Resident Evil: The Bane Virus
Chapter 3
October 28, 2006 – 13:35
Bane laid the girl's motionless body on his makeshift bed, the bottom mattress protesting slightly at the weight of two people. Gently he pulled his arms out from underneath her and stood, gazing at her beautiful face. He kneeled down beside her in a daze, as if her mere presence intoxicated him, making him watch to touch her, to run his hands across her beautiful skin. Idly he brushed a few stray strands of hair off of her face, when suddenly her eyes opened wide and her fist flew up to smack him square in the jaw, throwing him off balance and throwing him to the floor.
He recovered quickly and stood, every muscle of his body telling him to fight back, to attack this adversary but his mind refused to allow it. Instead he stood there as the girl's eyes widened as she held her fist to her chest, staring at the man whom she'd just struck.
"I-I am so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you," Chelsey said quickly, "I just thought I was still down t-there with those assholes w-who attacked me and I t-thought it was one of them and I am so so so sorry."
"It's alright chickie." He told her, rubbing his jaw. It wasn't as if she'd actually hurt him, he just wanted to relish that fact that she had touched him.
She looked about to say more, but she never opened her mouth as she finally seemed to realize that her pants were still missing. Reaching to the side she grabbed the sheet she guessed he must use as a blanket and covered herself with it, trying not to blush. She took time to study her new surroundings as Bane pulled his blood-stained shirt off, examining the hole in the back. Without a word he tossed it away from him, then shut his eyes and began to concentrate. Chelsey looked up to see what he was doing and saw a hole in his bare back. As she watched, horrified, the skin around the wound began to pulsate. Blood spurted out of the wound before something larger began to force it's way out, the object landing on the floor with a small thud. Chelsey couldn't tell what it was at first, the mangled metal not looking like something she'd seen before, but then she realized that it was the bullet that had been shot at them. She gasped as more blood dripped down his back, before the wound sealed over with a thin layer of skin, leaving it and the area around it pink and raw.
"W-what are you?" She gasped, unable to take her eyes from the drops of blood that fell to the floor beside the mangled bullet.
It wasn't so much what she said but the fear in her voice when she said it that angered him. Before she realized it he was beside her, the barrel of he Beretta resting against her head and his finger twitching on the trigger.
"You'd best be careful what you say, chickie." He said softly, dangerously as Chelsey shook uncontrollably. Tears sprang to her eyes as he held the gun steady, part of him telling him to pull the trigger, to dump the body and get out of town. But he couldn't, he couldn't hurt her. Whatever this feeling inside of him was, it refused to allow him to do anything to her.
He held the gun to her head when suddenly she stopped shaking, sitting up straight with her eyes red and puffy, but dry. She turned towards him so the gun was aimed right between her eyes, thoughts and feelings flitting across the glossy green orbs. Then her eyes narrowed, staring past the gun into his eyes through the dark shades, scowling angrily at him.
"Then don't call me 'chickie' and answer the fucking question as if it were phrased in a way that didn't offend you and get that fucking gun away from me!" She finally said, all traces of fear fading from her voice to be replaced with anger. Bane stared at her once again, unable to believe the hidden strength to be found in this young lady. Less than an hour ago she'd been almost hit by a truck, chased after the man who'd saved her, almost been raped, and passed out while being shot at only to wake up in a strange room with a strange man.
Without another word he turned away from her, clicking the safety on the gun and holstering it. He began searching around the room until he found another black tank top, slightly more faded than the one he'd been wearing before, and put it on before turning back to the girl.
"My name is Bane," he said finally, pausing for a long time before continuing, "Bane Stryfe. I am – was a test subject for the Umbrella Corporation."
"A – a test subject?" Chelsey echoed, confused, "so what, after all the infestations they decided to make some kind of super-human hero guys or something?"
"Not in the least," he replied with a dry, humorless chuckle, "more like they're creating a near-invincible army capable of… essentially taking over the world. Think of me as the… prototype I guess you could say."
