Finally chapter 5 is finished. Thanks to Shakhanna for your insight and advice. I'll take your words into thought. I hope that in the future I'll be able to have your support on any later projects. So here in Chapter five Isaac lives through the beginning of the night of Resident Evil: Zero, from a less dangerous aspect, and by that I mean not being there, with a little taste of things to come later.
Full Part 1 summary: Isaac Brown. Your average smart teenager. When he gets a job as a secretary for the STARS department, he clings to logic and reason. He soon makes friends with almost everyone in the precinct, save for a few. (Guess which people...) When his friends from STARS leave for the Arklay Mountains to investigate reports of cannibals, he spends the night worrying for them. After only five of his friends return with stories of underground labs, zombies and other stories he deem as hallucinations, he doesn't know what to think. Reports of cannibal murders accumulate on his desk, scaring the young man until that fateful day on July 27th. Alone and confused, he must survive alone in a dead city.
Disclaimer: I WISH I owned Resident Evil, but I don't, I only own Isaac.
---Chapter 5---
Wind blasted around me, making my hair fly out into many different directions. White light blinded my eyes for a moment, and the loud roar of the rotors vibrated through my body. I watched from the entrance to the stairwell as Rebecca and S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team got their chopper ready for their mission. I watched as Mr. Dewey, and the others piled in one by one until the only one left was Rebecca, who was still checking her medical supplies. When she was finished, she took one final, furtive, fulfilling glance back at me hiding in the shadows only for her to find. I gave her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, receiving an assuring nod and a thumbs up of my own.
She got in, and I felt the wind pick up as the blades spun faster and faster, the chopper finally getting off the ground. I watched in mild anxiety as the chopper hovered for a moment before flying off into the distance. I sighed and walked down to the third floor. I glanced at the clock, and it was forty-five minutes into my shift. I rolled my eyes and headed for my desk. I still had to attend to Alpha Team. I was already done the preliminary report so I had a good few hours to kill. I bypassed my desk altogether and walked into the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team office and knocked softly to alert the others of my presence.
I saw Brad hastily typing on his computer, trying to ignore Kenny being chased around by Chris, the little Chinese boy holding a chocolate glazed, chocolate filled donut in his hand. Kenny ran for the door, his head turned back watching Chris lumber after him. Quirking an eyebrow, I stuck my foot out in Kenny's way and let the boy trip on my ankle. The donut flew out of Kenny's hands while Kenny stumbled and fell comically with his face on the ground. I raised my hand and caught the donut, bringing it to my mouth and taking a bite. I smirked.
"Oops. Sorry Kenny, I didn't see you there. You really should watch out, you had your head turned." I said around the donut in my mouth as I helped the boy up. When he was okay, I walked over to Brad, one of the quieter members of S.T.A.R.S. He may be a little bit of a pussy, but he was still a well-meaning guy.
"Hey Izz..." He said as I took a seat beside him. I glanced at what he was working on. It was a piece of writing. I knew what this was. Brad was an aspiring writer, and luckily for him, since I came here, he's had more time to work on his murder mystery novel.
"May I read?" I asked. Brad was a very private person, keeping his opinions to himself, staying quiet in fear of being brutally rebuffed. In my mind he was an all-around coward, but he was still a good guy. He acted that way with his writing as well, but always let me go over his stuff, since it helps to get a second opinion on writing. He rolled back and moved over, letting me sit in front of the monitor. I read an excerpt in my mind.
----
Angry is what he kept feeling. Everyday he went home feeling a bout of sickness. He was tired of being a coward. As soon as he got home, he totally bypassed his parents, who greeted him warmly. He went up to his bedroom and straight to the connecting bathroom and tore open the medicine cabinet. He grabbed a small disposable razorblade, staring at the gleaming metal. Thoughts began to rocket through his mind, all of them disheartening.
'One little cut is all it takes...one little cut across the wrists and I won't have to deal with it anymore. Deal with the ridicule, the beatings, and the violation. I feel dirty all the time...and the images won't go away. I can't close my eyes...' He thought. His hand trembled as the blade inched toward his wrist. His vision began to blur, tears rolling softly down his cheeks. He pressed the blade into his wrist, feeling the sharp metal break his skin. He began to drag the razor across his wrist, ignoring the pain his actions were causing him. He felt the blood start to flow out of the cut, and he began to feel light-headed. He didn't even hear his bedroom door open.
