The soldier returned to the room. Arynn watched Tripper and wondered what happened to him all this time, what experiments the company had conducted on him and if he could be cured. Finally seeing the soldier was a relief but Arynn wasn't sure if she could handle looking at him this way. He appeared disturbed and his clothing had bloodstains. His hair was a mess while his feet were bare. For some reason he remained as far from Arynn as the room would permit. Whatever his reason for being distant, Arynn had to try to get the antsy soldier and herself out of here and into safety. Tripper continued to look away from Arynn and not once making eye contact. An awkward silence filled the room and the two didn't say a word.

As Arynn took a moment to look around the large room, she noticed that there was very little furniture in the room. She wondered how long the place had been down here. She also wondered what would happen next.

"Joe?" she softly called out to the soldier. Tripper looked towards her then quickly looked away.

For a brief moment, Arynn saw the eyes of a confused and exhausted man. Those same brown eyes that she looked upon in Raccoon appeared almost dilated and dark.

"What exactly did they do to you?" she questioned him.

"Don't wanna talk about it." He quietly spoke. His voice sounded hoarse.

"Don't shut me out, Tripper," Arynn lightly commanded. He looked towards her then shook his head with a slight smile.

"Still playing the aggressive card…" The soldier stated rubbing his hands together.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Arynn replied, sitting down in the recliner adjacent from the sofa where Tripper sat.

"Nothing." He said looking away.

She folded her arms and turned to look back at the door.

"It's locked…" Tripper replied.

"I know that." She said.

Arynn leaned forward with her hands resting at her sides. She looked back at the soldier and noticed that he had been staring at her. Uneasiness flooded her thoughts. She hadn't known this man for long but she knew that he wasn't his self. There was just something that didn't seem right to her. His skin was slightly pale but still toned but his hands were trembling, and his physique seemed slimmer. What could Umbrella have done in the short time that she, Hernandez, and Tripper arrived here? They must've used potent drugs on Tripper to make him this way, she thought. Arynn knew this because there was a time in those underground caverns that the commando looked athletic and fit. She admired his look and even had thoughts of him aside from the mission at hand. The man that sat before her now looked like he'd never been outside in his life.

"I gotta find a way out of here…" She replied as she scanned the inner room and out towards the hall where Tripper emerged.

"There's nothing back there." The soldier said.

Arynn glanced back at him then slowly rose from the couch. He watched her then looked away. She started for the hall and Tripper immediately got up to meet her. He held his hand out to stop her then backed away.

"I need to take a look." She said.

"Can't let you do that…" Tripper whispered.

"Why?" Arynn replied as she crossed her arms.

Tripper looked at her. Her expression made him want to break open the room and set her free but he could not. He knew that she wanted answers and would probe until he confessed.

"Listen to me, don't go over there." He strongly advised.

"If there's a way outta here back there, Joe, I need to find it." She replied. "Peter's out there with my son and I gotta stop him. Please don't get in my way."

"Son, huh? That's why you were in Raccoon…" Tripper said turning from the young woman to the couch. "I didn't know that you had a son…"

"You're not the only one." She said with a slight uncomfortable smile.

"How would you not know?" He asked.

Arynn looked away, "I don't know… Peter must've used my genes and created those things out there including Adam, my son."

She took the opportunity to walk pass the man and down the hall. Tripper turned immediately and followed her.

"Arynn!" He called out. "Get back here!"

"If you're not going to tell me what's going on then, I gotta find out myself, Tripper," She muttered half running into the opened doorway at the end of the small hallway.

She looked around and saw yet another white room this time with a large bed and a few crates to the side. A white door stood next to the bed almost camouflaged into the wall. If she hadn't looked close, she would've missed it. She went for the crates and looked inside. She gasped and backed away immediately. Arynn couldn't contain the horror that she felt as she bent over to catch her breath. "Shit" she whispered. What she saw in the crate made her want to leave the room at once. Before she could leave, Tripper appeared in the doorway watching her. She shrieked and started for the opposite end of the room.

"This is the reason why I didn't want you to come in here," He said as he walked to the crate.

