Chapter 20

XX. Vengeance

THE IMAGES OF lightning were dominant on the horizon, making the world flash. It was as if someone was taking photographs in hopes to remember this horrific night forever.

We have been on the road for a solid half an hour, and I trust that Phyllis knows where we're going. I glanced at my gun on my lap, then back on the road. The heavy storm was taking its toll on us, almost blurring the dark road. Phyllis was driving at a moderate speed and if it weren't for the headlights, we could have been driving in pitch black; however, the range isn't too wide either so our sight is still very limited. I twirled my wedding band on my finger, thinking of Piers. I wonder if the lead he found was accurate this time and he finally found Chris? Well, at least I'd like to think, one of us was having their way. At the thought of him made me heave a deep sigh, and lean to rest my head against the window.

"Tired?" I heard Phyllis mumble.

"No, I'm just..." I sighed, "everything finally dawned to me just now."

She didn't answer right away, she might have been having her own self-reflection on how dire our situation is. I still have no idea whether we're going to survive this ordeal, but I'm sure as hell not going to let anything bad happen to her. I retracted myself from the window, refusing to lose focus.

"I'll be damned if I'm gonna die in here." Phyllis drawled, her piercing gaze on the road intensified even more if it was still possible.

I let out a light chuckle, "That's the spirit."

Then without warning, and out of nowhere, something big walked into the path of our vehicle. Phyllis cursed and turned the steering wheel to avoid it but then the car lost control and flipped over. Thank God for the seat belt, the injury and pain I've sustained were not enough for me to pass out.

"Asshole suddenly appeared out of nowhere..." I heard Phyllis groan. She's fine, too.

The impact of the wreckage might rung the dinner bell of the infected nearby.

"Phyllis, are you okay?" I managed to utter, holding my own aching head. I checked her figure for injuries and found minor cuts and abrasions.

"Yeah... are you?"

I nodded my head, although I feel this temporary ache all over my body but I refused to dwell on it. We tried to make our way out of the lopsided car, and I kicked the window off and climbed out into the stormy road in the middle of nowhere. The heavy raindrops were like bullets hitting my skin, waking me up to my senses. I didn't have to scour the area to find the culprit, because it was really big, and it was walking right toward us.

"What the hell...?" I whispered in horror.

It resembled the infected we've encountered with its gray, dying complexion and the bruising to the muscle tissue beneath it. However, the main identifier of this one is its abnormal, sheer size. It doesn't fit the size of a normal human, hell, I think it's even capable of eating me in one sitting!

"Look out!"

Phyllis' warning shook me out of my trance as an infected swung its axe on me. By instinct, I dodged and countered it by blocking it using my arm, and snatched the weapon from it. I pushed the infected away and with all my might, swung the axe on its head, decapitating it instantly. I was still bewildered at what I had just done when I noticed that my surroundings are getting more and more crowded with the infected.

The gigantic one was charging toward us with all his might, making the ground shake. Phyllis and I raised our guns and shot it but it didn't even budge. We ended up getting out of his way when it opened its arms for us as if he wants to scoop us right up. I shot the surrounding infected coming toward me, and I internally cursed.

Scheiße, we can't neutralize this hostile even if it took all of the firepower we have, which is out of the question. We can't possibly waste our bullets on a single BOW. But then again, we can't possibly lead it toward the cathedral because I think he can jeopardize the barricades put up by the survivors in there. In that case then, we'll just have to slow it down to the point where he can't follow us... but how?

"Asshole!" Phyllis screamed in frustration on the background, taking his attention. My eyes wandered on his figure, looking for some sort of weakness and I watched how he somehow got the difficulty in maneuvering his body in Phyllis' direction, which was opposite from mine. I winced, all of that weight must have put so much burden on his swollen legs... wait...

"Phyllis, shoot his legs!" I yelled through the storm as I kicked an infected right in the legs making it kneel, then wrapped my arm around his neck to break it. I pointed my gun on the gigantic BOW's swollen legs and fired several shots, with Phyllis aiming at the same spot I instructed. He whined then fell on his knees and I quickly dashed and flipped my body to hit him with both my feet, landing it straight on the floor with a loud thud. I stood up immediately and beckoned Phyllis to run away. He should struggle getting up with his size, and before he could manage to do that, we are long gone by then.

