Resident Evil:
The Whole Story
Chapter Nine
Sherry Birkin had always been told that she was smart for her age by almost everybody she knew, from her teachers to her babysitter and even her friends had always told her that she was very smart. Her teachers always expected her to know the answers to their questions and more often than not she did know the answer.
The only people who never told Sherry that she was smart were her parents, her mother and father were often very busy at work, Sherry really didn't know much about what her parents did other than they worked for Umbrella, the large pharmaceutical company that dominated Raccoon City.
Sherry was also very observant for a twelve year old, it had occurred to her that you couldn't go anywhere in the city without seeing signs of Umbrella somewhere in town, they had billboards on every corner and adverts on the television and they had dozens of research facilities and laboratories in town.
That always struck Sherry as odd, she realised as she stared at the few bits of cereal that were floating in the milk in her favourite bowl. Umbrella was all over the world, so why did they have so many labs here in Raccoon?
And it wasn't just labs they had in Raccoon City, she had once overheard her mother mention that Umbrella had a division that dealt in steel and had actually bought out several steel companies, according to her mother that meant Umbrella owned more than half of the industrial district of Raccoon City.
They also funded all four of the city's hospitals and had actually arranged the funds to give the city a very large park that she and her parents had used to have picnics in when she was little on warm, sunny days. Umbrella had also given very large donations of money to most of the schools in Raccoon, Sherry's included.
But despite all of this seeming odd to her, Sherry didn't see any reason to worry. Maybe Umbrella was just trying to help people, they made most of their money by making medicines after all and that helped people.
And besides, her parents worked for Umbrella and her parents were not bad people at all. Sherry did wish that they were around a little bit more, she didn't even know if either of them came home from work last night.
As if to answer her question she soon heard the sound of footsteps and she looked up just in time to see her father walk in, his blond hair which she had inherited was messy and his eyes had very heavy bags underneath which told her that even if he did get any sleep at all last night it wasn't enough.
William Birkin gave his little girl a very tired smile. "Good morning sweetie." He said as cheerfully as he could manage, it had been a very long night last night and he had stumbled in around three in the morning and he had tossed and turned all night, barely able to get an hour's sleep.
The cause of his distress was the same thing it had always been, his work on devolving the new virus had hit another road block. It was starting to feel as though every time he and his research team took one step forward in their research they had to take another five steps back to get there.
But he wouldn't give up, he couldn't. The G-virus was his life's work, he had been working on it for nearly five years now and if he stopped now then the past five years would have just been wasted time.
Sometimes, when his mood was sour due to all the frustration he was facing he thought that he would be better off working on the G-virus on his own but he quickly dismissed that thought, while he had done most of the important work himself and supervised everything himself he knew that without his team it would have taken him even longer to get this far.
William decided to try and take his mind off of his work for the moment. He felt like the living dead and he was really one of the best authorities on that subject and he really needed some coffee before he collapsed due to sheer exhaustion. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a decent night's sleep.
As William turned the coffee machine on Sherry watched him as she finished her cereal. "Daddy, Where's Mommy?" She asked before she put her lips to the rim of her bowl and drained the milk inside away.
"She stayed over at work last night sweetheart." William said sluggishly as he blinked his eyes heavily and watched as the coffee machine began to fill the pot.
Sherry had to blink at that, while her parents had both stayed at their work overnight before and her father had stayed overnight while her mother had come home she had never known her mother to stay overnight while her father came home, it was odd.
"Why?" Sherry asked gently, she didn't want her father to snap at her. She had seen him in the morning before he had his coffee before and it was never fun.
"Mommy's been helping Daddy with his work but she's had to put her work on hold while she was helping me, so, we decided that I would take a break from my work and come home and see you while she caught up with her work." William explained to his daughter as he took a sip of his coffee.
"Oh." Sherry said as she stood up out of her chair and walked over to the sink to put her bowl in to wash up later. She turned her head to look at her father and gave him a shy smile. "Do you wanna watch TV with me?" She asked softly.
