Resident Evil: Evanescent Dreams
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters related to Resident Evil. Any similarities between monsters in my story and someone else's is completely a coincidence.
Six
"We have reached our flight altitude, you can now sit up, unbuckle, and relax, we will reach Paris in seventeen hours."
Doug sighs contently and takes off his seatbelt, then pulls out his laptop. He turns it on and nods at the spinning Umbrella logo.
"Welcome to Umbrella, making it happen one cure at a time."
He smiles at the motto he helped create and opens the Dead Waters Cameras folder. He looks over the hundred or so screens and finds the one he's looking for, the Interrogation Camera in Steven Evans's office.
He frowns at the missing scientist and moves the camera with the mouse, "His clothes are still there..."
"Hey, mister, whatcha' watching?" asks a kid who is leaning over the seat next to Doug.
Doug quickly closes the laptop and turns around his seat, "Excuse me, Ma'am, can you keep your kid under control?"
The woman leans up and says, "It's a free country. But, That is not my kid."
She flicks some strands of auburn hair out of her face and reveals a small nametag, 'Dr. Aya Akechi, HFC Hunter Specialist. Isle Eras Compound.'
Doug frowns and quickly turns back around, She must be on the evening shift.
He rubs his temples and shouts, "Can I get my bag of peanuts I asked for three minutes ago?"
A stewardess comes up his aisle and asks, the false happiness evident, "Sir, is there a problem?"
Doug nearly punches her, but keeps his cool, "Yes, I asked for a bag of peanuts, and I haven't gotten them."
The woman smiles sweetly, "The galley hasn't opened yet."
Doug frowns and says, "Well, those people up there have peanuts. Why are they special? Are you," he looks her up and down, "discriminating against me?"
The woman frowns and walks toward the galley. She returns minutes later with a 16-count box of peanut packages.
He takes the whole box and says, sweetly, "Thank you.."
She frowns and nods, the turns to walk off, clenching her fists tightly.
He smiles and whispers, "My company pays your college tuition."
He chuckles to himself and reopens his laptop. He watches as a large, bulbous shadow encumbers half of the cameras.
Odd...
Krueger bangs his head against the substance until his hair becomes stuck.
He smiles and snorts loudly, "This is great. Got any ideas?"
Trudie frowns and shakes her head, her head not moving on account she's as stupid as Krueger, her hair stuck to the wall, "If I had any, you'd be the first and only person to know."
Krueger 'nods' in agreement and says, "Yep. How's your sister doing anyway?"
Trudie sighs and says, "I don't know, Shelly hasn't talked to me since I joined your team. How's your mom?"
Krueger coughs and screams in pain, his head free now, but at the cost of a chunk of his hair and scalp.
He rubs his head furiously and says, "She was diagnosed with cancer stage2. She's suspected to die in three weeks. But, she's a fighter."
Trudie laughs and shrieks in pain, her laughs pulling her hair.
Krueger looks at her and says, "Try it, you might like."
Trudie rolls her eyes and crosses her legs, her feet propped up in the corner, "You know what time it is?"
Krueger frowns and replies, "Nope, didn't bring my watch."
Krueger paces back and forth between the barriers, watching them with a pissed-off attitude. A LARGE shadow covers the barrier that Trudie is attached to and growls contently.
Krueger steps forward and says, "Trudie, cover your head."
Trudie covers her head and then she is flying toward Krueger, a... a... MONSTER behind the barrier, the creature that made the barrier stuck in its mouth, one large tooth sticking over its top lip. Krueger is launched into the wall, a large chunk of the barrier propelling him backwards.
Trudie jumps at Krueger and they run down the hall, forgetting the barrier.
"Hey, Krueger, I got an idea."
Krueger nods and they put their backs to the barrier, well, not exactly touching it.
The beast rounds the corner with an eerie smoothness. Its body is covered in slithering tentacles, their movements resembling snakes. One of its eyes have moved to its chest, blinking with the thick chest-skin. Its other eye has fallen out, a crater where it once resided. Both of its legs are expanded, nearly five times their normal size, each one taking up half of the hallway. It growls mutely, the sound resembling that of a strangled turkey.
