Disclaimer: Ramen does not own Resident Evil, the Umbrella Corporation, or anything vaguely mentioned in this. Do not sue, hunt her down, or send violent tree-monkeys after her. There are already corporations with permits to do so. Yes, I have finally updated. Woo for you.
Note: This is another Raccoon Chapter-enjoy!
And now on with the show!
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Hall: Most people here died instantly, a few had time to go quietly nuts.
-Hall "The Andromeda Strain"
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Annette's dream world
"I did see something." Her voice echoed through the caverns of her prison, "I did! I saw something!"
Nothing.
"Hello?"
The silence was everywhere, her constant companion. A crushing weight upon her soul. She called for all the saints of her New Orleans catholic upbringing, for her father who she'd never known, her mother who had never cared, her husband, and her child…
She opened her eyes with a gasp.
"Gods." Bright sunlight streamed in through the window, silhouetting her form. The past night's terrors were nothing now in the bright light of day-the silence…
"Morning doc." A muffled voice said. She glanced over sharply and came face to face with a bleary eyed young man who didn't look happy about his situation in life.
"Who the hell are you?"
"JD Roper, remember yesterday?"
Annette tried very hard to recall who this person was and why he was standing in her hotel room looking like something that a large pregnant cat had dragged in.
"I think…"
JD Sighed, "There's no one in the room above yours Mrs. Birkin."
Annette blinked, "That's impossible, I heard noises-"
"I'd attribute it to the air conditioning" And a nasty prankster who doesn't care about other people's sanity
That couldn't have been the answer…there were voices…there had to be-
Weren't there?
"I-I-"
"Look…" JD said gently, "You got shot huh? You're stressed." At least I hope that's it "Why don't you not worry about it?" he took her hand and smiled, "May I go home? Please?"
"No."
I should get paid overtime. This was far above and beyond the call of duty for any umbrella employee. Birkin ought to give him a goddamn medal for this…
"No…" Annette said sharply then stopped short, "Please, stay with me…JD."
JD turned back, "A word of kindness from one who bears the name of Birkin? Be still my heart!"
Annette snorted, "I got married two months ago."
"And now you're pregnant, congratulations." JD took a seat, "Look, I haven't slept, I want to go back to work…what could possibly be wrong?"
"Can't you just take a moment and listen to me? Nobody ever does, people avoid me like the fucking plague since I married-married-"
"Dr. Birkin."
Annette sighed, "You put it succinctly."
JD had often suspected that there was more to that very sudden marriage then everyone had perceived. He'd been visiting with family during the week of the mansion incident, when all of this began.
"Breakfast…" the door opened and was ignored as a large African American nurse bustled in, left a pink tray bearing edible substances, and exited. JD leaned back in the hard chair and tried to find a comfortable position as he studied his boss's wife-who attacked the food like a starving woman.
"So…why'd you marry him?" How does mom always manage to sound so calm when she asks that?
Annette froze, fork halfway to her mouth, "What?"
"Dr. Birkin. You, marriage, big ceremony-etc."
Annette pushed her food away, "I don't want to talk about it." An overwhelming wave of nausea hit her, "oh Christ-"
JD looked away as she leaned over into a nearby container, returning when she laid back gasping, "That." She said mustering a weak laugh "Is going to take some getting used to."
JD smiled, "My sister said the same thing."
Annette looked back, "You're not married."
"No." he said curtly, "I had a girlfriend but-yes. That's all there is to say about that!" he smiled cheerfully and tried not to scream, "Tell me…"
"I hate being weak." She wrapped her arms around her body; "Throwing up like that-weak…" she shook her head, "I don't want to be weak."
"Everybody has weak moments." JD said, trying to be reassuring, "Why, one day I just happened to beat the hell out of a CPU just because it didn't-"
Annette looked at him like he was insane, "Not. ME." She said darkly, "I'm supposed to be one of the few in charge in this god-forsaken hell-hole."
"You can't be strong all the time." JD pointed out, "You have to have people to depend on. Nobody can rely completely on themselves."
"You simpleton, that's the only person you can really trust!" Annette cried, " Do you honestly think that there are people in this world who would really do something like die for you?"
"You must have been hurt very badly once." JD said softly. He stood and looked back at Dr. Birkin, sitting there all along, a queen of silence and sanctity, "And I'm sorry about that. I really am."
"You're an idiot." Annette said, her voice thick with contempt, "Umbrella trains its employees to be self-reliant, what the hell happened to you?"
