Two Paths that should Never cross

"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

Two Paths that should never cross

Dead Memories (2)

It was dark as Rebecca woke. Trying to move she found her arms were pinned above her. Took a moment for her to fully wake up. There was cloth crammed into her mouth making it impossible to talk.

Opening her eyes she saw she was in the middle of a room, the only light seemed to be coming from across the room and flickered telling her it was some sort of flame.

“Becky… I’m sorry…” She heard the voice in the shadows and her breath caught in her throat. She remembered the man who spoke.

She shook her head tugging at the rope holding her wrists. No… you’re dead… I, I was the one that found you in the mansion… She whimpered as the figure in the STARS uniform stepped into sight. She sobbed looking at the man. His skin was pale, the eyes sunken in and blue, unseeing. The hole in the middle of his forehead reminding her of what Wesker had done to try to cover up things back at the mansion.

Behind him came another man, this one seemed to have most of his face pecked away by birds. A few feet away came another man, this one missing an arm. Whimpering she tugged at the rope holding her wrists as she saw the last of the Bravos, his body, sporting two large puncture wounds, due to an oversized snake. She shook her head fighting tears.

“Hey Kiddo, ready to join us?” Richard’s voice came from the man with the puncture wounds.

She remembered trying to save him, but being unable to. Shaking her head she heard two more sets of shuffling footsteps. Glancing over she saw two other familiar faces.

Karen… Steve… She shook her head again whimpering as the group moved closer to her, pressing against her. The smell of rotting flesh filled her making her want to gag. No… please stop…

Somewhere behind her a door opened. An older man entered smiling as he saw the girl struggling.

”You left us to die there, Rebecca… You and the other S.T.A.R.S.”

Richard… We didn’t… I tried to save you. So did Chris… She whimpered fighting the bindings still. I… I did what I could. You… You were almost dead when we got there… Tears welled up as her movement and the group pressing against her made her slowly turn facing the door. She hung her head tightly closing her eyes.

Becky! Where are you? The girl’s voice sounded frantic. Rebecca, please, you have to tell me where you are…

”You didn’t even try. You could have saved us…”



Rebecca shook her head. She couldn’t have saved them. She knew that. Wesker had set them all up to die in the mansion… And Karen and Steve had become experiments for Griffin. She had had absolutely no control over anything.

“You hid when the rest of us were dying. You curled up in a hole listening to us die. You were working for them weren’t you? Recording anything you found out…” This time the voice was Steve’s. The young man who had been a whiz with computers, one of Exeter’s S.T.A.R.S. “You kept checking on Karen… Planning on telling Umbrella how fast the virus spread? You and David left us there… I thought you cared about us… Thought there was something between us…” He wrapped a hand around her throat.

No… We couldn’t go back for you and Karen. David and I tried. John… John was hurt… We.. we tried to go back to get your bodies… She sobbed at the memories only to feel a sharp pain.

Opening her eyes she found the fallen S.T.A.R.S. were gone. In their place was the man with the same brown hair as her own. She remembered him grabbing her from the hospital, she had only gone so that he would leave Harry alone.

“I’m sorry I struck you, but I needed to wake you. I can’t have your mind breaking yet.” He smiled, carefully stroking her hair. “You grew into such a beautiful woman,” His thumb brushed tears from her face. “Amazing that you’re mine and not that bitch’s lover’s. I wanted him really. Though really, you’re a much better sacrifice. Look so much like her.” He smiled at her making her cringe. “I knew she’d bring you though. You’re the only one that came here that stayed pure. She released you, and it ruined my plans for a while. Had to wait until the Burned One brought Claudia into play. Allowed me to forge a gate open.” His fingers trailed her sides.

Rebecca squirmed trying to get free. She shook her head closing her eyes again.

“I can’t kill you yet. Soon, very soon.” He laughed as he pulled her closer kissing her brow. “I really wanted Chambers, for stealing you, my dear sweet little Becky… Remember all the fun we had?”

She trembled, unable to help it. He laughed softly. “Hang tight… I’ll come back and bring you food. You’ll be here a few days…” The man pulled back from her, his footsteps fading.

