Leon and Rebecca plodded through the yard, heat at their backs. The main
gates loomed ahead of them, steel monoliths studded with iron bolts that
masqueraded as doors.
"What do you think would get those things open?" Leon said.
"An act of god" Rebecca replied without hesitation. Leon inspected the walls; twenty metres high and topped with barbed wire. There had to be a break in the defences of the building somewhere. The bombing had clearly been extensive, but not extensive enough for their liking; indeed, the less of Umbrella's structures left the better. However, they were still stuck. The doors did not look as if they were going to open anytime soon. Stepping closer, the doors looked no less solid. The enormous bolt drawn across the doors appeared to be moveable, but Leon doubted he would be able to push the doors open by himself.
"Seriously" Leon mused, scratching his head "How do you open a pair of doors like that?"
"It might take a forklifter, but I don't think anyone would be kind enough to leave any around" Rebecca said, scanning the dirt compound. It was quite large actually, and the buildings seemed to accommodate a number of utilitarian needs...including a garage.
"What do you reckon about that place?" Rebecca asked, tapping Leon on the shoulder and pointing at the corrugated metal doors.
Leon nodded.
"I think it's the closest we're going to get" he replied.
The garage was much like the other buildings; grey and dreary, if pumped full of that familiar gasoline smell that garages always possess. Grease and oil streaked the floor of the sodden air; it was a surprise what with all the flammable liquids that this building hadn't gone up like a haystack. Rebecca was re-evaluating her opinion of the men who had dropped explosives on the complex, because in her opinion if you couldn't hit a forty-by-forty metre building filled with fuel then you shouldn't really be a janitor, let alone a pilot.
Leon surveyed the small vehicle pool available. Of the five vehicles, there was only one that seemed even vaguely suited to their needs. The truck was bulky, but didn't look like anybody had used it in a small ice age. Dust tarnished whatever paint-job in the dark grey shade the vehicle had once possessed. He had doubts that it would even move. It was filled with heavy industrial equipment, mostly steel rods and cables that had clearly never been used.
Rebecca hopped down beside the truck, and made her way towards the engine. She reached for the hood gingerly, as if it were about to explode, and lifted it up. Inside was an engine that seemed to be intact, with every component where it should be. Rebecca pulled the stopper off of the fuel tank, and took a sniff. It smelled strong, but Rebecca could see in the cool white light of the strip-bulbs above her head that the tank lacked any kind of fuel.
Leon came up beside her.
"Well?" he asked, expectant of disaster.
"I'm no mechanic, but the engine looks fine. Needs fuel though." Leon sighed in relief, feeling that sensation of achievement start to well up inside of him like an oil well.
"There's plenty of that" he said, turning to face some red-painted fuel drums stacked up against the wall that he had seen a minute ago "So, we have a working vehicle, theoretically. All that's left to do is work out how we're going to get the thing through the doors without us in it."
Rebecca nodded in comprehension, her brown eyes full of thought. It would be too dangerous to hit the doors full on with them inside the vehicle, as sturdy metal doors would have a visible effect on the engine and the windshield. Not wanting to imagine what it would be like if one were hit by a metal gate in the face, Leon tried to conjure up a plan. Leon was bright, but Rebecca was more scientifically minded and it was she who came up with the plan.
"How about this" she said, leaning against the dusty hood "We fix up the accelerator with a prop so it keeps a steady speed, we start from a far enough distance away. The driver keeps the wheel steady for just about long enough for the truck to hit the doors at ninety, he jumps out about ten seconds in. Sound good?"
"Sounds like there's a high risk factor..." Leon said, "But it seems to me like the best plan we have. Right, I'll start with the fuel you see what you can find prop-wise." After five minutes, they were ready. Rebecca had found a huge spanner that was just about big enough to keep the pedal pressed down.
"Keep the brakes on, then attach it; fix it with this" she said, producing some industrial sticking tape she had found amongst the tools "Then we just pray the damn thing stays straight."
Leon nodded, and threw the materials into the passenger seat before jumping up into the drivers one. Rebecca licked her lips. She hadn't known Leon for that long really, but it would kill her to see him die in this highly risky plan she had come up with. Without him, her black and white memory wouldn't make sense. What to say?
"Um...Leon" she called, prompting him to turn back to her.
"Yeah?" he replied calmly, as if he didn't know what he was doing was certain death.
"Um...take care" she said, hopelessly. He smiled, and winked.
"Hey. It's me!" he replied, slamming the door shut. And that's what I'm afraid of Rebecca thought, giving him a cheerful wave and running to the garage door. She hit the button that slid the grille up into the ceiling, and ran out into the warm air. Rebecca's mind was on making sure the damned door was at least unlocked and as vulnerable as possible to the impact. She reached the door quickly, and studied the locks. Only a latch, a bolt and a chunky padlock. Rebecca smiled to herself as she withdrew the key ring.
To give credit to Umbrella, she thought as she quickly found the key and pulled the enormous chain off of the bolt lock they always leave keys just lying around. God bless apathy.
She stared at the mighty bolt with trepidation, but decided that she might as well try. She flexed the muscles in her hands, and grasped the handle. She pushed. The bolt was damned heavy, and Rebecca felt her veins swell up to engorged proportions as she strained at the slow moving hunk of metal. With the padlock on, nobody would be able to open it. But after a few minutes, she was able to slide it into the unlocked position. She gasped at the intensity of it, her muscles screaming at her as she let go. Rebecca looked up to see Leon in the truck, backing the unwieldy beast far across the compound. She gave the thumbs up. "READY!" she yelled, and ran over to one side.
Leon felt sweat drip down his forehead as the engine snarled beneath the hood. One single fault, and he would be deader than a quarter-pounder. Uttering a silent prayer that he would get through this alive, he pushed the accelerator down. The tyres screeched, but didn't move. Quickly, Leon fixed the spanner down and taped it with as much tape as he could manage to the lower-glovebox. He looked ahead, and saw the small figure of Rebecca giving him the thumbs up. Leon flickered the headlights in response.