"I've only been working here for about three years."
Touché. Annette watched JD go, But you're wrong never the less
Annette had been working at Umbrella for most of her career-and self reliance was taught with every nonchalant comment about death around the corporation. Meeting someone who actually cared like that was a bit unorthodox.
And startling, William wound never-
William Birkin. Her husband till death, Annette wished that he'd care about her in that way. He was of her school of thought however-and daydreams like that are often unused by people in their field.
She wondered where he was right now.
Unconsciously she hugged her abdomen and thought carefully about the child that she and her husband had created. Soon, that child would be coming into the world that they had helped create-a world where the dead walked and people were slowly becoming more apathetic to the needs and wants of others. She shivered.
"Good morning."
Annette peered blearily upward and narrowed her eyes at the woman who had just entered. Her long blond hair was tucked behind her in a ponytail, and she wore an expression resembling a smirk.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm Alyssa." The woman looked like a cat in crème, "I'm the reporter who covered the story in the raccoon paper-we'd like to do a follow-up."
"Can't it wait?" Annette said, clearly annoyed, "I'm waiting for my husband to return."
"Great!" Alyssa looked pleased, "And what does he do? We can interview both of you!"
Remember, stupidity travels in large groups. Annette counted to ten and said in a strained voice, "We're not doing interviews. I would not have agreed to do an interview if I had been conscious. Leave-now-or I'll get a doctor to kick you out."
She said this sweetly, but no amount of sugar could hide the poison in her voice. Alyssa's mouth opened and closed a few times before she slumped back, defeated, and nodded once.
"Thank you." Annette said acidly, "Now, the door?"
She watched her guest exit and lay back on the pillows. The story worried her, how much did that damn reporter know? They kept their names out of the press for a reason. If an Umbrella employee had gotten shot…
There would be an offical investigation.
Or so she'd hope-but done by their own people. Brian Irons would keep the police out of it, just like he always did.
That brought her mind to William.
Where is he?
In his lab most likely, completely forgetting her existence in favor of his work…
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Raccoon City-Suburbia
The white Nissan eased to the curb with the grace of a jungle cat. William Birkin checked the address one last time before he lept from the car and stood for a moment before the clapboard home.
This is it? 66632 Crestview?
Before he knew it his feet were moving, and he was knocking on the door. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and tried to look presentable as every fiber in his body screamed for him to hi-tail it back to his car.
He looked up startled as his foot hit a tiny gnome that seemed to be residing between a decaying plant and a plastic shovel. He moved slightly as the door opened a crack.
"Yes?"
"Hello, my name is William Birkin, I work for Umbrella-my wife was shot-"
The girl who had opened the door was a slim Japanese girl, who glanced back frightened and shut the door in his face.
"Hey!"
You'd have to expect something like this-you did come to her house without permission and without a badge. People seemed notoriously afraid of people who did that.
William knocked again.
"What the fuck is your problem pal?" The door opened fully now. Birkin stared down a teenager who had short-curly brown hair and his obvious (Obvious) girlfriend who was cowering behind him, "Can't leave well enough alone?"
"Look." William said patiently, Kids today! If this keeps up everybody will be afraid of his or her neighbor "All I want is to find some information. My wife got shot…please…" He hated to sound weak, but pleading seemed the best way to melt this kid's heard, "They said-you found the body-her body-"
The kid's face softened, "Is she alright?"
"What?" William snorted, "Why wouldn't she be?" The kid's eyes narrowed and William mentally cursed himself. When attempting to get information out of another human being-one should not take a superior attitude.
"I'm-sorry." William's face fell, "Listen…I just wanted to know if you saw anything-heard anything-that might give me some kind of clue as to what happened with my wife-"
"That's what the police are for." The kid opened the door wider, "I'm really sorry about what happened."
Like that's going to do anything.
"The guy who drove off-" The kid blinked as his girlfriend rounded his shoulder, "He drove a black car…a Buick. I noticed because it was a real old car."
Birkin looked up sharply, "An old car?" that could be anyone or anything in Raccoon City. The locals didn't really take time out to purchase top of the line vehicles.
William sighed, "IS there…anything else…anything at all that you can remember?"
The boy raised an eyebrow, and William became aware of how absolutely silly he looked.
"You really love your wife hmm?"
William looked pained, "Yes."
"Why don't you come in for a minute…"
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Raccoon City PD HQ
Lisa Sunderland grabbed the keys off the wall of the motor pool check out and flipped the attendant the finger.
