Resident Evil 9: Return
Chapter Seven: The Duke's Caravan
Arcane led the four young people out of Kaya's house through the back entrance, heeding Kaya's advice of staying off of the main road to avoid Heisenberg's brigade of horses.
"Alright team, the plan is simple." Arcane explained, lowering his voice when he noticed villagers watching him from across the road.
"We go to the side of the village where the Duke lives, and get some answers from him. In the past, he was generally left alone by the lycans and the Four Lords, so hopefully he can provide some shelter for us."
"Next, we find out what happened to the rest of the bus crew. Kai says the six who went into the forest are dead, plus four that were captured by the lycans alongside Averie and I. The rest have been split up by the Four Lords. How many would that be, Averie?"
"That would leave nine of them in total." Averie said.
"Though I don't know who went where."
"Don't forget about that lady killed on the bus." Carson reminded, causing Taylor to shudder.
"Sorry sis."
"Right, that's a good point." Arcane admitted. He then sighed. "So many people gone, and its been what, five hours since we arrived?"
"Shouldn't we wait for backup?" Averie asked. She saw the look Arcane gave her, realizing she had let it slip that she had overheard his angry conversation with Chris.
"From somewhere?"
"I don't know if we're going to get help." Arcane admitted, clenching his fists.
"There's no point in trying to track down the bus since that clearly didn't go too well for the other group. We could try escaping ourselves, but I don't like the odds. Not enough weapons, and too many children involved for my liking. We wouldn't make it."
"Are the Four Lords even aware of us? We escaped before we were really noticed. And when we rescued Arcane they could have assumed some villagers snuck in a rescued him."
Averie pointed out.
Kai tried to swallow the guilt that tightened his throat as he wondered when he should talk to Averie about Lady Dimitrescu. But he didn't want to scare her….
As Arcane led the way through the small backroads of the village, Averie took the rear since she was the only other person with a rifle in their group.
Averie was terrified. She hadn't come to the village to go through literal hell on earth, she had come to find her father. Instead, she had found a village full of captured villagers who lived in fear of Four Lords who she didn't even presume were human at this point. Her father was nowhere to be found.
But it's not like it mattered to anyone else but her at this point. Arcane had yelled at the man over the phone that he needed to forget about Delinor and save the people who were in danger here. Averie understood why Arcane shifted his focus and was more concerned about the other bus passengers, but she was angry that her father was tossed aside, no longer being worried about.
What about this Chris guy? He seemed to be interested in dad. True, Chris was the one who sent Arcane in the first place to find Isaac Delinor, though Averie still didn't have enough understanding of the whole situation revolving around her dad.
Since Averie was in the back and couldn't fully hear Arcane and Kai speaking, she was quite surprised when Kai grabbed onto Arcane's shoulder, stopping Arcane from walking any further.
"What about Chris?" Kai asked. Arcane clenched his fists.
"He isn't coming, Kai."
"Did he say he isn't coming, or is this just what we're assuming-"
"He swore he would never step foot in this village again, not after what happened the last time." Arcane spat.
"Why do you think I was chosen for this mission? Like it or not, this village still gives Chris nightmares. He wanted someone else to come take a look instead."
Arcane clenched his fists even tighter, to the point that Carson swore the man had bent part of the gun of his handle, not knowing that was even possible.
"He said he had no idea of what was going on here, presumed the village was abandoned, uninhabitable." Arcane muttered under his breath.
"Well, he probably didn't." Kai admitted. "If he was still scared about this village he wouldn't have bothered checking in on it over the past ten years. He would have avoided it at all costs-"
"Yeah at the costs of our lives!" Arcane yelled, turning away from the group. Taylor and Carson huddled closer to Averie, nervous. Averie was nervous too, but for other reasons. What if those lycan creatures heard Arcane and came after them?
"He didn't bother checking to make sure the village was abandoned, he just assumed it was! But he was wrong! The Four Lords are alive, the village is full of people, and the one person he told me to look for might not even be here!"