"But what did they do to you? And why would you let them?"
"It's not like I really had a choice in the matter." He began, sitting on the mattress beside her. He recounted his entire story, including almost every detail that he could possible remember about the escape from the mansion and his years of scavenging in so many different cities he wanted to lose count. He told her about the virus inside of him and about his father, and what he did to his mother, everything. For the first time in his life he was able to sit and talk about all that had happened to him. As soon as he started it was like a floodgate within him had opened and everything inside of him came flowing out in a torrential downpour.
"I'm sorry." He said after the several minutes of silence that followed his dirge, "I'm so sorry. Here I am, casting my problems on someone I just met and I don't even know your name."
"I'm Chelsey Angelynd," She replied quickly, holding her hand out to him, "High school student, pathetic comedian and hopeless romantic……."
They were silent for a while, Bane still clasping her hand. He didn't seem to realize he was doing it until he abruptly let go of her and stood from the bed, walking to the far corner of the room.
"I… you should head home, back to your boyfriend." He said softly, refusing to look at her.
"I don't have a boyfriend," She told him, "Have you seen most of the boys in my school? They're so childish that I don't even want to see them never mind try to go out with them."
"What about the boy you were with today?"
"Who, Rayne? Nah, I just live with him. Besides, he loves his little Kitty Kat." She replied, jealousy dripping from her voice.
"Jealous of her?" Bane commented, sarcasm filling his tone.
"Not because she has Rayne," She replied softly after a few minutes of thinking, "but because the two of them have such a great relationship…. Though Rayne is a little on the weird side."
"Why do you say that?"
"He likes to wear women's clothing." She said matter-of-factly, waiting for the usual reaction.
"Is that all?" Bane said easily, "it's not that big a deal."
"Most people seem to think that it is."
Bane was silent, realizing that he had just been having a normal conversation with the girl of his dreams. He realized that he was happy… until reality caught up with him and he realized that he had to get the girl away from him, he had to make her forget about him.
"Anyway," he said, "you need to get out of here. Head home to your friends."
"What if I don't want to?" She asked, "what if I want to stay here with you?"
"Please just leave lady… Chelsey. It'll make things a lot easier."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm still on the run, I can't stay in one place very long. I have to get moving." He told her, "Now get going home."
"No," She argued, standing and moving to him. She wrapped her arms around him as she continued, "I want to stay here with you. You saved my life, twice, the least I could do is keep you company."
Bane couldn't find anything to say to that, mostly because he really wanted her to stay with him. He wanted to be near her all the time, the feelings she bought out in him different than anything he'd ever felt before.
"Fine," He agreed finally, resisting the urge to throw her from him. Images flowed through his head, images of bloodshed and war, horrifying and grotesque, but as she held him the images began to go away, began to dissipate until there was nothing but her, "You can stay the night, but you have to get to school in the morning."
"No problem." She agreed enthusiastically, "now, tell me more about yourself."
"Yes ma'am."
October 29, 2006 – 05:30
Carl stood in the only source of light in the room, trying hard to see through the darkness to see who had summoned him here, but to no avail. He knew that the Parasol brass were paranoid, but he never expected that they would have a room that looked like it was straight out of bad movie.
"Do you know what you've been brought here, Dr. Trevor?" a deep, haughty male voice echoed through the room
"I do not." He replied, standing tall and proud, refusing to be cowed by these… bureaucrats.
"The mistake you made twenty years ago has been found." A female voice said loudly.
"Bane? You mean you actually found him?" Carl exclaimed, then quickly calmed down as he was wondering why they had chosen to tell him.
"Yes," was the answer from a new voice, not deep but still undeniably male with a slight English accent, "We have reviewed the data and have decided that this subject, henceforth known as Subject B-008, may be an asset if he can be captured and used to our advantage. You, Dr. Trevor, are here to convince us that we should go through every effort to retrieve the subject, instead of just destroying another mistake that could come back to bite us in the ass."
