Chapter 20: Ups and Downs
Robert Lessing walked briskly through the parking lot, fumbling for his keys as he reached his car. With the quick press of a button, he gripped the handle of the door and yanked it open. As he tossed his briefcase on to the passenger seat, a pair of hands grabbed him from behind.
He found himself being thrown roughly against the side of the car. As he was spun around, a forearm pressed against his throat.
"You do anything stupid and I'll kill you."
Robert stared with frightened eyes at the mountain of a man leaning against him. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
"Who are you?" A woman's voice sounded to his left.
The doctor shifted his gaze to look at her. Her features were slightly obscured by the darkness, but he recognized her immediately. "You…"
She took a step toward him and pointed a gun in his face. "You know me?"
The man's voice was choked off as the pressure against his windpipe increased. His hands fumbled in an attempt to remove the arm that was cutting off his oxygen supply.
The woman placed her free hand on the larger man's arm. "Hey, ease up, or he'll pass out." He complied with a soft grunt.
Robert took a large gulp of air, coughing softly as he expelled it. After a few seconds, he found his voice. "You're Jill Valentine."
Jill narrowed her eyes at him. "And you are…?"
"I'm a Doctor. I…I saved your life," he sputtered.
"Color me grateful," she replied flatly. "What's your name?"
"Lessing…" he answered quickly. "Robert Lessing." He looked at Barry. "Please, let me go. I haven't hurt anyone."
Barry straightened up and gripped the man by the collar of his jacket. "Let me guess…you're just a scientist, right?"
Robert nodded his head vigorously. "That…that's right. I'm just a researcher."
"What are you researching, Doctor?" Jill questioned.
"I…I can't tell—"
Barry twisted his collar, tightly. "Don't try that 'it's a secret' crap. You're holding people in there against their will!"
The doctor shook his head. "The child's mother authorized the tests. I would never have done them otherwise, I can assure you."
Jill and Barry exchanged a look.
"What child?" Barry demanded.
Robert looked back and forth at them in confusion. "I thought…" His voice trailed off as he realized his mistake.
Jill pressed the gun barrel to his forehead. "What child?"
"Christina Gleason." He noticed Jill's gaze drifting as she furrowed her brow.
"Christina…" Jill said softly to herself. She shifted her focus back to him. "Are we talking about Ellen Ross' daughter?"
"Yes." He could see a look of confusion on her face. "Her father was Sam Gleason."
Barry looked at him in surprise. "Samuel Gleason? The head of White Umbrella?"
"He was the Director of Research…a brilliant scientist," Robert replied. "I used to work for him."
"Why are you doing tests on her?" Jill asked.
The doctor eyed her, cautiously. "She has some…unique abilities."
"What the hell does that mean?" Barry snarled.
Robert focused on the gun still pointing at his head. "Please…"
Jill dropped the gun to her side. "What kind of abilities?"
"Sam gave her an experimental drug some time ago." He paused, noticing their horrified expressions. "She was dying. It was supposed to save her life…and it did. But, it left behind some residual effects. We've…I've been trying to figure out a way to reverse those effects."
"How noble of you," Barry said dryly.
"Do you know about what happened to Ellen?" Jill questioned.
Robert looked at her fearfully. "I was told that you killed her."
"I suppose I was responsible for Jeffrey's death, as well, then?" she asked.
The young doctor nodded. "According to Wesker."
Jill looked at him, sharply. "You know who he is."
"I've known him for quite some time."
"Then you must know that he killed them," Jill explained.
"I suspected as much." He placed a hand on Barry's arm. "Could you please let go of me?"
Barry gave the man a menacing look. "One wrong move and you're a smear on the pavement."
The smaller man gulped, audibly. He tore his gaze away from Barry, preferring to focus on the woman. "How did you know about Christina?"
Jill ran her free hand through her hair. "Ellen asked me to help her." She shot the doctor an angry look. "Right before Wesker broke her neck."
"So, she helped you to escape?" Robert asked.
Jill nodded. "So did Jeffrey." And look what happened to them, she could see him thinking. She studied the doctor for a moment. It was obvious from his expression that he felt some remorse over the death of his colleagues. Perhaps, he even felt some guilt for his duplicity in this whole convoluted mess.
"Ellen did what she had to in order to save her daughter. Umbrella was only interested in her as a guinea pig." Robert began to straighten his collar. "Christina could never live a normal life, not the way she is now. Unfortunately, once Wesker got his hands on the child, Ellen had no choice but to go along. I guess, by then, she was desperate." The tone of his voice was bitter. He knew what it felt like to be under someone else's control.
"Why is Wesker so interested in her?" Jill asked.