He sat up straight, hands on the wheel. He thought of his vision, of that small girl he didn't know, of those shadowy faces he also didn't know, thought of Rebecca, thought of Claire...He was hinging one hell of a lot on this drive. Leon swallowed with a dry throat...and let go of the brake. The truck roared, and took off with surprising speed. The buildings, some tumbled down and flaming shot past him as the truck gathered up to horrendous speed. He stared ahead at the rapidly approaching gate. Six. Seven. Eight. It had to be close enough, it had to be... Nine. Ten. Yelling an expletive he wasn't sure anyone knew but him, he held the wheel steady before kicking the door open and throwing himself out into the dirt, landing hard on his side in the damp ground. He looked up to see the truck continuing towards the gate...and to his horror saw it swerve slightly; no, it couldn't end like this...!
However, the fates were with Leon and Rebecca this day. The truck hit the gate at approximately eighty miles per hour. The doors moaned and in one second, they crunched on top of the truck, landing heavily onto the now non-existent windshield. The truck carried on through the gate, before with a tremendous crash finally coming to rest. Leon exhaled. Then he exhaled again. He was alive. And judging by the figure staggering to her feet somewhat shakily, so was Rebecca. He smirked. "Yeeeeehaaaaww!!" Rebecca crowed, as Leon stood up to meet her, adrenaline backwash hitting him too now.
"Rock and roll!!" he yelled, and the partners-in-crime did a triumphant high-five.
Their gambit had worked.
"Man, what were the chances of that working?" Leon managed in between laughs.
"Hey, that was my plan!" Rebecca retorted, also still laughing.
"That's what I meant" Leon smirked. However, their laughter dulled as they heard another sound. The roar of an engine. No, several engines. As they started to take in this new information, sleek black trucks poured into the compound, screeching to a halt in the dirt and as Leon and Rebecca watched, saw up to maybe fifty soldiers pouring out of the rear of the vehicles. Aghast, the pair stared at the soldiers lining up and cocking their rifles. The snapping sound of fifty assault rifles as their safety catches were clicked off froze Leon and Rebecca to the spot.
"Stay where you are!" One of the men barked, face hidden behind a black gasmask as he and his troops quickly established an entrapment formation around the stunned pair. "Were they waiting for us?" Rebecca asked with a great deal of anxiety, turning to Leon for answers. Leon didn't really know what to say. All he could do was stare dumbly as the soldiers advanced on him. It was when they started manhandling him that he started to react; as the hands of two troops clamed firmly on his arms, Leon tried with all his might to disentangle himself from them.
"Get the hell off me you umbrella assholes!" Leon cursed, as he gritted his teeth with each forceful effort to throw off the troopers.
"Shut up" said one of them harshly, and smashed Leon hard in the stomach with the butt of his assault rifle. Leon gasped loudly, and was left bent double and wheezing. Rebecca snapped forward in the grip of the troops who now had a grip on her.
"Leave him alone you bastards!" One of the soldiers turned angrily to the other.
"Did you listen? He said 'One piece and preferably in good condition'! You deaf or something?"
"If the cat has claws, then ya need to declaw him." the other soldier snapped back.
"Come on, let's get 'em both onto the truck"
Rebecca was prodded with the barrel of the assault rifle, Leon pulled up by the soldiers and dragged towards the open back of one of the black trucks the troops had arrived in. Legs still kicking futilely, Rebecca was hoisted aboard, followed by a less resistant and still sorely winded Leon. As the last of them leapt onto the rear of the truck, he banged the roof with the flat of his palm. With a roar the engine flared into life again, and at the head of a small convoy of trucks they began to pull out of the compound and into the darkness, bumping savagely on the uneven dirt track that led out of the compound.
Leon managed to get most of his breath back after a great deal of panting and gasping, and looked up at his new captors. All dressed in black combat uniforms, all gun-toting, all faceless men. None of them, to his surprise, wore any insignia of any description whatsoever. Leon stole a look at Rebecca, whose eyes locked with his. They didn't speak, but their facial expressions said something else: Who are these people?
The truck rattled along, only the sounds of the night and the distant cry of some T-Virus variant occasionally punctuated the taut silence. Leon was aware that the tranquilizer rifle he had possessed was on the now far behind dirt ground of the detention compound, and since every single one of the weapons pointed at him was in the hands of an elite, hard to fool soldier with an itchy trigger finger he decided it would be propitious not to do anything. Nobody spoke for a long time. Then, from the front of the truck, a soldier who appeared to be the commander climbed over the passenger seat and into the rear of the truck. He pulled his mask off, underneath revealing a face that was a collection of scars on a cliff face; his eyes were cool and sharp, every single muscle under perfect athletic control. His hair was short and greying slightly, but he did not lack in any physical department.
The man looked at Leon and Rebecca slowly as if taking in every single detail of their faces, every imperfection or curve. Much to their surprise, a smile then etched across the cliff-like face.
"Well, it's been a long time. You haven't changed." The manner in which he said it unsettled Leon; if only because of the tone of familiarity was using. Leon had never seen this man before in his life, why would he know who he was? Rebecca too was dumbfounded. The man was greeting them like old friends. At that moment, something triggered in the back of Rebecca's brain, a black and white image that was distorted and fuzzy, but familiar. An image of this face, if less careworn and younger; a name that surfaced in Rebecca's consciousness. It was...it was...
"Jackson?" Rebecca and Leon said, then snapped their mouths closed as they exchanged a shocked glance. Not only in perfect synchronicity, but the same name too. Leon was starting to severely doubt his own mental state as the soldier chuckled. His smile broadened.
"Heh. You remember me. Remember anything else?" Rebecca stared at him. No, nothing. A blank.
"I've...never seen you before in my life." Rebecca said, somewhat confusedly.
Jackson's eyebrows hitched up in a befuddled frown
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"She is telling the truth" Leon said, trying to free his hands from the plastic strip they'd bound them in "I've never seen you before either. Either there's been some massive mistake or..."
'But how did you know his name?' Leon asked himself 'You've never seen him before and yet...' Somehow in some weird way, the man was familiar. Nothing overt, just a vague sense of reality regarding this man's place in his world.
"Nah, it's you alright" Jackson said, shaking his head "You've grown a bit, but you're sure as hell the same people."
