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Chapter 6: Lost
Alone and cold, Sena traipsed through the tunnels of the sewers, only half-heartedly looking for an exit. Sometime ago, despair had set in. She now walked aimlessly, utterly lost. The darkness seemed smothering, the air seemed tight. Claustrophobia she told herself. It was little comfort.
The mocking laughter still rang in her ears. She shuddered and broke into a jog. This was not a good place to be.
***
Rebecca looked anxiously at Jill. She looked okay. Just a bleeding, or maybe even a broken nose, but nothing life threatening. As she watched, Jill came to. Slowly, Jill pulled herself to a sitting position.
"What's going on?" she asked through clenched teeth. Fiery waves of pain shooted through her head.
"Sena's missing," Rebecca said. "Wesker's going to find her."
"But we could just leave! Why are we staying here?"
Rebecca sighed and looked over at the group of teens. "They won't come and I can't leave them here."
"Fine," Jill reached for her radio. "Hello? Chris, anybody? This is Jill. We've come across Wesker down the left fork. He's gone now but the kids won't follow us. What do you suggest doing?"
Static replied. Jill and Rebecca waited nervously. "Stay there," Barry commanded. "We'll come to join you. How do we get to where you are?"
"Go down the left fork at where we separated. Go right at the next fork, then continue straight, you should be able to see us," Rebecca told the radio breathlessly.
"Roger that. We're on our way. Over and Out."
Jill turned off the radio. "What's going on," she demanded of the teens.
"We aren't moving till Wesker gets back with Sena," Rosanna said defiantly.
"Wesker," replied Jill, 'is a cold-hearted son of a bitch who doesn't give a sh!t about Sena or you."
"I disagree," argued the brown-haired boy. "Wesker is Sena's uncle. I doubt he would do anything to put her in danger."
"What's your name?" Rebecca asked.
"Ben."
"Well, Ben, I'm from Raccoon City…"
"So am I." The bluntness of the reply completely derailed Rebecca's train of thought.
"Then you know what happened at the Spencer estate," Jill commented. Ben nodded. "We were there. We were STARS. Wesker was our captain. He betrayed us. I was locked in a cell while all our teammates were killed. He shot Rebecca point blank in the chest. Wesker isn't capable of feeling compassion."
The group absorbed her bitter words.
"The why," Ian asked quietly, "did he leave to find Sena and risk you scarpering or following him to shoot him? Why did he tell us to stay here and look after you if he's an evil bastard?"
Jill opened and closed her mouth several times. "I don't know," she settled on. "But I would be very surprised if it was out of love."
***
Claire hurtled down the passage after Barry and Chris. The time wasn't right to tell Jill and Rebecca about Aaron, but they'd completely forgotten to tell them about the T-Virus definitely being present in the sewers. As a result, everyone was hurrying to get to the girls before something else did.
Claire rounded the corner to find Jill and Rebecca arguing heatedly with the teenagers. Jill looked terrible. Blood caked her face. But she was arguing with enough energy that it was clear she was fine.
"What's going on?" Chris demanded.
"Wesker's gone searching for Sena and these guys refuse to move," Rebecca said.
" We've found Aaron, but not Celia, and this place is definitely infected with the T-Virus," contributed Claire.
"You've found Aaron?" Rosanna asked.
"What's the T-Virus?" wondered Ian.
"It's what happened to Raccoon City," Jill answered hollowly. "It can infect all types of creatures. When you catch it, your cells begin to die, but the virus, I dunno, reproduces them in some way. You die, but your body keeps on living. An unintelligent, soulless husk."
Ian stared at Ben, his expression merging both horror and pity. "This is what happened while your family was there?" Ben looked thoroughly despondent.
"How did it get here?" Rosanna asked to keep the conversation just slightly less morbid.
"It spread," said Claire. Her voice was oddly emotionless. "Through the sewers it came to Brideswell. That is the cause of your myths."
"But those are old legends, dating back to the death of Arben Reeve's daughter."
"Who?"
"This is fascinating," growled Barry, "But you're missing out a very important part of the story."
"I've told them about Wesker," Jill warned. She sensed this was the direction of the conversation. "They are certain he's a 'good guy'. Nothing I say can change anything."
"Nothing, eh? Wesker helped develop this virus, since he was eighteen. After he lured us to the mansion, he died. I saw him die, skewered by his own creation."
"And then, last year," Chris picked up the story, "I came across him again. He's not human. His eyes, reflexes and senses are like a cat's or snake's. He is NOT human. Maybe a long time ago he was capable of emotion but not now. Not for a long time."
***
Wesker himself sniffed the air. Sena had been down here not so long ago. The sinister laughter continued, and it was getting very annoying, but it goaded him on.
With his speed, it wasn't long before he reached her. She was wandering the sewers slowly, the narrow beam of torchlight quavering in her trembling hands. He touched her shoulder lightly.
Sena screamed and whirled to face him, bringing her hands up in self-defense and dropping the torch. Her hands fell in embarrassment as she recognized Wesker. "Sorry, Uncle Al," she whispered.
Her face was paler than a sheet and her breathing laborious. She searched the ground for her torch. "Darn. I can't find it. Ugh, I feel so stupid. I don't suppose…?"
"I don't have a torch," Wesker replied.
"What do you have in your bag?"
He shrugged. "Kerosene, lighter…"
"Why?"
Wesker stalled for time. "Your torch is broken. We should just get going."
"I can't see didley! How can you see that a torch is broken?"
"I've got good eyesight." Sena didn't buy it, so he continued without letting her speak. "I wish this laughing would stop."
It did. Goosebumps spread over Sena's flesh. "For some reason, that's even more creepy than when they… it… was laughing. What is making that sound?"
Wesker didn't answer as the mysterious laughers circled around them. He realized just how vulnerable Sena was in the dark. She couldn't see a thing.
Suddenly, Wesker pushed her to the ground. "Get out of here," he hissed, "I'll find you soon." Sena obeyed. She rolled to the right, stood, and sprinted blindly. Miraculously, she avoided both walls and these… things.
With enhanced vision, Wesker could tell they were originally human. It seemed the T-Virus had mutated on its journey through the sewers.
Most of the carriers were short and not fully grown. Children, Wesker presumed. He felt peculiarly nauseous. Strange, things like that haven't affected me before. He focused on the nearest creature and prayed Sena wasn't being followed.
The eyes looked much like his own, glowing ominously with inhumane light and of a feline shape. They were dull purple, as not to show out too much in the darkness of the tunnel. Through those magenta eyes, Wesker saw a gleam of intelligence. They were definitely smarter than most infectees of the T-Virus, and were also much stronger and quick to react, as Wesker soon found out the hard way.
He watched these new creatures warily. The skin was less rotten but had deep gorges and scratches. As he observed the differences, they closed in on him. Within seconds, Wesker felt he was at the bottom of a rugby scrum.
He struggled valiantly to get them of him, but to no end. The lip of one of them retracted into a snarl, revealing elongated canines. They came dangerously close to his neck.
Oh god… definitely not good… gotta get out of here…. Oh sh-