Chapter Three
She was falling, falling forever. No..she was dying, and her shell was merely a puppet on a string. Her hopes were dwindling even as her breaths were taken, her life used before her like a tool… His hands were on her…that filthy man with the crimson eyes, he would pay for touching her, he would choke…he would die… Yes, her hands were on him now. She could feel the life ebbing from him as he screamed in pain…the monster would be no more, Wesker would be no more…
"..J..J..stop…" Blinking awake as Chris' voice filtered into her half conscious mind, Jill looked down. Her hands were wrapped about her husband's neck, choking the very air out of him. Too afraid that he would hurt her in the process, he had let her, only struggling minimally and begging for release. "Oh my god..Chris…" As she released him from his nightmarish stupor, the woman shifted backwards, scared of herself.. Nearly falling off the bed, Jill was caught by a gasping Chris, his arms encircling her body. "It's ok…it's ok. This hasn't happened in awhile…" Beating her hands against his thick forearm until he moved back, the woman shrank against the head board, sobbing. "I thought…I thought it was over…I…oh Chris.."
Still sucking in air at a rapid rate, the man stared at his miserable spouse. She had had nightmares ever day this week…everyday since he had told her about the mission. McNeil had debriefed her the next day after Chris had given him the head go, and now…he wished silently he hadn't. The wet tracks that lined across her face made him wonder…would taking down Umbrella …or the possibility of it… be enough to help her beyond and past what haunts that stalked the reaches of Jill's mind.. Despite her form inching away from him, Chris wrapped his arms more securely about his wife. Whispering in calming tones, the man nuzzled close to her moist chin. "I'm here, no matter what. You can count on it… You are strong, Jill. And we will do this…you can dount on it." Jill looked back at her husband, her azure eyes bleary from the tears. A small smile hinted at her lips as she realized again what she had always felt. "God I love you…" Moving to his mouth, she crushed hers to his, silently praying that her greatest gift would never leave her side..
As he wrapped his arms about her hungry form, Chris inwardly sighed. He loved her…but would his love be enough for the approaching hardships ahead?
…
Doctors….such a joke.
He had been one of them once, and he knew how the thrill of discovery could seduce. But now he was nothing more than a lab rat…a very dangerous lab rat. His crimson lidded eyes were closed as he remembered what being in prime felt like… the freedom…the dangerous fell of his own skin. The world was an orb of glass to shatter and remold, and the fire had been so temptingly hot.. The seduction of power and greed, they still itched in his soul, burning a black mar into what was left of it. His nose twitched. Her scent was still in the room despite the fact it had been nearly a week since her last visit. God the smell was cloying…it would stay in the back of his nasal passages for hours, fooling him into thinking the shadow of her presence still lingered. He remembered when her smell had been everything around him at one point, mixed with the heat of the African country, and the smell of torn leather…
At times he would dream about his angel, the parting of her being the most prominent. He could still remember how soft her body felt as the sharp piece of shrapnel had pierced her heart. Ironic…he had been called heartless, and yet even when she had been stabbed right through hers….she still had somehow come back from the dead to torment him. She was not cruel in the normal, blatant way, but the subtle. Her eyes would linger on his, feeling their righteous hatred for what creature he had become. Her lips would part briefly before she spoke, reminding him of a time they had in ecstasy… Her fingertips would inspect his skin, analyzing it like a grown sample. There was no devotion to it, no heated desire like she had displayed before. The woman who he had held as so much different than himself was not truly so at all. She had played on what buried emotions there had been, tearing open scars long forgotten. She had used him as a tool…and he had believed her purity… His angel had been a demon in disguise. ….
Reopening his eyes as the doors slid open, Wesker did not even bother to give the visitor a side ways glance. "I have already received my daily visit today, doctor, or are we going to run more useless tests that are of no concern to me.." The room stayed silent for only a moment, the voice answering the arrogant man not one that belonged to his normal physician. "And here I thought you were still such a…gentlemen." Looking over a the owner of the voice, Wesker fought the urge to cringe. Charles Trent stared at him curiously, his dark eyes comically wide through his glasses. Lifting himself off the bed in one, fluid motion, Wesker growled gently. "Considering we have not spoken since my….arrival…. I was not expecting you, Trent…or do you still go by that surname?" Trent grinned, his smile obviously forced. "Of course…but I have come to discuss something with you." Wesker idly wiped off his hands, leaning back like a bored child that was none to amused with a new toy. None the less his left eyebrow rose in question. "Oh?"
