Notes: Sorry, my schedule has been all over the place the past week. I'm going ot try to get back into a routine of updating, but I'm not making any promises.

o0o

After the meeting with Chief Irons her first thought had been to try and contact one of her fellow STARS members, but who? Barry was the natural choice, he'd given her his phone number after all, but she didn't want to get him involved in the particular mess she was in, especially not when he had his family to worry about. Chris or Jill were her other options, but she didn't want to go to them until she had something more to offer than simply being able to back up their story.

Given the state she was in, if she was found out it might work to discredit what they were saying, or act as the wrong sort of proof, depending on who found out and how. After all, if Chief Irons had been able to twist things so badly there was no telling what someone working for Umbrella could spin her situation into.

In the end she decided that it would be best to wait, at least until she figured things out a bit more because after she got back from her ill-fated meeting she realized that she had a great deal to figure out.

Leech-proofing the apartment hadn't worked. While she'd been out, they'd worked together to pull away the tape and get back into the walls. She'd had to carefully disentangle several from the strips of tape, and then work on luring the others out of the walls, a task that she quickly gave up on, because what was the point of it? Once she got them out she could re-tape everything, but it wouldn't do any good. They were smart enough to have figured out how to get around it once, and the moment she let her guard down they'd do it again.

She briefly wondered how Director Marcus had dealt with it, but almost immediately realized that he hadn't cared about controlling the leeches. He'd let them do as they pleased, not worrying about, or more likely encouraging, the horrific consequences that followed.

The one good thing that came of it all was, in her attempts to get them out of the walls, her awareness of where they were continued to improve. It was a case of getting better at figuring out what the feedback she got from them was, and interpreting it. The more leeches there were, the easier it was to tell what they were doing. The gathering of leeches in the bathtub was obvious, she could even sort of tell what they were doing, which at the time seemed to be clustering around the tap, trying to get it to turn back on. Her awareness of it was probably helped by the fact that there was a steady procession of leeches going to and from the bathroom, some rejoining with her and contributing vague impressions of what had happened. The ones in the kitchen, though a smaller, more diffuse group, were also fairly easy to pick up on. Mostly foraging behavior and a sensation of hunger.

Focusing on them made her more aware of the hunger. This lent credence to the idea that they had some sort of collective intelligence. Between that and how well they worked together, she made a decision.

She was going to make herself breakfast and figure out a way to eat it. For the past few days, she'd been managing by feeding them, which was easy and unnerving in equal parts. It wasn't something that she wanted to have to live with, and now seemed as good a time as any to do something about it. The communication between her and the leeches went two ways, so there had to be a way to do it. Besides, it would be good practice for what she'd have to do in the near future, namely going shopping and then figuring out how to deal with the Umbrella situation, figure out Chief Irons reasons for covering up what had happened and then, take things from there.

The discovery that the leeches had already started moving away from the stove, and gathering on the counter when she went into the kitchen was heartening, in addition to giving her something to think about. If she could figure out how they communicated she'd have an easier time of things, especially when it came to keeping them under control. She had no illusions about being able to train them, on their own they were nowhere near smart enough for that, but it presented the possibility that, at least when she was around, she could keep them out of trouble.

She took out the box of instant pancake mix, scooped out enough to make enough for herself, looked at the leeches gathered on the counters and table, and doubled the amount. In the time it took for her to get the water, one of them had already managed to get into the bowl of mix. Aware of its distress as it rolled in the dry, clinging powder, the others backed off.

Shaking her head, she picked the leech up, dropped it in the sink, and then added the water.

The ones on the counter climbed the bowl as she stirred the mix, gathering on the rim as though watching what she was doing. Maybe, they were. It was hard to make out any detail against their dark, mottled hide, but she was fairly sure that they had eyes. They had to be more than just photosensitive, considering how easy it was for them to find things in her apartment. Once the first few found their way, she could attribute the others following to pheromones and scent trails, but there had to be something guiding the initial leeches. So the real question was, how good their eyesight was, and it was one that she didn't plan on putting too much effort into finding out, because it went back to the question of how much of her was left, because if the leeches could see as well as a person…

Forcing that rather unpleasant thought from her mind, she turned on the stove, the leeches on the counter backing further away as soon as she put her hand on the knob. They knew what was about to happen, because, somehow, she was transmitting not only what she was doing, but the results of it to them, and they didn't like it at all. At the same time, the ones that made her didn't respond at all. It meant that with the leeches that made her, her own awareness overrode instinct and the impulse to follow it.