"Afterwards, this council will vote on the decision." Another female voice, this one with an unrecognizable accent, announced.
Carl remained silent, thinking hard about what kind of arguments he could give to save his son's life. He knew that if he tried to appeal to their good nature, the entire thing would most likely backfire on him, causing them to vote against his son. His mind raced, trying to find a reason to save the boy that would be good for business, when it suddenly hit him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Parasol board," he began, "When I first began to test the Bane Virus, I had many failures. The only way, it seemed, for the virus to properly bond with it's intended host was during embryo development, before the child's DNA is completed and set for the rest of their life. Yet even when this method is applied the subject rarely works out in accordance to your hopes.
"Subject B-008, on the other hand, is the perfect specimen. The virus causes disastrous results in most of the previous specimens, but not in him. The question is why? Why did the virus affect him so differently than the rest?
"In truth, we will never truly know why, but I hypothesize that when I discovered the virus, it was an incomplete strand, unperfected. In order for it to become whole, the virus needed to find a… incubator if you will. It was pure chance that the virus would find a suitable host in my son, that he would be the one to complete, or perfect, the virus, but it happened. Capturing Subject B-008 is in your best interests because with him, we can create what you were always hoping to make of the Bane virus. You can have a perfected strain and the perfect subject to do with as you please."
The Board conferred quietly for what seemed like hours to him, the whole time he pleaded silently for his success.
"Dr. Trevor, you gave an impressive speech, and we have decided that it is in our best interests to recover the Subject, but you will not be in charge of either the retrieval operation, nor of any further hands-on Bane Virus research," The woman with the accent announced finally, "You will be allowed to keep track of the research, and do any of the work we decide to allow you too, however you will not be allowed contact with the subject, or the virus for that matter. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am." He replied, anger and joy warring inside of him.
"Furthermore, Dr. Trevor," The first voice said, "while we will make every attempt to capture him whole, the important thing is to bring back a blood sample for the virus. The city in which he was found will be infected and quarantined, and teams will be sent in to retrieve the subject.
"We have work to do, as do you, Dr. Trevor, you are dismissed."
With that all light faded from the room, leaving him in pitch darkness until a small spotlight suddenly lit up in front of him, blinding him as it shone upon the door behind him. Knowing that there was nothing more he could do, he reluctantly left the room, hoping they'd be able to capture his wayward son.
Rayne awoke in the morning to his cell phone again, rolling over to turn it off when something in the bed got in his way. He opened his eyes and saw Kat beside him, still sleeping, her hair splayed out on the pillow around her head. He stared at her as the phone continued to go off, finally waking her as she opened her eyes to meet his own.
"Hey there beautiful." He said softly, earning a smile.
"Turn off the damned alarm dumbass." She said softly, playfully as he reached over her to grab the phone and turn it off.
"Whatever you say My Lady." He retorted softly, leaning in for a kiss from his beautiful girlfriend. It took a couple minutes before Kat pulled away, slowly getting out of the bed.
"C'mon love, we've gotta get to school." She told him, draping the bed sheet sensually over herself as she stood from the bed, turning back to look at the man she loved. She gazed upon his half-naked body and smiled coyly, loving the look of his body, "I think that you should go get breakfast ready while I get dressed."
"Aww, do I have to?"
"Yes, you do." She told him with a smile, helping him up and pushing him to the door.
Rayne sighed loudly as she forced him out the door, then closed it behind him. Shaking his head, he walked down the hallway, pausing outside Chelsey's room and peeking his head in. He saw the empty bed and began to worry about his friend, wondering why she didn't come home last night. Trying to remain calm he headed downstairs and prepared breakfast for him and Kat, serving it as she came down the stairs, dressed in a pair of jeans and short sleeved blouse. They ate with small conversation, Rayne returning to his room to dress before he drove the both of them to school, parking in his usual spot and walking Kat to her class.
