Disclaimer: I do not own any Resident Evil characters or Resident Evil terms but I do own anything else that is original, Kronos virus, everything about the project and much more coming in the next chps.
Chapter Seven: Difficult Choices
31 May 2006, 11:44 A.M.
Level C, Theseus Research Facility
SCREAMS ripped through the hallways like the demented chorus of tortured souls in Dante's Inferno. The panicked staff ran amok, flooding into the stairways for escape. Not just by the beeping emergency warning but by the freed Erinyes darting about like snakes.
One such elegant fury managed to slither into one staircase and climbed its way up.
An unlucky scientist huddled back in terror as it launched at him and with its pecked teeth digging right into his face.
What made it worse was its twirling body blocking the people's only way to the next floor.
"Wait, no!" one of them cried out as the very door soon closed on them.
Shut by a group of security officers.
The door was quickly barred from the other side.
"There are still people down there!" one officer yelled.
"No choice! We can't let the infected reach to the upper floors!" his second-in-command – after their team captain was easily separated and decapitated – uttered. He took up the nozzle of his equipped flamethrower, pointed directly at a pack of wandering Shades.
And pulled the lever.
FFFFFFSSSSSSSOOORR!
"Die, you fucking bastards!"
The hot red waves swept across the floor, disintegrating the minor enemies.
"Hurry! We need to secure the other exits at the east!"
"GAARGH!"
Behind their backs, their third teammate was suddenly rammed aside by something too fast for any eyes to see. Just as they turned to the shriek, they helplessly watched the officer be maimed and ripped apart by giant claws.
"Zander!" The second-in-command hollered.
Only in a fraction of a second, did he see another one of those leapers around a corner.
Bought BOWs paid by HELIX's finances to combat against the other Kronos-infused specimens they contained within the facility. It was for HELIX's amusement to test against Umbrella's praised creation and see it be easily crushed by their own.
Red reptilian eyes of what was considered giant armoured lizards with crooked teeth glanced at the officer.
Hunters.
There was no chance for the two remaining officers the moment the Hunter leapt onto the flamethrower wielder, one claw gibed into the gas canister.
Pssssst!
"Run-" It was futile for him to save his other partner.
BOOOM!
In a small radius, the explosion easily engulfed the two officers and specimens, spreading their burning guts across the walls.
More and more fugitive monsters were filling through the halls. It couldn't be stopped. The moment the power failure occurred, the specimens from the lower levels were spreading further into the upper levels like water rushing past a broken dam. No doors to keep them, no AI system to detain them.
Just like Rome, the Theseus Research Facility was falling from within.
"How?" Harris wailed at the disorder around him. "There ain't no way there can be another outbreak!" He glared furiously at the man responsible.
Why was everything falling that easily? Unless GAIAN-
"What?" Wesker opened up his arms, as if showing them cleaned of the situation. Of the bloodshed. "Did you and McLenlan believe my intention was the Kronos Virus all along? Well, you are correct."
"You couldn't. You haven't gone down for it!"
"You misunderstand. I won't be taking the virus so soon. Not just yet anyway. I just thought of killing two birds with one stone at least."
Harris could feel himself freeze. "What?"
"The orders have been made clear. Take the Kronos Virus and exterminate all witnesses, HELIX says. And I've been a little disappointed at McLenlan's decision to delay its release with more testing." Wesker stretched up his arms like a cruel version of the Messiah welcoming down Judgement Day. "So why not do the test myself on this whole island?"
Harris stared mortified, his eyes stretching as wide as they could go.
"N-No fucking way," Steve fretfully gasped.
"Of course, I'm changing the plans a little. It's business. I have a better client than HELIX. This company has pretty much run its course for my own benefits right to the end."
Harris couldn't believe his ears. This very fiend who waltzed into the company with a trump card ten years ago was now cutting off all ties as easy as butter. It had been expected that he would follow HELIX's orders to erase all evidence. But no one foresaw his own goals hiding underneath those schemes.
From the start, all of them were nothing but scapegoats. Everything was now collateral damage.
"I must give all of you credit for a job well done, however. We couldn't have gotten this far without everyone's cooperation. These last ten years have been memorable to me. So, I'm giving everyone the opportunity, instead of a quick disposal. To see just how long you try to survive against your own creations."
Haris grounded his teeth harder. Enough to feel sand. He then fastened up his gun, aimed at the man's temple.
"You bastard," he growled. One shot should suffice. Hard for anyone to survive over a million voltage to the head.
Wesker chuckled softly. "McLenlan chose the right people. Awfully cocky of you to try and stop me though."
The two HCF guards held tight their assault rifles at him, just waiting for the command. Harris knew the outcome would come out bloody. He'd be riddled with holes from top to bottom.
"A man of science against men above God. This will be an interesting show."
Harris stood his ground. This time he wasn't going to give Wesker the satisfaction of a scared little bird under the crushing hand of a bigger foe.