After a few minutes of moving forward, I spotted the outlines of an architecture by the distance and a signage that we passed by that said, "Tall Oaks Cathedral, 500 meters ahead". We are finally closing in, and with that thought in mind, I was starting to feel the signs of exhaustion, but I still carried on.

Once we have reached the cemetery, we were attacked by a group of infected, as if they were patrolling the place. The whole structure of the church had some eerie feel to it, like there's more than what meets the eye. And I know that the inside will just convey the same feelings. The place isn't heavily barricaded and I just hope that the survivors are still alive, maybe still waiting for salvation... or death.

Some parts of the outer gates were locked and required keys, but we just either climbed through with the help of each other or I picked the lock if possible. Our constant detouring led us to the back entrance of the cathedral, and I felt kind of disappointed at the survivors for neglecting to scour the area completely. We have easily entered the cathedral without their awareness and saw them through the window with the broken stain glass. And then we heard them, they were arguing about something.

"Bullshit I will! I can hear 'em out!"

"Paul! Is someone out there? You gotta let 'em in!"

"And let a bunch of walking corpses in with them?! Are you nuts?!"

Just then, we heard the faint series of gun shots from outside the cathedral. My mouth formed a thin line in annoyance before I moved.

"Cheryl, wait!" Phyllis tried to stop me but I ignored her.

I jumped through the window and ran toward the group of survivors arguing. They turned their heads upon seeing us and saw shock register on their features.

"Let those people in." I said firmly. The man rewarded me a glare before we heard the sound of the church bells ring throughout the whole area. Now that's a bad idea...

"How the hell did you get in?"

"You really need to barricade the back entrance. You're lucky we didn't let those walking corpses in with us."

"You..."

Our piercing staring contest was cut off by the sound of shattering glass and when we looked at the source of the sound, there was a man by the window aiming his rifle outside the church.

"I'll give you guys a hand! Let's waste these things!"

"I'll help!" Phyllis volunteered, taking a rifle of her own that was resting on the pew and assisted the people outside the church.

"Paul! Open the door—now!" The other man arguing with Paul yelled and snagged his arm. But Paul was hardheaded and wrenched himself away from his grasp.

Paul was lightly shaking in fear, which he was trying so hard to hide by putting up an asshole façade. A little push from him and he will surely crumble down.

"Hell no! Over my dead body!"

In an instant, I pulled out my gun and shot the vacant space beside Paul's head, making him flinch and scream, completely losing his composure. I glared at him, still pointing the gun straight at his face. I wasn't really going to shoot him, but I had to scare him with a threat if I wanted to let those survivors to get in here unscathed. By the intensity of my stare, he closed his eyes for a brief moment as if recollecting himself, before shouting the words in defeat.

"Alright, alright! Get your asses in here!"

Paul unlocked the cathedral's main door before backing away. Not a second wasted, two familiar people dashed inside the cathedral doors, taking care of a single infected that tried to go in with them. They were the agents that escaped from the university. Are they also going to seek refuge in here? The others went up to them just to be disappointed.

"Are you...?" The man who assisted them trailed off, to which the newly arrived man sorrowfully shook his head.

"Sorry, guys. We're not rescue workers."

Their shoulders slumped in disappointment before scattering away, and I caught a glimpse of Paul giving me a death glare, not that I care anyway. I turned around to see Phyllis giving them the same look of acknowledgement then she shifted her gaze at me, giving me a knowing look. Just when they thought that there's no one listening to them, the woman spoke to her companion.

"There's a secret door by the altar that leads underground, but we need to find a way to open it."

"You wanna tell me what's down there?"

"It's better if I show you."

Phyllis and I took a seat by the pew, and we watched them closely as they make their way to the altar, their conversation too inaudible for me to understand.

"Heavenly father, I beg of you. Please watch over my Nancy."

My focus on the two suspicious people were cut off by the words of the woman beside me who was praying wholeheartedly.

"Um, hey..." I said gently to the woman, and she looked up at me, "I'm the girl who answered Nancy's phone a few hours ago." I pulled out her daughter's phone, seeing the dents and cracks around the edges and screen due to the car accident. It's obviously broken now, but I still handed it back to her.

"Oh," Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, "thank you..." she sniffed before shaking her head, "She's with her boyfriend. I... I just don't trust he'll take care of her."

"I'm sure Nancy's safe... just continue to be strong for her."

"Thank you..." She cried and continued to pray.

