“This isn’t any ordinary power outage. It may be some country with that access launched a nuclear missile on Tokyo or Shibuya.” Said in a soft tone, Saya opened the door while people running away for their lives that some of them were killed by stampede. How did this all happened? Surely the teachers weren’t that stupid to be bitten on the arm and infect one another do they? Japanese had to be thankful that it never hit directly on them since they neutralized it.
Whoever launched it must be trying to erase a country within, but they failed. Escape is their only option around this nightmare. Even Saya can’t call her parents as well due to busy lines, now this.
“At least, we’re still alive but let’s get out of here before ‘they’ show up.” She was referring to the zombies but the coast might be clear right now.
"Um,“ with a soft push off the ground, Sherry lifted herself from her crouched position, “I think so!”
She tucked the books she’d been searching for under her arm, and turned to make eye contact with her companion. She hadn’t been sure why Jessica stuck around to show her the way - but, that being said, she certainly didn’t mind the company.
"Jessica, right? Thanks for the help. Who knew these old libraries could be so complicated.“
She was quiet with her reply, her gaze wandering to the rows of dusty shelves and book spines untouched. Even if the library was more-or-less empty, she still retained the habit of keeping her voice down while inside. The last thing she needed was the angry ghost of a former librarian haunting her. And, considering how eerie this place was, the possibility of that was pretty high.
Sherry Birkin, daughter of the late Drs. William and Annette Birkin, the scientists behind the viral outbreak in Raccoon City over a decade ago. This small, ash blonde woman, shared her legacy with the ruins and corpses of a city of thousands. A recent DOS agent, in person she was soft-spoken, buzzing with a nervous energy, just beneath the skin, the type to get lost in a library. Sweet at initial glance but she was just twelve in 1998-- There had to be steel in her.
“It’s no problem,” Jessica said, she waved a hand to dismiss the gratitude. “It’s a European building, so it’s practically a Labyrinth. They’re more concerned with aesthetic than practicality here across the pond.”
This library, older than both of their grandparents combined by a factor of two, nestled in a small Northern German town, within an hour’s drive of Paris. Quaint, cobblestone roads, and one derelict gas station, this old library was its only claim to fame. Jessica chose this meeting place for those reasons-- Out of the way and out of sight.
“You’re obviously American,” Jessica continued. “Were you also looking for someone?””
He was going to have to thank Hunnigan for managing to pull the strings required to get their schedules to line up, even if they only overlapped for a couple of days. The cabin in the mountains was serene and beautiful and absolutely and entirely his. You’d think that with the money he had, it’d be easier to grease the palms necessary to arrange the brief vacation together.
He was out on the deck, snow still settled on the furniture out there, looking out over the scenery as it sloped away from the cabin as the sun began to rise. The other occupant of the cabin was, as far as he was aware, still asleep in her room. Thinking as much, he leaned a little heavier on the railing and lit a cigarette.
Behind him, unbeknown to him, Sherry watched him as she rubbed sleep from her eyes. She wasn’t sure what had woken her from an otherwise pleasant sleep, it was early even for her as an agent. She didn’t think it was Leon moving around, god knew the man moved like a ghost when he wanted to.
Nevertheless, when she’d padded out in her pajamas, sheet wrapped around her to further guard against the chill, she couldn’t help but pause when she spied the more seasoned agent beyond the sliding patio door out onto the deck.
She wasn’t sure what it was about him or the seemingly pensive air about him but there was something melancholy about him even then. Like the guilt continued to plague him despite them both being far away from the cruel realities of their line of work and surrounded by tranquil beauty.
She’d heard rumour about him since New York, about how he’d been drunk by lunchtime and tried to decline an op that would save lives, even if it wasn’t authorised by the DSO. Like he was too busy wallowing to help people. That didn’t sound like him but there, out on that deck and weighed down by horrors she could only imagine, she wondered.
How exaggerated were those tales of his alcoholism and reckless bravery?
Was he really looking for the op that would end his life?
Sherry worried.
She couldn’t change the past, couldn’t give him a brighter future to look forward to, but perhaps she could lessen the burden those weary shoulders were carrying.
The cigarette was almost finished by the time the door behind him slid open and he stubbed it out, pushing it aside into some of the snow lingering on the railing as Sherry stepped up beside him to join him in looking out over the scenery. Nothing was said for a short while.
Eventually Sherry spoke up, gently nudging against the elder agent’s side with a small smile. “Skiing today, right?” she asked softly, just to break the silence.
“Mmhm,” Leon confirmed and then shifted slightly to look over at her with a wry little smirk. “Now what is it that you really want to ask?”
Sherry blushed a little before smiling, refusing to break eye contact once it was made. “You know I never blamed you, right?” she asked, though it was more a rhetorical question than anything. She knew he wouldn’t answer and she wasn’t surprised when his eyes slid away from her.
“What happened after Raccoon, none of it was your fault. Simmons, he....” she paused, trying to work out what to say and how to say it to a man who seemed intent on bearing the weight of decisions he’d had little choice but to make. “It doesn’t matter,” she continued, shaking her head. “What matters is that it wasn’t your fault,” she insisted.
He tried to hide those tired eyes behind his hair and still refused to look at her until placed a hand on his arm, prompting him to look first at the touch and then at her with a mournful look that she wasn’t going to let linger.