"This is actually a good opportunity for Burnside to test his skills on a helpless civilian. That was the primary objective after all," Wesker gloated.
Steve could feel his legs go weak, his hands shaking. He wheeled back to Harris with a panicked expression.
Harris remained unmoved. Anytime, he could have darted back into the lift.
But like hell was he abandoning the kiddo. Not with this madman.
That was the idea, wasn't it? Harris Cooper putting his life first and giving Steve the idea that he wasn't important. If the Texan had the chance, he'd put a black-eye past those sunglasses.
Already, however, the moment he left the surveillance room was when he already knew his life was forfeited. His wife would be furious at his recklessness, seeing him like this.
But that was just him being him. He couldn't change that.
"We've never really put him in a real-life situation before, have we? Well, what better time to put that to the test," Wesker explained. "Or you can simply let us go. There's really no point in stopping me. The destruction has already started."
Despite the roaring alarms, Harris didn't budge.
Fear was something he had gotten used to within the while and red walls. Experience had worn him down but also toughened him up. Even when he was just a kid who used his fists more than his smarts, he had always kept a cool head ahead of the game.
In the environment of Cape Inacio, once you lose that, you lose more than just your head.
His hands on the taser gun, Harris carefully turned up the dial without anyone noticing. At the maximum limit - a voltage range enough to kill a released specimen.
Wesker was right: he couldn't kill him and he could as well have just run to the lift.
So he might as well take the bastard down with him in this raging blaze.
Harris fired.
Wesker's smirk flattened once he realized the shot was missed. Deliberately. To his right and onwards.
He heard the frying of circuits with the burning whiff of copper stinging his nostrils.
He heard the pilot aboard the black helicopter curse and flip at the switches again as the rotor blades wheezed down.
"It was a gamble."
Behind those shades, he glanced at the Texan with surprised eyes.
"But I always wondered if ten million volts could take down that silly piece of junk of yours," Harris gloated. "That new aircraft tech are so breakable these days."
The two guards wavered their rifles down, their heads to the downed helicopter. Their only way out. "Shit! Shit!"
Steve broke out a smile. A ray of hope. Alright, now they needed to just make a break for the lift-
But one look at Harris told him to stay put, the Texan's glee washing away.
Wesker wasn't much unmoved. It was a surprise to him: a little bug able to pull off a stunt like a stone to Goliath's head.
This was a minor flaw. Nothing to worry about.
"I admire your loyalty to McLenlan. But I really do wonder how you will get out of this, Mr. Cooper."
Harris quickly dug into his pocket for the next taser clip, one foot already back.
"Especially when you have no more exits."
It was a strange comment. Harris made the dire mistake of hesitating. Why-
"Harris! Behind you!"
The warning drove him to look back. At the corner of his eyes, he made out another person behind him. Another HCF soldier?
No, this time a woman. A stranger. He didn't know the face. Which meant she was in cohorts with Wesker.
No choice but to put aside his good manners.
He fired a fist.
To his amazement, he felt his rolled-up hand be pushed to the side. Then suddenly, the air left his lungs by a punch at the diaphragm.
Broken rib. Not good.
Of course, he was dealing with a professional.
The whole world spun over him, his legs immediately chopped down by a swinging kick. He found himself on his back.
Then came a cracking sound.
It was a moment for the firing pain to register but he soon realised his arm was broken.
"Ah-AAARGH! AAAAARRGH!"
"Harris!"
"Good of you to finally join us, Giannino."
Harris glanced up for a better look at his opponent, partly blocked by the sight of a silencer. Short, richly-dyed auburn hair and with well-put make-up, those devious amber eyes mocked him for being such an easy target. The kind that battered thick eyelashes alluringly only to stick a knife clean through the jugular. Proficient clothes of a hitwoman, sleek and easy to move with little wind-drag and well-patched to hide her tools. The only thing that brought out her inner persona were the expensive boots she wore.
In a humiliating way, her hips lassoed on him tight. A woman who knew how to have fun at work.
"A tough cookie, we have here," A heavy Italian accent smoked from her deep red lips. "Rough around the edges but for a redneck...I admit, he's handsome."
"Harris Cooper. Meet Ivory Giannino. Hired hand."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cooper. Hm, would have been nicer if we had met under better terms."
Harris struggled as much until he could feel the hot barrel draw across his lightly-shaved cheek. He could read the words right out of those seductive eyes. Be a good boy and stay still. Or else he'd eat lead.
"Why are you still hesitating?"
Steve wheeled back to Wesker, the irritating smirk still at him.
"There's no turning back, Burnside. This place is falling apart. By now, the specimens have reached the upper floors. I'm sure you know the result."
Flashes in his head deepened his anxiety. His torment.
It was happening all over again. Just like Rockfort.
In his terrified state, he almost imagined Doc's mangled body across the floor. Or worse...
Steve bit his lips at an old memory. No, no! He didn't want Iria to become that! He didn't want to find her come like that for him to shoot her!
