Dog Days of PostParadise

by Project X

Time is irrelevant here.The world has had its life sucked out of it. The green plants that used to grow are no more, the animals that used to be so docile are now monsters, people are so sad and distant, and the sky is no longer its old blue color. The sky is grey and ugly, the Earth is a desert, and the world is strange. -Re-writing-

2. Liars of the Wasteland

Author's Notes: You might want to know I skipped ahead a bit, really because this is when the story really begins. But I will have flash back chapters too! That way you get to see everything the main character ever mentions. There is still some suspense and mystery to this chapter, there is still a lot you don't get to know. Some stuff is revealed, but not big stuff. There is finally some Resident Evil to this Resident Evil FF. FINALLY! Right? I hate the prologue, but I think this chapter makes it all better!

Also I'd like to make a special thank you to all who reviewed!

BMD-X

netherlady

Fox Mew Brittany

Yue. 40

Edited version: Fox Mew Brittany was my beta.

-X-

Dog Days of Post-Paradise

Chapter 1: Journal Entry 16; "Liars of the Wasteland"

Journal Entry 16: July 4th, 2015.

Status: Traveling through the wasteland….

The desert the world had become was a cruel place. It was desolate, dry, and dead. The world seemed to be endless while walking through the desert, endlessly devoid of life.

Dirt and sweat got in my eyes as I tried to write. The wind picked up as small grey clouds covered the sun. The sky moving forward as I stood still, tan sand whipping back and forth under my feet. It was hot, the air was damp, and my canteen was empty. But that wasn't even the worst of it.

"What 'ya writ'n?" Bright blue eyes peered over my shoulder. I hid the sacred thing in my hands away from the trespasser. He smiled back at me, a grin full of teeth and sheltered hope. I looked back at the boy, some years younger than me yet just as tall.

"Go home David." I commanded dryly as the boy still followed me, my boots nearly sinking in the sand. David held his head high, looking at the sun, an arm's shadow covering his eyes. He still smiled, even while out in a place like this.

"Nah," He shook his head dismissively. "I heard what you said to my dad, I want-a help you find the place." David countered, his bright blue eyes searching for my hidden ones. I turned to the boy, the cloak I wore to hide my skin from the sun twirling with me. I smirked at him, not being able to help the one side of my face lifting up.

"Fine." I nodded and his face brightened, he even straitened his hat. "But we'll walk together to the entrance, then you'll go straight home, ka-pesh?" I looked the boy in the eye, my yellow pupils hidden under my sunglasses. He nodded and I nodded, then we started to walk again.

I pulled out my journal again as we walked, clicking my pen so that I could write.

I write in this journal so that I might remember. I write this so I will not forget, so that I never stop searching. So that I never stop looking for my family.

I remembered their names yesterday; a family I had met jogged my memory.

Every day for some time I've remembered bits and pieces about them, and today I'll finally write all of it down, since I have been away from my journal for quite some time due to complications.

My sister's name is Lily; she's three years younger than me. She has dyed blonde hair; her true hair color is black, like dads. She was smart, really smart, A's in all of her classes. She wore glasses because there was something wrong with her eye sight. She was outgoing and loved sports. She loved dogs and cats but had allergies to both of them. She loved people too; she helped out at shelters and hospitals. She wanted to be a doctor someday. She was about to graduate when….doomsday came.

My dad's name is Dean. He's pretty tall, slightly muscular, handsome looking guy with black locks and neatly kept facial hair. He has blue eyes too, just like my sister. He was a mechanic, actually had his own garage. He was the nicest guy you'd ever meet; he was always willing to help out. But he was devoted to his daughters. He liked to wear ball caps and sunglasses all the time; I took after him doing that, me wanting to copy my idol when I was younger.

Our mom had died in a car crash, getting hit by a drunk, or so I had been told. Come to find out, when I was sixteen, our mom came out of nowhere and tried to claim custody over me through the court. What had actually happened was our mom had left our dad for a richer man; Dad had lied to us hoping we would never be poisoned by our mother's true nature, and then she found out that the rich guy couldn't have kids. When the occasion suited her she decided she wanted her first born back because she wanted kids, but an older one so she didn't have to go through the trouble of raising it.

I remember that court house, how quiet it was when they explained things to me; then, as soon as things sunk in, how loud it became. I started shouting profanities back and forth at that woman, telling her if she ever tried to come near me or Lily again I'd cut her slut head off.

That seemed to solve the problem of custody rights. The judge was sure that I should stay with my dad.

Good going Sherlock.

I stopped writing and looked over my shoulder to find David whistling. The whistling became humming as time passed on, then the humming became light singing. The song he sang was sad but realistic, it spoke of a rotten apple that's center corrupted innocence, and it suited the desert scenery. His bright blue eyes looked around at the open miles of sand and turf, on and on went the sand dunes as wind blew past us. He seemed to look so excitable; he seemed to be so amazed by everything. He was truly a sheltered child. He'd never seen how nightmarish this place could be, even though this past year, that's all I had been seeing.

