Chapter 25: Beasts and Monsters

"I'm as surprised as you are. Now shut up, you're heavy."

Rick was holding his side with his hand. It was bleeding profusely. A natural occurrence when a body gets pierced by a claw as long and thick as a forearm. Also a natural occurrence when your kidney, liver and a part of your stomach had been ripped away and sent flying to the side wall in one go.

What wasn't a normal occurrence however, is someone still being alive after all that.

Yet Rick was.

And it puzzled Annette like no tomorrow.

To think William would mutate even further to the point of going through the ceiling of the testing area when Claire and Rick walked back from getting the anti-viral agent. And his resistance to the special acid she had used against him was new. Or rather his regeneration through mutation.

Yet the regeneration paled in comparison to Rick's.

She had been truthful. She was as surprised as he was that she had put one of his arms around her shoulder and helped him walk back to the Security Room where her daughter waited for the antiviral agent that will cure her from the G-Virus.

Annette knew herself. She wasn't an emotional woman. Many told her that her whole life. They called her cold, callous, ruthless and heartless, and they were right. But emotional? Never. She was a woman of science, of goals, of logic and pragmatism. The sight of a wounded Rick wouldn't have moved her a fraction of an inch. She would have run out of the room with the antiviral and went straight to Sherry to inject it to her.

Yet. Here she was.

Perhaps it was because he had saved her life? Had Rick not pushed her away at the last moment she would have been the one impaled from her husband's last mutation. Perhaps because she had seen him do his damndest with Claire to protect Sherry and get the antiviral agent? She wanted to repay a debt. Perhaps because she was just tired of seeing people die because of her husband's megalomania, god complex, and self-centeredness? Tired of her failure to put him down because she still felt an ounce of love for the man she thought she had stopped loving years ago when their daughter was born and he didn't care about raising?

Perhaps all of that.

A part of her knew the truth though. A dark truth she refused to acknowledge. She was helping because Rick was a mystery. He should be dead and yet he wasn't. He should have broken his hand against the Tyrant's jaw in the greenhouse and he didn't. He should not be moving that fast, he should not be that strong nor have such fast reflexes. More importantly he shouldn't keep living with a huge gaping hole at his side and healing as if it was just a little cut.

It made no sense to her.

She wanted to know why this young man was doing things that no other human could. He was what she had been trying to achieve ever since she graduated with her Phd at eighteen. The next stage of human evolution. The next 'god' that would start a new era for humanity.

And it seemed to be natural, not engineered.

That baffled her the most. Years spent trying to spear head that change. Years trying to develop in a lab the spark that would start it all. The creation of the first domino that would make all the others fall.

Countless test subjects. From all ages. Old, middle age, young. From all ethnicities. No one was spared, no group was ignored. All had failed to procure results like the young man she was physically supporting at the moment.

It was both infuriating that nature had done on her own without a care, what hundreds of people all over the world had been trying to do. Also humbling.

She needed to know. She needed to understand. How he came to be, how his body, his every cell, his very DNA worked in a way she had only dreamed of achieving.

"What will happen… to Sherry? Once she's cured… What will the G-virus… Will she be normal? Or something like… me?" He was trying to muster more strength to walk faster.

Annette didn't know and that made her afraid. Especially since it was her daughter that was concerned. "I couldn't tell. All the test subjects that were administered Devil… Their DNA wasn't close to William's unlike Sherry's. She might be normal or she might develop some superhuman abilities."

Rick protested with a grunt. "Don't say that… Don't say, superhuman… Like we're superior."

"You are." Annette immediately replied. "What you can do is above the capabilities of humanity."

"Moving faster, lifting more, thinking faster… That's not… what makes humans… humans."

"What does then?"

"Our capacity to overcome… our instincts. To feel first before thinking…. Sympathy, empathy… To love, to hate, to forgive…. Cold logic, pragmatism. Robots and Artificial intelligence have that too… yet they're not human. People like Claire and Leon, like Sherry, they're humans. People like you and me? We're beasts, monsters no matter how we pretend otherwise."