No! he barked at himself. Doc will be alright! There's no way she'll die that easily!
But Hannah... Randy...
Steve could feel himself being torn from inside.
"You have two choices here. Come with me or try to help them. But what have these people done for you?"
Shut up! Shut up!
"Everyone inside this facility are afraid of you. I'm pretty sure McLenlan and her people simply dress it up so that it's easier on you," Wesker pointed. "And the islanders outside, what would they do if they knew the real you?"
The one thing Steve was scared: the truth. He hid the truth underneath a disguise of a human. And with everything falling, he knew the likelihood of exposing his other self was very much high.
And that slowly ate more into his fear.
Leaving would be better. No one had to see this ugly side. Not Hannah or Randy. Not anyone.
But would he abandon them out of selfish terror?
Everyone was going to die.
"What do you expect will happen? They'll be happy you saved them? They'll see a monster, not a person, Burnside. They see differently than we do. You are far better than them. You are not them. You owe nothing to them."
He hated that Wesker was right. He hated it so much.
But...everyone...
"Come now. Don't you want to see your Claire again?"
And hearing that name finally gave the winning streak.
Yes.
Yes, he wanted to see her.
That was the main reason.
Iria and everyone had been pushing him to that goal.
If he backed down, it would have been all for nothing.
"That's your only reason for taking my offer, Burnside," Wesker murmured.
Fuck him. It wasn't fair. Why was everything spiralling out of control? Out of his hands and again! ?
"So isn't she a far important person to you than these people? Well then, why don't we see her again, Burnside?"
"Shut up about your damn mind games!"
The strong Texan accent broke through the tension inside Steve's head, his eyes drawing away from Wesker to Harris.
"You don't know hell about him!" Harris growled. "You don't know anyone of us! And you don't know anything about this Claire person! So put all your bull up your ass, you damn snake!"
For once, Steve was calm. All because of a point Harris said.
Wesker had only met Claire once.
He claimed to have met her.
But he didn't know her as well as Steve did.
He was just hanging an invisible carrot in front of his nose just to get him to follow hopelessly.
"This one has a bit of fight left," the assassin hummed. "A lot better than that friend of yours."
The Texan's scowl was dismantled down.
"What?" His voice quivered.
"Oh," she sang. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But your friend was in the way." She shrugged her shoulders at the stunned Texan.
Harris was at a loss for words.
Steve nearly fell back. "K-Kail..."
"It had to be done. Dear should have followed after you instead of sticking her nose further in where it shouldn't belong."
Kailey...was still in the surveillance room.
What had he done?
Harris had left Kailey alone. His partner. His backup just as he was hers.
Rage boiled up inside of him, replacing the pain. "You..."
"Why such a long face? If anything, she left painlessly and quietly."
Right then, Harris wanted vengeance. If he could move again, he'd greatly put a hole in that smug face of hers.
If only he could move.
"We should hurry this on, Giannino. Clock's ticking," Wesker ordered and the huffing sound of the rotor blades coming back to life stretched his smile even wider. "Well, Cooper. This was entertaining while it lasted. But this is goodbye." The man in black turned to Steve. "Shall we get going then?"
Steve stared down at the open hand towards him.
He didn't need to hesitate any longer. He knew his answer well enough.
Fuck his offer.
But there was still a couple of matters to attend to. Saving Harris. Getting them off the dock level before they'd be filled with bullets by the two thugs.
If Doc was here, she'd tell him to find another way.
Do what you possibly can. Not what you impossibly must.
So Steve did just that.
Time seemed to slow down for him as the monster side of his mind stepped forth. Every sluggish action was registering in his head. The barrel was drawing millimetres closer to Harris's head. Wesker stayed stiff as a tree but the arching demiseconds was slowly tilting his smirk downwards.
He was starting to notice the change of mind. But Steve didn't care.
Brute force it, Harris would say.
The guard was near his left, none the wiser. Swiftly, Steve lunged for the collar. The soldier, despite having the t-virus run through his veins, could barely detect Steve's approach.
Steve flung him easily.
Giannino quickly glanced up to see the flying body at her but a hand wrapped around the gun.
Harris had stopped her from dodging.
It was a full blow. She could feel herself be lifted off her feet, only to feel the ground hit below her hard and the dizzied man still on top of her.
The other soldier was already pointing his gun at Steve. Quickly, the monster side took over - one hand gripped the barrel and outrageously lifted it up before the trigger was pulled.
Rattle, rattle, rattle went the assault as the heated metal burned his skin. But Steve mentally smacked away the pain. This was an opening and with his free hand, he too grabbed the guard by the collar.
This time throwing the HCF thug at Wesker.
Although the inhuman man in black easily dodged the flying man, Steve was already heading to the lift. On the way, Steve hurriedly picked Harris, slinging his good arm over the shoulder.
BANG! BANG!