That implied that them taking over and forcing her to attack people, wasn't likely to actually happen. Just two leeches had tried something in the police station, impressive considering she had no idea how many there actually were, and that had been in response to her own fear and anxiety. If she kept things under control, she could control the leeches.

After all, she realized, pulling two more leeches out of the batter as she heated the pan, the ones making her weren't actively falling off in an effort to get food. It was the unattached ones, the ones that knew what she was doing due to proximity, but weren't directly under her control, that were getting into things.

It meant that she could leave the house, without worrying about what the ones that were a part of her doing anything as long as she was careful. If she kept her trips quick, she wouldn't have to worry about the ones in the apartment either, provided she could get enough of them in a group to try and instruct them. Quantity seemed to be the key. One leech alone was just a leech. A few of them would pass information to each other, but otherwise act more or less on their own. A whole group of them would work together and behave with some semblance of intelligence. Enough of them together and there was her.

On the counter, another leech was starting to climb the side of the bowl.

"No."

Before she even finished the single syllable, it dropped back to the counter.

Alone they listened, enough of them together, she might be able to train and it seemed that they preferred to be together when possible.

All that from deciding to make breakfast. Now, if she actually managed to eat what she cooked, it really would be a good day.

Once the pan was hot enough, she poured the batter in. While waiting for it to cook, she put the remaining batter in the fridge to keep the leeches out, and took out the bottle of syrup. One pancake would be enough for a start, and if she managed to eat it she could make more. If not, the leeches didn't have any problem eating the batter raw, because she wasn't going to cook for them if she didn't have to.

Once the pancake was done, she drowned it in syrup, because as a reasonable adult, living on her own she was allowed to put as much syrup on her pancakes as she wanted. And if she'd had any milk left, she glared at the leeches, she would have had a glass of Ovaltine.

Sitting down at the table, she cut off a small bite with her fork and tried to take a deep breath. She could actually feel the leeches in her chest moving to let her draw in more air.

She could do this.

It would work.

This time, she wasn't caught off-guard by it being flavorless, which helped.

Bracing herself, she prepared to swallow and –

Noticed that the leeches on the counter had managed to knock the bottle of syrup over onto its side, and were working together to wrap around it and squeeze. They'd already succeeded in getting a fairly good sized puddle onto the counter.

Stop that.

She wasn't able to get the words out around the mouthful of pancake, but the thought was enough. They slithered off the bottle and started lapping up the mess they'd made.

Back to eating.

She focused on swallowing, recalling that food was pushed down the esophagus by muscle movements, and trying to get the leeches to simulate it. Again, she could feel them moving, wriggling against each other as they worked together.

A second bite.

It went down easier this time.

By the third, the leeches had figured out what they were doing, and swallowing came easier, if not naturally.

Eating breakfast really wasn't that much of an accomplishment, but it was normal and she desperately needed normal.

She made herself two more pancakes, remembering to put the syrup away immediately afterwards, and left the remaining batter out for the leeches to finish.

Afterwards, she cleaned up, getting all of the leeches out of the sink so she could wash the dishes. As they did when she was cleaning, they watched nervously from a safe distance, not trusting the gloves she wore to keep her safe from the soap. It was interesting, there were enough of them around that she could actually feel their apprehension and realize that it was them, not her. However they worked, it was more complicated than she had the time to figure out.

Encouraged by all the normal things she'd accomplished so far, she set her mind to taking out the garbage before it started to smell. As much as the leeches had done to eat anything that would stink, she didn't want to take any chances. If the neighbors complained…

As she waited for the leeches to finish getting out of the trash, she made her plans for the day. A shopping trip for sure. She was low on groceries and she wanted to focus on things the leeches could eat on their own. That was, maybe, so they'd stop trying to eat what she made for herself and, more importantly, maybe if she left enough food around for them, they'd stop going into the walls to hunt mice. Fresh fruits and vegetables were a must, and since they were omnivores, maybe canned dogfood. That was something she could safely leave out for them, and was easier for her to cope with than buying meat for them. She really didn't want to think about them eating meat.

After shopping, she'd leave plenty of food out for the leeches and by that time, the library should be open. She'd go head there and spend the day in the microfilm room, looking for old articles on Umbrella. She already had a better knowledge than most of the public about the research that it did, that it made public thanks to her previous plans of getting a job there and everything she'd read had been legitimate and genuinely helpful. The thing was, if what had happened to Director Marcus was any indication of a trend, then there had to be other disgruntled employees. That sort of information wouldn't be in the scientific journals she'd read, but it might be in the local newspapers. She'd have to look into disappearances, lab accidents and possibly firings that made big enough waves to end up in the local papers. If she was lucky, she'd get names, maybe be able to get in touch with former employees and one of them would know something. Then, it was a matter of convincing them to share their story. Get enough people talking and Chief Irons, no matter what his motivation for it, wouldn't be able to keep it quiet.