Krueger looks at Trudie and she looks back, both of their expressions a match. Trudie nods and they jump forward, each going through the gaps between the creature's arms and chest. They both make it through, just barely. The creature tries to turn, but its momentum carries it through the second barrier.
"Back, go!" shouts Krueger as he pushes off the ground, rounding the corner with amazing speed.
Trudie jumps at the busted barrier and continues running, having to guess at which way to go. She continues to round corners, with Krueger at her heels, then stops, a large cargo elevator sitting in front of them. Krueger pushes Trudie in and presses the F1 button, the two large, steel-plated doors sliding closed, a faint thumping sound growing faint.
Bravo, that was nice. I can't wait to see what they do next.
Doug closes the laptop as the captain comes on, "This is your captain speaking, we are fixing to run into some light turbulence. Everyone remain calm, this should pass in a matter of minutes."
As soon as he finishes, the plane begins to shake, the clouds outside the window growing dark and menacing.
"Just like their future," whispers Doug as the woman, Aya Akechi, stands up, a small case in hand.
In large, silver letters, is written, "Isis."
He laughs and says, "That is what they're working on? Isis? What a joke."
He turns back around and taps his fingertips on the laptop, one finger pulling off a corner of the Umbrella.
He groans in pain as his head is slammed into the seat in front of him, "What the fuck!"
He looks behind him and that 'demon child' is leaning on his seat, 'its' legs where his head once was.
"Oohhh, you said a bad word..." taunts the kid as he swings back and forth on the headrest.
Doug sighs and just leans back slowly, the kid falling back into 'its' own seat with a scream.
Doug sighs contently and says, "There, complete and utter bliss."
He grabs a bag of peanuts from the box in the seat next to him and opens them, smelling the familiar aroma, "Ah, the smell of what makes this country great.." he arches an eyebrow, "well, this and money."
He fills his mouth with the salted peanuts and moans in satisfaction. The demon child laughs behind him and kicks the seat.
"Damn it, that is enough!"
"So, Trudie, do you think it's made it up here?"
Trudie stomps on Krueger's foot hard and he shouts, "Ow! What did I say? What did I say?"
Trudie growls and basically stares through the door, "Can you tell me if the Hulk-creature is still alive?"
Krueger shakes his head and sighs, "Nope, weird thing is, my head is completely clouded. I can't think straight, like I got a migraine that is destined to destroy me."
Trudie sighs in frustration and kicks the door, a small dent forming.
Krueger releases his held breath and says, "If you did that, imagine what that creature can do..."
Trudie frowns and the elevator doors open, "It's clear as far as I can see."
Krueger nods and says, "You've just been promoted."
Trudie spins around quickly and shouts, the sound reverberating down the 'empty' halls, "What? Now I'm confused."
Krueger just shrugs her off and they walk out the door, the halls uneasily quiet.
"You know how you usually miss the silence?" asks Trudie as they round their third corner.
Krueger nods and she continues, "I miss the noise. Any and all noise that means civilization."
Krueger nods and sighs, "Yeah, I miss it too."
"Is there a problem sir?"
Doug shoots an evil glare at the stewardess as he lurches forward repeatedly, each time his head makes contact with the seat in front of him, "Do I have to ex... Ow, damn it!!!"
He spins around, unbuckling his safety belt, and grasps the kid by his waist, "Stop kicking my seat."
He turns to the stewardess and hands the kid to her, "Do something or I'll move to Coach, then I'll complain about the service on this airline to the heads of the Airport Transportation Bureau. Now we don't want that now do we," he reads her nametag, "Jeri?"
Jeri nods and walks off, taking the kid to Coach, the kid kicking and screaming the whole time. Doug sighs and sinks into his seat, pulling out his Mp3 player, an old-school song playing softly. He begins to mumble along and, within seconds, is sound asleep in his chair. His laptop beeps and a message opens up, the Umbrella logo on top. Doug turns in his sleep and has his reoccurring dream.