"Who?" Leon pressed him, keen to find out who it was this man thought he was.
"Oh, of course" Jackson said, slapping his forehead "The memory thing. Sorry 'bout that. You'll know in time"
Leon's frustration at being left in the dark came out almost as Rebecca's did, except her outburst was louder.
"Are you guys Umbrella? Who the hell are you and why did you capture us?!" she snapped.
Jackson's smile merely broadened.
"Heh. The same feistiness you always had. That's my Becca."
The shock from Rebecca and Leon emanated from them like ripples in a pond of memory.
"How do you...?" Rebecca began.
"I know who you are alright, Rebecca. You too Leon" he nodded at Leon "Both of you spunky as hell. Memories, huh?" he took a breath "This might be difficult for you to understand right now, but we're not Umbrella. We're not technically anybody, really. Which is why you guys are such a coup."
Rebecca was losing her tenuous grip on what it was she knew.
"Me and Leon...we were trying to destroy Umbrella's Sydney labs, we got captured and thrown into a detention centre here. We barely know where we are, so I don't see how we could possibly-"
She was cut off by a shout from the driver.
"Okay, we're there! Prepare to disembark boys and girls!" Jackson nodded to the soldiers, who promptly stood up, hauling up a still confused Leon and a bewildered Rebecca with them, and dragged them out of the back of the truck with little resistance. Leon screwed up his eyes; the light was intense. Powerful artificial lights beamed down on the startled pair like the sun, except these were coming from thousand watt lamps that dotted the compound they now stood in. It wasn't like the prison. This place was in pristine condition; every light worked, every window glowed through slatted blinds. Soldiers patrolled the concrete compound mechanically, their march so precise it could have been measured on a metronome. It was swarming with activity. As the other trucks slowed to a stop, three mechanics in orange boiler suits sprinted out towards the vehicles to coo over the dented paintwork. Leon looked up.
"Fuck me" he muttered.
Rebecca also looked.
"I concur. Fuck." She added, in a small voice. The building in front of them was immense. It was like a fortress from the medieval period, recreated in steel and concrete so that it looked like the world's largest nuclear bunker combined with office block. It rose so high there were three outside 'battlements', the upper platform adorned with a near organic growth of antennae and satellite dishes. It wasn't just solid enough to survive a nuclear war, but looked technologically equipped to control the central hub of all the worlds' communications. The building wasn't architecturally spectacular, but it was certainly an achievement.
How the hell did Umbrella's bombers miss this damned great thing? "Friends." The voice, a breezy and confident one filled the courtyard; this was a man clearly not afraid of being heard. The man in question was advancing quickly across the courtyard to meet them, flanked by more armed goons with assault rifles. He was in his early fifties or so it appeared, greyish hair streaked his hair and temples and his skin was certainly tautened with wrinkles in certain areas, but he veritably glowed with inner fire. "Finally, you have come. I apologise for the...entourage" he waved at the soldiers who nudged Leon and Rebecca closer "But you know, risk and all that. It is a pleasure to see you again." "The pleasure's all ours" Leon said sarcastically. There was a slightly odd way the man had put his sentence however, and Rebecca was the first to notice it.
"Sorry...again?" she said, narrowing her eyes "You're not another one of these crazy people who claim they've seen us before?"
The man looked at them as if sympathising with them, and he nodded.
"Ah yes, of course, you won't remember will you? Time will tell. Either way, you're here." He smiled broadly; it was much to their surprise, a genuine smile – not a false, cold one like the kind Wesker used to wear, Rebecca found herself thinking, but a bona fide warm smile of a man who was completely happy to see them. He reminded Leon of a benevolent Uncle he had once had.
"It is time we showed you to your new home." The man said, "Follow me" He turned and briskly walked back in the direction he had come from. Leon and Rebecca stood there dumbly for a few moments before a pair of assault rifles nudged them back to reality.
"Keep your hair on." Leon hissed, as he was frogmarched off with Rebecca beside him. "Hands where I can see 'em" the guard barked, gruffly. Under the watch of several assault rifles, they obeyed, albeit reluctantly. "What do you think will happen to us?" Rebecca said with a tinge of worry in her voice as they walked into the belly of the beast, metal gates sliding behind them with a crunch. "I don't know, but I'm not looking forward to it" Leon remarked, as they walked down the grey, dull corridor. They rounded several corners, went up a number of steep stairs, proceeded through a number of security checkpoints and reached a much larger white-and-grey area that looked brighter and less utility based. For some reason...this stung of familiarity. Except in the new image that was forming in his mind, it wasn't this lab.
It was another one. Metal corridors, just like this one...a central computer column with a vast generator...retractable bridges...
For a few moments he could see nothing but the lab of his dreams; a glimmering metal airlock opened before him, and he entered a de- contamination chamber. Fizzling in black and white, but recognisable. It looked typical of any laboratory, albeit a highly funded and tightly quarantined one...but Leon knew this place. Scientists, young and old, male and female bustled in and out of the lab area Leon could see through the crackling white fuzz of his delirious dream-world. That equipment...it looked...he knew he'd seen it before...
Then colour and the real world again. He blinked in shock, finding himself walking down the main corridor again as he had before. Leon had been hallucinating again. "Leon..." Rebecca murmured "...I was...in a mansion...a lab of some kind...it was so familiar..."
Not again. These flashes were becoming more regular and more frightening as they appeared. Leon wasn't certain that his mind was the place he wanted to be right now. Rebecca's own 'flashback' had been equally, if not more, affecting. Despite the monochrome of her surroundings, the place had clearly been a gothic mansion. It was very familiar to her...except it felt alive. There were people walking the hallways, nodding at...her?
Was it a vision or was it a real memory? Leon too had been debating this. The two visions were less like images and more like experiences; but they were still in black and white. Something wasn't getting through correctly. He was pulled out of his thoughts by their arrival at their new home. The knot in Leon's stomach was tightening more than ever as they approached a thick metal door, securely bolted and locked. The man withdrew a card from his pocket, and slid it through the card reader beside the door. The red light above it blinked to green with a ping. The guards drew back the bolts, and Leon and Rebecca were pushed into the room.
