Chapter Five

"What did you expect would happen?" called a voice with a slight British accent from beyond a closed door.

"Why wasn't the experiment more closely supervised?" asked another British voice.

Hernandez, Adam, Page, and an unconscious Arynn were about to pass an observatory room when Hernandez told them to stop. He told everyone to wait behind the corner and stay out of sight. Hernandez put Arynn in Page's care and drew out his weapon. As he neared the window, he made sure to keep out of view while the invisible conversation took place.

"Gentlemen, you are failing to see the point of the overall purpose here." A very familiar voice joined, "I have managed to stop the virus from devolving into the primal state of the infected individual."

Hernandez took the chance in leaning over to see who was talking. Unfortunately he didn't see anyone from his angle.

"Doctor, the fact of matter is the board does not want another 'Raccoon Incident' on its hands." The First voice said.

"Sabriel should've been cancelled years ago yet he has been seen in Raccoon along with survivors." The Second voice joined.

"Yes," began the voice of the doctor, "and we have obtained all involved parties and placed them here under quarantine."

"Doctor, your little experiments have cost the company a fortune—we have to consider extreme measures." The first voice spoke.

"Do not worry, gentlemen, we are ending the Sabriel project momentarily and next will be the Dorus." The Doctor said.

"What about this Residvius project?" the first voice immediately replied.

"Ah Ashford's pride & joy…" the Doctor began, "The project has reached its limit and our researchers have found a way to harness the project's potential. By combining the DNA of another tyrant prototype and Residvius, we have created an offspring that possesses the super gene."

Hernandez looked back at Arynn wondering about who this offspring was. So Umbrella finally did it, he thought to himself. Taking two super viruses and producing the super biological soldier that Edward Ashford tried so hard to achieve with his twins. Hernandez wondered if he should tell Arynn about this when she came to. Looking back towards the window, he could now see the shadows of three men in the room. He peered in closer and saw two average standing men in front of a rather tall and lengthy man dressed in a medical coat. The two other men were in business attire and held briefcases.

"You have 24 hours to quarantine this facility of all viral agents." The first voice said.

"And," began the Second, "Find Residvius, dispose of her and Sabriel. The company does not want any traces of these experiments found."

"Fine, it will be done." The Doctor sighed.

The two men turned and Hernandez immediately jolted back out of sight.

One of the men turned back around, "And doctor," he said, "No one leaves this facility until all viral agents are destroyed…this includes you…"

The two men left.

When the coast was clear and the men were turning the corner down the hall, Hernandez sprang into action.

"Stay here," the soldier commanded the others. With stealth, he ran into the room as the door could close and inched up behind the doctor.

"Get your hands up." He stated startling the man.

"What do you want?" the man snarled with his back to the commando.

"Answers…" Hernandez replied nudging his gun into the man's back.

"What do you want to know?"

"Where is Captain Joseph Tripper?"

The man turned and faced Hernandez. He had a slight receding hairline and his upper lip twitched.

"I remember you…" the doctor spoke.

"Funny," Hernandez replied, "I don't remember you."

"You're one of those survivors from Raccoon they brought here a week ago. I was on the recovery team that brought you all back from instant death."

"Thanks…" Hernandez replied keeping a keen eye for the window and his small party.

"Where are the rest of you?" the Doctor said looking around.

"Safe…" the commando quickly responded.

Not in the least bit intimidated by the commando's gun, the doctor walked to the other side of the room and looked through the window. He turned back to Hernandez.

"We will find her." The Doctor recited.

"I doubt that." The commando replied without moving a muscle.

"When we do, we'll gut her like a hooked fish and store her remains for a rainy day…"

"Doctor, you seem to be evading the question here," Hernandez continued unfazed by the doctor's morbid statement, "Where is Tripper?"

"Oh yes," the doctor replied, "He's been transferred."

"Why do I get feeling that you're lying?" Hernandez said as he took a step closer to the doctor and not once losing his focus on blowing the man away.

"Oh it's no lie. The captain's infection was out of control. He should already be arriving at a more secure compound."

"Where?"

"The information remains undisclosed."

"Well I'm about to make it disclosed," Hernandez replied as he cocked his gun and commenced on firing. The doctor lashed out a scalpel from his pocket and missed the commando. Hernandez grabbed the man's arm making him drop the surgical tool and pushed it out of the way with his boot. The commando slammed the man's head into one of the x-ray readers then along the desk below. He lifted him back up and looked him in the eye.

"Where is Tripper!" he yelled.

"He's not here!" the doctor shouted.

Hernandez once again dragged the man's head along the desk then slammed him against the wall. The man's eyes came face to face with the barrel of Hernandez's shotgun.

