Resident Evil:
The Whole Story.
Chapter Twenty-Nine.
Chris paced back and forth across the S.T.A.R.S office, his hands were shaking, his head was aching and all he really wanted right now was a smoke. But Rosa had been worried about how much he had been smoking and she was not the only one to be on his case about it, Claire had been on his ass about it since the moment he had first started after he had gotten kicked out of the air force.
He honestly didn't understand what the big deal was, he was going to die anyway sooner or later and he would rather have a life that he enjoyed and if the cost was having a few years shaved off of his life then he thought that was more than a perfectly fair trade, and right now he needed a smoke more than he had needed anything else in his entire life up to that point.
Not like it mattered of course, he didn't have any smokes on him and Rosa had known all of his hiding places and she had cleared all of them out, both in the department and in his apartment and she had talked to, what seemed like, every single member of the force who also smoked and it made clear to them he was trying to quit which meant he couldn't bum any off any of them.
Forest would if he were here but he wasn't here, he could be laying in the middle of the forest with his throat torn out by a cannibal or with his skull fractured, the entire team could be dead. And instead of getting in there and pulling their asses out of fire they were all sitting here, doing nothing while their comrades, their friends could be dying.
But neither Wesker nor Chief Irons were going to budge, they kept saying that unless Bravo radioed in and directly requested back up then they had to follow standard protocol. Wait twenty-four hours and if contact had still not been made then, then they could go in after them.
Chris saw the logic of the protocol, the Bravo team could be under fire, they could be watching the hostiles from under cover and the beeping of a radio could cause them to be discovered and get them all killed. But the logic didn't comfort him at the moment, one minute everything was fine and Bravo was keeping in constant contact and then suddenly, all contact had been lost with them.
The only comfort that Chris had at the moment was that all the other members of Alpha team looked about as pissed off as he felt, Barry's shoulders were hunched and he was taking apart one of his guns and muttering darkly under his breath. Barry actually looked angrier than Chris felt which he suppoused made a lot of sense, Barry had a lot of good friends on the Bravo team, hell he and Enrico went so far back that they had both been part of the original S.T.A.R.S team.
Jill was sitting at her own desk and was reading through one of those paperback true crime novels that she liked, though she had apparently been stuck on the same page for at least an hour. David and Jessica were talking in a hushed tone with one another over by the communication equipment, David had been anxious to try and get back into touch with them but he was as limited by protocol as the rest of them.
Brad was playing with a Rubik's Cube and he didn't seem so much angry as he did nervous, nothing surprising considering it was Chickenheart Vickers himself, the guy was the biggest coward in the entire department and Chris couldn't deny that he did not like the guy at all. A job on the police force was so clearly unsuited for him that Chris couldn't understand how he had even been hired in the first place, he was a good pilot but that was it.
Joseph was helping Alex and William to load all the weapons in their weapon's locker, Chris didn't really want to but he considered going over to help them. It would at the very least give him something to do and keep his mind off of thinking of everything that might have gone wrong. The only members of S.T.A.R.S that were not in the Alpha team office at the moment were Rosa, whose shift had ended and was probably asleep in her bed right now which is where Chris would really like to be himself and Captain Wesker who had gone to speak to with Chief Irons, he had actually gone home after Bravo had gone out but once contact had been lost he had been called back in.
Chris didn't hold out much hope that Wesker would be able to change the Chief Irons mind, or that he would even try to do so as Wesker was a by the books sort of guy. Chris always personally believed that he was by the books as well until following the rules started to get in the way of people doing their jobs or the rules put peoples lives in danger.
In that respect it probably wasn't much of a surprise that he had gotten himself discharged from the Air Force, it was only because of Barry putting in a good word for him that he didn't wind up getting himself a dishonourable discharge. Even though considering he had assaulted a senior officer, Chris has probably deserved one.
The door to the office opened and Wesker stepped inside, Wesker looked pale and tired and nervous and the S.T.A.R.S captain never looked any of those things in all the time that Chris had known him. Wesker had always seemed kind of unfeeling if he was going to be honest. Chris had only ever seen him express three emotions, anger, disgust and contempt. Technically rage as well but Chris grouped that in with anger.
He was professional but didn't allow himself to be shackled to the rules, which Chris liked about him but he had been as solid as stone when it came to following protocol about this mission. Chris honestly didn't know what to make of it but then that was part of the problem, none of them knew what to make of Wesker. They had all worked with him for years and years and none of them could say that they truly knew Wesker.
Chris couldn't deny it was kind of unsettling, that they could work with someone for so long and know nothing about them. Wesker didn't talk about any family, he didn't talk about his hobbies, his favourite foods, his political positions or even what movies he liked to watch or books he liked to read. He came to work and he didn't talk about anything unless it was something directly to do with their work.