"Well then that would be frustrating for both of us!" Averie stepped between the two kids and walked over to Arcane.
"Knock it off, Arc." She said, mimicking Chris's tone when he used the same nickname.
"What Chris did was irresponsible, we get it. It was stupid to send you out here with no backup and no idea of what was still here. I get it. But we have two children with us who are terrified, and they don't need a grown man whining and scared!"
Arcane glared at Averie.
"You don't even know what's goi-"
"Yeah because no one has bothered to talk to me about my dad and his involvement with all this!" Averie said loudly, trying to make a point while not being loud enough to be heard by any creatures with ill intent. She waved her arm around, pointing at the village houses and the castle that looked closer than before.
"Both of our plans have changed, Arcane. I didn't expect any of this when I came to the village. But here we are."
And literally, here they were, for without really realizing it, they had arrived at the Duke's caravan. Since none of them had ever met the Duke, none of them knew what to expect.
Hearing noise behind them, Averie and Arcane turned around to the back door of the caravan opening, revealing the owner.
"Oh ho, visitors." The Duke was larger than life, and larger than Averie had expected. His dirty fingers were covered in rings, his jacket and collared shirt were open, revealing his large stomach.
"Woah!" Carson exclaimed, and Averie was about to shush him, for fear of him being rude to their-possibly-only ally.
"Look at all the coins he has!" Carson said, much to Averie's relief. The Duke laughed once more, throwing a coin at the boy.
"Here boy, take this as a souvenir." Carson caught the coin in mid air, and looked at it in his palm. A stamp of a lycan was pressed into the one side, while on the other side was a horsehead, encircled by a horseshoe.
"The symbol for Lord Heisenberg." Carson said aloud. "The chess piece and the horseshoe."
"Ah ha, clever boy." The Duke commented, smiling down at both children.
"Though I'm not surprised, children are known for their cleverness."
"You must be the Duke." Averie said, politely sticking out her hand. The Duke shook it, his hand colder than Averie had expected.
"We came here to find you and ask for your help."
"Well well, help is what I can provide, generally in the form of guns, ammunition, medicines, more ammunition-"
"How about answers to our questions?" Arcane asked gruffly, crossing his arms. The Duke looked over at the man.
"And who might you be?" He asked, his tone not nearly as polite as it was with Averie and the children. Arcane looked slightly startled, not expecting the shift in tone.
"Arcane, sir. I work with Chris Redfield, and knew Ethan Winters."
"Ah yes, Mr. Winters. A brave man he was, very dedicated to his family. A shame what happened." The Duke said sadly.
"But his daughter lives on, so not all was lost."
"Rosemary Winters isn't the only one who lives on." Arcane stated, clenching his fists slightly.
The Duke noticed this gesture, and looked past the man.
"Perhaps we should have this conversation inside the caravan, where others' ears can't hear."
The caravan looked wonderful…from the outside. But Averie was not a fan of tight spaces, and since there was limited room inside the Duke's home, she decided to remain outside and told Kai to fill her in on the details later. So while Arcane and Kai were brought up to speed by the Duke about everything to do with the village, Averie remained outside of the caravan, and chatted with Taylor and Carson, wanting to know more about the two kids.
Taylor went into great detail about her and Carson's past, of how their mom died when Carson was only three years old, and their dad joined the military to help make up for lost income. The kids had lived in several different states for five years before their dad decided to change career goals in the military and pick a job that would keep them in one state for a longer period of time.
"And that's when the accident happened." Taylor sighed while clenching and unclenching her fists. The motion was different from when Arcane had done this. He clenched his fists in anger, while Taylor clenched and unclenched her fists to maintain control of her emotions.
Averie could see tears form in the girl's eyes, but let her continue so she could process her grief.