"Have you seen what he can do?" Robert asked them. Barry shook his head, but Jill nodded, slowly.
"I have," she answered. "Assuming you're referring to his incredible speed."
"And his strength," Robert added. "It's far beyond a normal man."
Barry spoke up. "And Christina has these same abilities?"
"Yes. That's why Wesker wants to find out the drug's exact composition."
"Then he was given this drug, as well," Jill reasoned.
"Right after they pulled him out of the Spencer Estate. He was near death, his body utterly destroyed. I couldn't believe he was even still alive. God, if you could have seen him…" He shuddered at the memory. As a doctor, he had seen countless ways for the human body to sustain injury. But, even the most seasoned doctors at Umbrella had been shocked by the amount of carnage Albert Wesker's body had been subjected to.
After a brief pause, Robert continued. "The drug saved him, but he had also been infected with the G-virus, so there was some spontaneous mutations to his physical appearance. His eyes were the most obvious, of course. Unfortunately for him, the two compounds have the same basic genetic structure. They bond with human DNA. The changes they cause are at the molecular level. In his body, they became a fusion of one genetic pattern. We couldn't figure out how to separate them, no matter how many tests we ran."
Jill placed a hand against her forehead. "So he needs an untainted sample of the drug."
"Exactly."
"God, I wish Rebecca were here, right now," Jill muttered. The younger woman would have a much better understanding of exactly what all of this meant. Even though she had been infected with the T-virus, Jill still didn't fully comprehend what effect it had on her own body. She had been given a vaccine, thanks to Carlos, but that cure and the virus still coexisted within her. She mentally shook off that very unpleasant thought.
"The virus kills healthy cells with infection, and then reanimates them after the host's body ceases to function. The drug, by contrast, repairs the damaged cells as they are reborn, making them better than ever. Both compounds work at an alarming rate. They are waging a war in Wesker's body…and eventually, one of them will win."
"Any clue as to which one?" Barry questioned.
"No," Robert replied. "But, if I had to guess, I'd say the virus."
"One can only hope," Jill added. "So, he was hoping to better his odds by taking more of this wonder drug?"
The doctor nodded. "That's what I'm here for...to figure out the formula. Unfortunately, when Sam died, the secret went with him."
A thought suddenly occurred to Jill. "What about the vaccine? Why didn't he just go after that?"
Robert narrowed his eyes at her. "What vaccine?"
"The vaccine for the G-Virus."
Robert shook his head. "No, that wouldn't be possible."
"Why?" Barry questioned.
"None of the vaccines were ever viable," Robert explained. "There were several labs producing test samples, but to my knowledge, it was never achieved. The strains were just too virulent. That was one of the inherent dangers of working with them...sort of like flying on a trapeze without a net. If you became infected, well…you died." He paused, noticing their odd expressions. "You both witnessed that firsthand at the Spencer Lab."
Jill just stared at him in disbelief.
"What?"
"That's a crock of shit," Barry said forcefully. "You're lying."
"Lying about what?" Robert asked in confusion. "I don't understand."
"I was infected," Jill spoke softly.
Robert's eyes widened. "You…with what?"
"The T-virus."
"And you were given a vaccine?"
She nodded. "That was almost seven months ago."
"There must be a mistake," Robert replied.
"There's no mistake!" Jill stated vehemently. "I was dying…" She placed a hand across her eyes. "Trust me…I remember every second of it."
"Incredible," Robert breathed as he sagged against the car.
"What, that Umbrella lied about a cure?" Barry growled.
Robert ignored the other man as he straightened up, his expression deadly serious. "How do you feel?"
Jill threw her hands up in exasperation. "Oh, just great, since I've been told I should be dead…"
"No," he responded. "At least, I don't think so."
"But, you just said--"
"None of the test subjects ever survived. When given a vaccine, they were dead within a few days…sometimes even less than that. No one ever made it beyond a week."
Jill locked gazes with the young doctor.
"No one," he repeated.
"Until now," Barry added, giving Jill a pointed look.
"I can't believe this," Jill whispered, turning away from them.
"Believe me," Robert continued, "…if Umbrella had a vaccine, Alexia would have used it. As it was, she was so hysterical when they brought Wesker in that she took the only existing sample of Sam's drug and injected him with it."
Barry held a hand up. "Whoa, you mean Alexia Ashford?"
Yes," Robert answered slowly. "She—"
"Wait a minute," Jill interrupted. "Alexia Ashford was sitting in cold storage a long way from Oregon. She couldn't have been there."
The doctor looked aghast. "What?"
