An obnoxious buzz had woken me from my routine slumber. The days in Neo-Umbrella had been strenuous and controlled down to the very alarm that was set. I sat in a white room that I've become too familiar with. The corners were rounded off, the walls were tiled, and I hated every single day I had to look up at the boring ceiling.
The door zipped open, and a male doctor walked in, flipping through his papers on a metal clipboard. He mumbled to himself all the way up till he stopped right in front of me. I marked him with my rage as I had sat up then rested back on my hands and waited for him to talk. His demeanor was already getting on my nonexistent nerves.
"We need to get more blood samples from you, and I think they've got you set up for a CSF (Cerebral Spinal Fluid) collection," the man said as he flipped the papers continuously. It really didn't make him look any smarter or competent. "We are heading down to get your blood samples now."
A group of masked men crowded into the room and hurried to shackle me for their safety. They roughly pulled me off the bed where I was doing just fine. One of the masked men grabbed the back of my neck to control my movements easily. They've learned that it was best not to let me have my freedom to move. A couple of these men were apart of the previous skirmish where I had broken their noses because I could hear their rough breath. They got a few nice swings in, but I've been the star of this show. They called in for backup and split us all up.
The hallways looked like they were extended white tunnels that lead to nowhere. The windows were open to the laboratories and other prisoner's rooms. We passed by a room full of vials of liquid and another one with doctors who argued over something stupid, most likely.
We suddenly stopped at an intersection where soft thuds echoed along the hallways. Two of the men around me rushed forward to block the path of whoever ran free. It really didn't take long for them to take the person down.
"Jake!" Vivy yelled out before one of the men knocked her out with his foot.
"Are you serious?" I growled and pushed against the man holding my neck.
"We are on a tight schedule. No distractions," the doctor said. He was not amused one bit.
I was hurried to the office where syringes were prepared for my blood. The men hooked me up to the chair and stood back to stare at me. The doctor just went about with his duty.
"Do you like what you see?" I smirked at the masked men flicking my eyebrow up at them. They spoke their threats and laughed.
The doctor had stuck a thick needle in my arm and started to drain my blood like a vampire. He had three vials that filled up, quickly. The doctor mumbled to himself like clockwork with a little twitch in his jaw.
My body was growing hungry to replace the blood that was being stolen. I just sat there bored and stared at the ugly masks. It couldn't get any better than this? I looked to the door that just sat there like any other mechanical device. I leaned head back to look up at the ceiling, and it made me even more frustrated.
"Can we hurry this mess up, doc?" I grumbled to him.
No one had made any noises, other than the doc's mumbles. Christmas was early this year, and the Grinch sat right next to me. This shit was so boring that I let my mind wander through the halls of this place. It was all from my imagination since I've been restricted to very specific areas. Vivy was slung over the shoulders of one of the masked men just down the hall. They entered a room, that looked similar to mine, and plopped her right on the flat bed. She was different in some way, but I couldn't put my finger on it. With that simple glance in the hall, I mainly heard the hard thud as the foot knocked up against her head. Lightly dragging my fingers across her back, I imagined the rough fabric contouring to her frame. Her hair messy curls dangled off the side of the bed and bounced when I flicked them.
"Get out of La-La land," the doctor hissed as he lazily jumped into action. The guards were on me, like a pack of hungry flies, as each one of them rushed in to contain me. Again, I was walked through the tunnels back to my cell.
"We'll be back for your CSF, soon," the doctor mumbled then stomped off. The door closed right behind him and locked me within this damn room again.
It seemed like I had time to explore my "La-La land" some more. I was worried about how Vivy was doing since she was kicked in the head. I climbed onto the bed next to her, face to face, and leaving little room to move. My nose just barely touched her button nose. There was some splotches of red and purple that had formed right along her cheekbone, and as I ran one finger along the raised skin, it was firm and warm to my touch. I don't know why I was nervous in my own head when I decided to trace my finger along her full bottom lip. The top of my finger just grazed my lips.
An alarm rang out, obnoxiously, throughout the compound. It brought me back to the present too fast for comfort. I sat up and watched as the door swooshed open, and the masked men rushed in. There weren't as many this time around. They were spread thin.
One of the men followed behind as he lead me from the room in cuffs. I couldn't tell what they were whispering about under the masks that muffled their terrible speech. Slowing down in pace, I eased forward, carefully.
"Keep moving," the nasally man demanded as he nudged my back.
