Disclaimer: I don't own Jonny Quest or Resident Evil.
A New Nightmare
Chapter 10
By: Sigokat
Saddler broke the psychic link he held with the Psion as soon as he felt the searing pain run through his body. Since the Psion was blind, Saddler could not see what was happening; however all his other senses were heightened during the connection as if he were the Psion himself. He heard the gunshots through his creation's ears and then the sudden burst of fire burning his skin. He cursed himself for his momentary weakness; the suddenness of the physical pain caused him to react without thinking. After he calmed his nerves, Saddler attempted to reestablish the link with his "son".
"Are you there, my child?" Saddler called out through his mind.
After a few moments of silence he received a response, "Yes, father."
"What happened?"
"I could sense the girl, but the others protected her. I would have had them but the flames consumed me."
"How bad are you hurt?"
"I am sorry, father. I will have them soon."
"Yes, you will. Do not worry, my child, I am not angry with you. The humans are proving to be far more resilient then we had at first anticipated."
"I will kill them."
"Yes and then you shall receive your award. Remember when you succeed and I am done with the girl, she will be yours to do with as you please."
Saddler felt a surge of excitement rush through the Psion. It was no longer ashamed, but refreshed anew by Saddler's promise.
"Where are the humans now?" Saddler asked.
"I cannot sense them, but I will find them soon."
"Good; then go and hunt, my son. However, before you make your first kill you are to contact me. I have other matters that require my attention, but I want to be with you when you make the kill. The humans' blood will feel good as it flows from their dying bodies over your hands."
"Yes, father. I will obey."
Saddler once again broke the link with the Psion, not wanting it to sense any of the dismay and anger that he was experiencing. He had the utmost confidence in the creature to kill the humans when he initially sent it out on its mission; however the fact that it ran so quickly when confronted with the fire concerned him. He had almost called the Psion back to the castle, intrigued at the group's ability to survive so long had compelled him to want to face his advisories, but in the end they were little more then nuisances, insects that needed to be swatted, and Saddler did not want to risk them destroying any more of his works. The Psion will kill them and that would be the end of the problem. Saddler grinned at the thought of their deaths, being able to hear their screams of agony and feel their bodies convulsing in death as his "son" drained the life out of them one by one and the fact that he would be linked to the experience gratified him to no end.
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Jonny's insides were burning. His stomach was knotted in immense pain and he thought that he could almost feel something growing inside him. He told himself that it was just his brain messing with him, but still he knew that he had been injected with a Las Plagas egg and that it would soon hatch inside his body. He did not want to think what would become of him if that were to happen. The last thing that he wanted was to end up like one of the mindless, blood thirsty villagers that they had fought earlier enroute to the church. He silently cursed himself for being caught so easily; however he did not want the others to know how he was suffering so he trudged on next to his father. Jonny loved his father more then anything and he knew that Benton was only concerned about his health, but the constant looks that his father kept giving him was starting to wear down his nerves. He ignored his father's concerned glances and kept his eyes forward, watching the backs of Jessie and Estella and the creep David who had done this to him.
The group was moving towards the castle, which according the PDA map was only a few miles off. Race brought up the rear with Dr. Quest, the kids, Estella, and their captive in the middle; Corbin was leading the group, at a rather quick pace. Race was concerned for his friend, who had not said a word upon leaving the church. He almost regretted telling Phil about David's identity because of the implications that it had brought. Race knew his boss was as tough as he was, but perhaps the current situation was affecting him more then he let on. Race decided it was best to try and keep an eye on Phil and also keep him away from David as well, who at the moment was needed alive so they could help Jonny.
Two miles up, the path led up a large hill. Phil led the group up towards the top, but as his sight crested the top he held up his fist, signaling the others to halt. He lay down on his stomach and crawled up to the top of the hill peering out. The others huddled together and the only sound was David's constant snickering. Race moved forward and lay down next to Phil, who was peering over the hill through his binoculars.
"What is it?" Race asked, looking in the same direction as Phil.
Phil didn't answer immediately; he just continued to scan the countryside. Race, growing impatient, pulled out his own binoculars and looked as well. Off in the distance he saw flickering lights and as he zoomed in he could see the castle, sitting atop another large hill; large flames dotted the top of the castle walls. Race could not tell for sure what was producing the fires.