I stopped suddenly, in the middle of nothing, and turned to the boy. He stopped behind me, his brown tufts of hair neatly under his hat, his blue eyes peering into me. No words were shared between the two of us as I looked at him. He didn't even flinch or sweat under my gaze. He was the first person in so long that hadn't been afraid of me. It was a breath of fresh air, to feel human again through someone else's gaze.

"Why are you really following me David? You know what I am, that I'm dangerous, so why?" I asked, curious why someone so innocent wouldn't stop following me. The boy had clung to my shadow every day since we met. He never stopped asking questions, never having met a Wanderer before. He wanted to know everything about the outside world, having been caged up all his live.

The boy kicked some dirt in front of him, his long coat rustling under the movement. "I don't know." He shrugged, looking everywhere but at me. His face had gone emotionless; it seemed we were playing poker now. I narrowed my eyes at the boy, leaning on him a bit.

"Come on Davy! Do I look stupid to you or something?" My arm was on his shoulder, my mouth contorted into an angry smile as I leaned closer, our faces almost touching. The boy looked down at the ground, his hands behind his back, and there it was; a blush. The boy was blushing, smitten with a monster. The dumbass kid. He didn't even know how old I was, he assumed I was eighteen 'cause I looked that old. Really; I had stopped aging some time ago, I was at least five years older than I looked. It was another side effect of this thing inside of me.

David jumped back away from me and glared. I smiled at his cute angry face. "That's not it!" He yelled, clearly frustrated. "It's just," There he went kicking the sand again, looking down at the ground, his eyes distant. "Hope is so boring, 'ya know?" He looked at me closely, most likely seeing all the scars marring my body and face, the ones I never allowed my body to heal. "Well, you wouldn't know but…-" He pauses, not knowing the words to use but finding them quickly. "I just want something exciting to happen!" He finally yells his hands in the air.

My smile drops; I feel an abyss inside my chest open up and suck in all of the warmth I had been feeling. I remember how I had made that same statement years ago….then- Well, even I'd rather not think of that. All I know is that the vague pictures and blurry memories that assaulted me made me feel anger, grieve, and sadness. I suddenly grabbed the front of David's shirt and glared darkly at him; even though he couldn't see my eyes he could still feel my anger. "Do you know what boring is, David?" My voice was low, covered in a sheen sweat of warning. My tongue felt like that of a snake, venom on the tip of it.

David was sweating now, profusely. He shook his head innocently and had his hands up in surrender as I held his shirt. His eyes were wide and his heart was beating rapidly, he smelled of pheromones and of other things human's secrete. The chemical humans produced to experience fear had a strange smell to it, if you asked me anyway.

"Safety, David. Boring is safe! Every fucking human on the face of this planet prays for boring! Do you know what happens to those humans, David?" There the venom was, dripping and lacing itself into David's head. He was far too sheltered; I bet no one had even yelled at him before, that's why he was so afraid of me now. The boy shook his head rapidly, his bright blue eyes reminding me of a little scared mouse. "They fucking die! They end up ripped to shreds by Elite, eaten by Enders, turned by Zombies, slaughtered by Greeds, and wasted by Chosen! Thousands of humans die every day, and you fucking want an adventure? This is HELL, DAVID! The apocalypse has come and gone and by some fucking miracle we're all still here! I suggest you choose the side where the grass is greener, even if it is fucking boring." I release the boy and angrily turn to start walking again, my cloak rustling loudly, but now I'm jogging instead of walking. I want to get away from him, from the reminder of a memory that keeps ripping my heart out over and over again. A memory that I feel but don't remember.

"Then what does that make you!" These words pass through me like a typhoon, soaring through the air to harshly hit my ears and burn as they sink in. I stop suddenly, my feet glued to the sand as my heart starts beating faster. Thoughts that I have been having throughout this past year return to my recollection. My eyes widen and I feel as if someone has just shot me in the chest, this feeling being the only time I ever feel my own heartbeat. For a while I thought I didn't have a heart anymore it was so silent.

I want to answer David, but I can't, because I don't know. "They say all of the Elite can't stand humans!" David is still yelling at me, sending shots at me in the form of words. "They say all Elite just obey the guy they call their God and that Chosen don't even leave their home base." David has calmed some now, but he has to still lift his voice so that I can hear him over the roaring winds and whipping sands. "So what does that make you? Why are there so many rumors about you, Yellow Eyed Angel?"

I feel it then, a knife twisting in my gut. It's not real but the pain is still there. I clutch my chest but stay straight, not giving David the satisfaction of my weakness. I wondered why, why they had to give me that nickname. How did they know? How did they know about my past concerning angels? Why had there been feathers there of all places? I wanted to give David an answer but; 'I just don't know' was all I had.I started walking again, pretending to ignore David's statements.

