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William was scrambling. He was cramming what vials he could into a secure case. The phone was ringing, but he ignored it. His lab coat snagged in the case as he tried to close it, and he had to try again, fingers wobbling as he secured the lock. The phone kept ringing. He snatched at it.
“What?!” he snarled.
A cool drawl came down the line.
“Calm down. I’m here to save your miserable life.”
William stopped, shock reeling through him.
“You’re… dead.”
“Have some faith in yourself. The virus worked just fine. I simply do not wish to have Umbrella’s eyes on me any longer, as I’m sure you well understand by now.”
William clutched at the phone, scattered breath finding a semblance of a rhythm.
“I left it too late,” he whined. “I know you said we had to move fast but I- I had to finish G! They’re coming for me, Albert. They’re going to finish me like we did Marcus-”
“Hush. This is a secure line, but I don’t want anyone overhearing your pathetic whimpering. I have eyes on your cameras. U.S.S. are already in NEST.”
“Already?!” William looked around him, furtive.
“I have an agent on the inside who will attempt to assist you. When I give the word, leave the P-4 level testing lab and get to the biotesting facility. Understood?”
“What about Annette?! And Sherry!” William cried.
“Do as I say for once without bickering. They are not at imminent risk. You are. Where is your mobile phone?”
“M-my locker! In the nap room!” William had pulled the lab phone as far as the wire would let it so that he could peer out into the corridor.
“I shall lead you there. Get to the biotesting lab. Pick up the phone when it rings. Go.”
“A-albert, what if they get me on the way?!”
The phone had gone dead. William looked at it in despair and cast it away, fear thundering in his heart. He clutched his case to him and peered out the door.
Just outside the lab, there was a suspended corridor with spot floor lights marking a passage in the darkness. William hurried forward. The bioreactor room was a dim, circular room, and the corridor over it hung exposed. Other than the pricks of light by his shoes, the only other light was an eerie blue, filtering at intervals into the room. William had crossed this bridge hundreds if not thousands of times, but never had he noticed how disconcerting the place could feel. He glanced down at the reactors below, looking for any shadow that might move. He hesitated, then ran across the bridge.
His footsteps rung loud on the metal. His breath was coming fast. He reached the other side of the bridge, and the automatic doors opened. They closed and he jumped as a detox cycle began, blasting a wash of aerosol particles over him. He walked through more slowly as beams of blue light lit up in the walls. He’d tweaked the radiation in them himself to target particle sizes present in their most harmful viruses. Luckily his briefcase could withstand a nuclear bomb and its associated fallout. William hurried past lines of hazmat suits into the biotesting lab. A reclined operating chair in the lab beyond was fitted with microscopes and injectors the specs of which could not be found anywhere else on the globe. He couldn’t quite believe he was running from all this.
The phone rang on his desk beyond the observation glass. William hurried to it and picked it up.
“A-al-”
“No names, what did I tell you?”
“A-are they close?” William glanced behind him. “Where is your agent?!”
“You’re going to run to the main shaft. Keep to the right when you’re in the centre and count to twenty.”
“W-what’s going to happen?! Why do I have to count to twenty?!”
“U.S.S. forces are going to bypass you on the other side. You are going to remain in situ and absolutely silent as they do. When they have passed, you’re going to head on to the north area.”
William gave a sob.
“A-albert, I can’t! I’m not like you! I can’t do it!”
“You can and you will. Get ready. You still have the virus?”
“O-of course I have it!”
“Good. Now go.”
“Now?”
“Go!”
William put the phone down and ran. He’d never been one for sports. He enjoyed a little tennis every now and again. Mostly again and not now. He couldn’t rightly recall the last time he’d seen daylight. He couldn’t even really recall the last time he’d slept either, or had a meal.
The main shaft was not a place for anyone lightheaded. Sheer drops into darkness fell away on all sides, save for three bridges that connected to a platform at the centre. William ran along one now. He came to a stop on the right side of the pillar in the middle. It seemed a stupid place to hide, with a glaringly bright light above. He looked forlornly towards the north bridge that would take him towards safety. Perhaps Albert had miscalculated the timing. The room seemed empty, and William hardly wanted to wait for the place to fill with Umbrella soldiers. He might have been able to even get across by now. Just as William was about to set a foot out of cover, a door over the east bridge slid open. Boots clanged upon metal, setting the whole structure reverberating. William pressed his back to the pillar and held his briefcase to him. His teeth were rattling in his head. He bit down hard, and closed his eyes tight as the footsteps came louder and louder.
“West area. Quickly,” a voice said, filtered through its mask.
The boots were thundering so close now, it was all William could do not to run. He began counting to twenty more to cool his thoughts than anything. Suddenly, as soon as they had come, the boots were passing away. William turned his head, glancing fearfully towards what he could see of the bridge he’d come down. Soldiers in black armour and round black helmets, armed to the teeth, were running towards the door. William gave a faint sob, then slammed his hand over his mouth. He blinked rapidly, willing his eyes not to water as he prayed he hadn’t been heard. The boots faded, and still he dared not move. Eventually, he looked over again. The main shaft was empty.
William’s legs felt leaden as he stumbled forward. He did his best to hurry over the north bridge. Soon, he was blustering past reception.
“Oh! Dr Birkin!” said a receptionist as he blundered past. “I thought you were down in the P-4 testing lab this afternoon?”
William ran past her and took a left. He bumped into someone coming out the cafeteria with a sandwich and snapped at them. They dodged aside, mumbling apologies. Fortunately his fiery temper preceded him, and everyone else jumped out of his way. All except one.
Annette had rings under her eyes and her hair was mostly escaping the ponytail she’d tied it in.
“William, what is that?” she asked, in a tone not dissimilar to one that might be used on a misbehaving house pet. She indicated to the briefcase.
“It’s mine!” William said savagely.
