Author's Note : Alright, the extremely long delay is due to my Common Tests that just finished a few days ago, and true enough, I'm definitely going to fail a couple of subjects... TT
But be assured that this isn't the end! And PLEASE, read and review, as I REALLY NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE WAY I WRITE! faints
gets back up Oh, and now disclaimers as I do NOT own Resident Evil and all its characters! faints
Chapter 7 : Struggling Forward
Again, Philip hated waiting. He didn't know why Steven's son was taking so long to come. Either he died along the way, or he was happily racing out Highway 17 by now. Unlikely, but there is still a possibility. Philip didn't have much time either. About a day more and he would have to hightail it out of there.
He banged his fist on the computer terminal, the rage inside him threatening to consume him. All this because of waiting for one silly boy? Philip knew better than to lose his sanity when they haven't even arrived at the main course yet. But of course, if Philip saw his own son following Steven's like a dog, he would have no choice but to give him a rather violent spanking (maybe not even by him) . Something inside him was already whispering to him, telling him things he didn't want to hear. He shook his head furiously in a vain attempt at getting rid of those voices.
His pet obviously sensed his unease, and took one lumbering step towards him. Philip impatiently gestured that he was fine, and watched as his pet moved gracefully back into position. More than once, Philip found himself gazing at his pet in awe, amazed by what he himself had done to craft such a marvellous being. This, and a little torturing of Steven, was all he had to soothe his nerves.
Thinking about his collegue, Philip glanced back at the monitors, pin-pointing out the screen that showed Steven. He walked up to the monitor and narrowed his eyes to block out the glare. Steven was sitting up against the wall, slowly nibbling at the ration bar that Philip threw at him in mercy. He wouldn't want Steven to die before Philip was done with him.
Meanwhile, he checked all the other details, making sure that the locks on the doors in the compound would lead Steven's snivelling son straight into that room. Of course, he would leave a few other doors unlocked to make it less suspicious. It was definitely going to be a blast.
Everything appeared to be fine -- no minor or major malfunctions, no hinderences, hallways devoid of life. For some reason, Philip now felt like some kind of crazy villian in a cheap horror novel, constantly laughing hideously with absolutely no sanity left in his mind. But this was different. Philip didn't consider himself insane, just that he needed to deal justice to the appropiate people in the appropiate manner.
He had a reason for his actions, and if he has a reason, he isn't insane.
It will all be worth it... Philip thought.
And with a loud sigh, he turned away from the blinking monitors and continued to admire his creation.
Steven, however, was having a totally different time. He sat up against the wall and munched at the little ration bar in his hand. Not much, but considering Philip's state of mind, this had to be a miracle. Now, every breath he took shot a fresh new sense of pain into his body.
His face was covered in bruises and all bloodied up, with a black eye to complete the picture. One of his ankles was probably twisted, but he managed to wrap it up in some cloth, so it should be alright after some rest. A broken rib was the cause of his difficult breathing, and two clean cuts decorated his abdomen. The bleeding had stopped, but it was obvious that he still felt like shit.
Right now, all Steven was doing was waiting for the inevitable to arrive. To see Julian crash in through the door, his face beaming with joy, only to see it disappear in an instant by whatever traps Philip could have set; to see Philip vent out his limitless anger on a poor boy, all in front of Steven's eyes, and he wouldn't be able to do a single thing to stop it. He could not lose Julian, not like this.
Steven threw his head back and shouted, his voice echoeing down the hallways. When he was done, he only felt slightly better at releasing the pressure inside. In his heart, the emotional tides still remained. He lowered his head, watched as his tears started dripping down onto his pants, as he listened to his own sobbing. Silently, he prayed.
"Oh Lord, please protect my son... Please..."
X-------X-------X
An empty house, fully-furnished, everything shining and gleaming in the morning sun. He stood there, in the main hall, looking all around, then towards the main door.
What was missing?
A breeze blew in from an open window, blowing several napkins off the dining table which came to rest at his feet.
They had blood on them.
A colourful corridor of a school. The blue lockers all clean and free from vandalism. He walked silently down the corridor, glancing sideways and inspecting the lockers. There were 3 lockers missing from their position, all 3 of them side-by-side. He bent forward, wanting a closer look, and saw the names "Desmond Watt" and "Andrew Jacobs" inscribed on the wall where the missing lockers at the side would be. The middle section of the wall remained clean.
Just then, something started to appear in that very section of the wall. It came slowly, and he leaned in even closer, heart racing.
And the school bell rung. He stumbled backwards, tearing his eyes from the wall and looking back down the hallway, towards one of the classroom doors.
Blood was coming out from underneath.
A grey hallway, completely devoid of anything. No doors, no pillars, no people. Just, an empty, grey hallway. He trembled, suddenly feeling the urge to run forward and scream for help, for anyone.
Then, a door materialized from the wall beside him, a sliding door. It had three gashes on it.
He stepped through, into another grey room. There was nothing different -- no furniture whatsoever, just grey walls. But he noticed something WAS different, and he felt his fears beginning to take hold of him, consume him.
His father was lying on the floor, in the middle of the room, in a puddle of blood. His face was frozen in fear, pain, anguish, staring up to him with a pair of lifeless eyes.
Suddenly, his father's mouth moved, or twitched. A nightmarish whisper rose from his lips.
He just stood there, unable to do anything, as the words floated into his ears. "Julian..."
"Help me..."
Julian opened his eyes, breathing heavily. At first, everything around him seemed blurry. Then, he realized that it was only a drop of sweat which got into his eyes. He wiped his sweaty face with his sleeve and sat up straight.
Not a very good time to be having a bad dream, huh... He thought, as he recalled the nightmare he had just moments ago, the images still burning brightly into his mind. Was it an omen? It couldn't be, otherwise his father is already...
"Ouch! Hey go easy will ya?" It was Desmond's voice. Julian turned to see Celine glaring back at him.
"If I went easy, you would still be bleeding your guts out by now... Bite it." She demanded, and went back to stitching the wound. Her strong attitude and personality, with a soft side as well, seemed to be untouched by anything. Or maybe, it was this outbreak which gave her that distinct quality. Julian couldn't be sure, but he was betting on the latter.
Along the way, Celine noticed that Desmond's wound was still bleeding, so she decided to take a detour to the hospital. And here they were now, loitering around in the doctors' station as Celine continued to sew the wound. Apparently, there was more to Celine than meets the eye. Judging by the graceful and smooth movement of her hands, it seemed that she had done this sort of thing before. Who knew how many wounds she patched up?
Or how many dead bodies she's seen... A frightening thought. Julian didn't exactly want to think that they've been travelling with a serial killer. It wouldn't help with the group morale.
"Hey, you alright? Looking kinda pale..." Andrew poked at his shoulder. Julian turned and saw him looking down at him, still holding the hefty shotgun in his hands.
Julian barked out a laugh. "Well, that's cause' you look like you're about to blow my head off with that shotgun..." Several seconds of seeing a look of confusion on Andrew's face and Julian couldn't help but laugh further. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Just had a bad dream, that's all."
"Huh, tell me about it. We're all having bad dreams too. Who wouldn't?" Andrew trailed off, looking disturbed. Maybe he did have a nightmare too, probably about himself, or even about his family.
But his family is not even in Raccoon, so nothing could possibly happen to them. Lucky for him...
Julian got up from the bench and walked around the room. They did meet a few zombie doctors and nurses both inside and outside the hospital, but 3 handguns and a shotgun solved their problems, grotesquely and loudly. Celine found a first aid kit under one of the tables and they decided to settle in the spacious room for some much-needed rest.
Peering into the glass shelves, various medicine bottles and labels greeted his eyes. He couldn't really understand most of these names, except for Panadol and Penicilin. After some thought, he took a small packet of Panadol and placed it into his pocket. Who knows when it might be useful?
It wasn't long before Celine was done stitching up the wounds on both of Desmond's arms (although he was still complaining about the pain). They gathered up their stuff and proceeded back down to the first floor.
The hospital had been a total mess when they arrived. All the zombie doctors and nurses did nothing but further added to their worries. Inside, several benches were overturned, memos from notice boards were either torn or lying on the ground, some with blood smeared on them. Blood, there was so much blood everywhere, more than Julian could tolerate. In each of the rooms, there was either blood on the floor or on the beds.
It must've been horrifying for those doctors, Julian thought. So desperate to save the patient's life, only to be rewarded with a bite in their necks...
Julian never liked hospital rooms anyway, the way the rooms are placed, all in two long rows. The wards themselves were unusually small too. One could easily suffer from massive claustrophobia just by sitting inside. He peered into one of the wards along the way, and saw a motionless body on the bed.
It had once been a woman. Her face was completely pale and blank, her mouth slightly open, with a line of blood trailing down the side of her mouth. Perhaps the most disgusting sight of all was her stomach. It had been ripped open. All her guts were spilled out onto the bed, some were floating on the floor in a puddle of blood. Julian felt his own stomach churn violently before turning his head away, not wanting to get any more gruesome images in his head.
They stepped out into the night, away from the excruciating smell of dried blood. Celine pondered for a while before speaking up.
"I'll drop the 3 of you outside this compound Julian told me about." She hesitated, then continued. "I have to go to the university. There're some things I have to find out..." She cast a wary glance at Julian when she finished.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell her about that Alyssa Ashcroft. How the heck did she know that this Alyssa was at the university? Julian wondered, but decided to push it aside. No point worrying in something like that. Celine probably had her own way of finding out about certain things.
The drive to the compound was a silent one. Julian kept staring out of the window, thinking about all that had happened. Ashton's death, bumping into Celine, the battle with the Reacher, the close encounter with that Crimson Head zombie. So many things had happened in a mere time span of two days. He hoped that nothing more will happen till they get out of the city, alive.
Finally, the 3 of them got out of the car and faced the building. On the wall was written, in big bold letters, "Umbrella Research Sector". The entire area was still lit, its fluorescent lights shooting rays of light into the night sky.
Julian turned back to the car, to Celine. "Guess this is where we go our separate ways."
"Yeah." Celine repeated. "Watch your back..."
"You too." Julian said. With that, Celine did a U-turn and drove off into the night. There was still some things he had to say to her, but the words just wouldn't come out. It wouldn't matter anyway, Celine had her own troubles to take care of. Julian could only wish her a silent '"Good luck.".
He turned back to Andrew and Desmond, ignoring the ghostly moaning floating back into his ears. "Alright, I know this is gonna sound stupid, but we'll have to split up since it's such a big place. Andrew, you know the layout of this compound too right?"
Andrew narrowed his eyes for a moment. "Err, yeah, kinda."
"Good, then you should know about the train station underneath the compound." Julian didn't feel comfortable. Nothing about this did. But if they were going to live past tonight, he would have to find his father quickly, and have a fast way to get out of the city as well. "You and Desmond go and see if you can get it up and running. We may need to have a fast escape. I'll meet up with you both after I've found my father."
Both gave a slight nod of their head. Julian nodded back, then the 3 proceeded into the reception room and, after a brief exchange of "Be careful"s, split up accordingly.
Julian watched as the shadows of his friends disappeared around the corner, then turned and proceeded through the glass doors and down the metallic corridor. The absence of anything, even zombies and mutated creatures, put Julian's senses on high alert. The eerie silence made him glance back over his shoulder repeatedly. Someone was watching him, he just knew it.
But the question was : Who?
A room was left open, on his left. When Julian walked closer, he realized that it was left open simply because the door was resting against the wall in the back of the room. The hinges on the door was clearly yanked away, and was completely bent as it hung on the doorway.
What the heck could do such a thing like this? Several images of deadly monsters flashed across Julian's mind. He took a step into the room, looking around it to see if there were any clues, and his foot kicked something on the ground. It slid and rattled across the floor, something grey and small. Julian picked it up, and froze in horror.
It was a simple handphone, broken beyond repair, but the initials "S.L." was more than enough to set Julian's mind off. His father had been here, in this very room, but the fact that his father's own personal handphone lay broken here, suggested an entirely different story.
Julian couldn't bear to think anymore. He dropped the broken device, turned, and ran out the doorway. He continued running down the hallway, completely unsure of where to go.