"Enjoy your stay. We will have another discussion in the morning!" the man said from the other side of the door, which was slammed behind them. Rebecca ran over to the door and banged her fist on it. "What the hell is going on?!" she yelled, pounding the metal angrily. "Enjoy" the man said again, before there was the sound of footsteps echoing off into the distance. "I can't believe this!" Rebecca spat "They chuck us in a cell, and-!" Leon had been staring around him the whole time, Rebecca still with her face to the door so she could not really see her new environs. "Um, Rebecca." "What?" "I don't think this is a cell" "What makes you think that?" "A few things really." "Like what?" "The TV's a good place to start. Oh, and the couch, portraits and sound system. Dead giveaway." Rebecca slowly turned around. And she gasped. What was around her was not the tawdry, dank prison cell she was expecting but...well...luxury. The room was vast, with other rooms leading off it. It was tastefully decorated; stylishly placed lights illuminated the scene with a pale yet friendly tint. Lush and possibly rare pot plants stood by large black speakers hooked up to the largest sound system she had ever seen. It probably didn't hold any less than one hundred and fifty CDs, she guessed and nearly correctly. The couch was vast and plush, the TV a rich-man's wet dream. Leon looked at his surroundings in utter incomprehension too. The piano in the corner of the adjacent room, he thought, couldn't have cost any less than two hundred thousand dollars, and the exercise bike near it was one that Leon had wanted to buy his parents for their anniversary, but couldn't because it would have taken three months wages just to foot the initial payments. It was ridiculous.
"Rebecca, do my eyes deceive me..." he said, looking to his left "...but is that a bottle of champagne on chill?"
Rebecca sidled up to the bottle in the ice bucket as if it was going to explode, and picked it up. It was ice cold, and dripped with condensation. Two glasses, crystalline and gleaming sat untouched by the bucket in its stand. "Yup."
"Sure?" "Jacobs Creek, 1999. Good year too." "Right. We're surrounded by luxury and champagne on chill. We're also in the middle of an impregnable fortress protected by armed guards with T- Virus mutates just beyond the borders of the fence. This definitely makes sense."
Leon flicked through the channels of the TV with the remote control, keen to find the end of the seemingly endless list of channels. A huge variation of pop culture flashed before him; game shows, soccer, golf, shopping, MTV, jackass, news, documentaries on whales... He shook his head and put the remote down as Rebecca re-entered the room.
"Check it out Leon" Rebecca said, with a contained excitement "There's a minibar. Chock full with beer, wine and spirits."
Leon nodded. "Good. I've been browsing our TV channels." "We get any good television?" "Oh, better than that" Leon said "We've got all the television. In the world. Ever. I've just been browsing through eighteen documentary channels, twenty-five news channels, thirty music channels and the lot."
"Certainly provided for us haven't they?" Rebecca said, flopping down in the gigantic couch next to Leon with a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah..." Leon said a little coolly.
Rebecca looked at him.
"Not enough sports channels?"
"Rebecca, will you please take me seriously?" Leon snapped, spinning around to her "It's all very beautiful, but it's still a prison. We haven't exactly been given all the freedom we could possibly desire, Rebecca."
He pointed towards the balcony, beyond which lay barbed wire and automated gun turrets, as well as armed guards some storeys below.
"We're in the most beautiful gilded cage of all. We're guests but at the same time we're prisoners."
"Which means..." Rebecca replied "...they want to keep us alive. They wouldn't go to all this trouble. Now, take this how you will Leon, but I haven't had a shower in forty-eight hours, neither have I changed clothes or eaten or drank. My only clothes are soaked..." she nodded to the wet bundle on the floor that consisted of the clothes they'd been wearing before and had carried with them "...and as far as I know, we have room service, a hot tub, fresh towels and a bottle of champagne waiting to be opened."
She looked at him completely serious.
"Or would you rather spend the rest of your time here dressed like a moron and smelling like a pig?" she said, viciously but not without a point.
Leon had to concede this, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight. No sireee.
"No way Rebecca. You can test me all you want, but I won't give in."
"Look at it this way" Rebecca said, sipping the deliciously cold champagne from the cold glass as a thick lather of bubbles spluttered and popped beneath her swim-suited chest "You did manage to resist for a whole five seconds."
Leon leaned back into the water, bare-chested and holding his own glass in his right hand. He wasn't sure he could bring himself to look at Rebecca for a little while. The hot tub was large, very hot and extremely comfortable. Much to Leon's annoyance, he had felt himself physically relaxing under the pounding ministrations of the tubs air-jets. Leon was directly opposite Rebecca, still having difficulty believing that two hours ago he'd been fighting for his life and now he was like the centre of attention at the playboy mansion. All very beautiful stuff, yes, and he'd enjoy it while he could...but he still kept a word of warning in his mind despite Rebecca's enthusiasm.
Rebecca looked at Leon, and stretched her pale, glistening left arm.
"Listen, I know we're prisoners and all that...but if you're given a loaf of bread, then you eat it, you know?"
Leon looked into Rebecca's eyes, and saw nothing but honesty. Then he realised he was starting to look at something else other than her eyes and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. She was quite curvaceous, the part of his mind that was always keeping an eye out for potential girl-friend material told him, and she clearly enjoys your company...
Shut the fuck up he told himself.
Rebecca had been aware, and just about restrained her blush.
"I guess you're right..." he sighed, "...I just don't trust them. You've seen the same kinds of vis-memories whatever, as me. They all know who we are. The lead scientist clearly knows us very well."
Rebecca, despite her healthy looking sweat was looking unsettled by what Leon was saying.
"You're right..." she said, looking down slightly guiltily "You're right...it's like there's an itch I just can't scratch, you know? These memories belong somewhere I just don't know where."
Leon smiled at her, slightly contritely for having caused a guilt trip.
"Hey, it's okay. We may as well enjoy a bit of luxury, huh?"
Rebecca appeared hesitant, but then she smiled sweetly at him.
"Yeah. Why not?" she replied. Leon took Rebecca's smile in. It reminded him of a girl he'd once know, the one he'd enjoyed an evening of passion with behind the gym at high school. Oh yeah, her. ........ Funny. Why couldn't he remember her name?
