Resident Evil 9: Return
Chapter Nine: The Demand for Donors
Averie was in the middle of confirming her plan with Chris when she heard Carson scream. Out of what appeared to be nowhere, a large creature appeared and stood behind the duo.
From first glance, he didn't look like the other lycans. He wasn't as tall, and his body wasn't grey. Yet he stared at Carson and Averie with red eyes, his teeth sharp and dripping red.
"Averie, what's going on?" Chris asked over the phone, but Averie had dropped the phone and grabbed her gun. However, the creature was quick, and had grabbed a hold of Averie's arm that supported the weight of the gun, growling in her face.
"Somebody please help me!" A voice called from the distance. The creature turned away from Averie for a moment, but held her arm like a vice.
At this point Arcane had jumped out of the caravan and took a shot at the creature, forcing him to let go of the girl. Averie quickly assessed her arm for any bleeding before fixing her grip on her weapon.
Carson could see a man in the forest behind the caravan, poking his head from behind a tree.
"Please help me." He begged once more, while Arcane took another shot. The creature was tougher than the other lycans the group had faced, and wouldn't go down easily. He growled in frustration, and looked over at the man behind the tree. He ran towards him, causing the man to cower in fear.
"Ahh!" Was Carson's battle cry as he hurled his knife at the creature, hitting it in the neck. The creature ripped the knife out of his neck, immediately spurting blood. This gave Averie enough time to fire a round at the creature, blowing his head off.
The body fell to the ground, and remained still.
The man behind the tree stood up, wiping the dirt off of his clothing, and walked towards the trio. Carson was wiping his knife blade clean, but held out his hand politely as the man walked towards him.
The man, however, looked past Carson and kept his eyes on Averie.
"You were the girl from the bus, who took out the first creature." The man noted.
"Yes and no. I was the girl from the bus, but Arcane took out the first lycan." Averie corrected, pointing at Arcane. He watched in confusion as the body of the creature dissolved into dust.
The man who had been hiding behind the tree waved his hand in the air, brushing off the details.
"Doesn't matter. I suppose I must thank you for saving my life, though I rather wish it never had to happen."
"You're welcome." Carson said flatly, sticking his knife into the side of his backpack. Arcane walked over and ruffled Carson's hair.
"You did good, kid. That was some impressive aim."
"Thanks, Arcane." Carson smiled.
"So, who are you?" Averie asked the man, who was trying to remove a dirt stain from his jacket. He sighed in annoyance.
"I'm sorry, what was that? Never mind, my name is Samuel Migrin, and I am needing to get out of this village."
"Welcome to the club." Arcane said sarcastically, reloading his gun.
"How come that creature was after you? I thought all of the other bus passengers were either dead or captured by the Four Lords."
"I'm sorry, the Four who?" Samuel questioned. "Oh never mind, it doesn't matter to me. When our group separated, I didn't join the small band of psychos who decided to run into the woods, nor did I want to join you all and become part of this-" Samuel waved his hands around, looking in disgust at the village surrounding him. "Farm community. No no, I decided to wait by the main gate, but didn't want anyone to notice me in case they tried to drag me into their cult. So I hid behind one of the trees."
"Once everyone was gone, I roamed around the outward parts of the village, and could hear screaming in the distance." Samuel shuddered at the memory.
"What did you do?" Carson asked.
"Well, little boy, I went and hid in the woods, hoping that the noise would die down. And soon enough it did! But then that large creature found me and that led to a long chase that led me to you all!" Samuel finished.
Carson's mouth was wide open in shock.
"Someone screamed and you didn't do anything?" He demanded.
"Carson, he probably didn't have a weapon." Averie said, walking over to the boy. She quickly scooped up Arcane's discarded communicator and stood beside Carson.
"He probably also wasn't brave enough." She whispered, and Carson grinned.
Arcane glanced at the caravan, and saw Duke looking at him. He put his gun away and sighed, remembering the 'talk' he and Duke needed to have with Averie.
"Averie, the Duke and I wanted to talk to you about something in the caravan." He explained, as the door to the caravan opened. Taylor hopped out and immediately ran to Carson.
"Car, are you okay?" She asked worriedly, checking her brother for injury.
"Is he okay? Little girl, I almost died." Samuel argued, annoyed he wasn't receiving any attention. Taylor didn't help him by continuing to ignore him further.
Kai stepped out of the caravan as well, walking over to Averie.
"Are you alright?" He asked, and Averie nodded.
"A little shaken, but I'm two for two with shooting the heads off of those lycans." She answered, smiling. Kai had trouble returning the gesture as Averie headed towards the caravan.
Arcane sat beside Averie in the caravan, looking up at Duke. The large man smiled down at Averie, but it was a sad smile. One that invoked feelings of worry and regret for the person they were looking at.