"One more time," the commando said, "Where's Tri—"

"I think that's about enough, don't cha' think?" came a female voice from the doorway.

Hernandez loosened his grip on the doctor when he saw Page. She was dragging the unconscious body of Arynn along the floor.

"What are you doing?" the commando asked unaware of the doctor moving away from him.

"Getting rid of some baggage," the young female replied with her subtle accent.

"I should've known…" the commando's voice trailed off, "why else would you be down here."

"Very smart, Eddie…" she replied. She let go of Arynn and the woman's body dropped to the floor unresponsive and still bleeding from the wound the creature inflicted on her. Hernandez clenched his fists.

"I see you've found Page Warner, one of our top scouts here in the UK. Oh and by the way, welcome to Great Britain." The doctor said as he kicked the back of Hernandez's knee sending the man to fall down next to his female partner.

Hernandez looked around the room and saw x-rays of individuals shown on fluorescent beams of light. Some looked normal while others seemed to have viral infections throughout their lungs and stomachs. As he lay awaiting an unknown fate, he wondered what became of these poor individuals.

"I'll call off the search," Page said as she took out her PDA.

"I know who you are now," the doctor said, "Lt. Edward Hernandez of the Air Force Special Tactical Unit—one of the best, I've been told."

A handful of black combat dressed militants came rushing in. Two of them grabbed Hernandez while the rest carried both Arynn and Adam off. The doctor and Page silently followed behind.

"—Best of what?" Page cynically questioned, "Why would the likes of a top military unit go rummaging through a radioactive city?"

"They were looking for something of high importance…" the doctor answered.

"Hmm…" Page said. They turned a corner at the end of the corridor.

********

When Arynn came to, she thought for sure that she was dead. However, once again fate kept her alive for a reason that she still wasn't sure of. She found herself strapped to a stretcher overlooking surgical tools and a group of people in white coats surrounding her. As she turned her head to the side, she saw Adam also strapped into a stretcher. She wondered where Eddie was. She tried to talk but she couldn't. Her body wasn't strong enough to muster the words. What the hell is going on? She questioned herself.

"You're awake…" said one of the men.

"Where am I?" she managed to say as she looked around the operating room.

"You're in my care. Let me introduce myself," began the doctor, "I'm Dr. Julius Taylor."

"What is going on?" she asked him.

"Well you see this tool here?" he asked her as he lifted up a gleaming surgical knife, "We're going to make an incision into your chest and remove your heart and other vital organs. But we face a dilemma; you've lost a lot of blood so it will be hard to keep your organs functioning. We will need additional blood from your friend here, Mr. Adam Hawthorne."

Arynn turned her head towards an unconscious Adam who was hooked up to an IC unit and oxygen aspirator. She then slowly turned back to the doctor.

"There will be a cold day in hell before I let you take my organs or kill this little boy," she sternly warned him.

"My dear," the doctor stated, "That day will be today whether you're prepared or not. Ashford is no longer the bread-winner and his experiments are going to suffer for his mistakes. I am head physician at this facility and I will not let his rogue hybrids run amuck in my hospital!"

Was this the end of her? She couldn't feel anything in her legs. How would she get out of this? As she turned her head once again to Adam, she could see that his eyes were now open and he was staring at her with a tear running down the side of his cheek. There had to be another way. And why were they using Adam's blood? Something about that did not seem right. She continued to wonder where Eddie was. She hoped he wasn't dead.

*********

Hernandez sat tied to a chair in another room. Page and a black combat-dressed militant stood watching him. Page had her arms crossed with Arynn's gun at her side. Hernandez was disgusted. If it wasn't one thing that he despised, it was betrayal between partners. Not that Page was ever his partner but he let his guard down by giving her responsibility over Arynn. Now Arynn was going to die because of him. The commando thought back to when he and Arynn were in the Artillery room. She wanted him to watch her back, to look out for her and help her. He vowed that he would even though she pissed him off way to damn much. If it was going to end like this, Hernandez would've never allowed Joe to take that mission to Raccoon City in the beginning. And where was Joe? Did the infection kill him off or was he in some compound wasting away while scientists drained him dry? Whatever Captain Tripper's fate was, Hernandez had to think in the present and not in the past.

"If I am correct," started Page," Weren't you and your team designated to dispose of any mutations present at the Raccoon site?"

"Is this an interrogation?" the commando asked not in the mood to be probed.

"You could call it that," the young woman replied giving her silent male companion a smirk. Hernandez didn't like where this was going.

"Yes. Our main objective was to eliminate all foreign agents in the form of biological weaponry." He answered.

"Hmm…" Page commented rubbing her chin.

Hernandez lifted a brow towards the combat-clad man, whose rifle was neatly planted firmly over his other arm.

"Would you say that you failed at that mission, soldier?" Page asked.