"Our friends ran into her in Antarctica," Barry offered by way of explanation. He noted the look of skepticism that crossed the other man's face. "Look, it's a long story. But, you must have the wrong Ashford."
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I've known Alexia Ashford for years. While I can't say that she's never been to the Antarctic, I know for a fact that she was the one who gave Wesker that drug, because I was the one who gave it to her."
Barry looked over at Jill in exasperation. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know," she sighed, her mind still reeling over the doctor's revelations about the vaccine. "Look, we've wasted enough time out here." She pinned Robert with a steely gaze. "We've got to get inside. We have friends in there. They'll be dead soon if we don't hurry."
Robert stared at her in shock. "You mean…you want me to get you in?"
"You science types catch on quick," Barry muttered. He grabbed the young doctor's arm and pulled him away from the car. "Lead the way, Bob."
"Wait." Robert spun around to look at Barry. "If he catches us, I'm a dead man."
Barry removed his magnum from inside his vest and stuck the barrel under Lessing's chin. "My friend, you are definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place."
Jill came around from behind Barry and placed a hand on Robert's shoulder. "We'll do our best to protect you, but you are going to get us in."
"Yes…of course," Robert responded. He closed his eyes as Barry released him. It took several seconds before he trusted his legs to hold him upright. He turned back to face the building, an ominous feeling gripping him as he began to walk toward it.
He would never make it out alive.
***
"Didn't that strike you as being a little too easy?"
Rebecca looked over at Dick and shrugged. "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth." She crept quietly down the corridor, stopping to poke her head into an empty office from time to time. The street level of HCF Enterprises was deserted save for the three warehouse employees she and Dick had left tied up in the dock office. Although it was late, they had been expecting a lot more activity.
Unfortunately, they had been unsuccessful in finding a way to enter the lower levels Jill had spoken of, as the dockworker's key cards only gave them limited access. They were currently three floors lower than where they started, but just like all of the previous ones, there was no one around.
"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Dick muttered.
As if in response to Dick's lament, the chime of an elevator sounded from the end of the hallway. They both reacted quickly, each ducking into an office on opposite sides of the corridor.
Rebecca held her breath, as the sound of footsteps got closer. Their pace was fast, and it sounded like several people. She watched Dick as he crept closer to the edge of the doorway, the darkness of the office interior serving to cloak him from view. Within seconds, the people approached their hiding spot. Rebecca held her weapon tightly, giving a quick nod to Dick as she stepped out and called a warning.
"Freeze."
She and Dick were now shoulder to shoulder as the elevators occupants stared in disbelief.
"Rebecca…shit." Carlos quickly pointed his rifle toward the ceiling. "I almost shot you!"
"Carlos?" Rebecca lowered her gun. "Carlos, what on earth are you doing here?" It was then she noticed his two companions. "Sherry!"
The girl in question ran forward, nearly knocking the young medic off her feet as she embraced her. She pulled back and looked up at Rebecca. "Where's Claire?"
"Wha…" Rebecca shot a look at Dick. She rested her hands on the girl's shoulders. "We thought she was with you."
Sherry shook her head as tears threatened to fall, once again. "No…I haven't seen her."
Dick regarded the young mercenary with a suspicious look. "How did you get here?"
"It's a long story," he sighed. "It's okay, cherida. These people are friends." Carlos placed a hand on Christina's back, gently coaxing her along. "Don't be afraid."
"I'm not afraid!" Christina responded, whirling on him with a look of defiance. "I just want to go back. I want to see my mom!"
He held a hand up in an attempt to calm her. "I know. But, right now the most important thing is to get out of here." He knelt down in front of her. "This is a dangerous place, and I'm sure your mom would want you to be safe. Do you understand?"
The little girl pointed a finger at Sherry and stated, "She was the one in danger, not me."
Sherry's eyes widened at that statement as she watched Carlos reach a hand out to Christina.
"I think, maybe you were both in trouble down there," he responded.
The child's expression softened. "My mom wouldn't let me get into trouble."
Rebecca finally spoke up. "Do you know where her mother is Carlos?"
"No," he replied, shooting her a pointed look. "But, I don't think she's here."
"Well, you better get them out of here," Dick suggested. "They certainly aren't safe out here in the open." He punctuated his statement by holding up his gun. "We're expecting some trouble of our own."
Carlos stood up and shouldered his newly acquired rifle, before turning his attention to Dick. "I heard Jill got out."
Dick nodded. "Yeah, but it gets more complicated. She may have come back."
"For Sherry?" Carlos asked
"And Claire," Dick added.
"Then Claire is here, after all," Sherry stated.
"We think so," Rebecca told her. "Chris took off on his own, so we think he was on his way here."