To be honest, I really don't know if Nancy's still alive but chances are, she's most likely be already dead. I looked around and saw the people wrapped in their own cocoon of fear and despair. By the looks of it, they could have been here ever since the outbreak started and they are still clinging to the hope that help will arrive at some point. But then I knew better.

I flicked a gaze at Phyllis and saw her mirroring the expression and thoughts I'm having. There's no more hope left for this city... and we have to move on our own sooner or later if we want to live to see another day. But even if there's no more hope left, we still need to cling on to whatever we can to keep the will to live. I learned that the hard way...

The agents are now nowhere in sight and I'm guessing they're doing something shady in other parts of the cathedral. But as long as they don't put these people in harm's way, there's no reason for us to intervene.

The altar moved, some mechanism activated and it opened slightly before closing again. A shutter opened that revealed the next room. I looked up and saw the agents jumping down from the second level. I couldn't help it, and before they could proceed with what they're doing any further, they stopped when they saw us approaching.

"What's down there?" I asked, gesturing toward the altar.

"Nothing that concerns you, that's for sure." The woman replied.

"What did you just say?" Phyllis demanded and went for the woman, but I stopped her with my arm.

"Well, it does, when we're all taking refuge in one place." I said, trying to fend off a pissed Phyllis. I mentally heaved a sigh, Nivans' are really short-tempered.

Meanwhile, the man was looking at me intently as if he was trying to recall if he had seen me somewhere.

"We're just trying to find another way out." He said. Then how come you know that there's a secret passage by the altar? I wanted to ask but decided against it.

"Do you need any help?" I offered.

"No, we got this. But thanks." The woman said and when they turned their backs on us, that was when they decided that the conversation was over.

They proceeded to the next room, with my gaze still lingering on them. The man looked back at me with that same gaze, and he averted it when the woman called for his attention. They pulled down a lever and the shutter closed, and out of our sight. Phyllis pushed my arm down harshly, attracting my attention.

"They're obviously on to something. Are we going to just sit here and wait like the rest of these people?!"

"As long as they don't cause problems, they're not our problem."

"We can't just possibly wait for that to happen, can we?"

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Phyllis averted her heated gaze at me, then just returned her attention back to her newfound weapon.

I sighed, then massaged the bridge of my nose. I know that Phyllis is right, we can't just possibly wait for anything bad to happen before we move. But I just can't help my thoughts to linger back at those two agents dealing with their own business behind those closed shutters... it's just...

Strange...

They are no ordinary agents for they serve directly under the President and it's their responsibility to protect and maintain his safety. If he managed to get out, they should have evacuated along with him but instead they escaped the university on their own. There's no way the President would allow that. But if he was already dead, they are capable of getting out of the city with the government's assistance. Both of the scenarios didn't add up to produce this outcome. It's strange... something is... off.

Do they know something?

"We're not being rescued." I heard a man declare, and the others who have little hope left cried even louder in the corner.

"My son, Marco—he's in the BSAA. You watch! He'll be here with the whole army any minute now."

I shook my head and decided not to interject. The monsters have already overtaken the city to the point where there won't be anything left to save. If the BSAA will come like he said so, they should've come long before now. All there's left now is to neutralize the whole city... like how Raccoon City ended up.

Not long after, all of the people in the cathedral focused their attention at the altar when it moved aside to reveal a passage. Those two are really quick, although I assume that they have their work cut out for them to open the secret passage. A man approached the ingress of the passage, seeing as though there was something emerging from the dark. My eyes widened in horror upon seeing the familiar monster that started the outbreak at the university, and my blood ran cold at the next thought I had.

"Run!" I screamed at the man who was nearest to the BOW, but he was frozen on his feet, too horrified to move, "Get away! Now!"

But instead of obliging to my command, he pulled out his gun by instinct and shot at the monster, igniting gas from its body. The man yelled in pain, holding his face as he tumbles down the stairs. I was about to come forward when the people start to panic and ran as far away from the scene as possible. But one woman approached to tend to the man, and when he came to, he was already an infected himself.

"Shit!" I searched the area for the two agents, and I saw them from the third level. What have they done? They jumped on the chandelier and down to the ground, landing on their feet swiftly. They raised their guns to prepare to fend off the monster from infecting the whole population in church.

