*The long arse continuation…might as well get this scene out the way….
Chrys finished up her cigarette, tossing the filter in the stagnant murky brown water. She got off the ground and looked up to see what looked to be a little more than twenty flights off stairs, tens stairs on each flight. She checked to make sure her weapon was in order and once done with that, began her jog up the stairs.
In a few minutes, she had managed to make it to a doorway, with a hint of a smile across her face at the fact that she hadn’t broken a sweat. She placed her head to the door, listening for any zombie activity or other types of products of experimentations gone awry. At hearing nothing, she pushed open the door to find herself in a brightly lit white corridor…well, partially white.
The pink hue spraying the walls along with the wasted bullet rounds on the ground explained the lack of prowling zombies within the area. It seemed as if someone had gotten there first, killing anything that moved as the hall was literally a mass of bodies, some missing their heads, others with large gaping holes in their foreheads. Further down the hall the walls were charred, burnt bodies on the floor.
Chrys shook her head at the slaughter that had ensued, not wishing to hear her voice in the death consumed hall. ‘They never stood a chance…’ she stepped over a corpse as she walked down a portion of the hall not as corpse ridden and blood splattered, allowing her instinct to lead her to a pair of silver double doors near the end of the hall.
She started to turn the knob but found to it to be locked. She drummed a hand along the handle and shrugged, taking out a lock pick from inside her jacket. ‘Years of petty crime skills coming into play,’ She picked the lock fervently, stopping every so often to make sure she didn’t start to hear moans from the supposedly dead bodies. ‘God, what do I have to do to get this to-, ah!’ she thought, a small relief that she had managed to pick the lock.
“Still got it…” she whispered, pulling open the metal doors cautiously. To her surprise, she found herself in what looked to be a security room. Countless monitors filled the room, the display on each ranging from inside the dormitories to outside the hall she had just come from. She felt a chill go through her, not by the fact that the equipment was still functional after all the time that had passed, but over the fact that someone would’ve had to been there, keeping everything fine tuned…watching over their every movement.
Chrys looked about the room, scanning the area cautiously for anything out of the norm but nothing stood out to her. She gulped, letting herself fall into a warm black swivel chair as she turned to a nearby computer and started to type rapidly, anxious to get away from the place as soon as possible. She input a few command into the computer, smiling as the screen faded into black and a smilie appeared, below it, text:
‘Everything all comes together as everything starts to fall apart. The basis of the world…the way of our lives. Heaven is to be a place of happiness and serenity, no struggles, pain, or worry. Heaven is death. Hell is to be a place of horror, where the greedy and corrupt go to rot. Hell is dying…and yet to never die. Purgatory is a place for lost souls caught in between the two aforementioned. An eternal limbo, a place of suffering and misery, never to leave one’s life. What is purgatory?’
Chrys leaned back as the screen filled up with five riddles to help her figure out the problem. She didn’t need any of them, not one, as she had figured out the answer as soon as she had read the last three sentences. Unlike heaven and hell, purgatory wasn’t a thing or something people lived through. Purgatory was a place.
‘Purgatory is earth…’ she thought to herself as she leaned back into the seat. “Has to be considering I already used ‘life’ as a password in the hospital,” she muttered as she typed in ‘earth’ into the computer. For a second, it seemed as if it didn’t register her input. Just for a second. After the fact, a huge smilie lit up the screen, starting to smile deviously, like the villain.
‘Reach for the stars!’
It vanished as soon as it appeared but Chrys got the message. She started to reach for a CD-ROM that held her disk but strangely stopped. It could’ve been from reluctance…but most likely had to do in part to the cold circular piece of metal placed to the back of her head. She didn’t budge, not daring to move, feeling herself grow angry that she had been caught off-guard.
A cold hand started to slide down her cheek, making its way to her throat before speaking in a sophisticated tone. “It seems they make you people more beautiful by the day. Though…I’m afraid you know too much,” the hand went back to her chin, roughly turning her face upward to a cruel smile, azure blue eyes peering down to her. “You know what that means, right?”
Chrys felt her heart stop as she looked up into the pair of eyes so like her own. The hair wasn’t the same shade, his was dyed platinum blonde, but the eyes…so cold…the same in the earlier profile. “Hello daddy,” she smiled bitterly.
“Daddy?” The man was caught off guard at her statement, letting go of her face as he spun the chair around.
