Third POV

Ethan just stared at Mercer with shocked, disbelief, and confused expression. He didn't say anything as he was too much in shock to say anything as he looked from Mercer and towards his surroundings.

"W-what… ?" Ethan said in confusion and in shock as he noticed what he was standing on and that view that he saw. .

He was standing on a rooftop of a 24 story or higher building. Infected by charcoaled roots that had spread everywhere in the gravel. Organic red veins that were the size of small trees attached from the ground and to the building, like a spider web. Ethan noticed that large portions of flesh-colored spores were on the building, making him gag in disgust at how it looked like it was ready to burst with the slightest of movement.

Upon the view, Ethan saw that they were in a city. Dark silhouettes of skyscrapers covered the entire area, while an infectious color of red and orange plague the skies. Ethan notices that the building that he is on - and so does the rest- were covered by black and red tendrils. Ranging from various sizes and colors, especially tendrils that were sickly colored of raw flesh with spores. He noticed that there are some tendrils, just like the one that was attached to the building that he is on, but ranging from a variant of sizes

"What the hell?" Ethan muttered as he looked around the area with shock and disbelief. He can hear several roars in the distance, making him jump a bit as the dark silhouettes of the skyscrapers concealed the unknown danger. While the infected environment gave him a sense of familiarity and comfort, but at the same time a sense of anxiety and urgency.

Like as if his instincts were basically screaming at him to leave as soon as possible, but at the same time Ethan felt right at home.

"So we finally meet face to face, huh, Ethan?" Alex said, jumping off from the door rooftop and walking towards the blonde man.

"W-what is this place? Where the hell am I?" Ethan asks Mercer, who just smirks and before answering.

"You're in your subconscious after your little run in with Josiah. Or rather, what I like to call ''Middle Ground'', to say the least." Alex said, confusing Ethan further as he stared at Alex.

But before Ethan could do anything else, he suddenly felt a sudden spike of pain go up to his head, making him release a tidal wave of screams that echoed throughout the area, alerting several Brawlers, mutated crows, and Hunters that heard it. He continues to scream in pain as he falls down to his knees and clutches his head. Alex, who saw the scene played out, just stands there watching Ethan rive in the pain.

Once the pain is over, Ethan's body drops on the ground. His breathing was ragged and deep, his throat was soar by the volume of his screaming that the man didn't know he could produce. His eyes were bleeding little trickles of blood, while contemplating on what just happened.

He...He saw a person, a child, a mother. He saw the events of the father, what happened in an old house, his mistake, his wife and son's deaths, and finally his-his...God Ethan couldn't describe what he just saw. He saw everything. He FELT everything that the father had gone through as if he was there. Ethan felt his loss, his grief, his anger, his torment. He felt every inch of 'em.

"W-w-what was that? What the hell did I just see…" Ethan muttered as his eyes were a blurr by the blood. His mind is trying to process what he just witnessed.

"Josiah's memories, you witnessed them when you consumed him. Now they're yours." Alex said, making Ethan slowly look up to him.

"What are you talking about? What M-memories and consumption?" Ethan groans as he wipes the blood off from his face.

"Your fight from earlier, Ethan." Alex stated. "The little beast that you killed? It was once human by the name of Josiah Erl. His family was slaughtered and him being turned into a beast, but I'm pretty sure that you know that." He finished, making the blonde man confused even further as he tried to get his head straight.

"That doesn't make any sense, how is this possible?" Ethan muttered, as he felt his headache gotten worse and the flashes of Josiah's memories replayed in his mind. Ethan groaned as he saw the last memory of Josiah being killed by him. But that wasn't what got his attention. Ethan saw through Josiah's eyes, was his mangled body starting to stand up and black and red tendril forming around his chest, shoulder and regenerating his severed arm back. Basically making him good as new.

The revelation had greatly confused and scared him. His eyes were unfocused as his mind was able to somehow slow the memory down and his focus was on the biomass reconstructing his body back. Ethan's face was unreadable, unfocused, and most of all; empty. He didn't say a word as he stared at the ground, not believing what he was seeing through the eyes of the former human.

Alex saw his reaction to the virus, making him smirk in satisfaction.

"Now, now, don't be like that. We still have much to talk about." Mercer said, prompting Ethan to snap out from his trance and look at him in confusion, panic, and desperation.

" What? " Ethan said, his eyes went wide when he saw Alex's arms formed into biomass." T-that the same-what the fuck is going…!?" Ethan demanded as he looked at Alex. His confusion and frustration on the lack of answers to what the hell is going on.