“You better not have brought viruses through detox again,” Annette said with some exhaustion. “You’re the one that helped set up those safety precautions, William.”
“Out of my way!”
William barged past her into the nap room. A small number of sleeping capsules were here, nested into the wall. Most had their shutters closed, indicating they were occupied. A faint beeping ring was coming from the lockers on the far side. William tore to the lockers and unlocked his own, banging it open. Grumbles of annoyance came from the pods. These only increased as William rifled through his belongings and pulled out his mobile phone which rang all the louder.
“Hello?” William called loudly into the phone. One of the pods was tugged open. On seeing who was disturbing them however, it slowly began to lower again, the researcher within looking more contrite.
“That was hardly twenty seconds,” the voice drawled.
“I nearly died!”
“You were fine. Hurry up. Get to the cable car.”
“Will you stay on the line?!”
“If you stop whining, yes.”
William seethed, but tucked his case under his arm and barged back out of the nap room. He ran right into Annette.
“William! Will you stop charging around and tell me what the problem is?”
“Bring her with you, if you must,” Wesker said lazily.
“Annette! Hurry up! Come with me!” William cried, trying to push past her at the same time.
“I’m not going anywhere, William. I have a culture to monitor in the low temp testing lab and I’m not in the mood for one of your tantrums.”
“They’re coming,” William hissed.
“Hurry up, William. They most certainly are,” Wesker put in.
William gave a yelp at that. He tucked his phone under his ear and grabbed Annette’s wrist.
“Where is that confounded agent you promised me?” William asked, dragging his wife behind him.
“Who are you talking to?” Annette snapped.
William ignored her and dragged her back up the corridor near the reception. The receptionist poked her head out.
“Dr Birkin?” she called. “Where are you going?”
William was so anxious he could barely think. He tugged Annette all the way to the cable car platform until she finally yanked her arm free of him.
“You’re letting this paranoia go too far!” she snapped. “This has got to stop, William! You’re letting this virus ruin your life! Ruin our life! I know how much it means to you, but-”
William hurried close to Annette, watery blue eyes meeting hers with an urgency.
“Umbrella are here to kill me and steal my research, Annette,” he whispered.
“What?”
“Albert’s on the phone, he’s getting us out.”
“Albert Wesker?! You’ve truly lost it, William.” She turned to go.
“Help me!” William babbled at Wesker. He held up his phone for Annette to hear.
“Annette,” Wesker drawled. “I do not particularly care if you live, but given how attached William is to you, it would be a great annoyance to see him distraught…”
Annette stood stock still. She glared at the mobile phone, then at William. She ran to the cable car and pulled open the door, ushering William in.
“Oh, thank god, thank god,” William babbled.
“Thank me,” Wesker said, irritable. The cable car shuddered and then began its slow ascent towards the surface. “Any longer and you’d be splattered on that platform, my dear.”
William gave a muffled whimper.
“Will you two please tell me what’s going on,” Annette asked with annoyance. “Why on earth should Umbrella be sending anyone after you?”
William shuffled a little guiltily in his seat. He said nothing, but it was enough for Annette to put a hand to her head.
“What have you done?” she asked.
“Nothing!”
“Need I remind you there is video feed in this cable car. Keep your marital bickering until you’re somewhere without ears.”
“I am not maritally bickering,” William grumbled.
The cable car seemed to take an age. William sat with his head back against the wall, eyes closed, foot tapping the air anxiously.
“Are you still there?”
“I am busy. Do not speak unless you need me. I am making arrangements.”
“Thank you. Thank you for getting me out.”
“You’re not out yet.”
William swallowed. He heard Annette shift, and opened his eyes as she came to sit next to him. She rested a hand on his knee. William sniffed, then exhaled, trying to calm himself.
“Once out on street level, a red sports car will pull up. Get in the back.”
“Who is it? Who will be there? What if it’s an Umbrella agent?!
“And after I procured you a vehicle distinctly dissimilar to any Umbrella Security Service vehicle? What more do you want of me, William?”
“A helicopter would have been nice,” William grumbled.
“I’m trying to keep something of a low profile here, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Well, I think you should un-low profile yourself! I’m much more important!”
Wesker tutted, as did Annette.
“You’ll lose signal shortly,” Wesker said. “Get in the red sports car.”
“What?! Why didn’t you say so beforehand?!”
The phone petered out into silence. William pulled it from his ear and looked at it.
“I really hate him sometimes,” he said, in a wet sob.
Annette sighed.
“Come on, we’re nearly there. Do you want me to hold something for you?”
“No!” William said defensively. He held the phone and the case closer to him, eyes filled with misgiving.
Annette sighed again. The cable car came to a juddering halt. They made their way quickly and quietly out of the cable car and up by a series of back routes and elevators to the street level. William shaded his face with a hand as they did. The natural light stung his eyes. A chill breeze was scattering trash along the pavement, and whipping droplets of new rain into his face. He lifted his briefcase over his head to shelter himself, then thought better of it and tucked it under his lab coat.
“Lab coats!” Annette said quickly. She shed her own, rolling it up, before helping William take his off.
“Where’s this supposed car then?!” William whined.
It pulled up screeching before them no sooner had he said it: a sleek red sports car with a chassis low to the ground. A blackened window wound down. A woman in dark glasses with a black bob looked out.
“Get in,” she clipped.
Annette opened the door, and William hurried in after her. The moment it was slammed shut, the sports car took off squealing.
“Daddy!” A little face peered around from the seat in front.
“Sherry!” William cried, with genuine delight. “I was so worried I wouldn’t find you! How did you get here?!”
Sherry’s face crinkled with happiness, framed by her straw yellow locks. William couldn’t really remember the last time he’d seen his daughter either.