William smiled gently and nodded his head. He followed his daughter into the living room and sat down on the sofa as Sherry turned the TV on and pulled her close to him as Sherry sat down on the sofa.
Sherry rested her head on her father's chest and watched the cartoon she put on play out, to be honest she didn't really want to watch TV she just wanted to spend some time with her father, she couldn't remember the last time they had just sat together.
They stayed like that for at least a couple of minutes before there was a loud and insistent knock at the door. Birkin frowned and stood up before he went over to the door and pulled it open, his eyes widen as he saw who was on the other side. "Wesker!"
Wesker smirked slight at the sight of his collage and old partner. "Hello William, it's been a very, very long time."
"What-What are you doing here?" Birkin asked in shook at the sight of his old friend. "I haven't seen you since-" William closed his mouth, he hated what had happened back then and didn't want to think about it, it had to be done he knew that but he didn't have to like it and he had spent the last ten years trying to forget it.
"We need to talk, right now as it happens." Wesker walked through the door, not bothering to wait for Birkin to invite him in, and walked into the living room. His eyes landed on Sherry and one of his eyebrow's raised ever so slightly. "Hello Sherry. My, how you have grown."
"You know who I am?" Sherry asked as she got off of the sofa and looked up at the strange man who had walked into her home. "I've never seen you before in my life."
Wesker smirked at the girl. "I'm an old friend of your father's dear heart, I met you when you were very little. The last time I saw you was over ten years ago."
"Al." William said warningly with a grim look on his face, William put a warm smile on his face for his daughter and then spoke to her. "Sweetie, Mr Wesker and I are just going to go upstairs to my office to talk for a little bit, you stay here and watch TV for a while and I will be back in a little bit. How about we go to the park later, huh?"
Sherry nodded her agreement and went back to watching the TV, William nodded his head towards the stairs and he and Wesker started to make their way up them.
Sherry watched the TV for a few moments before she made her own way upstairs, making sure to leave the TV on to cover up the sound of her footsteps. Sherry had to admit she found this exciting, maybe when she was older she could become a spy.
Sherry the Super Spy!
Sherry crept into her bedroom and knelt down next to an air vent that connected her room to her father's study, if she strained her ears she could just make out snippets of the conversation her father was having with the strange man.
"Virus…Can't be…No leaks…Would've been reported to me before anyone else."
"Regardless…Hosts…Mountains…Problem…"
"Contacted…Spencer…"
"Tonight…Check in with other labs…UBCS."
"Jesus… Umbrella…G-Virus…Worked too hard…Let it ruin it…"
"It won't."
Sherry frowned, she couldn't make sense of the conversation from just the few snippets she was hearing. Maybe she could climb into the vent and listen from closer in? As soon as she thought this Sherry shook her head, the vent was too small, even if she could get in she would probably just get stuck and then caught by her father.
Her eyes widen when through the vent she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door, she jumped to her feet and quickly walked out of the room and hurried down stairs to sit back down in front of the TV.
A minute later her father and the strange man appeared in the living room, her father looking extremely worried and the man looking disinterested.
"There is no reason to worry William, no reason at all. I'll discover the source of this and then it will be taken care of, nothing is going to affect your work." The man said as he pushed his black sunglasses up on his nose.
"I hope your right Al, I really do." William said as Wesker turned on his feet and walked towards the front door before pulling it open, before he left he turned his head and nodded in farewell to Sherry before he left the house and closed the door behind him.
William breathed out heavily and rubbed his face with his hands, he turned to look at his daughter and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry hon, something's come up and I have to go back to work. Me and mommy will see you tonight."
"It's okay daddy, I understand." Sherry said as her father grabbed his coat and quickly left the house without even bothering to say goodbye.
And just like that Sherry was left on her own with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company.
End of Chapter Nine
(A/N, A short chapter but an important one, I hope everyone enjoys it. A follow, a favourite and a review would really make my day guys.)
