Welcome back to the horrors that just keep persisting through the hellstorm that is life. Please enjoy another chapter of this fic that is slowly approaching its finale! After this, there's another two chapters and an epilogue, so please stay tuned and enjoy!
(Once again, a special shout out to @pizzamanmademedoit for helping me edit this chapter!)
Before it All Went Up in Flames Ch. 14: A Monster (Chris x Wesker fanfic)
(Read it on Ao3) (Support me on ko-fi!)
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“Alright, shooting range in 10.” Wesker announced. “Yes sir!” his team answered back obediently. Everyone began to collect their things before heading down to the basement.
“Chris, are you still gonna make due on your promise?” Jill asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll offer you some more pointers. I don’t think you need them much though anymore.”
“It never hurts to have help,” Jill said with a casual shrug. Chris couldn’t help but chuckle softly at that thought coming from Jill of all people. As the duo grabbed their gear and began to head downstairs, the captain’s voice rang out from behind. “Chris.”
Both him and Jill turned and saw Wesker’s frowning face. “I need to speak with you first.”
Jill offered a supportive pat to Chris’s arm before scurrying out of the S.T.A.R.S. office. The only people left were Wesker and Chris. “What is it?” asked Chris.
“I have a different job for you today.”
“But shouldn’t I go help out? Be someone the team can rely on?”
“Your talent is wasted on them. If Jill still needs help at this point with her aim, then we’ll have her stick to what she’s good at.”
Chris was confused. “Well, I could help Barry out with maintenance?”
“That’s what Speyer is for. I need you here.”
Chris’s mind flashed back to the many encounters they had had in the office since February. As the months changed from winter to spring, Chris began spotting a pattern. Wesker was most adamant about having him alone anytime Chris made a promise to his team. Joseph, Barry, Brad, and especially Jill, Wesker seemed to require his assistance most whenever Chris spent any time with anyone else or made a promise to them. After Chris spotted the trend, he began to feel flattered. It almost felt endearing to have someone want his attention so adamantly.
“What do you need, Wesker?” Chris said with a new air of confidence that had been blossoming only the last week or so, almost playful and knowing. He could feel Wesker giving him a once over from behind his glasses. As long as Wesker was here, they would be safe. Chris took a step forward, eager to have Wesker to himself if that’s what the captain wanted.
“We need to go over some recent reports.”
Oh. Chris deflated slightly. Wesker beckoned him over to his desk and offered Chris a new file. Chris opened it up and recognized the face in the picture. It was one of the people who had disappeared back at the end of last year into Raccoon Forest, but their portrait wasn’t the only photo in this file. There was also a photo of a monster who shared similar characteristics with the original man.
“What the hell is this…?” Chris asked.
“They found his body at the edge of the forest. He looked like that and was reportedly shambling when cops arrived.”
“Where is he now?” Chris was eager to speak to the man to find out where they all had been disappearing to.
“Dead. He refused to cooperate and had to be neutralized.”
“What?” Chris was astonished. He looked back at the picture and saw that the man’s skin looked like it was falling off his face. His eyes looked foggy as well, and clumps of his hair were missing. “When? How long was he left before they took a picture?”
“That photo was taken yesterday. That was his appearance when he was shot.”
Chris had to put the file down. “And they have no clue where he came from in the forest? Was there any sort of trail?”
“No.” Wesker answered bluntly
Chris tried to rack his brain. What the hell was going on? Did this guy get mauled by a bear or something? What could’ve left him looking so horrible?
“We should set up an investigation. If we go to where his body was discovered and backtrack, maybe we can find something or someone.”
“Not yet,” Wesker answered.
“What do you mean not yet? If we let this trail go cold, who knows when we’ll have another chance?”
“Chris,” Wesker looked up at his pointman. “Do you think the team is capable of handling this?”
“What do you mean? We’re the Alpha team of S.T.A.R.S. Of course we are!” Chris didn’t feel small like he did before anymore with the captain. When Wesker spoke to him now, he felt more as an equal, despite Wesker being his superior. Outside of those times where Chris fully relinquished his control to Wesker, he had become more comfortable and confident with his position. The secret they shared as well made it feel as if, in a way, it was just him and Wesker against the world.
“Do you think they would be capable of handling a civilian this disfigured? Think about it.”
Chris wanted to say of course they could, but then he remembered how squeamish Brad could be, and how easily spooked Joseph could get. A ghost story was enough to rile those two up. Barry had seen some horrors in the military, so he would probably be fine. The guy was tough as nails. And Jill? Chris had no clue how she would respond to something like this. There was a chance she could remain totally composed, or maybe the sight would send her into complete shock.
“Then what would you suggest?” Chris asked with a huff.
“Keep this from the team for now. You will handle the situation with my assistance if needed.” Wesker put a hand on Chris’s shoulder. “You are the only one I can trust to handle this.”
Chris felt that familiar warmth in his chest. Trust. He had Wesker’s trust. That was more valuable than all the money in the world. “Alright, fine, it’ll stay between us, but we need to do something. We can’t let this lead go cold.”
“I will study the autopsy report to see what caused the man’s condition,” Wesker told Chris. “With that information, we may be able to track the cause and find the other missing persons.”
Chris nodded in agreement. He flipped through the file to see if there was any information he might’ve missed on the first glance and saw a note about the encounter. The man had shambled and lunged at an officer. He was groaning and was unarmed as he shuffled his way towards them, and when he grabbed the officer, he began biting at him. The officer’s partner shot the man in the side, but that didn’t stop the man. He got back up like the bullet in his side meant nothing and came at them again unrelentingly. After failing to deescalate the situation, the man was shot to death. It took nearly six bullets in his torso before the man fully collapsed.
“What the hell…” Chris muttered as he read the accounts. The whole scenario reminded him of something, but he couldn’t place his finger on what it was.
“It is quite the horror story,” Wesker said as he began looking through other reports on his desk.
“That’s one way to put it.” The word “horror” resonated with Chris. There was something to that, but what did this whole thing remind him of…? He sighed as he racked his brain for a connection. There was something that came to mind… Something from a movie…? Chris snapped his fingers as it clicked. “Night of the Living Dead,” he proclaimed.
Wesker looked at him incredulously. “What?”
Chris looked at Wesker as if it was the most obvious connection in the world. “Night of the Living Dead! You know, that classic zombie movie? This picture looks straight out of it.”
“I have never heard of such a thing,” Wesker waved off plainly as he took a seat behind his desk.
“Really?” Chris was shocked. The movie was older than him, but Wesker must’ve heard about it when he was a kid, right? “It’s a classic!”
Wesker snickered. “A cheap play at horror is no classic. Now something like Frankenstein, that is a classic.”
“But that movie is just as bad as Night of the Living Dead,” Chris argued.
“I’m talking about the novel, not that poor excuse of a film.” Wesker snapped impatiently. Chris couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Didn’t you read it in school or someplace?” Wesker asked haughtily.
“Ha, maybe my class did,” Chris joked. Wesker sighed in disappointment and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Idiots, the lot of you…” Wesker muttered.
“I’m just saying,” Chris said as he turned back to the file. His smile faltered as he looked at the body of the man he had tried to find for months now. “I can’t think of another way to describe someone like this.”