“This lady said she works for Dr Wesker!” Sherry said, beaming. “She said that he set up a special vacation for all of us to go on as a family! I’m so excited! I packed all my favourite things! Are we going somewhere sunny? It doesn’t matter – we could go anywhere and it would be the best vacation ever just because we’re going as a family!” Sherry looked up at the woman driving the car. “Is Dr Wesker coming on vacation too?”
William leant back in his seat, eyes closing. He exhaled a deep breath.
“Quiet now,” the woman said lowly to Sherry as her car began to beep. She pressed a button. “Ada reporting.”
Wesker’s voice came over the car speakers.
“Do you have them?”
“All three.”
“Good. Take them to the designated evac.”
“Designated evac? I never designated any evacs, what’s going on, Albert?” William piped up. “Where are we going?”
“Sit tight and you’ll find out. Don’t give Ada any of your attitude.”
“Attitude!” William exclaimed, outraged. “You wait til I see you! I’ll- I’ll-”
“Give you a big hug!” Sherry said. “I haven’t seen you in ages, Dr Wesker!”
“Is there time to pick up anything from the house?” Annette asked.
“No. I’ve raided it and collected some specifics that you may wish. You will be reunited with them at the next car change. Inform me when that’s been carried out, Ada.”
“You got it boss,” Ada said.
The call ended.
“Insufferable man,” William muttered.
Mostly, it was his nerves getting to him. His legs kept bouncing and his hands were clammy on the suitcase. His eyes stayed trained on Raccoon City’s gloomy streets, watching for any sign of their enemies. The streets were surprisingly sedate given the reports of increasing infections that were coming in from hospitals. William couldn’t see any way to realistically slow a massive outbreak at this point. What a damn nuisance that those Cerberuses hadn’t been shot as soon as Arklay was compromised.
Ada took them at a break-neck pace out of Raccoon, so that Annette’s lips pursed at every turn, and Sherry gave a little woo of excitement, and held her stomach. Soon, the grey buildings were falling away, and the yellowing plains of old summer were coming up around them, cooled by the long shadows of the Arklay Mountains. They took a winding back road, and then another, so that no car was in sight. Ada put her foot to the floor and the countryside flew past in a burnished flurry of blurred lines.
Shortly, the car slowed, and William could see a nondescript hatchback parked in a layby, neither old nor new, and a kind of neutral grey green in colour. Ada drew up next to it.
“Your stop,” she said.
William and his family got warily out of the car. Someone in all black fatigues got out the new car and opened the doors for them.
“Who are you?” William asked guardedly.
“H.C.F.,” the man replied.
“Your name, not your initials,” William retorted, scathing.
“He works for Wesker,” Ada said. “You won’t get any more out of him.”
William scowled at the man, though relented some when he felt Sherry’s hand in his. She looked up at him happily, and William immediately gave her a warm smile in return. Annette took Sherry’s rucksack and set it in the new vehicle, before squeezing in.
“Daddy?” Sherry whispered.
“What is it, little one?”
“Can I sit next to you?”
William’s chest swelled with pride.
“Of course you can,” he told her.
They bundled into the back of the next car, and William watched with some misgiving as the sports car drove off. As they were starting off again, his phone rang.
“Ada tells me you made the changeover.”
“Will I be getting into more and more unclassy vehicles, Albert? Will I roll up to your little hideout in a tractor? Or perhaps a horse-drawn cart? Maybe a haywagon.”
“The car’s low-profile. Ada’s going to be misdirecting U.S.S. with the red car. You’d better hope the Monitors weren’t watching you, or I’ll have to have you change vehicle again.” There was a pause. “Perhaps put you on a bicycle…”
“You seem to really be revelling in this!” William seethed. His chest warmed though when he heard the faintest chuckle from his old friend. It was a rare gift to get humour out of Albert Wesker. “Will it be long until we’re with you?” he asked, tone going more serious.
“It may be. I need to be absolutely sure they aren’t on your trail before I bring you to me. I’ll be taking you over the border, and you’ll be in a hotel this evening. You’ll have to be up early and a third car will take you to a private airfield.”
William sighed.
“Did you have to do all this for yourself too? After the mansion?”
“In a sense. But I wasn’t being hunted, William. I do wish you’d let me get you out earlier.”
“You didn’t ask me to come earlier…” William said morosely.
“I asked the second G was finished. I knew I couldn’t get you away before that, not even with my charming disposition.”
William gave a soft, sad smile.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“Well, at least we’ll have every completed virus of note on our persons. We’ll be in a very good bargaining position, which is just as well, since the world will want us dead.”
“I was in talks with the US to sell it to them.”
“I know. As does half Umbrella. You and I are going to have a long discussion about computer privacy when we reunite.”
William pouted.
“I’ll just leave all that to you,” he muttered. “You know I only ever wanted to be doing the research…” William paused.
He realised that the car was quiet. There was no buzz of machinery, no hum of constant centrifuges or overheard lights. Sherry had slumped against his shoulder, hands wrapped around his arm like she was afraid he might dart out of her hold. Annette had her head against the car window, eyelids at half-mast. Their silent driver was taking them up into mountainous wild country, where it was high enough for scattered pockets of snow to have crusted into the earth’s shadows. The sky above was pale blue, and scratched with cirrus. There was a peace around him that he hadn’t felt in a long while. He’d been locked into a routine of white, sunless corridors for so long that he’d forgotten what it was to live in anything but that monotony.
He could hear the faint tapping of a keyboard coming from the other end of the line.
“Will you join me?” William asked.
“Hm?”
“In the lab again. Will you join me?”
“I certainly hope so.”
William’s heart lifted.
“I do miss you there. It’s not the same without you.” He cast a sidelong look at Annette, not wanting to unduly upset her. Everyone in NEST knew that he was want to rant and curse when something went wrong, and liberally throw around the phrase ‘If Albert was here, this wouldn’t have happened’. Now that he thought back on it, he sounded rather like the researchers of his youth who would throw around names like Marcus and Ashford like they were invoking old gods.
