Notes: Thank you all for reading and reviewing. CrystalFlame360 continues to beta read my chapters, which is a huge help. I'm sorry that my updates have been sporadic, I keep getting sidetracked by countless little side projects.
o0o
The phone rang. Nothing out of the ordinary there. She could handle a simple phone call. It was as good a distraction as any, and she desperately needed a distraction.
"Hi, Rebecca here," she answered, expecting maybe her parents, or even Chris or Jill calling to check in on her. Except, neither Chris nor Jill had her number, so there was no way it could be from them.
"Agent Chambers?"
It took her longer than it should have to recognize the gruff male voice on the other end, Chief Irons.
She swallowed nervously, or tried to, the action wasn't really something the leeches could manage, "Yes?"
S.T.A.R.S. was technically a part of the city police department, so there was no reason she should have been surprised to hear from someone in the department, especially after not showing up to work for nearly a week. Still, Chief Irons? It had to mean she was in trouble. More trouble than she was already, since she still hadn't figured out what she was going to do about anything.
"You're going to need to come in for questioning," he began, his tone as unrelenting as always, "About what happened to Bravo team and then, what followed at the old Spencer Estate. Valentine and Redfield gave a rather unusual account, and I hope that your version of events makes more sense."
There was an implied threat in there, but she couldn't figure out where or why. If Jill and Chris had already explained, there was no reason for her to show up, was there? Or was it just part of procedure?
Staring at the wall across the room, she watched as a leech emerged from a thin gap between the trim and the floor. It was just as she'd feared, they were getting into the walls. If she wasn't careful they'd infest the whole building, get into other apartments and…
"Agent Chambers? Are you still there?"
She'd been letting her mind wander, trying to get a feel of how many leeches were in the walls. The sound of Chief Irons' voice pulled her back to the here and now.
"Yes, I'm here," another leech squeezed its way back into the apartment. She could try making them come back, since they tended to respond to what she was thinking. After that, she could go around and seal up every gap she found to prevent them from getting back out. There was a roll of duct tape in the hall closet. Hopefully, it would be enough, "Since you've called me, can we just do this over the phone?"
She was going to have to go out soon, she was running low on food and if the tape wasn't enough, she was going to need to figure out some other way of preventing the leeches from escaping. She didn't trust them enough to leave them alone. They were staying in the apartment, because she was there and she was staying in the apartment, because the last thing she wanted, was for them to start wandering more than they already were.
The leeches were keeping her trapped, not directly, but they were. It presented a tricky dilemma for her to solve.
"This has to be," a short pause, "Official."
She didn't like the sound of the pause, it had the feeling of someone fishing for the right word and, then settling on the closest substitute. There were many times she'd heard herself do it since joining S.T.A.R.S. Hearing it from someone who was supposed to be in charge, set off all sorts of alarm bells. Her first thought was of Captain Wesker, his betrayal, but that was just her being paranoid. There was no way that all of the higher-ups in Raccoon City's law enforcement were in Umbrella's payroll, which meant –
"How much did Chris tell you?" Rebecca asked, watching as the second leech struggled to pull itself out of the gap. If Chris had told Chief Irons what she'd said about Director Marcus, then she'd have a lot of explaining to do. Chris hadn't understood what she'd meant, not that she'd been terribly coherent at the time, and he might have told it all wrong. It would make her seem crazy.
And if Chris had mentioned the leeches…
Then there was no doubt that Chief Irons would think she was crazy.
"Agents Redfield and Valentine told me a great deal," he spoke slowly, carefully. Rebecca couldn't tell if it was for her benefit, or if he was thinking things over, "I'm going to need to hear your version of events though. Their accounts, though consistent with each other, have a large number of holes. To put it simply, their story was outlandish to say the least, and I'm hoping that you can give me a more coherent account of what happened at the mansion."
The mansion? That was what he wanted to know about? She could do that, "But what about Bravo Team?"
The Chief was silent for a long while, making her regret having asked. If she'd kept silent, she might have gotten away with leaving out some of the worst details of how badly she'd messed up.