I stopped for one second to turn to David, and I did something I never thought I'd do. I took off my sunglasses and stared David down with my yellow snake like eyes. The eyes that people saw and labeled me a monster. Yet, the eyes some had seen yet called me an angel, I was a walking contradiction. The very same eyes that when anyone ever saw them their own eyes would widen with fear, no matter what, even if their opinions changed of me after my sunglasses were back on. They were the eyes of a snake, a monster, truly terrifying. David's own eyes did the same, widening in fear, and he fell back onto the sand, crawling away from me, truly terrified.

"Go home David, go home." And that was the last time I ever saw David Lockheart. I watched his back as his body disappeared off into the distance, the sun coming down behind him as he left behind a dusty trail. I was alone again.

-X-

"Lily!"

"Dad!"

"Hey, look!"

A finger from my hand pointed up at the sky above me. Stars glittered like flashes of light, blinking, tossing and turning. The sky was like a perfect painting, painted by the perfect artist. Like a giant dark ocean full of white twinkling flowers in it. Then, all of a sudden the sky lite up with bursts of light, color, and energy. Fireworks danced in the sky like performers, the act reminding me of circus acrobatics. The colors like art as well; bursting forth from circles of fire to multicolored rainbows of light.

"Looks awesome don't it?" I heard my dad say from beside me, his hand rubbing my hair. I can feel him beside me, sense his essence, and I take it all in. I feel warm even while lying on the cool and damp green grass below me. I smile, the feeling of love and safety filling me. I close my eyes, taking an extra-long breath full of happiness and contentment. I leave my eyes closed for a few minutes longer, just letting the feeling envelop me.

Then I open my eyes and the sky above me is grey and dull, and the grass below me is dead and turned to hot sand. I shoot up, looking around, bewildered and panicked. I stand to my feet and look around in circles, quickly, checking all of my sides. I feel my heart wretch, screaming out in agony.

I was all alone again, just like I had been for the past year and who knows how long before that.

But then I turn again one last time and there is my father, looking at me with sad eyes. His head is down, the top of his ball cap shading his face. The look on his face was so sorrowful, so hollow, and so disappointed looking. I felt a stabbing pain throughout my chest, and I tried to collect myself. I would not cry, not in front of him. "Dad!" I yelled and started to run toward him. But no matter how fast I ran I could never get any closer to him, I even tried to reach out and grab him, but he stepped back, that same look on his face. "DAD!" I cried even louder, he finally looked up at me when I did.

His dark blue eyes swirled like storm clouds, the look on his face so dark. He grabbed the tip of his cap, the wind picking up around us. My cloak rustled as the wind whipped by us, carrying the sand with it. My father looked at me with those stormy eyes and spoke. His voice as deep and dark, as stormy and as cold, as his eyes. "Monster." Then he turned and began to walk away from me carelessly.

I dropped down to my knees, the feeling as if someone had shot me or dropped a large rock on top of me and squashed me alive. My heart shattered into a million pieces, like glass that bleeds. I couldn't hold myself up anymore over the emotional pain. That's when a dark abyss opened up right below me and I began to fall into the never ending void of darkness.

-X-

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as my body rocketed up. I was shaking and trembling fiercely, my entire being covered in a cold sweat as I gulped in breath after breath of terrified lungful's of air. My entire body felt sore, exhausted, and worn out from the day's travels, but that pain was nothing compared to how my heart felt at that moment.

I scrambled quickly to where I had sat my backpack and tore it open, several different things falling out of it as I did, making noise throughout the cavern, the sound echoing through the pitch black darkness. My hands found what I had been looking for and I gripped it tightly, as if it were my last salvation, and hugged it to my chest. I opened the sacred thing, the only proof that existed that proved my use-to-be humanity, the only thing that truly was mine, and the only thing that held proof that I wasn't so completely alone; my journal. Its scratch-y black and white cover was like home to my fingertips.

I opened it up and found the picture inside. When my eyes saw the picture and the memory swept through me, that's when I broke. Tears streamed quickly down my face, dripping onto the cold stone ground. I began to shake again and sob uncontrollably, crying like an emotional teenaged girl. My sobbing was loud and my breathing was deep, but I never once took my yellow eyes off of that picture. I gripped it tightly, tears falling onto it, dampening the faces on it.

"P-p…puh-lease," It was so hard to speak through my breaths and my sobs, my body writhing and trembling so hard I could barely stay still. "D-d-d-don…-n't." My tongue felt like solid steel, and I couldn't control any of the rest of me, having lost it so completely. I was finally breaking down again after so long. I was just glad I waited to do it somewhere where no one could see me. I am ashamed of such a weakness. I was just so lonely without them; I missed them so much, even though I felt like I had never once been with them, like it was all just a dream, and that was the worst part.

"C-c-ca-ca-call…..m-m-ee…..a-a…" The tears started to come faster, the sobs getting louder, the crack inside of me only getting deeper. A puddle was starting to form in front of me on the ground from my tears. My body shook and shook and I felt like I could barely breathe, the dark abyss from my nightmare sucking me up. "A-a….m-mon-monster!" I started to beg them, plead, with nothing but the memory of a man in my head. "PLEASE!" I cried out, it boomed in the echo around me. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" I was yelling now, frustration filling me anew. The crack stayed still now, but it had grown so much bigger, the crack in my heart. The place in my heart where memories of my family should be, where the warmth of their company should be, and where they should be. Now it was just a big hole, a gap, full of loneliness and forgotten treasured memories.