“And I desperately miss being in the laboratory. Police work was such a dreary, thankless affair, with the only reprieve Redfield to look at. I have been years without a decent conversation, I feel my faculties rotting in my skull.”
William smiled happily at that, glad to hear he was still the only person Albert could stand to talk to.
“I must go, William,” Wesker continued. “We shall talk more when you are returned to me. I shall keep you abreast of the situation as it develops. Try to get some rest tonight, and eat a good meal. I haven’t seen you eat one on the cameras in some while, and something tells me I did not miss much.”
William gave an apologetic wince and an inarticulate mumble.
“Take care of yourself. I cannot always be watching.”
When Wesker ended the call, William held his phone to him. He didn’t really dare think what might have happened had Albert not bailed him out.
“Did he give anything away?” Annette asked, voice hushed so as not to wake Sherry.
“Just that we’ll be overnighting in Canada, and then a flight tomorrow.”
Annette nodded.
When they arrived at the hotel, it was late. William was going to lift Sherry in, but he couldn’t manage her with the briefcase, so Annette had to gently extract and carry her. He stood before the hotel in its parking lot. They were in the suburbs of a nothing town, all low built and quiet. The hotel was a four storey thing, with lights pointed down its whitewashed sides to give a imitation of class. It wasn’t as bad as some of the places Raccoon had to offer, but it was a far cry from the kind of hotel William was used to being put up in when someone managed to prise him away from his work. The Birkins started walking towards the hotel, but their driver leant out the window.
“Doctor?”
Annette and William turned to him. The man offered them a slip of paper.
“Hand this to the receptionist,” he said. “And remember your luggage.”
William cocked a quizzical eyebrow.
“In the boot,” the man said.
“And you’re not going to fetch it for us?”
“I’m in uniform.”
“And who’s foolish fault is that?”
William stamped around to the back of the car. A single suitcase had been packed for them. William got it out single-handed with some difficulty, briefcase still clasped to his chest. He made sure to slam the boot and stalk past their driver without another word. They traipsed up to the hotel then, and cautiously pushed open the door. It let out a faint bing.
The reception was veiled in darkness, with a desk to the left lit by a small green lamp. It shone warmly upon a young woman in a waistcoat. She sat up sleepily at the sound of the door.
“Dr Midge?” she inquired.
William blinked. He opened and shut his mouth in outraged indignation. He opened the paper he’d been given: Dr & Mrs Midge and child. 1 family room, 1 night. Prepaid. Dinner and breakfast to be served to the room.
He handed the slip of paper to the receptionist wordlessly, too incensed to speak. The receptionist took the paper. She nodded and jotted down the details in her record book.
“Your associate called earlier and paid all by credit card,” she said. There was a pleasant Canadian lilt to her voice. “May I take your luggage for you and show you to your room?”
William let her, and she led them to an elevator.
“What a beautiful daughter you have,” she remarked as they travelled upward. It was the only thing she could have said to lighten William’s mood.
“Yes, she’s very beautiful,” he agreed, still grumpy. “She’s the best daughter in the world.”
The receptionist gave him a smile. She opened the door for them, and brought their suitcase in. The room was adequate, though not spacious. It was dominated by a double bed, with a single over by the window.
“Ensuite bathroom, just over here to the right, Dr Midge. Your meal has been saved for you, shall I bring it up immediately?”
“Please,” Annette said, going to lay Sherry down on the bed.
The receptionist smiled again and laid the key on a desk by the door.
“Your associate indicated you’d wish breakfast at half-past seven, does that suit you.”
William grumbled, but Annette thanked the receptionist, and she left. William went and perched on the edge of the bed, still holding his case to him. He looked around himself nervously. He felt out of place, and he was already starting to miss labwork.
Annette set to opening the suitcase.
“Who’s Midge?” she asked.
“Infernal little twerp from the training school,” William muttered darkly. “Albert knows I detested him so…”
“He’s only packed us formalwear,” Annette sighed.
“What?!” William scurried over. He spotted a pale suit Albert had complimented once in there, and a dark shirt and tie. “I’m going to strangle that conceited little-”
“This suit does look good on you,” Annette admitted. “He’s given me more than just an evening gown at least. There’s a pantsuit in here. Sherry’s dresses are the ones she picked out with him in spring.”
“Smarmy, self-righteous, pig-headed-”
“Are you going to shower before dinner, William?”
“What’s that meant to mean?!” William demanded. “What are you implying?!”
“You smell, William, is what it means,” Annette said matter-of-factly.
William glowered at her. She didn’t look up again though, so he stormed off to the bathroom. He set his briefcase in the corner and locked the bathroom door behind him.
As he showered, William did admit he felt a little grimy. He spent a while bathing, and breathing in the steaming piling up around him. When he exited he felt like a new man. He wondered if Albert had felt like this when he injected his virus. His virus… His friend was no longer human if he lived. He was a Tyrant. William shivered. It was still his same Albert though, wasn’t it? It felt like him leastwise, with all his subtle jabs and dark humour. What he hadn’t told Annette was that Midge had been executed by their former mentor Dr Marcus. William shivered again and drew the hotel towel around him.
When he re-entered the bedroom, food had already been served. Sherry was awake and eating with a sleepy kind of enthusiasm.
“This is so exciting,” she mumbled, eyes only half-awake. “What a funny-tasting potato…”
“It’s rutabaga, Sherry,” Annette said to her.
Sherry giggled.
“What a silly name!”
William sat down heavily on the foot of the bed. Annette shot him a glare. He was sitting in his wet towel. He stood and sighed, fetching a chair from the corner and dragging it over.
“What have we got?”
“Steak, vegetables, gravy. It’s not bad,” Annette grudgingly gave. “He sent wine.” She indicated with her chin to a bottle in the corner on a silver tray with two glasses.