"What do you think would get those things open?" Leon said.
"An act of god" Rebecca replied without hesitation. Leon inspected the walls; twenty metres high and topped with barbed wire. There had to be a break in the defences of the building somewhere. The bombing had clearly been extensive, but not extensive enough for their liking; indeed, the less of Umbrella's structures left the better. However, they were still stuck. The doors did not look as if they were going to open anytime soon. Stepping closer, the doors looked no less solid. The enormous bolt drawn across the doors appeared to be moveable, but Leon doubted he would be able to push the doors open by himself.
"Seriously" Leon mused, scratching his head "How do you open a pair of doors like that?"
"It might take a forklifter, but I don't think anyone would be kind enough to leave any around" Rebecca said, scanning the dirt compound. It was quite large actually, and the buildings seemed to accommodate a number of utilitarian needs...including a garage.
"What do you reckon about that place?" Rebecca asked, tapping Leon on the shoulder and pointing at the corrugated metal doors.
Leon nodded.
"I think it's the closest we're going to get" he replied.
The garage was much like the other buildings; grey and dreary, if pumped full of that familiar gasoline smell that garages always possess. Grease and oil streaked the floor of the sodden air; it was a surprise what with all the flammable liquids that this building hadn't gone up like a haystack. Rebecca was re-evaluating her opinion of the men who had dropped explosives on the complex, because in her opinion if you couldn't hit a forty-by-forty metre building filled with fuel then you shouldn't really be a janitor, let alone a pilot.
Leon surveyed the small vehicle pool available. Of the five vehicles, there was only one that seemed even vaguely suited to their needs. The truck was bulky, but didn't look like anybody had used it in a small ice age. Dust tarnished whatever paint-job in the dark grey shade the vehicle had once possessed. He had doubts that it would even move. It was filled with heavy industrial equipment, mostly steel rods and cables that had clearly never been used.
Rebecca hopped down beside the truck, and made her way towards the engine. She reached for the hood gingerly, as if it were about to explode, and lifted it up. Inside was an engine that seemed to be intact, with every component where it should be. Rebecca pulled the stopper off of the fuel tank, and took a sniff. It smelled strong, but Rebecca could see in the cool white light of the strip-bulbs above her head that the tank lacked any kind of fuel.
Leon came up beside her.
"Well?" he asked, expectant of disaster.
"I'm no mechanic, but the engine looks fine. Needs fuel though." Leon sighed in relief, feeling that sensation of achievement start to well up inside of him like an oil well.
"There's plenty of that" he said, turning to face some red-painted fuel drums stacked up against the wall that he had seen a minute ago "So, we have a working vehicle, theoretically. All that's left to do is work out how we're going to get the thing through the doors without us in it."
Rebecca nodded in comprehension, her brown eyes full of thought. It would be too dangerous to hit the doors full on with them inside the vehicle, as sturdy metal doors would have a visible effect on the engine and the windshield. Not wanting to imagine what it would be like if one were hit by a metal gate in the face, Leon tried to conjure up a plan. Leon was bright, but Rebecca was more scientifically minded and it was she who came up with the plan.
"How about this" she said, leaning against the dusty hood "We fix up the accelerator with a prop so it keeps a steady speed, we start from a far enough distance away. The driver keeps the wheel steady for just about long enough for the truck to hit the doors at ninety, he jumps out about ten seconds in. Sound good?"
"Sounds like there's a high risk factor..." Leon said, "But it seems to me like the best plan we have. Right, I'll start with the fuel you see what you can find prop-wise." After five minutes, they were ready. Rebecca had found a huge spanner that was just about big enough to keep the pedal pressed down.
"Keep the brakes on, then attach it; fix it with this" she said, producing some industrial sticking tape she had found amongst the tools "Then we just pray the damn thing stays straight."
Leon nodded, and threw the materials into the passenger seat before jumping up into the drivers one. Rebecca licked her lips. She hadn't known Leon for that long really, but it would kill her to see him die in this highly risky plan she had come up with. Without him, her black and white memory wouldn't make sense. What to say?
"Um...Leon" she called, prompting him to turn back to her.
"Yeah?" he replied calmly, as if he didn't know what he was doing was certain death.
"Um...take care" she said, hopelessly. He smiled, and winked.
"Hey. It's me!" he replied, slamming the door shut. And that's what I'm afraid of Rebecca thought, giving him a cheerful wave and running to the garage door. She hit the button that slid the grille up into the ceiling, and ran out into the warm air. Rebecca's mind was on making sure the damned door was at least unlocked and as vulnerable as possible to the impact. She reached the door quickly, and studied the locks. Only a latch, a bolt and a chunky padlock. Rebecca smiled to herself as she withdrew the key ring.
To give credit to Umbrella, she thought as she quickly found the key and pulled the enormous chain off of the bolt lock they always leave keys just lying around. God bless apathy.
She stared at the mighty bolt with trepidation, but decided that she might as well try. She flexed the muscles in her hands, and grasped the handle. She pushed. The bolt was damned heavy, and Rebecca felt her veins swell up to engorged proportions as she strained at the slow moving hunk of metal. With the padlock on, nobody would be able to open it. But after a few minutes, she was able to slide it into the unlocked position. She gasped at the intensity of it, her muscles screaming at her as she let go. Rebecca looked up to see Leon in the truck, backing the unwieldy beast far across the compound. She gave the thumbs up. "READY!" she yelled, and ran over to one side.
Leon felt sweat drip down his forehead as the engine snarled beneath the hood. One single fault, and he would be deader than a quarter-pounder. Uttering a silent prayer that he would get through this alive, he pushed the accelerator down. The tyres screeched, but didn't move. Quickly, Leon fixed the spanner down and taped it with as much tape as he could manage to the lower-glovebox. He looked ahead, and saw the small figure of Rebecca giving him the thumbs up. Leon flickered the headlights in response.