“He was not a dead man brought back from the grave,” Wesker answered bluntly. “He was likely sick with some sort of disease. That would explain his appearance.”
“And the fact he could get up no problem after being shot?”
“Dulled senses, unresponsive nerves, there are plenty of possibilities to explain that.” Wesker answered impatiently with a small wave of his hand.
Chris tried to make eye contact with Wesker, but the captain refused to look up from his desk. He scribbled out something on a document, then put it in a file that he stashed towards the bottom of his pile. Chris felt something off about Wesker’s behavior today. He seemed… nervous? Which was odd for the captain. Wesker always acted with a level of confidence and certainty. It was unlike him to falter.
Then again, even as a biotechnology specialist, seeing a body in that condition was probably a lot for Wesker to take in. It was disturbing, even to those who saw all sorts of strange and gross things in their work. That was Chris’s hypothesis, at least.
“I’ll be waiting for your info on the autopsy report,” Chris spoke as he crossed the office back towards his own desk and dropped the file on the cluttered surface. “Once we have that, we can make a plan of attack. In the meantime, I’m gonna head down to the shooting range.”
Chris lingered in the center of the room and watched Wesker, waiting for his permission. Wesker looked transfixed by a paper on his desk, entirely focused on that. Chris spotted a small eyecatching symbol at the top of the document. It was red and white. Umbrella, maybe? Maybe they would know something if it really was a disease, like Wesker said.
“Wesker?” Chris spoke. When Wesker finally registered that Chris had been speaking to him, he looked up and covered the paper with his forearms. “That’s fine. Go keep the team in line and focused.”
Chris nodded as he left the office, but not before he spotted Wesker picking up the phone. His teeth looked clenched as he aggressively punched in a phone number. Chris wondered what could’ve gotten Wesker so hot under the collar. He didn’t think much of it as he made his way downstairs.
Chris had not been thrilled with the bet even when it had started off as a joke. He didn’t like Joseph’s comment that Wesker should show up to Barry’s birthday party in nothing but the Playboy bunny costume in the magazine he had just snatched off of Joseph’s desk (Joseph had been reading it and ignoring their morning meeting). But Chris laughed it up with the rest of the S.T.A.R.S members at first. After all, it was a funny image and it wasn’t like anyone knew he and the captain had been together for several weeks (a fact both had agreed would be best kept secret right now), so he figured no one was trying to cause any harm by making such a joke. That didn’t mean he wasn’t a little irritated by the idea of his co-workers ogling his boyfriend in such a promiscuous piece.
It hurt a little more when Wesker turned the joke into a bet that if all monthly reports were turned in a week early he would do it. But Chris understood that was a joke too. Finishing all the monthly reports a week early was all but impossible. He also knew that no one on Alpha or Bravo Team (himself included) ever turned them in before they were already two or three days late, a fact that bothered Wesker to no end but he found he could do little about. So the idea Wesker would take measures that drastic to make it happen was funny too, a real hoot around the office. Funny at first, but still, Chris looked forward to this particular bit ending quickly.
But then the joke didn’t go away. And when Joseph demanded all this paperwork early so he could get the report done Chris nearly smashed his face into the table right there. But he didn’t. He bit his lip and assumed everyone would get bored of this bet and go back to normal in no time. But they didn’t. Reports then showed up on Wesker’s desk bright and early a week before they were due and now Chris was sitting in the bar with his friends hoping they didn’t notice him seething over the events that had transpired.
“Earth to Chris, you ok?” Jill asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
Chris jumped and then took another swig of his beer.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just tired you know?”
“Tired?” Forest laughed. “C’mon man, nothing happened all day. Boring as shit, nothing on patrols, and almost no calls to the office. Maybe you need more sleep.”
“Or maybe he needs more beer.” Joseph suggested.
Chris really didn’t want to look at Joseph right now.
“No, actually I think you might be right Forest, maybe I just need to turn in early. I need to walk home anyway so I should probably get moving.”
The other three groaned in disappointment.
“Chris what are you talking about the night is young! I’ve seen you pull more than a few all-nighters, give us another bud, and let’s paint this town!”
“Count me out, I think Chris is right,” Jill said. “I need to get up early tomorrow and I don’t want to do any more painting with you guys after last time.”
Even Chris laughed at that, remembering the last night they’d all gone out, and he agreed to stay and finish his drink before making his way back to his apartment. He struggled to get to sleep that night, tossing and turning, grumbling under his breath about the stupid bet and stupid Joseph and the stupid birthday party, but he knew he was overreacting. Albert was smart and would find some mistake in the report or some other loophole that got him out of the bet. Worst case scenario he downright refused to wear the costume and everyone would complain for a few months, but no one actually expected their captain to wear that shit. Maybe Enrico or Joseph or even Barry would, everyone would get a kick out of that, but not Wesker, never Wesker. On that pleasant thought, Chris was finally able to relax and drift off to sleep.
***
“You’re not actually going to do it are you?”
“Do what?”
“You know the bet. You’re not going to show up to Barry’s party in that outfit?”
Albert let out a small laugh which Chris found a little reassuring. Albert thought the idea was silly, and he never did anything silly. The two of them had left work around four to retire back to Albert’s apartment and Chris was currently laying on the couch, head in his partner’s lap as Albert read some thick and probably incredibly boring book. Occasionally Albert would run a hand through Chris’s hair but the two were mostly still and silent, one consumed in his book and the other in his own thoughts.
“Good,” Chris sighed.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t like the idea of you showing up to the birthday party like that.”
Chris watched as Albert closed his book and set it on the end table next to him.
“Like what?”
“Like all skimpy and done up, it’s- I don’t know, I don’t like it.”
Albert looked down and smirked.
“Why Chris, are you jealous at the idea of all your coworkers seeing me like that?”
Chris immediately sat up.
“Of course not, I just…” Chris pondered what to say, “They wouldn’t appreciate it. Not properly. Not like I would.”
“Mmhmm,” Albert’s smile grew “So I take it you wouldn’t be upset if I wore something like that with only you around.”
Chris blushed.
“I don’t know, maybe you’ll have to try it and find out.”
Chris began to relax again and Albert picked his book back up.
“Maybe I will…” Albert muttered under his breath.
***
Little comments and conversations about the bet and whether or not Wesker would actually do it drifted around the office for the next few days, but Chris found himself less bothered. Of course, his boyfriend wouldn’t act out his end of the bet, Albert held himself to a higher standard than that. And of course, Chris wasn’t jealous, he just knew what was best for his partner now and then and wanted to make sure Albert wasn’t put in an uncomfortable position.
By the day of the party, Chris felt completely free of concern. He would show up, have a few drinks, make a couple of jokes at the birthday boy’s expense (all in good fun of course), and then he and Albert would come back to his apartment (leaving the party separately of course) and spend the night together. A great evening from his perspective, one he was eager to begin.
He made the short walk to Barry’s, opened the front door already hearing the commotion from inside, and was immediately leaped upon by his friend’s two small daughters. Moira and Polly grabbed his legs, chased him around, and berated him with questions about work and how many bad guys their dad had caught.
“Girls leave Chris alone, he just got here.” Barry begged trying to control the madness.
“No, it’s fine Barry, you know I love the rugrats.” Chris laughed as Polly attempted to climb onto his back.
