Resident Evil

Eden Project

By Marie B.

::Fourth Chapter: Sadness and Contentment ::

Fast footsteps echoed through the empty and cold corridors. Albert Wesker had one thing in mind: were they awake yet? The man rapidly made his way into one of the main operation rooms of the laboratory. He firstly recognized his two captives, both lying down on separate operation tables. Many doctors, scientists and assistants were surrounding them, administrating them various liquids in their body, working like ants in a hive.

The blond man immediately approached the lead doctor who was writing things on the girl's clipboard.

"How are they?" he asked, almost in a hurry.

The other man's eyebrows frowned, looking annoyed, before he slowly took his eyes off the clipboard and directed them towards Wesker's which were always hidden by dark glasses.

Wesker almost felt the urge to snap the neck of the doctor who was obviously mocking him. But he had learnt to control his rage, knowing that it wouldn't advantage him in that current situation. He just glared at the other man and was about to repeat himself, when he saw him moving his lips:

"The boy's doing fine. He's still unconscious, but he surprisingly accepted the T-Veronica virus in his body. He might wake up in a few hours," started the doctor with the monotonous tone that most scientists adopt. "As you can see, he no longer has traces of his previous mutation. Even his eyes are of their initial color, unlike you, Mr. Wesker," continued the man without much interest.

Wesker gritted his teeth at the lack of respect that the other man was showing him. "What about the girl?" he said impatiently, his gaze towards the inert form of Claire Redfield.

The lead doctor coughed and continued his report with the same boring tone. "We encountered more difficulty with the girl. Unlike the boy, she has never been in contact with any of the viruses, so her body has trouble into accepting it. And, of course, the damage she received in her head doesn't help. Fortunately, even if the bullet killed her, it didn't do much damage to her brain. The T-Virus mixed with the T-Veronica Virus might be able to fix it and finally revive her. But her state is still unstable and I can't predict if she'll come back or not. I also fear that she might mutate and die afterwards…"

"Then make sure that she'll come back to life or I'll kill you," interrupted Wesker before leaving the OR.

Chris didn't expect his friends to arrive so soon.

He had landed on a small private airport on the country side of a German town. Fortunately, he had contacts over there and could keep a low profile. They had a hideout not far away. Since the Raccoon City incident, the gang had been on the move, hiding in a few European countries. They've been in Germany for a few weeks. It was only two days ago that they've received an urgent message from Leon stating that Claire was in danger. Chris had decided to go alone, leaving Jill, Rebecca, Barry and Carlos behind. He had gone alone in the hope of reuniting with his little sister and coming back with her. Everybody would have been so proud of him. The big brother saving his baby sister from the clutches of evil monsters: how brilliant, how courageous!

But when Chris gazed upon the puzzled expressions of his friends when they saw him all alone, he couldn't help himself to not fall on his knees, fresh tears pouring from his already sore eyes.

The first one to react was Jill as she quickly crouched down next to her partner, one of her arms finding its way on his back. She gently stroked him, preventing herself to talk, knowing that the man wasn't in the condition to start a discussion. It wasn't hard to guess what was making him cry.

There was no sign of Claire.

The other survivors could only watch speechless Chris crying and Jill comforting him. What the hell happened? Didn't he find his sister? Rebecca started to feel wetness in her eyes. She quickly rubbed it away. Was Claire…dead? She then felt Carlos squeezing her hand with his. She looked up at him and saw that he also felt sorry to see Chris in that state even though he barely knew him.

"Chris…what happened?" thought sadly the young medic.

Rebecca then felt Barry moving beside her. He took a few steps towards Chris and Jill.

"Chris. Get up. Let's go back to the house," he said, almost emotionless.

Jill angrily glared at the older man. Did he have to be so damn cold? Chris was like a brother to him. The woman was then surprised when Chris gently pushed her away and stood up on his own. She saw him nod at Barry and slowly headed towards the others. She stayed a few more seconds on the ground, a bit confused. When she looked back at the weapon expert, she found a sad smile on his bearded face. She smiled back and the both of them followed the others.

"Here, hot chocolate with marshmallows, just how you like it, right?" said Jill, deposing the hot beverage in front of Chris.

The man only nodded absently. He didn't seem to be conscious of all the people sitting at the table. They were watching him, whether directly or just glancing now and then, not sure at how to react at the current situation.

The awkward silence was then interrupted by the grunting sounds of someone's throat: "Chris…it's alright if you don't want to talk about it. Just take your time. We'll listen to you when you'll be ready," said Barry, attempting to put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. Chris didn't try to shake him off as he took a few sips of his hot chocolate.