He sat up straight, hands on the wheel. He thought of his vision, of that small girl he didn't know, of those shadowy faces he also didn't know, thought of Rebecca, thought of Claire...He was hinging one hell of a lot on this drive. Leon swallowed with a dry throat...and let go of the brake. The truck roared, and took off with surprising speed. The buildings, some tumbled down and flaming shot past him as the truck gathered up to horrendous speed. He stared ahead at the rapidly approaching gate. Six. Seven. Eight. It had to be close enough, it had to be... Nine. Ten. Yelling an expletive he wasn't sure anyone knew but him, he held the wheel steady before kicking the door open and throwing himself out into the dirt, landing hard on his side in the damp ground. He looked up to see the truck continuing towards the gate...and to his horror saw it swerve slightly; no, it couldn't end like this...!
However, the fates were with Leon and Rebecca this day. The truck hit the gate at approximately eighty miles per hour. The doors moaned and in one second, they crunched on top of the truck, landing heavily onto the now non-existent windshield. The truck carried on through the gate, before with a tremendous crash finally coming to rest. Leon exhaled. Then he exhaled again. He was alive. And judging by the figure staggering to her feet somewhat shakily, so was Rebecca. He smirked. "Yeeeeehaaaaww!!" Rebecca crowed, as Leon stood up to meet her, adrenaline backwash hitting him too now.
"Rock and roll!!" he yelled, and the partners-in-crime did a triumphant high-five.
Their gambit had worked.
"Man, what were the chances of that working?" Leon managed in between laughs.
"Hey, that was my plan!" Rebecca retorted, also still laughing.
"That's what I meant" Leon smirked. However, their laughter dulled as they heard another sound. The roar of an engine. No, several engines. As they started to take in this new information, sleek black trucks poured into the compound, screeching to a halt in the dirt and as Leon and Rebecca watched, saw up to maybe fifty soldiers pouring out of the rear of the vehicles. Aghast, the pair stared at the soldiers lining up and cocking their rifles. The snapping sound of fifty assault rifles as their safety catches were clicked off froze Leon and Rebecca to the spot.
"Stay where you are!" One of the men barked, face hidden behind a black gasmask as he and his troops quickly established an entrapment formation around the stunned pair. "Were they waiting for us?" Rebecca asked with a great deal of anxiety, turning to Leon for answers. Leon didn't really know what to say. All he could do was stare dumbly as the soldiers advanced on him. It was when they started manhandling him that he started to react; as the hands of two troops clamed firmly on his arms, Leon tried with all his might to disentangle himself from them.
"Get the hell off me you umbrella assholes!" Leon cursed, as he gritted his teeth with each forceful effort to throw off the troopers.
"Shut up" said one of them harshly, and smashed Leon hard in the stomach with the butt of his assault rifle. Leon gasped loudly, and was left bent double and wheezing. Rebecca snapped forward in the grip of the troops who now had a grip on her.
"Leave him alone you bastards!" One of the soldiers turned angrily to the other.
"Did you listen? He said 'One piece and preferably in good condition'! You deaf or something?"
"If the cat has claws, then ya need to declaw him." the other soldier snapped back.
"Come on, let's get 'em both onto the truck"
Rebecca was prodded with the barrel of the assault rifle, Leon pulled up by the soldiers and dragged towards the open back of one of the black trucks the troops had arrived in. Legs still kicking futilely, Rebecca was hoisted aboard, followed by a less resistant and still sorely winded Leon. As the last of them leapt onto the rear of the truck, he banged the roof with the flat of his palm. With a roar the engine flared into life again, and at the head of a small convoy of trucks they began to pull out of the compound and into the darkness, bumping savagely on the uneven dirt track that led out of the compound.
Leon managed to get most of his breath back after a great deal of panting and gasping, and looked up at his new captors. All dressed in black combat uniforms, all gun-toting, all faceless men. None of them, to his surprise, wore any insignia of any description whatsoever. Leon stole a look at Rebecca, whose eyes locked with his. They didn't speak, but their facial expressions said something else: Who are these people?
The truck rattled along, only the sounds of the night and the distant cry of some T-Virus variant occasionally punctuated the taut silence. Leon was aware that the tranquilizer rifle he had possessed was on the now far behind dirt ground of the detention compound, and since every single one of the weapons pointed at him was in the hands of an elite, hard to fool soldier with an itchy trigger finger he decided it would be propitious not to do anything. Nobody spoke for a long time. Then, from the front of the truck, a soldier who appeared to be the commander climbed over the passenger seat and into the rear of the truck. He pulled his mask off, underneath revealing a face that was a collection of scars on a cliff face; his eyes were cool and sharp, every single muscle under perfect athletic control. His hair was short and greying slightly, but he did not lack in any physical department.
The man looked at Leon and Rebecca slowly as if taking in every single detail of their faces, every imperfection or curve. Much to their surprise, a smile then etched across the cliff-like face.
"Well, it's been a long time. You haven't changed." The manner in which he said it unsettled Leon; if only because of the tone of familiarity was using. Leon had never seen this man before in his life, why would he know who he was? Rebecca too was dumbfounded. The man was greeting them like old friends. At that moment, something triggered in the back of Rebecca's brain, a black and white image that was distorted and fuzzy, but familiar. An image of this face, if less careworn and younger; a name that surfaced in Rebecca's consciousness. It was...it was...
"Jackson?" Rebecca and Leon said, then snapped their mouths closed as they exchanged a shocked glance. Not only in perfect synchronicity, but the same name too. Leon was starting to severely doubt his own mental state as the soldier chuckled. His smile broadened.
"Heh. You remember me. Remember anything else?" Rebecca stared at him. No, nothing. A blank.
"I've...never seen you before in my life." Rebecca said, somewhat confusedly.
Jackson's eyebrows hitched up in a befuddled frown
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"She is telling the truth" Leon said, trying to free his hands from the plastic strip they'd bound them in "I've never seen you before either. Either there's been some massive mistake or..."
'But how did you know his name?' Leon asked himself 'You've never seen him before and yet...' Somehow in some weird way, the man was familiar. Nothing overt, just a vague sense of reality regarding this man's place in his world.
"Nah, it's you alright" Jackson said, shaking his head "You've grown a bit, but you're sure as hell the same people."
"Who?" Leon pressed him, keen to find out who it was this man thought he was.
