CHAPTER IV
Crashing Victories
After the Assistant Director and Jamie finished with the final briefing, the agents led Chris and the others to a supply room, where they picked up the F.B.I's standard issued handguns and bullet proof vest.
From the supply room they discreetly made their way to a large black van that was parked in the back of the F.B.I garage.
Kennel opened the back doors of the vehicle for everyone before making his way to the driver's seat. Jamie was the first to climb into the vehicle; Chris was quick to find a seat next to her on the van's carpeted floor.
Though his life was filled with much chaos and numerous worries, Chris' time spent in that run down building with those five unfortunate souls; was a memory that he would not soon forget. From even the most random moments he would find himself things back to that time, to those people, and everyday he prayed that they were alright.
Images of what happened to Luke still poisoned his mind. Flashes of that moment never ceased to exist, and the pain and anger would never fade away.
Seeing Jamie proved that. Suddenly all those emotions became raw again, but seeing Jamie again did something else to Chris as well. It gave him a force inside of himself to have closure on what happened to the others, and to know what happened to Jamie.
She looked exactly how he remembered; her hair was still a mad mass of brilliant red, her shoulders still held in their elegant manner. It was only her eyes that had really changed; still their mesmerizing shade of green, Jamie's eyes had adapted another feature. Sorrow.
When the van was filled and Kennel had started the engine, Jamie looked up and caught Chris' stare.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked curiously.
"I'm sorry," Chris apologized quickly, turning away with a slight blush. "I guess it's just a bit surreal to be seeing you again."
"I know, when Williams brought up joining forced with you guys I felt my heart tighten," as soon as she said the words Jamie blushed, hurriedly she changed the subject.
"So I've heard of your adventures since you and Luke left us?"
Chris felt his own heart tighten at the mention of Luke's name. Unable to stop himself from cringing Jamie's own demeanor changed. In a soft, hollow voice she said to him.
"Something happened didn't it, to Luke?"
Images of Luke's exploding corpse flashed in front of Chris, leaving him only able to respond with a saddened nod.
Frowning, Jamie stared up at the van's ceiling. In a ghostly voice she said to him. "At least he's out of this never ending nightmare."
There was a dead silence between them, in which Jamie looked down from the ceiling and deep into Chris's eyes. They stared intensely into each other; a rope tied them together in a hopeless glare. Suddenly Chris broke the connection with a flicker of his eyes. With the silence over Chris' force found a way to his throat, in an overly fearful voice Chris asked her.
"What happened to the others? Derek, Mick, Cindy, there all okay right?"
A faint smile spread across Jamie's lips. "There fine, at least relatively so. Cindy found her family, which she melded back with. She was married with two children, Vince and Gaby. Mick has become heavily involved with his art; it was no surprise to discover that he was once a painter. His material has changed; however, his new stuff is much darker, moodier. I've seen all his pieces, the difference is alarming."
Chris nodded, relieved to know that they made it to where they now were. "How about Derek?" He persisted when Jamie had paused. "How's he doing?"
"Well," she began sadly. "I believe Derek had a real difficult time adjusting. He hasn't really stayed in touch with me and the others. Last I heard he was traveling through Europe."
Again Chris nodded, he was just glad to know they were all alive.
"It was hard for everyone," Jamie continued. "Nothing was easy, adjustment took a long time. In a way I think there all still adjusting."
"And you?" He asked. "How are you adjusting?"
Jamie's eyes flickered painfully.
"What happened after you were rescued?" Chris asked softly. He knew he was stepping onto hurtful territory, but something inside of him had to know.
With her emerald eyes reaching again for his own Jamie answered. "When I got out I re-traced my steps so I could find the life I had led before I was captured by Umbrella. What I discovered..." As emotions began to boil over Jamie stopped to compose herself before continuing on. "What I discovered was horrifying. I was an insurance agent looking into the company; I had uncovered some illegal funds that I am now not even sure of. But whatever it was Umbrella got to me before I could turn the information into local authorities. They killed my mother and father, and...and," emotion had now fully taken Jamie, stifling her tears Jamie bravely continued. "And they took my sister and fiancée and subjected them..." Pausing again, Jamie was now biting her lip in effort to hold back the feelings of agonizing pain that she was so desperately trying to hide. "Umbrella subjected them to its test...information here at the F.B.I located them to Rockford prison."
After a quick sob Jamie once again turned to face the ceiling. From this new position she hastily went on. "Anyway, after going to the F.B.I with my story they graciously offered me a desk job, out of pity I imagine, and after time I became field trained and like I said back in the office...here I am."