“Leon I know what happened and how you saved my life by giving up your own. I wouldn’t be here right now if not for you and I need you to stop beating yourself up about that day because I’m really glad I could be here, with you again.”
It wasn’t the same as after Raccoon, when Claire had been there and the three of them were hand in hand after surviving the worst night of their lives, still riding high on the adrenaline but she was alive and she was happy and even after all those years apart, they were still family.
“Now stop moping and come inside out of the cold, please? I’ll make us breakfast,” she pleaded, already lowering her hand and turning to head back inside.
“Sherry, wait,” Leon called gently, taking her hand before it could fall away completely and turning to face her. Gently he pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes.
“Thanks,” he murmured into her hair, pressing a chaste little kiss to the top of her head before letting her go. “I’ll be there in a minute, okay kiddo? Just gonna grab some wood from the pile.”
Sherry smiled, bobbing her head in a small nod and taking the few short steps back to the patio door. “Don’t be long or I’ll eat your share of breakfast too, got it?”
“ Nobody gives a shit when you’re working for money. “
Not about you, not about your family, and most
certainly not about your life. Umbrella employed
an expendable workforce where even their top
agent could be cast off like dead weight. He
shared that mentality to a degree, placing
his loyalty within their hands.
“In the time it will take to explain this, the situation will get twice as bad.” ((to Monty!))
She threw her hands up. “If you don’t explain it will get twice as bad cause I will fuck it up.” She hated not knowing and here she was completely like a fish out of water.
She just handed the parcel to Sherry. “Better idea you do it and I’ll guard the door.”
A pale blue eye finds an identically colored pair that belongs to his only daughter. He holds a gaze of scrutiny, and she should recognize it’s not intended to mean anything more or less than his silent amusement at her reply.
Sometimes, Will was shocked that she even stayed in contact all these years after Raccoon City, after the government tried to wipe everything that happened with Umbrella away in one fell swoop. Forgetting that Annette and William Birkin were wholly responsible for the massive outbreak, and one of them survived long enough to save the other from literally mutating to death. If you asked him how the woman formulated a live recombinant vaccine at five times the normal dosage in literally hours, he’d only be able to tell you that she was both extremely intelligent and always impeccably prepared for the worst.
Sherry didn’t have access to her mother anymore, but her father survived the fallout with permanent injuries. His existence was known to a handful of people, and his laboratory skills were retained by fostering a seething hatred of the myriad corporate pharmaceutical companies that’d sprung from Umbrella’s hot ashes. Birkin had enough connections to set himself up a viral testing lab in the northeast corner of the country- those who came to commission him tended to be involved in counter-bioterror operations or were victims of bioterror themselves.
”Alright,” The rear door of his car closes with a squeal; one hand supporting a narrow metal box and the other ‘hand’- a grossly disfigured set of bony talons- testing the lock on the box to make sure it won’t spring without a decent amount of mechanical pressure. One look at him from afar, and you could tell he’s related to the woman a few paces away- the closer you got, you could notice he looked like he’d been run through a blender on his right side. The G-virus was going to kill him and melt him alive, but it didn’t have enough time to get through its first stage before having been staggered.
The little metal box is presented to the young lady, almost awkwardly. Since she said ‘yes’ to seeing this, even though years and years had passed since her mother had bought it for her and she’d subsequently lost the little thing during the incident, he was obligated to get it back into her possession.
Inside is a familiar locket. It’s gold, not too high of a karat, but the inlay is mother-of-pearl. Annette had made a point of getting this exact one for her daughter, even though Will had stressed it wasn’t that important. Sherry was so young during that birthday, he remembered thinking she’d have preferred to add to her collection of prized plastic dinosaurs or get started on a new science kit than have a piece of metal that didn’t … do anything.
But! As always, Annette had been right. The jewelry was sentimental, all these years later. Sherry had become something totally unique from her parents, and if Annie could see the government agent now, she’d be more than proud of how far she’d come.
”- I’m sorry it took so long.” He finally says, because he’d had trouble finding an opportunity to go anywhere near Raccoon City’s remains. “Should be how you remember it, I think.”
“I left you some cooked sardines next to you if hungry.” Thoughtful as they were finally at the estate of her parents and the place they chose to rest on was her own room. Everything was indeed looking like a ghost house with candle is their only their light. Sherry might have been busy and hungry, which explains the cooked food on the other side of Saya’s desk.
With all their free time used, there she asked.
“Did we get any info on how are we going to deal with those outside freakshows?” She refers to those ‘freaks’ as those disgusting monsters roaming outside.
"Miss as a medic I know for certain not to yank it out."
“Look, just- Just trust me, okay?”
The sentence was dripping with anguish, followed by a few ragged breaths. Sherry couldn’t see where the piece of rebar had entered on her back, but two inches of the other end had torn through the skin on her right shoulder. Her entire arm was throbbing with pain, and she could feel the blood soaking her shirt.
“Please, I’ll explain after, okay? Just take it out-”
“Sure...” She placed her hands on either side of the rebar. She wondered if she had enough fabric. She doubted it. “It’s your funeral.”
She was supposed to going on a hike later and didn’t want to end up in this bullshit. She finally had time off for gods sake.
“Right. 3 - 2...” And she pulled it and screamed because she just pulled rebar out of someone’s back and she was sure she jsut killed a person.
