-Chapter 20: Adam-

"No," I breathed. "You can't be… Phil?"

Phil Dwyer, who was my mother's husband and my step father. Phil Dwyer, who had insisted on taking Renee and me to see a major league baseball game once it had come out that neither of us had ever been. Phil Dwyer, who had followed Renee's sudden intrigue in Yoga as far as to sign the both of them up for classes.

"Bella," he sighed, smiling a true, genuine smile as he clicked the phone closed. "It's good to finally see you again in person."

"Phil," I said slowly, glancing at the hunters again and wondering how and why they weren't pouncing on… "No…" I whispered. "It's not…" I squinted at him, really giving him a look, and staggered back in shock. "You're…infected?"

"An understatement, Bella," he chuckled like he used to laugh when Renee locked herself out of her car and needed him to help her unlock it. "But yeah, I've come a long way; as have you." He nodded toward me.

"I don't understand," I shook my head, eyes roaming his body again and again.

Renee had been hysteric when I had returned and Phil hadn't. She had suspected all along that he was dead, but almost every day we were hiding out in some abandoned building in Phoenix she would take out her cell phone and just stare at it like she expected it to ring at any moment. They had loved each other very much, so I knew that if he were alive somewhere, he would eventually find his way back to us.

Except he didn't and mom was dead. I killed her.

"I know," he stood up out of the bench and moved closer to me, shooting a glance behind me as the soldier the hunter had brought let out a curse. "And I wish I could have been there for you and Renee," I flinched at the mention of my mother's name. "But things just didn't work out that way."

"What is this?" I took a step back. "Did you follow me here?"

"We did, yes," he confirmed. "Oh, don't look so frightened, Bella. I'm not going to harm you – I want to help you."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Phil, but why the hell would I trust you?" I asked. "This is some twisted shit you're a part of."

"And none of it my doing," he countered, taking the hint and backing off of me. He didn't sit back down on the bench, though; he opted to stand across from me. "But…you're right. I can see you're afraid of me – I can feel it, Bella." A whining sort of mechanical rumble came from the back wall, opposite the path I had entered through.

"Give me a straight answer, then!" I snarled, weakened tendrils rippling under my skin. I sucked in a breath as vertigo hit me, trying not to show how weak I was. It felt like a single punch would knock me out. "Why are you doing this? Why are you and your band of infected following me around? What do you want from me?"

"I will tell you everything you want to know," he nodded. "As soon as you replenish your strength." Phil gestured to the blind and disoriented humans bumbling around in the dark. "That bloodtox very nearly killed you."

I looked behind me again. The science guy was shivering up against the far wall, partially obscured by a crate. His breathing had simmered down to somewhere around the level of 'hard breathing,' as opposed to the moaning, rapid breaths he had been taking. He also held a rusted monkey wrench clenched tightly in his fists like a sword. His eyes wheeled in the darkness, vigilant, but I could see the fatigue setting in from the adrenaline fading from his system.

The woman – the soldier – wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed as she was crouched on the organic carpet. She didn't have a weapon in her hands, no matter how ineffective it would be against a hive of infected, but her arms were bent at her sides, ready for something to attack her in the dark.

I turned back to Phil. "No."

"Oh, Bella," he sighed. "I thought you would have moved past this – I thought you had. You need to consume biomass or you'll shrivel up and die, honey." He took a step forward.

"Don't!" I snarled, though it must have been a pathetic warning, since it was taking most of my concentration just to stand. "Don't."

"I'm not going to let you suffer, Bella," he shook his head but moved back a step nonetheless. "Do you not even realize where I rescued you from, girl? They took you back to Seattle with them after they lured you into the facility. Do you have any idea what they would have done to you inside that cage?"

"Wait," I licked my lips, swaying and feeling very light headed. "Lured me? No. I went there on my own, Phil. We needed to know why that girl was following me around." I laughed dryly. "I guess I ended up with my answer." I staggered and stumbled on a pustule, bursting it and collapsing onto my knees.