William went to it and turned the bottle over.
“I think it’s nice.”
“I assumed as much.”
“This doesn’t make him any less of an ass.” William poured Annette and himself a glass before returning to sit down.”
“Rutabaga rutabaga rutabaga…” Sherry was whispering under her breath.
William ate one mouthful of steak, and his insides cried out to him so loud he nearly threw up. He slapped his hand over his mouth and swallowed down the food. He clutched his stomach.
“You haven’t eaten in three days,” Annette said with disinterest. “I did try to tell you to eat yesterday.”
“Daddy!” Sherry exclaimed. “You should eat every day! More than that actually! You should eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner!”
William washed the mouthful down with wine, and felt the heat of it rise straight to his head. He laid off that for now, and focussed on eating. He barely tasted the food, devouring everything before him. He exhaled long when he’d eaten, and sipped from his glass again. He felt a lot better. He hadn’t realised he’d felt so unstable before.
“Can I sleep in your bed with you?” Sherry asked after dinner.
“You have your own bed,” Annette told her.
“Of course you can,” William answered.
“Yaay!!”
Annette shot William another glare as Sherry bounced into bed and squeezed in between them.
“It’s been forever and ever since we all slept in the same house at the same time!” Sherry exclaimed.
It had been forever and ever since William slept fullstop. He reached for his briefcase and cradled it to him. His eyes were already drifting, and that red wine helped enormously. Sherry was still chattering as he dropped sound asleep.
William was out cold all night long. He only awoke when Annette shook him hard. Light was pouring in through the open curtains, and a tray of breakfast was already by his head. Sherry was sitting on her bed munching toast and sipping fruit juice.
“Rutabaga…” she muttered when she thought no one was listening.
“Albert called,” Annette said. She was already dressed and brushing her hair in the mirror.
She looked very beautiful, William thought. Maybe it was the long skirt and blazer she wore, or perhaps that she’d brushed her hair for the first time in a while. The sun was coming in and finding all the gold in her hair, lighting it like refracting slides under a microscope.
“Hm?” William asked vaguely, pushing sleep from his eyes.
“We’re being picked up at eight, so hurry up and eat.”
William wasn’t sure he wanted to eat so soon after his last meal, but he found he had the stomach for it and wolfed this down too. He had no choice after that but to dress in his suit. He forwent the tie at least, and huffed as Annette handed him a comb.
“I look like I’m going to a damn wedding,” he muttered.
“I think you look very nice, Daddy!” Sherry said, bouncing to his side in her summer dress and cardigan.
A third car was waiting for them outside the hotel. This one was silver, and the woman who exited it was trimly dressed in a grey pencil skirt and navy blazer.
William quizzed the woman as he stood clutching his briefcase while Annette wheeled out the suitcase.
“How do I know you are who you say you are?” he demanded, eyes narrowed.
“Dr Wesker said you’d ask as much,” the woman said, with measured patience. “He also said I ought to say these words to you: page two, line five.”
William exhaled, face scrunching up in frustration. When they’d first met, Albert had ridiculed him no end for the forward in his doctoral thesis that declared no one on the examination panel, or the entire scientific world to be intelligent enough to comprehend the vision of his thesis. Albert had not only understood it, but also pointed out some rather embarrassing shortcuts and inconsistencies that lingered in the work.
“I’m going to break his stupid glasses,” William fumed. “I’m going to crush them up into little pieces and stamp on them!”
“Would you like to get in, Dr Birkin?”
The Birkins piled into the car.
They were weary by the time it was rolling up into the private airfield. It was evening and they hadn’t stopped to eat. Sherry was hungry and wriggly. William was bored out of his mind. He longed to open his case and admire his beautiful Golgotha Virus. He longed to touch it and marvel at it. He couldn’t wait to show it to Annette and William. Even the thought of it made him smile and bubble with excitement.
Their driver checked her watch.
“The jet should have just arrived. Come along.”
She got out and led them past a small hangar to a thin strip of tarmac, where a jet aircraft stood white amidst the warm hues of evening. A steel staircase was being wheeled up to its door.
The Birkins moved more slowly now. Sherry trailed her backpack by one of its straps. She was yawning and wiggly at the same time, jumping up and down to shake life into her limbs. The driver helped Annette with the suitcase. William just clutched his own case to him. He looked up at the jet before them. He wondered how many more vehicles they’d have to transfer through. He couldn’t imagine how on earth one arranged for them all to start and stop here and there, delivering them to safety. It had always been a mystery to him how Albert could stand to bend his mind to anything but cutting edge research. Wasn’t it all just unsatisfactory and boring. William was grateful at least.
He felt a little hand in his as Sherry latched onto him.
“I’m sure there’ll be some dinner in the plane,” he assured her.
“I’m turning into Daddy,” Sherry bewailed. “No dinners…”
“You should feel very lucky if you turned into your Daddy, he’s exceptionally clever.”
“Nope…” Sherry said sleepily. “Don’t want that. No dinners daddy is not who I want to be…”
The door to the jet opened and a figure stepped out onto the steel steps. He was clad in a black suit, black gloves, and a black trenchcoat that fanned slightly in the wind as he stepped out. His blond hair was swept back, familiar dark glasses on his face, even more familiar smirk on his lips.
“Doctor Wesker!” Sherry cried. She raced up the steps and threw her arms about his waist.
Wesker lifted Sherry up easily with one arm, and strode down the steps to meet them.
“No problems?” he inquired, in that insufferable drawl of his. He took the suitcase off Annette and picked this up too.
“Show off,” William muttered. He hesitated. A second later, his eyes were suddenly alight with interest. “Wait, is that because of-”
“All in good time, my William,” Wesker gave. “Come.” He strode back up the steps to the jet.
William hurried after him, Annette climbing at a more sedate pace.
