Regeneration

Chapter 7: It Happens

November 17, 2013: 40 days until Christmas

Chris Redfield

"Nnngh..."

I got up quietly, rubbing my eyes. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness, then looked around. It was dark, and seemed to be nighttime. The movie was at the main main menu—we must have fallen asleep while watching it. Speaking of "we", I recognized the leathery, slick feeling underneath me as Piers' arm. I looked to my left, and he was laying there underneath me, breathing quietly, eyes closed. I had fallen asleep slumped over him. I hastily, but carefully, lifted myself up off of him. Rubbing sand out of my eyes, I looked out the window. It was coated in snow, and I could see the glow of a streetlight outside.

"Hurh..." Piers grunted and turned on his side beneath me.

I could probably sneak out from off of his legs and out of his quarters without him hearing me...but wait, there was an alarm on the door. There was no way I could leave without him waking up. On the other hand, if I could manage to get off the couch without waking him, I could take him back to his room and sleep out here on the couch. Would that work? I shifted myself slightly, but Piers turned again and his arm moved. Maybe it would just be better to wake him, period. I looked over at the clock on the wall. If I was right, then it was about 2:30 A.M. In the morning. We had started watching the movie at about 5. So that meant that, minus the hour or so I'd been watching, we had been asleep, or at least I had, for about 8 and a half hours. That explained why I was waking up at this time. Yeah, I should probably just get Piers up, he looked close to waking up anyway.

"Piers..." I said, shaking him lightly. He didn't respond immediately, but turned over on his back. "Piers." I said again, shaking him a little rougher. Piers shoved my hand away from him and opened his eyes. "Cuh...Cuhhh...Chriiissss?" he said, yawning. "Yeah, sorry for waking you up, buddy." "What time is it?" he said groggily.

"About 2:30."

"A.M.?"

"Yeah."

"Dammit..." he rubbed his own eyes and I slid off of his feet. "Did we seriously fall asleep through that?!" he asked, more awake. "Are you planning on heading out?" You can stay here if you want." he said.

"You feel like sleeping some more?" I asked.

"Well, not really. It wasn't smart to fall asleep so early."

"Guess I picked a pretty bad choice of movie, huh?" I said apologetically.

"Yeah!" he said, laughing. "So you feel like staying up, too?"

"Sure." I said. I reached over and clicked on the lamp, but turned it right back off. "Ow, sorry..."

"Not a problem. I can go make us something to eat or drink if you want."

"That's okay, I'll do without. Hey, you know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"It's the morning of November 17th, which puts us at 40 days until Christmas. And I'm 40 years old."

"Nice coincidence."

I poked him in the ribs. "40 is God's magic number."

"Didn't know you believed in God."

That put me off. "Well, do you?"

"Yes."

"Okay...I know I'm not very godly and all that. It's not as if there's time for church."

"Nobody blames you, Captain. Ah, Chris, I mean."

"Right." I said, wondering what else to talk about next. "So...you, uh, sleep well?" I asked.

Piers closed his eyes and smiled. "Yeah." he said. "Really well."

"Good."

"You?"

I was glad it was dark, because I was blushing remembering how I'd fallen asleep on top of him."I guess."

"No nightmares, right?"

"Nah." I said.

"Good." he repeated after me. We were silent for a while.

"So do you think—" but Piers never finished the question, because the light from the television went out. The streetlamp went out, too. "What was that?" Piers' voice said, edgy.

"I think the power just went out over this street."

"Don't like it when that happens, makes me jump outta my skin. Feels like we're under attack again."

"Don't you wish we were?"

"Sometimes." Piers admitted. "But not when I'm sitting on my couch."

"Hah, of course not." I said. "Damn, it's dark."

"Can you see my face?"

"No, not really. How far is it from mine?"

"Can't tell, last time I checked it was about a foot or two from yours."

"Ouch!"

"What happened?"

"Nothing, just hit the coffee table with my foot."

"Smooth."

"Give me a break." I said, rolling my eyes, as if he could see them.

"You sure we shouldn't make sure this isn't a crazy scheme by terrorists? You're the founder of this place, it's expected."

I jumped up, hitting my knee on the coffeetable this time. "Shit! I forgot!" I said, heading for the door. In my defense, I act as a normal soldier in the main in my work for the B.S.A.A. Easy to forget that bit.

"Call first."

"Can I borrow your phone?"

"Don't you have a cell?"

"Right!" I said, smacking myself in the forehead. I yanked it out of my pocket and dialed the lobby. "Hello? Hello?" I yelped into the phone.

"Mr. Redfield? What's going on?"

"What's going on with the power? I expect it's just a blackout, but I don't want people jumping out of their skins. This is the height of government power in a building, we should be on electricity even if the rest of the street isn't." I said impatiently.

"Calm down, sir, the power just went out on the block."

"Are you sure? I mean, all power lines are down, including ours?"

"Yes, they were talking about it on the news, would you like to come down and put it over the intercom?" I looked over at where I figured Piers was.

"That won't be necessary. Thanks."

I heard a beep. A few seconds later, the red lights went out and I lost vision again. "Anything else, Captain Redfield?"

"No, no, that's okay. Just...keep doing your job. Sorry for the disturbance."

"Not a problem, sir." he said, and then hung up.

"Never seen you do that kinda stuff before." Piers commented. "I usually don't." I said, feeling around for the couch. "I'm not an office worker type."

"You and me both." I heard him say from close by. I decided I was close enough, and gently sat down, a little closer to him than I had meant to. "Careful." he said.

"Sorry." I apologized. Suddenly, I felt him reaching over to his right with his left arm. "Yah, hey, watch it!" I said as he jabbed a finger into my ribs. "That's for earlier." he said. I thought about asking him to light up his arm, but figured that would make him self-concious. "So..."

"Sooooo..."

"Um..."

"...What do you wanna talk about?"

"I don't really know." I drew a blank. "There's no electricity...I don't suppose you have any flashlights or candles?" I asked. In response, Piers' arm lit up with electricity. His face looked bored. "Wow. You didn't need to do that."

"It's okay, it's no trouble."

"How long do you have before that goes away?"

"Likely until my arm is completely healed, but it's getting weaker. A few weeks ago, if you had asked me to blast a helicopter out of the sky, I could have done it. Now, I think maybe I could knock over a trash can or two."

"Water breathing?"

"Gone."

"Ouch."

"If you say so."

I leaned back into the couch. "I do not wanna think about trying to walk down through the halls when it's this fucking dark. I hate being stuck."

"I guess we could just try and get back to sleep."

"Ha, good luck."

"Wanna light up the...dammit." I slipped off. Piers laughed. "Not much to do."

"Damn right."

Piers slid up closer to me. "Captain?"

"Chris." I corrected automatically.

"Can I call you Captain just for right now?"

I blinked. "I guess."

"You're a great guy, thanks for all you've done." he said, arm sliding around me.

Piers Nivans' arm around me made me feel like the happiest, and saddest man in the world. Between all the thoughts going through my head, I never really realized when I had fallen asleep. Neither he nor I would've been able to tell by sight anyway.

It was too dark.