He kept going. Both dove right into the opened lift, flat on the cold tiles. With no time wasting, Steve literally kicked at the buttons and the doors closed, shielding the bullets streaming at them.
Out of all possibilities, the two managed to escape.
How unfortunate, Wesker thought. But they were only sinking into down back to more deadends.
Still, he was disappointed at Burnside's choice. "Should have kept a tighter leash on him."
No. McLenlan would have interfered. And already, the deal was made. If he did anything to anger her, then these recent years would have certainly been different. Slower on the development of the Kronos Virus.
He eventually smiled. It was not a total loss. He'd still have his best fighter come back to him. That redhead would have to learn about cruelty upfront.
In fact, this was for the better.
"Well, then. Let's see how well you fair in this test, Burnside."
The burning of this isolated tropical world was the best training ground for the boy.
"Shit, are you ok, Harris?"
Of course, he wasn't ok, Steve yelled at himself. He just got his butt whooped by that crazy gunwoman!
What should he do, the question rang many times in his head. Broken arm - um, he needed a sling, right? Sure, there were more problems than the one before him like what terrors they were heading down. Still, what could he use for a sling?
"You..."
It was softened by the heavy painful breathing and the loud alarm. What? Steve neared his head closely for a better hear.
"You son of a gun! Are you mentally dysfunctional! ?"
It was the loudest he had ever heard from the Texan inside the lift. Caught him by surprise.
Then he was mad.
"Me! ?" Steve yelled. "What are you complaining about! ?"
"You could have gotten shot back there! Doesn't matter if you have superhuman speed or strength! Didn't you think they'd take you down! ?"
Oh! That was it? The Texan should be thankful of him for saving their asses!
"I didn't see you have some backup plan! What were you thinking? You went there alone! With a taser!"
Ding!
"If anything," Steve continued hollering. "You should be thanking me, Harris!"
The doors opened wide behind his back. He didn't take notice of a risen corpse standing at the entrance, blackened eyes already hawking down at him.
But Harris did.
It was out of sheer gut. Probably. To anyone, what he did would be considered stupid. Yes. Yes, it was.
But he didn't think. He acted.
He jumped forth.
BAM! BAM!
The Aussie officer bit his lower lip. The amount of slugs being eaten up by just one single Hunter was worrying him. All because of that thick scaly hide of theirs.
He reloaded the gun. Highest priority - he and his men needed to keep the monsters at bay until everyone was in the foyer area of Level A.
"Come on!" he yelled, swinging up his arm as more staff drained through the administration floor. "Hurry inside!"
The foyer area would be the ideal place for safety. He and Iria had agreed on this long ago. The place was large enough for over 7,000 people, three skips away out to freedom via the facility's transit system. Its doors into and out of the facility were heavily armoured against all sorts of damages.
No vents, no cover-ups, nothing for specimens to crawl right in except through the foyer doors.
"Sir!" A much younger lightly brown-haired man, also in blues and armoured, came out from the narrow security booth nearby. "I can't get word from Odell or any of the squads.
"Bloody hell," Kent grumbled under his breath. He did expect it. Perhaps a portion of people were still in lower floors, hiding or taking shelter in protected rooms.
Or perhaps dead.
So far he counted: only eight out of over thirty fire squads were defending the foyer. Another ten squads were outside, taking a break from their night shifts. And much to his dismay, he had just gotten word that HCF was firing at them.
So that bloody wanker, Wesker, had finally showed his true colours, huh?
Still, it was too few. That wasn't good. They were being squatted about like flies.
A part of him inside was hoping that the other squads or any remaining officer were still alive below - trying to keep calm and cool in the chaos. There were designated areas for situations like these.
Only problem was GAIAN was still offline. That had never happened in eleven years.
That was all he could do. Just be a little hopeful.
"Our priority is keeping these infected out long enough!" Kent hollered his order over the gunfire. "Don't back down, you hear!"
At once, the young officer, Norman Connor, joined to the ranks of fire and gunpowder.
Down, down went the specimens. The halls were filled with both them and fleeing staff members. Some humans tumbled down to be helplessly ripped apart by the disorienting Hunters. No signs of Erinyes yet and that was uncharacteristically alarming to see.
Only a few people had stepped in to help, against Kent's better judgement. Of course, Iria's team. But he couldn't complain. While they were not skilled military people and didn't carried anything but tasers, they were right now the best method of shepherding everyone while his men took care of the monsters.
"We're running out of bullets!" He heard another officer, Alex Trask, yell from the back.
Kent eyed about. Several more were entering the level through the fire escapes, frantically dancing their way around the monsters. Dammit, they needed more time!
"Out of the way."
Out of the circle, a man of Korean heritage paced out while he pulled out a sheathed blade. Few years younger than Kent but just as experienced as he was.
"Chee!" Norman shouted but was ignored.
In a situation like this, close combat was ideal to persevere bullets. Which however, unless one was physically and mentally trained or was on the same level as those freaks, anyone would be too insane to even consider.