Hernandez paused and thought back to all of the outrageous mutated individuals that his team came across in those underground structures of the city. They blew away countless mutated rats, dogs, insects, spiders, vegetation, men, women and even children. It didn't matter how much special training, various exercises or missions he did in the past, nothing could prepare him for what he had faced in Raccoon. Hernandez might've been a cold-hearted man when it came to getting the job done but when it came to killing children, he found himself hesitating. It was just something that was never supposed to happen unless it was an accident, it didn't matter who the children belonged to. In Raccoon, however, he found himself killing off dozens of undead children just to live. And that disturbed him, haunting him every time he closed his eyes.

He looked back to the young woman who stood patiently awaiting his answer.

"We succeeded in weeding out the B.O.W.s, if that's what you're getting at." He answered.

"I think," Page said as she came closer to him, "That you did what you were told but you failed. You let a Tyrant unlike any other Tyrant that you've ever come across continue on living."

"What are you saying?" Hernandez asked.

"Let me make this clear for you, soldier. You did not kill Sabriel and neither did you kill Residvius."

"Your men captured Sabriel!" Hernandez defended himself, "He was out of our jurisdiction the moment your men laid their hands on him," the commando said.

"And Residvius?" Page asked.

"What about it?"

"Were you or were you not told to destroy her?"

"Her?" Hernandez asked wondering what she meant by her.

"This is perfect." Page smiled scornfully, "The perfect place to hide such a fierce tyrant, right under your nose…"

"What are you talking about?" Hernandez protested.

"And she didn't even tell you…" Page chuckled as she rejoined her companion.

Hernandez looked away thinking about Page's last words.

********

"I need the electric saw for this," the doctor said as he put away the gleaming surgical saw. "It seems that I underestimated the depth of your skeletal structure—so much stronger and solid than a normal human being—just simply perfect." The doctor stated leaving Arynn with a small cut on her impenetrable chest.

Arynn continued to keep her eyes on the little boy, watching him drift in and out of consciousness, straining to keep his eyes open. She longed for death to come now. There seemed to be no hope now as she watched the assistant give the doctor the intimidating saw that would end her life. She knew there was no way out of this one. She had lost too much blood to move and the assistants were already injecting Adam with an anesthesia. There was nothing more that she could do. Not anymore.

The doctor turned on the saw and a loud sound of buzzing invaded Arynn's ears. The doctor tested the saw on a sterilized pad of silicon and he seemed to be satisfied. Arynn closed her eyes. Adam's hand immediately grabbed hers and she looked at him. There was an odd twinkle in his eye that made her think. There was something familiar about his eyes, something that she had seen somewhere back in Raccoon. She knew he wasn't a Dorus yet a feeling came over her that she hadn't felt since Raccoon. Her heart was starting to beat faster as she knew the doctor was moments away from driving the mechanical menace through her body. Sweat emerged from her forehead and her hands. The saw was right on top of her skin. She could feel the swift blades projecting their terrible rhythm of destruction. She was going to be their next victim and Arynn knew that she would not live past this moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and readied herself for the most excruciating pain that her body would ever feel.

Taylor planted the saw onto Arynn's chest and proceeded to move the object along the surface of the skin where an assistant had marked the spot earlier. At first small drops of blood appeared then a small puddle formed as the blades tore through Arynn's delicate flesh. Arynn's tried hard to clench her teeth and but the pain was too much. She let out a long and loud scream. Taylor's eyes narrowed at the noise as he drove the saw deeper waiting for the sound of the blade chewing through bone.

"Suction!" Taylor called to his assistants. One of them approached him with a tool used to suck away blood and keep the doctor's work on Arynn clear.

As soon as the assistant cleared the wound on Arynn, he nearly slipped onto something slimy on the green tiled floor. He and another assistant looked down and saw black tar-like substance. It seemed to be dripping from somewhere above him. He looked up and saw a large puddle of black liquid. It was moving along the ceiling defying the laws of gravity. One of the female assistants gasped as she followed her fellow colleague's gaze to the ceiling.

"Oh my god…" she whispered.

"Sir!" called the first assistant to see the puddle of black slime.

"I am trying to do something here," Taylor responded.

"Doctor, watch out!" another assistant yelled as the substance fell to the floor beside him, splashing its contents onto his clothing and another assistant.

Everyone else in the room stepped back. Two medical consultants left the room in a panic while others stood in shock unable to move with fear.

Taylor lifted up the saw and turned slowly to see the mass of black substance begin to take shape. It was molding itself, creating arms, fingers, legs, toes, torso, and a head, until it stood an inch taller than the already tall doctor. The texture of the substance remained wet yet it resembled a full-fledged human. Its eyes were black but detailed so much that its pupils could be seen beyond the liquid.