"Please don't call me a monster Dad; you're all I have left. You and Lily, you're all that keeps me going." I had finally started to calm down now, but I felt like I had indeed been eaten, from the inside out. I was just so empty. The sobs slowed to a stop, my breathing evened out, and my heart stopped throbbing so intensely. The tears dried up and my eyes just gazed at the picture in my hands. The extreme sadness was gone, replaced by sorrow and my usual empty pitted loneliness. I took one last deep gulp of air before wiping off my face with the back of my black sleeve.

This was not the first time this had happened; it was just the shortest of my many break downs. They happened every time I remembered and got back large portions of my memories. Yet the more I remembered the more hollow feeling I became. So many horrible emotions overcame me, along with them horrible thoughts of never finding the ones I loved ever again. The thought that I would be alone forever scared me so much; sometimes I couldn't sleep at night. Nightmares and night terrors plagued me far too much.

But, sometime ago I had taken shelter in this cavern, with its long and narrow entrance and it's never ending dark passage ways, it was a good hiding spot. The winds and storms became too much for me to handle and I needed some where to rest for the night. Even I needed rest after walking through such harsh terrain. I didn't need a fire or light to see, a nice little side effect of having yellow snake like eyes was that you could see perfectly in the dark. I checked to make sure nothing else was in this cave before taking off my backpack, sunglasses, sheath, holster, and cloak. I laid them all down beside me before lying down myself and falling asleep. Now I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep through the rest of the night, I'd just keep having nightmares, or worse, memories.

So I decided to finish filling out Journal Entry 6 while I waited for the sun to come up. I put the picture back in its usual place in my journal and took out the pen I had a special pouch for on my thigh. It was a good pen, one that had lasted me a long time. It was a pen, silver in color and creation, which had my father's name written on the side of it in italics, another thing I had found back at home and brought with me. I held the pen tightly in my right hand as I began to write.

I mentioned a family earlier, the one that had made me remember my father and sister's names. That family was the Lockheart's.

It was two weeks ago that I had finally exceeded my own limit. It had been a month since I had had food, a week since I slept, and days since I had had a drop of water in my mouth.

I had been searching for answers about Doomsday. Ever since I started my search I had been looking for answers, the truth. Everywhere I went they all said the same thing.

"The Truth Lies in Hope."

I thought it was some cryptic bullshit and I could never get any more from anyone else.

But then I had spent my limit and found myself passed out and dying right in front of the first human colony I had ever seen. All I'd ever been to was small groupings of humans in run down old towns, never enough to call a colony or city. In this colony there were hundreds of people gathered in one old city, it being surrounded by metal walls and barriers that no one could get through, not even an Elite. This colony had electricity, hot and cold running water, technology, and grass! They had real green grass!

This colony was called Hope; The City of Hope.

After I learned that everything fell into place.

I woke the next day to find myself in the bed of one John Lockheart, his home in the center of Hope. I felt calm there, until I found I had no sunglasses. John walked into the room as I was looking for them, all my gear hidden away somewhere. I looked up at the man, fear stricken. He had smiled and handed me a plate with pieces of toast on it.

He treated me like a skittish animal at first, slowly approaching me as he assured me he wasn't going to hurt me, and that he knew what I was. I was extremely surprised to hear he knew what I was and who I was and yet was unafraid of me.

Come to find out this man was a scientist, an ex-Umbrella scientist. At first the name did not strike a bell, and then he told me everything.

How Umbrella was responsible for what was running through my veins, changing my DNA. He explained that it was a form of virus, a sort of evolved virus. This virus was actually alive and capable of changing one person's whole genetic structure. Forced evolution, in a way.

I spent a week with this man and his son; David. I hid myself away from the other citizens of Hope, John knowing everything that I needed to know.

He told me that Doomsday was caused by someone leaking these viruses out into the world on purpose. Yes, he said viruses, as in plural. There were six, maybe ten, different kinds, each one more potent and deadly than the next. Yet, someone took all of these viruses, changed them to his whims like nothing, and released them into the world, letting them spread through the Earth like wildfire, destroying everything within their path.

The last humans on Earth that hadn't been changed by the viruses were the five percent that was immune to all of them. That meant only five percent of humanity was left after what this madman had done. So many died, and for what? So he could get his way?

I was so angry when he told me this and I begged him to tell me the name of the man responsible. I'd find him and make him pay; avenge the seven billion people that he carelessly slaughtered.

John said he didn't know, but that he knew a place where I could get the information I seeked. He seemed more than eager to tell me. He seemed guilty; angry that he had helped create what destroyed the world, what changed me. So out of that guilt he helped me and I took that help gladly.