Doug is walking down the street, he is now age seven and a half. He dribbles his little red ball and laughs childishly. He passes by his friend's house, remembering the party that was held there three days ago. A car honks and the local dentist drives by, the car coming from Doug's house. He waves back and shudders, something about him rubbed Doug the wrong way, he didn't know how or why, but he just did. He passed by his own house a long time ago, back before the dentist passed him, all because he's lost in thought. He snaps out of it when an ambulance and three cop cars fly past him, stopping at his house. He follows them and watches as three men wheel two stretchers into the back of the ambulance, the sheets that cover them coated in a red substance. Ketchup? thinks Doug as he runs up to them. A cop stops him and says, "No, you can't go." Doug looks up at the cop and asks, "What happened to my parents?" The cop frowns and walks him to his squad car, "Kid, you got to listen to me. Your parents were just murdered. They... won't be coming back." Doug stares up at him, tears running freely down his face. He manages to stammer, "Why? Who could do this?" The cop frowns and shakes his head.
It's now six years later, Doug has been in an orphanage, three foster families, and one adoption facility. His body has grown thinner, from lack of interest in food. Ever since that day six years ago, he has thought about who has killed his parents. After going over it thousands of times, he came upon one person, that dentist. All the evidence was there, he was driving from his house, he disappeared from that city shortly after that, and, well, that was it. Doug clenches his fists and begins to throw punches and kicks. He takes three steps up to the punching bag and begins to attack it, throwing punches that knock the bag back. He kicks it twice, then a third time, this kick a roundhouse kick. The bag flies off of the chain and slams into the wall, causing a decent-sized crater in the cement wall. He growls in frustration and walks toward the door. He reaches for the handle when the one to his left opens up, a man in a white lab coat standing in the doorway. He steps toward Doug and says, "Doug Newman? My name is not important at the moment. I have an opportunity for getting the man responsible for your parents' death. You know who I'm talking about. Do you want to accept this offer?" Doug grins broadly and nods, "Yes, anything to kill him." The man smiles slightly and leads him out of the High School gym.
That was when it all began.
Doug is now awake, the dream dwelling off into the recesses of his mind. The third track finishes and he pulls off his earphones, smiling wickedly at the message notice plastered across his laptop screen. He opens it and frowns, the message the exact opposite of what he expected.
"Now why did you decide to do that? That ruins my fun."
He closes the laptop and leans back in his seat, for the first time, he is able to lean his seat all the way back.
"If it wasn't for him.." growls Doug as he tightens his grip on the armrests.
A violent tremor shakes the plane as lightning strikes far off.
"Whoa, stop," whispers Krueger as he peeks around the corner, the beast hunched in the corner, almost like it was... waiting for them.
He points back and whispers, "Go, down the hall, you know that door we passed? Go in there, I'll be right behind you."
Trudie nods and sidesteps down the hall, being as quiet as if she wasn't even there. Krueger gives the beast one last look, then follows her. He watches Trudie walk into the door, then gives him a look back, the look of horror on her face making Krueger turn around. The thing is almost a foot thick and twelve feet in length. It wraps around Krueger's waist, pinning his arms to his sides.
"Go!" shouts Krueger just before he slams into the steel floor.
The tentacle pulls him back down the hall and around the corner where the beast was sitting. He spins onto his back and stares face-to-face with the beast. It growls into his face and opens its mouth, the muscle and bones snapping and reshaping, making the mouth larger. The growls it emits lets him know what it wants. The tentacle pulls him up higher and begins to lower him down. Krueger frantically looks around to see if he can use anything around him, his eyes resting on a power cord for the lights.
He grabs it and yanks, sparks flying madly. He jabs it into the tentacle, watching as it twitches furiously. It loosens its grip just as sparks fly out of the end of the appendage. He flips through the air and lands with his back to the beast, listening as it shrieks horribly. He runs around the corner and slams into the door he told Trudie to go through. He busts through to see Trudie going through a bunch of boxes.
Krueger!