“Yeah, Dad! He loves this!” Polly called out and Moira eagerly agreed.
“Chris, do you have a girlfriend yet?” Moira asked prompting a laugh from everyone in the room.
“Not exactly.” Chris rolled his eyes, still smiling.
“Not exactly, what’s that supposed to mean Chris?” Kathy joked as she made her way into the room.
“It means he has six and none of them know about the others.” Forest chided getting another laugh from the group.
The night went on happily as jokes were made and laughed at and the group enjoyed the festivities. Chris noticed around eight that Albert still hadn’t shown up (surprising as he always tended to arrive about an hour late to the parties only to make a small appearance just long enough to appease everybody before sneaking out) but Chris didn’t think too much of it. Maybe his boyfriend was milking out the wait until he arrived so people would still think he’d be making a “special” appearance. Chris chuckled to himself at the thought of everyone waiting eagerly only to be so sorely let down when the captain was dressed as typically as ever.
Time flew by and Chris soon found himself in a pleasant haze. He was having fun, he was surrounded by friends, and Barry had opened his presents which had included several fantastic genuine and gag gifts (Chris's favorite being a pair of lace pink panties, just Barry’s size, given by Kenneth). He was leaning against the living room wall chatting with Jill around 9:30 when there was a knock on the door. Barry, who had been in a conversation with a particularly drunk Brad and fairly drunk Joseph jumped up from between the two and offered to get the door. No one argued with him and he walked over, taking off the pink “Special Birthday Girl” hat his friends had demanded he wear before he answered it.
Chris couldn’t see who was on the other side, but he certainly saw Barry’s face go redder than tomato soup and his eyes widen like a cartoon character when he answered the door.
“Oh Jesus- KATHY? ARE THE GIRLS IN BED?!” Barry yelled, not taking his eyes off the figure in the doorway.
“Yes dear, I tucked them in about an hour ago.”
“Well then,” Barry sighed “Come on in captain.”
“Thank you, Barry, and happy birthday,” Wesker responded, his voice seeping into the living room, immediately pulling everyone’s eyes to the door.
A long, pale, but exceptionally toned leg stepped into view, fishnet clinging to it up and down. Jaws dropped. So did Chris’s heart. Everyone’s eyes ran up the leg as the rest of the figure stepped into the room. Captain Albert Wesker adorned only his typical sunglasses, a tight black bathing suit-like one piece, fishnets, cuffs on each wrist, and a slick shiny pair of black heels. Oh, and a velvety pair of black bunny ears. He had really dedicated himself to going all the way.
Chris spat his drink back into his glass. The room was silent for only a moment before Joseph let out a low whistle.
“Holy fuck, did our man deliver or what?!” Joseph clapped.
And in an instant, the room erupted into cheers and laughter as everyone ran up to Wesker to get a better look. The captain rolled his eyes.
“I take it you’re all satisfied then? Those reports better be flawless when I check them all over tomorrow.”
More laughs. Chris stayed in his corner, propped against the wall, no one even noticing the flush of anger reaching through his face.
“Where did you even find this Wesker? I can’t believe they make them in men’s sizes!” Richard asked, poking at the ears.
“They don’t.”
Chris quickly marched to the kitchen, not wanting anyone to see him and certainly not wanting to see Wesker anymore. He grabbed a glass, filled it with punch, and downed it. At some point in the night, someone must have spiked it. Good, he didn’t want to be sober right now anyway. He could hear the two team's enthusiastic voices questioning Wesker from the other room, and Wesker’s monotone responses usually followed by another burst of giggles. Oh, Wesker was funny now, Chris thought to himself as he drank more punch. That’s new, seems like there are a lot of new aspects of his coming to light tonight.
The night that had previously been flying by was now barely crawling. Chris avoided Wesker and his teammates opting to drink in the corner instead. Wesker seemed to be ignoring him anyway, which didn’t matter because Chris certainly didn’t want Albert to come to check on him. No, Al could mess around with all his other little boyfriends, what did Chris care? Chris could’ve sworn he almost shattered the glass in his hands with how tightly he gripped it when Joseph jokingly sat next to Wesker and reached out to touch his thigh. Wesker slapped his hand away. Chris found no relief in it.
After several more minutes of that kind of nonsense, Jill walked over looking concerned.
“Uh Chris, are you alright?” She asked, knowing something was clearly off.
“I’m fine.” Chris retorted, not even looking at her.
“Really? Because you’ve been drinking alone in the corner looking pissed as hell for the past fifteen minutes. If it weren’t for the captain distracting everyone, they would be on your ass right now for being a spoilsport.”
“Oh well thank god for the captain.” Chris glowered, as he stepped forward to make his way back to the kitchen to refill his glass.
“Are you upset at him for something? Did he get on your ass about the Mowers case again?”
“No, it’s not the Mowers case, I don’t want to talk about it, Jill.”
“No, you just want to mope in the corner at your friend’s birthday party.”
“Listen-” Chris spun around to confront Jill only to notice Forest, who was almost as deep in drinks as Chris was, passing Wesker who was having a discussion with Barry and Kathy who couldn’t stop giggling.
With a wicked smile on his face, he slapped Wesker's ass as he moved by, no hesitation and with enough force to make a cracking sound loud enough for the whole room to hear. Heads turned to see the captain’s face fill with anger as he turned around to unleash hell on whichever prick had tried to get a laugh out of him. For once though, Chris had responded first.
He crossed the room in what felt like an instant and grabbed his friend by the shirt collar. Forest immediately stopped laughing and stared up at Chris in shock.
“The fuck was that?!” Chris roared, “You think you’re funny? Pulling that shit here in front of everyone!”
“Relax man, it was a joke, I was just fooling around!” Forest put his hands up defensively as he tried to back away.
“Oh yeah, fooling around, running around slapping people who want nothing to do with you, find someone who will at least pretend to think your shitty jokes are-”
“Chris.”
The two men turned to see their captain glaring them down. On instinct, Chris released his co-worker.
“I don’t need your defending, and I know what a joke is. Forest’s behavior may have been questionable but that was unacceptable, I think it’s time for you to go home.” Wesker’s voice was like steel, cold and unfeeling and impossible for Chris to argue back with, even in his angry state.
Chris looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him now, silent and shocked at his behavior. He felt his hands begin to shake and stared down at the floor, breath becoming harder to obtain by the second. He closed his eyes for a second as his anger shifted from Albert and his friends to himself.
“Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry Forest, I don’t know what came over me.”
“...It’s all good, it wasn’t a funny joke anyway. I’ll keep my hands to myself next time.” Forest answered uncertainly.
Chris awkwardly said his goodbyes and made his way out of the Burton residence. The walk home was short but making it alone with his thoughts dragged the endeavor out. What the hell was wrong with him? The whole thing was supposed to be a joke! None of his co-workers were actually trying to make a move on his boyfriend, and Albert was just fulfilling his end of the bet. No one would have imagined the reports would actually get finished, it was just an unfortunate turn of events that Chris should’ve dealt with better.
Chris felt his stomach twist, how the fuck would he show up to work tomorrow? All the eyes on him at the party had been too much to handle, he couldn’t imagine the awkwardness when he showed up to the department. No one would want to talk to him, maybe not even Jill. His drinking days with Forest were probably over, and he’d probably never get invited to another one of Barry’s parties again. In Chris’s mind, the situation was hopeless.