"If it's necessary," he said, again speaking with great care, "What happened at the mansion is what matters though."
She was being given exactly what she'd hoped for, the chance to tell what had happened, so why couldn't she let it rest at that? Even if it felt too good to be true, wasn't she owed that after all she'd been through?
A nagging doubt remained, but she did her best to ignore it. Part of it was probably due to how little she liked Chief Irons. As a member of S.T.A.R.S., she hadn't had too much interaction with him, but what little there had been had been awkward.
"Are you sure I can't just tell you over the phone?"
It was too much to hope for, but she was going to at least try.
"I insist on seeing you in person, and as soon as possible."
There was an implied threat in that, and an obvious one too. He was the police chief after all, he didn't need to ask her to come, he could simply send an officer to collect her and she'd have no choice.
The leech was still trying to get back into the room. It wasn't any bigger than the first had been, but somehow it had gotten stuck. Once she got off the phone, she'd need to go see what its problem was. Not that she cared about its predicament, but it was distracting. Before she left, she was going to need to deal with it, and any others that were in the walls, then she'd need to think of a way to keep them from getting out again while she was away.
Or worse, trying to follow her.
"I'm really busy right now," a weak excuse, but she needed to try, "Can I come by later?"
"How late?"
Was she crazy, or did Chief Irons sound happy about her trying to put things off?
Either way, she decided to press her luck, "Late. Like, tonight late."
Because she couldn't go out during the day, not when it was so sunny out that she'd had to close the blinds just to be able to get around the apartment.
"Wonderful," this time, she knew she wasn't crazy. Chief Irons had actually let out a sigh of relief, "I've got a lot to get done myself, and that should give me time to take care of it. Come by at ten. The bus lines run late this time of year, so you shouldn't have any trouble. By that time, I'll have everything wrapped up and be able to send home any unneeded personnel. Agents Redfield and Valentine said you'd had a hard time of things, so I figure it will be easier for you if it's just you and me. Just because things have to be official, doesn't mean that we have to do things entirely by the books, right?"
Ten o'clock? Not only did that give her all day to deal with the leeches, it meant that she wouldn't have to leave her apartment until after dark, and there wouldn't be as many people around.
"Thank you so much! I'll be there!" she all, but laughed, with relief.
"Perfect."
It wasn't until after she'd hung up the phone that she realized that not one single thing about the situation felt right. Chief Irons had always unnerved her, and meeting with him alone in the police station was intimidating to say the least, but there was more to it than that. Things were going too perfectly for her.
She wasn't able to dwell on it for too long though, the leech at the wall had finally managed to get back into the apartment, dragging the mangled remains of what was probably a mouse with it.
"Eat it!" she hissed at the leech, wishing that it hadn't brought back evidence of what they'd been doing in the walls. Hunting, and successfully. Until now, she hadn't realized that the apartment was infested, and she couldn't call the owner to get an exterminator, not unless she wanted to risk being found out.
Another leech reentered the apartment, this one also pulling something in with it.
"Don't do that," she pleaded, as the leech with the mouse began to make its way over to her. She wasn't so low on food that the leeches that were making her were hungry. There was no need for it to be bringing food back to the others.
Two more leeches came out of the gap, bringing with them, what she realized had to be, bits of a rat. Hopefully, just one rat, she didn't want to think about rodents living in the walls, getting in and out of her apartment just like the leeches.
The first leech lifted its front half, holding the mouse up for her to see, just like a cat showing off what it had brought back.
"Why?"
The leech continued to hold up the mouse, like she was supposed to take it.
It did expect her to take the mangled little thing, she could pick up on that much from it. She and the leeches shared some sort of connection, it was why she could sense them, exert some control over what they were doing, but despite all that the leeches were separate entities, just like she had thoughts of her own. A leech would have no trouble eating a mouse, but she wanted nothing to do with the idea. She'd already determined that she wasn't just the leeches, otherwise, she'd have no trouble spending all day in the bath, wouldn't worry about hurting anyone, wouldn't think that the dead mouse was disgusting.