"I'm not commenting on that or answering any more of your questions until you eat," Phil said as I felt his hands wrap around my arms and pull me up. He walked me over to the bench he had been sitting on and dropped me onto it. "And who knows, maybe you'll get some better answers from them," he nodded his head toward the helpless humans. "Government contracts, the both of them. My children pulled them off the battlefield when they saw how badly you were hurt. So don't feel bad about killing them. Their lot deserve a lot worse, trust me."

Both of the human's breathing increased, so I assumed they had been able to hear us – the room was large, yes, but it was like a small gymnasium; whispers traveled here. I could see the scientist beginning to really panic as he heard Phil talking about his eminent death.

I wanted to say I deliberated for more than ten seconds, but the truth of it was I was too weak to do anything else. I knew as I walked toward the terrified scientist that Phil was pleased – I could almost feel it coming off of him. I didn't want to be subservient to him, but I knew if I wanted to have any chance at all of getting out of here, I needed my strength.

Because I was getting out of here. Phil was…wrong. He was him – just how I remembered, physically – and he carried a few of the same mannerisms and spoke with the same Midwestern accent, but he was so cold. His eyes almost sparkled with mirth, where before they had been honest and open.

I made it as quick as I could manage in my debilitated state for the scientist, who I decided to put out of misery first. I had hugged his body to my own and squeezed tightly, enveloping his body and breaking down his cells at a rapid pace. He didn't have time to scream, but the struggle made the armored soldier gasp and shuffle away from me.

The scientist, David Frederick, hadn't known anything of use besides a few access codes to the Seattle base he had been operating out of. They would be long-changed by the time I ever decided to try my hand at infiltration again. He was a more of a lab assistant than an actual scientist, actually, but he had had a part to play in the creation of bloodtox.

As I passed across from the female, back toward Phil, I caught sight of an egg-shaped object clutched under her sleeve. I hadn't seen many of them in Phoenix, since most of the military preferred bullets and missiles, but the metal head and pull pin made the grenade easy to recognize. I turned my head and continued on, ignoring the woman. She was clever to hide it from Phil and the hunters – and me – and I realized that maybe I could use the explosive as a distraction if things should go sour here.

I just had to remember to duck out of the way when she decided to throw it.

"Better?" Phil asked. I nodded, feeling the absorbed mass distribute itself across my body, filling in the gaps and helping to repair damage wherever the bloodtox had touched. "There's another one if you'd like." He nodded to the woman.

"You said they lured me there," I spoke over his insistence. "Explain." He chuckled lowly and shook his head.

"Exactly that," he shrugged. "A lure. The facility – and several others like it – were built to capture the more intelligent of us. The toxin they've developed to fight against the virus is lethal, but it isn't easily distributed over a large area. I know you noticed there weren't any viral detectors around. Security was lax for a reason: they wanted you to show up so they could take you back to their lab and dissect you."

"Why?" I asked, shaking my head. My vision sharpened as the last of the consumed biomass repaired me. "What do they want me for?"

"Why wouldn't they want you, Bella?" Phil's eyebrows rose and he spread his arms in mock offense. "You're Eve! They've been after you since the beginning – well, at least since they've heard of you."

"I've heard that name before," I narrowed my eyes, remembering the soldier…

"Anyone have eyes on Eve?"

"Negative; I think we lost her."

"Bella?" Phil asked. I blinked and swatted off the hand that was resting on my shoulder.

"I'm Eve?" I asked.

"Yeah," Phil nodded. "They call me Adam." He must have seen the look of confusion and disgust on my face because he quickly continued. "Hey, I didn't come up with the code names! It's just, we're two of a kind, you and me."

"Why?" I asked yet again, intrigued more than wary now. I needed to know why all this was happening to me. "Why are we different than…" I glanced to the still-vigilant hunters guarding the only exit.

"I don't have the answer," he shrugged. "I've looked, too, but they," he gestured to the red puddle where a scientist used to cower and the brave soldier hunched over. "never seem to know anything really of use. The government desires us dearly – they captured me once as well – and they want us bad enough to hold off on the more catastrophic measures."

"By catastrophic, you mean…" I clenched my jaw.