Trudie leans up from the box of papers and catches him as he falls forward.
She sits him on top of the crate she was going through and says, "Sit down, you look like shit."
Krueger's head rolls on his shoulders and he looks up suddenly, a smile plastered on his face, "I should say the same to you. Man, my whole body hurts suddenly."
He rolls his neck and both shoulders, listening as his bones pop. Trudie looks around and picks a small metal box attached to the wall.
She opens it up and smiles at the axe inside, "Hey, found an axe."
She lays it at Krueger's feet and rummages through a few more, finding a small handgun laying in the bottom of an empty vial case.
She holds it up and checks it, "An Italian M93R. Nice, this is considered illegal in some countries. You want, or should I use it?"
Krueger grumbles and reaches for the axe, his arms looking a little darker than usual.
She checks the clip and sight, then lowers the weapon, "I got a full clip, just thirteen bullets."
Krueger stumbles to his feet and uses the axe to steady himself, "I'm feeling a little..."
He stops mid sentence, just standing there.
She stares into his eyes and notices the hollow look inside, "Krueger, what's happening to you?"
He doesn't reply, he just clutches the axe for dear life, the look on his face blank, no life in his body at all. Trudie walks toward him when the beast bursts through the wall, its stare locked on Krueger.
"Krueger!" shouts Trudie as she raises the gun.
She pulls the hammer on the weapon back, then Krueger is in front of her, holding the axe tightly. He screams and jumps at the beast, dragging the axe along the ground. He slashes upward and the blade sticks into the ceiling, a large gash forming up the beast's chest. Krueger hangs from the ceiling and kicks the beast in its eye, his foot disappearing into it.
He screams and pulls it out, blood, gunk, and eye matter flying out with it. He pulls himself up to the ceiling and pulls the axe out. It flies from the ceiling and Krueger spins backwards, the blade embedding itself into the beast's chest yet again.
Krueger lands on his feet and spins around, the axe flying with him, sending gunk over the walls and crates. He brings up both of his legs and kicks the creature in its legs, the beast flying back through the hole, slamming through the three walls behind it. Krueger flips and spins, landing on his knees. He immediately clutches his heart and begins panting, his breaths short and shallow.
Trudie runs up to him and stares through the holes the beast flew through, "Hey, how the hell did you do that?"
Krueger sits on his ass and pants, "I don't... I don't know... But it hurt really bad."
Trudie squats down next to him and picks up the axe, the blade snapped in half, "Well, it has something to remember you by."
Krueger looks up at her, all life has returned to his face, "Are we on the first floor?"
Trudie nods and says, "Yeah, I think we are not even three halls away from that elevator. Shall we?"
Krueger nods, then he frowns deeply, "I thought it wasn't working anymore?"
Trudie slaps her forehead and says, "Aw, damn it, I forgot. Shit. Well, maybe the tunnel isn't flooded."
Krueger nods, not letting her know, what he knows. They stand up, Krueger still having to use the axe as a crutch, then they walk through the first two holes, looking at the door that leads to the drill-elevator. Krueger hobbles up to the ten-key and presses in the code, having to fish around for the card. The door groans and whines as it slides open, water trickling through the cracks.
"Well, it's not as flooded as that scientist said."
Trudie looks at Krueger and asks, "What? When did you hear that?"
Krueger sighs and says, "When that scientist had me strapped to that table, he was rambling about the Sweepers destroying the drill tunnel."
Trudie stares at him, then diverts her attention to the drill, water streaming around it, following the grooves in the giant bit.
Trudie sighs and says, "Let's go, we got to find some way up there."
Krueger nods at her and slides the handle of the axe into his belt, then walks in after her. Trudie walks around the bottom of the tunnel and finds the vents for the drill. She places a hand and a foot in, then proceeds to climb up, keeping her gaze on the bigger vents, ones that are big enough to sit in.
Krueger grunts and pulls himself up, leaning heavily into the wall, even against the pain he has, he manages to climb, "Um, Trudie?"
Trudie looks down at him and asks, "What is it?"