"And Jill?" Carlos asked, already knowing the answer.
"She followed him," Dick confirmed.
"We haven't been able to reach them," Rebecca explained. "Although, we're not sure what that means…"
A puzzled look crossed Carlos' face. "Where's Barry?"
"He's following Leon."
Carlos stared at Dick in surprise. "Leon? But…he was with me."
"What?" Now it was Dick's turn to look surprised. "Then, you
know about Wesker?"
"Wesker?!" Carlos nearly shouted. "What the hell does he have to do with this?"
Christina tugged on Carlos' shirt. "You shouldn't say bad words."
Dick expelled a heavy sigh. "Look, we don't have time--"
"Heads up!" Rebecca's shout brought everyone's attention around as they followed her gaze, just in time to see a group of armed guards coming toward them. She grabbed Sherry, pulling her back into the office she had previously used as a hiding spot. A quick look across the hall confirmed that Dick had also done the same.
Carlos grabbed Christina and jumped back into the open elevator. He pressed his body against the inside wall, keeping the child hugged closely to his side to shield her from harm. As he did so, the hallway exploded in a hail of gunfire.
Sherry ducked her head down as the frame of the office doorway splintered under the barrage of bullets. A large chunk of wood hit her in the face, causing a streak of blood to appear on her cheek.
"Ouch!"
Rebecca put an arm across the girl's chest and forced her farther back into the room. "Are you okay?" Sherry nodded as the older woman raised her gun and prepared to return fire. The brunette attempted to get a look down the hall to check on Carlos and the little girl, but the assault wouldn't let up long enough to give her a chance. She looked over at Dick and gestured to him with an upturned thumb. He nodded in understanding and stood up, readying himself as he waited for her signal.
"We need the kid alive, you idiots!" someone shouted as the onslaught continued. "Hold your fire!"
The ex-Bravo counted off with her fingers as she crouched into a firing position. She and Dick emerged from their hiding places with perfect precision and began shooting back at their attackers.
Carlos peered around the edge of the elevator door. "Everyone okay?"
"So far," Dick called back. He and Rebecca continued to spray the other end of the hall with bullets, hoping to keep the occupants at bay. "But, we need a way outta here. Fast!"
Rebecca concealed herself, once again, as she pulled another clip from her pocket. With practiced ease she released her spent clip and slammed the new one home, chambering a round with a quick jerk of her hand. Within seconds, she was back in place and firing her weapon. "The only way out is that elevator!"
Carlos pressed a few buttons, experimentally, but nothing happened. He slammed his hand against the wall in frustration. "They must have cut the power!"
"You need one of those thingies."
He looked down at Christina, following her hand as she pointed to the card reader on the wall. "We didn't need one to come up." The little girl just shrugged her shoulders. Carlos peeked his head out of the elevator and called out, "I don't suppose you guys have a key card for this thing?"
"Ours wouldn't work." Rebecca stepped back inside the office as she and Dick decided to conserve their ammunition. The men had stopped firing at them for the moment, but she knew that only meant they were probably about to take another course of action.
A soft thumping noise sounded in the hall, and Dick peeked his head around the doorway to get a look. "Shit!"
Rebecca was now looking out, as well. "Teargas?"
"That's my guess," Dick commented.
Christina tugged on Carlos' shirt. "The guards wear them."
"Wear what?" he asked.
"The cards," she answered. "Like a necklace."
Carlos blew out a breath. "Well, that's great, but we can't get close enough to those guys to get one."
"I can."
"What do you--" As the words left his mouth, the child vanished. "Hey!"
Rebecca heard Carlos shout. "What's wrong?" She and Sherry left the relative safety of the office and started to make their way down the hall. The two girls began to cough as the hallway filled with smoke.
"She's gone!" Carlos' looked around in astonishment.
Dick started to follow behind the girls as a loud crash got his attention, He heard a shout and turned back to look toward their assailants, but he couldn't see beyond the growing wall of gas. As he turned back, something caught his attention. A faint breeze buffeted the back of his bare hand as a plume of smoke billowed toward him. He stared in rapt fascination, watching the clouds of gray smoke drift past him, as if caught in a wake. He shook his head and quickly headed for the elevator.
"Here."
The young mercenary nearly jumped out of his skin as the child suddenly appeared in front of him. "What the fuck?!"
Christina frowned at him. "That's a very bad word." She extended her hand to him revealing a thin black cord dangling from her tiny fingers. At the end of it, was a key card.
Carlos stared in disbelief. "How did you get that?"
"I took it," she answered simply.
"I haven't had a chance to tell you about Christina," Sherry commented as she and Rebecca appeared at the elevator door. "She's a special kid."