"Nukes," he smiled grimly. "Don't pretend it never crossed your mind, Bella. Why don't they just cut their losses and be done with us?"

"A Petri dish," I mumbled. My eyebrows creased. "Wait, if the government is holding off on nuking the country, wouldn't that suggest they're the ones who did this in the first place?"

"I don't think so," he shook his head. "They'd never 'shit where they eat,' if you understand the phrase. Their bankroll lives here, after all; it wouldn't make sense to unleash this sort of hell on themselves when there are so many other countries to choose from."

"Then who?" I questioned, breaking my gaze away from Phil to stare at the soldier. She, personally, probably wasn't to blame for this at all – and if Phil was right none of them were – but I still loathed them for shooting at me and capturing me.

"I guess I do owe you that," he bowed his head. "I told you I don't know who did this, and I don't, but I do know how it started – where it started."

I didn't say anything. I only studied him again, eyes wandering, trying to detect any sort of deceit.

"A guy came to one of my practice sessions," Phil tilted his head and his eyes unfocused. "He was all dressed up in a suit and tie type deal, despite how hot it was outside. That's what drew my attention at first – made me go over and talk to him.

"He said he had something to offer me: 'a unique opportunity for talent like yours' was what he told me. He handed me a business card and told me to meet him at the address listed in a month. I was curious, I guess," he shook his head. "I don't really remember clearly why I decided to show up, but I did."

"Where was it?" I unconsciously leaned toward him, drawn in. "Who was it?"

"The guy's name was Virgil; no last name," he shrugged. "Or at least that's what he told us. The lab was in Phoenix – downtown."

There was an abrupt clicking sound and both of us glanced toward the human soldier. She had apparently shifted her weight and kneeled on the bio-carpet, hands on her thighs. Phil nodded toward her and raised his eyebrows as if to say 'would you care to eat her?' I squared my shoulders and didn't acknowledge the gesture.

"Us?" I asked. "There were more baseball players?"

"Not just baseball players, Bella," he nodded. "But yeah; there were a couple college basketball players I had heard of at the lab, but I didn't recognize any of the others. They took us all into a lab and…sold us a product, I suppose would be the best way to say it. Virgil told us about this wonderful new 'wonder drug' that could make us stronger and faster – something that was completely safe and undetectable."

I huffed at that.

"Yeah," he smiled without humor. "They lied to us pretty thoroughly."

"And you just went along with this?" I shook my head at him. "None of you – however many there were – thought that this was the least bit strange?"

"Of course we did," he sighed. "I think all of us had our doubts, but these guys weren't amateurs, Bella. They had a real lab in a damn skyscraper. There were secretaries, and guards and everything else you'd expect. Some of us dropped out before we got infected, but most of us stayed. The injection was so innocuous that I didn't think anything of it.

"Then…nothing," he ducked his head. I saw the all-too familiar veins of biomass pulsing across his face and neck. "I wake up in a warehouse on the outskirts of Phoenix and the infected had already begun to take over."

"What was the name of the lab?" I asked. "It must have been on the building or something." He nodded.

"Gentek, but don't bother going after it. I already tried. The company doesn't even exist – not one website, article, or photograph. The entire building was rented out to make it look real, but again, it's a dead end trying to track down whoever did this."

I bowed my head in thought. I had always thought that there were two sides to this whole fiasco: the infected and the army. But if what Phil was telling me was true – which was something I was still having difficulty determining – then there was another player in this. Someone else, nameless, pushing buttons and silently directing the show.

But why?

I didn't have all the answers, and I couldn't shake the feeling that Phil was hiding something from me – almost toying with me. I asked and he answered, but I felt like I was missing a part of the joke. The punch line eluded me.

Why had he really followed me? He had called me family, and maybe I was, but Phil wasn't the same man he was with Renee – he wasn't human. I couldn't buy into his free offerings of familial love without knowing more. To be vigilant is to be alive, after all.

"What about the girl," I looked toward the hunters, but did not find the black-eyed monster anywhere among them. "If you're like me, then what is she? Is she one of us?" I asked, unsure.