"You're infected Ethan." Alex stated, deciding to stop playing hard-to-get and go straight to business. The statement makes Ethan speechless as he looks at Alex with shock and disbelief. "By the Blacklight virus. You know what it is. The very same virus that had caused two outbreaks back in the States in New York. It is the very same one that helped you survive the Baker's back three years ago." Alex finished getting a disbelief look on Ethan's face. The expression was filled with denial and shock, as Ethan was deep in his thoughts.

Infected? With the Blacklight virus?

No. no nononononnoono. That can't be right. He wasn't infected. He can't be, can he?

Ethan didn't say anything else after receiving the news from Alex. The news of it all was too much for him to handle. Alex saw the defiance of Ethan, scoffing at this which made Ethan look at him.

"Oh, don't give me that look. Did you honestly believe that you managed to survive the Baker's by sheer luck?" Alex said and bends down to eye-level on Ethan. "A lot of people had tried but failed. The cop, Clancy, his friends, they didn't manage to last five minutes. Well, perhaps Clancy did but he died by Lucas's 'games', but you? You didn't" Alex snorted as he found the man's thoughts of managing to survive that night all on his own.

"N-no, you're wrong. I'm not infected." Ethan stated, sending a glare towards Alex. The hooded infected, let out a huff of amusement as he bends down to eye-level on Ethan.

"Really?" Alex said rhetorically, Ethan's glare is not waving one bit, but Alex knew that he was putting up a mask to hide his fear. Suddenly, Ethan let out a sharp take of air and a yelp as he felt something had attached onto his neck. Then several more biomass tendrils shoot from the ground and wrap themselves around his limbs and force him to his knees.

'Hey! What are you doing-ARGH!" Ethan shouted as he tried to break free, but couldn't. Suddenly his brain was then bombarded with flashes of Louisiana and the Baker's.

"Let me paint you a little picture, Ethan." Alex's voice rang into his mind, while Ethan was being forced to remember the events that led his life into the rabbit hole.

"A man had walked into a little house on the outskirts of a bayou in search of his wife, who was missing years ago. Arm with only a handgun, thinking he can snatched her away that easily."

Ethan, saw the time when he saw Mia after years going missing. The major feeling of joy and relief of the sigh of her again. How he wanted to make sure that it wasn't a dream and that it was really her.

"But once he got there, his wife went crazy and attacked him. Stabbing him, cutting off his hands, forcing him to no leave a choice but to murder his wife."

Ethan's memories of Mia going insane and attacking him, sent shivers down his spine when he saw it. After years of therapy and treatment, the image of the craze state of his wife still haunted him like it was yesterday. Ethan's hand twitches at the sight of Mia cutting his arm off. Then finally the memory of him driving an axe to her neck.

Ethan couldn't process the word then, because he was too much in shock and disbelief. The fact that his wife attacked him, and even tried to kill him. And the fact that he had just did murder and killed her. Ethan can only shed tears by the sight, still knowing the fact that Mia was alive after the events. But still, it never left him.

He groaned at that, hearing Alex's voice echoed through his head.

"The man was then subjected to all kinds of hell that night. By a murderous and psychotic family, his own wife, finding out the truth, and then what happened? He fought back, clawed his way, refusing to give in and fought the family."

Ethan saw everything that had happened. The Baker's unfortunate demise all those years ago. How they just lured people in and then killed and ATE them, like they were just animals.

Hell, his entire body shivered when he remembered the amount of traps, run-in with Jack, Lucas's 'games', and Marguerites fly infested womb. The phantom pain of those encounters would be enough to place people into a psychiatric center. Thank god he didn't, but that didn't mean that he was out of the woods.

Nevertheless, Ethan felt disgusted for what they did, but he knew that he can't blame them. They were the victims of the mold. Stuck in a never ending hell for years before he arrived. From Jack's plea, to Zoe's imprisonment. Ethan couldn't help but feel for the Baker's.

Then his mind went into the root of the problem.

Eveline.

The name brought mixed emotions from Ethan. On one hand, he hated the girl. As cruel and harsh to say it, it's hard not to disagree. She placed hell into the Baker's home, her so-called 'family'. She forces them, infected them, and turned them and his wife into monsters. Killing who-knows how many people that they managed to rope into and were maimed and killed. She caused all of this. To him and Mia, to the Baker's, everything.

Ethan hated the girl who turned good people into her own personal hell.

But then another aspect of him couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Even though she had turned the Baker's into nightmare-fuel monsters, she was the victim from the very start. She never wanted any of this, to be forced into experimentation, to be treated as if she were disposable trash. Ethan saw this in Mia's old file when he looked into her laptop once. He read the entire file, before confronting his wife and having a long, hard conversation about Eveline.

