Persephone stood before the old tree in the backyard. Lucas had been soaked through with sweat, his hands red and raw from the cracked wood of the shovel's hand. But it was done, and the dirt had filled over Diane's aging form. Her grey muzzle and cloudy eyes would never look upon them again. She rested beside Hunter, forever together, running and playing in Heaven. If such a thing truly existed. If such a thing could exist when Persephone's life had been nothing but hell.
She recalled the days of Hunter, when things were clear and happy and vibrant. How she comforted Lucas and gave him compassion and understanding. Her exhausted hands reached out to his shoulders, longing to grasp that clarity and joy and vibrancy once again, to tell herself that all that's come before could be erased with just one pleading moment.
He shrugged her off. His cold eyes stared into her before he walked away, tearing hope from her fingertips. She stood there under the shade of the tree in the muggy Louisiana evening, staring deeply into at etched rocks they called headstones: Diane. Hunter. Plain, simple, heart-shattering. Wherever they were now, she hoped they would no longer suffer.
But she still did. This life. This mold. And her old Lucas, gone forever. No matter how much she confided in Zoe, no matter how much time she spent in that damn sterile lab concocting her remedy, it was never enough to let go of everything she'd lost. Her only recourse now was to throw herself into her studies, continuing dicing up Molded to test her medicines, and hope and pray that things would work out for her in the end. Somehow.
She sat before Reed as he read through her most recent medical entries. The cold, sterile lab, reading from that twisted journal, his smile widening with every word, settled burning acid in Persephone's stomach.
"These discoveries are unprecedented," said Reed. "You've been working hard, I see."
"Very. It's fascinatin', in its own way. I jumped the gun thanks to E-001's cellular degradation, thinkin' I'd need to help her."
"According to Baker's report, she stabilized herself."
"Yep."
The layers of paperwork in his hands outlined various things Persephone had found out about the Molded—how cells functioned in various proximities from Eveline, how to harness the Molded's healing properties, the effects of various fungal loads on nearly a dozen living specimens and untold amounts of post-Moldeds, and even some of Lucas' splicing techniques that created a horrific spideresque Molded. Of course, she signed her own name under that discovery so it would be taken more seriously by The Connections.
"Creating bio-weapons off our bio-weapon is truly ingenious, if not a bit crazy," said Reed.
Fickle.
"I'm intrigued by these healing properties," he continued. "We knew that the Molded could regenerate lost limbs and organs, but I had no idea how well the healing properties worked on low fungal load pre-Molded."
"And even better on people like the Bakers."
Reed cringed. "Yes… People like the Bakers. You were quite zealous looking into these properties; you have several pages outlining your studies. We could use more people like you, Ms. Black. Maybe we'd get some actual work done around here… But we need to be very careful not to let this information get into the hands of the Umbrella Corporation."
Among the many things Persephone had learned over the years was of the anti-Biological Organic Weapon organization known as Umbrella. She could've killed Lucas for getting her caught up in bioterrorism, but such was her lot in life. Now the most important thing was being exceedingly careful around the Umbrella Corporation, and stepping on as few toes as possible.
And Reed was still talking. Boy, could that man yap. Blah blah blah E-001 blah blah blah Molded blah blah blah—
"Thank you for your services," he finished. "Return to your duties."
She saluted dully. "Aye aye, Cap'n."
The cold basement sent goosebumps up her arms. Every time Persephone walked down there, she swore it got colder. But she'd gotten a request from Zoe to meet in the basement, through their surprisingly effective cigarette box method, wherein Zoe's bad habit came in handy without anyone getting suspicious.
It was odd to have Zoe request a meeting—usually it was herself who requested them—so Persephone casually headed toward their safe meeting spot, playing various possible conversations in her head. Zoe sat on their usual cooler, away from cameras and curious Molded. Persephone expected a small smile, but Zoe's face was as cold as the basement.
"Hey Penny," said Zoe.
"Zee. What's goin' on?"
"I had a chat with Mia the other day."
Persephone sat beside her now, forced to breathe in the usual cigarette smoke.
Zoe continued, "She was pretty with it. It was… Weird. I ain't seen her that in control since she first got here. What was that, three years ago now?"
"Okay. And?"
"And, she n' I had an interestin' conversation. She's convinced herself that her husband is gonna show up here."
Persephone shook her head. "That poor dude."
"I'm not sure what this'll do to our, um… Family dynamics. I don't think her husband comin' here is an accident."
"You think it's Eveline's doin'?"
"Not sure, Penny. But with how rational Mia was, I wouldn't put it past her."
"So who's the guy?"
"Ethan Winters. Some IT guy or somethin' with computers."
"That bastard's gonna die here."
"Yeah. I think so, too. But… he's our best chance at gettin' outta here."