Chris was eager to go home, pass out, and escape the bleak reality facing him for at least a few hours with sleep, but was surprised to see the lights in his apartment seemed to be on from outside. He sighed, Claire must have decided to make a surprise visit. What a night to choose. He would make his way upstairs, tell her he was really tired, and maybe ask her for advice in the morning.
Chris took the stairs, hoping to avoid Claire as long as was reasonable, and slowly meandered to his door. After taking a moment to compose himself he stepped in, surprised to see no Claire waiting on the couch eager to greet him. Instead, he heard noises from the kitchen and saw a pair of black bunny ears sitting on the end table.
“Ah, welcome home, I was wondering when you would be back,” Albert called as he stepped out of the kitchen, wearing a long black winter coat that Chris assumed was to cover the outfit underneath.
Chris felt angry again, but mostly just sad.
“What are you doing here Albert? And how did you get here before me?”
“We were supposed to spend the night together, remember? And I took a taxi, I figured you wouldn’t want me to walk you home after what occurred.”
Well, he was right about that.
“Albert I think you should go home.”
“Why Chris? Is something wrong?”
It took all of Chris’s strength not to yell.
“Yeah, I think you know what’s wrong.”
Chris could have sworn he saw Albert smirk.
“Are you upset about me showing up to Barry’s Party in this outfit?” He asked, pulling the jacket off the reveal that Chris had indeed been right, he still had the costume on.
“Yeah, I am upset, and I think you know that.”
“Hmm, and why does me showing up to a party with all your friends and coworkers dressed like this upset you, Chris?” Albert purred, slowly stepping closer.
“What do you want from me, Albert?” Chris blurted out, “Don’t you think I’ve dealt with enough bullshit tonight?”
Albert stepped forward and took Chris’s chin in his hand, pushing his head up to make eye contact. Chris didn’t know why but he let him.
“Just tell me. Chris, why did it upset you?”
“Because I’m jealous. I’m jealous I’ve every person who gets near you, every person who gets to touch you, everyone who gets to enjoy looking you up and down like that because I want it only to be me.”
Albert relaxed and then smiled.
“That’s exactly why I wore this to the party.” Albert chuckled “Because I wanted to see just how jealous you were. Just what exactly you would do for me. I’ve never seen you so angry Chris, so ready to jump to my defense. And we all know I don't need your protection, but Chris, I loved it.”
Albert sighed running his hands down Chris’s sides
“I loved seeing that side of you, hostile, so volatile, and so ready to take what you wanted. I so rarely see it Chris, I had to do something to bring that part of you out. You must understand.”
Chris probably should have been angry, or at least very unsettled, but instead, he felt himself growing hot. Albert clearly picking up on it took his partner’s waist and gently kissed the soft skin below Chris’s ear.
“Promise me you won’t do anything like this again?” Chris whispered.
“Only if you promise to show me just how mad you were when you fuck me tonight.”
Chris shivered and closed his eyes.
“I’m going to go shower, I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”
Hello and welcome back to another chapter of this Chrisker fire that is slowly building it's way to incineration. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Stay tuned for the next really exciting chapter! It's going to be especially fun heheh
Before it All Went Up in Flames Ch. 11: You Can Count on Me. (Chris x Wesker fanfic)
(Read it on Ao3) (Support me on ko-fi!)
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“Fuuuuuck…” Chris groaned. His hands slid back over his shaggy hair and down to his neck while leaning over the files on his desk. Jill looked over her shoulder and saw her teammate struggling. “Not having much luck?” she asked.
Chris sighed. “No…” he admitted. Jill leaned over the back of her chair to see the paper that Chris was now holding up. “I don’t get it. Where are they going?” Chris asked rhetorically. Over the past six months or so, there had been reports of people going missing in Raccoon Forest. What started as just a handful of unfortunate hikers never coming back had escalated into the double digits. No bodies had been discovered of any of the missing people either, leaving their whereabouts a complete mystery.
“We don’t know if they’re dead or alive, or why any of them were even in the forest. I just…” Chris scratched his head. He had been at this case for months, seeing if there were any patterns amongst the victims. The only thing was that they went into the forest and never came back, but why? Were they all getting eaten by the same bear or something?
“Do you think that someone’s kidnapping them? Or a serial murderer?” Jill asked.
“Maybe?” Chris had tried to consider every angle, but he had not a single shred of evidence to lead him towards any conclusion.
Jill stood up from her seat and looked over Chris’s shoulder at his desk. Besides documents for each of the missing people, there was also a map of Raccoon Forest spread out in front of him that had been marked for each of the victims where they were last seen and where their vehicles were abandoned if they had one. A few landmarks were poorly drawn out as well, but there were also a slew of question marks littering the paper map. The map was horribly wrinkled, and Chris wasn’t helping as he clenched the edge of it tight while staring in utter defeat at his work.
“What about here?” Jill asked as she pointed to a spot on the well worn map.
“What, the Spencer mansion?” Chris asked.
“Think there may be anything there? Maybe someone who lives there has seen something, or maybe someone who disappeared found their way there somehow?”
“Maybe…” Chris considered. He had written the mansion off, assuming it was abandoned. The Spencer Mansion was one of Raccoon’s City’s worst kept secrets. People loved making up stories about the place, but no one ever really knew for certain who actually lived there or what really happened behind those gates. “It couldn’t hurt to check…?” Chris mused.
Jill smiled and gave Chris a pat on the shoulder. “It could be worth a shot. You should see what Wesker thinks.” She sat back down at her own desk. “Let me know if you need help with anything else, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks Jill,” Chris said gratefully. Jill resumed her work on her computer, typing away at a brisk pace. Chris got to his feet, crumpled up his destroyed map, and crossed the busy office where the alpha team was hard at work. Barry had been cleaning his magnum when Chris came up next to him and stood in front of the captain’s desk. “Hey, Wesker,” Chris spoke. Wesker looked up from whatever file he had been reading in a comfortable, reclined position. “Yes, Chris?”
“I wanted to run something by you,” Chris laid the map on Wesker’s desk over his particularly organized piles and pointed to the same spot Jill had. “About the disappearances in Raccoon Forest, do you think that anyone at the Spencer Mansion may have any leads? Since we haven’t found anything, maybe someone in the mansion might know something. I don’t know if anyone actually lives there, but there could be something worth checking out. Maybe if we organized-”
“No.” Wesker interrupted plainly. His face was completely still and unreadable.
Chris was confused. “No?”
“No, I do not think there is anything worthwhile in that abandoned, decrepit mansion.”
“Is it abandoned though? Jill mentioned that-”
“Chris,” Wesker interrupted. He wagged his finger and motioned for Chris to come closer. Chris leaned over the desk nervously, unable to stop himself from glancing over at Barry who was just behind him and working on his machinery. Wesker leaned forward as well, lowering his voice to a whisper as he closed the distance between them. “You do not need Jill to help you with every little thing. You do not need anyone’s help.”
“But-” Chris tried to interject.
“I assigned that case to you because I know that you are capable of handling it alone. Was my trust misplaced?”
“No, but-”
“Are you incapable of handling this?”
