Chapter 68: Specimen

Rick and Jill had to fill more forms to borrow one of the BSAA vehicles. Thankfully they didn’t have to fill one for a map of the region. With it they easily find out where Syracuse was. So while Jill was driving because she was the only one with a driving license, which had been another form for her to fill, Rick was riding shotgun and giving her directions in real time with the map on his lap.

Minus a slight mishap because he told her to take a wrong turn, which Jill scolded him for, they arrived at the city in a bit more than one hour. From there, they had to go through it then go around the bay to reach O’Brian’s location.

Rick gently closed the door to the car while looking at the horizon “I don’t like this.”

A massive storm was brewing at sea. With the sun setting, the temperature will start dropping making the weather even worse. Since so far their potential leads pointed to a boat outing, the bad feeling he had was justified.

“Me neither.” Jill answered, thinking the same thing he did. “Come on, it’s that way.”

It was easy for them to know the direction of their final destination when a whole area was closed by police tape. Getting over it, they climbed down some very old and worn out stairs to get to the beach. It was a small port for recreational fishers, with a big shed, wooden boats and partially destroyed wooden piers. It seems as if no one had come around in years.

They found their boss on the beach, talking on the phone. A few feet away from him was a huge mass of rosy flesh sprawled on the sand. There were a few more closer to the water. When O’Brian saw them both he waved at them to get closer and quickly finish his call.

“Look at this mess. They’re all rotten to hell.” He pointed down at the corpse.

Jill got closer to have a better look. “What the hell is this?”

“Either a fish from the bottom of the sea or a B.O.W. Probably the latter, the mediterranean sea is not that deep for those kinds of… blobs.” Rick answered, breathing through his mouth. The rotten smell was getting to his very enhanced nose.

Picking up the genesis at her hip, Jill scanned the thing. The results were non-conclusive. On O’Brian’s advice, she went to scan other corpses the possibility that more identical data but from different sources could present results that would be conclusive this time.

Rick used his foot to turn over the massive flesh pile without much effort which surprised O’Brian a bit. The thing was big enough to weigh 250lb at the very least.

The director of the BSAA added that new piece of information to a mental drawer named ‘Rick Wald’s mystery’. He wasn’t born yesterday, he knew Rick had something to hide and he didn’t need his heavily redacted file to know that. The feats he did on the field, his avoidance of any check-ups, the keen and very detailed information he shared about B.O.W. and the slightly too convenient report sometimes had tipped him off months ago.

At this point O’Brian had two theories. The first one was that Rick was the product of a military super soldier project. It was doubtful. The Government would never have let him go if that was the case. Rick was way too skillful and competent for him to rot in a NGO when the United States were at war against terrorism across the whole world.

The second was something he had thought about after he finally got his hands on all the data on the T-Virus. Data, notes and reports that had not been made known widely among the Counter Bio-Terrorism circle let alone publicly.

In Clive’s mind, he was almost certain that Rick was part of what was commonly called the ‘10%’ by the people in the know. He wouldn’t breach the subject though. It was private and he didn’t really care but that was why he had chosen him for this investigation. His odds of surviving were greater than any one else under his command and he might be the one to pull through with his own objectives. Clive had partnered him up with Jill because much like Rick, she was a survivor and most of all they were both trustworthy and loyal.

Rick was using his axe to poke at the corpse. Now on its back it revealed a gigantic mouth with teeth the size of his hands. Square teeth. Not molar, not incisive, not canines. They looked like simple deformed blocks with rounded edges. On each of the three sides of the triangular mouth. Paying more attention, the teeth seemed to have been human and slightly changed shape when they grew bigger.

“Well, shit.” Rick spoke absentmindedly.

O’Brian was immediately asking questions. If Rick made a comment like that then whatever the thing in front of them was, it wouldn’t be good. “You found something?”

After a moment of silence, Rick replied. “Yes and no.” He raised his axe and swung it into the blob’s flesh. “Just as I thought.”

“Answers, Wald. I need answers.”

“It’s all fat tissue.” The tomahawk was pulled out without difficulty despite how deep it went. “Not a single bone in that thing. No sensory organs, not even a tongue despite its huge mouth. Its form is ill suited for movement on land, meaning if we take into consideration our current location and the evolution of organic beings…”

“That its habitat is aquatic.” Clive wasn’t an export on the subject but it was obvious the thing’s habitat wouldn’t be the sky.

“Most likely. I suppose…” Rick looked at faint traces in the sand, as if it had been pulled towards the sea every meter or so. He pointed at it. “It got that far by undulating their bodies. Like a worm. The distance from the water is… thirteen maybe fifteen yards. The weight and the minimum muscle mass… It must be very fast underwater.”

O’Brian was listening attentively. “Can you tell me anything else?”

Rick looked from one side of the blob to the other. “If I had to bet, I’d say it used to be human.”

“What makes you think that?”

Rick used his axe to point at the teeth. “If you pay close attention you can see the teeth, while misshapen, resemble human ones. Humanity is the only species with teeth that blunts. That’s because we’re omnivores. Even other omnivores have far sharper ones and less molars. In other words...” He swung his tomahawk and removed a few of the blob’s teeth to have a better look. “Those are ill adapted for eating aquatic fauna or flora. They’re also too spaced to be really useful.”