He told me of an old underground Umbrella lab, one that hadn't been found by the BSAA or that wasn't raided or offline. All I needed was an ID badge and a code to get in. He said that no one had messed with that lab for years, but they had been made to last, so I should be able to find what I wanted to know there.

My last day in Hope John gave me his old ID badge and codes, than he gave me specific directions of how to find the lab. I mapped it out in my mind perfectly and set off.

Now to get to the lab and get even more answers. After this I'll search for my father and sister, I'll find them and tell them of everything I've done in the past year, and tell them of what really happened on that day in 2012; Doomsday.

-X-

The sun was out again. It rose as if Doomsday never happened, its ripples of the colors of sunset in the dull grey sky. The winds had slowed down to nothing, the sand still on the dunes. I watched the scenery of early morning through the entrance of the cave. I felt a warm breeze wash into the cold darkness, drips the only other sound than of the wind itself. Through the cave the wind lazily danced and sang eerie songs that to any other's ears but mine would be frightening.

I began to hum then, adding to the music of the last of nature. My humming echoed and rippled like the puddles of water below me. I hummed an old lullaby my dad used to sing to me and my sister Lily when we were very young. I dared not sing the words, that I would remember my father's voice singing it and get upset. So I hummed until the wind stopped coming into the cave and I could finally see all of the sun again from where I sat.

I sat up a little more from where I was leaning against the cave walls. I stood up slowly and dusted myself off. The worn out old blue jeans I was wearing would have to be replaced soon, they had so many holes in them. My long sleeved black button up shirt still seemed to be in fine condition though. I walked over to my backpack slowly, my black military boots making light noise against the stone ground.

I went through my backpack then, the large backpack also military, Marine Forces. I had found both the backpack and boots in my father's closet that day I went back home a year ago. It felt like an eternity ago now, not just a year. So much had happened in such a small span of time, so much so I sighed sadly at the thought of it. There were two other things I had taken from my father's closet that day though.

One was his old service pistol; an original USP Military SOCOM. The gun had been hidden in a shoe box at the top of his closet. The clip inside of it was already full, and then there were two other full clips inside the box along with that one and a box full of ammo. I took all of it, along with the strange knife I had found inside that same shoe box. The knife was long and sharp, a combat ready knife used for CQC; Close Quarters Combat. What was weird about it though was instead of saying US Marines on it like the gun did; it said S.T.A.R.S. on the side of it.

I shrugged off the odd feeling I got when I saw that knife and took them both, since then they have both been overly used, as I have struggled to survive this endless wasteland. One would think I'd be as fast and as combat efficient as Elite, but I was far from their skill. I was still struggling to come to terms with the fact I was no longer human, which was probably why.

Now I was going through my backpack, I picked out some food I had stored inside of it. It was a few fruit bars I had taken from the last convenient store I had passed. Everything in it was free game, but most of it wasn't good anymore. The fruit bars were though, as I sniffed at them and didn't smell any rotting or mold. The Berry Mix one was my favorite, my enhanced tongue picking up every different taste. I loved how much better I felt after eating something. I now know infected, which is what I am, can go very long times without food, the virus keeping us going. But that doesn't mean I don't feel better with a full stomach.

After I ate I grabbed the toothbrush from my bag and used the last of the water I had in my water bottle, all of the drinking water gone from my canteen already, to cover the toothbrush. I brushed my teeth and spat, feeling even more refreshed now. I put my toothbrush back up and filled the empty plastic bottle with water from the cave. I sniffed the water before I touched it, the water smelled fine and it looked completely clear. I filled the bottle up and got a little dirt inside, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, dirty water was still water.

I put the water bottle back into my bag, and then I got curious. I crawled back over to the large and deep puddle I had used to fill my water bottle with and looked at my reflection. As I thought, my face was covered in dirt, and my brown-ish black-ish hair with blonde highlights was a complete mess. So, I took a handful of water and washed my face off with it, my paler features showing again. Then I ran my hands through my short straight locks, combing it the best I could. Handfuls of hair came out and I sighed, it being a while since I had had a good shower. Now I wished I had taken up John's offer to clean myself while I had hot and cold running water available. I sighed again, shaking my head. I was a real stubborn idiot sometimes.

After I combed through my hair with my fingers the best I could I wetted down my hair and let it be. It wasn't long enough to put up, and I'd cover it with the hood of my cloak anyway. I walked back over to my things after I was done with that. First I strapped my holster back to my left leg; next I strapped the knife sheath back onto my right leg; right under my knee. Then I slung my cloak over my shoulders and put my arms through its sleeves and pulled the hood on over my head. I then put on my backpack and lastly put back on my sunglasses.

I stretched my arms, rolled my shoulders, and stretched out my legs in the coolness of the cave before stepping out into the brilliant sunshine of mid-morning. The sun was up and shining down onto the desert that spanned out in front of me. Here and there you could make out things that pointed out this to be a normal town before Doomsday, but most of it was covered in sand, the rest of it destroyed. How such fertile land could be so completely transformed was beyond me, but it had been, and the man responsible for such a thing was going to pay. But first I had to find out who he was; I had to get to that lab.