But throughout the course that she did to the Baker's, to Mia, and to him. She was still a little kid. A little, scared child that only wanted a family.

A mothers love.

A father's safety.

The same sort of protection that any child would have for most in their lives to shower upon.

But not her…..

She never had ANY of those. It was taken away from her at such a young age, and by the time that he had beat her. She already was the same old, frail lady in the wheelchair that he saw at the dinner table.

It broke his heart when he realized that the girl had lived her whole life being afraid, confused, angry, and sad towards the world.

No love….

No family….

No freedom….

The only sense of relief that she had….

Is when he killed her.

Back with Alex, Alex noticed that Ethan started to calm down a bit and he wasn't struggling like before. He let out a 'hmm' and was a little taken by Ethan's mind as he was adapting towards the memories a little better than most of the 'Evolve' that he had infected with.

But nonetheless, Alex showed him more.

"The man went head-on-head with the father. Managing to survive his attacks, surprising him. Then he went against the wife, who uses her 'gift' against him, then their son. Who played 'games' and watched as he burned him alive.

Alex's voice rang into his head, making Ethan groan as he remembered every encounter he had with the family and the mold creatures. Every wound, every struggle, and every twist and turns that had taken.

He doesn't know Alex's purpose for this, Why is he showing him a rerun back in Louisiana? What is the point of showing him a But then he saw it. Flashes of Ethan himself and his fights and struggles on every trap, monster, and the Baker's themselves, he saw it all but that didn't what caught it. But what was happening to his body is what caught him.

When his leg got severed off by Jack, he saw himself pour in the healing liquid to reattach it back. But what he didn't know was the fact that a small strand of biomass went out and absorbed the healing fluid. Ethan saw little tendrils reattaching the leg, as he saw his past self move it around. Not noticing the tendrils as that he was in too much pain and shock at the time to even notice.

Then the scene changes as he was searching through the bayou for the cure. He was limping as he then poured a bottle of the healing liquid onto him to restore his injuries. But what he failed to see before was several forms of biomass both disappearing and reappearing where the liquidhad reached.

"No…" Ethan thought, not believing what he was seeing. It can't be-there's no way.

Suddenly, he started to have rapid memories coming his way as he grits his teeth. Each of them contain scenes of the Blacklight Virus reappearing every time that he had poured the fluid onto his wounds.

He-he couldn't believe it. He Is infected with the virus. Ever since the Bakers house he knew something was off about him during that. The BSAA tested him for any sort of infection but told him that he was infected free.

Or so he was told after discovering this.

Did they lie to them? Did they know all along? Did Chris know it as well? Is that why they have killed Mia and stormed into their home and taken him and Rose. Because they knew that he had the Blacklight virus?

Too many questions are popping up into his head. His confusion rose sky-high on the new revelation of his infection. A whirl of emotions, questions, and lack of answers, made Ethan feel like he is going insane.

But before he could go any further. Fortunately (or unfortunately), he was then pulled out from the barrage of memories, dropping onto his knees, panting roughly, as his throat was dry as a desert.

"No...it can't. I-I-I-I'm can't be infected." Ethan somehow muttered in despair.

"Now you get it?" Alex said, making Ethan look at him. His pair of blues look at his glowing orange-red. "It wasn't luck, it wasn't the herbs that were in the fluids, and it was certainly NOT by you alone." His remark sparked anger inside Ethan.

"You son of bitch!" Ethan roared, grabbing Alex by his jacket while giving him a heated glare.

"You better fix this!" Ethan shouted at him, making Alex smirk in amusement.

"Fix it? Hahahaha….!" Alex laughs, getting Ethan even more angry.

"You think that this is some sick joke?! That this fucking funny to you!" Ethan shouted, but this only made Alex laugh a bit more, before calming down.

"Your little fool." Alex said with a chuckle. "Do you believe that there is any cure for what you are now? The Blacklight Virus is one of the deadliest viruses that mankind has produced for thousands of years. There is no 'cure' for it, and even if there is, heh… the virus would adapt to it, make its own weaknesses into its strengths."Alex said, making Ethan even more pissed off as aimed for a strike at Alex.

"Just accept the fact, Ethan, you're part of the Mercer virus." That was the last straw for him, Ethan let out a cry of rage and tried to hit Alex.

Key word; tried.

As his fist went closer, Alex effortlessly dodge the attack by shoving Ethan away with a plastered smirk. He let out a small chuckle and just dodge and deflected Ethan's wild and predictable attack.

Ethan didn't like it when He received the news. His mind was clouded with too much anger, frustration, confusion and finally; Denial.

