Chapter 3

"Brian's Hope"

July 31st, 1978

Having woken up early in the morning, Brian headed to the laboratory to get started on his work when the main doors opened and he saw three people enter. He recognized the tallest as the lab-director and two other men followed him.

The first was a short man with reddish-brown hair in a bowl cut and he wore a white lab-coat over a red and brown plaid button up shirt. His blue eyes were locked on the clipboard he held.

The second was a taller man with blond hair, which was slicked back. He wore mostly black, from his T-shirt, to his jeans. The only other color he wore was white, and that was the color of the lab-coat he also wore. What was unusual was the fact that he had on a pair of dark-rimmed sunglasses.

Jay leaned next to Brian and nudged him in the ribs, "Look at that. If either one of them is twenty, I'll be amazed. Think those the two new guys they've been talking about?"

Brian nodded in agreement, "That'd be my guess."

He watched as they were crudely introduced to the female test subject. The tall ones eyebrows appeared over the rims of the sunglasses he wore in surprise and the short one looked as if he had said something to himself.

Just then the lab-director motioned them to come over. As they were walking to where the trio was standing, Brian watched the blond man. Cockiness. That was the feeling Brian got from him. The other man looked like something of a cross between a workaholic and an obsessive-compulsive.

The lab-director introduced them, "Brian Jackson, Jay Dallas, this is William Burkin and Albert Wesker."

Neither Wesker, nor Burkin made a move to shake hands, and that was fine with Brian, for he had already decided that he didn't like either of them.

"Excuse me," Brian said, pulling a syringe from a pocket of his lab-coat and uncapping it, "I've got to run some tests."

As Brian left, Jay kept his hand out until he decided he looked too foolish, and pulled his hand back, "So, you two are the new guys we've been hearing so much about?"

Wesker turned to look at him, but said nothing. Burkin was to involved in his papers to notice the soldier's questions.

After a few seconds, Jay turned and left while muttering, "Fucking assholes," under his breath.

Later that night, Brian sat in the room with the female subject and wrote in his journal. Again, by candlelight.

July 31st 1978,

I just met the two new personal they had assigned here. I don't like them. They're just to full of themselves. Nothing more than children, really. After watching them for just five seconds, I know they could seriously jeopardize my work. I can't let them do that.

It has been over a year since I started work on my cure for her, and I think I may have found the answer. They say it's bad luck to have a boat with no name. Is it the same for serums, antibodies, and cures? I don't think so, but to be on the safe side, I am going to call this "XCL-1". No point in taking unnecessary risks. I gave her the first injection today, but because of the design of the cure, I won't know if it is working. All I can do is keep giving her injections of XCL-1. I don't want to raise suspicions while I am here, because they may kill me if they find out what I am up to. I can't die. Not yet. And I must move slowly, because I can't have them become suspicious, even after I am gone because there is too great a risk that they will hunt us down and kill us. I can't let that happen. All I can do is move slowly, and wait.