"How old are you, Averie?" Duke asked.
"I'm twenty years old. My birthday was two months ago." Averie answered, a little confused.
"And here you are, in the village of your father." Duke commented, gesturing around him.
"I suppose this isn't what you were expecting."
"Well, I had some expectations." Averie pulled out the scrapbook from her backpack, handing it over to Duke. He held the book in his pudgy hands, and was gentle as he opened to the first page.
"Ah yes, I remember this house. This was where your father grew up." Duke explained, looking back at Averie. He immediately noticed the blue gem around her neck, but said nothing.
"Did you know my dad?" Averie asked, wondering how old Duke was.
"Yes, I knew your father. I knew him as a boy who kept to himself, a teenager who got into a bit of mischief, in reaction to his father's death, and as a young man, who escaped this village to start a new life."
Averie took in a deep breath, trying to determine how best to ask her questions. She didn't yet want to reveal to Arcane that she had been speaking with Chris, and had a bit of information about her father already.
"Why did my dad leave?" Averie questioned, already knowing the answer but wanting Arcane to know as well.
"Your father, like the other villagers in this village, was used by Mother Miranda for experiments. She was a scientist, after all, and decided that those poor people were her best subjects. Not many survived the procedures. Thankfully, your father was only put through a couple of harsh treatments, and didn't suffer nearly as much as the others had. He left soon after."
"And no one tried to stop him?" Averie questioned.
"Oh no, Miranda did everything she could…to a certain degree. You see, she needed your father alive, and the lycans would have certainly killed him. From what I recall, your father had quite the time escaping, but in the end was successful."
"Clearly." Arcane commented, glancing over at Averie. When he realized how traumatizing all of this information must have been for her, he felt immediate regret for how he had been around her. He stalked her on the bus and plane rides, was not kind to her on the last bus before it crashed, and questioned her about her decisions.
But hearing about her father's history, and the effect it must have had on Averie growing up…
"With what happened to my dad, do you think…somehow…" Averie didn't know how to word her next question, nor did she know how she would feel about the answer. Chris had already told her, but perhaps the Duke knew a bit more.
"You may have inherited some certain…effects from your father's treatment that were perhaps passed down through his genes." Duke answered, knowing what the girl would ask.
Arcane stared at the Duke.
"What would that mean?" He asked cautiously.
Duke sighed. "It would mean that, if Miranda were still alive, Averie would have two enemies to worry about."
Kai wished he could sit in the caravan. For one, he wanted to be with Averie as Duke explained the true horrors of the village, to comfort her if needed. For another reason, he wanted more than anything to be away from Samuel.
While Carson and Taylor were able to ignore the man by playing with an old deck of cards Carson had found behind one of the houses, Kai was stuck answering all of Samuel's questions.
"So why is there blood on your jeans?" Was his first question. Kai glared at the man, remembering Samuel's reaction to his clothing from earlier. When Kai had gone up to introduce himself to Samuel, the man gagged at the sight of Kai's pants.
Kai wanted to roll his eyes at the question. Have you seen what's been going on around here?
But he remembered the man whose blood stained his clothes, and sighed.
"One of the men from the bus was killed by one of the Four Lords."
"Yes, who are these Lords?"
In answer, Kai pulled out the photos Duke had given him. Taylor came over as well and took a look, as she had never actually seen the Four Lords herself.
"Man Car, now I see what you mean about the fish guy!" She noted. Her eyes then drifted over to the picture of Lady Dimitrescu. Kai watched the girl back away, as if on instinct. As if she knew what Lady Dimitrescu did to young women.
"I don't like her." Was all she said.
"Oh, I don't know." Samuel admitted, staring at the photo. "She seems rather lovely. Great taste in clothing. I bet she has a flare for the dramatics!"
"Yeah, especially when she uses her claws and slices into your chest." Kai muttered under his breath.
Samuel handed back the photos to Kai, and sighed.
"You know, if it weren't for the monsters, the apparent cult, the Four Lords and all this death, this village…would still be somewhere I wouldn't want to visit." Samuel admitted.
"So, you're not a fan of our village, are you?"
Averie felt her heart beat faster inside her chest.
"Um, Duke?"
"Yes Averie?"
"Did you say that there is someone after me? In this village?"
"No no, my exact words were if Miranda were still alive, Averie would have two enemies to worry about."
Averie didn't think her heart could beat any faster than it already was as she thought about the Duke's statement. She looked over at Arcane, whose face was downcast.
"That's why we needed to talk to you, Averie." Arcane admitted.
"You see, one of the Four Lords-"
"Oh, that reminds me!" Duke interrupted, reaching into his bag. He then pulled out a small sheet of paper, which had been yellowed with age and crumpled from being moved around so much.