-X-

"GOD! It's HOT!" I looked up at the grey sky, the sun was now completely overhead and the desert was at its hottest. I could barely stand the heat, I was sweating so much. "You hear me God!" I yelled at the sky, my brain felt like it was frying. "IT'S HOT! COULD YOU PLEASE MAKE IT A LITTLE COOLER?" I yelled at the top of my lungs at the sky again. I actually waited for a reply my brain was so roasted, when I didn't get one I started throwing a temper tantrum and yelling things at God that didn't really make any sense and kicking around sand like a five year old. "WELL SEE IF I EVER HELP YOU LIKE ELI DID!" I yelled one last thing before trudging on, getting step after step closer to my destination.

I could feel I was very close now. I could smell it! No, literally, it smelled like chemicals, flesh, Elite, viruses, and so many very bad things. The smell was strong and unbelievably horrid. It smelled like darkness, like evil things and all of the stuff evil things secreted. I had to cover my nose as I walked, then all of a sudden, as I walked, I heard a metallic noise. I felt something harder than sand under my feet, and with my nose still covered, I looked down. There, under me, was a strange door with a card reader and a handle. My eye twitched; how the Hell did I not notice that earlier? I felt like an incompetent idiot.

Then it hit me that I had finally found the lab and that I could finally get out of the heat. I jumped ten feet in the air out of joy, a slightly high smile plastered on my face. When I finally landed back on the ground I grabbed the door handle and reached for the card in my pocket. But as I felt its plastic sleeve in my fingers, my heart throbbed, my mouth went dry, and there was that tingling in the back of my head again. The tingling was like an itch, almost a nudging, and it made me turn my head north. There was that urge again, to head north and never look back, to forget about my quest and just start running in that direction. It felt like something was trying to pull me, like a Siren's song trying to lure me in

I felt all of the hairs on my body stand on end, my muscles pulled tight as I resisted the hypnotic urge. I grinded my teeth as I waited for the feeling to pass, and held onto the handle in my hand tightly so that I could not move. Sometimes I had to think of Dad and Lily just so I could get out of the trance. I didn't understand what it was and I didn't want to know. This was the fifth time this had happened in the past year, each time the urge gets stronger and stronger, but so do I. When the feeling finally passes I shake my whole body and loosen my muscles back up.

I take the ID badge out of my pocket and slide it into the slot on the round white metal door in the ground. It makes a Star Trek 'whooshing' noise and then hisses as steam shoots out of the sides, the extreme change of temperature from the lab into the desert, and the change of pressure, causing steam to come out of the hatch. The door is heavy but easy enough for me to pull fully open. There is a ladder there, attached to the wall of the very long narrow round shaft that leads down. It is completely dark and I can't tell how far down it goes, so I spit into the hole and listen to how far down it goes. I count six seconds and decide that that's not too far down.

I jump in, ignoring the ladder completely. Cold air streams past me as I fall into the very black abyss I should have avoided. It's at least a nine foot drop down, seconds later and I'm on my feet, not suffering any damage from the long fall. This, once again, would be where a normal person turns on a flashlight, but I can see perfectly even in pitch black.

I walk around; the room is full of chemicals, papers, desks, and all manner of things you'd see in a lab. I walk through the smaller lab parts, the hallways separated by glass walls. I smell rotted flesh, other infected, and….flowers? I sniff the air again, and I still smell the same things. Dead flesh, viruses, and pollen. I wonder if there is something wrong with my nose, then another smell hits me. It smells like, and I know this sounds strange but, it smells like a computer. I follow that smell down the dark abandon corridors and into a very large white room. Inside the room it is just full of a huge computer the size of an elephant. There is something beside the computer, floating in a tube full of water. It looks like a giant red eyeball.

I sniff at the strange thing, walking up to it cautiously. It smells strange and I can't quite place it. Then, suddenly the eyeball lights up red and all of the lights in the room turn on. They nearly blind me. I have to pull my hood down a bit until my eyes adjust. The eyeball in the glass stares at me, watching me, the thing gives me the chills.

"This is a restricted area! Identify yourself!" It's a woman's voice when the eyeball speaks. I am taken aback at how welcoming the voice sounds yet how serious its tone is. The eyeball blinks at me as it waits. I quickly pull out the ID badge and it laser scans the bar code and picture on the badge. When it looks back at me, it narrows its eye. I have my hood and sunglasses on, so it can barely see me. "Identity confirmed; Doctor Lockheart. What is your password?" It asks as it so easily gives in, I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding in.

"David-161-Elnore." I answer, putting the ID badge back in my pocket. That's when the light above the eyeball turns green and the computer turns on. I walk over to it and look up at its huge screen, wondering what I should search first.

"Welcome back, Doctor Lockheart. Is there anything in particular you'd like to know today?" The female voice is sickly sweet now, the serious tone long gone. The eyeball watches my every move and realizes, since I was staring up at the computer, that I had no idea where to start.