"Oh, of course" Jackson said, slapping his forehead "The memory thing. Sorry 'bout that. You'll know in time"
Leon's frustration at being left in the dark came out almost as Rebecca's did, except her outburst was louder.
"Are you guys Umbrella? Who the hell are you and why did you capture us?!" she snapped.
Jackson's smile merely broadened.
"Heh. The same feistiness you always had. That's my Becca."
The shock from Rebecca and Leon emanated from them like ripples in a pond of memory.
"How do you...?" Rebecca began.
"I know who you are alright, Rebecca. You too Leon" he nodded at Leon "Both of you spunky as hell. Memories, huh?" he took a breath "This might be difficult for you to understand right now, but we're not Umbrella. We're not technically anybody, really. Which is why you guys are such a coup."
Rebecca was losing her tenuous grip on what it was she knew.
"Me and Leon...we were trying to destroy Umbrella's Sydney labs, we got captured and thrown into a detention centre here. We barely know where we are, so I don't see how we could possibly-"
She was cut off by a shout from the driver.
"Okay, we're there! Prepare to disembark boys and girls!" Jackson nodded to the soldiers, who promptly stood up, hauling up a still confused Leon and a bewildered Rebecca with them, and dragged them out of the back of the truck with little resistance. Leon screwed up his eyes; the light was intense. Powerful artificial lights beamed down on the startled pair like the sun, except these were coming from thousand watt lamps that dotted the compound they now stood in. It wasn't like the prison. This place was in pristine condition; every light worked, every window glowed through slatted blinds. Soldiers patrolled the concrete compound mechanically, their march so precise it could have been measured on a metronome. It was swarming with activity. As the other trucks slowed to a stop, three mechanics in orange boiler suits sprinted out towards the vehicles to coo over the dented paintwork. Leon looked up.
"Fuck me" he muttered.
Rebecca also looked.
"I concur. Fuck." She added, in a small voice. The building in front of them was immense. It was like a fortress from the medieval period, recreated in steel and concrete so that it looked like the world's largest nuclear bunker combined with office block. It rose so high there were three outside 'battlements', the upper platform adorned with a near organic growth of antennae and satellite dishes. It wasn't just solid enough to survive a nuclear war, but looked technologically equipped to control the central hub of all the worlds' communications. The building wasn't architecturally spectacular, but it was certainly an achievement.
How the hell did Umbrella's bombers miss this damned great thing? "Friends." The voice, a breezy and confident one filled the courtyard; this was a man clearly not afraid of being heard. The man in question was advancing quickly across the courtyard to meet them, flanked by more armed goons with assault rifles. He was in his early fifties or so it appeared, greyish hair streaked his hair and temples and his skin was certainly tautened with wrinkles in certain areas, but he veritably glowed with inner fire. "Finally, you have come. I apologise for the...entourage" he waved at the soldiers who nudged Leon and Rebecca closer "But you know, risk and all that. It is a pleasure to see you again." "The pleasure's all ours" Leon said sarcastically. There was a slightly odd way the man had put his sentence however, and Rebecca was the first to notice it.
"Sorry...again?" she said, narrowing her eyes "You're not another one of these crazy people who claim they've seen us before?"
The man looked at them as if sympathising with them, and he nodded.
"Ah yes, of course, you won't remember will you? Time will tell. Either way, you're here." He smiled broadly; it was much to their surprise, a genuine smile – not a false, cold one like the kind Wesker used to wear, Rebecca found herself thinking, but a bona fide warm smile of a man who was completely happy to see them. He reminded Leon of a benevolent Uncle he had once had.
"It is time we showed you to your new home." The man said, "Follow me" He turned and briskly walked back in the direction he had come from. Leon and Rebecca stood there dumbly for a few moments before a pair of assault rifles nudged them back to reality.
"Keep your hair on." Leon hissed, as he was frogmarched off with Rebecca beside him. "Hands where I can see 'em" the guard barked, gruffly. Under the watch of several assault rifles, they obeyed, albeit reluctantly. "What do you think will happen to us?" Rebecca said with a tinge of worry in her voice as they walked into the belly of the beast, metal gates sliding behind them with a crunch. "I don't know, but I'm not looking forward to it" Leon remarked, as they walked down the grey, dull corridor. They rounded several corners, went up a number of steep stairs, proceeded through a number of security checkpoints and reached a much larger white-and-grey area that looked brighter and less utility based. For some reason...this stung of familiarity. Except in the new image that was forming in his mind, it wasn't this lab.
It was another one. Metal corridors, just like this one...a central computer column with a vast generator...retractable bridges...
For a few moments he could see nothing but the lab of his dreams; a glimmering metal airlock opened before him, and he entered a de- contamination chamber. Fizzling in black and white, but recognisable. It looked typical of any laboratory, albeit a highly funded and tightly quarantined one...but Leon knew this place. Scientists, young and old, male and female bustled in and out of the lab area Leon could see through the crackling white fuzz of his delirious dream-world. That equipment...it looked...he knew he'd seen it before...
Then colour and the real world again. He blinked in shock, finding himself walking down the main corridor again as he had before. Leon had been hallucinating again. "Leon..." Rebecca murmured "...I was...in a mansion...a lab of some kind...it was so familiar..."
Not again. These flashes were becoming more regular and more frightening as they appeared. Leon wasn't certain that his mind was the place he wanted to be right now. Rebecca's own 'flashback' had been equally, if not more, affecting. Despite the monochrome of her surroundings, the place had clearly been a gothic mansion. It was very familiar to her...except it felt alive. There were people walking the hallways, nodding at...her?
Was it a vision or was it a real memory? Leon too had been debating this. The two visions were less like images and more like experiences; but they were still in black and white. Something wasn't getting through correctly. He was pulled out of his thoughts by their arrival at their new home. The knot in Leon's stomach was tightening more than ever as they approached a thick metal door, securely bolted and locked. The man withdrew a card from his pocket, and slid it through the card reader beside the door. The red light above it blinked to green with a ping. The guards drew back the bolts, and Leon and Rebecca were pushed into the room.
