Alice glanced around anxiously as the scientists, Wesker and someone that gave her the impression of a lawyer conversed as she was escorted into the laboratory by a female security guard.
She wasn't nervous, per se, she was just unaccustomed to her surroundings. She'd rarely ever ventured out of the administrative areas of the Corporation, so this area, the medical sector, was entirely foreign to her.
"Ah, Miss Abernathe, please, come in. Could you take a seat, we have a short discussion before we proceed with administering T for you."
Alice nodded in understanding, sitting on the offered chair as Issacs and the lawyer sat across from her.
"Now, to put things simply... This is still an experimental drug, hence the letter as a name, rather than a full name. Because of this, there are some documents that require your signature. By all means, if you disagree with anything, you can cancel your participation at any time." The lawyer started explaining the papers that were arranged before them. "Do you agree with these arrangements?"
Alice nodded, then accepted the pen being handed to her, signing her name on the forms with complete consent. She had no inkling that she was being forced and felt proud in her choice.
Once the documents were finished, Doctor Issacs gestured for her to accompany him to a nearby workstation that had been set up.
"Now, Miss Abernathe, T is administered via an injection, requiring two such injections at a time. One green, the other, blue. By design, they are required to be injected into opposite sides of the body. So, we'll assist you in the dosage for today, then monitor you for the next hour, then you are free to leave." Issacs explained as Alice shrugged off her jacket. "Of course, since we already have your banking information being an official employee, your funds are being transferred at this very moment. By the time you arrive at home, it will all be in your account."
Alice nodded in understanding. "Alright, sir. Should I administer my dosages at home on a particular schedule?" She asked, thinking of how she'd get this past her mother.
"Well, no. As long as you've administered the dosage once a day, everything should work out fine." Issacs explained as he presented her with the case full of the syringe capsules. "Now, may I begin? This should only take about a minute or two."
Alice glanced into the case, on one side was a small syringe gun, and on the other was two full sets of seven capsules full of the drug. One row was blue, the other green. She nodded, and paid careful attention to his instructions on using the syringe gun, then took a calming breath as the first injection went into her arm. After that, he switched out the empty syringe for the other one, then carefully walked around the chair to her other arm. Twenty seconds later, Alice let out a pent up sigh. First day was done. Six more to go.
"Alright, that's it for today." Issacs explained. "Only thing left is to wait about an hour, to check for any adverse effects."
Alice nodded in understanding. "Is there anywhere I should wait, sir?"
"Here, preferably." Issacs indicated the laboratory at large. "Just in case."
Alice nodded again, pulling out her phone and stood up to take a seat out of the way for the next hour.
After the hour was up, Alice and Issacs spoke to each other once again, this time about how she was feeling after the first dose.
"So far, I only noticed that my hands are shaking a bit. Nothing to severe." Alice held up one hand to show the doctor her unsteady hands - which were usually rather steady.
"I see. Well, we'll keep a record of this. From today, I'd like you to report any new symptoms directly to me. If any of them are debilitating, I'd like you to have someone you trust in the know, for safety purposes. You have my number, correct?"
"Yes, sir. I understand." Alice accepted the small carrying case for the T syringes." It wasn't very big, so she could easily conceal it from the Dragon.
"Excellent. So begins the trial tests. Good luck." He smiled and shook her hand before she left.
True to their word, the money was in her account by the time Alice got home. She briefly stopped inside to grab her laptop, but on her way out of her apartment, she was stopped by her mother.
"What was that bag you had with you?" Her mother demanded as Alice locked the door behind herself.
"Work stuff." Alice replied. The bag had the Umbrella logo on one side, so that much should've been clear to her mother.
"What kind of work stuff?" Her mother took a step to the side to block Alice from leaving.
"Documents." Alice was getting suspicious. Why did the Dragon give a shit about her job so much?
"Oh, that's right. You're just a pathetic secretary. I forgot." Her mother mocked before narrowing her eyes. "Where are you going?"
"Chris and Claire's." Alice replied. It was her usual response, because she rarely went anywhere else besides work and school.