"Hey listen lady-" The man gripped the corners of the wall and tried to apologize, "All I said was-"
"I know-what you said." Lisa said quickly, "And I'm not interested-"
"Look, all I offered was to get your oil changed-"
Lisa shook her head, "Just be quiet okay!" she was going out to the address the security guard had specified, looking for the mysterious man.
Not a prospect she relished.
Lisa had asked for the assignment-since the mysterious "Mark" had been the one who gave her the information. Apparently Mark worked for a security company that looked after Umbrella's data storage-which was right in town.
He knew the woman by name-why?
Was she an Umbrella employee?
"HEY!"
Lisa looked up startled at the driver of the car that had nearly turned her.
"Detective Vickers?"
Oh Shit…
"Officer Sunderland?" Detective Vickers flashed the pearly whites and Lisa melted. She dropped a few inches onto the car's hood. Detective Vickers leaned over and opened the side door, "Can I give you a ride somewhere?"
"I-uh…"
Vickers flashed the pearly white teeth again, "Would that be a yes?"
Lisa managed a weak nod and stumbled over to the passenger side. The parking attendant watched the car drive off and squinted at the license plate.
"I need to call chief irons…"
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Crestview.
The house stank of love.
William had never been in a place like this before. It screamed "lived in" Toys were scattered about the floor. He jumped as a cat yowled-swiping at him with a velveteen paw before leaping out of site.
"Ignore Yuikiko." The boy said softly, "So…"
"My wife."
"Jeremy-"
"Neko…go into the kitchen huh?" he glanced at the girl quickly before turning his attention back to the man, "A white car pulled up out of nowhere-my girlfriend and I were going to the movies…"
"Go on." Birkin leaned foreward.
"The car came up outta nowhere." Jeremy shook his head; "the Gunshots rang out like bells-and then-Neko was they're putting her coat on your wife-"
William could see the scene, crystal clear in his mind's eye. The gunshot-his wife falling like a pale angel-these kids running up from nowhere-
"That's all?" What was I hoping for? I'm not a cop. I'm just a looser who makes viruses for a living.
"Sorry pal." The kid shook his head, "I wish I had more to give you. "
"I guess that's all I could have expected." Damn. William stood, "Sorry to bother you kid."
"Its okay." The boy stood up and led his guest to the foyer, stepping on a Barbie doll on the way, "My parents are out of town-and Neko and I are watching my younger sister."
"Your house…"
"What about it?" The boy looked confused, "Its just a house."
William shook his head.
"Nothing. Thank you for your time kid."
"Sure."
William turned, opened the door-and came face to face with Detective Vickers and Lisa Sunderland.
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The Redfield Home.
The final rays of the setting sun twinkled like the beginnings of distant stars through Kevin Redfield's window.
"Dad?"
Kevin looked up, "Huh?"
Claire stood in the doorway, dressed in a ridiculous monstrosity of pink frills.
"Mom bought me a new nightgown." She held her hands out helplessly, "I feel Rid-Rid-Rid-"
"Ridiculous dear."
"Yeah!" Claire's eyes narrowed, "Chris called me a "pretty princess" like that stupid game that mom bought me."
Kevin turned away from his paperwork, "Well…honey your mom just-" Wow…how do you explain to your kid that her mother is trying to live vicariously through her-and get the childhood she never had? Kevin turned to face his daughter fully, she did look ridiculous with her long brown hair done up in curlers.
Callista had been a tomboy from birth-and she'd grown up in an abusive all male household. There were nights where she'd wake next to him-eyes wide with terror…
Claire frowned, "Dad?"
"Yeah honey?"
"Mom said that the lady next door got shot…"
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Crestview
"Who the fuck are you?" Jeremy pushed around Birkin, "What do you want?"
"RPD son." Vickers moved the boy out of the way with his presence, "Now-Pervert-"
"Pervert?" Birkin's eyes narrowed, "Sir-I demand to know what you're doing!"
"Come on pal." Vickers grabbed his arms and shoved him up against the wall.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing!"
"Down to the station-"
Lisa smiled at the boy, "You're safe now. Did he hurt you?"
"No!"
At a loss to explain the reasons why he was being bodily hauled from this boy's house, Birkin sighed.
"Thank you-OW!" Vickers slammed him up against the car, "You simian! What the hell do you think you're doing!"?
"Arresting you."
