Resident Evil: Fallen Paradise - 5. Consequences

NEW YORK TIMES, October 15, 2002.

A Call to Alliance.

It has been confirmed that the United Nations had received some intel that the incident in Raccoon City was an act of terrorism. They have sent out messages multiple times for the public to remain calm at all times. However, riots all over the globe are happening due to the outcry that no one is safe around nuclear powerplants due to the devastating disaster that happened in the mentioned city.

Raccoon City is now ground zero and no further investigations have generated reports that could conclude the real reason why there was a meltdown in the first place. As of now, thousands of conspiracy theories are sparking on the web and increased the paranoia of some citizens.

"We will get to the bottom of this. A new form of terrorism should not be tolerated. The goal of all the nations of the world is to bring forth peace and unity towards each other. It is our duty to make sure that the citizens of our respective nations are safe from any aforementioned disasters. Failure is not an option."

High ranking officials from the CIA were also being sent back and forth to London but the details why were not disclosed. Based on our sources, they are taking the lead in narrowing down the list of certain government officials around the world that are possibly involved in the Raccoon City incident.

-

NEW YORK TIMES, October 21, 2002.

The Calm in Mid-Western America.

Amidst the increasing global-chaos, panic in Mid-Western America had started to die down almost a month after the incident. However, it is not the same case for the political arenas all over the globe. Debates are still on-going day after day in the Senate to further laws that could prevent the same disaster from happening in the future.

"This is just a political ruse to further their propagandas. But the victims themselves who are hurting have started to move on. It is inhumane to use such devastating disaster to encourage selfish motives amongst ourselves. This should not be the case. Our aim should always be humanitarian and to help our fellow citizens to recover from what they have lost."

Dr. Alexander Isaacs have been called by the United Nations to be questioned since Umbrella Corporation owned a huge share in the Raccoon Nuclear Powerplant. But despite the accusations against him, no evidence had turned up that Umbrella had anything to do with the incident. Despite this, the multi-billion dollar company is still leading in assisting the evacuees in relocating them in different part of the states.

Based on his speech last week, they have donated $300 Million to housing programs for those who were affected. The public had applauded this and gave further support for Umbrella Corporation.

-

"Perhaps it's due to the high level of stress that was present during the Raccoon City incident." Dr. Stanford suggested. His eyes scanned the charts again that were laid before the table. It enticed him deeply that another random factor suddenly popped up during the procedure. Very unusual. But a good kind of unusual. It even brought closer to its completion. "Whatever this new catalyst is, we have to find a way to reproduce it. We need more time to make an observation."

"This is just a prototype." Dr. Isaacs confirmed. "It was designed to be the basis of future projects under this new series. After checking the compiled information you have submitted, this lineage is very promising. But it's still too early for us to use this as a leverage over our investors."

"Yes, it's still too early." Dr. Stanford agree. "I'll re-run some tests and I'll send them over to you. We'll be making more of these soon. But you know the costs. I do hope the board will approve for the requests I asked in terms of finances. This project isn't really cheap."

"I can't promise anything yet, Julius." The man replied. His face sullen and serious. It was calculating the response on the person he was talking to on his screen. "It is too much of a risk with all the other plans at play."

"That's very understandable." The British scientist replied solemnly. But then he was also hatching other plans in his head. He would have to take drastic measures to hasten the development of his first major project in Umbrella. The executives would be thrilled to hear news of a very controllable Bioweapon. "I just want to produce a formidable prototype sooner, Dr. Isaacs. All in the name of research."

"Then I expect results from the current prototypes that we have." The founder of Umbrella replied. With that, the console turned itself off. The video conference ended and Dr. Stanford stared silently into the blank screen.

After the short meeting, the scientist typed some commands on the console to check the huge tanks that had the subjects inside them. There were a lot more inside the huge room but most of them were already empty. Out of the 44 subjects that were introduced to both the S-Type Toxin and the T-Virus, only 19 remained. And one of them was a peculiar case because he was the eldest.

It was a fourteen-year-old teenager from Raccoon City.

After relaying to the UBCS that there is a high priority of capturing wandering survivors in that age group, only eight was successfully turned over to them. Dr. Stanford was reluctant at first to take in one of the subjects because he was past beyond the age that the specific neurotransmitter was being produced. But he still had to double check and he was proven wrong. Thankfully, he did. The young teenager was still producing them.

And out of the 19 survivors of the project's Phase 1, he reacted to stimulants that the others did not. It was a peculiar singularity that they had to separate him for further observations. The development on his body was faster than the other subjects. His muscles alone easily improved to the point of being comparable to an Olympic swimmer without being too buff. The density level was high and the body fat percentage close to zero.

Dr. Stanford had to review the charts over and over again to make sure that he did not miss any anomaly that contributed to the unprecedented success of this project. As his mentor mentioned, it was a beta phase. Most of the subjects were expected to die. It was simply not supposed to be successful this early.

He rubbed his temples, trying to figure out and connect the missing dots. He had listed down dozens of hypotheses but he simply did not have the resources to test them all out. As much as he had to admit it, a rare and specific mutation in the genome was the only answer.

And he knew it's just a matter of time before he could find it.

-

Caleb Hawkins finally opened his eyes. No strength could be mustered. It felt like a ton of bricks were sitting on his chest. His breathing was deep and stable. But his arms felt like jelly. The last thing he remembered was failing Skyler.

Then he shot the blonde boy. He also remembered that he had to drive that stupid screwdriver through Cole's rotting head. Despair washed over him as he forced his eyes to open slowly. All he could see was a huge white room. He was wearing white scrubs and when we slowly looked to his sides, IV drips were attached to both his arms.