Persephone sat beside her. The cooler squeaked at the extra weight. The cherry of Zoe's cigarette rushed closer to the filter. Molded slopped around from some unseen room. If Winters got to the Baker ranch— Well, what made Zoe think he'd be any different from the others? So many others tried it and were consumed by the Molded or unhinged family members. Zoe's body trembled as she smoke, perhaps caught up in similar thoughts.
But there was hope for her and Persephone didn't want to destroy it. Not as hers had been. Perhaps someone could get their happy ending and make it out alive. Better than ending up like Diane. Or those poor thrill-seeking bastards. Though, Persephone had been so caught up in the logistics and keeping tabs on the family, she had no idea what Zoe's goal was—what is was that kept her hope alive.
"What do you plan to do?" Persephone asked.
"Hm?"
"When you get out of here. What do you want to do with your life?"
A small smile crossed Zoe's pale lips. "I've thought about it a lot. If I can get outta here, an' I'm not some Molded-up psychopath, I wanna reunite with Judith. Even just to see 'er happy with someone else. I just wanna know she's okay. An' I wanna get the truth out to people. Imagine if there'd been a whistleblower on this Evie thing? Maybe none of us woulda got caught up in this mess."
"I admire that, Zee. I'm sure Judith is out there livin' her best life, too. She knows you would've want her to be happy."
Zoe's eyes filled with tears but her voice stayed strong. "That's all I want. What about you, Penny?"
"I don't see myself gettin' out of here."
Zoe took her by the hand and gave her a serious look. The last tears in her eyes fell freely down her cheeks. "Don't say that. I wanna do everythin' I can to help you be free, too. It wouldn't be fair of me to leave you behind, it wouldn't be right. So I'll ask you again: what about you, Penny?"
Persephone hadn't considered her future very much. Not her own. All she focused on was working, planning, experimenting… But the first thing that came to her mind was,
"I love being a medical researcher. If I can get out of here, I want to study diseases, treatments, chemistry, biology—I just love it all."
Zoe's face brightened. "That's the most passion I've heard in your voice in I don't know how long."
"Don't get all sappy on me now."
Zoe's gentle laughter was the only sound in that basement.
She was almost finished her remedy now after months of tests and planning and chemistry. And Lucas hadn't noticed her visits with Zoe quite yet. Every time she went to a meeting, Persephone would excuse herself first to the lab. Lucas' bad reputation came in handy, and none of the scientists ever ratted her out for not spending the long ours in her lab that she claimed to.
Whenever the rest of the family went more insane than normal, yet Zoe remained calm and lucid, Persephone felt more resolute that she was doing the right thing. Despite that this meant she often appeased Lucas in ways she wasn't sure if she should. It wasn't that a part of her illogical, addled brain didn't enjoy it when it happened, but… Seeing him cold and twisted by Eveline's influence had her questioning herself.
Not just Lucas was twisted, though. Eveline now being an old, feeble woman made sneaking around and having secret conversations with Zoe much easier. Her vitals were that of an elderly person easily in their 90s, as Persephone was reminded with every check-up. Eveline's exhausted, failing body couldn't get out of her wheelchair, trapped in that awful state unable to regenerate herself or age any further. Persephone would despise her life if she had to live that way.
But it meant that Eveline didn't have enough energy to exert her influence as far as she once did. She spent most of her time tormenting Mia, Jack, and Marguerite. Months of this turned to years. Lucas spent the latter years working on intercepting and manipulating e-mails between their Connections group and the wider company. He was, much to the dismay of the scientists, on track to becoming Head Researcher.
With her help, crediting most of her discoveries to him, his victory was so assured that he knew the exact day he'd secure his position. That day, he let a wild spider Molded into the lab and locked the scientists in with it. She found this out when the Molded had rushed into her private office, took one look at her bagged, caffeine-wired eyes, and proceeded to turn right back around to its previous havoc.
Persephone decided it was best to stop her break now, in case that Molded came back to ruin her fun. She returned to her lab to slice up her newest living specimen which would be far too enticing to that wild Molded. Lucas had happily provided that specimen to her, knowing she would adore working on a body pre-Molded. And relish in her work she did. In the now quiet lab, the ghosts of bygone bustle and copper-smelling walls lingering in the air, Persephone experimented on her unwilling test subject. His brain was within her grasp now.
Its soft pinkish flesh was ready for her scalpel. The scent of his blood urged her on as she diced and inspected and twisted and carved. Here, she was one with her work, one with her hands and thoughts. Despite the chaos that had reigned hours early, Persephone's tension melted away with every movement, every note, every enthralled second that ticked away. Her mind stayed fully present on her work—meticulous and careful, yet grand and impassioned.
And a little bit of revenge helped, too.
Her phone on the table buzzed. She hit the answer button with her elbow, expecting to hear Lucas on the other end.
"Talk to me," she said.
"Penny. Winters is here."