“No, I just-”
“Then behave like you are capable and competent. You do not need any assistance with this. You should not have to rely on your team. They should be able to rely on you as their superior. Understood?”
“But what about-”
“Chris,” Wesker scolded. That steady face hardened behind Wesker’s glasses. Chris’s words froze in his mouth and his shoulders tensed.
“Understood, captain,” he responded obediently with a choked voice. Wesker’s face softened as he sighed. He gave Chris a soft smile. “You shouldn't rely on your team as a superior. Luckily, you have me to fall back on. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir.” Chris muttered as he shrank in on himself.
“Good.” Wesker mussed the top of Chris’s slightly shaggy head. Chris couldn’t help but lower his head at the touch and ended up bowing deeply in front of Wesker. “Your hair is out of regs. You need a haircut.”
“Yes sir,” Chris answered with a small voice. His eyes stared down at his terrible drawing of the Spencer Mansion on the map as he let Wesker’s hand rifle through his hair and felt that familiar surge of electricity shoot down his body from the crown of his head. The sensation had been few and far between over the past few months. Sometimes Wesker gave Chris a taste, pulled him aside and offered a small touch, but that was all. There had been nothing like the beach since the beginning of summer. As the leaves changed and fell from the trees in the chilled autumn air, so too did Chris’s hopes of getting any sort of closure for these complicated feelings. All he could do now was listen obediently as he did his best to live up to the role he had been given.
When Wesker’s hand left Chris’s hair, Chris kept his head lowered as he picked up his map and returned to his desk. He caught a glimpse of Barry as he turned and saw that his old friend was peeking up at him with a raised eyebrow from his firearm. Chris didn’t acknowledge that look and did his best to ignore the flush in his face as he sat back down at his desk and tried to find a new lead. He picked up a pencil and drew an X over the Spencer mansion, followed by the word “abandoned.”
Back to the drawing board, Chris thought in agony. He was at a complete loss and felt another distressed sigh coming on.
Ahhhhhh, writer's block has gotten to me, but we are slowly working our way around it one paragraph at a time.
The amount of edits I've had to make for this latest chapter of my Chrisker fic feels annoyingly excessive, but it's good. I keep tweaking things to make sure the tone is consistent, and I keep updating my outline as well to make sure that I know where the hell the character dynamics are going.
Overall, I'm glad that I'm taking my time, but also holy shit I want to be done with this project and move onto Chrisker week oneshots ahhhhhhhhh
Anyways have a sneak preview of the next chapter
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“So Chris,” Joseph came sliding his hands onto Chris’s desk and shoving papers out of the way. “How was your Valentine’s Day~?”
“Valentine’s?” Chris asked, knowing very well what yesterday’s date was. The memory of strong hands gripping his wrists and holding them above his head against a wall flashed into his brain then.
Joe scoffed. “Yeah, Valentine’s. Did you have your fancy friend over?”
The memory of Wesker’s hot breath in the crook of his neck as he bit and sucked at the skin of Chris’s neck flashed across his vision. “No,” Chris lied as he rubbed the burning spots hidden just below his collar. “Just another normal night.”
New 2AM Chrisker chapter just dropped. This was a fun one to write! I am currently feeling the affects of a latte I consumed at 3PM and am still feeling the caffeine making my heart flutter chaotically. Anyways, hope you enjoy another chapter of pre-RE1 events
Before it All Went Up in Flames Ch. 8: After Office Hours (Chris x Wesker fanfic)
(Read it on Ao3) (Support me on ko-fi!)
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“Are you sure?” Jill asked over the back of her desk chair. She was speaking to the back of Chris’s head that was currently hunched studiously over his messy desk.
“Yes Jill, I can handle sorting some papers. Go have a night off for yourself.”
“When was the last time you had one of those?” she asked sarcastically. She began to sort her desk for the night and grab her things.
“It hasn’t even been that long,” Chris said, dismissing the idea of a day off. What the hell would he even do with one anyways? He felt a small, firm hand on his shoulder and turned to see Jill without her beret. “At least get yourself a coffee or something, or just get some rest. You look like you could definitely use it.” She patted his shoulder as she turned to leave. “Have a good night, captain!” Jill said politely to Wesker, who was similarly hunched over his own desk. He barely offered a wave as Jill left the office for the night.
It wasn’t even late, only a bit after seven. It was an early spring evening, and the sun was still peeking through the window in the hallway as the door shut behind Jill. The snow was gone and the days were getting warmer and warmer. The office was pleasantly cool though, only occupied now by the two men furiously at work reading over files and sorting paperwork.
Neither of them spoke to each other. Chris did occasionally look over the edge of his desk to watch Wesker at work in fascination. Through his tinted glasses, the captain scanned each document and placed it neatly in one of a multitude of piles on his desk. Chris was entranced by the efficiency. Meanwhile, his own desk was a mess of papers. At least they were all from the same file, but sorting was not a task he excelled at. One look at his apartment could tell you that. The rest of the paperwork he was on a mission to sort was in a messy stack on the floor by his feet.
“Do you need something, Chris?” Wesker asked without looking up from his papers. Wesker’s face was cold and expressionless as he continued to work, while Chris’s face was burning red. He quickly lowered his head back down towards his desk, nearly slamming his head on the surface. “Nope, I’m good.”
Chris heard a soft hum of acknowledgment, and the two returned back to their individual tasks. Chris continued figuring out how best to sort these files of previous cases and references for future use. Jill had shown him her system, which was of course perfectly efficient, just like Jill was, but he couldn’t quite remember how she did it. Honestly, he didn’t know how to go about this. Why couldn’t they just keep everything together in one pile and look for it when it was relevant? Of course that wasn’t a good system, but this just seemed exhausting.
The only reason why he offered to do this was just so he didn’t have to go back home. His empty, cluttered apartment was not a welcome place, especially after the last few weeks. All he really did there was sleep, and that had been soured by his recent attempts at playing Wesker’s role. Missions were being completed in a sloppy manner, and Chris kept himself up at night thinking about what he could’ve done better, along with his other intrusive thoughts.
The majority of his waking moments were instead spent here at the police station. Any days off were spent maybe in the shithole he called home, but only if Claire was there visiting. She always ended up cleaning up after him and tidying the place up since Chris never bothered to care about it. Honestly, his sister had the patience of a saint with how often she helped.
Hours passed wastefully. All Chris had managed to do was move papers around in a different order, but nothing had been accomplished. Meanwhile, Wesker’s pile had diminished significantly. Chris sighed, debating whether or not it was time to give up and just accept his fate. He would have to go home eventually unless he just slept here on his desk.
He was brought back to the moment when a hot mug of black coffee was placed on his desk. He looked up and saw that Wesker had placed it and had a second mug for himself. “Thanks,” Chris muttered as he took the mug and took a hearty swig. He never really cared for the taste of coffee, but he wouldn’t say no to caffeine.
“You’re welcome,” Wesker responded. Instead of returning to his own work, he took a seat in Jill’s desk chair. He leaned back in her seat comfortably and took a long, slow sip from his own mug like he was relaxing on holiday at a Parisian cafe. “How is your work progressing?”
Chris couldn’t help but chuckle. “Honestly?” He turned around to face Wesker. “I don’t know why Jill trusted that I could do this. I’m at a complete loss.”