She stood up, trying not to scrub her face in disgust as she continued to smile. “Oh yes…daddy. Make no mistake, you are my father. Think about it…” she drifted off, keeping her gaze solely on him while reaching for her beretta.
The man scratched his chin with the tip of his gun, looking up in thought. “I believe I’m beginning to understand. That woman who was closing up shop…it was quite idiotic of her to be doing so at such a time of night.” He said, no sign of remorse and his trademark cold expression replaced with one of being proud with a mixture of malevolent.
Chrys took out her beretta, his reaction being her motivation as she started to let loose half a clip in his direction. She stopped after the first three shots at seeing him start to laugh, unaffected by the shots. She lowered her gun, confusion in her eyes as she said the only words that could sum up what she didn’t understand. “What the…” she didn’t bother to finish up the phrase and instead, waited for an explanation.
The man…her father, smiled. It was a scary grin on a figure like himself. “The virus at it’s best. Genetic enhancements in their purest form. After years of research, this is the final result. The strong outlasting the side-effects of the virus-”
“Oh, you mean the whole turning into a zombie? That would be the side-effect, right?” she asked through gritted teeth, her eyes colder than usual.
“Don’t interrupt!” In a quick movement, he ran directly in front of her, grabbed her by the neck, and slammed her into a nearby wall. She squirmed in his grasp as he kept her in the hold and leered. “Now…as I was saying though I should clarify it up for you. The leaders of Umbrella, we were given a chance to become perfect. Those who refused, perished. Those who didn’t, me for example, were given a chance to see a new renaissance…the re-birth of the world. Replaced by the inferior beings currently inhabiting it and instead with a superior race of people…one who can at last even the world.”
Chrys stopped pulling at the hands around her neck at hearing the end of his explanation. She stopped, looking to him from the corner of her eyes. “What the hell are you on? I-” She stopped to get a look at him. “A whole city died so a few can survive and become perfect? Do you know how you-, this whole thing is f*cking crazy, you and whoever thought this up are psychopa-” A rough slap across her face interrupted her.
“Watch your mouth. Don’t ever talk that way about one of the most brilliant men in this world. He’s managed to save the human race-”
“At the expense of damning the world,” Her cheek stung terribly from the heavy blow but she ignored the pain which only managed to fuel her anger. “We weren’t meant to be here forever, our weaknesses are what make the world go around, we all have to die.”
The man’s leer grew wider as his eyes turned the same cold shade as Chrys’s. “You’re right. We all have to die…and I think I’ll start with you. You weren’t meant to survive birth nonetheless the outbreak, you stand under the inferior mark.”
In response to his comment, Chrys made a sucking up noise from down her throat, and let out a huge glob of spit into his face. “F*ck…you.” It was her pet peeve, being considered weak and it only served to make her prove the accuser wrong.
The man calmly wiped the spit from his face, an angry glint to his eyes. “See, this is why you have to die.” He showed a brilliant row of white teeth as he tightened his grip around her neck, threatening to collapse her throat from the force of his hold. She gasped, clawing at hands then did the only thing she could do. She took out her gun, placed it to his face, and fired.
The man instantly let go of her, putting a hand over his left eye as blood bubbled over his hands. Chrys fell to the ground and ignored the blood sprayed on her face as she coughed onto the ground heavily, massaging her tender throat as she holstered her gun. She took in several gasps of air, tears streaming down her face from the hold as she tried to regain her breath, panting slowly.
‘In, out, in, out…rela-’ The process was interrupted, her thoughts broken up as a sharp blow came from her side and sent her across the floor. She landed in the center of the room, springing up to her feet as she looked to the attacker. Her heart turned cold at realizing it was her father, still alive, a bloody abyss in replacement for his left eye.
*Didn't I say it was long...?
Chrys fell to her knees, clutching onto her side as the full effect from the blow was felt. She winced, holding back a scream as she instead dug her nails into the ground tightly, dropping her head to the floor to hide her pained expression. A drop of blood dripped inches away from her, her father’s shadow blocking off her view.
She rose up her head, placing her arms across her chest as she prepared for the second expected blow. It came, full force, sending her flying back across the floor. Her arms had taken part of the blow, her chest taking most of it. She didn’t even have time to brace herself for the last blow. A sharp kick was delivered to her side, sending her spiraling across the floor, her back slamming into the edge of a table. She coughed out in pain from the blows, holding onto her chest tightly as she forced back tears and hunched over in pain, a hand gliding in the direction of her back.