Krueger shakes his head and replies, "Nothing, nothing at all, forget I said something."
Trudie arches an eyebrow, but just nods back at him. She begins to climb again, the gap she's kept her gaze on becoming closer with each grasp. After what feels like forever, they both finally reach the gap. She climbs past it and lets Krueger sit on it, because his breaths are coming quicker and becoming strained.
"Hey, what's wrong, Krueger?"
Krueger looks up at her with slightly glazed eyes and mumbles, his words slurred, "Nothing, just tired, and I'm really hungry."
Now that he said it, she's all of a sudden hungry, so hungry in fact, she could eat anything, even her sworn enemy, cauliflower. She leans onto the wall and sighs, imagining her favorite meal, a thick steak, sweet potato, corn, and rolls.
Oh, you can't forget the baked beans.
She smiles at the imaginary meal, but that is short-lived, a zombie falling past her, its face frozen in complete and utter horror. She looks up immediately and spots a person WAY up there lean back in, their face hidden from view. The person drops something, the object round and a red light beeping.
The beeping quickens then the object explodes, the drill bit groaning as it sways, then snaps. The drill bit falls toward them and Trudie climbs down to the gap, pushing Krueger further back. She climbs in and the bit hits the wall, which would have crushed her if she didn't move.
"Son of a bitch!"
At least we aren't trapped.
Krueger slumps next to her and peers through the gap, trying to figure out how to climb up. He smiles as his mind has the answer: the bit has grooves embedded into the inside curve. He clambers forward and grasps them, then he begins to climb around the bit, placing his feet in the grooves as well. Trudie laughs with happiness and follows suit, catching up to the worn Krueger quickly. At certain points, the climb was tough, as the wall got close, making them have to squeeze past.
Krueger grasps another rung and is faced with the door on the oilrig, "Ha! We're here!!"
He crawls into the hall and stands up, noticing the carcasses thrown around the hall.
Trudie stands up behind him and aims the M93R around, lowering it soon after, "Damn, these aren't ours, are they?"
Krueger shakes his head and hobbles forward, pulling out the axe as he passes the first door on his left. He stops and swings the axe around the corner. A man dressed in a red army outfit flips in front of Krueger and drops to his knees. He swings his left leg around and trips the worn and tired Krueger. Trudie aims the gun and fires off three rounds, the first one digging in above the man's elbow. The second and third rounds flying high.
The man screams in pain and shouts, "What was that for! That hurts like a bitch, damn it!"
Krueger moves onto his butt and says, "Who are you?"
The man grimaces and replies, "Name's Major John Legacy. Squad Zeta, platoon C. The rest of my team was destroyed when we first got here. I'm," he looks around at the bodies, "the only one left, well, besides you two."
Trudie nods and searches the bodies, finally noticing these men are from Major Legacy's squad.
She smiles and holds up the clips, "Hey, Major, where are their guns?"
Major Legacy frowns and says, "We were attacked outside, on the side helipad. They surprised us, only thing we had were our knives. We tried to go back for our guns, but the pilot took off, out of fright, I suppose. How did you get here?"
Trudie nods at Krueger and he tells the story.
He made sure to leave out his meeting with Doug Newman, just telling the Major the basics.
Major Legacy nods and says, "Yeah, we were debriefed on foreign targets on this rig, never thought they'd be friendly. Oh, exactly who are you two?"
Krueger nods and says, "My name and rank is Colonel Krueger Donnelly."
Trudie nods in his direction and says, "My name is Private First Class Trudie Clark."
Major Legacy nods and says, "Nice to meet you, Colonel Donnelly and Private First Class Clark."
Krueger holds up a finger and says, "Just Krueger and Trudie. Did you happen to have a plan for escape?"
John frowns and says, "Yeah, signal our chopper with flares, but they're soaked, the rain got them."
Trudie growls in frustration and says, "Damn it. Hey Krueger, how about we check outside?"
Krueger agrees and the three stand up, Krueger needing a little help. They walk through the hall, Trudie and Krueger thinking about what happened to them around here. Krueger pries one of the elevator doors open with the axe and they climb up the service ladder, the elevator smashed at the bottom.