Arynn tried to avoid him in every way now. Tripper was right; he did change. He plunged his hand into the crate and rummaged through bloody contents. He came out with flesh and tissue remains of small rodents. Arynn was disgusted and wanted to leave the white rooms.

"Arynn, all the time that I was down here, I thought about you and if you were still alive," the man started.

"What did they do to you?" Arynn asked as she strained to hold her breath and not gag. She climbed over the bed and darted towards the doorway. Tripper followed. He was right behind her.

"What do you think they did?" He shouted at her.

His voice was loud and scared her. She had no idea what she was dealing with and couldn't handle the deceit. She headed down the hall and back into the livingroom.

"No wait!" Tripper shouted making Arynn stop in her tracks, "Let me correct you. It's 'what Peter did' not Umbrella."

"Joe, I'm sorry," Arynn said as she tried for the door again.

"Don't try to sympathize for me," he called. "I'm not the one who came back looking for a so called cure and making it hard for people like me to do our jobs."

Arynn turned to face him in tears.

"There never was a cure." He said. "I knew it when I first saw you. Why did you come back?"

Arynn exhaled and leaned against the door.

"I believed in my heart that I could find one…" she started. "I wanted to be normal again. I wanted a real life and not some life where everyone around me was dying."

"There's no such thing as a real life." Tripper muttered as he turned and sat on the arm of the sofa. "I stopped living that dream the day I dropped the nuke." He put his head in his hands. "If you hadn't come back, we would've wrapped up our research and Gene and Nick would still be alive."

Arynn looked at him and walked over to him. She hesitated in getting near him but she gave in and hugged him, comforting him. "We were all wronged by Umbrella but mostly we are all wronged by the government." She whispered.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered as he panted. "I should've never followed those orders…"

"You needed to," Arynn started.

Tripper looked to her confused. "Why?"

"If you didn't the virus would've spread worldwide." She added.

Tripper fell silent and thought about the woman's words. She was right. After all of the anguish and self-torture that he had put himself through, the lead commando began to feel as if he had been redeemed in some way. He nudged his face onto Arynn's shoulder and chest. She felt warm to his cold arms and tattered clothes. It had been a long time since he felt anything like this. He inhaled her nature and instantaneously he felt unafraid and strong. Arynn could hear that the soldier had finished shedding his tears. She finally got to see his vulnerable side and probably would never get to see it again. For that one moment the two opposite individuals were on the same plane, the same mindset.

Tripper pushed Arynn away slightly and looked to meet her eyes. She looked into his wondering if there was a normal life outside of this nightmare where they could get to know each other.

"I'll help you get outta here…but that's it." He said as he stood back up and headed for the hall.

Arynn got in front of him and held him back.

"I don't care what you say; I'm taking your ass back up to the surface with me."

Tripper could see that she meant it. He could see the determination and will in her eyes. A part of him was happy that she of all people found him but the other part didn't want her to know of what he became and wanted her to leave.

"I can't. I will not endanger you or anyone else." He walked away.

"F**k you, I didn't come this far to be turned away!" Arynn shouted as she grabbed his arm and turned him around. Shocked by her strength the tall soldier stopped.

"Don't touch me…" he whispered. "I won't be able to—"

"—Won't be able to what?" She said as she came up and planted her lips onto the trembling soldier's.

The Lead Commando of the US Air Force Viral Preventive Measure, met the woman's advancement. He returned her kiss and caressed her shoulders with his trembling arms. They embraced for several minutes.

"Wow." Tripper said as he held the woman that he regarded as a mysterious rogue citizen close.

"Now we have to find a way back to the surface." Arynn suggested.

"Do you always get your way?" Tripper questioned with a smile.

"Yes…" Arynn replied, "Always." She gave him a sarcastic grin. The soldier smiled a little to his self.

He pushed the woman away as he grabbed his head in pain. This looked familiar to Arynn as she watched the man fall to the floor convulsing.

"Get outta...here…" Tripper managed to shout.

"No!" Arynn replied.

He got up and dragged Arynn. "I can't control…" He muttered as led her into the bedroom and threw her on to the mattress. She didn't want Tripper this way. She didn't want to be violated and produce the one thing that Peter claimed he needed…offspring.