"Um…yes." I nodded and popped my knuckles. I thought of how exactly I should word my questions. I needed to know the best way to phrase them to get the optimal answer. I felt reminded of the story about the Sphinx that told riddles, if you didn't get the answer exactly right, you didn't get to pass.

My brows scrunched together as I tapped my head and gathered my thoughts. First things first. "Computer?" I asked, looking at the eyeball and feeling like Captain Kirk.

"Yes?" The computer replied back. For some reason I felt reminded of a video game I used to play. Something about a test subject and an evil computer? Another memory I didn't remember so clearly.

"Can you tell me what all viruses pollute the Earth right now and everything about those viruses?" I asked and watched the eyeball blink at me. While I waited, the computer saying it was scanning the necessary data, I pulled up a wheeled chair from one of the desks in the office next door. By the time I got back the computer was done computing.

"Viruses released into Earth's oxygen; T, T-Veronica, C, G, A/W, and Uroboros." From there the computer told me everything it knew about these viruses. The one that caught my eye the most was the A/W virus. The computer had very little to say on it, but that it was created by one man and one man only. When I asked the computer who could possibly be responsible for these viruses being released it calculated one name, stating it was the only man with the ability to even have the A/W virus as it was made from his own blood.

The name it calculated sent shivers down my spine for some reason, as if I'd heard that name before.

"Albert Wesker"

I wrote the name down quickly in my journal. However, at this point, I was confused. The computer had stated that Albert Wesker had already tried to release a virus of his creating back around 2009. It also said Albert Wesker had been killed that same day by BSAA Agent Chris Redfield. So, how could a dead man release multiple viruses several years later, on 2012? I asked the computer that and it gave me a creepy answer.

"Simple, it means he is not dead." My face contorted into a mix of confusion and pure freak out when the eyeball stated that in an insane tone as it spun upside down as it did. That was pretty freaking messed up. Even Umbrella's machines were insane. I tried to ignore that as my eyebrows stayed far up on my forehead.

"O-kay." I stated slowly, afraid the eyeball would all of a sudden lose it and jump out of the glass tube to stab me, like some messed up computer Chucky doll thing. I pushed a little farther away from it while still sitting on my office chair. "Tell me everything you know about Albert Wesker, including his present whereabouts." I demanded, clicking my pen as I readied myself to write all of this down in my journal.

The eyeball just blinked at me, as if I had asked it something retarded. "I cannot do that." It stated sincerely in a suddenly innocent voice.

I gave it a confused look once more. "Why?"

"Because, one cannot know of God."

All the breath in my lungs left me then, my eyes widened, my blood pumped faster. I stood quickly, knocking over the chair, and felt my hands fist. I slid my pen back in it's pouch quickly before I can break it and stared down the huge eyeball, glaring at it with my snake like eyes. "BULLSHIT! THAT MAN IS NOTHING BUT SHIT! HE KILLED ALL THOSE PEOPLE! HE'S WORSE THAN FUCKING HITLER!" I took deep breaths, uneven as anger boiled within my mutated blood. "HE'S NO GOD! HE'S JUST A BASTARD WITH AN EGO!" I found it surprising that I had become so angry at the discovery the man that released the viruses in the first place was the one the Elite called God. I suppose I should have seen that coming, but still, I had the right to remain pissed!

"Why don't you go home? He's waiting for you, you know. You are one of his children." The eyeball's voice just sounded so insane now that I was sure it was going to sprout a mouth and smile a sadistic smile. But what it said, it stopped me in my tracks, one extreme to another, from boiling hot to freezing cold. Its words terrified me, and I shook my head and felt on the verge of tears. "No." I whispered, my hands to my ears as I shook my head furiously. "No." I said a little louder this time, backing up slowly.

"Go home, God is waiting for you. Go home. Go home." The eyeball started to chant now, singing in such a voice that would scare even a monster to the core. It just kept chanting over and over again. Then, suddenly, it stopped, and I looked up from where I had set in a fetal position, my ears no longer covered. All of sudden things were silent, and then the eyeball was looking straight at me again. "Their coming, their coming to take you away. You better run, or you'll never see the light of day." It sang sweetly again, abruptly turning itself off along with the rest of the lights in the room and the computer as it finished. Almost as if it was hiding.

I quickly stood up, that tingling sensation in the back of my head again as I spun around to search the room. My muscles stretched, all of my hairs were on end, and my gut was on fire. All of my enhanced senses were going crazy, something very much out of place. I sniffed the air then and it reeked, but not of Elite or Freaks like I thought it would. It reeked of humans. It reeked of gun powder and metal, of plastic and rubber, and of disinfectant and tranquilizers.

Quickly I put my journal back into my backpack and put it back on. I double checked I had everything before heading toward the exit as fast as I could run. But before I could get toward the ladder I smelled that stench again and knew they had the exit blocked. 'Damnit!' They had been expecting me; this had been a trap all along. But then…what had been up with the religious psycho computer? If this trap had been set by humans, why try and get me to go to Wesker? Or maybe, they didn't have anything to do with that. GOD! What the Hell was going on around here? None of this was making sense! It felt like I was Alice and I was getting dragged deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole full of darkness and insanity.

