Chapter 5 In the End

Tryin' to hold on, didn't even know
I wasted it all just to watch you go
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be
A memory of a time when I tried so hard

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end it doesn't even matter- In the End, Linkin Park

Lucy opened the door of the small house in the suburban area. The door on the right went into the garage. The door the left to the kitchen.

"Alright. I'll go grab the keys to the gun safe." Lucy said. " I need you to keep an eye out in case somebody comes home. Oh, and grab some food. We'll probably need it. "

"Okay." She nodded.

Lucy went upstairs. This bothered Natalia. But Barry was still away. Besides she had no real proof that there was a monster. But if there wasn't, what killed Ashley? And why was she feeling like she forgot something important in all of this. She decided to look around the house for supplies for this trip. She had been in a dangerous place before. Lucy knew nothing of monsters or how to escape them. She couldn't let her friend go alone.

She grabbed some food from the fridge and the cupboards like Lucy had said. She hoped she would never meet Lucy's mom, because this felt a lot like stealing. She then went to search for other useful items. Rope might come in handy. Medicine and bandages. Maybe a tent to sleep in. Lucy was taking some time upstairs. Natalia went to check the garage to see if she could find some rope. There was a curtain and some boxes in front of it. She knocked one box over by accident but didn't hear anything break. It had moved the curtain. She peeked inside. There was a desk set up and a panel with tiny screens.

"No way" she recognized what it was.

She could see Lucy in a room searching from something in one of the screens.

"Holy shit. Lucy never told me her house had cameras all over." Natalia felt panic.

"Maybe Lucy doesn't know about the cameras." The thought occurred. "She wouldn't be doing something like this if she knew."

Natalia figures she could turn them off. It was a basic system. They recorded everything into a disk. She took the disk out.

"Now nobody will know. "

"Okay, I found the keys." Lucy said coming down the stairs. "What are you doing back there?"

"Looking for rope .It might be useful."

"Good idea. We could set a trap for it. Also we should dress up. I gets cold at night. And flashlights."

"Medical supplies." Natalia added.

"Right. I should probably get a bag for all the stuff. "

They gathered up the stuff and went into Lucy's room. It looked much like the log house by the school. A mess. Posters on the walls, clothes on the floor. Nothing like Natalia's neat little room. She put on Lucy's jacket over her Nirvana t-shirt. Lucy jammed all the items into a large duffle bag.

She began changing out of her clothes. She was thin, little taller than Natalia. She wore a black bra. Natalia caught a glimpse of her exposed body in the mirror. A strange shudder ran though her body. She wanted to feel the skin beneath her fingers. Face burning red, hear beating fast.

"What is wrong with me?" she thought.

"Alex?" Lucy was fully dressed now.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she managed." Just nervous I guess."

"Let's go."

They left the room. Natalia carried the duffle bag. Lucy went downstairs. Opened a door under the stairs. It wasn't easy to spot, a kind of secret door. Inside was a safe. Lucy unlocked it. There was a shotgun and a pistol.

"Do you know how to use it?" Natalia asked.

"Yeah, he might be a douche bag but at least he taught me how to shoot." Lucy said.

Natalia wasn't sure. She did know how to shoot. Barry never taught her. Why would he? But somehow when looking at the pistol she felt confident.

"I'll take that." She said.

"You know how to use it?"

It was heavy in her hand. Something felt like it was stuck in her throat. There was a sound of a gunshot. Her first impulse was to put it to her head. A body hits the floor. Her hand shakes for a moment. She didn't fire. She didn't fall. It was someone else.

"Yeah. I can use it." She says after a while of looking at it.

They leave the house through the back door. Lucy lifts a board in the fence and goes through. Natalia tosses the bag over the fence than squeezes through. The forest is just down the slope. They slide down. Lucy had the shotgun on her back. Natalia feels the pistol in her pocket. A feeling of unease creeps into her.

They are in the forest. Out of sight. The phone still had signal. She texts Kathy, that she will be studying at a friend's place. Asks if she can stay over.

"So how do we find that thing?" Lucy asks

"I don't know. "Natalia says. "We know it comes out at night or in the evening. It likes dark places. And It alternates between here, the other town and the one on the other side of the mountains. That's why people have been disappearing in several places, not just here."

"That is at least a thousand miles to cover." Lucy says "that thing is fast."

"It's also big like a tree. And white. In the dark that should stand out." Natalia says looking around.