Kwan Chee, however, was both of the two.
An unlucky engineer was quickly pinned down by the heavy claws of a Hunter. He watched helplessly at the rising right hand of the beast on top of him.
Kwan darted, already having drawn out his short curved sword, specially tailored to his needs. Light but just as deadly as those talons of those frog brutes.
And narrowly sliced between the thick armour plates on the side of the specimen's throat.
First glance would be that was damn lucky. Slotting the metal into the narrow gaps where the thin skin bore was nothing of luck.
"Cocky showoff," Kent scorched at his right-hand man. Again, he couldn't be picky. There was no choice but to go melee. Conserve ammo and have a few gunmen keep firing. "Make every shot count! Don't give these wankers any satisfaction!"
He pointed dead central his shotgun at another Hunter.
Bzzzzzzt!
Little electrified needles dug into the chest of one Hunter and shocked it into a dance of spazzes before dropping down.
Iria reloaded a new clip and looked cautiously about, until she spotted a running scientist shoved onto the floor.
"Come on!" Grabbing the downed man by the shoulder, she hurriedly lifted him back on his feet.
Then she spotted a Hunter lunging towards them.
Iria pushed the man forth and arched herself back at the same time. The Hunter's talons hit nothing but concrete.
But Iria didn't see the other free claw swinging at her.
She felt the wind knock out of her as she skidded across the bloodied floor.
"Iria!" She heard Zach yell somewhere.
Iria shook off the dizzy moment - no, she could not lose her composure. The Hunter was already leapfrogging towards her.
She raised up her taser gun. She couldn't miss with a running target at her.
However, in her battered fall, she must have miscalculated the time.
The Hunter, unfortunately, was already inches away from her face. Her taser gun was still at a low angle.
So this was it.
SMACK!
All of a blurry sudden, the green giant frog disappeared from her sight. Its body internally dissembled apart at contact to the wall before drooping onto the floor.
"Doc."
She glanced up to her saviour, downright amazed.
The kiddo, now in his green scaly form, was in front of her and in the nick of time in rescuing her.
For once, she had never felt so grateful for him to change his mind and stay. For once, she had never been so happy to see this silly redhead kiddo.
She could very much cry.
"Steve, Iria!"
The two peered at the waving Yves from afar. The doors to the foyer were now starting to close.
"Come on!" The Frenchman hollered. "They're shutting the foyer!"
Iria's eyes bugged out, climbing back onto her feet. "Harris and Kailey aren't here yet! Someone contact them again!"
Out of the blues, she felt the large hand grip her feeble one. It was even stranger for Steve to utter, "No!"
"They're still down there!" Iria blurted out. "We have to-"
She stopped. The heat of the battle, the screams and fire seemed to drown out in her ears.
That face... That sorrowful face the kiddo was giving...
He couldn't hide it, no matter how hard he tried. The more he tried, the more it curdled.
The grip eventually grew looser.
"Doc, Harris is..."
He wouldn't continue. He didn't want to continue. But Iria already filled in the gap.
She was partly hopeful but this wasn't her first time. Nothing would come out of hoping for a colleague, a friend to be alive.
And if Harris was gone, then so was Kailey.
Two more names added to the list of deaths... She couldn't believe it.
They were strong, the strongest she knew in her team.
How, she wondered, how were they easily taken down?
"What are you bloody hell gapping around for! ?" Kent screamed at the two from the closing entrance. "Hurry!"
Iria had only realized then that only she and Steve were the few left outside the safe zone. The monsters had dwindled but for sure, more were coming up. She could hear the growls and groans from the stairs already.
"Steve, we have to go."
He didn't budge. All he did was shake his head.
"Steve," she pleaded.
"I can't..." He buried his face in his large hands. Eyes watered. "I...I'm no different than Wesker..."
From the reaction, Iria made an assumption: he did something bad. He made a choice he regretted. But all she got wasn't straightforward enough for her to be correct.
He cast a red gaze at the foyer, at the gathered people.
The outcome was sure to be grim. He was one of the specimens after all.
"Please...leave me, Doc..."
Then she furrowed her eyebrows angrily.
BAM!
"Ugh! Hey!" he hissed. "You know that hurts!"
She hit him with the hilt of her taser gun. Again.
But those angry hazel eyes jostled him back as if he, back to his childhood, was being scolded.
"I am not leaving you, you hear me?"
Again, that stubbornness she had. Steve should have expected she would do that.
"If I have to go through this hell again, then so be it. But I am not leaving you behind!" She then took the liberty to try and get a 400-pound monster back off weak knees by pushing at his back like something from a cartoon. "Whatever you did, Harris will never forsake you for your choice, understand? You did what was right! And I know Harris as well as you do, Steve. The only thing he'd be pissed off is if you run away from that choice! You owe him for living!"
Steve tightened his fists anguishly, being reminded on the spot of the two favours.
"You aren't the only one burdened, Steve Burnside," Iria murmured, ceasing her shoves. "We all make difficult choices."