A few moments later the rope went slack lowering her to the floor. A pair of arms helped her sit up. She flinched away from the man whimpering. She couldn’t see who the man was since he was behind her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” The voce didn’t belong to the man who had woken her. Concerned eyes looked at her as he moved in front of her carefully taking the gag out of her mouth. “Are you okay?” She’s not marked… Is he planning on killing her?

She took a few moments to answer. “I… I’m a little sore. I’ll be okay.” She was still trembling. “Are… are you the reason why he left?”

”Who?” The brown haired man carefully touched the side of her head as if to get her to turn her head to face him so he could get a better look at her. She pulled back a little, fear in her eyes. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He pulled his hand back. “I’ll help you get out of here. But we should get going soon.”

”The… The creepy guy… He didn’t say his name… He… Please… don’t let him touch me again…” Tears filled her eyes again as he carefully cut the rope freeing her wrists. She hissed slightly as he did so.

”Sorry.” Henry noticed she was trying to calm down. What happened to the kid? Did Walter do this? Doesn’t seem like something he’d do. Something about the girl…

”You didn’t knick me.” She flexed her hands trying to get the circulation back to her hands. “T… Thank you.” She had managed to calm down some. “I… I’m Rebecca.”

“Henry,” He sighed. “We should get out of here. We don’t need to wait for him to return. I have a feeling we don’t need to find out what the guy has planned after this.” He yelped slightly as she leaned into him still trembling. It was clear the girl needed some comfort. He gave a small smile and slipped an arm over her shoulders willing to give her a few minutes to collect herself.

Neither of them knew that a large figure was watching from the shadows. He didn’t know why he was back, just that She wanted his help. This time, the orders were a little different. He wasn’t sure exactly why though. He did know that it had to deal with the shining one that was huddled near the man with the other world scent.

She’s too innocent. She’s glowing brighter than any of the others that have come here. The figure thought, smiling under his hood when he saw the girl stand. She leaned against the brown haired man, seeming to feed off his warmth.

She’ll be safe. The Burned One wants her safe; I’ll make sure of it. He thought smelling the scent of the Order’s taint on both of them. The scent on the man was faint, while the bright one seemed to be coated in the scent. He wanted to get rid of the scent, but didn’t want to kill her. Something about her told him she wasn’t a threat.

He watched the pair leave the room. The man using a flashlight, keeping an arm around her as she walked with him, not really sure where they were headed, just knowing that they had to get away from the room.

***

James Sunderland rounded the corner curing his luck. He had just left his house in order to go to the store to get a few things when he had found himself back ‘there’. He was on the edge of town, took a few moments to tell exactly where he was. Well, at least I haven’t run into ‘it’ yet. He thought as he caught his breath from having to run from some of the residents of the Hill.

Four figures came out of the fog. One was a teenage girl who was helping a familiar older man. Harry… Heather… What are they doing here?

“We shouldn’t be that far from the inn. We’ll let Dad and…” Heather stopped, seeing the familiar green jacket. What’s Uncle James doing here? She saw Billy and Douglas both move in front of her and Harry. Both drew guns.

In her pocket the radio went off, telling them that monsters were nearby.

James saw the creature and pointed behind them, running up. He wasn’t sure who the two people with Heather and Harry were, but he knew that he couldn’t let Heather get hurt.

”Heather, get your dad out of here.”



”Fuck, I’m out of rounds.” Billy growled wishing Rebecca had a better gun than the firestar, his own gun was out of bullets as well.

They all piled into the motel lobby, Heather moving her father to a chair. “Dad? You okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” He glanced up at the three men. “James…”

***

Jill Valentine paced the hotel room. Barry and Chris were talking on the other side of the room. She sighed running a hand through her hair again. They should have heard from Rebecca hours ago. The weekly call was scheduled so that they all could be there at the same time to talk to her. It was risky, but made them all feel better hearing she was okay.

“We should have heard from her by now.” Barry was starting to sound worried. After sending his family to his mother-in-law’s, he had started to look to Rebecca more as another daughter when they were all hiding in Raccoon. The teen had done her best to pull her own weight; she had managed to do more than her fair share of work, finding out a few things while still in the States that had helped the trio out a lot.