"What the hell do you see in those incestuous freaks?" Her mother crossed an unspoken line with her comment, and only too late did she realize it.
The next thing that happened went too fast for either of them to comprehend. One second, Alice was scowling at the woman blocking her path, the next, she was storming up the stairs with her mother laying stunned on the floor.
Alice was fuming. Claire and Chris made it absolutely crystal clear that they didn't have a single thought of incest. They loved her. Not each other. So where the fuck did the Dragon get the idea that they were into each other?!
"She breath fire again?" Claire commented the instant she saw Alice walking up the driveway.
Alice gasped in surprise, startled by Claire's voice. She didn't realize she'd made it all the way to their house already.
For an tiny moment, Claire could've sworn Alice's eyes were a brilliant blue... almost glowing, in fact. But that moment passed as Alice blinked a few times.
"Pretty much her usual shit. Calvin's busy this week with his own job, so she got really nosy about the trial." Alice explained, joining Claire in the open garage where she was knee deep in engine parts of her other lover, a 1969 Charger that had seen better days. She'd been painstakingly been working on the car for the better part of the last six months.
"How'd that go, by the way?" Claire asked, turning a ratchet a few times before wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and turning to face Alice.
Alice explained the process of administering the doses, and the syringe gun, then finished off with Issacs' instructions for the symptoms in case she couldn't report them herself.
"Sounds like fun. So you've got six more sets, right?" Claire asked, wiping her hands clean. Alice nodded in confirmation. "So what colour goes in which side?"
"Green is left, blue is right." Alice explained. "And the compensation money's already in my account, so I was considering we go out with Chris and do something... fun." She shrugged for a moment, unsure of her own thoughts on the word 'fun'.
Claire suddenly glanced over Alice's shoulder and her eyes narrowed. "Dragon's across the street in her car. Don't turn around."
"So now she's stalking me? I told her I'd be here." Alice scowled, and once again, Claire glimpsed that odd blue glow in her eyes before it disappeared. "She's watching me, isn't she?"
"Yeah, she is." Claire replied, then smiled. "We could fuck with her, y'know."
"There's nothing we alone could do, honestly. She crossed the sacred line earlier." Alice adjusted her laptop bag's strap on her shoulder. "Incest." She added when Claire raised an eyebrow.
"Fucking cunt." Claire muttered under her breath. "So, let's go inside, our grandmother came to visit us earlier, she made us a cake." Claire shrugged before walking past the car and reached up to the rope for the garage door.
Alice quickly grabbed it, since she was taller and pulled the door closed, then followed Claire inside, finding Chris already displeased by the presence of the Dragon across the street.
"She followed you..." Chris commented, since he was out of her line of sight behind the blinds. "That woman needs a hobby and a reality check."
"Or a vibrator." Alice commented darkly as she gave Chris a loving kiss. "I have something to tell you, y'mind joining us for that cake?"
Chris nodded in understanding, and joined them in the kitchen.
After Alice finished explaining the T trial, he leaned back in his chair and hummed in thought.
"So, aside from your hands shaking, have you had any other symptoms?" He asked, having noticed the subtle movements while she ate her slice of cake.
"Not yet, it's only been about two hours since I took the dose." Alice shrugged as she ate another piece of cake. "You both know I'm pretty much always hungry, so that's kinda out of the question for a symptom... Insomnia's already there, anxiety's a thing... what else?" She paused to think, but shrugged. "Can't think of anything else that would really be involved."
"We'll probably encounter more along the way." Claire shrugged as well. "So when do you plan to take the dose tomorrow?"
"After I wake up, I guess." Alice replied. "Keeps it out of Dragon and Limey's sight, and I can better report potential symptoms throughout the day, rather than at night."
Chris nodded in approval, and Claire seemed pleased by the choice. "So, you mentioned doing something fun. Any ideas by what you meant by that?"
"Cake first. Fun after." Alice held up her half eaten slice with a bright smile that truly lit up her usually sombre face.