He stared at her, eye to eye. There were a lot of skeletons in the closet that Iria wouldn't talk. Not just to him but to everyone.
She had the selfish idea that the burdens were hers alone.
Some too personal.
Some too deep and painful.
All he had were pieces here and there from chit-chat by others.
But one look took him she could relate. She had made difficult choices, a woman in her position had uncleaned hands and was ripped apart by her own conscience.
She probably had dropped down like a kid crying over her scraped knees, just as he did. But instead of continuing the sobs, she pushed back up and kept on going. Like a mad bull in Spain.
"So you're not alone on this."
That one sentence was all it took him to get his head back in the game. Yeah, there was no point in regretting what was done.
He has been doing a shitty job lately. Letting himself get so confused at the decisions. How stupid of him.
Harris would have punch him hard, alright.
"You heard the lady."
SLASH!
"No one is leaving you."
Stabbed at the right of another frog beast launching in midair, the Korean swordsman managed to tear wider its soft mouth. He shot it further away from the downed duo with a kick to the stomach before turning his attention to them.
"There's no point in having regrets," Kwan muttered to the redhead monster. "Haven't you learned nothing at all from your time here?"
Great, another lecture. But this time, Steve kept quiet.
Because the officer was right.
Kwan turned back to something more pressing - the sneaky Hunters moving closer to them. He held up his sword steadily. Such a uncanny, unrealistic pose out of a skilled swordsman in modern time but who could complain?
"You're alive. And you have to carry that burden for those who died."
Steve slowly agreed. He was alive, breathing, sane in his mind.
Harris and Kailey were gone. The familiar faces, both neutral and foul, were petrified in stiff, dead terror when he rushed on up to Level A.
Now he had to hold the baton tight and get going. For the sake of those gone and those still present.
Also, he had forgotten.
He wasn't the only one with problems. Now wasn't a good time to be acting like some beast from a fairytale.
"Now get off your ass and head to the foyer."
He grunted silently at the Korean man. He didn't need to be told twice.
Steve got back up on his feet. A nod encouraged Iria to move it as well.
As the two darted back towards the protected lobby, Kwan immediately pulled down a fire drill not too far from reach.
At the warning drill, water rained down from above, surprising the stalking Hunters and urging them to look up.
Good, Kwan thought as he paced after the two. Long enough for a distraction before the Hunters gave chase.
The gap in the doors was thinning. There was no way Steve's huge mass could fit through.
So he carefully slipped out an auto-injector from the pocket of his hanging jacket and with a bit of adjustments moving the little needle in his palm, stabbed it into an artery in his right thigh.
The special fast-acting magnesium-based solution ran through his bloodstream with every quickened heartbeat, flushing away the adrenaline throughout his whole body. Calming the beast within down and in his rush, shrinking him down to beige-coloured size.
Steve was used to the pain from transforming and reverting back - they were nothing more than muscles cramps but they were still a bothersome to him.
He had almost toppled down in 'midflight' but thankfully, Iria quickly looped him over her shoulders and together, they hoppled closer to the foyer.
The two slid in, followed by Kwan sheathing back his sword. And the doors closed shut with a loud thud.
Steve stared, horrified.
At the bleeding, heavily-breathing body of Harris Cooper inside the elevator.
He felt his knees turn jelly beneath him as his mind kept racing, wondering what he could have done if he had known.
But Harris noticed before he did, him with all the monstrous senses. Without warning, the Texan had leapt up and shoved Steve back.
And Steve had laid witness to Harris being chomped down by a zombie.
A zombie. With black-coal eyes.
Why?
Why was there a zombie? The facility didn't even have those locked up below.
That question was quickly hinged down with a more important matter.
Steve pushed the Shade off him and out the lift. It was a quick glance but he was already counting the numbers. Five Shades outside the elevator.
Fuck!
He then slammed shut the lift and down they went.
And now in the quiet stiff atmosphere of the elevator, Steve glared ghastly at Harris.
"Why! ?" he hollered. "Why would you do that! ? I would have been fine!"
With one hand holding pressure on the gaping wound of his shoulder, Harris grimly glanced up. He weakly chuckled. "Force of h-habit, really."
"Shit! We got to get you to a doctor!" The redhead wheeled around cluelessly. His hands were shaking. What to do, what to do! ?
He was terrified.
No, no! Stay calm! "The foyer! Everyone's got to be heading up there!" The kiddo galloped up to the buttons and smashed the second button. As much as how boring they were to listen, he still recalled all the necessary procedures taken place inside the facility. For all sorts of emergencies. "Come on."
"Kiddo..."
It was a soft, tired utter.
Harris was feeling the symptoms. The feeling of numbness was spreading from his fingers and onwards. Hard to breath. And he could have sworn his vision was blackening out now and then. One look down at his skin was already showing signs of purple pulsating veins slithering upwards and downwards from the wound. But if anything, Harris would probably die first from blood loss before he'd lose control.