Wesker walked over to his desk and sat down, her fingers come up to rub between his eyes as he let out a heavy sigh. He fished in his desk drawers for a moment and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, the sight of the little crumpled pack in his gloved hands made Chris's hands twitch and his mouth run dry. He knew asking Wesker for one would be as stupid as it was pointless and if Rosa found out then he would pay for it later, he was certain of that.
He needed something to take his mind off of it and so he cleared his throat and spoke. "So, I'm going to guess that the chief wasn't happy?" It was blatantly obvious that the chief wasn't happy as Wesker was always as cool as a cucumber and now he needed to smoke in front of them, Chris didn't even know that he smoked until right now.
Hey, if Chris inhaled some smoke second hand then that wasn't his fault. Rosa couldn't blame him for that. Wesker put the cigarette between his lips and lit it with a pain yellow lighter. Even from here, the smell was intoxicating and for half a moment he thought about running forward and snatching the smoke from between Wesker's lips and inhaling it deep.
The moment passed however when Chris realised that it would probably cost him his job at least and his life at most. Wesker took the smoke out from his lips on his own power and exhaled a cloud of grey smoke into the air. "The chief was not happy Chris, thank you for pointing out what everybody already knows. He seems to believe that some how it was my fault for sending Bravo in before they were ready to go, forgetting the fact that he was the one who ordered me to send Bravo in the first place."
"We should been the ones to go in." Grumbled Barry as he flipped open the chamber of his revolver and then flipped it shut again, irritation radiating off of him in waves and Chris wondered how long it would be before he blew, Barry was the kind of guy who would store up his anger for as long as he could before he finally let himself blow, Chris wasn't entirely sure if that was the healthiest way to deal with anger but he wasn't about to judge him for it, they all had ways to deal.
Barry placed his gun down on to his desk before he continued. "Alpha always goes in first, we should have gone in first and made sure that all was clear and then called Bravo in."
"Barry, man." William began as he stood up from his desk. "I get it, I do. But all that would have done is get us in Bravo team's place. Enrico's good, you know how good he is and the others are cool under pressure. They'll be fine, and if they aren't then they'll call in. And if they don't, we can just go and pull their asses out of the fire soon enough."
"But normally they'd call in and say that they were going radio silent." David pointed out from where he was sitting at the large communication equipment, a pair of headphones with a small microphone attached slung about his neck. "This time nothing, at all. They were reporting in as normal and then all of the communications just went down, no warning, nothing. It's not a good sign."
There was a quiet muttering breaking out through out the office and Wesker stood up from his desk and just like that, a silence fell on the office as his eyes, hidden behind his dark sunglasses landed on each and every one of them. Chris didn't know what colour Wesker's eyes were, apparently the sectaries had a wager going on to try and guess the colour and at the moment, light blue was the office favourite but that was only everyone's best guess but at that moment, he didn't want to know the colour of his eyes, it didn't matter, he could still feel them burning into his flesh behind those black shades.
"Speculating as to what happened is pointless, the decision has been made and we are going to follow protocol." Wesker pushed up his sunglasses so he could rub at the bridge of his nose. "Now, if any of you have a problem with that then I understand. But, you are professionals and officers of the law and you have your orders and you are expected to follow them. I expect you to follow them."
The silence that had fallen on the office only seemed to deepen at the captain's words and Barry looked like he was about to get out of his chair and storm out but he eventually chocked his anger back and slumped slightly into his seat. Chris understood how he felt, Enrico had always been a bit of an arse in his books but he and Barry went back a long, long ways. They were friends and Enrico was little Polly's godfather, it must have felt like hell not knowing what was happening to them out there.
And Chris knew that, it was the same for him when it came to Forest. They hadn't known one another as long as Barry and Enrico had done but Chris had known Forest ever since he had joined the force. The man could be a jackass, and he could take a joke way too far at times. But he was his friend all the same and had never failed to make him laugh and the thought that he might actually be dead, it didn't seem to fit inside of his head no matter how hard he tried.
The sound of a throat clearing drew Chris out of his thoughts and he looked back up at Wesker, standing as still as a statue. "If we have not heard from them in twenty-four hours, then I swear to all of you that we will not wait a second longer before we go. I need all of you in top form if you are going to be any good to Bravo tomorrow, all of you head home and get some sleep. I get the feeling you're going to need."
The steel in Wesker's voice made it clear that it was not a suggestion and Jill was the first to stand up, she caught Chris's eye and nodded at him as she left the office. Jessica and David were right after her and then Alex and William. Barry scoffed and left the officer and Chris remained, Wesker had opened a file and was gazing down on it. Chris wanted to say something.
And then he realised that there wasn't anything he could say and thus made his own way out off the office, he walked to elevator and took it down to the basement and made his way to the parking garage and drove to Rose's apartment.
When he made it there, he took the spare key from under the mat and unlocked the door and slipped in before he locked it up again and slipped into bed next to Rose, grateful for her warmth as he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. Trying so hard to ignore the cold dread that had taken root into his stomach.
End of Chapter Twenty-Nine.
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