The boy even felt pressure on his groin area and was probably a catheter. As he took deeper breathes, strength started to move on his arms. His fingers finally started to move and he could see from his peripherals that his heart rate was slowly rising from his activity. The apparatus was still making the odd beeping sound that just irritated him further.

After what felt like hours, his body finally adjusted and he could move more of his upper body. He turned his head to check the room. No one was with him. The room was pure white and the bright lights were making him nauseous. With a massive amount of effort, he forced himself to get out of the bed. Based on his surroundings, it looked like he was inside some kind of hospital.

When he checked the apparatus again, he saw that small red and white logo of the famous Umbrella Corporation. It was an eerie feeling. And it was something that stirred some kind of hovering insect inside his head.

Then he remembered it. Umbrella Biohazard Counter-measuring Services. A huge monster clad in leather armor. Three men pointing their guns at him right after shooting down Skyler. And the butt of the rifle that knocked him unconscious.

Caleb immediately pushed himself away from the bed. But before he could make another step, he fell down on the cold floor. The IV on his left arm was ripped from his veins. He grunted from the sudden pull but thankfully the needle didn't get stuck inside him. That would have been a bigger problem. Then he ripped the other IV on his other arm and pushed himself upwards from the ground. Slowly, he took out the catheter from his genitals.

It was the most awful feeling.

He slowly reached for the wall for support as blood slowly seeped through the wounds on his hands. Little by little, he paved his way through the door. And with every step, strength crawls back into his body. By the time he was at the door, Caleb no longer needed the wall's support.

Yet an armed man in an UBCS uniform stormed into the white room. A handgun was clearly raised and threat loomed over him. In the boy's deep blue eyes, everything went slow motion. Instinct suddenly kicked in. Since he was at the side of the door, it gave him the advantage of being close enough to strike.

As soon as the handgun was within range, he took a hold of it with viper-like grip. His hands were quick and the force on his fingers danced so freely. Then he struck upwards at the man's elbow that loosened his grip on his weapon. But another guard was following through behind the first guy.

So right after his upward strike, he gave a huge amount of his energy to deliver a nasty back-handed fist towards the torso. Caleb felt the man's ribs cracking underneath the Kevlar vest. And that surprised him the most. Strikes from that short of a distance will never have the power to break a person's bones. But it was too late. The first guy jolted away from Caleb as he grabbed the handgun with his left hand. The second guy was thrown away with the guy towards the wall opposite of the door, stunning them both.

Before they could recover, Caleb quickly closed in the distance and hit the man's helmet with the end of the handgun. It created a crunching sound and a crack was clearly seen on the man's helmet after. He readied his gun and quickly aimed around him but no other people were present. The two unfortunate guards were the first to respond.

Caleb released the clip and quickly counted the rounds inside. He quickly cocked the gun to make sure a bullet was loaded in the chamber. As he became more assure of his safety, he knelt beside the other guy and disassembled the handgun he held, a tactic his pops taught him a year before. The boy took out the clip, then another couple more from the guards' holsters and took the second guy's handgun.

As he stood up and turned around with his aim at the ready, a woman in red appeared aimed with a gun right at him. She looked like a mix of American and Asian with short and elegant dark hair. The woman was wearing a red blouse that extend down to her upper thigh and a wearable holster could be seen under her left arm.

An awkward situation. He wearing nothing but white scrubs with bloody wrists. A couple of clips slipped through the waistband and a couple of bare feet that was giving chills to his legs.

"Looks like you aren't part of Umbrella, little boy." She said with a smug. Her feet had elegantly made steps towards him. "I didn't know that they have been deranged so much that they have started to take in younger…participants."

"No." Caleb quipped. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Let's just say that this Corporation is on top of my client's naughty list." She replied with a haughty tone. The woman walked closer and closer and finally dropped the aim. "I do am curious what's cute little darling boy doing here inside an Umbrella facility."

"I can't even remember how I got here." Caleb sneered. But he held his aim yet the woman wasn't even fazed. Not one bit. Her smug smile was filled with a good amount of sexual innuendo. "And what does it have to do with Umbrella? I need to get out of here and find my parents. Can you help me get out?"

"It's gonna be a huge shame if a cute little thing like you is left alone here filled with all the monsters I could think of. Perhaps, they are curious what a young and tender meat would taste like." She commented, shaking her head with an amused face. "You're pretty clueless with what they did to you, huh?"

But Caleb raised his aim higher and went for her head. The boy took the safety off and rested his finger on the trigger. He made sure to make his voice firmer. "Are you going to help me or not?"

Then the woman made the first move. She struck the boy sideward with the gun swinging to the side. Caleb failed to pull the trigger in time. The woman in red was way faster than he had anticipated. But he still had his gun in his hand. Still, the woman was quicker. A series of jabs were launched. Caleb defended himself. The next thing he saw was he was locked in a grappling move and he was being hurled to the ground. In a snap, he remembered the counter-move to that arm-lock and allowed her to pull him downwards. He safely rolled on the floor and stopped her. With a sheer power of brute force, he managed to drag her upwards, breaking the arm-lock.

Caleb pushed her against the wall with his handgun pressed against her neck. His finger was on the trigger, ready to fire. But he felt the cold sensation of a gun pressed against his stomach. Its barrel was threatening. The thought of getting the upper-hand collapsed so quickly. She knew what she was doing because the woman was ready to fire, too.

It was a complete stalemate.

"For someone who's from kindergarten, you're good." She smiled. Her tone was even happy. And it just made Caleb more pissed. "Since I'm already done with what I needed to do here, I guess I could have you tag along."

Caleb released her and they stood face to face. She looked around her mid-twenties but based on her moves, she was very experienced.

"My name is Caleb by the way." The boy introduced himself.

"Call me Ada." She replied as she walked away. "Ada Wong."