"Enjoy your stay. We will have another discussion in the morning!" the man said from the other side of the door, which was slammed behind them. Rebecca ran over to the door and banged her fist on it. "What the hell is going on?!" she yelled, pounding the metal angrily. "Enjoy" the man said again, before there was the sound of footsteps echoing off into the distance. "I can't believe this!" Rebecca spat "They chuck us in a cell, and-!" Leon had been staring around him the whole time, Rebecca still with her face to the door so she could not really see her new environs. "Um, Rebecca." "What?" "I don't think this is a cell" "What makes you think that?" "A few things really." "Like what?" "The TV's a good place to start. Oh, and the couch, portraits and sound system. Dead giveaway." Rebecca slowly turned around. And she gasped. What was around her was not the tawdry, dank prison cell she was expecting but...well...luxury. The room was vast, with other rooms leading off it. It was tastefully decorated; stylishly placed lights illuminated the scene with a pale yet friendly tint. Lush and possibly rare pot plants stood by large black speakers hooked up to the largest sound system she had ever seen. It probably didn't hold any less than one hundred and fifty CDs, she guessed and nearly correctly. The couch was vast and plush, the TV a rich-man's wet dream. Leon looked at his surroundings in utter incomprehension too. The piano in the corner of the adjacent room, he thought, couldn't have cost any less than two hundred thousand dollars, and the exercise bike near it was one that Leon had wanted to buy his parents for their anniversary, but couldn't because it would have taken three months wages just to foot the initial payments. It was ridiculous.
"Rebecca, do my eyes deceive me..." he said, looking to his left "...but is that a bottle of champagne on chill?"
Rebecca sidled up to the bottle in the ice bucket as if it was going to explode, and picked it up. It was ice cold, and dripped with condensation. Two glasses, crystalline and gleaming sat untouched by the bucket in its stand. "Yup."
"Sure?" "Jacobs Creek, 1999. Good year too." "Right. We're surrounded by luxury and champagne on chill. We're also in the middle of an impregnable fortress protected by armed guards with T- Virus mutates just beyond the borders of the fence. This definitely makes sense."
Leon flicked through the channels of the TV with the remote control, keen to find the end of the seemingly endless list of channels. A huge variation of pop culture flashed before him; game shows, soccer, golf, shopping, MTV, jackass, news, documentaries on whales... He shook his head and put the remote down as Rebecca re-entered the room.
"Check it out Leon" Rebecca said, with a contained excitement "There's a minibar. Chock full with beer, wine and spirits."
Leon nodded. "Good. I've been browsing our TV channels." "We get any good television?" "Oh, better than that" Leon said "We've got all the television. In the world. Ever. I've just been browsing through eighteen documentary channels, twenty-five news channels, thirty music channels and the lot."
"Certainly provided for us haven't they?" Rebecca said, flopping down in the gigantic couch next to Leon with a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah..." Leon said a little coolly.
Rebecca looked at him.
"Not enough sports channels?"
"Rebecca, will you please take me seriously?" Leon snapped, spinning around to her "It's all very beautiful, but it's still a prison. We haven't exactly been given all the freedom we could possibly desire, Rebecca."
He pointed towards the balcony, beyond which lay barbed wire and automated gun turrets, as well as armed guards some storeys below.
"We're in the most beautiful gilded cage of all. We're guests but at the same time we're prisoners."
"Which means..." Rebecca replied "...they want to keep us alive. They wouldn't go to all this trouble. Now, take this how you will Leon, but I haven't had a shower in forty-eight hours, neither have I changed clothes or eaten or drank. My only clothes are soaked..." she nodded to the wet bundle on the floor that consisted of the clothes they'd been wearing before and had carried with them "...and as far as I know, we have room service, a hot tub, fresh towels and a bottle of champagne waiting to be opened."
She looked at him completely serious.
"Or would you rather spend the rest of your time here dressed like a moron and smelling like a pig?" she said, viciously but not without a point.
Leon had to concede this, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight. No sireee.
"No way Rebecca. You can test me all you want, but I won't give in."
"Look at it this way" Rebecca said, sipping the deliciously cold champagne from the cold glass as a thick lather of bubbles spluttered and popped beneath her swim-suited chest "You did manage to resist for a whole five seconds."
Leon leaned back into the water, bare-chested and holding his own glass in his right hand. He wasn't sure he could bring himself to look at Rebecca for a little while. The hot tub was large, very hot and extremely comfortable. Much to Leon's annoyance, he had felt himself physically relaxing under the pounding ministrations of the tubs air-jets. Leon was directly opposite Rebecca, still having difficulty believing that two hours ago he'd been fighting for his life and now he was like the centre of attention at the playboy mansion. All very beautiful stuff, yes, and he'd enjoy it while he could...but he still kept a word of warning in his mind despite Rebecca's enthusiasm.
Rebecca looked at Leon, and stretched her pale, glistening left arm.
"Listen, I know we're prisoners and all that...but if you're given a loaf of bread, then you eat it, you know?"
Leon looked into Rebecca's eyes, and saw nothing but honesty. Then he realised he was starting to look at something else other than her eyes and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. She was quite curvaceous, the part of his mind that was always keeping an eye out for potential girl-friend material told him, and she clearly enjoys your company...
Shut the fuck up he told himself.
Rebecca had been aware, and just about restrained her blush.
"I guess you're right..." he sighed, "...I just don't trust them. You've seen the same kinds of vis-memories whatever, as me. They all know who we are. The lead scientist clearly knows us very well."
Rebecca, despite her healthy looking sweat was looking unsettled by what Leon was saying.
"You're right..." she said, looking down slightly guiltily "You're right...it's like there's an itch I just can't scratch, you know? These memories belong somewhere I just don't know where."
Leon smiled at her, slightly contritely for having caused a guilt trip.
"Hey, it's okay. We may as well enjoy a bit of luxury, huh?"
Rebecca appeared hesitant, but then she smiled sweetly at him.
"Yeah. Why not?" she replied. Leon took Rebecca's smile in. It reminded him of a girl he'd once know, the one he'd enjoyed an evening of passion with behind the gym at high school. Oh yeah, her. ........ Funny. Why couldn't he remember her name?