"A mission had gone wrong. Dad was called to a small town just north of where our grandma lived. He was hopeful about finding some recruits up there to join the military and to turn their lives around. Instead, the "hopeful recruits" were speed racing down a long, empty road while drunk. Dad tried to stop them…"
"He and his partner were hit in their vehicle, one of the cars crashed into them from the side and knocked them off of the road." Carson finished, little tears falling down his face.
"And when we met on the bus, you two were originally supposed to be going to his funeral, right?" Averie asked. Taylor nodded.
"But then that woman came, and the rest you know about." Averie could see Carson was going to start to cry, and she didn't want to stop him from expressing his emotions. But she was worried about loud sobbing being heard by anyone, or anything, nearby. Squatting on the ground in front of the two kids while they sat on a log, Averie placed one hand on their shoulders.
"I can't imagine what you are going through." Averie confessed.
"I've lost a parent too, but I don't even remember her. You have a lot of beautiful, wonderful memories of your dad, and I know that you wish you had more." Averie was no grief counsellor, but she wanted to say something, anything, to let the children know that they didn't need to be scared about the future.
"I know you two don't know what is going to happen in the future. With this village, or beyond. But I want to promise you something." She took a deep breath, thinking about how it was less than likely that her dad would be thrilled with this idea.
"My dad and I, we will take you in. I can't say that it'll be permanent, but we'll take care of you so we can find you a good home. I know you can't stay with your grandma because of her health, and I can't let you two go into foster care-"
Carson wrapped his arms around Averie, quietly crying into his shoulder. Scared she had said something wrong, Averie looked over at Taylor, who was smiling.
"Don't worry, he's happy. Just a lot going on right now."
Averie laughed, and felt tears in her own eyes. She wrapped her arms around Carson, and laughed as Taylor dogpiled on top of her brother.
"I'm not gonna let anyone separate you."
"We can't separate them." Kai insisted, glaring at the Duke. The man rolled his eyes at the boy, crossing his arms. Sort of.
"Not from each other, from the young woman. It's too much of a risk."
"How?" Arcane demanded. "Those two kids only feel safe with Averie, if we separate them from her-"
"Then there is a better chance that they will survive." The Duke explained, sighing. Arcane was taken aback, while Kai, once more, felt guilt tighten his throat.
"What do you mean?" Arcane asked. "We know that Averie's dad is connected to this village if that is what you are concerned about, but Averie herself-"
"Is in even more danger." The Duke answered. He looked over at Kai, slightly cocking his head to the side.
"I have a feeling that you are already aware of this, Mr. Hastening?"
Kai sheepishly looked over at Arcane, and nodded.
"Back in the Lord's Sanctuary…you were pretty out of it. A lycan dragged in the rude man, you know the one who said Averie must have had something to do with all of this? Anyway, he mentioned Averie by her last name, immediately grabbing the attention of Lady Dimitrescu."
"Ah, Lady Dimitrescu. Beautiful, even after death." The Duke sighed happily. He then remembered the severity of the situation and cleared his throat.
"Sorry boy, please continue."
"Well, she grabbed the man, dragged him out of the room, and wanted him to find Averie for her, probably so she wouldn't have to. It reminded me of the old story of Snow White."
The Duke nodded.
"This is very similar, I'm afraid."
"Would you care to shed some light on this?" Arcane demanded.
"Why certainly I can-" The Duke stated, but paused, hearing something.
"Does anyone else hear that ringing noise?"
"Taylor's bag is vibrating!" Carson exclaimed, deciding that the best course of action would be to poke it with a stick. Taylor pushed the stick away and opened the bag, pulling out her jacket. Stuffed inside was a heavy, thick cellphone, with the name CHRIS REDFIELD in bold letters.
"Was that the guy Arcane was talking to?" Taylor asked, holding out the communicator for Averie to take. But before Averie could grab the phone, Carson lost his balance and tumbled onto the ground between the two girls, squishing the phone under his body weight.
Lifting up his head from the ground, Carson grabbed the phone and immediately answered it.
"Hello?"