He furrowed his eyes. It was odd. He knew that in his guts. If this was what he thought it was, it was going a lot faster than expected. What was more, there was a Shade. Specimens already running amok and out of their slaughter rose up Kronos-infected walkers.
That was much too fast, especially from a bite wound. There should have been a twelve-hour window, especially with a catalyst.
Unless it was altered...but how...
Didn't matter now, Harris thought. Regardless of what or how, it was all too clear.
"I'm infected with the K virus."
Steve's mouth gapped open. He could feel the goosebumps rise on his skin.
His mind screamed that all this wasn't true. But the signs were there. There wasn't any denying it.
Steve slouched down on his knees, his thoughts going numb. With only the dinging sound above them, the silence lashed about them so tightly.
"Steve... Iria, we never told you this..." Harris tried to force the words out. He had little time with how fast the numbness was going. "The team...we did our own pact... If anyone of us was infected...someone has to end us..."
Coldness shot through the inner cores of Steve.
Was he hearing right?
"Kailey was my partner... And that also means she was the one to deal the final blow... But she's not here."
At that moment, Steve connected the dots. He frightfully shook his head.
"No... No, I can't do that! Harris, there's got to be another way! Iria, Iria can-"
"You know as well as I do, boy... There ain't a cure for this variant..."
Steve grinded his teeth with wide eyes. No, not the finished version...
Again, he was trapped in a suffocating cage with no way out. A dying friend before him pleading him to end his life.
This was a person he knew.
It wasn't just Harris either. He knew his family too. His son, around Hannah's age and his sister outside the facility.
And Harris was asking him to kill him.
To murder a father of another son.
Steve couldn't do it. "I can't do this... How can I-?"
"I didn't want to do it either..."
It took the redhead by surprise but still, he listened at the now feverish man.
"My wife... I told you about her once..."
Yes, yes, he was told. It was a small talk and Harris didn't go any further. About how his wife also worked in the facility as administration.
That was six years ago.
"She was one of the lucky ones during the first outbreak... But she wasn't lucky... I didn't want to kill her..." Harris barely uttered. Light tears swelled at his tears. "So...I'm sorry..."
It was a dreadful memory, now flashing in his mind. Six years ago, she looked fine, having nearly escaped the event by a hair.
But it was all too good to be true.
Two officers and one HCF guard were slaughtered as he watched helplessly the starting of an Erinye transformation out of his beloved wife's own skin. GAIAN was already sending down the drones after her.
She would be captured and logged in as another unlucky specimen for the rest of her life.
Sadly, he pulled the trigger on her at her half-conscious pleads.
Harris glanced up to at the worried red-haired man. Shucks, he was spilling everything out so close to death.
For a split but shady second, he could have sworn he saw a figure standing behind Steve. Just standing motionless, somewhat examining them.
The familiar brown hair tied in a neat ponytail, those lovely plump lips he had caressed with his and that smartly-dressed desk worker attire. Just the way he remembered when she was alive.
"Tessa..."
Then she was gone. Like a ghost.
No. Must be the mind playing tricks because he was dying.
So what? He was surely going to see her again.
"...I'm sorry...to put this burden on you, Steve."
The redhead bit his lips. "No... I've been there too, Harris... I've been there too... My dad..." He then tightened his hands on his knees. "He had already turned before I found him..."
Ah... Harris thought. I see... Still, it sucked to him that Steve had to relive for a second time.
But as much as he hated that idea, he was thankful that it was Steve than nobody.
His breathing eventually slowed down. His mind was telling him to go to sleep. Which meant death was going to welcome him around the corner, alright.
Harris sighed heavily.
"Hey, kiddo...do me two f-favours?" The Texan smiled as his body flopped further back. "Don't forget me, you hear?"
Steve weakly forced up a squeezed smile. How could he? "...What's the other favour?"
"...Get off this island with everyone," Harris answered. "Alive."
His body then went limp. The hand clutching the wound plopped onto the pool of blood.
Glass eyes glanced at nothing.
"Harris?" Steve fired his hands and clutched Harris by the shoulders. He shook him. "Hey! Harris! Come on! Please...please be some sick joke!"
He continued to shake but the scientist wouldn't stir up.
"Please..."
Praying was pointless.
Steve let go, continued to stare at his fallen friend and then shook his head.
*/*/*/*
"Kail, you said you found those coloured lens, right?"
"Yeah."
One year ago. Harris and Kailey would start their job as handlers, keeping a close eye on the 'specimen'.
Things had happened before the three boarded the lift to fly to the top floor that Steve knew on the spot the two wouldn't be as merry as Iria was to him. It was his first time meeting them anyway.
Then out of the blues, Harris took the first step to break the silence. By taking the liberty to break a pair of shades Wesker had proudly handed to Steve. They were stupid-looking on the redhead.
Kailey dug out a small little case and handed it to him.
"Hope you don't mind green. My niece seemed to like that for some strange reason."