I got them.. The heads at White Umbrella will be pleased.
John holds his arm as Doug switches cameras, smiling at the hundreds of secret cameras that he ordered put in.
The new screen shows Krueger and Trudie off to the side, talking, "Damn it, why couldn't they put sound in these?"
He switches again and finds the new Steven Evans climbing up the wall of the drill-shaft.
It will all be over now...
He opens yet another bag of peanuts and eats them, taking gulps from his Root Beer in between chews.
He presses the CALL button and smiles at his favorite pissed-off flight attendant, "Yes, I would like more peanuts, please? Thank you."
The flight-attendant grumbles something profane and returns minutes later with another box of peanuts.
He takes them and smiles at her, "I appreciate this."
Jeri smiles and walks off, her fists clenched even tighter this time. He laughs to himself and watches Steven bang on the door, obviously smelling his targets.
This is over. He can't be killed.
What now!
Trudie aims the M93R at the door as she runs backwards, Krueger leading them to the helipad. She fires twice out of surprise as she hits the wall. She spins around and runs for the door, Krueger and the Major already through. She notices that Krueger grabbed the dead soldiers' knives, thankfully.
She runs out onto the helipad and shouts, "Keep going, don't stop!"
Krueger shouts back and she dodges behind a small building, a tentacle flying past, the wind fetid and disgusting. She peers around the corner and spots the beast, finally able to get real details in the sunlight. It's body looks skinned, muscle showing, but the muscles are actually tentacles that are wrapped around its body. The beast screams furiously, the tentacles spreading out, forming a shroud around it.
The beast squats and is instantly running at her, its mouth hanging open in anticipation. Trudie jumps to her right, just as the building explodes in shards of metal, wood, and glass. A small silver flash flies past her face and digs into the eye again. She shoots her head in the thrower's direction to see Krueger running toward her, throwing combat knives as he does so.
Trudie rolls onto his stomach and jumps up to her feet, the gun pointed at the beast.
"No! Don't waste the bullets!" shouts Krueger as he jumps at the beast, two knives in his hands.
He lands on the beast's face and proceeds to slice the face off of the beast.
Krueger back-flips off of the beast's face just as a bunch of tentacles hit the beast in the face. The tentacles fly over its face and wrap around it, their grip tightening, cutting off the circulation of blood to its 'brain'. The beast howls and throws its left arm around, the right attached to its face. Krueger pulls his axe out of his belt and holds it like a baseball bat. He screams and throws it around, the blade tearing a huge chunk out of its left side.
He spins around again, the blade slicing an even larger chunk of its side out. The beast howls in fury and slams its left arm into Krueger, making him fly back, long and fast. He slams into the asphalt, the long since finished rain making it slick. He grasps a pipe sticking out and he stops dangerously close to the edge, his legs hanging over the edge.
He peers up, just in time to see John knocked off over the edge, "John!!"
He pushes himself up and runs to where John fell over. He slides along the asphalt and stops, his head hanging over the edge, and meeting the grimacing face of Major Legacy. Krueger reaches an arm for him, but the beast wraps seven tentacles around his waist and legs.
"Ah, damn it!" shouts Krueger as he is dragged across the asphalt.
He is suddenly floating in front of the beast, "We got to stop meeting like this."
Krueger brings up the axe and slashes into its head, the blade snapping through the brain. The beast stops roaring and the tentacles loosen, but they still hold Krueger firmly.
Krueger is able to mouth, "Oh shit," before he is flying through the morning air.
He slams into a wall and falls down, landing on his knees, hard. He stands up and charges at the creature, which has diverted its attention to Major Legacy and Trudie. Krueger's face contorts into a deep scowl and he football-tackles the beast, his shoulder digging into its back, knocking it off balance. The beast stumbles back toward the edge, then falls over with the grace of a three-ton boulder. Krueger just lays there on his face and sighs loudly, praying that's the end of that creature.
What has Umbrella done?