The monster released an enormous amount of gas, infecting the survivors nearby, others either hid in the rooms or climbed up to the second floor. Phyllis and I fired as well, and with her rifle, she made a run for the second floor, while others who are capable assisted in shooting down the monster.

"Don't panic, people! Just move away from it! Everyone, out of the way! We'll take care of this!" The male agent named Leon, as I heard his companion called out, instructed the survivors.

The monster ran to our direction, trying to get a piece of either of us, but we only either dodged or moved away from it. The others are not so fortunate...

"No!" Phyllis fired at the monster repeatedly to gain its attention, but it completely ignored her as it went inside the room where a few survivors used as a hiding place. When the monster came out, the infected also followed. The monster wasn't still contented, it even moved to climb to the cabinet and up to the second floor to infect the other survivors in there!

"We have to do something! People are dying!" Helena exclaimed, "Everyone, run!"

Phyllis jumped down from the second floor because the whole level was now swarming with infected. The monster later followed, and it ran with a eerie giggle toward us, as if the damned thing was having fun. I spotted an assault rifle nearby, and pulled out my combat knife to stab an infected in the head when it blocked my way. I wasted no time in snatching it from the ground and firing at the monster's head while moving away from it. It knelt to the ground, and Leon performed a Judo kick to the monster, hurting it really badly.

I could tell that the monster was now weakened because it was limping. The assault rifle ran out of ammo and I threw it aside to switch to my handgun. After six or seven shots, the monster screeched before falling to the ground. It released the rest of its gas before bleeding rapidly from the head, presumably dead. We eliminated the rest of the remaining infected and after that, the cathedral was now deprived of the cries of a human. Our attention shifted back to the monster who started it all, and it laid by the middle of the cathedral. Phyllis and I watched closely as Leon and Helena went to inspect the lifeless monster. Leon knelt down and retrieved a red key card of some sort.

I looked around to search for the remaining survivors... but found none. Phyllis walked up to them without a word, then she aimed her gun at them.

"Phyllis!" I called out and rushed to her.

"It's all your fault... everyone's dead!" She screamed, her hazel eyes in a blaze of fury, all the while feeling anguish for the people that died.

"We didn't intend for this to happen—" Helena said, but then Leon cut her off, shaking his head.

I stepped up and went in between, her gun pointed right at my face and shielding them from Phyllis' rage. "I understand where you're coming from... but right now we can't let emotions get the best of us. We need to think this through."

Her hands shook as I gently held her gun down. And there, she dropped and broke down, not bothering to muffle her sobs. I knelt down and held her, then flicked my gaze back at the duo.

"Please at least tell me what's down there is worth it..." I muttered, and Leon's expression softened.

"We've got a lead on who's responsible for this outbreak." He said, "and we're going to find it there."

"We promise that everything wouldn't go in vain." Helena added. I nodded my head and went back to comforting Phyllis.

"Do you wanna come with us?" Leon asked, to which Helena snapped her head to him in protest.

"Leon, but—"

"It's too dangerous to leave them alone in here."

"It may not look like it, but we can handle ourselves. That's why we're still here." I drawled dismissively, and they got the hint.

Helena and Leon, without a word, turned on their heels and walked away to the secret passage and into oblivion, leaving us with a bunch of carcasses that failed to disintegrate.

Phyllis is still in no condition to move, and I can't blame her for breaking down now. I've always thought that she was the stronger one between us, but everything that happened must have taken a huge burden on her emotional capacity. This is her closest encounter with death and seeing a lot of people die right before her eyes in a short amount of time while she couldn't do anything about it is the trigger. I think I have grown accustomed to it because of my past. When someone has seen too much death, a mask of numbness drops over their whole being. This feeling is solemn acknowledgement that you can't change what has happened, and weeping can come later because dealing with the present is more important. But the tendency of that is you automatically withdraw yourself and those around you.

I blinked my eyes slowly, then held her tighter in hopes to inform her that she wasn't alone, that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her... as long as I'm here.

"I'm sorry I did that." Phyllis finally uttered after a while, when she had finally calmed down. She shook her head and wiped her face, "That was so stupid of me."

"We all have moments we're not proud of." I said which made her crack a small smile. She took a deep breath to recollect herself then stood up and turned to the succeeding way which was the secret passage Leon and Helena passed. "Should we catch up to them? A lot of people died. I at least want to see if what's down there is worth the price for their lives." She turned around and gave me a look.

