Gemini Rising

Leon slipped down the halls of the base. It was unnervingly like his dream. He found the sound of his footsteps on the concrete floors irrationally comforting, reminding him that this was the real world, with real people, and real dangers. He took a left, then a right, trying to remember the blueprints he’d seen earlier. He knew the panic room was at the center, and that if he just kept heading west, he’d get there eventually. Unfortunately, he had no compass, and there were no windows. He had no idea which direction west was in.

Several minutes passed, and Leon worried that he was getting lost. He also worried at the lack of activity. Such oppressive silence was never a good sign. But wait, it wasn’t *actually* silent. Leon could swear he heard sounds from up ahead. He moved forward cautiously, gun raised. He neared a heavy metal door. The sounds were coming from the other side. He leaned his ear against it and listened.

-No way,- he thought. There was someone in the room. They were singing.

Leon nudged the door open. He could hear a slurry voice singing in an obviously fake Irish brogue. “In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty,” the voice, deep and gravelly, sang with abandon, “I first set me eyes on sweet Molly Malone. She wheeled a wheel-barrow through streets broad and narrow, crying: cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o! Alive, alive-o, alive, alive-o, crying: cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o!”

Leon was pretty sure that zombies didn’t sing. So, he opened the door and stepped inside. He was in a sort of break room, with a coffee machine, mini-fridge, and various snack machines. Sitting on the floor, propped up against a machine full of candy, was a men. He wore all black, a military uniform, along with a tactical vest over body armor. He had a mostly empty bottle of cheap whiskey in his hand. Leon could smell it from where he stood. He walked over to the man and said, “Are you one of the CIA soldiers protecting the scientists? I was told you were all dead.”

“All dead,” the man said. “That’s right, I’m dead.” He laughed. “Dead McGinley, that’s me!” His laughing became high-pitched, loud. And soon he wasn’t laughing. He was screaming. “Jesus Christ, it just ate ‘em, my men, it took ‘em all!!!” The man buried his face in his hands, quiet sobs racking his thick frame.

Leon sighed. “On your feet, soldier,” he said. The man looked up, and Leon was surprised to see sobriety creeping into his eyes. -Guy must be pretty friendly with the bottle to sober up that fast-, Leon thought. “What’s your name?”

“Darren McGinley,” the man replied. The tears had stopped, and for that Leon was grateful. Horrible as it was, he’d rather the man have been dead then a slobbering, useless drunk who would slow them down. But if McGinley could sober up and act like the soldier he was, then Leon knew their chances would be considerably higher. Darren looked up at him. His eyes were an unpleasant, muddy sort of brown. “Who’re you?”

“Special Agent Leon S. Kennedy,” Leon replied. “I was sent in by the President to retrieve any survivors.” He decided immediately NOT to tell this man that his ultimate priority was this Maroni girl. He figured it probably wouldn’t be the smartest move, telling this man that, given the choice, he would have to let him die. Leon didn’t know much about keeping up morale, but he knew a man wouldn’t follow a leader who didn’t care if he lived or died.

Not that Leon didn’t care. But the mission came first.

“Stand up, Darren.” The man complied, and Leon lowered his gun. “Tell me what happened.”

Darren swallowed, then nodded slowly. “I, um, it - it was almost lunch time,” he said, his voice dry and raspy. “The kids were all in the lab - they spend most of their time there. I was patrolling outside the door, talking over the radio with - with Alex. He was -” Darren’s eyes became moist, and he stopped. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Alex was patrolling near the containment field - “

“Wait,” Leon interrupted. “What exactly were you containing?”

Darren shook his head. “None of us had ever seen it. I asked that kid, um, the English one, what was in there once. He said - he said it alive, but not living. And that I shouldn’t think about it.” Darren shrugged. “I figured he was just being a dick.”

Leon sighed. Someone was fucking around with the T-virus again. -Motherfuck,- he though angrily. “What happened next?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, me and Alex was just bull-shitting, you know how boring shit like this gets. And he starts to say, like, ‘What the hell?’, and ‘What is that thing?’. And then - and then he started to scream, but it was cut off. Like… like his throat had been ripped the fuck out!” Darren fists clenched, and he shook with rage. “Me and Alex been buds for over ten years, and some fucking monster comes along and… he had a family!”

“They always do,” Leon said quietly. “And then?”

“I called the rest of my men, told the kids to get to the panic room, and we headed to Containment. When we got there, we saw that the field was completely down. We couldn’t figure how, though, because none of the equipment was damaged.”

“What kind of field was it?”

“Um, electro-static, or something like that. But, the kids, they told us that there was a fail-safe in the field. That, if the hardware got damaged, that it would go into lockdown, and you wouldn’t be able to open it again until it was fixed. So, I got no clue as to how it opened and let that fucking thing out.”

“What ‘thing’, Darren?” Leon asked earnestly. “What came out of that field?”

Darren shook his head again. “I never seen nothing like it,” he said. “And I seen some shit, sir, I’ll tell you. But this… Jesus, it tore Perez in half. And Manning -” He grabbed Leon by the jacket and pulled him close. Leon fought the urge to hit him. He knew the man was mourning his team, that he wasn’t thinking clearly, so he tried to cut him some slack. However, being grabbed by anyone or anything brought up Leon’s fighting spirit, and old habits were hard to break. He clenched his hands at his sides and waited.