“Perhaps a break would be good for you too,” Wesker said. He took another sip of coffee.
“What, is your work getting to you?”
“No,” Wesker’s head turned ever so slightly to glance at Chris from the side. “I simply understand the importance of balance. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Chris couldn’t help but scoff as he took another sip of the bitter sludge and choked it down. Looking over at Wesker now with his thin dress shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows and a few buttons undone over his chest, Chris decided that maybe he should turn back to his desk and give organizing another go. A flashback from months ago reared its tempting head again, as it often did when he had too much time to think.
Ever since that moment during New Years Eve, Chris hasn’t been able to stop thinking about that sensation Wesker left him with and his reasoning for why he thought it was appropriate to make a move on Chris. Chris had chastised himself countless times afterwards for even remotely entertaining the thought, thinking of a superior officer in that way, and a man of all things, but moments like these, where it was quiet and there wasn’t something pressing weighing on them, that familiar fluttery sensation that festered in his stomach found its way back almost every time.
Especially now, looking at Wesker being so relaxed, so close, with his strong arms and big hands moving so elegantly with each sip of his beverage, Chris felt that feeling again. He took another hasty sip of coffee to distract himself and ended up choking on it. He couldn’t help but sputter pathetically in a coughing fit.
“Not to your taste?” Wesker asked with a hint of playful sarcasm. He took another easy sip from his own mug while he watched his point man gather himself.
Chris had to wait for his throat to calm down. “No… not really.” His voice was a touch hoarse. “I like how it makes me feel, not how it tastes.”
“That’s only because you’ve never had anything good. The beans they have here are dreadful.” Wesker eyed his mug and swirled the remaining contents before taking another sip. His face did not falter in the slightest at the supposedly cheap taste.
Chris didn’t know how to proceed. He hadn’t left many opportunities for himself to be left alone with Wesker after that night, afraid of a relapse, but for some reason tonight, he didn’t want to flee. He didn’t want to go home, or go out with Joseph or Forest. He had wanted to stay tonight under the guise of productivity, and ended up failing dreadfully at his supposed task. Wesker was right, he did need a break. He just had no idea what to say now that he was forced to face his real reason for lingering.
“What’s on your mind, Chris?” Wesker asked. Chris hated how it felt like the captain could read his mind so easily. His eyes drifted over to Wesker and couldn’t help but scan him over. His eyes quickly drifted down Wesker’s torso and to his lap before he swiftly turned his gaze away. He hoped Wesker hadn’t noticed, but knowing the captain, he probably had.
“I… uh…” Chris couldn’t get the words out of his throat. Wesker simply sat there, patiently staring and waiting for Chris to speak as if he had all the time in the world. Chris felt himself shrink under that hidden stare as he became acutely aware of the feeling of his tongue in his mouth. He forced his eyes to look at the floor in front of himself and managed to choke out a sentence he had been meaning to say for a while now. “Could we talk about New Years…?”
Wesker raised an eyebrow. He placed his mug gently down on Jill’s desk and turned to fully face Chris. He crossed his legs and eyed his point man with interest. “Certainly.” He waited patiently for Chris to elaborate. Chris glanced up at Wesker for a second, but he couldn’t hold it for long. He felt more nervous now than he ever had on any sort of mission. The nervous flip of his stomach was an especially unwelcome feeling.
“So… uh…” Chris began eloquently. Wesker couldn’t help but smirk at Chris’s floundering attempt at conversation. He waited patiently as his young subordinate struggled to articulate his thoughts. “I’ve never thought of myself as…” Chris couldn’t get that last word out.
“What?” Wesker probed. “Gay?”
Chris hesitated and felt his whole body seize up in nerves. “Yeah, that. I just… don’t know what it really means to be… that.”
“Well, do you find men attractive?”
Chris hesitated before nodding silently. He had to restrain himself from looking over at Wesker again as he thought about the question.
“Would you like to be intimate with a man?”
That one, Chris couldn’t answer so surely. He had tried to think about what that entailed over the last couple of months during his sleepless nights where he couldn’t help but think of that soft, teasing touch Wesker had trailed over his neck and jaw that night. He had even considered going to a sex shop and finding some reference material just to get some ideas and get this whole thing out of his system, but he didn’t have the guts to go through with it. The idea of being caught with that stuff was mortifying to him. He had seen guys get mercilessly bullied just because someone had called them that word. Now, to actually be that, and be caught in the act of being… that?
“I’m… honestly not sure what that means.” Chris finally answered.
Wesker chuckled softly and Chris felt his face burning. The captain uncrossed his legs and moved a touch closer to Chris. “There are many similarities to being intimate with a woman. Have you done that at least? Or is this all new territory to you?”
Chris had to scoff and move away so Wesker wasn’t so intimately close. That lingering scent of cologne came from him and Chris felt something melt inside himself at the smell. “Of course I have!” he retorted nervously. “I just don’t really know how it works with two…” Chris couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. He saw that Wesker was grinning at him and he felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
“Well, there’s many ways to be intimate. What was it like before for you?”
“I mean… It was sex?” Chris looked at Wesker unsurely. “It felt good,” he shrugged.
Wesker sighed. “Inspired, truly. What, did you just thrust into her like a savage?”
Chris felt his face burn. He couldn’t say no. That was the extent of his knowledge. Isn’t that how sex worked? Something goes in a hole and you go until you’re finished? That’s all he really gathered on the subject from his old high school friends and his military buddies.
Wesker saw Chris’s ignorance shining through. “Oh god…” he sighed in disappointment. Chris now felt like going home would be better than this conversation. Hell, going back to his old unit in the Air Force would be better than this. He was mortified at his lack of experience. Wesker managed to recover from his despair and look up at Chris. “Would you like me to show you?”
Chris looked over, panicked and confused by what Wesker was offering. “For the sake of experimentation,” Wesker clarified. “Would you like me to show you what intimacy can be in order to help you sort these feelings?”
Chris didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t want to reject the offer, but was this even appropriate? Wouldn’t they get in trouble? Wesker could lose his job for something like this, couldn’t he?
Wesker saw the rushing thoughts and leaned closer to Chris, closing the distance between them. He placed his hand on Chris’s thigh and let it slide up ever so slightly as he came closer and closer, stopping only when his lips were but a breath away from Chris’s. Chris shivered and felt a wave of heat rush to his lower half. “It can be our little secret. No one will know. You do trust me, don’t you Chris?”
Chris nodded and felt his hands dig into the sides of his deskchair. He stared intently at his own reflection in Wesker’s glasses and saw how small and young he looked right now compared to the captain. His eyes were wide and nervous, waiting to see what came next.
Wesker lingered for a moment, his expression unreadable behind tinted lenses. Chris’s big eyes flicked between his reflection and Wesker’s lips, eager for something to happen and end the suspense. He felt his mouth going dry with nerves, all while the captain sat in place, teasingly close. Am I supposed to do something? Chris was at a loss, like a babe in the woods.
Finally, Wesker removed his hand from Chris’s leg and stood up. Chris watched eagerly, waiting to see what he had in store for their “experiment.” “Well, before anything, you need to finish sorting these files.” Chris was confused, nearly forgetting about what he had even been at the office for this late. He looked back down and saw that it really was a disaster.