Her father walked up to her, a trail of blood making its way down his cheek. He stepped on her side lightly, pinning her to the ground. “How dare you…you disgrace for a human being,” he increased the pressure on her side. “You actually tried to fight me back and what did it get you?” He pressed harder on her, whereas Chrys gave in, letting out a pained cry as she coughed onto the ground. “Nothing…not a damn thing. You should’ve just let your commander get rid of you, it would saved you the trouble you’re going through now. But no…now I have to take care of you. and after that...” He glanced to a screen. “Dispatch of the soldier that saw too much and the little girl that came with.”
He leaned down, yanking her up by the top of her hair so that he could look into her eyes. Angry tears were streaming down her cheeks, one arm bruised from his earlier blow, the other hidden behind her back. He smiled and stroked her face, almost tenderly. “You truly are your mother’s daughter…weak and defiant…especially when you know you can’t win. Neither can your little friends,” he said with a small laugh, motioning to a monitor.
To his surprise, Chrys started to form a smile, tears still flying down her cheeks. She took her hand from behind her and in a quick movement, stabbed him in his last remaining eye with the stiletto from her back pocket. He let go of her, screaming towards the sky as she looked to him with a maniacal calm in her eyes.
“My turn to clarify. I am…” She walked up to him and made a slash across his chest. She knew it didn’t affect him but she wasn’t thinking logically in the cold anger that had overwhelmed her. “…nothing like my mother nor will I ever be. And if you think I would let you just slaughter a teenager or lay a hand on the soldier…on Paul,” She grabbed hold of an arm, swinging his face into a monitor. “…those enhancements obviously must’ve gotten to your head,” She pulled him from the screen and glared to his blood covered face. “I would kill you before you did so or die trying.”
“THEN DIE!!” Angered at his current loss of sight, he swung out wildly in what he hoped was Chrys’s direction. She evaded the blow, taking out her beretta and pistol whipping him across the face. She spoke in a cold tone, filled with loathing and anger, but the calm of it all was the main infuriating factor.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Not just yet…you have to die first, you, the cause of it all,” She knocked him to the face again. “After what you’d done, I had to watch my mother slowly spiral into insanity, constantly bothered and irritated at any slight movement, any sudden touch. What I really liked was how she took it out on me, her anguish, her pain, how she let it be known just how much she hated it all, how she hated me. Highlight of my life accompanied with my step-father raping me. You two would’ve gotten along really well.” She barreled her arms into her father, knocking him to the ground.
Chrys let out a smirk, her eyes holding no emotion. “No, but really, sarcasm aside, the true highlight of my life…was when he dared tried to bother me after I was…released. That was a mistake…” She imitated her father’s earlier movement, stepping on his chest softly. “See, little Chrysantheum had gotten herself a gun…and with my gun I waited…and when he tried to touch me, like the horrible fool he was, he got what he deserved,” She imitated a gunshot. “Bang…right between the eyes.”
She moved her foot from his chest and dropped down onto him in a sitting position as she loaded her beretta. “But those are just highlights, moments of my past that come back to haunt me, and even though I choose to forget them they’ve shaped me out into the less than perfect individual I am today,” She aimed her beretta to his face and gritted her teeth. “Now, happy points. The only happy point I can even come up with, the only one I’ve had is with that soldier that you threatened to kill on the monitor. And if you think I’d let you destroy him, you think I’d let you-”
Chrys stopped, choked up on her anger. With her knees pinning her father’s arm to his sides, she placed a hand over his nose and watched as he squirmed for breath. He opened up his mouth, inhaling loudly but stopped quickly as a beretta was placed down his throat. She let go of the hold on his nose as she cocked the gun. “That was simple enough,” Her face was completely stone cold, holding no emotion. “You may think you’re immortal, god-like even, but we all have our weaknesses. And not unless they replaced your tongue with adamantine, I suggest you start praying to whatever god you believe in. And if you’re an atheist, guess you should clear your mind with the happy fact that your enhanced corpse will slowly rot on the tiled ground of the University in this completely f*cked over city.” She pulled the trigger, the first bullet causing him to squirm, the second, causing him to jerk down into the ground, the third, turning him still, a pool of crimson coming through from the back of his head.