"You can say that again," Carlos replied, still not fully understanding what he had just witnessed.
"Our welcoming committee will be here any second," Dick reminded them as he ushered the others into the elevator.
"Right." Carlos took the card from Christina's hand and swiped it as Dick stepped inside. The elevator doors closed behind him and the car began its descent.
Dick looked down at the little girl and smiled. "You sure are fast on your feet, kid."
Christina giggled and began to swing her arms, nonchalantly. "And I knocked the bad man over when I took it."
Rebecca knelt down in front of her. "Are you alright?" She looked the child up and down, searching for any signs of injury.
"Yup." Christina pulled on Carlos' shirt. "No more bad words," she reprimanded.
"Yes, ma'am." Carlos gave her a mock salute. "And no more running off."
The girl turned her bright green eyes up to him. "Yes, sir." She returned his salute with one of her own.
"So, where are we going?" Rebecca asked.
Carlos looked at the panel beside the card reader. "I have no idea. The floors aren't numbered, so I picked a button near the bottom."
"Won't we just end up where we started?" Sherry questioned.
"I don't think so," Carlos answered.
"Couldn't we have gone up?" Rebecca wondered.
Carlos shook his head. "Nope. That was the top level, at least for this elevator."
"Well, anywhere has got to be better than where we were," Dick stated. "Besides, I'm not leaving until I find Jill."
Rebecca put a hand on Dick's arm. "We need to get the girls to safety."
"I want to help you look for Claire," Sherry stated firmly.
"I want to see my mom," Christina interjected.
Everyone stopped speaking as the elevator finally reached its destination. The three adults converged in front of the doors, effectively blocking the children from view.
Rebecca held her breath as she slowly raised her weapon. She spared a quick glance at Dick and Carlos. They were both tensed and ready on either side of her. A sense of déjà vu swept over her for a brief moment, making her feel as though she were back in that godforsaken mansion. Her eyes stayed fixed on the large metal doors as they began to open. She tightened her finger on the gun's trigger, squeezing gently as she waited to see what lay beyond.
Darkness.
Dick could fell his heart beating faster as he stared into the black void in front of him. He blinked rapidly, trying to help his eyes to adjust, when he spotted something in the dark.
Two red lights…
Two red eyes...blood red…just like the dream.
"What is that?" he said softly, afraid that his mind was playing tricks with his vision.
"I don't know," Carlos responded. "Wait here." Before anyone had a chance to protest, the young mercenary stepped out of the elevator and was immediately swallowed up by the darkness.
"Carlos," Rebecca called after him. "Be careful." Everyone remained silent, listening to the sound of his footsteps as he moved further away from them. A loud clicking noise resounded, giving everyone a start, as the area outside the elevator was suddenly flooded with light.
Dick could see Carlos standing a short distance away from them with his hand resting on a switch. The two small lights below it had gone out, indicating that the power was now on. The older man breathed a sigh of relief, almost laughing out loud at his foolishness.
Rebecca noticed the strange look on his face. "You okay?"
"Just dandy," he replied with a wink.
"Well, folks, it looks like nobody's home," Carlos called to them. "Let's get moving before they figure out where we are."
Sherry stuck her head out and glanced around. "What is this place?"
Dick quickly made his way over to Carlos. They were standing on a catwalk, overlooking a cavernous room full of containers of varying shapes and sizes. Rows of computers separated the areas into smaller sections, and at the center of the room was a giant pool of some unknown liquid substance.
"Oh god."
The two men looked over at Rebecca, who was staring at the scene in horror. She moved closer to the edge of the railing as her eyes took in every gruesome detail.
Dick came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"
She raised her hand and pointed at a row of glass tubes just below them. "Look…can't you see it?"
He followed her gaze, his eyes widening as he realized what he was looking at…
"People…" he whispered. "There are people in those tubes."
Rebecca looked over at him. "As awful as this sounds, Dick…I hope your right."
***
Awww…sorry, but I had to end it there. The original chapter was waaayyy too long, so I had to split it up (which caused a slight rewrite, grrrr). Hey, another chapter in the same month. Woohoo! I'm on a roll.
I have to say, this story gets more complicated as I go along. Some things I had intended from the beginning, and others…well, let's just say I was inspired.
And as far as the whole cell phone thing, it would be too easy if the characters could always keep in touch. Where would the fun be if everyone knew what everyone else was doing? And, truthfully, I am practically married to my cell phone these days and I think they are EVIL!! People can reach me anywhere!! Aaghh!!
And let's see some reviews, my good readers. I need them.
Stay tuned for chapter 21…Later, folks.