"IVAN! What the hell are you doing!?" He heard that voice again. His so-called best friend. He felt a hand press on the wound, while the other hand slapped the razor blade out of his hand. Ivan began to feel numb, and he willingly slipped out of consciousness."Shit...Mr. Peters! Help! Ivan is hurt!" Anthony screamed. He heard quick and heavy footsteps coming near and Ivan's father burst through the door. Anthony kept applying pressure to Ivan's wound, tears flowing non-stop from his eyes. "Please! Call 911!" Anthony yelled desperately. He sunk to the floor, cradling Ivan in his lap. Ivan's father quickly dialled 911, watching his son's best friend try desperately to save his best friend of ten years.
Anthony stared down at his best friend, who had just tried to kill himself. Ivan's skin was beginning to pale. He petted Ivan's dark brown hair, whispering apologies. "I'm so sorry...this was all my fault Ivan...I take it all back...just don't die...please..." He whispered into Ivan's ear. He knew all about why Ivan would be driven to this. He was part of the reason. He was so blind to see that his best friend needed him the most then. He knew some guys on the football team raped Ivan, because he betrayed Ivan's trust and told everyone Ivan was gay. Immediately he began to feel regret. Something like that could never be forgiven. Anthony was sure he would never be able to forgive himself. Ivan was the best thing to happen to him. Sexual orientation aside...
He could hear voices...muffled voices talking with each other. As the figure crept closer to the two teens, he could hear the words being spoken. In the dark the shadow couldn't make their faces out, but he could her them talking about someone.
"...The little fag tried to off himself? Good for him! I'll give him some help if he wants!" The burly teen laughed. The other teen laughed, saying that he had to go. The teen left in his truck, while the other teenager walked back into the school, toting his backpack and duffle bag. The figure followed him as he walked into the halls of the school. The figure turned to the circuit breaker and switched off the power. Darkness enveloped them, the football player just finishing the message he was writing on the locker he knew was Ivan's.
"Who the hell is there?" The teen asked into the darkness. The teen looked around, not seeing the tall figure appear behind him brandishing a gleaming hunting knife. He was too late to notice when the tall figure wrapped an arm around his mouth and brought the knife to the teen's throat.
"I'll help you die if you want..." The figure whispered into the teen's ear before pulling the knife quickly across the boy's throat, blood spraying into the locker's opposite Ivan's. The dark shape swung the knife, splashing the excess blood off of his weapon. He watched as the blood began to pool around the teen's head, his eyes wide in frozen terror.
----
"Wow Brad...that's amazing. You're really good at this. I can't wait for this to be finished..." I told him, awed by the piece of writing on the computer. I literally couldn't see anything wrong with it. The story gave me chills. I turned to the helicopter pilot, an awestruck smile on my face. "Are you going to submit this to a publisher anytime soon? I think this has some high potential if you can get it professionally tweaked. I'd buy this book any day, I swear." I gave him my honest opinion. He smiled modestly.
"Nah, I'm just doing this for fun. I'm not good enough to be a writer." He replied humbly. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then shook my head. Brad was being a coward again.
"Brad, if you don't do it, you might end up regretting what you've never done." I warned him. I got up, walking towards Chris' desk without bothering to look back at Brad's expression. I approached Chris' cluttered, extremely unkempt desk, seeing Chris leaning back on his chair with his feet up on his desk. He looked utterly bored, eyes drooping slowly. "Redfield..." I cooed jokingly. He opened his eyes and looked around, his expression lightening up when he saw me.
"Hey Izz. What's up?" He asked. My brows furrowed at the nickname Chris had given me, but I let it go. Chris could call me whatever he wanted so long as it wasn't something degrading or embarrassing; friends always get that privilege. I smiled.
"Are you as bored as I am?" I asked in a friendly way. Chris smiled and nodded. Suddenly he looked like he had an idea, getting to his feet. I became confused by his sudden burst of energy. "What?" I asked. Chris walked past me, whispering in a volume I could just barely hear.
"I need to talk to you about something. Come on; take a walk with me." He told me. Curious, I turned on my heel and followed him, trotting to keep up with the tall man. As we walked past Jill's desk, the brunette looked curious, mouthing a question to me.
'What are you doing?' She mouthed. I shrugged, my mouth surely twisted into a confused smile. I began to mouth words back to her as Chris and I walked past.
'I don't know...he says he wants to talk...' I mouthed before I disappeared from the door. The walk was silent as we passed by the detective offices, and I was about to turn around and go back when I heard Chris' question.
"Jill talks to you a lot, right?" He asked. I kept in pace with the tall brown haired cop, confusion written all over my face. Chris wouldn't look at me, and even in the bland fluorescent light I could make out the tiniest hint of colour on the top of his cheeks. I smirked. My suspicions were correct. Chris had a major crush on Jill.
"Yeah, kind of..." I baited. I watched his face carefully to see his expression. He still kept his gaze away from mine, in fear of the truth being read in his eyes.