"Sorry guys, time to move on," I said right as I stepped back while wrapping his gun with my arm. I tried my best to shoot the two other men ahead of me, but it looked like I could have done better. They just curled in on themselves as they dodged my poor aim. Quickly twisting the gun back around, I had used the momentum to break the mask off this ugly man's face. My movements flowed well into the next as I flipped onto my hands and wrapped my leg around his neck which pulled him to the ground. I spun once again on my knees to where his head was directly locked within my, and I snapped his neck lick the toothpick it was. It didn't take long before the cuffs were off, and I was up and ready to kick the other two creature's asses.
They began to shoot immediately. No, they didn't want to talk this situation out. It was automatically violence. I slipped to the side behind a wall till their guns either jammed or needed to be reloaded. With the sudden silence, I rushed out from the wall and slid under the closest man's legs and took him down by his ankles. His mask broke into many shards as his face came in contact with the hard floor. I crawled over him and locked him in a choke hold then pulled him over to the his friend shoot him up. The reloaded gun went on for a couple seconds and clicked for empty. My arm burned from a few stray shots, but I rolled the dead guy off of me and hurried to the next. Burying my shoulder into his open gut, I slammed him hard against the wall. Then, with no hesitation, and his stunned shake, I lifted him from the ground and made sure his mask broke into his face. His neck snapped immediately making his body go limp. I didn't hesitate to move on, and I went over to the box that popped out from the wall.
"It looks like my lucky day," I laughed to myself as I pulled the switch.
The room went black, and the door swapped its colors and clicked open. I walked up to it and peered through in hopes that there was no one on the other side. It was clear.. I pushed through the door and ran down another white hallway into a large room. This was clearly a maze that I'm going have to wing with navigation. In the movies, they always climbed up high.
"Three test subjects have escaped from their quarters. They must not leave the facility," a thick accented man said over the intercom. "Permission to use firearms is granted."
"Isn't that great," I yelled up to him. I clearly was jealous that they got to use their boomsticks while I wandered the halls empty handed. It didn't stop me though.
A bright white room was at the end of the halls I ran through. Everything seemed calm as I ran in when the man repeated himself through the intercom. A group of masked men ran out from around the corner and noticed me as I popped right in.
"I take back that luck," I mumbled to myself.
One of the men opened fire and struck me in the side which stung for a moment. I jumped to the side as I ran low toward him. With my hand out, I pushed the gun down, with aim beyond my side, and wrapped my arm around his neck. I continued to rotate around to where I pulled him over my side by his neck. He landed flat on his front. Immediately, I kicked his thick skull in like smashing a chip under my foot. This virus must have made their heads weak. Another man rushed me with a taser point directly out. I stepped to the side and let him run right by without a thought. It was easy to clothesline him when they commit to one action. He was on his back grumbling at me. I smashed his throat in with my foot before I moved on to the next sucker.
I glanced around the room and saw that there was a hole in the wall. It was high up where I couldn't reach it. This luck that I thought I was having clearly disappeared right when I spoke the words. As I tried to keep quiet, I snuck around to find anything that could give me a small boost. A large step ladder sat at the farthest end of the room, and it was the only thing that I could use. I braced myself up against the side and leaned into the metal thing. It slowly screeched across the ground.
"Over here," I heard one of them say. My stealth was blown.
"Get him!" Another growled.
I was nearly horizontal trying to push this heavy step when three of the masked guys rushed into the corner I was hidden in. After pushing for so long, I really didn't want to fight them, but there was no other way out.
The first brave one stepped up with his taser zapping violently. That really didn't look like it would feel good. He ran towards me with his arm raised high, ready to smack me across the head. I crouched down so that his direct line of motion was off when he tried to swing. My hands were ready for when the taser came down. I slipped my hands around his wrist and pulled him to my side where he landed on his face. I rotated his arm to his back as I crawled over his body and cracked the bones in his arm with my foot. I took the lone taser and raised it above my head then slammed it right into his neck where I snapped his spine.
The other two thought it would be great to tag team me. They both ran forward, one right in front of the other. The closest guy advanced to my side while his friend continued head on. There was a pause before they both ambushed me, one clung to my arm and pulled back while the other was coming down with his lit taser. From above, a third masked freak came down when the taser jabbed into my side. My muscles pulled together tightly, and I went down under the weight of the new guy.
Placing my free hand on the ground, my muscles ached as I gathered the adrenaline that coursed through my system. I struggled push them off balance as they pulled my arms around to my back. The guy with the taser stepped on my back to try and keep me from moving. I slid my right leg up and pushed to rotate myself and jar the men. Taser guy lost his balance and fell onto the masked man to my right. With my right arm free, I hooked it around the neck of the man, desperately, holding my left arm. A simple crack, and he had fallen limp onto me. He was easy to roll off to the side.