"She was one of the participants," he followed my gaze to the hunters, both of them breathing but otherwise immobile. "And no, Nadia is not like us. Her gifts are less physical and more supernatural, much like your mysterious new friends." If it were possible, I would have paled.

"What?" I whispered.

"Nadia sees more than most," he grinned. "She has monitored your presence here in Washington, even when she was unable to physically locate you. I can honestly say I was shocked to see such a strange and powerful species living such a simple life here."

"What do you know?"

"Not as much as you," he shrugged, shedding the air of menace and superiority like flipping a switch. "I know they're quite strong and very fast. To be honest I have no idea what they are, but they have demanded my attention to be sure."

"You leave them alone!" I snarled, twisting my hands into black-and-red barbed claws.

"Bella…" he said softly, stepping forward, seemingly unaffected by the sight of my weapons, and running his fingers under my chin. "I told you I love you and I'm trying very hard to show you I'm not the bad guy here. I wouldn't dream of hurting your friends – especially the little black-headed one you seem so close with." He chuckled and stepped back. "In fact, it's quite the opposite: I've loaned my help to them."

"What are you talking about?" I slowed my breaths and relaxed a fraction. "What do you mean you loaned your help?"

"Well…" he locked eyes with me.

A blurry image of myself appeared before me, eclipsing all of my senses. I was running through the forest and someone was watching me – I was watching myself run, somehow.

I was crying in the water now, after killing Jessica and Paul. Someone was watching from high up in the trees about one hundred yards away.

Me fighting Paul.

Someone…whoever I was at the moment – they were fighting another wolf now. It was midnight black and very large, and it snapped its jaws toward the unknown entity.

Another different view of wolves fighting. A hunter sprung past my line of sight and tackled a wolf, ripping a leg off with a single bite. Carnage. Blood.

Kill.

Kill.

"The Quileute wolves," I stumbled back, my senses coming back to me as the hallucination faded. "You killed them!"

"They tried to kill you, Bella," he exclaimed. "I wasn't about to let that go. They were dangerous to our kind – damn-near immune to infection and strong and fast enough to tear even you apart." He sighed and slumped his shoulders. "We weren't able to get anything from them, though – not like you did with your wolf. We might as well have been munching on trees."

"This is just…" I gripped my hair, feeling the slender muscles in my upper back slither. The soldier behind me made that annoying clicking sound again. "What the fuck, Phil? Phil?"

Phil wasn't paying attention; he was watching the entrance that the two hunters were guarding. I turned and looked at the two beasts, who were hunched over and snarling at something out of view.

Movement from the soldier drew my attention immediately, since I had been waiting to dodge just in case she got any ideas with the grenade she had smuggled in. She was standing now, clutching something small I hadn't seen before in her right hand – a square piece of metal and plastic that looked something like a pager – and the grenade, pin pulled, in her left.

"Shit!" I took a step as she pulled her arm back and flung myself toward the storage room, crashing through the glass of the once-observation area a few seconds before an enormous bright light and roaring crash reverberated through the small space. My eyes burned and there was a deafening ringing in my ears, even though I had escaped the immediate blast area.

It had to have been a flash bang grenade – a damn effective choice in such a small space. It was practically an echo chamber in here.

Gunshots immediately filled the dusty air, much too loud. I ducked out of cover and sprinted for the exit, my arms already unraveling into tendrils. Three bullets immediately impacted into my chest and shoulder – another whizzed by my head, nearly taking off my ear. My vision was impaired from the grenade blast and from the dust that it had kicked up; I could see cracks and fissures where the concrete was straining to keep from crumbling down.

I couldn't see Phil anywhere, but then again I couldn't see much. A hunter's shape slashed through one of the many armed men who had burst through the entrance, and I was thankful for its distraction. A soldier I was running toward shouted once he caught sight of me and adjusted his aim, but it was too late for him.

His body gave easily as I tackled him through the doorway, feeding tendrils pulling his body apart like wet rags. I couldn't stop, though; I had to move quickly and get the hell out of here. My feet sloshed through the partially eaten corpse and I leaped over the other hunter, who was missing a chunk out of its neck and was about to be killed by the four soldiers that surrounded it.

