want Wesker?"

"Oh Redfield I've missed your bluntness. If you must know I'm going to inject you with a form of the T-virus, and then Umbrella's scientists are going to perform test on you."

Chris glared at Wesker hoping to get a glance of humor; all he found was mad corruption.

"Do what you want you bastard. You know what do your worst you'll get yours in the end."

Chris felt a sharp slap across the face followed by a hard knee in the chest; he bent over gasping for air.

"You know Redfield you've been nothing but a pain in my ass since the day I met you, some drifter from off the streets. All I ever saw you as was one pathetic son-of-a-bitch that was missing the main ingredient for any type of success."

"Yeah," Chris spat "And what's that?"

"Vision. You never saw past the protocol of your job.and of course Jill."

Before Chris could react he felt a sharp prick into his right thigh. He was only given one glance at the needle sticking out from his leg when things became blurry, and then once again black.

Chris awoke in a large poorly lit room filled with small thin cots. However, this being an improvement from his last environment Chris just wanted to know what the hell was going on.

As if a bolt of lightning had hit him Chris suddenly remembered Wesker and.his needle. He quickly moved his eyes to his thigh. There as plain as day was a small light violet bruise. It was obvious that Chris was injected with something now it was only a matter of figuring out what.

Off in his own world Chris didn't even notice when a group of people started gathering around him. It wasn't until one of them tapped him on the shoulder that Chris finally took notice.

"Hi there," said a gentle, angel like voice.

He jumped at the sound of another human being. There where now five people surrounding him. The person who spoke was a young woman, quite beautiful with eye catching curly red hair, blinding emerald eyes, and a definite shapely figure.

When Chris remained silent the woman tried again.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to alarm you. It's just the five of us haven't seen somebody new in quite some time."

"Where.where am I?" Chris asked trying desperately to gather his composure.

"Your guess is good as any of ours." The woman told him. "The most any of us remember is being in a hospital of sorts, then being injected with something, and finally ending up here."

"How long have you guys been 'here'?" Chris asked rubbing his eyes, he was still a bit sleep from his a come state.

"The five of us have been here for about a year. There were many more of us, but one by one they all got taken away never to be seen again by any of us."

"How were you taken to the hospitals? Don't any of you have families?"

"If we did none of us can remember. The last thing any of us do remember is being in that hospital."

Chris took a moment to take in all that she was telling him. It was obvious that Umbrella was using these people for their experiments. They were human guinea pigs, but if that's what they were then Chris was now one too. Whatever exactly was going on Chris already knew he was in big trouble, and so was this small group of people.
Interrupting his thoughts was the woman trying to ask him something.

"Do you remember your past?"

"What?" Chris asked trying to re-focus his train of thought.

"Do you remember your past?"

"Oh yes, everything from the good to the bad."

"How did you get here then?"

"Wesker, he.he injected me with something. I was infiltrating an Umbrella facility and I was captured by these people in black. I was brought to a cell where I spent a few days before the injection and waking up here."

Chris looked up at five very confused faces, a sickening feeling was started to over take him.

"You guys have no idea who Wesker or Umbrella is doing you?" They all shook their heads.

So that was it. From that point on those five new people started to become like his new family, even though they would never replace his previous one.

There was three other men; Derek, Mick and Luke. Derek and Mick where both middle aged men a little over the age of forty. Luke was about Chris' age. Derek was a wise guy; everything out of his mouth was either a joke, sarcastic comment, or bitter remark. When he was in a good mood Chris found Derek quite pleasant, but when he wasn't.Chris made sure to stay away.

Mick was incredibly interesting. In his life, before coming to this hell whole, you could tell he was some sort of writer or artist. He always had an interesting spin on things. His eyes always glowed with this hopeful knowledge. Knowledge of what Chris wasn't sure, but it was always there even in the darkest of moments.

Luke was the quietist of the five. Mid-twenties and well built you could just tell Luke was just itching to get out and stretch his legs. Sometimes after long hours of silence Luke would suddenly get up in a fit of anger. He would flip over the cots and relentlessly start to kick the concrete walls. Chris never blamed him. If he had been here for over a year he would go crazy too.

As for the two women they were both incredible kind, especially considering the circumstances. Cindy was an older woman, who defiantly must have been a mother. She was always nurturing, even at times pestering, but only in a way that a mother could. She took care of everyone, and even though they would all make snide remarks Chris knew they all greatly appreciated it.

Then there was Jamie. Chris wound up talking to her the most. She was the same age as he was. Sometimes Chris found himself not able to take his eyes off from her emerald ones, they were mesmerizing.

With Jamie not able to recall things from her own past they often talked about Chris'. Jamie was always filled with questions.

"So do you have a family?"

"My parents died when I was younger. It was just me and my sister for a long time. We grew up living from one foster home to the next. When I was eighteen I joined the air force. I wrote to Claire everyday. Eventually Claire turned eighteen herself, she went to college."

"You two must be close."

"Well when it's just the two of you that tends to happen. I just couldn't imagine my life without her. She's not just my sister; she's my mother, my best friend."

"God I wish I could remember my family!" Jamie suddenly cried. "If I even had one."

Her sad outburst caught Chris off-guard. He didn't expect by talking about his sister would have that effect on her, although he should have.

"You'll see them again." Chris reassured her. "I bet there missing you."

"Chris I just don't know. A year gone by and nothing has changed. New people came and went, but us five.nothing ever changes. What if." Jamie takes a deep breathe, her thought seeming almost too hard to bear. "What if we stay here for the rest of our lives?"

Chris looks at Jamie, right into her sparkling emerald eyes.

"I promise you Jamie that no matter what you guys will escape from here."

"But"- Jamie tried to protest, but Chris wouldn't let her.

"There's nothing to argue about." He told her. "I promise that you won't spend rest of your life here. I swear that I won't let that happen."

He watches as Jamie's eyes drift off into the dreary room.

'God I hope your right Chris."

From that point Chris was determined. He had seen enough of Umbrella's evil to last him a life time and beyond. There was no way he was going to let these people, these five incredible people fall any further into Umbrella's cruelties. They weren't going to become come soulless ghouls. Although Chris never dared say this to any of them he made an oath to himself that he never let it happen. Chris was prepared to give his last breathe to making sure he kept that oath.