"Okay."

We checked and took everything we can avail, which included ammos and guns. In the corner lies Nancy's broken phone, and was once the safehaven of the survivors was now a trashed structure. Phyllis had gone on ahead by the door past the stairs of the passage, and her hand rested on the door as if she was itching to look behind it.

"Cheryl," She called out over the radio.

"Roger!"

"Come on."

"I'm on it!" I start to jog toward her direction.

"Hurry."

"I know!" I snapped in annoyance, as I jogged over to her position and preparing to open the door. She nodded before I turned the knob then opened it to reveal a strange room. There were doors that are pretty closed shut with a small opening that will allow us to peek inside. When I tried to take a peek, an infected jumped and banged through the door, startling me.

"Okay... not opening that one."

"Hey, this panel might be able to open that lattice right there." She pointed at the closed shutter right at the front. Right above it had three numbers that serves as its passcode to punch in on the panel, but the other two were so weathered to the point where it's unintelligible. But Phyllis still managed to open it somehow by eyeballing it.

"What's with the security system? Even a kindergartener can figure this out." Phyllis said with a wince as we proceeded to the next room with the same drill of security system. After a few attempts, she had opened the lattice blocking access to the next room. The door succeeding was already knocked down, as if someone had kicked and forced it open. The next room was wide, it looked as if this room was constructed to use to torture people. There was a chair on the left side and another one that was knocked over on the right, and the door succeeding was open wide.

What the hell happened in here?

We passed by the narrow hallway, and we eliminated the infected along the way. The infected wore lab coats and uniforms... they used to work in here. This place was already abandoned even before the outbreak started, and the monster from the secret passage might have been a trap in case someone figured out the riddle on how to open it. What could possibly be lingering out here? And... why was I kind of afraid of finding out?

After following the trail of the agents, we came across a control room of some sort. There were cocoon-like things encased in a glass with running water on it.

"What the hell is all this?" I asked.

Phyllis went over to the monitor that displayed static, and took something out from the VHS recorder. When I marched over to where she stood, she handed me the VHS tape for me to examine it.

"Happy Birthday Ada Wong..." I mouthed the label attached to it, before deciding to play it on the VHS recorder. The monitor in front of us with the static turned black before it displayed the cocoons and then the title—"C-Virus Experiment 12235: Project Ada".

Then the video played back to the cocoon, then it hatched, something was slowly emerging from the cocoon that was covered in a green, sticky slime. Then a woman came out with her arms wide open, reminding me of a larva that had metamorphosed into a butterfly. She fell to the floor and after a few coughs, she came to and looked up, getting us a clear view of her face which had delicate Asian features. Someone approached her but before we could see who it was, the video ended and the VHS tape protruded out of the recorder.

"What... the hell..." I whispered, and before I could do anything, the monitor flashed once again and the voice that erupted from the speaker was enough to make my blood run cold.

"Hallo, meine tochter... what a pleasant surprise."

I can't believe what my eyes were witnessing right now... I never thought that I'd get to see him again, even on a screen. His face still held that smug smirk that he wore over the years, and there I already knew that he didn't change a tad bit. What do I expect from the devil himself?

"You..." I breathed, then anger immediately followed, "Did you do all this?"

Henry Hansen, the devil himself... and also my father. I expected nothing less from him but I never thought that he was capable of destroying an entire city! And all for what cause?!

"Please. I have no interest in destroying the world... unless I'd get something out of it."

"World?" I heard Phyllis say, horror laced every syllable. Shit, this thing had already gone global?

"You bastard..." I was clenching the gun I'm holding so hard, I was itching to shoot the monitor but I still have to listen to what he had to say.

"Why, yes... this is already global. Edonia was only a warm-up, you see." He chuckled, and my glare intensified, "Now, don't give me that look, honey. I'm not the one who started this, I only helped them in exchange for getting you back."

"Why are you so hell-bent on getting me back? Are you going to sell me to the black market, huh? Are you really that desperate to save what's left of your filthy company?" I sneered.

"Because," He said, lips tugging in a snide, "I was the one who sold you to TriCell."

And then my world stopped there. TriCell was the pharmaceutical company that abducted, experimented and tormented me seven years ago. Every little bad memory came back to me all at once, playing its marathon like a goddamn movie. I had buried it a long time ago and decided to leave it all in the past. But no! This asshole really had to bring up his involvement in it!