Chris nodded. The phone rang startling him. The younger man glanced over while Jill grabbed the phone after checking to make sure the line was secure.

“Hello.” Jill answered it sitting on the edge of the bed. She tucked the hair out of her face trying not to show her worry.

“Miss Valentine, I have a feeling by now you’re wondering where the youngest member of your little party is.” She recognized the voice.

“Trent, if she’s hurt…” Jill growled making both Chris and Barry look up at her. Jill didn’t trust Trent fully, since the man had played games along with Umbrella. In fact she was pretty sure that Trent was part of Umbrella.

“That’s the thing, I don’t know. I sent a companion to help her, and both are missing. Though, I have a feeling she will still end up finishing her mission.” The man sounded worried.

“You bastard! She’s just a kid, what are you doing involving her in your games?” Jill was half tempted to pack her things and head back home.

“She was already involved or don’t you remember. She’s been playing it a little longer than the three of you.” He sounded tired. Jill blinked. “I did not involve her by choice either. She’s the best suited for the task I sent her on. If there had been another I would have sent them. Miss Chambers is too valuable an asset to risk losing.” He admitted that much, all games aside; the little biochemist had impressed him. Not only was she smart, she had the will to keep going against all odds. If things were different he had a feeling she would be working in one of Umbrella’s labs as a head researcher, probably with more pull than the fool Birkin ever had.

What’s going on? He’s not acting like himself. Usually he doesn’t talk this much. Jill didn’t voice it though instead she looked at the others waiting for Trent to say something useful. She watched as they started packing their gear away. Meant they were moving locations as soon as possible. That suited Jill at least. She hated to think anyone dealing with Umbrella knew where they were.

“You’ll receive a package soon. Send Redfield to get it. Then decide what you want to do.” Trent sighed. “Valentine, I’m sorry I had to use her… I’ll keep trying. Once I find her I’ll send people to get her.”

The line went dead before she could say anything. Someone knocked on the door. Chris looked at her and stood, drawing his gun.

“Come on Chris I know you’re in there.” A woman’s frustrated voice came from the other side of the door. Chris and Barry both relaxed.

The voice belonged to Claire. He opened the door letting his sister in. “Claire you were supposed to go back to college.”

“Right, I did, but this man came to the dorm and handed me this.” She held up a book with an envelope tucked into it’s binding. “Chris, I remembered seeing the girl in those photos. She was one of you…”

Chris closed the door as Barry held out his hand for the book. Claire handed it over to him. The cover looked like one of the pop science fiction novels Claire had gotten into recently. Chris shook his head knowing that it probably wasn’t. She had gotten into the habit of using book safes to hide small trinkets, after all they were easily overlooked in a college student’s bag.

Barry pulled the envelope out and flipped through the photos quickly. The last one, had her hanging in the middle of a room, tears in her eyes. Rebecca was dressed in jeans. She was looking directly at the camera, her eyes looked like she had been drugged.

Barry fought the urge to crumble the picture. He had failed in keeping her safe. He’d at least go try to get her out of the trouble she was in.

“Barry?” It was Chris who spoke. It worried him a little to see the older man clearly torn by whatever was in the picture. Holding out his hand Barry handed it over to him. “Rebecca…”

“I’m going back to the States. You two can finish the work here without me. I mean Chris is a better marksman. I told her when we got out of the estate I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her. Chris, I can’t help it, she’s like one of my daughters.” Barry sighed. “She needs help and we’re all here… Feels like I failed her somehow.”

Chris nodded. “Take Claire back with you.” Chris looked at his sister, the younger Redfield glaring at him.

“What? No way, I heard Leon was here in Europe somewhere. I wanted to go find him.” She pouted knowing her brother would make sure she went back to the states if she fought him too much on it.

Chris glared at his baby sister. “No, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Oh, but you can let Becky do dangerous stuff. Chris! She’s a year younger than I am. If you should be babying anyone it should be Rebecca.”