The leeches wouldn't understand that though. They'd viewed her as part of their group since imprinting on her, protecting her when she'd been attacked by zombies, and before that, working together to keep her from bleeding out, or drowning, when Director Marcus had forced her into the vat with them.
Looking at it that way, it made sense, they were just bringing food back to her, responding to her thoughts about needing to go shopping.
Except, she couldn't eat.
"Just eat it, okay?" she sighed, wishing that she had more control over them, and immediately shuddering at the thought.
What she really wanted, was to have nothing to do with them, but that wasn't an option.
"If you eat it, I'll fill the bathtub for you."
That worked, though she wasn't sure if it was what she'd said, or if the thought alone had been enough. As little as she liked the idea, it was something she was going to need to figure out if she wanted to be able to leave the apartment.
o0o
She spent the rest of the day luring leeches out of the walls, with carefully placed bits of food and taping over every gap and hole they emerged from. Filling the bathtub worked fairly well to keep them from wandering back into the walls, though several of them kept trying to bring food in there with them. Since cleaning the tub after, what she'd decided to think of as, her three day soak, she wasn't about to let them start a repeat of that, especially when one emerged from behind the bathroom sink to drop a whole rat in the tub, before she was able to stop it. The others converged on the rat, tearing it to pieces, before she could stop them. When she got home, she was going to have to drain the tub, get the leeches out and check for bones, and other leftover bits from their meal, something for her to look forward to.
On the bright side, gathering them all together gave her the chance to do some cleaning, something normal enough that she was able to forget about everything else while doing it. Knowing that she was one step to getting things resolved in one way or another, also helped. She wasn't looking forward to her meeting with Chief Irons, but having no choice in the matter actually helped. Now that she had to go, it gave her something to focus on.
Like how convenient it was that he was letting her arrive so late. He hadn't even questioned why she'd want to come so late, and making sure that there would be as few people around as possible, only served to help make things easier for her. The explanation was obvious too, as far as she was concerned, the Chief had heard Chris and Jill's account of what had happened, and it was bound to have been terrifying if it was even half as bad as what had happened with her before they all met up. The last thing he wanted, was for anyone in the police station to overhear and start talking about it. There would be a full on panic in no time at all if word got out, so Chief Irons wanted to have everything in order before he contacted the authorities to get help with what happened.
It had nothing to do with the fact that the whole city was pretty much built up around Umbrella Corporation, and anything that hurt it, would do to Raccoon City what the collapse of the steel industry had done to all those towns and cities in Pennsylvania. It was a serious accusation, but Chief Irons would have to believe it, since the three of them, four counting Barry, would all back up what the others said.
It wouldn't be the first time a huge company was brought down by people revealing the truth.
Umbrella was making monsters, and that was something that couldn't be covered up or ignored.
Any misgivings she had about the whole situation, were because she found being around Chief Irons to be unnerving. It wasn't his fault though, her interactions with him had been pleasant enough, if awkward, but that was only because she was the youngest member of S.T.A.R.S. and felt like a little kid pretending to be someone she wasn't, whenever she was around the city's Police Chief. She'd always expected Irons to call her on it, point out that she didn't have anywhere near enough experience with anything to be doing what she was doing, but he never did. He was polite, eloquent and even tried to make conversation with her, treating her like she was an adult, despite the fact that she hadn't been old enough to drink at the time she was hired.
She just wished that he hadn't taken her having majored in biochemistry, as meaning that she'd want to hear all about his contributions to the local museum's collection of taxidermy animals. It explained why the department was decorated with deer heads, but she really hadn't wanted to know the trick for how to properly mount a turkey's tail feathers, even if it was easy and a great way to get started with taxidermy as a hobby. Being told that he had some squirrels in his freezer if she wanted to practice also hadn't helped.
She knew he meant the freezer at his house, but that didn't stop her from eyeing the fridge in the breakroom with suspicion each time she walked by it, half expecting an ice covered squirrel to jump out at her.