"N-No..." He wearily accepted the case. "That's my eye colour..."
As of right then, his eyes were blood red. A little side-effect of his mutation. Something Wesker seemed to praise out of the redhead.
Steve opened the case to see the thin, wet lenses. Huh, this was a new thing.
There were a lot of new things he was finding out after eight years. New phone devices. New president. New everything.
"...Never used lens before," he admitted.
"Well, you're going to have to learn. Not gonna do it for you."
"Really?" Kailey grunted at the Texan. "Just pinch one and do this." She mimicked the action of pulling down her eyelid with one hand and the other placing near to the iris.
It took a while - along with him nearly dropping one len to the floor. Kailey did her best to help as much as she could but he managed to get them in.
Geez, these things stunk. But after a few blinding, he could no longer feel some annoying thin sheets on his eyeballs.
He then found the two scientists smiling at him.
"Yup," Harris chuckled. "That looks better on ya, boy."
*/*/*/*
Then suddenly, Harris stood back up.
The monster at the far back of his skull was warning him. But Steve froze up on the floor, taking a while longer to gaze up.
"H-Harris?"
Arms dangled down like that of a puppet without strings. Gargling sounds erupted from the mouth inaudibly.
Black eyes stared dead at Steve.
"Fuck..." he whined. "Fuck."
He still didn't want to. Not again. Not a second time.
But he also didn't want to leave him like this.
No one deserved this. No one deserved to be seen as an undead by everyone. To be walking endlessly with no mind of their own.
Harris wasn't going to come back.
The Shade then launched at him, baring teeth on feral instinct.
And Steve, screaming out his lungs, swung his arm - changing and warping into green muscle mass.
One quick sweep.
It was a clean cut at the neck from his own claws. The body and head dropped to the floor, both detached.
And this time, Harris never stood up again.
Steve, a now transforming beast, wept softly over his corpse.
Enemy Data
Hunter
Based: Human, Reptile/Amphibian
Created via: Primary t-viral infection, Gene experimentation
Purpose: Experimental BOW
Hunters are bipedal reptilian-like creatures with large claws and teeth and are noted for their loud shrieks. They are BOWS designed by the Umbrella Corporation by combining fertilized human ovum with reptilian DNA and then implanting the t-Virus into the resulting creature. They are decently skilled predators with armoured backs, although having weaknesses at their head and chest areas. Regardless, they are good at stealth from certain angles and corners.
Currently, they are in the BOW black market. Because of their reputation for being the most successful BOWs created by Umbrella, HELIX bought a number of Hunters as weapon subjects to test against Kronos-infested specimens as well as to introduced the virus onto a few to perfect the Hunter's original design even further.
In CODE: Kronos, unlike most of the specimens, Hunters show resistance to the 'sound' or perhaps, do not even hear it without the Kronos Virus. However, that does not mean they won't be drawn into commotions caused by other specimens.
Kwan Chee
White Pawn
Date of Birth: 1971
Age: 35
Blood Type: O
Gender: M
Race/Nationality: Korean/Korean
Occupation: Security, Lieutenant
Teammate Class: Operative/Recon
Weapons of Choice:
Melee – Korean Sword
Primary – Handgun (Security standard)
Secondary – Assault Rifle
Stats:
Strength: ***
Stamina: ****
Accuracy: ****
Wits: **
Speed: ****
Endurance: ***
Ability:
Vickie: Heya, all! Another chapter finished! It took a while for some parts and actually, I only managed to finish this cuz I was sick. I am still sick as I write this but yeah. Was sluggish, couldn't speak at all and wanted to do something to break out so here you go, new chapter at my expense. :D
But yeah, MORE CHARACTER INTERACTIONS. And god, I love writing bout Harris. :') You could say he was like a dad to Steve in a way. Even more so was how sad and hard the elevator part went for Steve. But it had to be done.
And yes, I brought back Hunters... I know, they're overused. But can I say there's a K-infected version of this and its bio is really really cool? :D No, aw. D:
Well, it was either Hunters for a cameo or Lickers but Erinyes already are the better version of them.
And we have more new characters too. Especially Kwan. What's his backstory? Well, you're going to have to find out in later chapters of course. And I originally wanted to make him Japanese but that would have been overdone too. And thanks to my mom's obsession on Korean dramas...yeah. We have a Korean swordsman. :P
Also, I believe you all have guessed by now what's this 'better client' Wesker's talking about. Fawking TRICELL. Oh, are we gonna be hearing that a lot in later chapters too. In any case, yeah, there are gonna be a lot of connections here and there, and out of those connections will lead to many consequences I have cooked up.
Anyway, time for me to sleep off my meds so hope you guys enjoy this new chapter. Happy reading and reviewing and I will hopefully get the next chapter up soon. This is around the part where I actually have larger holes in my plot but still, I don't intend to stop just because of this.
It'll take time. Lots of times. So please be patient till then. C: