Classified Information

Chapter V
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Jill wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She would be no good if she couldn’t keep it together. She wasn’t even in the field yet. Besides, she thought: there was nothing conclusive. Chris could still be alive.

She zipped her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, checking herself in the mirror. They were breaking protocol, allowing her this mission; she didn’t want to make any mistakes that might have her discharged. She straightened her lucky cap, hiding the evidence of tears that she saw in her own eyes. She ran her hands over the bulging pockets and slips of her grey cargo pants, making sure everything was secure. She exhaled. You can do this, she told herself. A familiar voice in her head sneered otherwise.

“Your confidence is endearing, Jill,” Wesker’s voice mocked. “We both know otherwise, though, now don’t we?”

She ignored it, leaning down to make sure her boots were tied, the thin hood of her blue cardigan falling to one side of her neck. She stayed kneeling for a moment, holding back another wave of tears. Oh, Chris…

She jumped to composure as she heard an unfamiliar, yet unmistakable sound. The doorbell. As she listened, it buzzed again. She had completely forgotten: She was expecting company.

She stood up, giving herself what must’ve been the fifth last check in the mirror, and rushed for the door. She reached for the knob, then hesitated. How was she going to tell her?

But there was no time to consider another option. There came a knock from the other side of the door, and a pretty, high voice followed it.

“Jill? Are you there?”

She sighed again, opening the door to the sunlight outside. A woman, younger than she, stood before her, wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white button up. She had a large duffel bag slung low over her shoulder, and a brilliant smile on her face. It faded to concern as she saw Jill’s eyes.

“Jill?” Claire Redfield’s voice was cracked with worry. “Jill, what’s wrong?”

…

Chris continued down the decrepit halls of the facility, the light shining dully, casting an unnatural hue to his surroundings. They flickered, and he tried not to jump at moving shadows.

He had no idea how long he had been wandering. He had past countless lab rooms, some of them empty, some of them occupied with moaning monstrosities. Fortunately he hadn’t been noticed yet.

His current hallway ended with a unspectacular door. There was no knob, and he pushed it open silently. He froze at what he saw.

It was another lab room. There were several metallic tables in the center of the room, most of them topped with medical instruments. The walls were lined with cabinets full of beakers and tubes. Across from him, at the far end of the room, was his way out. A service elevator. The light bulb hanging inside it swung to and fro, tinkling against the wire cage.

He hardly saw any of this, though. His attention was directed to the center of the room. There was a zombie lying upon the table. It’s jaw moved open and shut, and it’s eyes rolled wildly.

Standing over the corpse, their back facing Chris, was a woman. She was naked, the pearl smooth skin of her pale bare ass postured out towards him, her arms to either side of her as she loomed over the body, her face buried in it’s stomach. She was eating it. She was eating a zombie. He wanted to throw up. He could hear the tearing and chewing. But why? She appeared to be alive. From what he could see of her, she even seemed quite attractive, save for several strange scars on her back. They looked infected.

As he examined her, she raised her head. She reached up with one hand and wiped her mouth. He saw the blood on her arm when she was done. She turned around, revealing an attractive slim figure, a thin pretty face with shoulder length blonde hair. Her irises were a vivid, unnatural pinkish purple, and she wore a smirk on her bloody lips.

“Hello,” she spoke, her voice unremarkable, not undertoned with a monstrous roar, as he had been expecting. “Who might you be?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Chris deflected, his gun already trained on her. “Don’t make any sudden moves, lady. Who are you?”

Her smile widened. She raised her hands up, as if in surrender.

“My name is Annette Birkin. This is my lab. What may I call you?”

Once again he ignored her. Annette Birkin? The name sounded familiar…

“What do you mean ‘this is your lab?’ This place has been abandoned for years.”

“I’m well aware, officer,” she said condescendingly. “However, I’ve found it to be quite livable.”

“Is that so?” He said, stepping to the side, trying to slowly move around her, to the other end of the room. She never left his sight. “Cause if I didn’t know any better, it’d look like you were running a little low on food.”

The woman laughed. She wasn’t turning with him, and he could see her back now.

“You mean him?” She looked over her shoulder and motioned to the zombie. It’s stomach was gaping open, and he could see it’s blackened insides. “To each their own, I suppose. I rather enjoy it. It’s part of my condition.”

“And what might that be?” Chris reached a hand behind him and felt the wire of the elevator door. He fumbled for the latch and swung it open.

“Would you like to see?” she asked suggestively. Chris watched her as something began to happen. The scars on her back began to writhe, and pink, slimy naked things began to wiggle out of them: tentacles. They probed the air consciously, slowly slithering through the air toward Chris.