"Well...I was just kind of...um...wondering about whether or not she says anything about me..." Chris said awkwardly. He was trying desperately to sound inconspicuous and he was failing hopelessly. I smiled and decided to play dumb.
"What? Why? Do you like her or something?" I asked with caution. Apparently I was a little too loud for Chris' comfort. He shushed me, looking around. Yup, he did. Adults can be so funny sometimes.
"Shit, Isaac! Not so loud!" He hissed at me. Yeah, this is getting really amusing. I played along and lowered my voice, still pressing him for the answer.
"Well? Do you like her or not?" I whispered. Chris nodded embarrassedly, looking around as if Jill was going to pop out of nowhere. I smiled inside. We got to the first floor coffee room, grabbing a few seats way at the back so nobody could hear us, and continued our conversation. "Well then, now that you have affirmed my intimation, what do you want to know?" I said, holding my mug of coffee with both hands. Across the table, Chris had his face in his hands.
"I can't believe I'm taking relationship advice from a kid..." He mumbled into his hands. I was offended. I was currently in a budding relationship with Miss Rebecca Chambers, thank you very much. I was certainly qualified to give this type of advice from an objective viewpoint, especially because it's not me this time.
"Oh, so I'm not qualified to give you relationship advice because I'm young?" I half-laughed. Then I became all business. "You want to know whether or not Jill thinks of you? Like, in that way?" I asked, putting emphasis on the word 'that.' He nodded, running his hands through his short brown hair. I took a sip of my coffee, leaning back. "Well...she likes you, for sure. It was kind of obvious since that night at the club. What with the dancing and all." I commented. Chris' cheeks coloured a little bit.
"Was I being obvious?" Chris asked dumbly. I chuckled, amused by his density. I nodded.
"Yeah." I said simply. Chris jerked his head up from staring dumbly at his coffee and looked at me questioningly, as if I had all the answers to life itself. Heh, I wish. I closed my eyes for a second and suddenly I was hit with a terrifying image.
At first it looked like a wave of black, gleaming ooze washing over two men, flames in the background of the small space, but as the light shined on the river of black, what the black stuff really was was revealed. Leeches, thousands and thousands of leeches wriggling around, covering the bodies of those two men. Suddenly the image flashed white, blinding me. I flinched and covered my eyes until the light went out and a new image was born of the darkness. I felt a dull pain on my back, and sweat dripped from my flaming red hair. I surveyed my surroundings and found myself in the cold case archive in the precinct near Cheif Irons' office. I heard a moan and my eyesight whipped to the source of the sound. A woman walked towards me with arms outstretched. The left hand was gnarled, twisted disgustingly. Her mouth hung open, showing black, almost decaying teeth, while its eyes were glossed over, cataracted like what you would see on the dead.
I gripped my head, clenching my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut. The image wouldn't disappear, the shambling woman shuffling her feet in my direction, moving towards me. I felt the her hands grip my shoulder painfully, rearing her head back and then forward, then at the last minute I raised my hand to protect myself as the woman lunged her head forward, sinking her teeth into my forearm and tearing through flesh to rip my vein open. I don't even think I screamed, I just felt the searing hot feeling of pain coursing through me. The person pulled its head back, frozen in that position of readying itself for another bite.
"Isaac..? Isaac, are you okay?" I heard someone ask. I lashed out, trying to rip the tightening hands from my shoulders. My hands met hard muscle, but the hands weren't moving. I twisted violently, gasping for breath to power my actions. I then felt a palm come in contact with my cheek sharply, and a loud clapping noise was heard. I opened my eyes, seeing Chris' worried eyes looking down at me. I sat on the chair, gasping for breath with my eyes wide. Chris let go of my shoulders, exhaling deeply. "Jesus, Isaac. What the hell was that all about?" Chris asked. I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to suppress the sick feeling in my stomach. I felt like I was going to puke.
"What? What happened?" I asked in a daze. Chris sighed.
"You just went rigid all of a sudden. I thought you were having some sort of seizure or something." Chris replied. I shook my head, trying to shake the image out of my mind.
"No...I don't know how to explain it, but I blinked and suddenly everything just went dark." I replied. Chris looked at me with concerned eyes.
"Did you see anything? Like a light or something?" Chris asked.
"I don't know what I saw...I just couldn't really explain the first part, but the second half of it was just too vivid." I said quietly. I got up, walking toward the exit. "I'm going to get back to work or something. Try to take my mind off of what happened. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this." I told him before reaching the doorway. I stopped at the entrance, looking down at the linoleum floor. "And regarding Jill, I'll just say that sometimes, mind games don't work the way you want them to. You've got to be a little forward. Just ask her out." I told him before walking out.
---End Chapter 5---
So, I hope you enjoyed. As always, I ask that you read and review, but flames will be fed to my rabid kitties.