Chapter 38
Piers Nivans
"Jean Willington," Jill asks as we sit in the waiting room. "I don't know him," I tell her. "But he requested you by name for the trial?" "Yep." "Weird." "You're telling me. I'm just hoping I don't die from it." We both laugh. "Mister Nivans," a nurse asks. "That's me," I stand up. It wasn't just me and Jill, Dad was there too. He wanted to make sure this wasn't a way to scam a defenceless teenager out of some money. The three of us are lead to a room, I was surprised they're let in. Usually in movies they have to wait in the waiting room. That's what we had to do when mom was first admitted too. "The doctor will be with you in a moment. While you wait, Mr. Willington left a letter for you." "Maybe we can find out how you know this guy," Dad says.
I open it and see a familiar handwriting, but that could be just a coincidence. "Hey Nivans, been a while. Probably wondering who this Willington guy is, huh? Well it isn't him writing this. Jean was enlisted in the Air Force and developed the prosthetic they're giving you, but it was only used in the military. He recently enrolled in the Academy and I had the pleasure to befriend him. He told me about his inventions and I asked him if he'd be willing to release them to the public. It took some convincing but he did eventually agree to test it out with civilians. That's when I dropped your name and he owed me some favors so he agreed to have you be the first civilian to test out this equipment. Now, I don't know how your college search is going but I contacted a recruiter from West Point and told him about your situation. He said you could apply and be accepted even with the prosthetic as long as you can pass all of the requirements a regular cadet would have to pass. He did clearly specify that you'd need to have the prosthetic and that with only the one arm you wouldn't be accepted, so I hope this works out man. Just trying to revive old dreams I guess, miss you man. Love, Chris Redfield."
Holy shit. "Holy shit..." "What," Jill asks. I hand her the letter and she quickly reads it. "Fucking christ! Chris did this!?" A huge smile stretches across her face. "Guess he's still looking out for us," I smile. She gives me a hug just as the doctor walks in. "Alright, ready to try this out," he asks. In his hand is an arm. its white plastic, semi-see through. Enough that you could see some wires running just underneath the sheet of plastic. It was kind of cool looking to be honest. "So how does this work," I ask. "Well, we attach the end to your shoulder and, well you see the wires inside? They attach to your spinal cord so the messages can be sent from your brain to control it." "Sounds like science fiction. I've never heard of this kind of technology. It finds the spinal cord by itself," Dad asks. "Yes, sir. Its all new stuff. That's why its a trial." "Piers, you sure you want to risk this?" "What's the worst that happens," I ask, "Lose an arm?"
Jill Valentine
Piers shouldn't have been a smart ass, the wires connecting to his spine looked like it hurt like a bitch. That was judging by his facial expression and the screams of pain. "Is he okay," his dad panicked. The doctor shrugged, "This is the first time I've seen this." "They didn't give you instructions... or something?!" "No..." "Guys, it's okay," Piers says sitting up on the hospital bed. "Does it work," I ask. He shrugs. "Nice answer fuckface, move it." He looks down at the arm and a finger moves. "Holy shit," he smiles. All the fingers then move. "Wow," I smile. "Its weird, they move when I tell them too but I can't feel it." "That technology is years away from being developed," the doctor said, "You two should wait outside. We have some tests to do."
Piers' dad and I leave the room and head for the waiting room. "That's amazing," his dad mumbles. "Yeah," I reply simply, "You see the note?" "Yeah. He can go to West Point still!" "You think so?" "He's been keeping up with the requirements with the one arm, with the extra he could do even better." So he's going to live his dream! He really is! Chris, you're fucking amazing!
The doctor walks out, followed by Piers who isn't paying attention to anything but his new arm. "You guys are all set to go. We just want him to come back in for a weekly check in," the doctor says. "Alright," his dad says and goes to do some paperwork or something but my phone starts ringing. I look at the caller and it says unknown, great. Piers and his dad are busy so they wouldn't even notice if I disappeared to take it. "Hello," I answer. "Yo, this Valentine?" "Who's asking," I look confused at the phone. "Its Keith, what you up to?" "I'm in the hospital." "You okay?" "Not me, for Piers." "He okay," he sounds a little more concerned than when he thought it was me. "Yeah, new prosthetic. Cool shit, how'd you get my number?" "Might've harassed your friend Finn for it." "Aw come on, he's a little baby. What you got a crush on me or something," I tease. "Not a chance, don't want to start shit with the boyfriend of yours. I remember last time he beat the shit out of Carlos." I laugh, "Yeah. Good times. So why did you call?" "Wanted to see if you wanted to chill. You seemed like a cool chick. Invite noodles too." "Noodles?" "The Piers kid." "Ah, we'll see." "Hit me up." He hangs up first.