Preceding to fold his arms behind his back, Trent paced in a small circle. "Despite your media restriction, I have become compelled to make you aware that we are helping the U.S. Government rebuild the city of Raccoon.." Wesker started at this, his lips stretching into a thin line. Despite his involvement with the town's destruction, he did have guilt…though it had been long buried under hatred and sadism. Raccoon after all…had been his home for almost fifteen years at one point. "And how does that involve me?" Trent turned, enjoying that he finally had peaked his prisoner's interest. "You were the top security officer, were you not? I am going to be establishing new protocols in the new facility, and you knowledge would be a great asset to me." Shifting himself into a defensive posture, Wesker folded his hands before him, his voice becoming low as if sharing a large secret. "And what would be in it for me? I can not do much good locked away like a criminal…" Trent snapped his gaze back to Wesker, his formerly subdued eyes blazing. "Ah but you are a criminal, and we had best not forget that…but no. I have developed something that would give you limited freedom, but you would become like the rest of us…" Retrieving a small phial of violet liquid from his pocket, Trent fingered the glass object with pride. "A different rendition of you P30 serum, added in with antibodies from another subject much like yourself. It would render you active DNA that is linked to those extraordinary powers of yours….useless, but only for a time. The inactive cells would regenerate after a twenty four hour period… You would just be any other man…and thus able to be controlled in an outside environment."
Wesker thought the air in his lungs would implode. It was impossible to render the superhuman DNA dormant…he had even thought of it himself when Jill had been under his power. Her antibodies were not strong enough… Who could have been powerful enough to produce such stains? Angelica herself was not a candidate… Bringing his eyes up to look at Trent's expectant face, Wesker's jaw tightened. "And if I turn down such an offer?" Trent whisked the serum away into his pocket, preparing to leave at the statement. There was a disquieted evil that shone from his dark eyes… "If you refuse, I can personally guarantee that you will never have such an opportunity again..Think about it. A life of normalcy outside these walls, or the power of a god caged….
The decision….is yours…."
….
"Where have you been, young lady?"
Angelica had her hands on her hips, staring down at the little girl whom she had been looking for all afternoon. One of her assistants had found the child in an empty waiting room, sitting on the examination table. The child looked up, her blue eyes wide and confused. "The nice man told me if I was good, you would give me a sucker, Momma?" Thrusting her arm forward, there was one of the familiar cartoon bandages across it. Motherly instinct kicked in as Angelica yanked the tape off, no mark to be found. The child was frightened by the sudden motion, her lower lip quivering. "Did I do something bad? He said that you said I had to have my checkup…" Immediately Angelica's face hardened. She had been in surgery most of the day, repairing a ripped jaw from one of the new Cerberus models. The animals did fine when on their own…but caged together…they would turn on one another.. Coming back to home, she found the baby sitter gone, and her child no where to be found. On occasions like this, Angelica felt no problem abusing her speed…especially when her child was exhibiting the same power whenever they played hide and seek… The game had quickly been banned from the Burrows household after she had found her three year old lost near the Licker pen during a momentary spurt of speed….
"Who was it who told you to come here?" The child tapped her chin, thinking hard. It was adorable under normal circumstances.. "Your friend, Mr. Charlies?" Angelica huffed out a relieved breath. Trent had been present in the child's life since birth, and had told her from the beginning, to call him "Charlie". Unfortunately the child had a small lisp, and called her pseudo uncle "." Scrunching her brows together, Angelica patted her daughter on the head. Moving to the cabinet, she fished out a sucker. The facility had been keeping them ever since the child had learned what sugar was. Absentmindedly handing over the treat, the woman flicked open her phone and dialed an extension. As her daughter squealed in the background and ripped open the candy, Angelica hissed as Trent answered the other line. "Who are you to tell my daughter to go somewhere without my permission?" A soft chuckle came from the other side…but not one that normally would have come from the man she trusted. He seemed…amused… "It was merely a sample taking, Angelica. You are quite…over protective."
Angelica took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as her offspring began to watch her curiously. She couldn't let her think something was wrong. "Why were you taking samples from her? And why was I not notified? She is only a child, Trent." Trent's voice lowered threateningly, the static overwhelmed by a small growl. "She is Umbrella property, just as you are. If I want to run tests, or take samples, I do not have any obligation to make you aware. I suggest you remember who is keeping your identity from being leaked out, and the fact that you are alive a secret from the BSAA. Good day, Angelica. I do hope next time we speak, you will remember those facts…" Swallowing hard as she shut off the hand held, Angelica looked back to her daughter. Trent and she had been pulled apart within the last six years, but at the end of the Africa incident…she had believed he was battling for the greater good… Now she had become a prisoner…just like everyone else…
"Momma…I don't feel well…" Angelica whirled to see her daughter beginning to tip off the exam table, her hand having long dropped the half eaten sucker. Flashing to her side, Angelica caught the little girl. Her face was pale….eyes rimmed with a greenish sickness…. Something was wrong….something was dire wrong. Angelica fought the urge to cry when her little one sank into her arms. Swallowing back the fear, the woman now focused upon the rage.
What had Trent done to her daughter?