"Yes, the Four Lords have been brought back to life and need people to keep them alive." The Duke summarized for Averie quickly. A quick glance at Arcane told Averie that this wasn't what he had planned, but neither of them interrupted Duke.
"As I told the boys earlier, the Four Lords were brought back to life, but are not the same as they once were. They are each in need of someone who can fulfill their needs, sort of like a donor."
"A donor?" Averie questioned.
"Yes, precisely! The Four Lords cannot stay as they are for much longer, as I can already see them deteriorating from the past five years of being brought back to this village. Therefore, they need donations…from humans." The horror of the statement caused Averie to shudder.
"Is that why there are so many villagers here now?" Arcane demanded, feeling his anger rise.
"Yes and no. Yes, because people are brought in from the outside to see if the Four Lords can find a match, the right person to fulfill their needs to help them regain the strength they once had! No, because so far they haven't found the one that each of them needs."
"Hold on, back up. About this enemy of mine-" Averie tried to interject.
"We'll get back to that Averie, this is more important." Duke interrupted.
"Duke," Arcane warned.
"Yes yes, I'll explain more about Averie's dilemma, but this is of the utmost importance! Each Lord is dying, far more rapidly now because they have been 'reborn'. Apparently, according to this mysterious woman working with them, a human is needed in order to bring them back to their old strength."
"How would a human help? Or I guess four humans in this case." Averie asked.
"It's quite simple, really. A human is alive, the Four Lords are not. Working with this mysterious woman who I presume is a scientist, the Four Lords could transfer the living and healthy organs of the human subject into their own bodies, giving them new strength."
Averie and Arcane took this all in.
"So all of the people that have been kidnapped…" Arcane started, but he couldn't quite finish his sentence.
"They were all brought here…to possibly die?" Averie ventured. The Duke nodded.
"I'm sure there are more details to their overall plan, but that is the gist of it. The Four Lords need help, and they have been told that the right human can help them."
"How do they know which human is the right one?" Averie asked, as Arcane was too stunned to speak.
"Well, tests are run, past history of the patient is taken into consideration, and experiments are required." The Duke sighed.
"A few people have been taken by the Four Lords, assumed to be their salvation. But they don't survive the experiments."
Kai stood up, his hand on his gun. Carson packed away the cards, while Taylor ran over to the caravan. Not bothering to knock, she tried opening the door, but didn't realize that Arcane had stood up and was leaning against it for support.
"Now now, no need to be so scared." One of the men explained, holding up his hands to show he meant no harm.
"We could just hear your voices from down the way and thought we would stop by and pay you a visit."
"We didn't see you among the other villagers earlier." Kai stated, backing up slightly so he was closer to Carson. Taylor had just been able to get inside the caravan, having sworn loudly enough to grab Arcane's attention.
Arcane opened the door and watched Taylor stumble into the caravan.
"There's some strange men outside and I don't know if they're dangerous." She blurted out.
Before Arcane could go investigate, the door slammed shut behind Taylor, and was blocked from the other side.
Three men stood in front of Kai and the others, while another man had slipped around the other side of the caravan, and closed the door behind Taylor, then blocked it off.
"We weren't able to join the others, Lord Moreau had us preoccupied." The man explained, but he didn't look at Kai. His eyes were on another member of the group.
"The door is blocked. KAI!" Arcane bellowed from inside the caravan. Duke peeked out the window.
"Ah yes, those men work for Moreau down at the reservoir. I'd watch out for them, they aren't the friendliest fellows."
"No kidding." Averie noted as she joined Arcane at the door. They pressed against the door with all their might, but to no avail. The door wouldn't budge.
"Lord Moreau is interested in a member of your crew, you see. Wants him to come to the reservoir with us." The man stated. He gave Kai an uneasy smile, one that made his skin crawl. He also noticed a mark on the man's lower forearm, swearing he saw a mermaid burned into the man's skin.
Kai pulled out his gun.
"Funnily enough, we don't really care what Moreau thinks. We're not interested in joining him for a swim."
The man eyed Kai, and snickered. Kai was still unaware of the man standing guard at the caravan, and he hadn't been able to hear Arcane inside. Thanks to the sound proofing Duke had added to his caravan to give himself some privacy, Arcane's cries were trapped inside.
Faster than anyone could anticipate, the man standing guard at the caravan leapt at Kai, tackling him to the ground.
This gave enough time for the men of Lord Moreau to grab their victim, and run back into the forest.
Arcane was able to push the caravan door open, and pulled the man off of Kai's back.
"Help me hold him down!" Arcane yelled to Taylor and Averie as they raced out of the caravan behind him, holding down Moreau's worker.
Kai sat up, rubbing the side of his head. The other men were gone…
Taylor stood up immediately.
"Kai, where's Carson?"