The jet was modestly outfitted, though spacious when just for the four of them. The only airline seats were grouped at the front, before giving way to a lounge and bar, and a couple of private cabins beyond.
“Is this really a plane?!” Sherry cried, wriggling to get down.
Wesker let her and deposited the suitcase too.
“Let me see you!” William cried in delight, hurrying to Wesker.
Wesker gave a longsuffering sigh, but let himself be inspected.
“Remarkable, remarkable!” William murmured. He touched Wesker’s cheek lightly, then his glasses. “May I?”
“Mrm…” Wesker gave an irritable affirmative.
William removed his glasses. His breath drew in a small gasp and he collected Wesker’s face in his hands, turning him this way and that so that he could see his eyes. In place of their ice blue, they now glowed a sunset gold, flecked with fiery embers of deeper crimson. William shivered.
“How do you feel?” he whispered.
“Strong,” Wesker said evenly. There was something in his gaze though. “Would you like me to show you?”
William released him. He realised his heart was beating fast.
“You’re incredible,” he whispered. “Beautiful. Simply the most beautiful thing we’ve ever created.”
“Better than G?” Wesker asked sharply. His eyes moved from gold to red. William hesitated. Those red eyes narrowed.
“Far better,” William breathed. “Far better, far more incredible. With G, I could only dream of making something like you.”
He took one of Wesker’s hands in his and turned it over, running his fingers down the veins on the back of his hand and up his forearm, marvelling at the restrained strength he could feel there. There was something intoxicating about having such free reign to inspect something so powerful. It gave him the same kind of hit labwork did.
“Show me what you can do when we get out?” he begged.
Wesker rolled his shoulders, eyes part closing. William knew his ego would like that.
“But of course.” Wesker brushed his fingers to William’s cheek before holding his chin between thumb and middle finger with a little tightness. “I owe it to my creator after all.”
Something cold splintered through William’s chest, and for a terrifying moment, he thought Albert might have worked out that the virus was not his design from scratch. He had only perfected it after being instructed by Spencer to give it to him. He was the only one Albert would have trusted it to come from, had been Spencer’s reasoning. He was right, and the results were spectacular, but William still felt fear at concealing that. He knew how Albert felt about the old man. He would have spat the virus back in the man’s face before he ever took it.
“Do not look so afraid,” Wesker murmured. “I shall take you with me on the path to greatness. This was the way always destined for us.”
William nodded, gaze filled with wonder as he met those glowing red eyes.
“If you two are quite done?” Annette’s voice came, tired.
Wesker held his chin a moment longer, so that William could not yet turn to his wife. William gave him a look of pathetic pleading. Wesker gave a faint smirk and let him go. He replaced his sunglasses and William turned to give Annette a vague smile.
“Albert, let me show you what I’ve done!” William exclaimed, hardly believing that he’d forgotten his G Virus momentarily.
“Once we’re in the air, my dear. Let us sit for take-off. Join me.”
Annette and Sherry were strapped in on one side of the aisle, and William and Wesker in the other. William caught Wesker casting another careless smirk Annette’s way. He nudged him.
“Albert,” he whined. “Play nice…”
“She’s not forgiven for stealing my lab partner,” Wesker said. It was intoned lightly, but William could hear the faint edge of bitterness behind it.
“I can have more than one lab partner, Albert,” William said gently. “I hope you’re taking me to a laboratory – one you intend to join me in.”
“Mrm. We shall have to work out some kind of commercial deal for T and G if we wish to strike out alone and continue to evade Umbrella.”
“I want control of the kind of deal we sign, but that sounds most agreeable to me.”
“Excuse me, Dr Wesker?” Sherry’s little voice came from the other side of the plane. In this aeroplane, is there any dinner? I’m very hungry!”
“Of course, dear heart,” Wesker said lazily. “Dinner shall be served once we’re at altitude.”
“I don’t want rutabagas.”
Wesker shot Sherry a perplexed look.
“Don’t worry about it,” William fussed Wesker’s arm. “Now, tell me about yourself. Have you any side effects?”
Wesker moved his eyes back to him, and William squirmed a little when he saw the soft glow leaking from behind his glasses.
“My eyes, you’ve seen. I am hungrier than I used to be, though only intermittently. I eat a large amount once every three or four days.”
“Fascinating,” William murmured, whipping out his notebook. “Will you allow me to run tests? Check on your stability?”
“Were two men ever less stable,” Annette muttered.
Wesker’s lip twitched in annoyance at that, but his expression evened out for William.
“It would be most sensible to run tests. I am eager to learn everything about my new state.”
William gave a brilliant smile. He was already feeling giddy with anticipation, a sensation not improved by the steep angle the jet took as it climbed into the air.
“I’ve not forgiven you, by the way, for all those little rude jabs you gave me on the way here! Calling me Midge, talking about that stupid line in my thesis…”
“It was a stupid thesis, wasn’t it.”
“I did not say that. Wipe that insufferable smirk off your lips.”
Once the plane had levelled out, Wesker unplugged his belt and stood. He stretched. William couldn’t be sure, but the man’s physique seemed that bit more impressive too, towering over him, at it’s prime. William jumped out of his seat and went to the lounge area, eagerly unlocking his briefcase.
“Do you really think that sensible on a flight, William,” Annette scolded.
William ignored her, turning the case round for Wesker to inspect, eyes shining.
“Hmm!” Wesker came close. He splayed a gloved hand over the vials, dragging a finger down one. “Finally, after so many years… These wretched things have monopolised your attention for far too long.”
“Albert…” William whined, expression going to pouting.
“Stunning,” Wesker said, returning his gaze to him with the acknowledgement William craved. “You really have outdone yourself, Dr Birkin. I am most eager to see its microscopic make up.”
William basked in the radiance of that praise, smile so wide his cheeks hurt.