"There it is." Race breathed.
"Look down." Corbin instructed.
Race zoomed out and in the valley between their current location and the castle was an enormous wall that spanned out as far as the eyes could see; there appeared to be no way around. Almost directly across from where they lay, inset into the wall, was a door. The path led all the way to the door. A cliff rose up on the left side of the path and another large lake lay below; off past the lake Race could see more land, but as far as he could tell there was no way to reach the area from their current position. It appeared as if the lake reached out beyond the far end of the castle as well. Race wasn't sure, but it looked as if there was no where else to go beyond the castle. Race focused back on the door in the wall; it appeared to be the only path to the castle.
"Looks like that's our way in." Race said.
Corbin grunted and stood back up. Without a word he started over and down the other side of the hill.
Race shook his head and waved the others forward. As they approached he stated, "There's a door across the valley. We need to hurry."
As the group passed Race stole a glance at Jonny who looked terrible. If David had really infected the boy with the parasite, it was slowly tearing the boy apart. Race seethed with anger and he reached out and grabbed David by the arm, holding him in place as the others followed after the Intelligence One agent.
"You better hope we find that antidote." Race hissed at the younger man.
David cringed as Race spoke. He tried to free himself from Race's grasp, but with his hands bound behind his back he could not get any leverage. "Or what?" David spat.
"Well, you know that if you're lying to us, we'll find out sooner or later. And God help you if Jonny doesn't live."
"Your God can do nothing to me." David snickered.
Squeezing the man's arm even harder, Race leaned in close to him, their faces only inches apart. "You better hope that's not the case. I'm the nice one in this group."
"What?"
"I'll give you over to my buddy up there and you already know he's crazy."
David's eyes widened with fear. "You can't do that."
"Don't test me…or him." With that Race pushed the young man forward and they continued along after the others.
They reached the door without any further incidents. The surrounding area remained eerily quite, with the exception of the distant sounds of wave lapping against the cliff side far below. Phil examined the door as the others gathered around.
"No handles." Jessie muttered.
"So how do we get in?" Dr. Quest asked to no one in particular.
Race's eyes fell upon a strange cylindrical device set into the right side of the wall next to the door's frame. He strode over and peered at it; a small hole was set in the middle with some sort of display panel at the top. "This is odd." Immediately a thin beam of light flashed out from the round opening and began tracking Race's face. It stopped on his right eye and a barely audible buzzing noise could be heard as it scanned Race's eye. After a few moments the beam abruptly shut off and the words ACESS DENIED appeared in bold red letters on the display screen.
He turned back to the others, "Interesting security they have for such a destitute countryside."
"So how do we get in?" Jonny asked, "The wall is too high to climb and its completely smooth; nothing to use as hand or foot holds."
The answered occurred to almost everyone at once. As one they all turned and gazed at their hostage. David's grin quickly disappeared as he slowly began to step backwards.
"I don't have access." He stammered. "I'm not that important."
"How else were you supposed to report back to Saddler?" Race stepped towards the man.
"He contacted me." David said, but his lies were extremely unconvincing. He watched as Race stepped closer to him and he quickly squeezed his eyes shut while shaking his head vigorously. "You can't make me do it."
Phil pushed Race aside and as he stepped towards to young man, he slowly withdrew his combat knife from his side. Jessie instinctively stepped back into her mother's arms. The memories from Washington flooding her vision as she saw him withdraw the knife. She forced herself to look at Phil's face and there she saw the same blank and emotionless eyes that she saw when she witnessed him kill Krumlanski. As much as she respected and cared about the man who had repeatedly saved her life, she could not repress her fear of him when he was in this state. Estella placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders and held her against her body. She did not understand her daughter's sudden fear of the Intelligence One agent, but she too saw the distant void that filled his eyes.
Corbin snatched David's arm with such force that the man opened his eyes. Almost immediately he wished that he hadn't. He saw the knife in the older man's right hand and he tried to plant his feet in place. Corbin proved much stronger then David and against his physical protests he dragged him over to the retinal scanner.
"You have two choices." Corbin stated. "You open the door on your own or I make you open the door." He placed the edge of the knife against David's cheek. "It really doesn't matter to me which way we do this, but if you want to keep your eyesight I suggest you help us."