Wesker stepped over to the side of Chris’s desk. He looked over the flurry of disorganized paperwork and began consolidating the papers into the solitary open file. “At the very least, let’s sort the files by date completed. We can organize the contents of each of these later. Also make a note of what’s in each file so we don’t have to open each one anytime we need a single reference.”
“Uh, yeah, sure,” Chris’s brain was scattered all over the place. He was lightheaded since a rush of blood had just left his head and travelled south. He stared up at the captain and watched him as he instructed Chris on the best way to manage this trivial task. Chris nodded in acknowledgment, but Wesker’s words were going in one ear and out the other. Chris was simply focused on the way his lips moved as he spoke so dryly and articulately, and the subtle movement of muscles in his forearms as he shifted papers around on Chris’s desk. When Wesker leaned on his desk, his open shirt hung low and revealed a small bit of his bare, fair skin. Chris caught himself staring at the smooth muscle and had to force himself to look back to his work. He willed his hands with great effort to move and mimic Wesker’s actions, playing the part of a good office worker, but his attempts were clumsy at best.
Instead of going back to his own work, Wesker oversaw Chris finish a job that shouldn’t have taken more than an hour or so. Chris had been at it for nearly four hours now. Thanks to Wesker’s guidance and assistance, Chris managed to finally finish his work and somehow declutter his desk. It was the tidiest it had ever been besides when he had first arrived to the blank canvas. Once done, Chris looked to Wesker. “So…” Chris hummed, unsure of what came next. Wesker looked at his curious point man in amusement before walking back to his own desk. “I have work to finish of my own. You should go get some rest.”
“Ah… yes, sir.” Chris said in astonishment. There had been so much anticipation, he couldn’t help but feel his heart sink ever so slightly. He noted that new feeling as he grabbed his things. He lingered at his desk longer than he should have as he watched the captain return back to his seat and continue his reading. After a moment, Wesker looked up to see Chris simply standing there, staring and waiting in anticipation for what came next.
“Go home Chris. Get some rest.”
“Sure, but what about-” Chris tried to follow up. Wesker looked up at his lingering subordinate with a tired huff. “I have business to finish. We can conduct our experiment another time.” “Ah, okay. Well then… good night.” Dejectedly, Chris grabbed his coat, left the office, and made his way to his car with this lingering sense of disappointment that trailed off him like a desperate stench. What the hell is wrong with me…?
Hello and welcome back to this silly little Chrisker fic we have going on. We have reached the summer of 1998 in Raccoon City! I can't wait to see what life has in store for the members of S.T.A.R.S.! Please enjoy!
Before it All Went Up in Flames Ch. 15: Bizzare Murder Case (Chris x Wesker fanfic)
(Read it on Ao3) (Support me on ko-fi!)
Fic Summary: A series of events that may or may not have happened during Chris's time at S.T.A.R.S. before the mansion incident.
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“RPD! Open up!” The S.T.A.R.S. team banged on the door of the house that had made a concerning call. There had been a woman screaming on the other end of the line, and her cries were difficult to decipher. All the dispatcher could make out were the words “monsters” and “help.” That was about it before they traced the call and raced over to the suburban home located towards the edge of the city.
They were met with silence from inside. Chris banged on the antique wooden door one more time. “RPD!” he shouted. No one answered. Chris looked to Wesker.
“Everyone ready up,” Wesker ordered quietly. He nodded to Chris, and Chris kicked the door open with his pistol readied. The lock splintered as the door flew open and revealed a ghastly scene.
“Oh my god,” Brad said as he covered his mouth. Chris had to do the same because of the stench that filled the living room, but he kept his pistol raised.
Inside the nicely arranged, tasteful living room with its wood burning stove in the corner and shelves of family photos and snowglobes was a group of people hunched over something in the center of the room. Through the crowd, Chris caught a glimpse of two bodies on the floor in the middle of the strangers. He caught a glimpse of two pairs of legs: one set belonging to an adult, and the other to a child. The child had a bite taken out of their thigh.
Without hesitation, Chris entered the room and started firing at the hoard. One of the attackers immediately fell down in a heap. The others slowly turned towards him. Their eyes were a sinister shade of white and their gaping mouths were covered in blood.
“Holy shit,” Chris heard Barry mutter. That didn’t stop him though from following Chris inside and taking a shot. His bullet landed straight in between the eyes of one of the attackers. Meanwhile, Brad had run out of his position to vomit in the yard.
The fallen attackers began to rise from the floor and slowly shambled their way towards the Alpha team. “What the hell…?” Barry muttered.
“Keep firing! We’ve gotta clear them out!” Chris shouted over his gunshots. He kept firing, landing bullet after bullet into the attacker’s heads, but that didn’t keep them down entirely.
The sound of shattering glass came from Chris’s right. Chris turned his head and saw that Wesker had smashed in a window to give himself a better position. Jill came up next to the captain and took aim as well. Meanwhile, Joseph was staring in a daze from behind Barry and Chris. “Holy shit…” he muttered.
The crowd was finally falling now. Thanks to the barrage, they fell to the ground one by one and mercifully stayed down. When they had all fallen, no one dared to come close to the decrepit bodies. Chris shared their worry that these monsters would just get back up again. After a moment of watching and waiting for any of the bodies to stir, Chris announced, “I’ll go see if there are any survivors.” He did not wait for a response as he stepped around the pile of corpses and travelled deeper into the house.
He rushed down the hall and investigated the kitchen. There had been plates filled with food that looked moderately fresh placed on a small, circular table set for three. A few bites were missing from each cold plate, and the silverware had been thrown across the room. There was nothing on the stove. A few dirty pans filled the sink.
Chris examined the back door and saw that it had been turned into splinters. It appeared to be broken down by sheer force of will. There were bloody claw marks on the wood as well. The only other notable thing in the kitchen was a small bin with a lantern and a small gas tank on top for camping in the corner of the room. It looked untouched though during the altercation.
Chris left the modest kitchen and moved into the connecting formal dining room. The ornamented table wasn’t set. All it had was a runner, a small candelabra, and a thin layer of dust. Seven out of eight chairs were fitted perfectly along the fine table. The eighth chair was instead blocking Chris’s path in a broken pile of legs. Chris took a closer look and saw that there was dried blood staining the nicely carved wood.
At the end of the dining room, Chris saw an open door covered with those same bloody claw marks. There was a drying pool of blood staining the carpet right in the doorway as well. Dammit. Chris readied his gun and pressed himself against the wall.
As he leaned into the door frame and investigated the room, he saw one remaining monster tearing away at the corpse of the father of the home in the middle of his modest office. One of the monster’s arms hung loosely from its socket and remained completely useless at his side while the other hand clawed at the corpse. Chris took steady aim at the back of the monster’s head and fired, blasting the thing forward onto the shag carpet. The intruder’s brain decorated the cheap wooden desk that faced the door and left it in a mixed state of avantgarde horror. Chris kept his gun aimed, waiting for the monster to stir again like the others, but it never did. As Chris slowly lowered his gun, he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
“Chris, are you alright?” Wesker asked.
“Yeah… I think so…” He didn’t realize that his hands had been shaking slightly since they got the call about a strange group of people breaking into someone’s home. His brain had been flooded with the thought of the picture of the disfigured man from a few weeks ago the moment he heard the situation.