"Piers, you up to go out," I call. "Sure," he shrugs and we walk off as I here his dad call for us to wait. Piers brushes it off and we walk out of the hospital. There was nothing for Piers to do there anyway. So we head outside before Piers asks where we were actually going. Before I answer I text Keith that we're in. "Keith called me. Asked if we wanted to hang out." "And you said yes," he yells like I'm crazy. "Yeah! So?" "You've heard what people say about those two!" "Yeah and...?" "And their family is one of the most feared families in Raccoon. I heard they've killed people." "Well good thing they like us then," I smirk. "This is crazy." "Come on, it'll be fun." He texts back, "Look behind you." I do and a car is sitting there, the window rolled down to reveal a dirty looking Kieth. But he always looked like that. "Get in," Zoey calls from the seat next to him.
We both get into the backseat. "Why don't you two have a car," Zoey asks. "I don't know. Didn't see the need," I ask a little confused. She shrugs and looks out the window. "Where are we going," I ask. "Emanon," he replies as he starts to drive. "Isn't that a bar," I ask. "Yeah, got a problem?" "Well, we don't have fakes." "Don't worry about it." Piers didn't say anything, just looking down at his arm as he held his hand with the prosthetic one. "Nice robot arm," Zoey says looking back. "Uh, thanks. Where's your boyfriend?" "Oh, he's going to meet us there." The ride's quick and quiet from then on.
We pull up in front of the bar and a familiar junior was standing in front of it. He must've been Ellis. Well, I was right judging by how Zoey ran to makeout with him. "Alright, why are we here," I ask Keith. He rolls his eyes, "To get some alcohol." He pulls a gun from his waist. "Jesus Christ! You're going to rob them!?" "Fuck no, this was just getting uncomfortable. My friend owns this place, he'll give me the booze for a cheap price. What do you want?" He puts the gun back in his waist band. "Uh, I don't give a shit." "Still need to chip in though," he puts his open palm out. "Fine, here's ten bucks." I slap the bill in his hand. "Good enough." He then heads inside. "You guys invited my tutor," the Ellis kid asks. Well, it didn't sound like that since he had a thick southern accent but I'll translate it. "Yeah, they're cool," Zoey smiles. "When'd you start talking to 'em," he asks. "Two days ago? They were in the bathroom when we went to smoke and you didn't show up." "I was hungry."
Keith comes out of the bar carrying a keg. "A fucking keg," I yell. "We all pitched in and we had enough, what's the problem?" "Where are we going to drink it," I ask. "Stop worrying, we do this all the time. Get back in the car," Zoey says and we all pile back in. Keith drives us to this run down looking house in the southend district, a poor neighborhood maybe a mile from where Piers and I live. "Come on boys," Keith says as we park. Ellis and Keith grab the keg. "Yo noodles, wanna help us out," he asks Piers. "What's with Noodles," Piers asks. "You got a noodle arm, you know. You're thin. Now let's test out that bionic one." He helps the boys carry in the keg while I walk with Zoey.
"This your house," I ask. "Yep, shithole sweet shithole. Dad's in jail again for skipping his probation hearing so we have the place to ourselves. Not that he'd care if he was here." "He doesn't care about you drinking," I ask. "Nah, he doesn't care about anything. Not in a good way either." "Oh." They put the keg down in the center of the living room, which is full of clutter and garbage. It looks like your stereotypical crack house but who am I to judge, cheap beer. Even though I don't really like beer. "Well, let's crack this thing open."
It was a pretty good party considering it was only seven people. Well, it started as Piers, Keith, Zoey, Ellis and me but their cousins came home and joined us. They were older than Piers and I, both guys and they were cool. They were hitting on me the whole time while Zoey and Ellis made out on the couch and Keith and Piers were drinking. I didn't not like the attention and they helped me do a keg stand which was pretty cool, but it did start getting creepy once I was actually drunk. That's when Keith came over and offered me and Piers a ride home.
We took it and the three of us drove home. "See ya Jill," he says but then both Piers and I get out of the car and he looks at us confused. "Wait, you live here too," he asks. "We're next door neighbors," Piers smiles, "See ya at school." "If I show up," he says before driving away. "Night Piers," I hug him before we head for our houses.
"Jill," my mom yells as she runs up and hugs me. "What," I ask confused. "You got mail from A&M." "You opened it didn't you," I ask. "Um..." "Mom, that's a federal crime," I joke as she hands it to me. I was accepted. I was fucking accepted to Texas A&M University! "You also got accepted for the R.O.T.C. scholarship," Mom yells as she pulls me into another hug. Shit, things are looking up for everyone.
Piers Nivans
"You're finally home," Dad says as I walk in. "Yeah, sorry about that." "Its fine. You're just lucky we didn't need you. How's the arm working out?" "Good so far. Its weird that I can't feel anything with it, but it works." "You try doing anything yet?" "Not really." "Well, I called some of my contacts at West Point and they said you can do the interview and physical portion tomorrow." "You have contacts at West Point?" "Working for Umbrella does have its benefits." Well look at that, some progress with West Point already. I'm lucky they're letting me take it so late. Some people are getting their acceptances already.