Annette couldn't argue the last point. Not after everything she had done in pursuit of her goal and in the name of science and humanity.

"At least… there is hope for you."

"Hope?" Annette wanted nothing more than to turn her head to look at Rick for a clarification but on the narrow bridge leading to the North Area, it was too dangerous to not look at where she was going.

"You care for Sherry even though… it's less than your work."

"I don't love my daughter less than what-"

"You do." Rick's rebuttal was firm. "Otherwise she wouldn't be a lonely little girl that latched onto Claire and I within minutes of meeting us. You would have been with her the past week to-"

She almost exploded. "I told her to go to the Police Station! I had to stop William!"

"Funny that, how did it go?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

It was a slap to Annette's face because it went badly. Rick and Claire had done more against her mutated husband the past night than the whole week she had to do so.

It all led to Claire fighting alone, an even more mutated William back in the East Area. Had it not been for Rick pushing away Annette and saving her life at the cost of his wellbeing he would have been able to fight with his partner.

"She had to cross the whole town to get to the precinct, right into Irons' hands." He paused there, to make sure he didn't take a tangent in the conversation. "You didn't have to stop him. Not your responsibility… Why would you even do that? You've proven you have no conscience and after what you did to all those people and children without an ounce of remorse you have none. Sherry… Sherry is your responsibility. The moment you gave birth to her she should have been your priority. Not an afterthought."

Annette's temper ran hot. "What do you know about being a parent?!"

"I know about being the child of two abusives and neglectful parents. So a lot. I ran away from home when I was Sherry's age. Then a few days ago I met them again, after five years. You know what I did? I split their heads open with a leat cleaver. I felt absolutely nothing. They were just others infected among others. Now, how do you think Sherry will see you five years fro-"

She interrupted him with an angry shout. "Alright! You made your point! I'm an awful mother!"

Rick removed her arm from his shoulders. He had stopped bleeding and his injury was almost done closing. His organs were still regrowing, he could feel it. He was nowhere ready to be running around but he could walk on his own.

"It's up to you to stay that way. Or not."

He limped while grunting through the door to the reception area. Annette silently walked in front of him, a mask of grief and anger on her face. She immediately entered the Security room and ran to her daughter laying on the bed.

"Thank god, there's still time." she whispered, brushing Sherry's hair.

Pulling a syringe and the small bottle of the antiviral agent Claire had given her, Annette began to work immediately. Finding a vein in Sherry's neck she injected her only hope of survival.

Her eyes never left her daughter. Her own actions flooded her mind. The missed birthdays, the missed recitals at school, the missed parent teacher meetings. The missed moments she would never get back because she had been too busy working. Too busy committing crimes. Too busy supporting a husband who loved no one but himself and his 'life's work'.

"You need to plan carefully."

Annette turned around, scowling. Rick was sitting on the only chair in the room, still holding his bloodied side and looking like death.

"Umbrella is going to hunt you and Sherry down. You know too much. And they're too big, so you won't be able to hide for long."

"I know."

"Proof of Irons' corruption and crime has already been sent to the FBI," Rick continued. "You need to cut a deal. Your freedom and protection in exchange of everything you have and know about Umbrella dirty secrets."

It was a given to Annette. She had only thought of it now, as she was looking straight at her daughter and not through a camera.

For the past week, ever since William had injected himself with G, her only focus was dealing with him. She hadn't thought of Sherry beyond sending her to the Police Station. There had been no thought of the future. No thought of 'after William.'

Only when she saw Sherry, right now, did her mind start to. Only then did she remember that her daughter was her everything. Work could fail, work could be scrapped but her daughter and her relationship with her? It couldn't.

She needed to protect Sherry the best she could. Going into hiding would not help. The government and even that was a gamble, was the only thing that could protect her daughter. That was what mattered even if Annette had to go to prison for the rest of her life for it.

"Why?"

Rick's eyes were unflinching. He didn't even blink while looking straight at her. "Because Sherry deserves better. If I can help a sweet kid having a good childhood instead of experiencing what I went through then it's worth it. I didn't save you. As far as I'm concerned I saved her."