“Oh! Annette! Come and see!” William exclaimed. He beckoned his wife over.
“Can I see too?” Sherry asked.
William hesitated.
“Oh please!” Sherry looked at him wetly. “I want to see the thing that’s most important, Daddy! I’m proud of you too!”
“Alright. Keep your distance though, Sherry, don’t touch. It’s very dangerous.”
Everyone gathered around the briefcase to look on the softly glowing viral samples steaming lightly in their ice cold casing.
“They’re a pretty purple colour,” Sherry said. “Is this what you’ve been working on for years and years, Daddy? And Mommy too?”
“That’s right, Sherry,” William said proudly.
“What does it do?” Sherry asked, eager.
“It is a retrovirus that can regenerate damaged and dead tissue at a staggering rate, and stimulates exponential evolution of cellular structure!” William told her.
Sherry looked up at him, confusion rampant in her sorrowful blue eyes. William’s heart fell. He would have been overjoyed to hear such a thing at his daughter’s age. His mood slumped and he turned away.
“A man defeats death and his own daughter doesn’t notice,” William muttered.
Annette gave him a sharp glance.
“A viral enhancer, Sherry,” Annette clarified.
Sherry’s face still looked utterly bemused.
“Oh, okay!” she said, voice a little anxious.
William closed the case, locking it carefully. Wesker sat on the sofa, and indicated for Sherry to join him. She came and squeezed up next to him.
“I assume genetic compatibility is still a complicating factor?” he asked William, who joined him.
“Mm… yes,” he admitted. “Actually… I was wondering if you might give me a sample of yours to test with.”
Wesker preened under the suggestion.
“Will the viruses not compete with one another? I am hardly a blank slate to test upon.”
“True, but your superior genetics may resolve some of my questions as to G’s compatibility.”
Annette sighed again and rolled her eyes.
“He does have very impressive genetics, Annette, you’d certainly agree if I showed you.”
“What are genetics?” Sherry piped up.
“Oh hush, Sherry!” William snipped.
He regretted it though when his daughter’s face fell. Wesker turned to her then, smile charming as ever.
“Genetics, dear Sherry, is the study of genes. A gene is a sequence of DNA which includes all the information needed to make your body. Change one minute fragment, and you change a good deal about a person.”
Sherry looked up at him, and William felt a pang of jealousy when some comprehension appeared in Sherry’s eyes.
“So… you can change the information, and I’d be a different Sherry?”
“Just so, my dear.”
“What kind of Sherry would the purple stuff make me?”
“I should think if you injected the Golgotha Virus, it would mean you’d never have a cut or bruise again, and possibly never die. But that you rapidly would no longer resemble a human either.”
Sherry blinked.
“Not a human? What would I be? Could I be a cat?”
Wesker stared at her, and William felt a triumphant vindication when his friend finally ran out of patience for childish inquiry.
“No…” Wesker said sourly.
“Where are you taking us anyway,” William asked, keen for the conversation to focus on himself again.
Wesker extracted himself from the sofa and went to a mini fridge, bringing out a series of meals on flight trays.
“I have a temporary base provided by a corporation I’ve been working for,” Wesker gave. “Sherry, come here and choose what meal you’d like.”
Just being spoken to made Sherry perk up again and she eagerly hurried over.
“Another corporation?” Annette inquired. “You’ve been working with them this whole time?”
“Old news.” William waved away her question. “Albert’s been dabbling in different allegiances for a while. It was always necessary to secure our exit from Umbrella.” He leant forward now. “But does it have a laboratory, Albert? That’s what really matters.”
Wesker placed Sherry’s chosen tray in a microwave oven and bade her sit down.
“A small affair, and nothing like you are used to, but it suits for the present. We shall have to build our own accommodations at a later date.”
They were soon eating together, save Wesker, who professed to have ‘just eaten’ two days ago, which William thought ironic given all his past nagging on regular meal times. After dinner, Sherry took to reading, and William, Wesker, and Annette talked virology and the state of bioweapons in the world. At some point, Sherry put herself to bed in one of the cabins at the back of the jet, and some hours later, Annette followed suit. William hardly noticed, engrossed in discussion and elated to finally have his lab partner returned to him.
“William, darling, it’s getting rather late for you. My sleep cycles are rather different with the T virus, but yours are not. Must I implore you to sleep?” Wesker said at last.
“What? But I have not touched on the matter of the European Nemesis Alpha nor it’s potential!” William exclaimed.
“And I am avid to hear of both, especially since I’ve been so starved of decent conversation, but I have, in a rather underhand manner, been seeking to restore your health… and hygiene, and I do not wish to undermine my own efforts.”
William opened his mouth, then shut his mouth.
“Why you sneaky little- So that’s what all this changing cars and hotels and only packing me ridiculous suits is about?!”
“And very nice it looks on you too.”
“I’m a grown man, and I don’t appreciate your manipulating me like this, Albert!”
“I manipulate grown men all the time, but you I’ve manipulated for years regardless. Run along now. I demand to have you at your best, I won’t suffer for any mediocre version of William Birkin.”
William glowered at him, but he did retire at that insistence. He bumbled his way into the cabin where Sherry and Annette were already occupying two of the cots. He grumbled as he got into his pyjamas, until Annette shot him a glower from under her sleeping mask that shut him up.
They set down the next morning on a runway of red desert. Bright bushes clung to dry dust and a scape of marine blue sky dressed the heads of strange, ancient rock formations. William looked out dubiously on the sight, and pulled a face when a wall of heat hit him as the jet door opened. Wesker tutted to look on that expression, but ushered them into a facility that was cool, and soon William was back in the comfort of sterile underground laboratory warrens. The only side-eye he still gave was at the anonymous black-fatigue-clad military types who were all saluting to Wesker as they passed.