He was denying the fact that he was infected with the Blacklight virus. He was denying Mercer's words that there wasn't a cure to this. He can be cured, he wants to be cured. That this...cursed or whatever the hell Ethan called it, it was temporary.

As he continues his pathetic attempts at trying to hit Mercer, the damn bastard still has a grin on his face, enjoying the attempt to hit him. Ethan growls and aims for a right, but Alex just deflects it, before grabbing Ethan and sends a knee to the gut. Ethan coughed saliva as he doubled over, feeling the tremendous force behind the kick had probably fractured some of his ribs.

Alex smirks at this, and that smirk becomes wider as he sees struggling on his feet, sending him a glare while clutching his torso.

"You should be glad. I basically made you into a god, Ethan." Alex said as he turned away.

"Fuck you, you bastard…." Ethan groaned as he gasped in pain. He felt both emotionally and psychologically deprived of energy. He found himself repeating his thoughts that Alex is lying and that he wasn't infected. Trying to find any sort of comfort in this nightmare.

Lie to himself

Hallucinations

Just ANYTHING for him to try to convince himself that this wasn't real and it was all a bad dream. When he wakes up, he is with his wife and child, on their bed, reading Rose a bedtime story.

Ethan desperately wants what he is experiencing is none other than his mind playing sick tricks on him. That he wasn't some kind of...bioterrorist….

But it wasn't. No matter how hard he tried to. Ethan can-and wants to- try to keep telling himself that he wasn't infected, but somewhere, in both mind and heart, he knew that he wasn't hallucinating. He knew that this was all real, and that he IS infected. The memories, the flashes of the fights and injuries that he had taken back at Louisiana were too real not to be.

Ethan had never felt so lost before in his life. He is afraid. Afraid that he would turn out to be like Alex.

"You should quit while you're ahead." Alex said. "Instead of going against it, think of it, Ethan. You are probably one of the last infected with the Mercer virus. While the world has thought that it died, you can become so much more than a pathetic bag of flesh that others who wouldn't think twice on killing you. You can climb up the food chain, become stronger than any man, Evolve, or viruses that this god forsaken life can produce. Once prey, becomes the predator. Becomes king-no...Becomes more than just a god. You can be life and death in it of itself." Alex finishes as he looks at Ethan straight in the eye.

BUt before he can utter a word, Alex felt Ethan SPAT on his face as the blonde sent him a glare.

"I would rather die than become your fucking puppet." Ethan said, remembering back when he saw his memories. He didn't just see his, but Alex's memories as well. How he turned, the truth, his mission to enslave the human race by infecting them. Everything. To say that Ethan was disgusted and horrified by Alex's actions, and he would see Alex burn. But even if he hated him, Ethan somewhat got Alex's point. Humanity is shitty, cruel, hypocritical, and unforgiving. He can understand why he lost hope of humanity and wanted to infect them.

But even if that was the case, Ethan doesn't want any part of it, nor any of the bat-shit ideology that this psycho is promising.

Alex growls before shifting his biomass into his arm and forcefully grabs Ethan by the throat and locks him into a death grip.

Ethan quickly choked by the amount of pressure that was crushing down his windpipe. His hands grip the arm, hoping that it provides some ease, but it doesn't. His legs flail frantically, while his vision slowly, but surely, turns black.

'I suggest your next words carefully, Winters..." Alex growled in fury. Having enough cat-and-mouse games with the blonde. "You're lucky that if I had any control of the virus right now I would have taken over this body and left. But I can't"

"T-then W-why didn't y-y-you….?" Ethan managed to say as he struggles to keep his vision alive.

Alex snarled at this as he remembered their little...house guest in the other room. Alex growled as he remembered that bitch, Eveline, had managed to infect Ethan with the mold at the same time he infected him with the Blacklight.

Both of them fought for control during Ethan's time three years ago. But with Alex being weakened by years of experimentation and his newly reformed body, which was blown off at that time. They were evenly matched and had to counter each other. Forcing Ethan to have BOTH infections in his body.

Alex was furious at this as he tried multiple ways to get out and take control, but he couldn't. Somehow, Evelyne had managed to prevent him from consuming Ethan's entire body completely.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to enjoy torturing that little bitch." Alex thought as he would relish Eveline's screams of agony for locking him up. But first….

"You should be lucky that there is something in your DNA that is special and is resilient to the virus's consumption. If it is not for that, then you can say goodbye to your daughter and hello to your 'wife'." Alex lied to the blonde man. He couldn't afford Ethan finding out the rest and that would place a huge blow on his plans.

"But in time...You will come around. And you WILL embrace your virus. It's just a matter of time." Alex said before walking over the edge of the building and placing Ethan on the edge. Said man felt his entire body starting to go limp as he looked at Alex one last time.