Annette slid down the edge of the bed and sat on the ground. Instinctively, she brought her knees to her chest and began to think in silence.

Just like Rick had advised, or rather commanded her to, she began to plan. Her sole objective was that Sherry would be safe, healthy and happy. Nothing else mattered. Not her own life, not her husband, not her work, the T-virus or G-virus. Only Sherry.

"Thank you."

That was the last thing she said before finally allowing herself to take a break.

Rick observed Annette and began to wonder. How could Annette put Sherry second on her list of priorities? He understood the woman was like him in many ways. Too many to his taste, in truth. The glaring difference was that he would never put someone he cared about in any other position than first. No matter the amount of money offered, no matter the threat, he would never, ever put anything above Jugs.

'Or Claire.'

Ten minutes passed but it felt like hours. Annette was worried sick about Sherry recovering and felt the judgement from Rick, even with her eyes closed.

For his part, he was busy studying how fast his organs were regenerating. The number of seconds, which one would recover first, how could he feel it in the first place, how… So many 'how' just so he wouldn't think of Claire fighting without him. Alone. At how powerless he was.

Despite being over exhausted, he still was able to draw his gun and aim when the door kicked in. Right there, at the entrance was Claire, looking like she had run a marathon.

There were plenty of things he wanted to say at this moment but his mouth ran faster.

"About time."

Claire didn't scowl or even frown. She didn't even call him a jerk. She just rolled her eyes and had a small amused smile when looking in his eyes. It lasted only a second but it was enough.

"How's Sherry?" She stepped inside and went to see the schoolgirl.

Annette got up and looked at her daughter. The signs of the infection were gone. Sherry wasn't moaning in pain anymore and her breathing was even and regular.

"She's alright. Devil had been injected in time." She brushed her little girl's cheek in relief.

Claire exhaled in visible relief too. "That's good to hear."

"Alert. A viral agent had been removed without proper authorization. Commencing the purge."

Annette was the first to react in shock to the artificial voice which came through the speakers. "What?!"

"That doesn't sound good." Rick grunted to his feet.

Claire looked worried. "What's the purge about?"

"Blowing up the whole complex."

"What he said." Annette confirmed Rick's word and leaned down to carry Sherry.

"Hm… Mo-mmy?"

The worried and panicked face of the scientist turned to something softer. "I'm here, sweetie. You're going to be fine now but we need to go. Do you think you're well enough to walk?"

Yawning, Sherry sat up and put her feet on the floor. "I think so."

"Good, then let's get going."

Anette took Sherry by the hand who looked happy about it despite how tired she looked. Rick was already walking out of the room. The strength in his legs failed him for a short moment and he tilted to the side. Claire was on him in a flash and caught him stopping his fall. Hands on his stomach and back.

"I got you. I got you." A glint of worry and something else in her eyes he couldn't make out. It was as if they were shining.

"Thanks." He smiled at her then his expression turned serious. "We have a problem." He pointed at the entrance of Nest. The heavy door was closed and probably locked. So were the others behind it if he were to bet.

"It's the procedure. Nothing is supposed to escape when the purge protocol has been launched." Annette told them while walking with Sherry towards the central area.

"Then how-"

"The central elevator. It's a level IV clearance, remember. I bet she has it." Rick removed Claire's hands from him and followed Annette only to stumble again.

For the second time, Claire caught him but this time she just put her arm around his waist and put his around her shoulder to stabilize him while walking. They looked like a couple.

He apologized. "Sorry. It's the blood loss. I'm feeling dizzy."

"Not your fault." Claire replied as they crossed the bridge. "Wait, yes it is! You jumped in front of a giant claw! What were you thinking?!" She almost growled.

"That my chances of survival were not zero and that Annette's were."

Claire's eyes narrowed and she gave him a brief look of… annoyance and irritation. "That's not logic! That's stupid logic!"

Rick's answer was to walk faster so he would get away from the scolding or at least make it shorter. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't really put a step in front of the other in a straight line without help. On top of that, Claire was holding his waist in a firm grip and wouldn't let him go without a fight.

That much he knew.