Chapter 2 now up! Enjoy, but I feel like I rushed this chapter a bit. :(

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Chapter 2: Feeling Normal?

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January, 1999

"So, how'd it go?" Claire asked me immediately when I left that room. I wanted to say it sucked a lot and I nearly died inside there, but Claire's beautiful and gratifying facial expression led me to say otherwise.

"It's… Okay. Nothing much really happened" I said nervously. Of course, Claire would have doubted my answer. "Well, it's not like I don't believe you or anything, but you're probably the only one who went in there and came out without even saying a bad thing about what happened back there. You're not… Lying to me are you?"

That was it. Her wicked glance made me spit out the truth.

"Alright already, it didn't go too well. Honestly it was painful… Why the heck did they need to stick like, a hundred needles on my arms? And how about the one straight on the arse, was that even necessary?" I said, and I may have told a bit too much, especially the arse thing.

I snorted when I noticed Claire's chuckles that filled the hall. "I'm sure that buttock thing was necessary, the guys know what they're doing. You're very lucky though, since you only had to experience that once. Me on the other hand, I went through that two times," she said, her laughter so loud enough that it could be heard through the other rooms. At least she's not laughing at me now, I guess.

"Claire!"

An ordinary-looking girl went running towards her. Her short, blond hair matched her pretty dress very well, and I wondered... Is that her daughter? In my mind, I panicked at that thought. Who the hell was the father? But then I realized, if she was her daughter, then Claire could have been just a minority when she gave birth, since the girl looked like she was older than ten years old.

How stupid of me.

"Sherry!" Claire called as she held out her arms to embrace the girl. Sherry happily wrapped her arms around her neck, like a little child that didn't see her mother in years. Maybe she really was her daughter, but I got rid of that ridiculous thought.

"Steve, this is Sherry Birkin. She's the girl I was talking about, another survivor of Raccoon City."

Sherry smiled at me like a child usually does. "Nice to meet you, Steve," she said, and she held out her hand, offering to shake hands. I accepted her offer and we shook hands like we were making a very important deal.

"Go on ahead Sherry. I'll talk to you later. Me and Steve has a lot to talk about now, and we need our privacy."

Privacy? I gulped down, and I suddenly felt the sweat dripping down from my head due to the deep worry I was feeling.

"Before I go Claire," the girl said maturely, "I want to ask you. If you had to choose between Leon and Steve, who would you pick?" Her innocent smile made Claire blush of embarrassment. "Oh, Sherry, you don't really need to ask a question like that," she said nervously as she pushed her towards the door. I wondered about it actually, she does have a boyfriend already, she told me that in Rockfort.

"Ahem, so Steve… about this, 'dating' thing, one thing you should know is that I still have a boyfriend now, but don't fret, we're actually just best friends, we don't usually have that love connection with us. Also, you didn't really need to ask Chris for permission though if we could have a relationship. You really embarrassed me back there; Chris said I was scary for you." She stared at me with an evil look, I couldn't even say anything, and she looked a lot scarier than those zombies we encountered in Rockfort and Antarctica. Chris really did say the truth in my opinion.

"So first of all-" The door of the room that I was just in suddenly swung open, and out came one of the scientists that were inside. Thank God, I didn't really want to hear what Claire wanted to say, though it'll probably best to hear her words especially if we're going to start a relationship.

"Mr. Burnside, could you come inside, please? Just for a minute or so. We need to ask some questions…"

Claire rolled her eyes, and I could tell she was annoyed that the scientist just interrupted her. "Go ahead Steve, I'll be waiting here." It looks like our "talk" is kind of inevitable after all. I followed the scientist into the room, hoping it'll last long enough till Claire would just forget about it.

When I went inside the laboratory, all of the scientists were staring at me suspiciously. I wonder what they wanted to ask me about, and then I remembered.

The T-Veronica virus was still inside of me, and they must have found out.

The scientist that led me inside offered me a seat, and I sat. All of the eyes that stared at me made me quite nervous.

"So, Mr. Burnside, did you take any medications at least before, during, or after your stay in Rockfort Island or the Antarctic Facility?" One of the scientists asked as he held his hands together.

"None that I know off," I said, shaking away my nervousness as I talked, since I didn't really want to look like I was lying to them. One of the scientists started looking through his laptop, like he was looking at the results of the experiment they did a while ago. Who knows what they might do to me if they find out I had that T-Veronica virus still inside of me…

"Mr. Burnside, I'm afraid we might need to take you into U.S. custody for now, we have found something inside your body that's different from what we've seen before."

Crap. I had to get out of there, I knew these types of people would gladly do anything they can to feed their minds of any info they could find.

I ran to the door, but before I got close, two large men went in wearing an agent-looking outfit and sunglasses. One thought entered into my mind when I saw them, they were here to take me away.

"What the hell's going on in there?" Claire shouted when she entered. She must've noticed the two agents that came here, but who the hell wouldn't even notice them anyway, wearing those clothes.

"Ms. Redfield, please calm down for a moment," one of the scientists said when Claire forced herself in by passing through the two agents that covered the doorway, concerned about me. "What are you going to do to him?" She asked, anger evident in her voice.

"Do not worry Ms. Redfield. We're simply just going to take him into our custody, as he has something that many of us would want to know about. Now please, if you would, do not try to disrupt our work-"

I could see Claire's outraged reaction when she interrupted him. "Your work? What are you going to do, experiment on him like the bastards you are?" Her insult must've hit a nerve on that scientist, I can see his face glowing red with annoyance.