"Julius…" it hissed stepping closer to the man making him nudge the operating table.

"Do I know you?" Taylor asked nervously keeping his grip on the surgical saw with shaking hands.

The creature grabbed the saw in one hand then took the doctor by the throat and carried him over to an observatory window. Beyond the glass, they looked upon a tied up Hernandez and Page with a male combat companion.

"Who gave you the orders?" the creature asked.

"Orders for what?" the doctor responded.

"To destroy my research!"

"Peter?" the doctor asked as his voice trembled.

"Yes…" replied the creature as it put him down and walked over to Arynn's bloody body. It let out a small whimper as it examined the gaping wound that the doctor had affliated onto the unfortunate woman.

"You cannot save her now. It won't be long until it's over," the doctor called out. The creature hissed as he rushed back towards the man and grabbed him.

"I will decide when it is over!" it yelled as it flung the man right into the impenetrable glass shattering it.

Page immediately looked up and dashed out of the way as Taylor's body soared past the destroyed glass and landed face first onto the table that she had been leaning against.

"What the…" Hernandez said as he watched the creature look in. It was the thing that had been chasing him and Arynn back in the basement levels of the medical facility hours ago. It looked like it had undergone some metamorphosis.

The creature rushed towards the doctor once again picking him up and having its way with him. The man that had been standing next to Page was on the floor unconscious; next to him was exactly what Hernandez needed. The commando immediately let his chair fall over and he pushed his body towards a knife. In minutes he had managed to free his hands and feet from his confinement.

As the creature mangled the doctor's body, Hernandez jumped over the window to the exposed operating room. He saw that Arynn's chest had been sliced but that her ribcage remained intact. He immediately wrapped whatever he could around her. He took needles and other medical tubes away from Adam. The boy awoke instantly.

"You've got to help me get her out of here," Hernandez whispered trying not to distract the creature.

As fast and easy as they could Hernandez carried Arynn out of the room followed by Adam.

"Listen we need to get to the roof of this place, okay?" the commando spoke. Adam nodded in agreement.

"I don't think so," called Page from the door of the operation room. She had Arynn's gun locked and ready to pull the trigger.

"If we stay here, we're dead," Hernandez yelled.

"I can't let you take her," Page said.

"I won't give her up," the commando sternly stated.

He turned his back to her and started to walk.

"Take another step, soldier, and I will pull the trigger!" she threatened.

"Go ahead and do it!" Hernandez responded, "That thing will still rip you to shreds. You won't make it out of here alive. From the looks of it, your boss it already done for!"

Page looked back in the room and saw that the creature was still throwing Taylor around like a rag doll. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the commando was right.

"Listen, help me get her out of here and I'll make sure you make it out of here safe." Hernandez commanded.

"Alright," The young woman said, "But I will still kill you where you stand."

Back in the observatory room, Taylor's face was beyond recognizable. The creature had broken his nose, a few ribs, and his right arm. The doctor however remained silent as he watched the mutated individual.

"You are nothing but an abomination." Taylor said, "You have become the thing your grandfather fought to eradicate…"

"I am evolution, Julius…" Ashford hissed, "Project Residvius has unlocked the potential of a super soldier in me."

"How is that possible?" The doctor asked coughing up blood.

Ashford paced the floor leaving a trail of small droplets of his black substance. He could see that the doctor had acquired significant damage with fatal wounds all over his body.

"That is not important, right now," Ashford said, "I will lead a new world, Julius."

The doctor managed to chuckle through the blood that was oozing out of his mouth.

"And how are you going to do that?" he patronized the mutated man.

"I can regenerate you." Ashford offered.

"No thank you. I'd rather die a human than continue on as a mutant." Taylor looked away disgusted.

"I can make them see that your research is valid here, Julius," Ashford whispered as he knelt down close to the doctor.

"Get away from me, Ashford. I don't need your sympathy." The Doctor threatened.

"I am not giving you sympathy. I am giving you a second chance. Take it and you will become much more than just an assistant physician."

"I will become just another infected person with a craving for meat! Now leave me!" the doctor shouted.

Ashford was now inches away from Taylor's face, "Im a afraid I can't do that…" he whispered.

The doctor screamed as Ashford unhinged his jaw and releashed a small larva-like slug. The repulsive creature slithered its way onto the doctor. It lapped up the blood from the man's face and neck the forced its way into the doctor's mouth.

"Whether you like it or not, being a super soldier does have its setbacks. An unrelenting need to replicate –but to feed off the dying also helps to quench a thirst for meat."

As Ashford watched his fledgling devour what was left of the doctor, he saw that Arynn's body was gone. He let out a high pitch scream that shook the remaining glass on the exposed window seal.