After saying goodbye to her he peeked into Chelsey's first class but found her desk empty, worrying him further. Something was going on with her, and he was almost positive it had something to do with that man from yesterday. That man who'd demolished a car and saved Chelsey, that man with the horrible, haunting red eyes, that man who disappeared without a trace.
She'd better show up at lunch, he decided, if not I'll have to go looking for her. With that decision he tried to focus on his schoolwork, but his mind kept coming back to the man with the red eyes.
At lunch he hurried outside to meet with Kat, expecting to see Chelsey in their usual spot but as he exited the school he froze, surprised etched on his face. There in their usual meeting place was Chelsey, wearing a pair of pants that were too big for her, and the man with the eyes, covered with a pair of dark sunglasses. He couldn't make himself move forward as he stared at the man, his fear filling his mind as he remembered the look in his eyes yesterday. He jumped in surprise when Kat ran right to the two of them by the tree, obviously fine with the stranger as she enthusiastically introduced herself.
Sighing loudly, he walked over to them slowly, nodding to the girls before he focused his gaze on the newcomer.
"I'm Rayne, Rayne Armitage," He said, holding his hand out. Bane stared at him a moment before taking the offered hand, nodding politely.
"Bane Stryfe." He replied, shaking the hand firmly.
"Well, with that out of the way, let's get some lunch." Chelsey said quickly, knowing that her friends might be a little uncomfortable around Bane.
"Sounds good, I'm starving," Kat told her, hooking her arm in Rayne's as both he and Bane nodded their agreements, "hey look, they both know how to nod, I'll bet they get to be fast friends."
Chelsey and Kat fell into laughter at that as Rayne chuckled lightly. Bane's mouth merely flickered, as if he was trying to smile but couldn't, so he stopped trying. A kind look on her face, Chelsey hooked her arm into his and patted him lightly on the cheek as they started walking, Chelsey leading them away from the school.
Thomas hung up the phone with a smile, glad that something had finally been decided. Not only that, but he was to be in charge of the team sent to capture the wayward subject. He knew that he was up for it, but he wasn't sure if his team was. The last of them had arrived this morning, pushing his plans forward. The company was going to set bombs in several strategic locations of the city, the resulting explosions causing samples of both the T-Virus and the G-virus to be spread throughout the city. While the infection of Raccoon City had been accidental, it had taught them that the virus spread too slowly when leaked in secret outside the city. The Fenrir infection, on the other hand, was released on purpose and had a much quicker rate of infection after a bomb had gone off in the center of the city, releasing the viruses. In less than a week the majority of the city had been infected, only the STARS members and several other civilians escaping the city with their lives before the city was cleanse of the infection in the same way as Raccoon City. This time they wanted the job done quicker and had tweaked the viruses to act over five times faster than normal, causing an infected person to change in less than an hour.
Their plan was to capture the subject prior to the infection, then use the catastrophe to make a fast getaway and clean up any loose ends that may arise. All in all, he decided, it was a simple yet effective plan that he would carry out to the best of his abilities.
"Hey boss, have we got the orders yet?" A voice broke through his thoughts, causing Thomas to look up and see Aidan, his second in command, standing in his doorway.
"Yeah," he replied, "we're to capture the subject and make out getaway during the infection."
Thomas had never really liked Aidan much, but time and time again the man had proven himself an able retriever. Yet it seemed to him that Aidan was always trying to prove that he was better than his boss. That, and he had the sneaking suspicion that he took his orders from someone else as well, most likely a member of the Parasol elite, they were notorious for having several… watchdogs to keep an eye on their employee's goings on.
"So when do we get started boss?" Aidan asked.
"Right away. Get half the team and ready the holding cell, I'll take the other half and go to the high school, that's where I found him the other day." Thomas replied, waving Aidan away as he prepared to meet his other teammates. It was only a matter of time before he would capture the boy, and then claim his reward.