"Stop!" Arynn yelled as Tripper ripped her shirt. He looked down at her and saw a disappointed and frightened expression on her face. For a split second he didn't move above her but just watched her. Then he continued…

"Help me…" He whispered as a horrified expression loomed over his face.

Arynn paused and with one last effort, Arynn put her lips on Tripper's neck and latched her teeth onto his neck, tearing at the delicate skin. The man yelled in pain as he fell back from Arynn and held onto his wound. Arynn sprang from the bed and patted her pockets for anything to use. Her hands settled on the anti-viral vial and the syringe. She had to give it a try. She wasn't sure what type of virus Peter had given Tripper but the anti-virus had to work. She readied the needle and went for the distressed man.

The soldier was still struggling back-first on the bed with his eyes shut tight. She knew that her bite meant that the O-virus was now in his already infected bloodstream. Arynn injected him in the bite wound and she immediately stepped away from the bed. She put away the needle seeing that she only had a quarter of the solution left in the vial. Watching the soldier violently squirm, she leaned up against a nearby wall and let her body fall slowly down. She held herself hoping that Tripper would react to the fluid positively. If she was right, the anti-viral serum should've cancelled out both forms of virus making the soldier viral-free.

"I'm sorry," Arynn whispered as she laid her head on her folded arms and continued to watch Tripper convulse.

Hernandez and Page arrived at the secret entrance to Peter's laboratory. They entered quietly and moved passed the ancient cells. The soldier looked on in wonder at the coupling of modern equipment with medieval surroundings.

"When did Peter start working down here?" He asked.

"I don't know. He already had this place when I joined." Page replied.

"Damn. Wonder what he's been doing down here all these years…" The soldier whispered as they walked to the last cell and went inside.

Page turned to him silently, "You'll see…" Her voice echoed throughout the murky enclosure. Hernandez didn't like the tone of her voice. Whatever Ashford was doing, it had to be pretty big for it to be this far underground and concealed.

Page stopped and looked at the soldier, he stopped too. "Don't let them touch or scratch you." She started in almost a half whisper. "You'll turn and it won't be anything like the crimsons. It'll be painful." She continued. Page then started to walk but the soldier caught her arm and drew her back.

"What do you mean by 'don't let them touch you'?" He asked "Who are they?"

"What you're gonna see is nothing like those tyrants." Page started, "Peter's been working on something that no one in his field has ever done."

"What are you saying?"

"The Tyrants and Gandharvas are insects compared to these things. Believe me, you don't want to be devoured alive because these f****kers will do it."

"F***k" Hernandez muttered.

"Believe it." Page agreed. "Follow my lead and don't let those sh*t heads get to you."

"What about Arynn?" Hernandez asked.

"They won't hurt her." Page replied.

Hernandez remained quiet and thought about Arynn. If these experiments were so lethal then why wouldn't they hurt her? Hernandez's eye lit up as he thought deeper. The only time he ever saw a zombie or a crimson not kill one another was when they were related.

The soldier and young woman walked out onto a steel platform that stood floors above a grand enclosure full of numerous stasis tanks. These tanks were not regular specimen holders; they were large and carried floating pale humanoids inside. Steel staircases were next to each tank giving Hernandez a sense of how huge these modern beasts were. The human figures were half the size of the stairs. Page was right these things were literally larger than the Tyrants and probably more frightening than the Gandharvas.

Page headed for the beginning for stairs leading down to the main lab area. Hernandez held her back and she looked at him confused.

"I've seen some crazed shit in my life but nothing like this. Are you sure we need to go down there?"

Page smiled and moved his arm out the way.

"Damn, cuz I mean we can always just leave!" he called out.

She laughed a little but continued to walk.

"Damn, girl. Slow down, I'm not trying to wake up these things up." Hernandez said as he followed closely behind.

"Be quiet already, American." She said with slight frustration but in a giggle.

"You need to stop saying 'American'. You don't see me calling you 'British'." Hernandez called saying the words in accents making Page slip a laugh.

Page looked at him and rolled her eyes. He blew her off and the two got behind one of the tanks. There was some commotion coming from down the isle. Hernandez peered around the glass.