"We should head inside. I wouldn't want to leave your friend alone with Sherry for too long—she was giving me disturbingly carnivorous look when it came to both me and the girl," Claire said.
"I agree," I replied, following after her, my gait uneven as I dragged my leg slightly.
Drawing level with Yamata, I flicked my gaze toward Birkin's severed arm and mouthed, Bon appétit.
She gave me a faint nod, grimacing just a little, and I left her alone with her meal. It was, after all, a delicate process.
"And where is—?" Claire began, leaving the question unfinished, but I understood her perfectly well.
"Cleaning up the traces. She's a professional at that," I answered with a shrug.
"And did you get your revenge?" she asked again, her voice carrying a strange intonation.
Katherine, sitting nearby, remained silent. I had already told the girls that I'd lied to Claire, so they wouldn't slip up if it came to it.
"I had to reconsider my priorities," I said evenly, making it clear there was no hidden meaning.
"I see." Claire nodded and stepped aside to speak with Sherry, who had regained consciousness and was lying on a cot. Yes, the changes in the girl's DNA had already begun. But let's hope everything follows the canon, and that this deviation hasn't gone too far..
While I was lost in thought, staring at a fixed point, the well fed Four Eyes had already joined us, and now gave me a rather noticeable jab in the side. Well, noticeable in the sense that, though I felt no pain, the fact that her shove actually moved me says a lot. For instance, it speaks of a couple of broken ribs — had they not been reinforced after my swim in the alligator.
"What was that for?" I whispered in surprise, careful not to disturb Sherry and Claire's conversation.
"Womanizer," Yamata hissed back.
Only then did I realize that, first, my gaze had been fixed on Claire the entire time. She had tenderly given her sweater to Sherry to keep her warm—yes, I do understand it's a touching moment, but I've grown a bit hardened—and was now left in a black, form-fitting turtleneck that accentuated her figure rather effectively. Second, the Four Eyes hadn't hissed quite as quietly as she thought. Even Claire seemed to be listening now, and Kate had been drilling holes into me with her eyes long before that.
"Me? Well, maybe I'm just trying to figure out where to bite when I lose control of myself!" I tried to turn it into a joke.
"Uh-huh. Somehow I doubt that," she replied, claiming the last word before walking over to where Kate stood leaning against the wall.
"Mr. Angel… is that you?" came a faint, thin voice from Sherry's direction.
"Yes." I stepped closer, not missing how Claire's hand casually drifted to the grip of her pistol. I also chose to ignore the fact that Yamata had done the same—though far more subtly—aiming her gun from the hip at the other woman.
"I'm glad. I wanted to thank you… for helping me." The naive child offered a weak smile.
"You don't have to."
A strange feeling crept over me. Was that… shame?
"I'm getting worse. And I saw those zombies… Will I become like them? Tell me, Mr. Angel… is it nice in heaven?" Sherry asked, her tone suddenly serious—far too serious for someone so young.
"No. You won't become a monster. There's a cure for this disease. And yes, it's nice up there," I answered, doing my best not to meet those innocent, childlike eyes.
And at that very moment the platform reached the bottom — or rather, the laboratory — and from the entrance we had docked with came the sound of hurried footsteps.Impressive. I could hear them even through the cabin walls!
I stepped away from the cot and scanned the area, trying to pick out outlines. And I found them—three of them at once! One approaching the cabin, and two more running—or moving very quickly—our way from far behind, at least two hundred meters back.
But by the time the first entered the cabin, the other two had drawn considerably closer as well.
Logically, the survivors down here should be Sherry's mother, Leon, and Ada. But if the first one really should have been here long ago — and I'd bet my head that the first outline most likely belongs to her —but the other two, by all rights, shouldn't have been here yet.
"Sherry!" The scientist—William's assistant and, incidentally, his wife—immediately spotted what mattered most to her.
Then her gaze fell on me…
"Get away from her, monster!" She leveled a pistol at me—this time, for a change, aimed at the right place: my head.
"Let's not rush—" Claire began, but she didn't get to finish. New participants entered the unfolding drama.
"Well, how fortunate," purred Wesker's puppet, better known as Ada Wong, in her enchanting voice.
"Leon?" Claire blurted out in surprise at the sight of the second newcomer.
Not exactly canon. Or maybe I was misremembering. Then again, I'd meddled so much already that deviations were hardly surprising.
"Claire? Ada, what's going on here?" The second half of question was directed at the spy, who had just trained her pistol on Annette Birkin, standing only a couple of meters away.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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