She could do it, she could take Umbrella down.

By the time the last leech was out of the garbage bin, the sun was just coming up, perfect timing as far as she was concerned.

Tying off the garbage bag, she went downstairs and out the front door, and out into the early morning light.

Immediately, she realized a flaw in her plan. She'd been keeping most of the lights off in her apartment, the lighting in the police station had always been poor, and she'd mostly gotten used to the dark to the point where she didn't think about it too much. The leeches though, they didn't like the sun at all.

She could feel them moving, shifting in place as they tried to avoid the light.

It was a problem, but not an insurmountable one. She had a plan for the day and she was going to stick to it, no matter what. Long pants and a light jacket, though unseasonable, would keep them in the shade. Then, it was just a matter of keeping her hood up and her head down. Yes, she'd look strange, but that was better than being trapped in her apartment all day, and only being able to go out when it was dark. Her biggest concern would be being too hot, but that was a small price to pay for being able to go outside.

Heading back inside, she changed and tried again. It worked, it wasn't ideal, but it wasn't as bad as she'd expected. She'd forgotten that leeches were ectotherms, so she wasn't likely to overheat unless she stayed out for way too long.

It was yet another reminder of what had happened, but she wasn't going to let it stop her, not when she was finally about to get things done. It would be something for her to think about later though, before the weather started getting cold.

In the end, the most eventful part of her trip to the grocery store, had been the cashier trying to start a conversation with her about her dog. Because she was buying dogfood, so of course she must have had a dog.

Upon her return to her apartment, she was face with the problem of where exactly to feed the leeches. The kitchen was the obvious choice, but she wasn't sure if that would only encourage them to pester her while she prepared her own food. They were more intelligent in larger groups, so getting as many of them together at once as possible might help with getting them to behave.

The bathroom it was then, because if she could keep them mostly in one room that would make things easier all around.

The apples she'd bought were immediately swarmed, rolled across the floor as the leeches enthusiastically dug in. They were a little slower approaching the dogfood, likely because she had no associations with it and food, but once the first leech, at her encouragement, tried it, the others followed suit.

Satisfied that they'd at least be well fed while she was out, she attempted to command them to stay in the bathroom. There was some response from them, some inkling of feeling, but she had no idea if they understood or not. The only way to be sure, would be to leave and see what had happened when she got back.

Grabbing her library card and a thermos of water, because the last thing she needed was to end up dehydrated if she lost track of time, she headed back out.

Whatever happened next, at least she was making progress, getting closer to being able to do something.

The library wasn't too far from her apartment, farther than the store she'd done her grocery shopping at, but not far enough that planning things out around the bus schedule felt worthwhile, so she decided to walk. If the heat wasn't going to bother her, it would be a good test of what she could manage. As much as she wanted to figure out what to do about Umbrella, she understood that she'd also have to figure out her own capabilities, discover what she could do and what her limits were in controlled situations.

It wasn't that she expected things to go horribly wrong, but with everything else that had happened, it was easy to imagine that they might. She didn't know how, but the risk felt very real to her with how far in over her head she was with the situation. How far would Umbrella go to keep her and the others quiet? She didn't know and didn't want to find out.

The walk to the library was nothing, if not educational.

By the time she arrived, she'd drank all of her water and was desperately thirsty. The heat hadn't been a problem and her clothing had mostly shaded the leeches, but she'd never considered why they tried so hard to stay in the shade. Moisture loss through evaporation was the problem, one she'd need to figure out a way to solve. The slime that coated them had grown tacky, creating a protective membrane to help seal in water, but it pulled uncomfortably against their bodies, threatening to split every time she moved. It wasn't painful, not yet, but she could tell that if given enough time it would get there, like it had when…

She wasn't going to think about that, not when she had more pressing concerns, like how it had gotten hard for her to breathe. She'd known that her lungs, if they were still there, didn't work anymore, but breathing hadn't been a problem. The leeches had been taking care of it somehow, but between the slime and the hot, dry air, it had become increasingly difficult for them to manage.

Her initial plan had been to research Umbrella, but that would have to be put on hold, she decided as she staggered into the bathroom, refilled her thermos, drank the whole thing, refilled it and then drained it again.

She was going to need to find out what she could about leeches first, before what she didn't know managed to hurt her.