By the end Jamie's words had become barely audible whispers, nonetheless, Chris heard every syllable. He gently took hold of her shaking hands, and as she looked back down at him he said to her. "It's alright now."
With her shoulders still shaking slightly Jamie stared at him so dead, and stripped of hope. She was a broken soul, suddenly the words 'it's alright now,' seemed utterly ridiculous. It wasn't alright now; things would never be alright again.
In the midst of deciphering his own thoughts Chris felt Jamie's hand shake furiously and in a low, dark whisper she said to him
"You know what I hate most about Umbrella. Not that they killed all the people that meant anything to me, not that they took away my life, but that fact that they took my feelings...when I now remember the people that have been lost to me...I can't remember what I felt about them. I can't remember or even feel the love I held for them, or the despise of that was the case. There just...just names, only names."
Sighing an almost dead like sigh Jamie stared at him, her heart open and bleeding.
"Jamie," Chris said to her, but his thoughts never reached any farther for at that moment the van stopped, and Jamie quickly recoiled her hands from his grasp.
"Were here," came Kennel's voice.
Hastily Jamie straightened herself and joined the others as they piled out of the van, all the while careful not to meet Chris' eye.
Outside the group found themselves in the midst of the great wilderness. All around them was dark, foreboding forests.
"Well this looks welcoming," Carlos said, breaking what had been up to that point an unbearable tension.
"Redfield," Came Williams's voice from the passenger side of the car. Chris walked to the Assistant Director, joined by the rest of the group. They piled around the Assistant Director as he pointed off into the distance of the forest.
"Your entrance is less then a mile from this point. Just follow the forest down hill from here and you can't miss it."
Dropping his hand back to his side Williams looked out at the group with careful eyes.
"Needless to say to use caution with this group, but I suppose it never hurts. I want you all to use extreme care. Agents McKenzie and Kennel will meet you at the rendezvous point. The rest of us will be here waiting to pick you up. Best of luck." With that Williams got back into the van, the rest of the agents followed. With the remaining group members dispersing Chris instinctively grabbed Jamie's arm as she walked by.
"Take care," she whispered to him as she pulled herself from his grasp.
Chris watched as Jamie got back into the van. As he stared Jamie Chris could see Jill approaching him from the corner of his eye. Taking his hand Jill held onto it reassuringly.
"You think she'll be alright?"
Staring down at Jill Chris found renewed strength. "Probably not," he replied bitterly. "But at least there's hope."
To this, all Chris' comrades nodded before they began their descend into the forest.
The group proceeded carefully into the thick of the forest. Hands firmly gripped around their guns, ears tuned to hear the slightest of noises and eyes wide open and ready for anything. For Jill, however, her eyes were focused dangerously on something else, as were her thoughts.
She hadn't meant to listen into Chris and Jamie's conversation, but sitting in such a close proximity she couldn't help herself.
From the conversation a realization had come to her. She came to recognize that Jamie was just as much victim, if not more so, then Jill herself was. Listening Jill suddenly grasped that they were all in this together. It was good to confirm this in her head; compassion was sometimes lost on Jill.
The insight, however, also left Jill with more guilty feeling. It left her with a new concern, a concern for Chris. He was obviously concerned for Jamie, what if-Jill inwardly cursed herself again. Now was defiantly not the time for jealousy.
Like the Assistant Director had said the pipeline had not been more then a mile away. Within fifteen minutes Jill and the others found themselves in front of a large, black tube. Peering in Jill could see nothing but darkness; she looked apprehensively back at the others.
"I guess there's only one way to go," Chris said to the group, flipping on his flashlight. He led the way into the pipe, everyone was quick to follow.
Chris' flashlight illuminated in front of them, though, there really wasn't much to see. Empty blackness seemed to extend forever.
"Sweet Jesus," Carlos' voice echoed around the pipe "How long is this bastard?"
"Hard to say," Chris replied. "Though to tell you the truth, I'm more concerned about what it's used for."
Everyone nodded in agreement as they continued on.
In their own little eternity the group walked on and on, Jill found herself dragging her hand along the pipeline's cold steel just so she felt that she wasn't in an endless abyss.
Daydreams started to take over Jill's focus when faint voices pulled everyone back to reality.
As soon as he heard the voice Chris stopped dead in his tracks. Reaching out his arms Chris halted the rest of the group. Quickly turning off his flashlight he whispered near noiselessly to the faction. "Me and Jill are going to continue, we'll signal to you with the flashlight when we know everything is clear."