Twisting out of the way, the two men fumbled back to life. I was knelt down with arms ready to redirect any melee attacks when a gun appeared, aimed right at my face. Immediately, I had leaned to the side as the gun fired. My ear rang for quite some time after the blast, but I needed to act. I darted into the man's space as I wrapped my hands around his arm and pulled it while I rotated towards his friend. I kicked the friend as hard as I could. Reaching my arm to grapple his head, I leaned forward and pulled the masked grump over my back to where he landed, partially, on his friend. I quickly smashed his head in enough to be confident that he wouldn't get up.
The last masked freak was catching his balance when I went or a high kick to his masked face. The poorly painted mask shattered upon contact and cause the man to fumble back. I let myself rest for a moment to let the multi eyed man return to his combatant self. He looked about done with me. I pushed forward with a punch to his face with another right after that. To his surprise, I dropped to kneel and grabbed his ankles. He had fallen like the rest of them did. I walked over his and let my foot create a nice dave in his ugly face.
I was tired from these creatures popping up out of nowhere. This corner was a bad trap to be in so I jogged out of it to where I could climb up to the hole in the wall. I stepped up to where I could easily pull myself up over the lip. I crawled through the passage and plopped into an empty hallway that lead to a surveillance room.
The room was dark and displayed most of the rooms in the facility we were all locked in. I glanced over them to find anyone familiar. Sherry darted through a locker room with Vivy following right behind her, both unarmed. In another hall, there were a couple masked freaks marching around with their toy guns. Some of the cameras looked as if they were armed and ready to shoot. I fiddled with the joystick and aimed for the men in the hallways, blowing their brains out with ease.
"I can get use to this," I laughed to myself.
I looked back to where Sherry and Vivy were stuck at a door. They pointed at something I couldn't quite make out. Then a masked man kicked the farthest door open and casually walked in. Sherry and Vivy flinched when they heard the door open up. They saw an open locker and crammed themselves into the box. The masked man walked around towards the door, swivelling his head around searching for odd things. He stopped right in front of the door and clicked a few buttons before stepping into the the wall, passing through the door.
Switching to another camera, I saw that there was a room full of multiple freaks. They just stood around aimlessly even though we were still out free. I guess it was their break time. For the next couple minutes, I used the weaponized security camera to shoot all the masked creatures that were in the room. Then Sherry popped in with Vivy. They rushed over to the next door and inputted a code that was easy to memorise. Three simple buttons and they were through.
Once the door popped open, there was a masked man that stepped out from the other side and grabbed the closest person, Sherry. I couldn't shoot because I would of ended up killing Sherry. I slammed my fists against the security system's desk as I watched them struggle.
Vivy was directing Sherry to do something as Vivy caved her arms and looked like she was doing a small countdown while she walked closer the two of them. In a quick second, Sherry pulled her legs up while Vivy crawled between the man's legs and pulled. He had buckled forward onto Sherry, but she pushed back against him which made his body bend in half at the waist. Vivy wrapped an arm around his neck which caused him struggle to free himself from Vivy.
"Jesus," I whispered, a little surprised with the complexity.
Sherry grabbed one of the guns lying around and shot him in the head right before they both rushed through the door. I scratched my head and scanned the screens once again. They weren't anywhere to be seen. There must have been multiple sections to this large facility that had different security blocks.
I moved on where a similar door blocked my exit. I inputted the same combination they had and let the door swoosh open. Ahead, a wall of bars stopped me, but there was a hole right before it. Isn't that convenient? I crawled through and up a ladder where I discovered I was passing through some modern ventilation system. There were large areas to walk through while other places had me crawling like a kid. A shower was needed after this run around.
I came across the end of the system with another low hole. It dropped me into a room full of lockers that had Sherry and Vivy glancing around.
"Hey, it's you," Vivy, hair cut all off, laughed hysterically.
"Jake," Sherry had said at the same time.
I smiled with content that we were all finally together in a room. Sherry and Vivy were dressed in the white uniforms that covered very little. Their cleavage was open and the gowns were cut to the top of their thighs. I glanced away out of modesty. When I turned back, Sherry had disappeared, but Vivy had been walking along the lockers while rubbing her head. At the base of Vivy's head, there was a symbol etched in her skin.
"What is that?" I asked Vivy as I pointed to her.
Vivy just turned to look at me confused then as if I was boorish. She continued to rub her head until she ran her fingers over what I had pointed out.
"Fuck, I've been branded," she growled. Her fingers danced along the symbol. "What does it look like?"
