After everything he had been through, and finding his wife again after so long, Malconin wanted nothing more than to reaffirm his love for her right then and there. But he reigned the emotions in tightly. This was neither the place nor the time. The situation definately called for them both to keep a cool head, after all, Berina had these people depending on her.
He himself had made a promise to himself to accompany Ark into the Hive, not only to protect the boy, which he had a strange urge to do, but also because he thought to find answers to his own predicament down there.
He motioned for Ark to come closer and as he waited for the boy to move, he said to Berina, "In the facility I woke up in, there is three storerooms full of ammo and supplies. If you come with us, we will be able to arm ourselves to the teeth before we go in...just in case there are surprises waiting for us in there like there was six years ago."
"If you are ready, I will go to the Hive with you now," Malconin said. "I know you don't want to turn...and I want to find something, anything, about what is happening to me and how I can stop it."
He faced Berina. "You may have benefitted from your...enhancements, but I don't intend on letting Umbrella have their way with me. I will stop whatever they have done...and then I will hunt them down, one by one, and I will kill them."
He turned back to Ark. "But first we have to survive the Hive. I hope you are prepared to learn how to use some of the more powerful weaponry?"
Malconin snorted. "I think you'll find that if we run out of ammo, were as good as dead." Then he smiled. "I like your spirit though, kid. You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago. That's why I'll make a promise to you now...I will protect you in there...I'll do everything in my power to find the anti-virus and stop you from turning into one of them," he hooked a thumb in the general direction of the city and its zombie inhabitants.
"That said, however, should you turn before we find it, I won't hesitate to shoot you, understand?"
"I'm going with the boy now," he told Berina and without thought he leant in and kissed her. "These people need you, I think you should stay here with them."
He nodded once and turned, leaving before she could voice protest. He strolled to where Ark was waiting for him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come, my young friend, let's see if we can't commandeer a vehicle of some sort."
Given that it was a makeshift base, of sorts, Malconin thought it wouldn't be hard to find some sort of vehicle, and he was right.
"Well," he said distainfully as he frowned upon the soft top jeep, "We might as well be asking for them to break in and get us, but I guess it's all we have at the moment." He smiled at Ark. "At least if we go fast enough the bastards won't get a chance."
He arched a brow, "Can you drive, kid?"
"That's good," Malconin said and then cursed inwardly at himself, "Because I left my ammo bags with my wife."
Malconin got in the jeep and turned the key in the ignition. He frowned at the prissy little purring of the engine and knew that if they ran into too many zombies, they likely wouldn't be able to ram through them.
He planted his foot and and screeched away from the camp, immediately heading in a southerly direction.
"You said something about a cover up earlier," he said to Ark. "How much do you know about it?"
"well not much" Ark said, "but some time ago, before i moved here, i had family living here, there were news reports and photos of the zombies, racoon city had a nuclear meltdown, that destroyed the whole city and every oen, including my other family, there was evidence from a video camera, saying Umbrella blew up the city with a bomb, and they covered it up, it also had some lady called Alice, she explained every thing about Umbrella and their bio weapons" Ark said and took a breath, "but in the end every one, was told it was fake lies, the police told every one that, and they thanked umbrella for the help in restotring the city, i believe it was umbrella that blew up the city, to cover their mistake, and now that it has ahppened again, i can only hope we can make it out of the city before they do some thing else" Ark went silent, "but i dont thik the public would believe another nuclear meltdown, so i am thinking of the worst, of what Umbrella has instore for the survivors"
Malconin slapped the steering wheel with one hand. "Now I get it! There has been something niggling at the back of my mind since I woke up, and I know what it is now. Racoon city is not exactly the same as it used to be. Oh, most of it is almost exact, but there are a few things off. Like the mall across the road from the church...there used to be houses there..." he trailed off and was forced to concentrate as he turned a corner and swerved a few ambling zombies.