“You got to believe me,” Darren said, his face inches from Leon’s. “I swear on my mother’s eyes, I swear to God, I swear to Mary Mother and her Holy Womb, the fucking thing ATE my men! It… it was a fucking monster, all red and purple, and it came at us so quick, and we shot in every direction, I unloaded an entire clip at this thing, I know I hit it, but it just kept fucking coming. You got to believe me.”

“I believe you, McGinley,” Leon said. “Now, let me go.”

Darren blinked and looked down at his hands where they were clutching the brown leather of the jacket. He slowly released the younger man, who quickly smoothed his clothes. “We have to find the scientists,” Leon said. “You up for it?”

Darren looked at him, his eyes distant. Then, he blinked again, and rage filled his muddy eyes. “Hell fucking yeah,” he replied fervently. He swooped down and retrieved an assault rifle that lay on the floor next to bottle of liquor. “My men had families, wives and kids, and I ain’t going back to them unless I can look ‘em in the eye and say that I killed the motherfucking monster that took their men from them.”

Anger was more useful than tears, and Leon was deeply relieved that the man had reverted to rage. “Take me to the panic room, then, so we can get the hell out of here.”

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Lydia paced around the panic room. “Where the hell is he?” she hissed. It had been over twenty minutes since the blonde man had arrived at the island. Most of the cameras inside the facility were out, as was the power in over 80% of the base, so they’d lost visual contact with him. Her stomach twisted and writhed; she just knew he was dead. Her friends would be next. And then *he* would have her.

“I’m sure he’ll be here,” Sam said. Lydia glanced over at him. He sat at the command center, watching the screens intently. How could he be so calm?

“This is Special Agent Leon Kennedy!” came a sudden, sharp voice from the door. “Is everybody alright?”

Relief flooded Lydia, making her feel faint. “Yes,” she called, her voice breathy. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes! Yes, we’re in here!!”

“Okay, I’m going to need you to open the door,” came the voice again. It was calm, assured, and a tiny bit of hope fluttered in Lydia’s chest. Was it possible? Would she be rid of *him* once and for all?

“I’m on it!” Samuel called. He hurriedly typed the override code into the computer, then glanced expectantly at the entrance. There was the hiss of the pressure seals releasing, and the door swung open.

Lydia hurried over. The head of the CIA team, McGinley, stood there with blonde man in his late twenties. “My God, McGinley,” Lydia breathed. “We thought you were dead.”

“Not much can kill this Irishman, Maroni,” he replied. She could tell he was drunk, but it comforting to know he was alive, anyway.

“You’re Lydia Maroni?” the blonde said, taking a step forward.

“Yeah,” she replied. “Who are you?”

“Leon S. Kennedy, Special Forces,” he said.

For some reason, his formality made her laugh. “What, no badge?”

Leon smiled. “This place isn’t supposed to exist, remember? No badge, no military vehicles, nothing but my own personal gun and knife. Officially, this isn’t happening.”

Lydia saw McGinley’s face turn red. “My men die to defend their twisted experiments, and all they get is ‘this isn’t happening’. That ain’t right.”

“No, it’s not,” Leon agreed, to Lydia’s surprise. “But those are my orders.”

McGinley nodded. “Yeah, I know a little something about orders.”

Leon turned back to Lydia and the others. “Before I get you out of here, I’m going to need to know exactly what we’re up against.”

Lydia glanced at Samuel. He shook his head ever so slightly. She looked over at Nadir. Nadir did the same. She agreed; they couldn’t tell him everything. She’d have to leave out all the important things, if only for their own safety. Lydia turned back to Leon, and could tell from the expression on his face that he understood her exchange with her friends. She opened her mouth, but he cut her off.

“I’m not asking for state secrets here, but if you send me out there without telling me what I’m fighting, we could all die.” Leon’s expression was deadly serious. Lydia had the sudden thought that this was NOT a man to cross.

Lydia took a deep breath. The abbreviated truth, then. “It’s - he’s a bio-engineered, genetically perfect being,” she said in a rush. “Using the T-virus from the Raccoon City incident, they created and bred him. His DNA is an amalgam of human, wolf, snake, and various other animals.”

“We call him Max,” Sam said.

“’Max’?” Leon cocked an eyebrow.

“Short for Maximillian,” Nadir put in. “It… seemed appropriate at the time.”

“What sort of weakness has… *Max*… got?” Leon asked.

Lydia shook her head. “None. That’s the point. I mean, what part of ‘genetically perfect’ didn’t you get?”

“Everything dies,” Leon said.

“Oh, Max will die,” Samuel said. “You see, a being that perfect simply can’t exist for very long. He’s nearly four. Most of the others expired before six.”

“Well, we can’t exactly wait around here for another year or two, can?” Leon asked, his voice dry. “I mean, I’ve got soap operas to watch, friends to forget to call, ramen to eat. So what do you say we kill this thing and get the hell out of here?”

“It won’t be that simple,” Lydia said. She glanced back at Samuel. She knew she should tell Leon everything, but…

“Well, could we sneak past him, then?” Leon asked. He seemed annoyed.

Lydia bit her lip. She looked at Samuel again. He gave her a slight nod. She turned to Leon and said, “Yes. Let’s try that.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She was damning them to hell.


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Hey, keep the reviews coming, and thanks to Shineys for the sites, they really helped!

Luvs,
Jane Krahe