Now I get it... why he wanted me back so bad... it's because I was worth more than what he was paid for... because who would have known that my body could host the antibodies to the Uroboros virus... All of the pain and suffering I've gone through... it was all on him... he was all to blame... only him...

Tears were starting to brim my eyes at the realization, but I refused to show any kind of weakness in front of him. All I could see was red... my hatred... and my desire to kill him...

"Ich werde dich umbringen..." I spat, glaring at him. I can't feel anything but pure hatred towards him. But he only grinned as if he was amused.

"Viel Glück." He said, "Heads up, the government has ordered a full clean up on Tall Oaks. So you better move fast and come see me here in China, my dear." Then the screen turned black.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch." My teeth hurt from clenching it so hard. Then I turned around march out of the room in fast strides, completely forgetting about our objective of following Leon and Helena's trail.

"Wait, but he's in China!" Phyllis trailed behind me and snagged my arm, "Wait!"

I wrenched myself away from her grasp, then tried to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down.

"Fuck!" I screamed in anger and frustration.

"Now, let's calm down, Cheryl..."

"I'm going to make him pay... I won't let him get away with this..."

"We will... just please tell me what's going on."

"He's the cause of all of my misery." I drawled, after I had kept a level head.

"Why is he in China?"

"Of course it would be China. It holds the most populated cities in the world. A perfect host for a bioterrorist attack."

"And you're going?" Phyllis exclaimed, "Have you gone nuts?! For all we know, there could be a trap waiting for you out there! And if he's telling the truth, you'd be doing him a favor!"

"At this point, I really don't care anymore... All I know is that I won't rest until he's paid for what he did to me and my mother."

"Oh God..." I heard Phyllis mumble to herself as I walk away from her, "Wait! Cheryl! You're not going alone!"

But I didn't stop, "No, I need to do this alone."

"Do you have some sort of death wish? I'm coming with you!" She said firmly, and I turned around to give her a bland gaze, "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you, whether you want them to or not."

"I can't involve you—"

Phyllis let out a mocking laugh, "Seriously? I think I'm already involved as much as you are."

Our argument was cut off by a foreign voice over our radio.

"Hello, Phyllis? Can you hear me?" A man's anxious voice called out. Our right hand automatically went over our right ear to get ahold of the person within our line of frequency.

"A-Andrew?" Phyllis stuttered, "Why... how did you find me?" She asked in confusion, her head snapping at different directions as if finding the source of the signal.

"Phyllis! Thank God, you're alright! The tracker on your necklace must have been the best decision I've ever done."

Phyllis let out a chuckle, tears filming her eyes, holding her necklace in between her collarbone. "Yeah..." Then her eyes widened upon realization, "Wait, you're here?! Where are you?"

"Listen, I'm headed toward the front gate of the cemetery. Pick you up there, babe."

"Okay," She nodded her head, "We'll be there."

Phyllis and I retraced our steps back at the cathedral, using the back entrance again because the front doors were swarmed with infected to the brim. As we zeroed in to the extraction point, we spotted a charred vehicle that wasn't even there when we first passed by in here. We cut through the front gate of the cemetery and didn't expect a chopper to greet us. I didn't expect Phyllis' boyfriend is a member of the Special Forces!

"Holy shit, Andrew!" Phyllis exclaimed in surprise. A ladder descended from the chopper that Andrew was piloting, and we immediately climbed up. Phyllis wasted no time in going to the co-pilot seat to pull her boyfriend in a tight hug. "Man, you're a sight for sore eyes!" She grinned in relief.

"Actually, I was sent in here by your father."

"What?"

I zoned out of their conversation and took a seat by the back. I stared down upon the full view of the eerie cathedral as we fly away from it, wondering if Leon and Helena are still alright.

We passed by through the highlights of chaos in the city, and seeing the burning buildings and walking corpses, my thoughts drifted back to the cause of all of this madness—Neo-Umbrella... Henry...

"Hey, Andrew?" I called out, invading their world. Andrew peered over his shoulder and gave me a friendly smile. The look he was giving me indicates that he already knows who I am.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Thank you for rescuing us. You're a lifesaver." I gave him a small smile.

"No problem."

I looked through the window again, on my bruised hands, then back at Andrew and Phyllis, and she gave me a look as if she already knows what I'm about to say next.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a favor..."