"Please leave now, Ms. Redfield, or do we have to force you out of here?" he said, trying to act calm and professional. I could've punched his face right now if I knew I wouldn't get into trouble. Claire was still angry, but then she grunted and left the lab without saying a word.

"Come with us, Mr. Burnside," the agent said, and I had no other choice but to follow them, unless I would've wanted to get forced. When we went outside, I could see Claire's eyes full of concern and worry.

"Claire, don't worry. I'll be back, I promise." It was the only thing that flashed onto my mind, the extremely cheesy line which most actors in army movies would say to their love interests when they leave them to fight for their country. In rare, or probably, more common cases, they wouldn't return, and leave their loved ones to suffer, just because they made that defiled promise. After thinking through it, I knew saying that line would have a bad effect on Claire.

I glanced back at Claire as I followed the two agents. Even though her sorrowful face can be easily seen throughout her light-skinned face, I could see her vivid blue eyes glistening through the rays of morning sunlight that passed through the old, creaky windows of this hospital. Gorgeous, I thought. But then again, I thought they were of hazel color? But I didn't care. She still looked very attractive either way.

"So, might I ask? Where the hell are you two taking me?" I asked, and I feel like I'm starting to be like Claire already.

"I'm afraid that is classified information, Mr. Burnside. Please refrain from asking questions."

Typical answer by two anonymous agents. So, I sighed and kept quiet as we rode the elevator to the ground floor.

A few moments later, we were already driving away from the hospital, to someplace I don't even have an idea of. I had this gut feeling that something bad is going to happen, I had that momentary urge inside of me to just get out of there.

Sudden gunshots made me and the both of the agents jump from shock. We found ourselves swerving through the musty and slippery old road, and in a few seconds, we were about to fall off a steep cliff.

"Everybody get out now!" I shouted, and quickly opened the car door and jumped out of the car, tumbling on the hard cement. I could feel my skin burning as I rolled on the ground, but at least it was better off than falling through that steep cliff.

But then I noticed, both of the agents were busy trying to remove their seatbelts, and it was too late for them to get out. They fell down on the shallow river below, and when I ran to check on them, an explosion erupted. They were dead, and ironically they got killed because of the supposed-to-be protecting-you seatbelt, I guess I can't call them your lifesavers now.

"Thought you could escape me, Steve Burnside?" The familiar voice lingered through my head. It was him again, the man with his blond hair slicked onto the back of his head, and wearing the odd sunglasses that I thought I broke already during our fight in that Antarctic Facility.

I bit my lip through the frustration inside my head. "Haven't you learned already? I'm stronger than you even if you do have that incredible speed and power. Just give it up, there's no way you could beat me," I said, mocking him with his particular attitude of looking bad-ass.

"Then I'll just have to keep trying." Like from before, he rushed at me again with his hands balled into fists, ready to hit me with all he's got. Easy again, I thought. But then he just disappeared in front of me.

I quickly faced back and I find myself getting hit on the chest with a straight punch. Like from before, it felt like the pain just disappeared once I got back up to my feet.

A pick-up truck came to a screeching halt right behind me, and somebody climbed out of the truck. It was Claire.

"Steve? What happened?" She said and came running towards me. She looked at the man right behind me. "Wesker…" She brought out her handgun inside of her pocket and pointed it directly onto the man, whom I now know as Wesker.

"What a touching reunion, Claire Redfield. If only your brother was here, I could have killed you all right now."

Seeing through Wesker's gaze to Claire, I knew he'll target her first, and I was right. He came rushing to her, but before he did, I was able to interrupt him and he slammed onto a tree due to my immense strength.

Claire was shocked to see how powerful I was. "How did you…?"

"No time to explain, get in the truck!" Both of us ran to the vehicle as fast as possible and went inside. Sherry was there, and based from her expression, she was afraid of me. But, I couldn't just let Claire die back there, I had to do it.

Claire started the engine and rode off, away from the momentarily-stunned Wesker, up until we completely lost sight of him. We stopped at a nearby gasoline station, since Claire wanted to call Chris and tell him what happened.

I stood there and watched Claire talking to Chris on the phone as I drank my cold soda. I've never been so dehydrated in all my life… It's like I easily grow weary every time I used this kind of power I had. Sherry stayed inside the truck, maybe because she had fear from me now. She was just a 12 year old girl, and I don't really know what she encountered in that Raccoon City incident, but she disturbs me a lot with her fearful glares. Was I that scary?

"Steve," Claire called after she hung up on the phone, "Both me and my brother knows that the T-Veronica virus is still inside of you. For now, I guess we have to keep this a secret, don't try to use that power of yours out on public, okay?" I nodded, of course I wouldn't want to use my powers in front of people or else it might cause a conspiracy. The other thing I worried about though, was if I mutated again. It's definitely a possibility, and if I lose control… What would happen to Claire, or Chris, or maybe even Sherry when I do?

"There's got to be a way to remove this virus inside of me. Isn't there?" I asked Claire, hoping his brother might have any good leads to that. "My brother's trying to find out. For now, we have to get to his apartment and hide there until he could find anything."

I followed Claire to the truck and hopped inside. Sherry was awkwardly silent; she just stared at her hands that were placed on her lap, like a well disciplined school girl. Claire started the engine and we went on.

I wonder now, what awaits me with this dreadful virus inside of my body.

-End of Chapter 2