She looked his still corpse up and down, finally taking off his shirt and placing it over his face. She holstered her beretta and got to her feet. Upon doing so, a sharp pain shot through her and she let out a cry, tears coming down her face again. As she took the CD from the CD-ROM the thought crossed her mind as to why she was still alive.
‘What’s making me go on?’
Chrys haphazardly left the building, stumbling out onto the grounds of the University. The heavens were crying, thunder clashing through the night sky, cold tears over the forsaken city. She felt herself grow numb from the cold but some force made her walk, called out to her. “I have to…I have to…what?” she wasn’t even sure herself what she had to do, but it was her goal and nothing would stop her from accomplishing it.
She made her way back to the main building of the University, pushing open the doors with her face covered in exhaustion. She blinked her eyes in surprise at the light, scanning the area quickly before she started to walk with a dogged expression, still confused as to what she was doing and why. The pain had gone to her head, numbing her mind, her vision bordering on a haze but she pushed on, walking down a corridor, not daring to speak in case it came out as a cry.
She walked past the hanged man, past his clearly illuminated corpse, dragging her footsteps when she stopped at something in the distance. Standing in the entrance of the stairwell were two figures, currently fighting a few zombies ahead of them. From behind them came one lone zombie.
Chrys rose her beretta and took aim but to her shock, she had missed. She had actually missed a shot. The two figures ahead, finishing up on the few zombies that had bombarded them turned around to take care of the zombie behind them but with a fierce determination Chrys took aim again, making a clear headshot.
She let out her breath at seeing the area safe, seeing Raine and Paul safe. Her gun slipped from her fingertips, making a clatter as it fell to the ground. She understood…she understood herself. Why she had walked all that way, why she had pushed on to the main office. She wanted to see Paul…his face…his figure…his smile.
‘One last time…’ she thought, her eyes holding a dream. She felt her mouth move, his name leave her lips, but she couldn’t hear it as her vision turned to darkness and she collapsed downward onto the floor.
((Alright…done! Sorry for the length but I figured might as well…oh, and on further reflection on the last paragraph, even though I sorta made it sound as if Chrys died, she isn’t dead, just unconscious 😛 ))
Malconin grabbed his head as searing pain shot through it, making it feel like his head was going to explode. He screamed and dropped to his knees, rocking back and forward.
Drake rushed over to him and Berina. "What the hell is happening to him?" He asked.
"It's...one of...my men," Malconin ground out as the pain began to receed and then disappear entirely, leaving him breathless and sweating. After a few deep breaths, he explained.
"All those who...who underwent enhancement...I can tell when they have been killed...a...a nueral trigger." He sat down fully and placed his head in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. "It was one of my highest executives...exremely well enhanced, third only behind myself and Berina...and now he is dead...my god...we cannot release the gas without him...we're doomed...I have created armageddon."
Malconin broke down and wept while Drake and Berina shared a deeply troubled look at Malconin's announcement and subsequent reaction.
OOC: Decomp, I like how Chrys's actions connected back to the other characters even though it just sorta made it so the end of the world is a guarantee but nothing's perfect, right? Oh, and AcrypT, really now, it was nice, well thanks...I sorta have writer's block on where the characters would go from there lol, ah wells, I'm sure I'll figure out something in time 😊
Drake shook his head. "I don't care how fu*king hard its gonna be!" Drake walked over to Mal and pulled him to his feet by his shoulders. "Listen hear brother. I've seen you blow the sh!t outa a room full of zombies using a grenade, while you just stand there and take it." Drake saw Berina's eye brow raise when he said that. "I've seen you kill more zombies in 5 minutes then a group of my SEAL buddies could in 5 hours. You are not going to stop now! Do you understand me?" Drake looked Mal dead in the eyes. "Do you hear me brother? I didn't come this far to give up because someone I don't know holds my life in their hand."