“So if I understand… They’d die of hunger in their own habitat?” It sounded weird to O’Brian.

“Yes. Which makes no sense unless it wasn’t their natural habitat to begin with. The pink flesh is not something you find in the sea either. It’s honestly a wild statement I made but… Yeah I’d say it used to be human before whatever virus produced that.”

“I know it’s a bit of an asinine question but do you have any idea what kind of virus has been used? T? G?”

“Not G. That’s for sure.” Rick replied on the spot without hesitation. “The G-virus is all about mutating to something stronger and more resilient. This blob is clearly a failure of a life form. Too small too for G. And most of all… No eyeballs. The T-Virus?” He considered the option, scratching his chin. “Maybe a new variant. One tested on aquatic life forms, perhaps. Or a combination with an unknown one.”

“It’s not the T+G virus then.”

“No. Neither is it the T-Veronica or its Alexia variant either. Again, considering where we are…”

O’Brian followed Rick’s train of thoughts. “You think it’s the virus used on Terragrigia?”

“Yes. Yet… I don’t remember any infected or B.O.Ws with fish or amphibian characteristics. We’ll know more when—”

The sound of wood breaking violently at the other hand of the small beach made him stop talking. His head snapped to the side and he saw in slow motion a alive blob coming out of the wooden shed attacking Jill.

Without thinking Rick threw his axe so fast and hard it hit the blob before it could touch his big sister figure. The blow had so much strength in it that the creature’s falling body changed trajectory, the tomahawk going through and through.

Immediately drawing his gun, not caring that his boss had just seen him do an inhuman feat, he shot at the blob, Jill doing the same from her position. After five bullets each the thing went down for good.

“You alright?” He shouted while making his way towards his friend, still aiming.

So was Jill. “Yeah! More surprised by the jumpscare than anything.” She tapped the corpse with her foot to check if it was truly dead. With no reaction from the bio-weapon, her gun was put back in its holster on her thigh.

“Found anything?” Rick looked at her up and down to make sure she was well.

Jill pulled out the genesis and scanned the recently deceased blob. “More data. Otherwise—Oh.” A beeping sound came from the prototype in her hand and she took a moment to understand what she was seeing. “I got something. It’s… inside.” she explained with a grimace.

Rick sighed and went to pick up his axe stuck on the nearby wall. “I got it. But you owe me.”

Jill didn’t verbalize her agreement to the deal but nodded. When Rick stood above the creature, axe in hand, she shocked her head. “I think it’s in its mouth.”

“Joy.” His tone was flat but he crouched down and inserted his arm up to the elbow.

She started guiding him. “A bit to the left. More. Slightly mo— Perfect now a bit deeper.”

“Got it.” Rick frowned when he felt what he had in hand.

Removing his arm and trying his very best to not gag. He gave a good look to his loot. It was a relatively small metallic tube. The kind used to contain hazardous liquid. Thick, heavy with reinforced transparent glass to show you what was inside. This one had an eerie blood red agent inside of it. After observing it for a moment, he showed it discreetly to Jill who had a good look herself.

She wanted to take it in hand but if it was what she dreaded it was, it was safer in Rick’s. “That doesn’t look good.”

“No. The question is… Do we show it to O’Brian?” Rick looked back and saw the man talking on the phone. Considering Jill had just been attacked it must have been one important call.

Jill sighed. “Doubting is one thing… But so far he hasn't done anything malicious. He has an agenda, I agree but I don’t think it’s bad. I’ve known the man for a while now and while he can be very cunning and underhanded it’s for the right reasons.”

Rick nodded. “You’re right. Sorry. I guess I’m too paranoid.”

“It kept you alive so far, so I don’t believe you are.” She gave him a small smile.

After deciding to not share that his guts were telling him that O’Brian was involved somehow, Rick straightened up and walked with Jill towards their Boss.

“Is there a problem, sir?” She couldn’t miss the dissatisfied and worried look on Clive’s face.

“We’ve lost contact with Redfield and Sherawat.”

Jill didn’t take the news well. This time it was her who turned to worry. “What?”

“I’m sending you their last coordinates.” O’Brian fiddled with his pocket terminal and a beep of alert came from Jill’s who picked it up.

“It’s in the middle of the sea.” She remarked, sharing a glance with Rick.

It partially confirmed his idea that whatever those blobs were and came from, they had been made either on a boat, a submarine or underwater base.

Rick turned to their boss. “I suppose we’re to go to the coordinates and investigate?”

“You’re correct. Valentine, did you find anything?”

Jill nodded. “I’ve recovered enough data from the multiple corpses around. It’s definitely the result of a viral agent. The mutations are engineered, there is no doubt about it. We also found this…”

Rick raised his hand with the small container to show it to O’Brian.

“We found that inside the one who attacked Jugs,” he explained. “My take is… The poor guy mutated into the blob and either ate it for proof, hoping it would be found, before he was gone, or simply had it on him when it happened. It may be the virus.” Rick put the tube in Clive’s hand.

“I’ll send everything to HQ and have them work on it asap. You two need to go and geared up. I’m making some calls so everything you need is ready for when you get there. Most notably a boat.”

O’Brian already had his phone in hands, pushing numbers. Jill and Rick exchanged another look. The investigation had turned to a potentially another outbreak and on top of that a rescue mission.