Through windless hallways and numerous sliding doors, Julian finally skidded to a halt beside a particular door, and as he stared at it, a fresh new wave of fear overwhelmed his entire body.
It was just a door, yes, but it had 3 deep gashes in it.
His mouth dropped open, and his eyes grew wide with terror. It was just like in his dream, the image of his dead, or dying, father suddenly coming back, filling his entire mind. He wanted to step through, but he just couldn't bring himself to. What if his dream became real?
He remained rooted to the spot for several seconds. Then, after thinking that standing there wouldn't get him anywhere, he took a deep breath, and walked into the room.
Even though he had expected it, he still didn't believe what he saw. And as he ran up to his father's limb body, tears running down his cheeks, he suddenly realized how much he still loved his father, despite constantly being so far apart.
"Dad! Dad, please, say something! Oh my God..." Julian fell to his knees, shaking his father's body.
Steven slowly opened his eyes. He stared at Julian, then spoke up, voice weak but calm. "Julian...! You have to g-get out of here. Not safe. He's..." Steven began to cough violently.
"What? Who is 'he'?"
"Don't need to know, just- GAH!" Steven gave a yelp as something small and silver shot into his neck, and almost immediately fainted.
Julian whirled around towards the shooter, but felt something puncture his neck, pumping a liquid into his system which made him very, very sleepy. He could only make out a blurry figure standing in the doorway, before blacking out completely.
X-------X-------X
"How are your arms doing?" Andrew slowed down, his legs beginning to ache again from the long running.
Desmond paused, drops of sweat trickling down his face. The bandages around his arms still remained perfectly white, a sign as to how effective Celine's handiwork was. "Fine, Celine patched it up nicely, though it still stings now and then."
"Good, wouldn't want it to open up again…" Andrew trailed off. It was funny, he hadn't known Celine for more than two hours, and already he began to miss having her around as well.
He turned his attention back to the hallways. If his memory hadn't failed him, he should be coming up on the emergency stairs soon. The unchanging scenery, however, gave him his doubts, lots of it.
But he shouldn't let the environment get the better of him, not now. They were going to leave the city soon, away from all the chaos and destruction, and have a shot at life again. All three of them would find somewhere secluded to live, in case any annoying reporters came to bother them, or any Umbrella officials wanted to ask them silly questions. All would be normal again. Everything.
An exclamation from Desmond snapped him out of his day-dreaming, and he stopped dead, right in front of a sliding door. Apparently, he was so engrossed in his fantasy that he almost walked smacked into the door itself.
"Hey, Andrew, are you alright? You seem a bit occupied…" Desmond asked between pants.
"I'm fine, just a bit deep in thought." Andrew said. Maybe 'deep in thought' wasn't the right term to use after all. "Anyways, we're in luck. This is the door we're looking for."
The sign on the side of the door read 'To Train – Authorized Personnel Only', and Andrew never thought it was going to get so easy. That is, until he saw the silvery piece of metal inserted neatly into the side of the door.
Who the heck puts a card reader on a door which almost everyone uses! Andrew thought. But then again, not everyone working in this area is an official Umbrella employee.
Cursing silently, he turned to Desmond, figuring out carefully what to say. "Okay, here's the thing. It might sound a bit stupid but it's the only plan I got."
Desmond stared at him, obviously expecting the worse possible plan.
"The main office is not far from here. I'm going to go see if I can find anything there that we can use. Meanwhile, I'm afraid that you're going to have to stay here…" Andrew trailed off.
However, surprisingly, Desmond simply nodded. He looked scared, definitely, but he was doing a damn good job at not letting it get the better of him.
Andrew sighed. "I won't take long."
"You better not. Be careful." Desmond replied.
Andrew turned and took off down the hallway. Desmond was right, he would have to be quick. There was no knowing what could spring out suddenly from the dark corners. With Desmond still in his present condition, and not knowing how Julian was doing, the chances of things going wrong was literally sky-high.
X-------X-------X
A/N : Ok i know that I only got ONE review about whether or not Celine should be made a main character, and that review said yes. So i'm basing this ENITRELY on that one review. And since Celine is nowa main character, she'll be coming back in the next chapter.
But i stand by what i said...PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! faints...again