Chapter 23

"Right, I understand. Good day, sir." The female nurse closed her cell phone, and looked to Dr. Steven. "They couldn't find them, as in Amelia and the boy. They've took the mother in for questioning, but they're not sure where Amelia and the boy have run off to. Do you think they'll return?"

"It could be that they'e staying overnight elsewhere," Dr. Steven informed her. "Return to that place by morning. They may have returned by then. Actually, better yet, since no one is residing there for now, it would probably be wiser just to have some men stand on guard and watch the place until they come back."

"I just heard from Michael," the nurse said. "He says that his squad went to investigate the Cornell home and the daughter wasn't home either. Do you find it a strange coincidence?"

"Not at all," Dr. Steven said, frowning. "If the Cornell daughter has been onto us, and told the boy about it, all three of them most likely went and hid somewhere, but what bothers me is how they knew of us coming."

"Maybe they didn't."

"Did your men find anything suspicious when they entered the parameter?"

"They saw someone leaving that area, but they weren't in a hurry, so they weren't marked as suspects."

"You don't think they got away in that vehicle?"

"The Sargeant seemed to think so. He thought the star on the back of the vehicle seemed to hint a good clue."

"Star? You don't think it's the trademark of STARS, do you?"

"Do you have any other explanation?"

"No, but I didn't realize STARS had gotten so damn smart."

"What should we do?"

"Send in Speciman R in crates that will burst when it contacts the ground. Most likely, for safety reasons, because they have the Cornell daughter and Amelia, they're on lockdown. If we send in the species via the roof, they won't able to escape so quickly."

"Speciman R? Sir, those were the species in Raccoon--"

"I know that, dammit, which is why we won't be sending many. If the building is on lockdown, and the STARS members are killed, the risk of infection spreading will be minimal."

The nurse narrowed her eyes. ""This better not turn into a similar incident like in Raccoon."

He smirked. "Trust me. If it makes you feel better, I'll send in a squad of gunsmen to take them out when they've done their job, as long as they remember where to shoot at them."

"You don't think they'll be more difficult to handle than previously, do you?"

"I doubt it."

All the cocoa had been drank, and empty mugs sat on the table. They sat in silence, looking at each other, then over to Amelia in the next room who was sleeping so soundly, unaware of it all.

She's been through so much and is already trying to get her old memory back enough as it is, Rodney thought, so how are we going to tell her that her life before this one is a lie? She'll be thinking her whole life has been a lie, think that we've been lying.

I wonder if they're praying, Hannah was thinking elsewise. Are they praying that Amelia would get better, or rather, for themselves that they won't be killed in trying to help her? I feel like Alice is probably taking all the blame because she is the one who suggested Amelia's rescue. STARS probably didn't even want to get into this.

Suddenly, Hannah got a bad feeling of something and straightened herself. She got chills up her spine, when she remembered the experiments of Umbrella. What became of her mother?

But no one seemed to notice. After a few moments of silence, everyone assumed that everyone else was asleep. They went to the next room and quickly accepted the hospitality of the large, soft cots. Rodney slept in the cot next to Amelia's, though her back was turned towards him, but he just wanted to make sure she was safe. Within minutes, everyone had fallen asleep.

Amelia had awakened late in the night when she heard a faint crash several rooms away. She felt a cool breeze, and wondered if maybe someone had tried to break into the facility, and stood from her cot to investigate the next rooms over. She walked to the lobby in the next room, her barefeet against the soft, blue carpet, but further down the hall, her bare feet made faint noise as she took each step.

Back in the baracks, she thought she heard someone stirring, but ignored it. She hoped she didn't awake someone if what she was searching for was merely nothing. She pushed open a metal door and looked up to the ceiling, where the moonlight from outside was shining down on her. She noticed three large crates across from her in the empty room, and walked towards them. Maybe a passing cargo helicopter dropped them by accident, she thought.

As she got closer, something inside of the crates rattled, then ceased. She lightly jumped, but kept slowly moving towards them. She thought she could hear faint breathing inside of the crates. Was someone locked in there?

Just feet from touching the closest crate, she felt a hand on her shoulder and lightly screamed. Alice covered her mouth. "Back away from it, now!" she whispered loudly.

Alice's hand was still over her mouth when she crates started shaking violently. Amelia's eyes widened.

"We have to get out of here now. Go to the second room on the left from here and grab two guns, the closest you can see," Alice whispered in Amelia's ear.

When Alice took her grasp from Amelia, as Amelia was leaving the room, she paniced and ran out the door, shutting it behind her, and locking Alice inside. Whatever was in the crates managed to pry open the crate doors, and were slowly making their way over to Alice. She backed for the door.

"Shit, not again.." she muttered.