With how much the leeches liked rats, at the moment they were nudging the bones across the bottom of the tub and testing where she'd taped over the hole in the wall, she wondered if maybe she should take Chief Irons up on his offer. It would be good for a laugh at least, even if he wouldn't know why it was funny for her.
Thinking of the leeches, she should probably get them out of the garbage so she could take it out. They'd done a good job of eating anything they could that she'd thrown out, but she didn't want to take the chance of it starting to stink. If the neighbors complained, she'd be in big trouble and she already felt like she'd dodged a bullet with what had happened with the bathtub.
If they hadn't been so fast, the smell would have been terrible and if someone had come to see what the problem was and if she hadn't gotten up in time, they might have found her in the tub with the leeches.
What was left of her.
She wasn't going to think about that, because it hadn't happened. What mattered, was that the leeches had been hungry or in a hurry, either way it worked out for her.
That was what mattered, not the rest of it.
By the time she was done sealing off every gap, it was already after dark. Stragglers had meant that she'd needed to remove the tape to let them back into the apartment and then retape everything once they were all in.
It was a good thing that she'd been feeding them during the day, because there wasn't time for her to fix a meal for herself. For them really, since she only got hungry when enough of them were.
She got dressed in a hurry, putting on a long sleeved shirt despite the warm weather, just in case the leeches started acting up. For the same reason, she chose her best fitting pair of jeans, even though she would have preferred shorts. Keeping the leeches covered would help keep them from drying out, and if there wasn't room for them to move, they probably wouldn't try anything.
There definitely wasn't time to take the garbage out, but that wasn't really a problem. There were still a few leeches rummaging around in there, and she didn't want to go digging around to make sure that they were all out. Missing one would mean that it would know where the dumpster next to the apartment was, and it might let the others know. Between the rotten food and rats, it would be too much for them to resist.
The issue of food was a tricky one, something she pondered while waiting at the bus stop, and continued to mull over on the ride to the station. She was going to need to keep them fed to keep them from hunting, and she was running low on food in the apartment. Once her meeting with the Chief was over, she should probably stop by an all-night grocer and see about doing some shopping. Except, that might be dangerous. With how the leeches came and went as they pleased, there was no telling what they'd do once they were in the store.
She didn't even know if they could transmit the Tyrant virus or not. Just taking the bus was more of a risk than she should be taking, when she didn't know how contagious it was. Didn't feel like a very safe guess though. Chris and Jill had clearly survived and from the sounds of things, they'd had some close calls with zombies. Chris had actually touched her, she'd ridden in Barry's car and nothing had happened.
The virus might be like rabies, only transmitted through bites. If that were the case, she'd be fine.
As long as none of the leeches wandered off.
She was going to need to be careful about that.
She spent the rest of the bus ride staring at the floor, looking closely at every little shadow to make sure that it wasn't a leech slithering away from her.
Back in the apartment, she should have done more to test her awareness of them, to see if there was a way to pick up on when they were on the move, or if there was a way to keep them together. There had to be, and it was something she did without thinking, otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting on the bus, she'd still be in the bathtub, nothing more than a swarm of leeches
She should have done more, but that would have required interacting with the leeches.
Eventually, she was going to have to do it, figure things out so that she could safely leave her apartment, rather than sit around waiting until she ran out of food. What would happen if enough of the leeches got hungry enough? They'd already started hunting. If more of them got hungry, more would go hunting until they'd all left.
Then, it would just be the leeches.
She'd be gone.
Rocking in place she rubbed at her arms, reassuring herself that they were still holding solidly in place, that the leeches hadn't started moving, weren't getting ready to disperse.
Something had to keep them together, and she needed to figure it out. It was the only way for her to be sure of anything.
If she figured it out, and figured out how contagious the Tyrant virus was, then maybe, she could make things work.
It wasn't like she had a choice in the matter, she had to find a way to deal with it, at least until what Umbrella was doing was revealed and the corporation was shut down for good.
That would be her goal, do what she could to help reach that end.
And going to the police station and telling Chief Irons everything was the first step.
Except, she wouldn't be telling him everything, just the parts that he needed to know.