The dining room returned to silence and when everybody thought that nothing would be said, Chris slowly opened his mouth.

"I…." he began, his voice barely shaking.

Four pairs of eyes were looking at him. Their owners didn't dare to breathe as they waited for him to go forward.

"…I…couldn't save…her…I'm sorry…I really messed up bad…"

Jill was about to get up from her chair to hug him, but when she heard him continue, she remained to her place.

"…when I arrived at the island, she was already gone. I then learned that she was in the Antarctic…but when I made it over there, I found her, but she was…al-…already…d-…" the man couldn't finish his sentence as he started to sob loudly, his hands reaching for his face, spilling his beverage on the table in the same process.

That time, Jill quickly got up and went to his side, enrolling her arms around his shoulders and murmuring him things that the others couldn't hear. The three of them just stood still, watching Jill stroking Chris's back and giving him kisses on his forehead. Rebecca was once again on the verge of crying, seeing Chris like that, but also thinking about his sister that she had only seen on photos. Oh, how she would have liked to meet her…

When she couldn't bear to see the scene anymore, she turned her head only to see Barry, his face completely red. She couldn't tell if it was because he was crying or because he was mad. The man suddenly made eye contact with her and that seemed to have activated something inside of him.

His chair screeching against the floor, Barry stood up tall and imposing. That made Chris to stop crying as his head turned toward him. His grand blue eyes were now staring into Barry's. Jill was also watching him, unsure of what to say or what to do.

"Chris," started Barry, his voice deep and clear. "It is…completely unfortunate that your sister…didn't make it…" he almost wanted to stop there when he saw Chris trembling again, but his conviction made him go further. "But! We all know who's responsible for this and for all the death of our comrades, friends and family: Umbrella! We just can't let them get away with it. We have to avenge our dear ones who perished, or else all of their sacrifices would have been for nothing. Don't let Claire's death destroy you, Chris. She was a strong girl, I know it. And I know that she made her possible to survive and to go against that company that we all hate, but…"

"SHUT UP!!"

Barry immediately stopped on his tracks. He wasn't even sure of what he heard, but when he saw Chris standing up on the opposite side of the table, he understood that he was the one who shouted. The gun expert then glanced around him and saw that his friends were also astonished. Nobody dared to say something. They all looked at Chris with wide-opened eyes.

"You…you don't understand! AT ALL!" continued Chris, his face wrinkling with anger. "Claire…she…she didn't die bravely like you said…she didn't die because she wanted to save the world…she didn't die because she was fighting against those bastards….no…she wasn't killed…no…" finished he by whispering. He then started to chuckle and that made his friends to worry even more.

"…ha-ha…no…she wasn't killed…SHE FUCKING KILLED HERSELF!!"

It then seemed that the house was being crushed by an unimaginable weight. While Chris was panting from his sudden outburst, his companions were completely frozen in time. No breathing, no crying, no sound.

It took a certain amount of time before Jill came back to her senses. She was still standing beside Chris. She almost feared that he would slap her, but she dared to open her mouth, too many questions torturing her mind.

"What…do you mean by that…Chris?"

The man didn't even turn his head to look at her. He just stared in front of him where Barry was standing.

"It means what it means. Claire took her goddamned gun and put a fucking bullet into her head."

His voice was stiff and emotionless like the atmosphere of the dining room. A squeaky voice was then heard.

"But…why?" said Rebecca, her eyes still filled with tears.

"Why? Search me. When I found her…body, she was with a dead boy. I don't have a clue of what had happened. Just that the boy was apparently killed, and that Claire killed herself right after that. I don't know what to think of that."

Chris then knew that his friends were all making hypothesis of their own, but he wasn't in the mood at all to hear them.

"And you wanna hear something worse?" continued Chris.

All four pairs of eyes returned to watch him.

"Albert Wesker is alive and he has Claire's body.

A few days had passed since Albert Wesker came back with the two deceased teenagers. He was tired of waiting. According to the last reports, Steve, the boy, was doing well. He was sleeping most of the time, but his body was now in complete symbiosis with the T-Veronica virus. With his strength regained, he might prove to be an excellent asset to his research.

However, he still hadn't received good news about the Redfield girl. She was indispensable to his research. Losing her might result in delaying his plans for months…or forever.

Suddenly, the phone rang, waking up the blond man from his thoughts.

"Wesker," said he, clearing his throat.

"Ah yes, sir. It is I, Doctor Mees. I thought it might interest you to know that we just managed to revive the girl…"

Albert Wesker didn't have to respond.

The smile on his face was enough to communicate his contentment.

To be continued…