“Freeze, lady!” Chris shouted hysterically. He frantically hit the up button over and over, it’s rhythmic tapping sound matching his heartbeat. “I’ll blow those things off!”

Annette turned to him, the appendages still wiggling toward him. She was still smirking.

“Goodbye, Mr. Officer,” she said. As she did their was a electronic beep, and the elevator began to rise with a metallic shriek. Annette frowned, and her tentacles darted forward. They wrapped themselves around the grates of the elevator, and the whole mechanism jerked, sending Chris to his hands and knees. The elevator groaned as the tentacles pulled on it, slowly dragging it down.

Chris quickly retrieved his knife and began slashing at the tentacles. One by one, the met the blade, convulsing and bleeding and letting go of the elevator. They tried to wrap around him, and he jerked against their disgusting wet touch. One tentacle, which had wormed it’s way between the grates, was completely severed, and it flopped and twisted in knots on the floor of the elevator.

It was the last one, and the elevator lurched again, and it began it’s ascent once more. Through the holes of the grate, he could see Annette, staring up at him unhappily, as if she was sad to see a guest go. She raise her hand and waved goodbye, twiddling her fingers coquettishly. Then she was out of sight, the elevator completely engulfed in the metallic shaft.

Chris slumped and sat, his back against the grate of the elevator wall. His heart was thudding in his chest and hurting his head. What he’d just seen was more terrifying than any zombie. What the fuck?

Chris snapped back to attention as a strange mewling met his ears. He looked down between his feet. The one severed tentacle head was still moving, wrapping around itself and pulsing like a heart. It seemed to be getting bigger, and was oozing a strange slime. As he watched, it split open, and its unspeakable makeshift mouth emitted another horrible alien squeal.

Chris screamed in unison with the thing, though both sounds were lost under his gunshots. He didn’t stop until the gun clicked empty.

…

Jill spied the remains of Raccoon City through binoculars. It looked dead, abandoned, but she knew better. She passed the binoculars to Claire for her to have a look.

They were at the drop point, upon a ridge just outside the city limits, where their contact had left them. Their orders were to wait for Jill’s assigned partner and proceed into the hostile zone. The contact, a meek young recruit, had been concerned to see Jill had company tagging along. But he hadn’t taken much convincing:

“Report it if you want,” Claire had threatened. “I know Raccoon just as well as Jill.”

Jill was happy to have Claire along for the ride. She would most likely prove more valuable than anyone the B.S.A.A. could’ve assigned. More importantly, they both had a personal stake in this now. After the initial shock had worn off, Claire had adorned herself with Jill’s spare gear, and was now as determined to find Chris as she.

“They never should’ve sent him in without a partner…” Jill heard Claire say, the younger woman still looking through the binoculars. Jill could hear her conscious effort to keep her voice from falling apart.

“We’ll find him,” Jill reassured. A moment later, they heard the approaching rumble of an engine. They stood, turning away from the sight of the dilapidated city. A field jeep pulled up, stopping a few yards away from them. Jill could see two figures behind the frosted glass of the windshield, trading last minute exchanges.

Finally the passenger door swung open, and their new arrival stepped out. It was another woman, dressed in khaki cargo pants and a black sweatshirt. She smiled a nervous smile, her brown eyes meeting with Jill’s blue ones.

“Long time, no see,” the woman said in a nervous joke, as if she had to break the ice. Her accent made Jill smile in familiarity.

“Long time, no see, Sheva,” she replied, stepping forward. Sheva extended her hand to meet Jill, but Jill instead pulled her in for a hug. She embraced back, feeling awkward, but accepted. Finally, Jill let go of her.

“So,” Sheva asked. “What’s the plan?”

…

Annette stood in the lab, her nude body bathed in fluorescent light. Around her neck was a simple gold locket, and it was open in her hand. She looked at the picture longingly. She wanted to cry, but had no tears.

Her tentacles hovered about her head, as if to console her. She reached up and wrapped her hand around one, wrenching forth suddenly and tearing the end off. She cried out in pain, but didn’t stop until the tentacle head was completely severed.

It writhed on the ground, bleeding and pulsing. After a few minutes, it started to grow. Annette smiled.

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The antagonist is revealed! I hope the readers enjoy how this is progressing. Thanks for the reviews; feedback is always both encouraging and enlightening. I've dropped three more characters into the Raccoon City scenario; hopefully it turns out alright. Next chapter up soon. until then, read, rate, and review. And Enjoy!