Not about the leeches, or Billy.
Having a goal helped, and when the bus finally came to her stop, she walked off feeling more confident than she had in a long while. Confident enough, that she was able to walk into the creepy old building without worrying about how big and ominous it was, or how empty it was at such a late hour. Her footsteps sounded unpleasantly loud in her ears, the sound echoing through the building as she tried to figure out where she should go. Should she go to Chief Irons' office? The main desk to ask if there was somewhere she was supposed to meet him?
She'd only been at the station during the day, so maybe it was always like this at night. Maybe, there was no reason to be nervous, maybe she was overthinking things like she tended to, maybe –
"There you are!"
She let out a startled yelp at the sound of Chief Irons' voice.
"You-you startled me," she stammered, her tone making it an apology as she pressed a hand to her chest, expecting to feel her heart racing. Nothing. Her chest hardly even moved when she drew in a breath, just enough air to get the words out. All the leeches were breathing for themselves, "The bus – "
"Runs a little late at this hour, I know," the police chief gave her a smile that was far less reassuring than he probably meant it to be, "Let's just go to my office and take care of things, get this whole unpleasant business over with."
"Okay," she nodded, looking around at the empty halls as she followed him.
"First things first," he spoke with his back to her, "S.T.A.R.S. is going to be officially disbanded. I wanted to let you know now, so when we're done you can clear out your belongings from your locker if you want. Otherwise, you can come back tomorrow."
"Oh."
It saved her a lot of trouble, but she still felt bad about it. Even if she'd been planning to quit anyway, she would have liked to say it for herself. Now, it was just one more thing that was out of her hands.
"In fact, you can take care of it now," his back was still to her, "Get it out of the way if you'd prefer."
"No thank you," she mumbled, looking down at her feet.
"That's fine."
Except, it wasn't. She could tell by his tone. He would have preferred her to go to where she and the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. kept their gear. Why? It wasn't like it was on the way to his office.
"I sent everyone home, so we wouldn't be interrupted. Took some doing," he laughed, "Had to tell a few white lies about who was in tonight, but I figured it was better this way."
He was back in his stride, confident again. Proud.
"I expect that your story will be similar to what Redfield and Valentine had to say," another laugh, "Zombies and monsters, right?"
When he put it that way, it did sound hard to believe.
"Bio-organic weapons, that was the term that showed up in the files we found," she offered as they arrived at the door to his office.
"Monsters in an old haunted house, because you know the story, right?" He opened the door and motioned for her to go inside, "That the architect who built the place went insane. Take a seat, this might take some time."
She did as told, careful to keep her eyes straight ahead and not look around the room. Carefully stuffed and mounted animals decorated the room, a reminder of his hobby. Rebecca had forgotten how unnerving all those blank glass eyes were, until she was once again surrounded by them. Her problem wasn't with the chief she decided, it was with his hobby, "No, I hadn't heard that."
There hadn't been the time or desire for her to look into local stories, though if she had known about the Spencer Estate, would that have changed anything? Of course not, she would have laughed it off, just like Chief Irons was.
Irons walked past her, pulled his chair away from the desk, but remained standing, "He disappeared shortly before construction was finished. His whole family went missing before that. The story is that he showed up to look at how things were coming along, and that was the last anyone saw of him. Most versions I've heard say that he never left, that he'd built a secret room into the house and locked himself away in it, along with his wife and daughter, who he'd murdered. The bodies were never found."
He finished the story with a small chuckle and a ghoulish smile.
Urban legends and tall tales, but his mention of a hidden room gave her something to segue in with, "There was a hidden room, a bunch of them actually. Below the mansion was a whole secret lab. That's where they were doing the experiments."
"Experiments?" Irons raised a questioning eyebrow, "What kind of experiments?"
"They were working with viruses, trying to…" she trailed off, realizing that, other than Marcus, she had no clear goal of what any of it had been about. There had been the notes and files she'd looked through, but they were from so many different experiments, recorded by so many people over such a length of time, she had no clue what the end goal of it all had been, "I think the goal was to make new types of biological weapons."