Feeling Chris' hand grasp her own they parted from the others, and carefully proceeded further into the tunnel. The faint voices grew louder with each step, they continued on until they could hear the stranger's hoarse breathes.
No words were needed, after two swift movements Chris and Jill were standing over two unconscious bodies. Chris quickly signaled to the others, but didn't wait. He continued on out of the pipe and into the basement, Jill was right behind him.
As they entered further into the basement Jill discovered it didn't differ much from any other basement. It was cold, damp, moldy-oh and a high tech, state-of-the-art laboratory. You know, typical.
Jill and Chris simultaneously ran to the entrance, the locking mechanism was still in place.
"Jamie and Kennel must not have made it to the control room yet," Chris said to her, he sounded worried.
The others had now joined them by the door. Each had the same look on their faces. 'They should have been here by now.'
Everyone concurrently let out a breath of relief when they all heard the cool click from the door as it slid easily open.
With Chris in the lead everyone piled into the lab, which once inside Jill decided was more of a mortuary then anything else.
On the far side of the wall were metal shelves, like a gigantic file cabinet. Each cabinet had a name plainly printed on it. To the side of the shelf were hundreds of various vials, each carefully marked. A few desks also shared space in the room, each well organized and the home to three laptops.
It was an evidence smorgasbord and they all were very hungry.
"Leon, Barry, you two gather what you can from the computers," Chris ordered his eyes wide and excited. "Rebecca, Carlos you guys do the same with the vials. Only take what you believe will be the most damning." Chris then turned to Jill; she noticed a glint in his eyes that she hadn't seen in years. Since before Umbrella. "Shall we go check what's in those selves?" He asked impishly.
With an anxious nod from her the two of them strode over to the steel shelves. Chris had a triumphant grin on his face as he put his hand around the first handle.
Before he could pull the shelf out Jill read the name printed on the steel out loud. "Barret Ashe."
Looking at her with eager eyes he asked her "Ready?"
Giving him a nervous nod Chris pulled out the shelf. They both gasped.
It was the remains of someone, or maybe something. There really wasn't much there that could differentiate the two. The body was that of an ordinary human, the head, however, was one of the most bizarre things that Jill had ever witness. Which for someone as 'worldly' as Jill, the statement was saying something.
Every feature from Mr. Ashe's face came from a different animal, the teeth were like a tigers, the ears enlarged and blue, the nose pointed and the eyes nothing more then two yellow slits.
"Must be one of Umbrella's earlier experiments," Chris whispered, taking out his camera.
Snapping shots of other experiments they soon discovered that Mr. Ashe wasn't alone. Many of the people had the same deformities, although none exactly the same, all were damn close.
Shortly later the shelves became more familiar territory. Soon the people that Chris was pulling out were Umbrella's notorious creations that they had all come to know extremely well. Zombies. Jeremy Andrew was the first; Jill knew it as soon as the putrid smell filled her nostrils. Where the earlier victims were rather odorless, there was no mistaken the smell of a zombie. They smelled like death.
When Chris had finished taking two full roles of pictures he turned to her. "I think we have enough." Spinning around to the others who were all waiting, he stared at them with a genuine smile. Almost giddily he said to the group. "Let's get the hell out of here."
After a hurried agreement the group rushed out of the room and back into the pipe. The excitement of what they had just accomplished was exhilarating.
It was the first time since their war with Umbrella began that they had retrieved some good, solid, irrefutable evidence of Umbrella's monstrous crimes. Today was their independence day and Jill could not remember feeling happier.
As if on cloud nine the group ran, not stopping until they reached the end of the pipeline. Back in day light everyone grasped each other in overjoyed hugs.
This was their moment; a moment that they would cherish for the rest of their lives, a moment that only after a few seconds came crashing to a horrible end.
Like an ominous cloud stood a tall, dark, heinous looking man. Standing by this stranger was the even more heinous Alfred Ashford, is usual smug expression as poignant as ever.
But seeing these figures was only the tip of the heart wrenching iceberg. The worst came when they saw Jamie, kneeling before Ashford, the barrel of a gun pointed at the back of her head.
AUTHORS NOTE:
Well I hope that came off as a cliffhanger. I'm afraid things are only going to get more complicated from here. I'm grateful to all those out there who are taking the time to read my story. I truly appreciate it.
Hope everyone is taking care of themselves.
Always,
Leah