I walked over to take a better look at it. It was an octagon with even red and flesh sections. There was the company name, Umbrella Corporation, written under it with a long number.
"It's says Umbrella Corporation," I said.
"Damn, no one is going to hire me now," Vivy grunted then stomped away to open a locker.
"Hire you?" I asked rather confused. There was silence in the the room.
"You know…" Vivy began then paused for a second. "Tattoo discrimination. I can't hide this thing till my hair grows out."
I turned to find a locker of clothes to change into and thought about how Vivy seemed like she was hiding something. Many of them were locked as I pulled the handles. Sherry had dressed quickly in a tan button up shirt, with a blue scarf, and pale green capris then wandered over to where Vivy was to check out the tattoo. Click, one of the lockers was open.
"Where are we?" Sherry asked out loud.
"China," I said flatly while I pulled out the clothes from the locker.
"Obviously, but where?" Sherry wanted specifics.
"Probably in Hell," Vivy chimed in.
I looked back to Vivy, and she had thrown clothes everywhere from multiple lockers. Vivy glanced back, and my face probably portrayed my perplexed expression.
"They don't fit," Vivy said. She was the smallest one of the group.
With that, I continued to dress myself with a black Henley shirt matched with dark pants that I stuffed into the brown boots which surprisingly fit.
"We can be anywhere, but if we can find my flat, we can rest," Vivy uttered as I heard more clothes drop to the ground. She was tearing the place apart.
So we all started in Edonia, where Sherry originally was from America, and Vivy being the only one who we know nothing about. I clipped on some leather suspenders to the belt and locked on a holster for a large handgun. When I finished, I sat on the bench that split the room. Vivy opened the last unlocked locker, she could find, and slumped over.
"Do you know anything about an Albert Wesker?" I had inquired the both of them.
Sherry looked at me quietly as Vivy let the white uniform fall. I glanced over her body before quickly turned my head to the other side of the room. We let the room fall to an awkward silence.
"What?" Sherry said.
I put my forehead in my hand and let my fingers run along my eyes. I guess Sherry knew a little something about him. Vivy sat right in front of me to put some black combat boots on her small feet.
"Well, they talked about him. A lot," I continued with the subject.
"I had the pleasure of meeting that fucker," Vivy blurted out. "My father was a workaholic like that Wesker guy."
I watched Vivy carefully as she let her feet settle on the ground and then glanced along the clothing on the floor. She knew him at some point in her life. Who was this girl? Sherry stood off to the side as she stared at Vivy with wide eyes.
"What did you know about him?" I demanded an answer from Vivy.
"I didn't know anything about him," Vivy pushed back against my aggressive question. The silence lingered back into the room.
"I guess he had an antibody that could fight off any virus," I quietly said. "It matches mine."
Sherry sat down on the other side of Vivy, who was kicking around the clothes. A small shoulder holster dangled in Sherry's hands then she had put it on. Vivy bent over and picked up a black jacket. They both remained quiet.
"Apparently, he abused his gift, took it for granted, and then ended up turning himself into some kind of monster," I grumbled into the silence.
"Sounds like he discovered that he didn't have an invincible antibody," Vivy blurted out in a condescending tone.
"The same one I have," I whispered.
"So?" Vivy questioned back.
"You think crazy doesn't run in the family? The man that I am, the things that I have done..."
Vivy grabbed my face with a hand and moved it from side to side. Then she pushed my head up and grumbled to herself before letting go. I slowly let my head down and stared at Vivy.
"It seems like the crazy already has started," Vivy said as she stared right back at me.
I didn't know what to say. Sherry was looking past Vivy to me with arms crossed. It seemed like they were just about to gang up on me since they both looked me dead in the eye.
"It makes a little more sense now," I whispered and looked off to the side. "My dear ol' dad wasn't a deadbeat that skipped out on us…He was actually a freakin' nut job that almost destroyed the world." I darted my eyes to look back at them then leaned over and ran my hands over my head.
"Your father's actions have nothing to do with you." Sherry said as she had shifted around on the bench.
"Yeah, but his blood does. It's the whole reason why we are here, locked up and hunted like dogs," I blurted out angrily. "You think that nothing was passed down from the gene pool?"
"You have his eyes and sharp nose," Vivy sighed and got up from the bench. Sherry followed right behind her.
I grabbed Vivy's wrist right before she past by me, and we were in silence till she ripped her arm from my hand. There was so much mystery around Vivy that wasn't settling well with me. The questions kept piling up as little trickles of her life seeped through the cracks. She knew my father, and she randomly just showed up in this whole situation.