"So, the so called zombies and monsters were just people infected with some sort of disease, the result of an accident in this secret basement lab no doubt," Irons offered.
"Yes, well most of them," Rebecca corrected, "Some of them were animals."
Irons nodded, "Rabid dogs?"
"There were dogs," Rebecca shuddered at the memory of the zombie dogs. If Billy hadn't been there to deal with them…
Taking advantage of her silence, Irons continued for her, "So, you spent hours getting chased through the woods by rabid animals and then arrived at the Spencer Estate, which was full of dead and dying people."
"Zombies," she corrected, "It was full of zombies, and there were more infected animals. Other things too, bio-organic weapons, the notes called them B.O.W.s. Researchers at Umbrella were trying to make something they were calling a Tyrant. It was supposed to be the perfect B.O.W., strong, fast, nearly impossible to kill and intelligent. I saw the thing and it was horrible."
"Redfield and Valentine didn't mention this 'Tyrant' in their account of events," Irons said flatly.
"They might not have called it by that name. I don't know if they saw the same files that I did. I told Chris about it, but," she paused to gather her thoughts, recalling the muddled explanation she'd given to Chris when she'd first found him, how he'd thought she was crazy, "I don't think I explained it very well. They had to have told you about it though. I didn't get a very good look at it. Chris had killed it by the time I actually got a look at it, but it was big. Bigger than any person, much bigger. Its muscles were all wrong and its skin was like leather. I'm not sure, but I think I saw its heart, and not because of any injury. The organ was outside its chest, and all the arteries and veins were too."
Chief Irons' expression grew thoughtful, the barest hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, "Give me a moment, I think I've got it, I really do. Agents Redfield and Valentine told an interesting story, but not quite as literary as yours. Let me guess, your Tyrant, the perfect monster, was somewhere around eight feet tall and had 'yellow skin that scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath'. Am I right?"
"That's…" she stopped. His description was accurate, but the way he was smiling at her was far more unnerving than the collection of taxidermy animals decorating the room.
"Frankenstein's monster," the chief finished, "Clever bit of embellishment on your part, but it's not unexpected, is it? Redfield and Valentine, inspired by local legend, came up with a house full of zombies and secret experimentation to explain what happened, why they had to kill Captain Wesker. You took it a step farther and drew on a more classical source of inspiration. Don't look so surprised. When I went to college, I majored in English Literature. Not as practical as your field, but funny how things lined up this way, isn't it?"
"Wait," Rebecca pleaded, realizing that if she didn't do something, it was going to be a repeat of what had happened when she tried to tell Chris about what had happened to her, "I'm not making this up. Let me start at the beginning, before the mansion. Our helicopter crashed and –"
"You were the only survivor," Chief Irons cut her off, his smile slowly softening into what might have been a look of sympathy, or condescension, "You managed to get away from the crash site, but you were lost in the woods for over a day, wandering around helpless, looking for some sign of civilization. You managed to orient yourself, somehow, and find the Spencer Estate. By the time you got there, whatever had happened was over, or mostly over. Maybe you found it because of the flames. You ran into Redfield and Valentine there, possibly Burton at well. I haven't been able to get in touch with him for questioning yet, so I'm not sure what part he played in all this. Maybe you can help me with that. First though, I want you to confirm the little timeline of events I've pieced together. I'm assuming you saw some dead bodies, asked about that and Agents Redfield and Valentine, drawing on the history of the mansion, told you a story about secret, highly illegal, research taking place, monsters and viruses and zombies. That was why they had to burn it down, with Wesker inside it. Convenient that he was all behind it, when he went up in smoke along with any evidence of what happened."
What had happened that Irons was so badly mistaken about what had taken place at the mansion? She knew that their story was hard to believe, but Chris and Jill had to have done a better job of explaining things than that, "That's not how it happened! Please, let me explain! I know it sounds impossible, but I'm not making any of it up."