My ears pricked suddenly, my feet moving before my brain even had time to register it. I jumped away, I saw a tranquilizer dart in the wall where my head used to be, as I turn mid-jump and landed back on my feet. I sneered, a growl coming from my lips as I felt my baser instincts kicking in, the animal side of me taking over again. Survival was imperative, getting out of here was a must. Now that I knew who to kill to avenge humanity, I had no time to spend with the likes of these people.

I saw the man that tried to shoot me a couple of feet away, now trying to head behind one of the desks inside the lab. He wore a gas mask, a biohazard suit, and night-vision goggles. My eyelid twitched in annoyance again. What? They thought I was contagious or something? How rude! I gripped the handle of the knife sheathed to my left leg and jumped over to the man, just as he was coming back up to take another shot. Before he can blink I'm in front of him, still in mid-air, slicing his throat open. The blood spurts up like a fountain, flying from his neck in slow motion as he falls to the floor, lifeless, but still kicking. I land on my feet beside the dead body and sneer at it, before walking out into the hall.

Bad idea.

Hundreds of flood lights are shined on me as I step out of the room. Even wearing sunglasses isn't enough to shield my eyes from such bright light. If there was one down side, I had learned, from having snake eyes, it was the extreme sensitivity to bright lights. I go to shield my eyes from the light with my arm, but as I do I feel at least five tranquilizer darts penetrate the skin of said arm. Instantly I bring my arm back down and look at it. When I do I feel light headed, dizzy, and I start seeing double all of a sudden, the room spinning. I swagger to my left and try and stay on my feet as I begin to feel so tired.

"Damn." I grinded my teeth again, knowing there was no way out of this, but as one last act of rebellion against the humans I put my knife away and pull out my gun. Even with double vision I still shoot a couple of the men dead, to this action I get five more darts in me. I swagger a bit more, but this time I can't stay on my feet and I fall over, but I put the gun back in my holster before I do, my first thoughts being not to lose my father's gun. I try to keep my eyes open, try and stay awake as the men get closer to me. I want to fight back, but it feels like my strength has been zapped away.

"Take this one straight to the lab. We have to identify what she's infected with before deciding what we'll do with her." A familiar voice instructs the other men as he walks up to me as well. I still have my eyes open, if just barely, as two biohazard suit wearing guys grab both my arms and start to drag me away. None of the rest of my body works, everything completely numb and un-responding. As they drag me away I see the man with the familiar voice. He's the only one wearing just a lab coat with no extra gear. I have to squint to see his face as he turns to me. He walks behind the two men dragging me away and smiles sadistically down at me. Like the cat that's caught the mouse. Difference was; he wasn't gonna eat me; he was going to experiment on me. I'd rather have been eaten.

His blue eyes and brown hair, the glasses he was wearing. My eyes widen, I gasp, and then I feel reinvigorated with anger. "John?" I paused as he just watches me with sick joy. The mouse that fell for his trap, the mouse so tempted by cheese she couldn't see through the lies. "YOU BASTARD!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, trying so desperately to get control of the rest of my body. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU SICK SON OF BITCH! YOU HEAR ME! I'M GONNA- eh." Suddenly there's a syringe in my neck, John's hands holding it there as he smugly smiles, the two men still dragging me along.

"All you're going to do is be a good little test subject, and go to sleep." He says, 'shushing' me as if I were a child. I try to say something else but everything goes dark, and I get lost in the Abyss once again.

'Damn. Wait for me, Dad, Lily; looks like things are gonna take a little longer than I thought.'

-X-

End Notes: Crap, this ended up being longer than I thought it would be. Almost over 9,000 words! I just thought I'd end up barely hitting 7,000. So, time of truth, what did you think? I skipped a head, yes, but you'll get to see everything she mentioned. And, I know, she has no name yet. Well, she does but I intentionally don't mention it. I kinda did, if you were paying attention. Were you? What do you think her name should be?

Anything else you guys noticed that caught your eyes? Hmm? Foreshadowing is all over this chapter. And yeah, big deal I revealed who the God was that people kept mentioning. Like you guys didn't already know. I also made some references to different songs and stuff, don't remember how many.

Spent many late nights up working on this and I thought it would catch several people's interest that found the prologue to be boring. Next chapter will be pretty interesting too! I'm going to start working on that right now actually.

So, R&R, tell me what you think. Tell me how many bits of foreshadowing you saw and what you think they mean. Tell me what you think her name will be. Tell me anything really! I just would like every ones opinion on this. I had a lot of fun writing it. I seem to only enjoy writing characters that are always sad, angsty, and snarky. I can never write a happy character. Well, she'll be a bit happier next chapter, as she gets a companion that's gonna hate her guts. Let's just say their bunk buddies!

Also, should I change the rating to M?