"See you soon." And with that, he let go of his grip. Letting Ethan fall from the building as he was unable to scream when plummeting to the abyss.

Back at The Real World

Ethan suddenly gasps as he shoots up from whatever he is laying on. Cold beads of sweat followed by his ragged and heavy breathing. He stared at nothing for a few moments trying to control himself.

Once he did, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked around the area and saw no signs of the beast form of Josiah and was only left with a broken boulder, a large blood stain on the snow, and finally Ethan's clothing being torn to shreds. Ethan turned to look at his condition and saw that there wasn't a scratch on him. His clothes are ruined, but the wounds are not present at all.

Then his thoughts went back to his little meet and greet with Mercer and the Blacklight virus. Ethan can only close his eyes as his mind gives him flashes from the fight from earlier as he looks at his arm. The arm was the same arm that Zoe stapled back together back then. Ethan removes his coat and hoodie, leaving him with a ruined gray shirt on. His eyes scanned his arm until he saw the scar that was left after it got treated properly. Ethan can see the stapled marks and the outline around the arm as he feels the phantom pain of it being cut off. Making him shiver at the memory.

Just then, Ethan saw several strands of biomass come out from his flesh and went back into it like a bunch of worms on a decaying corpse. Ethan can just look at it with defective eyes as he releases a hallowed sigh.

He was infected. And there's nothing he can do about it.

God. When has his life got fucked up?

The Baker's were hell in it of itself, but finding out that he had the Blacklight virus? The same virus that infected all of New York and its people. Killed dozens of souls. How can you cope with something like that, huh?

Ethan can only think how Mia would think of this if she were here. Or the matter of fact, Rose.

"Rose…" Ethan voices out as he realizes his little girl. How can he face his little girl now knowing his condition? Better yet, even if he DID find her then how can he keep her from harm. From what he saw in Alex's memories, the BSAA and Blackwatch are hunting down the remaining Blacklight infected. Well, the BSAA already got a hold of it, via him, but didn't take any action until Chris and his team stormed into their house.

Ethan knew that what he has, or WHAT he is, would place Rose in danger. Blackwatch is ruthless as they come, and the BSAA is out of the option since they have captured and experimented on the virus long before teaming-up with Blue Umbrella.

"No. No, I can't think of that right now." Ethan said as he realized that he needs to stop worrying about the 'what If's' and focus on finding his daughter. "I need to find Rose, make sure that she is safe, and then I can worry about the BSAA and Blackwatch." Ethan said as he needs to stop wallowing in self pity that will get him nowhere at this. He needs to find his daughter no matter what.

Infected or not, he is still the same Ethan Winters. And he will be damned if he is going to give up his daughter that easily.

So with that new found conviction, Ethan got up from the snow-covered ground and realized that his clothes were messed up.

"Great…" Ethan muttered in annoyance. Then suddenly, he felt the biomass come out from his body, spreading all over him, coating him with tendrils, making the blonde man confused and shocked. The process was fast and painless until the biomass had resided back and left Ethan to look at himself with astonishment.

Gone where his previous outfit now clothes with a pair of dark blue jeans, dark brown leather business shoes, a white button-up shirt with a loose long neck-tie, and finally a black slim double-breasted peacoat that was opened and went up to mid-length. Ethan was shocked at the brand new clothing that he had got from the biomass and was even more shocked that despite the attire not meant for winter conditions, he doesn't feel like he was about to freeze to death whatsoever.

"Damn…" Ethan muttered in astonishment and noticed that the coat seems a bit more organic-like than it just being regular fabric. But nonetheless, he was somewhat grateful that the equipment that he had before arriving is still there and so does the extra ammunition. Ethan picks up his knife before noticing his pistol was on the ground just a few metres away from where he is.

This caused him to sigh again and pick it up. He inspects it to make sure that it wasn't damaged by the fall or any debris that managed to go into the mechanism. He nods when he is finished as he then looks at the village below.

In time… You will come around…..

Mercer's words ring through his head, making him growled. But knew that it was too late to argue. But Ethan knew one thing;

Is that he will NEVER become anything like Mercer.

So with that thought, he set his sights on the village and went down the mountain.

A/N: And that is it for this chapter everyone! I hope you guys like this chapter, and this one gave me a particular headache since I was having a bit of trouble on how Ethan and Mercer's interaction would go and Ethan finding out about being infected. But I managed to pull through.

But anyways, if you have any criticism at all regarding the chapter then feel free to place it for me to see. But I will only see it if it is respectful, straight to the point, and NOT offensive in any way whatsoever.

Ok so that is it for this chapter, PEACE!