The leeches started to get agitated, wrapping her arms across her chest, she could feel them starting to squirm in response to her own fear. Fight or flight instincts, all animals possessed them. What would the leeches do? Pull away from her and swarm Irons? Or would they scatter, slithering off to hide in the shadows of the police office? Calm down, she had to calm down, get her thoughts straight and explain the truth in a way that didn't make her sound crazy.
Irons looked at her, for the first time during the interview he showed concern, "You weren't bitten, were you?"
He believed her!
"No," the lie, the first one she'd told during the whole conversation, came easily because it was the one thing that she'd been truly ready to say, "I didn't get bitten."
"Good," Irons let out a sigh of relief and finally sat down, "But, you don't have any proof and the story you're trying to tell sounds impossible. So, let's try and get some of the details hashed out. Did the mansion catch fire before or after you arrived?"
"After," she looked cautiously at Chief Irons, trying to figure out the abrupt change in demeanor.
Irons nodded and bent down to start rummaging around in the drawers of his desk, continuing to talk to her as he did so, "Good, and did you meet up with Agents Redfield and Valentine before the fire started?"
"Before," she leaned forward, wondering what he was looking for.
"Hmm, that's where things get complicated, isn't it," he muttered mostly to himself as he continued to ignore her, "You had time to wander the mansion first, so that means that the doors were open and unlocked when you arrived?"
"Yes," the leeches were starting to calm down, "I went inside and started looking for help."
"That works well enough. So far it all sounds reasonable and makes perfect sense," finding what he was looking for, he straightened up and put the object on his desk. A simple silver flask.
"But before that –" she began, only for Irons to cut her off again.
"No, focus on the mansion incident," he opened the flask and took a drink, "With the rest of Bravo team dead there's no one to corroborate what happened before. The mansion was unlocked, abandoned, but there were signs of a struggle. Dead bodies?"
He had a point there, but she didn't like the direction things were starting to go in. In fact, it sounded like Chief Irons, once again, thought she was making things up.
No, there was more to it than that. How worried he'd been when he thought that she'd been bitten by a zombie told her that much. So, what was she missing this time?
"There were dead bodies, some of them had been partially eaten," she spoke slowly, trying to get as much time as she could to figure things out.
"By animals," the chief responded with equal deliberation, "Because, they'd been dead for some time and the doors to the mansion had been left open. A pack of stray dogs probably."
He couldn't have missed the point more badly if he'd tried.
The realization was a physical thing, like a punch to the gut. She could feel the leeches starting to squirm again. It wasn't that Irons didn't believe her, it was that he knew she was telling the truth and for some reason didn't want to accept it.
Yes, it was outlandish, hard to believe and terrifying, but this went beyond that. He knew it was real and was still pressing her to change her story, help him create whatever narrative it was that he was trying to piece together. If Umbrella went down, it would hurt the city and all the people would suffer. Jobs would be lost, the economy would be done for. Was Chief Irons trying to keep Umbrella safe to keep the city safe?
Or was it worse than that?
Captain Wesker had been part of it all.
She couldn't take any chances, not until she knew.
"It was probably dogs," she sighed, looking down at the floor, "I was chased by them and ended up locking myself in a bedroom to hide."
"That's good," Irons took another drink from his flask and smiled, "You were trapped, so you didn't see any of what happened."
"Exactly," she continued to stare fixedly at her shoes, making sure that no leeches had fallen to the floor to make their way towards the chief. He might have been trying to tamp down an unpleasant story, one that would cause panic if it got out, he might have been trying to protect Umbrella's interests to ensure the city's economic survival, he might even have been working for Umbrella.
She hoped it wasn't the last possibility, but even if it was, if the leeches attacked him it wouldn't do any good. They'd probably have an even easier time taking him down than the zombies. They were so much larger now, and it was so easy for a person to die. If she wasn't careful, he'd be dead before she could stop them.
Movement in her sleeve let her know that at least one leech was considering doing something. Folding her hands in her lap, she grabbed onto the end of her sleeve to keep it in place
"You stayed there until you heard voices outside the door, Redfield and Valentine. What were they talking about?"