“You should go check on the others. I’m going to investigate the bodies.”
“Wesker, I don’t know if you should do that alone,” Chris said as he stared impatiently at the disfigured corpse on the floor, waiting for it to get back up.
“I will be fine. Go make sure the team is alright.”
“Should I send Barry in at least to keep watch for you?”
“Chris.” Wesker said sternly. Chris jumped at the shift in tone. He hadn’t heard Wesker speak like that in months. “Go check on the team. That is an order.”
Chris stared in astonishment at Wesker. He had gotten too comfortable and had forgotten himself. “Yes sir…” Chris nodded obediently. He took off back the way he came through the dining room and kitchen before racing back towards the living room, doing his best to ignore the pile of bodies just to his left as he ran out the front door. He was greeted with the sight of Brad hunched over at the edge of the property, still reeling from the sight inside the house. Jill was rubbing his back as he let it out. Meanwhile, Joseph was having a shaky cigarette and Barry kept him company while watching the front door. Barry still had his weapon readied and sighed in relief when he saw Chris coming out. He couldn’t get a word in though before Joseph went running. He grabbed Chris’s shoulder in a vice grip and Chris flinched at his friend’s panicked state. “Chris, what the fuck was that? What the fuck just happened?”
“I… I don’t know, Joe.”
“Bullshit! You don’t know anything about those things? They look straight out of a zombie flick! They were even eating people!”
“All I know is that there’s a good chance those monsters were at one point some of the people that went missing in Raccoon Forest.”
Joseph’s jaw went slack at that. “Are you fucking serious?”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
“Chris,” Joe dropped his cigarette and had to gather his composure. Chris made sure to rub it out with his boot before the grass could catch fire. “Are you telling me there’s some kind of curse or voodoo magic out there that’s killing people and bringing them back Pet Semetary style?”
“We don’t know the cause or where the monsters are coming from,” Chris answered plainly. “All I know is that some of the people that went missing months ago have been reappearing like this.”
“Holy fucking shit,” Joseph had to step away as he gathered himself. Barry had been standing behind with his arms crossed, listening in and processing the situation. Chris looked at him in a desperate attempt for some help. “This is some pretty crazy stuff…” Barry offered, unsure of how else he could console Chris and the team after what they just witnessed.
Chris looked over at Brad and Jill and decided to check in on them instead. Maybe he could be of some use to them instead. “Brad? You okay man?”
“I’ll be fine,” Brad muttered through his retching. He definitely sounded like he would not be fine.
“So those monsters were people that went missing?” Jill asked.
“Yeah, at least, I think so. We’ll need to get some pictures and do a comparison just to be sure.”
“What in the world could’ve done that to them?”
“I wish I knew…” Chris muttered. He crossed his arms as he thought about it. Wesker mentioned that it could be a disease, but what kind of sickness turned people into cannibals with skin that peeled off so easily? Chris closed his eyes as he tried to stave off the stress headache that loomed while thinking through any possibility he could conjure up in his tired, adrenaline-filled mind.
“Chris!” Jill shouted. Chris looked up and saw her pointing at the house in new lighting. He turned around and saw the back of the house was being engulfed in flames and was quickly spreading towards the front of the family home.
“Wesker!” Chris shouted as he made a bee line for the front door. Inside, Chris could see the flames spreading from the kitchen down the hallway towards him, but he didn’t hesitate before rushing in. “Wesker!”
“Get out!” Chris heard Wesker scream from upstairs. Chris tried to rush up the stairs after him, but the stairway in the hall had already been engulfed by flames. The fire was spreading quickly towards Chris, pushing him back into the living room at an alarming rate. “Are you okay?!” Chris shouted as he was forced back. He got a terrible lungful of smoke then.
“Get out of the house, now!” Wesker screamed. Chris began coughing from the smoke and his eyes were watering. He rushed out the front door and heard a loud smashing of glass from above. As he made it back out into the yard, he spotted Wesker barreling out the upstairs window and rolling onto the lawn. Chris, in the midst of his coughing fit, came running up to Wesker and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” he managed to cough out. “What happened?”
Wesker got to his feet and brushed off his dusty shirt, eyeing the new grass stains on his sleeves in distaste. “The family must’ve had the stove on when they were attacked.”
“Stove?” Chris didn’t spot any lit fires when he was in the kitchen. There was nothing near the stove, and it was June, so the wood burning stove in the living room had no reason to be lit either.
“But what actually caught fire?” Jill asked.
Before Wesker could answer, there was a small boom from the front room of the house, as if a gas can exploded. The team shielded themselves from the oncoming wave of heat, and it was only then Chris realized that they had no photos of any of the bodies to compare now. “Shit!” Chris shouted.
“What the hell?” Jill muttered, stunned into silence.
Wesker spoke into his radio, “fire department needed. The address is 11037…” The ringing in Chris’s ears took over as he watched the house burn. He didn’t hear Jill’s onslaught of questions, Brad’s terrified scream, or Joseph’s pleading for answers. Chris only heard the ringing in his ears as he stared at the flames and looked to Wesker, who was somehow still completely collected in all of this.
Wesker had been right. The team really was out of their depth on this one. He didn’t know what to do or how to proceed. He felt like that helpless kid he had been when he and Claire got the news their parents were gone. Claire had begged him for answers on why their mom and dad were taken away, and Chris had no clue how to answer his little sister. He didn’t know how to answer his team now either. He had been just as scared as Claire back then and had only pretended to be strong and have all the answers for her sake, but he had no clue why life was so unfair. He wanted to do that now, to be the team’s rock, but he wasn’t strong enough to do that for them.
The fire department was there in no time at all. Before Chris knew it, they had a hose readied and were dousing the burning house. Chris gawked at the display, watching the steam that hissed into the cloudy June sky as water met flame. He finally broke from his trance when he felt a familiar, heavy hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright, Chris?”
Chris looked to the captain with big, vacant eyes. “I…” he started, but he didn’t know how to answer. He wasn’t hurt, but to say he was okay? Chris reached up and placed his own hand on Wesker’s, then squeezed the life out of the captain’s hand. “You were right, Wesker. We weren’t ready for this. Something like this… this is a different beast. What do we do now?” He looked to Wesker, desperate for an answer.
“We’re going to figure this out. We’re going to build up the team and make them stronger so that they can be ready for anything.” Chris squeezed Wesker’s hand even harder, searching for further reassurance. Wesker did not swat him away. He allowed Chris’s vice grip to linger.
As Chris looked up at the bonfire in front of them, he felt his stomach wretch. All he could focus on now was how he needed to be stronger. Physically, mentally, everything. He needed to be stronger in order to become someone his team could truly rely on. He needed to be someone who had the answers and the strength to stay calm during terrifying scenarios like this. He needed to be to them what Wesker was to him.
He had no idea how to get there though. His eyes turned towards Wesker, and he stared at the perfect captain longingly in the glow of the raging fire. Wesker stared at the burning house with an expression of anger and determination. He looked ready to take on the world with a ferocity that Chris couldn’t help but admire.
Chris needed to be able to wear that same expression as well. Instead of fear, he needed to have that same determination to fight whatever injustice needed to be stopped. He turned back towards the fire with a new determination of his own. Whatever it takes… Chris thought to himself.