"well ive got friends, in low places, where the whiskey drowns, and the beer chases my blues away!" xavier was singing along to the radio in his highway patrol car as he was driving down the highway, "and ill be ok!" he continued on. "well, ive got- HOLY SHIT!" he screamed as a car went speeding by him going the other direction. "now for the fun part of my job," xavier flipped on his lights and hit the siren. he started barreling after the man in the truck hitting at least 100. the car was swirving from lane to lane and it seemed like the driver must've been very drunk. then the driver crashed into a telephone pole and went flying through his windshield and flew about 50 feet in front of his car. xavier parked behind the smashed vehicle. he got out of his car and slowly walked toward the motionless body in the field. "you.........you ok?" xavier asked the man. he noticed a very bad cut on the mans neck. looked like something had taken a huge chunk out of his neck. the man started twitching and was mumbling. X knelt down next to him to hear what he was saying. "it hurts so bad. but i got away, i got away from them.....i got.......a.....way." then he stopped twitching. "sir?" X asked poking him and turning him over with his nightstick. the man was dead. X turned around and looked at the mans car. he pulled his radio off from his should and pushed the button, " yeah, i got a car accident down by exit 287. got a guy severely injured, he might even be dead. get out here quick." he put the radio back on his shoulder and turned around to find the corpse missing. "what the-" X started. he looked to his right to see the dead man, walking out towards the highway. "sir! freeze!!!!" X yelled as he pulled his gun and pointed it the man. but the guy just kept walking. into the street. where he was run down by a car. his boyd was thrown into the air at least 10-15 feet before it smashed dwon on the pavement. X started to run over to him, but he stopped as he saw the man get up. he had blood running from his mouth. "what the holy hell is goin on??" x asked himself. he opened fire on the man, shooting him 4 times b4 he finally went down with a final shot to the head. he looked over at the man's abandoned crashed car. the license plate was from racoon city. "i better call in to report this" he ran over to his vehicle and picked up the radio and typed in the numbers to talk to the sherrif's department in racoon city. he got no answer, just static. "i better go check this out" he said as he hopped in, turned on his siren, and sped to racoon city.
OOC: Yeah, thats cool
Malconin sucked it in, clenched his jaw and nodded. "Yes...yes you are right, borther. It will take forever, it's possible we'll never contain and destroy it...but we must try." He placed a hand on drake's shoulder. "Thank you, I needed someone to bring me back."
He nooded stiffly once and turned, walking to Travis' overturned car and checked inside for weapons of any sort. When he found nothing, he cursed and turned to Drake, lifting his katana.
"This thing won't get the job done by itself. I need to find some fire power." He gazed at the rubble strewn streets and decided, "There has to be a store somewhere with weapons, and there's only one way to find out."
"I'm coming with you," Drake said instantly.
"As am I," Malconin turned in surprise and blinked stupidly at Travis. "Someone has to keep an eye on you," he said, "and make sure you dont try to escape the punishment that is coming to you after this is over."
Malconin nodded in understanding, not blaming Travis for the mistrust. He glanced at Berina, "Shall we fight together finally, my love?"
When Drake was satisfied with the atmosphere again, he tried to make everyone a little less tight, and not focused on the task they had to over come. "Hey, Berina, chill. From the looks of your death count a few minutes ago, you can jump in on the death count race Mal and I are in. You could probably catch up with your hubby." Drake looked at Mal out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "I'm still beating Mal though, he's just not good enough to keep up with me. Maybe you'll be a better challange."
Berina chuckled, this is the reason why she got along with Drake so well and had done so all these years, she shook her head with a smile, "If I recall, when Mal wasn't around I was leading by a good 20 counts." She smirked at his reaction, "So a competition? I think not...you have absolutely no chance against me now."
Drake raised an eye brow. "I don't know. If I'm gonna end up anywhere as crazy as you two, I might just be a challage. And you missed quite a few outrage kills I had in the hive. I think we're pretty even as of now. But then again, I guess I'll give you a 20 kill head start, you'll need it." Drake and Berina had established a relationship unlike many people. They had saved each others arses more then once, and Drake had been one of the first their to help her when Mal had disappeared, and she had been thier when his wife had died. A lone zombie stumbled out of an ally way down the street, and Drake quickly pulled his Desert Eagle out and shot it through the head. "Would you look at that, I'm already on my way," Drake said with a smile. "And my suggestion is that we start moving towards a weapon store, I'm getting low on ammo."
Berina nodded, looking across at Lianne who nodded, they had to say nothing to eachother, a look was enough, Lianne walked into the building with Travis and to take care of the other survivors. Berina sighed a little, ripping off the Umbrella shirt off and biting her lip in annoyance as the two men eyed her off slightly, "Oh piss off the both of you." She chuckled and turned, "C'mon then, both of you!" She practically commanded over her shoulder, starting to jog off.