The leech in her sleeve tensed, hook-teeth pulling at the fabric. Shifting in place, she tried to discreetly put a hand over it, as though she might be able to press it back into place. It pressed back up against her hand, rubbing against it like a cat.
Somehow, for some reason, they distinguished between her and them, despite the fact that they were what made her.
It didn't make sense. None of it made sense.
"Agent Chambers?"
She stared blankly at the chief, trying to figure out what she was supposed to say.
"What were they talking about?"
"I…" the leech grew tense again. She pushed down harder against it, willing it to rejoin the others. Another was trying to work its way down her leg, fortunately, it wasn't making much progress thanks to how tight the denim was against her skin, "I don't know. When I heard them I yelled for help and they stopped talking."
She had to stay calm, hold things together. Literally.
Irons' expression grew thoughtful, "I see. Once they found you, they started talking again though, told you a story about monsters and viruses. Why did you go along with it?"
The same reason she was going along with what Irons was doing, "Because, I was frightened."
"That's a pity," he beamed, "You were too shaken by everything that happened to have a coherent account of anything. Which explains your babbling about getting lost in the woods, being chased by monsters, and finding Frankenstein's Castle, complete with his monster. Which is why you couldn't properly be questioned about what happened that night. It makes perfect sense."
The one leech had given up trying to crawl down her leg, and rejoined the others while the one in her sleeve remained where it was. Progress was progress. She was in control, mostly.
Of the leeches at least. The situation itself was spiraling out of control.
"I guess," she said quietly, trying to remain focused on the leeches, rather than what she was agreeing to.
"You can go home then," a pause to drink from the flask again, "Get some rest and come back to me immediately, if you manage to recuperate enough to have a more coherent recollection of what exactly happened."
She nodded.
The leech squirmed against her hand.
She wondered what would happen if she took it out, put it on the desk and told the truth.
It was a risk she wasn't willing to take, not yet when she didn't know Irons' motivation. There was no reason for her to assume the worst, but if she was wrong…
Unaware of her inner turmoil, or perhaps all too aware of it, the police chief smiled at her, "It's late, do you need a ride?"
Even if he hadn't been drinking, after what had happened, there was no way she'd take him up on the offer. She didn't trust him, couldn't, not after all she'd been through. Ignoring signs that something was wrong and still going along with it, had been what had gotten her killed in the first place. It was a lesson learned too late, but better late than never she supposed.
"No, I'll be fine," keeping her hand over the leech, she stood pushed her chair away from the desk.
"I think you might have missed the last bus," he glanced pointedly at the clock, "Are you sure you don't want a ride?"
He was right, it was nearly midnight. The idea of going out alone that late would have frightened her, should have, but after what she'd been through, mundane fears really weren't something to worry about. Besides, thanks to the leeches, her sleep schedule was pretty much inverted anyway. If she ever wanted to spend any length of time outside again, she'd have to get used to going out at night.
Then, there was the Chief himself.
His eyes were as blank and glassy as any of the taxidermy animals he'd decorated his office with. It wasn't just that he'd been drinking either. She'd seen that look before, when she'd asked Billy where he was going when he started walking away from her.
"I'll be fine," she repeated, slowly backing away.
When she reached the door and Irons still hadn't gotten up, she turned around and started down the hall. After about ten steps, she broke into a run and didn't stop until she was out of the station.
There was a payphone right across the street, but she kept walking for several blocks, looking back over her shoulder, expecting that she'd be followed.
She wasn't, and when she arrived at the well-lit area around an all-night diner, she allowed herself to relax slightly. She might have been imagining things earlier, but if she hadn't… Heading straight to the payphone there, she called a cab and waited.
By the time the cab arrived, the leeches had calmed back down and she'd mostly convinced herself that she'd been overreacting.
She still had to figure out what Chief Irons' response to what had happened meant, but that was something that could wait until the next day. Right now, she had a lot to think about, specifically figuring out a way to do something about what had happened. She had to reveal the truth about Umbrella, something that was going to be much harder than she'd anticipated.