David visibly shook with fear. "You won't do it." He challenged as he shut his eyes again.
Corbin sighed, tired of playing these games, and pressed the knife a little harder against the other man's cheek. A small trickle of blood formed beneath the blade.
David's eyes shot open as he felt the knife pierce his skin. "You are crazy." He exclaimed.
Corbin shrugged in response. "Well?"
"Fine I'll do it, but Saddler will kill me for sure."
"I'll kill you for sure if you don't cooperate." Corbin stated bluntly.
David understood the implied threat and quickly set to allowing the retinal scanner to verify his identity. The laser scanned his eye and within a few moments the words ACCESS GRANTED appeared in large green letter across the screen. Everyone in the group stepped back from the door as mechanical gears could be heard as the doors began to slide inwards into the wall. Clouds of dust and debris were kicked up from the dirt path as the doors opened and they all covered their mouths to prevent themselves from inhaling more of the dust then necessary. The doors continued to open and with a thunderous boom they set themselves into the walls.
"Alright, let's go." Race announced as the doors finished opening.
Corbin grabbed David and shoved him forward and as the pair walked past, Race grabbed his boss by the arm, stopping him mid-step.
Looking down at Race's hand clamped against his bicep, Phil asked, "What?"
"You need to control yourself, Phil."
With a grunting noise Phil tried to pull himself free of Race's grasp, but Race held on tightly. Phil glared back at Race. "Let go of me."
The others had stopped and were all staring at the two men intently.
"We need you focused." Race said leaning closer to Corbin's face.
"I'm fine."
"No you're not. I wouldn't have told you if I knew you'd react this way."
"Told him what?" Dr. Quest asked. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." Corbin snapped. "Race is just overreacting. He's probably just tired."
Race instinctively tightened his grip causing his superior to visibly wince. "We have to find the antidote for Jonny."
"Yes and we still have to stop these people, but we can't do either with you holding us up, Race."
Race stared into his boss' eyes and then realized that perhaps he was in fact overreacting. 'No' he reassured to himself. 'Phil is losing of control.'
"Then answer me this, Phil. Would you have really cut that boy's eyes out?"
Phil turned his gaze to towards David and then back to Race. Staring straight in the eyes he answered, "Yes and he's not a boy; he's the enemy."
"He's not his father, Phil."
"What?" Dr. Quest asked confused, but slowly putting the pieces tighter.
Phil gritted his teeth and again tried to free himself from Race, who proved to be the stronger of the two. "Let me go." He demanded.
Race continued to hold on to Phil, but he turned and addressed the others. "I didn't tell any of you because I didn't think it was relevant, however Mr. Corbin has changed all that." Race nodded his head towards their captive, who was also watching the exchange with wide, terrified eyes. "He's Krumlanski's son and he works for Umbrella."
Benton, Jonny, and Jessie all let out an audible gasp. Only Estella continued to have a clueless expression on her face, "Who's Krumlanski?"
Phil, fed up and embarrassed to be put on the spot, pushed Race in the chest with his free hand as hard as he could, breaking Race's hold on him. He looked towards the others and then at David, "Just stay away from me for your own good or else…"
"Or else what?" David asked definitely, not understanding the other man's rage, only attributing it to his belief that Corbin was in fact crazy.
Phil glowered at the man, causing him to cringe and avert his eyes.
"I'm still confused." Estella announced. She was irritated that she appeared to be the only person in the dark. "Who's Krumlanski?"
Race, seeing the Phil refused to answer the question, decided to answer for him. "The man that murdered Phil's wife."
"Shut up, Race." Phil hissed.
"Oh." Estella lowered her eyes.
"Oh?" Phil snorted, "That's all you have to say is 'oh'? You all just don't get it do you?"
"I'm sorry, Phil." Estella started.
"I don't want your pity, Estella." Corbin barked. "This scum works for Umbrella, just like his father did. He's no better then he was and you all want to treat him like he's some lost kid."
"Was?" David muttered, "My father…"
Corbin whipped his head back towards David, "Yes, 'was' is correct. Your father is dead."
"How?" David asked.