"Contact!" a muffled voice shouted as I passed over their heads in the narrow passage. I ducked my head and ran.

I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Why would any sensible army start a fight underground when they could level it with explosives? I got my answer as soon as I crashed through the mouth of the passageway and collapsed, gagging, on a subway track.

It was agony all over again, but it wasn't as completely debilitating as it had been at the Forks base. Perhaps Phil had been right: it was difficult for them to pump the stuff over a large area, and I imagined an underground subway line was a pretty sizable order.

A metal slug tore through my cheek, shredding the side of my face and knocking my head back into the stone like a jackhammer. My tissues knitted back together slowly, impeded by the bloodtox that ran rampant in the stale air. I stumbled to my feet and sprinted away from the shooter, nearly falling as another bullet embedded in my lower back.

I stopped breathing and squinted my eyes until only a sliver of sight remained, trying desperately to keep the airborne toxin from entering my body – though I supposed it was moot when bullets had been tearing me open for the past few minutes.

It had to be luck that the next subway station down the line wasn't crawling with army guys. Actually, it wasn't crawling with anybody. The place was abandoned and the ticket gates and turnstiles were locked up tight. The attack on the hive had obviously been scrambled together quickly, since there were fewer military down here in the tunnels than I would have expected.

"She had a radio," I wheezed out a laugh to myself as I ripped through the steel chain of the curtain that was meant to keep people out of the subway station. "Clever girl."

I paused at the bottom of the steps that undoubtedly led to the surface and leaned against the wall to recover a bit, soaking up the diffused sunlight that the concrete provided. The bloodtox in the air was practically null here, but I could still feel the last of it sizzling inside my body. A tugging sensation in my chest made me squirm as a crushed metal bullet clattered to the concrete.

The 'choppa-choppa-choppa' of a helicopter passed over somewhere nearby and I instinctively ducked back into the subway station. I looked back at the turnstiles and the ravaged metal curtain I had ripped apart, wondering whether Phil had made it out or not. I couldn't afford to linger here, though, much less go back and investigate. But I also could not risk running out in the open looking like I am now – Bella Swan's face was so obviously on the government's radar.

I clenched my jaw and forced my weakened body to shape shift into the sniper I had last consumed: Roy Edwards. It was risky going as someone who the military no doubt knew I had killed, but it was riskier, in my opinion, to disguise as a soldier that I had killed a while ago. Edwards might already be listed as KIA, but I doubted his death had circled around to most of the grunts I might happen to run into out in the city.

My faux-military clothes – sans any weapons, tags, or communication equipment – folded over my body looser than my attire usually did as Bella, and I hesitantly stumbled up the stairs and out into the unknown of Seattle.

End notes: I'm back!

In answer to someone's question (veritas31): Bella's 'weapons' are much the same as in Prototype (though not all of them have had their turn to shine). I think I can begin to understand why you would want her to have a different weapon set, since she's female, but...eh. Mercer's not all that big to begin with, but Bella's are scaled to fit her body (she's not lugging around a blade the same size as Mercer's; it's proportionally the same).

And besides: you remember Elizabeth Greene, right? Huge bitch in that boss fight? Nothing dainty about that. I don't know; I'll consider it (I've been brainstorming a few 'new' ideas for her anyway).

Again with the gliding...

I'll be fair: you bring up some good points, Highlord Cross. I'm subscribed to an excellent Spider-Man/Prototype crossover that handles the issue of mass by some sort of scientific explainer (where the virus is a particle that has variable mass or something; it's not really important to the plot). That's fine; that's cool. It makes the whole "getting heavy with armor enabled" and "gliding" possible.

But...no. Not here. We're all about the conservation of energy and mass in this fanfictional universe. Bella gets smaller? Her density increases. Bigger? Less density. So maybe those things (gliding and armor, though I favor armor) will be in this story some time in the very far and distant future, but they will not have the same mechanics as in the game.

Thanks for the review, though. And you as well, person reading this end note with no intention of reviewing. Guilt trip. Guilt trip.