They walk and keep walking. Everything looks the same. Trees in all directions. There is still no reply from Kathy. The signal has dropped down to two bars.

"Damn. We haven't walked that far but the signal is already almost gone. "

"Yeah, it's these woods." Lucy said. "Nobody built any towers cuz getting to them for maintenance would be impossible."

"Aren't you scared? It's a monster after all" Natalia asks.

"Yeah I'm scared but I'm also angry. That thing killed Ashley."

Natalia wasn't scared of a monster. She was scared of Lucy dying. Maybe a little scared that Barry and Kathy would get mad at her. But maybe they would understand. She was trying to help a friend. A friend who just lost a friend.

It had been a few hours since they left town. The phone connection was at zero. Natalia felt the unease lift. Perhaps they were not going to find anything. Perhaps it will take time. Maybe somebody else will see the creature and then their story will be believed.

"Hey, Alex. Let's stop" Lucy sat down on a log.

"Lu," she noticed that Lucy looked tired." You said you were there in Terragrigia. What was it like?"

"I was three so I don't remember much. My parents died. Saw them get crushed by the B.O.W."

"Holy shit. That's terrible!"

"Yeah. But got to live with some really nice people now."

"I lost my dad around the time I met Ashley. He was driving and then this truck came out and he didn't see dad. And." She bowed her head.

"I'm sorry." Natalia said.

"I guess were similar you and me." Lucy said. "Ash had been there for me when I lost dad. Now she's gone too."

Lucy wiped the tears forming in her eyes.

Natalia wanted to say she was there for her now but the words wouldn't come out. She sat down next to Lucy. It was starting to get dark.

"We should be on guard. " Was all she could say." That thing hunts at night."

Lucy got up and took out her flashlight.

"Yeah. It's probably not a good time to reminisce about the past. I hope we find that bastard fast so he can pay for what he did."

"What if we can't find it?" Natalia asked.

"It's a monster. So it will probably find us first." Lucy said.

The thought of something hunting them in the dark didn't appeal to her at all. The darker it got the more at ease she felt. It was strange. There was that strange buzzing in her head again. Like she was about to remember something important but she just couldn't.

"Are you alright?" Lucy saw her clutching her head.

"I'm fine. I just feel like I forgot something and I can't remember what."

"Well, if you forgot it than it probably wasn't important."

"I hope so." She said." Because I have a strange feeling it is somehow all connected to this."

Lucy gave her a strange look.

" It's just a feeling."

A branch cracks and both freeze. Natalia turns off her flashlight. Lucy follows her lead.

"What was that?" Lucy whispers.

"I don't know." Natalia says.

Eyes looks around, search for something white. All she can see is darkness. Moments pass and it's silent.

"May it was a deer or something." Lucy sighs.

They turn the lights back on. Keep walking. Natalia has a feeling that something is following them. She stays silent. Stops to listen. Turns off the light periodically. Lucy catches on.

"Hey, what's up?" he voice is low.

"We are being followed." Natalia says.

"Holly shit." Lucy seems a lot more scared now. "do you think it's the thing?"

"I don't know." She says looking around. " I don't see anything white. But it could be staying close to the ground."

Lucy seems to snap out of her fear. She takes the shot gun from her shoulder.

"Hey you!" She screams." Yeah, you! You ugly motherfucker! Come out her so I can shoot you."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Natalia says." Please don't."

But Lucy doesn't listen. She aims into the darkness and shoots. The shot echoes loudly in the silence.

"We should go. Whoever was following us probably heard that."

"So what. I'm not scared. They should be scared of us! We got a gun! Nobody's gonna mess with us!"

"You don't understand." Natalia tried to explain. "What I heard. It was from more than one direction."

"What do you mean?"

"There's more than one."

Lucy's face turned white.

"You could have said so earlier!"

"I tried but you wouldn't listen. I've been in situations like this before. I've seen what happens to people when they give into fear and act like you just did. They die." He voice was merely a whisper.

"We have to run." Lucy said.

"Where?" Natalia asked.

"Away from here."

Lucy took off running. With her flashlight off, Natalia could barely see her. She stumbled upon a tree root and fell. Lucy was nowhere in sight. Branches cracked close to where she was. There was a strong wind moving the tops of trees. She got up and fell again. The ground was uneven, full of roots and it was going uphill. Something grabbed her and she almost screamed.

"Hey. It's me. I think there is some kind of building up ahead." Lucy whispered.