"What? Now you have some sort of feelings?" Phil bickered. "You people at Umbrella have absolutely no morals. No qualms about experimenting on innocent human beings, but yet you're upset when one of your own is killed? You make me sick." Corbin stepped to within inches of the young man's terrified face. Race grabbed Phil's shoulder, but he shrugged him off. "Yes, David, your father is dead and it was I that killed him; stabbed him through his cold and unloving heart." David's body sagged as he heard the I-1 agent's words. "And I'll do the same to you if you give me a reason…such as not telling us where the antidote is located. If you think I'm bluffing just try me."
David inhaled and looked at the older man, trying to appear defiant, however his fear was all too visible. He lowered his eyes and said, "Fine, but promise me one thing."
"I don't make promises to scumbags like you." Phil answered.
"Help my sister. I think Umbrella is after her."
Phil stepped back and David saw the confusion in his eyes. "You didn't know I had a sister, did you?"
Phil shook his head, "No, but that doesn't change anything."
"I just want to…" David's words were cut off by an ear piercing scream. The group turned as one and saw a shadow clad figure atop the hill on the far side of the valley. It's surgically implaced claws visible in the dusk.
"Oh shit." Race mumbled. "Through the door…now." He ordered.
The group quickly stepped through the door as the creature began to descend the hill.
"How do you close this thing?" Jonny asked as he searched for some sort of locking device.
"Here." David answered; his fear of the approaching creature seemed as genuine as the rest of theirs. He nodded his head at a lever inset in the left side of the wall. His hands were still bound behind his back and unable to operate the lever himself.
Jonny came over to his side and raised the lever. Almost immediately they could all hear the gears begin to work. Race and Phil stood at the center of the door, rifles aimed at the approaching creature.
The sound of the doors must have alerted the creature to their pending escape, for it leaned its head back and let out another loud howl, then it lowered its head and began to charge the door, just as it had during their last encounter.
At the sight of the creature's advance, Race and Phil both opened fire on the creature. Bullets pelted its body, but it continued its advance.
"Damn, these doors are slow." Race mumbled as the doors began to move back into place.
The creature continued its assault and was quickly closing the distance to the door. The bullets seemed to have little effect on stopping the monster.
"Keep firing." Phil ordered as he fired the last round from his magazine; quickly releasing it and reaching for another. "The doors are almost closed."
The doors were almost shut and the creature bolted forward; if it got through then they were all dead for sure. Race planted his feet and continued to fire as Phil reloaded and raised his rifle back up.
The creature lunged at the doors, its metallic claws scrapping against the stone. Race and Phil reflexively jumped backwards and the doors slammed shut.
They all let out a sigh of relief, but they knew they were not out of danger yet; the sounds of the creature banging on the opposite side of the doors confirmed that.
"We shouldn't linger here." Dr. Quest announced, "It won't take that thing long to figure out how to open the doors and that's assuming it doesn't already know."
"It can't open the doors." David said.
"Why not?" Jessie asked.
"It has no eyes." David answered. He was now all too willing to supply the group with little bits of information that they would need. His goals had not changed and he figured that he could use the Quests to remove most of Saddler's minions for him.
"No eyes?" Jonny asked astounded.
"No, but it can still get to us. It knows other ways." David responded cryptically.
"I'm with Doctor Quest." Phil stated. "We need to keep moving." He looked up the path and began walking. "We need to go now." He said over his shoulder.
The others stared at Race for a moment, looking for some sort of reassurance. "He'll be fine. He won't jeopardize us." Race said, but he still wasn't so sure himself. Race had expected Phil to react harshly to David's identity, but he did not think the man would kill the boy outright, but now he was unsure.
"Let's hope not." Estella said.
Inwardly, Doctor Quest sympathized with Phil Corbin. He knew what it was like to lose a loved one to violence. He may not agree with Phil's approach to the situation; however he did not blame the man either. "Phil will be alright." Benton stated, "He's a very temperamental man and he just needs some time to cool down."
Race nodded at Benton, understanding the look in his eyes.
"Come on." Phil hollered from a short distance ahead. "You want to wait around for that thing to get through the wall?"
Suddenly, they remembered the creature on the opposite side of the wall and realized that the clawing and pounding noises had stopped. Without another word they quickly got back in line and trudged up the path after the I-1 agent.
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To be continued…