"I'll have you know, I am an employee of the UMBRELLA Corporation sir, and if you so much as manhandle any hair on my head further-I'll have you drawn and quartered!"
"What?" Vickers pushed Birkin's head down into the cab of the car, "Are you talking about?"
It's always the same. The woman got into the passenger seat while the brutal simian got into the front, leaving Birkin forlorn in the back, The big guys always used to gang up on me at school too.
There had been times as a young child-where in desperate need of sympathy he'd run to his father and begged him to treat him with a little respect. His father (Father's being that way) had only laughed and asked him to toughen up.
Why can't you be more like your brother? Birkin mocked himself as the car bounced jauntily along the road towards the police station, Hell, you stupid girly boy-why can't you be more like your sister?
"Hey-sir-" The woman looked back, "You keep awake you hear? Going into kids houses-"
"You madam." Birkin summoned all of his ice-cold courage; "Personify everything that's wrong in the world."
"Don't speak to a lady like that, fucktard." The male driver slammed his fist into the metallic mesh-driving Birkin back against the seat. Keep cool. They can't charge you. You've got to be just like you are at work-cool-collected-scare the shit out of them.
"Was I speaking to you?" Birkin asked, nonchalant. Outside buildings whizzed by faster, "The ape is apparently a sentient creature! How charming." He smiled wide, and watched the woman squirm, "Its not as if you have anything intelligent to say-"
The car's breaks slammed on suddenly-causing a taxi to stop directly in front of them. Birkin (Not being in a seatbelt) slid foreward and collided with the wire meshing.
"Did that teach you?" Vickers leaned back. Birkin lay curled in a fetal position in the well of the seat whimpering. Blood dripped from his mouth in a slow trickling line, "Huh Fucker? Did you learn your lesson?"
Lisa frowned-apparently the Apollo god had a dark side. She had to admit that this guy hadn't really been doing anything wrong-
"Yes." His voice came out very small.
"Are you going to be a smart ass again?"
"No."
"Good." Vickers nodded-satisfied that he had reduced a fellow human being to a slobbering pile of nothingness, "That's the way to handle it Sunderland-that's the way they do it in the big city."
That must be why the big city has such problems.
They stood at last before the RPD building, a crumbling old shack that some how managed to meet the federal requirements for what a police department required. Lisa turned to Kevin and smiled brightly.
"I'll get him out of the back."
"That's fine." Kevin wiped his hand on his jeans, "Stupid little Fucktard."
Eh… Lisa watched him go, Apparently my god of sexy man-ness is slightly…well…abusive… she turned her attention back to the arrestee.
Birkin lay in the back, staring at the car ceiling, and trying to count the lines. After loosing all hope of ever pleading his case as a rational adult-he decided to give in to the simple idea of…counting things.
Math and science… there were exactly fifty-two lines in the ceiling of the car, so simple!
"Come on." Lisa opened the door-exposing Birkin's head to the sunlight, "Come on out pal."
He sighed, "You going to put me in jail?" He laughed harshly, "BANG! Right in the kisser eh copper?" Life suddenly seemed utterly ridiculous. This woman was arresting him-he'd killed women like her. Lots of them on lab tables with Wesker-or Annette-or one of the faceless assistants he'd had ever since coming from Chicago to Raccoon City.
"Are you alright?"
Birkin sighed, and slowly stood. He twisted his wrists in his hands and looked at Lisa with a searching look.
"Do you ever get the feeling that life seems utterly ridiculous?"
"Get inside."
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HOSPITAL
Katie, doctor extraordinaire that she was, leaned back in her chair and tossed another pencil at the ceiling. She brushed her long hair out of her eyes, and watched the clock again.
"Five thirty. Come on five thirty."
Most of the staff had gone home for the day. It wasn't that she wanted to remain here its just that she was told to.
And she always followed orders.
"Doctor-"
"Katie." Katie looked up, "What can I do for you Miss-Miss-"
The woman slipped into her office and sat down, quickly, catlike, "My name is Alyssa." She purred, "and I've come to talk to you about Mrs. Birkin."
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WOW! A CLIFFHANGER! Woot! Katie meeting the mysterious Alyssa! What does she want? What's up with five thirty! What took me so long to update?
Birkin: That would be school. (mutters) crazy old biddy.
Author: oh COME ON! School's not that bad!
(School overlords appear) WHY ARE YOU NOT WORKING ON YOUR PAPER?!
Author: *vanishes * eeep.
Chapter seven! Forthcoming!