"what?" Another powerful buzz began in her head. It hurt so badly.

She could see flashes of a building. Tall concrete walls. Pipes on the outside. Something on the side. Red and white. Natalia clutched her head, rolling on the ground and trying not to scream from the pain. Lucy was panicking beside her.

The loud sound of a helicopter could be heard. And bright beam of light fell on them and a group of people with guns and flashlights surrounded them. They wore protective gear that covered their faces. Natalia could barely comprehend what was happening, caught between two visons. The present and the past. Lucy hit one of the men with her gun.

"Leave her alone!. What are you doing!."

One grabbed her from behind and disarmed her.

"Let go of me, you, gorilla!" she kicked back against the man holding her.

"Alex! Don't you touch her.!"

The man knocked her out. Natalia got over her headache but it was too late. She saw Lucy being carried on the man's shoulder. Another one got her up from the ground and handcuffed her. They were taken up to the helicopter. The man carried her on his shoulder up the ladder. It was only when he took of his mask that she recognized him.

"This isn't what it looks like!" she swore, it was the truth.

The room was small. There was a table and two chairs. Barry and Claire were in the room with her. There were others outside. She had tried to explain what happened but they didn't seem to listen.

"You were lying to us this whole time!" Barry said in disbelief.

Natalia said nothing.

"I came as soon as I could" Dr. Haupman entered the room. "So, tell me what happened last night?"

She sighed, starting once again from the beginning.

"She called you Alex" Claire said. "Chris heard it too. "

"It just, sort of slipped out." Natalia said. "I don't know why I said it. But then it just stuck."

"And this thing about a monster, really?!" Barry said, still furious.

"But it's true. " Natalia said. " It killed Ashley. Lucy recognized her body!" Natalia was getting more and more frustrated. " I wasn't trying to escape. I'm still me."

"You and your friend were looking for this Ashley girl? " The doctor asked.

"Yeah,I just wanted to help Lucy find her friend."

"Interesting." The doctor said. " And you said her name was Ashley Davis."

"Yes. Her parents are both doctors. And Lucy recognized her as the body they found the quarry yesterday. "

"Very interesting." The doctor said. " I would like to show her something. Would that be alright?"

They took her to a room with a television. There was a recap of the news report on. It was about last night. Explaining why the quiet suburban area was awoken to the sounds of a helicopter flying in the middle of the night. Stating that it was a search and rescue operation for two missing teenagers. Then later the reporter went on talking about Lucy and her claims that Ashley Davis the daughter of the two local doctors was missing and then reported dead by the same girl. It then showed the Davis family. Both of them. Upon seeing the elderly looking woman with round glasses and greying auburn hair Natalia felt her head begin to buzz again.

"Our daughter was never missing" Said Mrs. Davis. "She was on holiday with us in Hawaii. And she had caught a fever, that is why she has been missing school."

"As for this girl that keeps insisting on our daughter being dead. " Said Mr. Davis." Ashley can speak for herself."

A girl that looked exactly like the photo came on screen.

"I would like to make it very clear. I don't know this person." She said. " I don't know what I've done to deserve such cruelty from someone I've never met. Please just leave me and my family alone."

Dr. Haupman turned off the television.

"As you see. Miss Davis is alive and well. And she doesn't seem to know your friend. Which makes that story of yours a little difficult to believe"

"No. it can't be." Natalia was in utter shock." Did Lucy lie to me this whole time?"

"What is going one here, doctor?" Barry asked. "Lying, missing school, and making up stories like this. It's not like her at all."

"I have a theory." Said Dr. Haupman" Because of the viruses in her body, Natalia is only now beginning to mature. This is a difficult process. It is putting stress on her body and it may be what is making her unstable. More susceptible to influence. She might have been under influence of Alex Wesker and not know it."

"Is there anything we can do to stop it?" Barry was looking very concerned.

"With your permission I would like to try hypnosis to suppress Wesker's influence on her consciousness."

"Do whatever you have to, doctor." Barry said. "I'm not losing her to that woman."

"Then I suggest we begin immediately."

Natalia sat in the back of the car. Nobody would believe her. Even she began to doubt herself. Lucy had lied to her. The only friend she thought she had. And now Barry was mad at her. Claire and even her brother got involved. Everybody thought she tried to escape. They are treating her like a criminal now. Escorting her with armed guards. She wanted to scream, She wanted to make them see how wrong they were but instead she sat silently in the car.

I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end it doesn't even matter