Wesker showed them to an underground apartment that was to be their own. It included all the basics, and there was even a room for Sherry which included, to her delight, an upright piano, which she’d been nagging for for years. She threw her arms about Wesker in delight, while the man smiled his insufferable smug smile that made William think this was intended to be some jab at his parental abilities. After leaving Sherry to her unpacking and musicianship, Wesker showed them to the facility’s modest lab. William was unimpressed. His lips pursed together and his arms folded. He regarded Wesker darkly.
Wesker sighed.
“The downgrade is temporary. I can hardly whip up something to rival NEST in mere months and with such a limited budget.”
“We had better at the training school,” William said bitterly.
“We did not. You persist in having a rose-tinted view of the affair, perhaps I should have left you to roam those halls a little longer on your own.”
William shuddered. Some months ago, they’d been ordered to assess the place for reopening, and found the school had been overrun by some of their late teacher’s pet experiments, lain dormant for decades. The place had had an insidious air to it long before that though.
“It’s adequate,” Annette said, nodding as she inspected the equipment. “It will be enough for the commercialisation of G.”
“So long as we can commercialise it,” Wesker muttered.
William gave him another glare. Albert had never made any secret of the fact that he believed the G Virus to be a waste of time and money.
“The United States government were leaping at the opportunity,” William said haughtily. “It will sell. I made it, after all.” He ran his hands over some of the equipment, fingers pausing on an operating chair, distain still evident. “Well… let us give it a test run. Albert?”
Wesker sighed and began unbuttoning his uniform.
“Do you need an assistant?” Annette inquired.
“Could you prep a few needles for me, please?” William said, donning a labcoat and gloves.
He flicked on the computers, and the room began to come alive with the calming whir of machinery. William even found himself humming in harmony as he fine-tuned the electron-microscope.
“Has all this been serviced recently?” he asked.
“Mm, yesterday.” Wesker was reclining on the operating chair, shades still on.
Annette set a tray of sterilised needles next to the chair, alongside a rack of test-tubes and slides.
“There’s a lockable fridge in the corner if you want to transfer G, William,” she said to him.
William made a noise of distress, and picked up the case again possessively.
“Suit yourself,” Annette said, tired, and she left.
“You will stop clutching that thing at some point, won’t you?” Wesker inquired, tilting his head back to look at William.
“Of course,” the other muttered. “Just not yet.”
William came and ran a finger down Wesker’s arm, admiring the way the veins stood out there.
“You’re going to be so easy to canulate from!” he exclaimed in delight.
“That’s what all the doctors tell me,” Wesker said lazily.
“You see other doctors?!”
Wesker looked up at him with some exhaustion. William grumbled before easing that needle into the vein. He drew up a small sample and touched a drop to a slide. He set it under the microscope, and was irritated to find Wesker was immediately at his side.
“I’m not done with you…”
“I want to see,” Wesker demanded. He began zooming in on the specimen.
In the moment where they both waited for the cells to come into focus, William felt such a thrill, such elation.
“This is the way it should always have been,” he whispered.
“I agree, my blood looks far better like this. Look at this stunning pattern of mutation.”
William sighed.
“Move over, I’m lead researcher.” He zoomed in further then brought the specimen into sharper focus. “It is remarkable.”
“I’m remarkable. Say it.”
William looked over his shoulder.
“You’re being rather catty today.”
“I’m tired of being polite in front of your family.”
“Mrm, I surmised as much. Well, you are remarkable. I want to take more though. It’s imperative we ensure long term stability.”
“You suspect degradation?”
“I cannot say. Aside from Miss Trevor, no one else has received a dose of a Tyrant-adjacent virus and retained any cognitive capacity.”
Wesker’s expression flickered.
“I have no desire to lose any of my mental faculties. I confess to being a little irked that you did not think to disclose these concerns in advance, William.”
There was a glow of soft red behind his glasses that made William shiver. Matters were not made better by the display of power clear in Wesker’s physique. Gone were the days when labwork alone occupied all his time. Wesker was not just a man in his prime, but one to be envied: toned muscle build onto his frame and a height and stature to him that William did not recall overshadowing his own quite so dramatically before.
“That is the last thing I would ever wish either,” William breathed, eyes earnest and just a little pleading. “If there are any long-term side effects, we shall know of them well in advance, and work on a stabiliser together, alright?”
Wesker was still very close. His feverishly hot skin was radiating warmth. William shivered, shoulders caving.
“Are you upset with me?” William asked, expression now miserable. “I wish you wouldn’t intimidate me, Albert, you know I’d do anything to help you…”
Wesker withdrew, a testy huff drawing from him. He came and laid back down on the chair. William was soothing and simpering as he returned to his side, and gentler with a needle than he’d ever been before. He chatted through his hopes and plans as he drew blood, tested Wesker’s reactions and took temperature readings. He only paused when he realised Wesker had been silent this whole time. He touched his hand cautiously.
“Albert?”
Wesker looked at him, and for a moment, William stood pinned in place, something primitive rooting him to the spot in fear. He became distinctly aware, in a way he never had with a previous subject, that this was not a human. His breath came faster, and his eyes widened. He briefly wondered what on earth he’d done to his oldest friend.
Wesker sat up and touched William’s chin briefly.
“My temper is curbed. Come. There is something I wish to show you.”
William followed after him, a new awe in him, the fear not completely eradicated.
“You’ll show me your speed and strength too, won’t you?” William begged.
“In time.”
Wesker perched on a lab bench and turned a monitor to him. He typed rapidly, so that William could only admire the spindly grace of those fingers, and wonder if this too was a gift of the virus.
Wesker turned the screen to him. William leaned in. A grainy picture stood before him – a camera feed. He recognised the image after a moment – the P-4 Level testing lab. He gave a strangled cry. The lab was a wreck, turned upside down. Wesker cycled through more cameras showing the wreckage of NEST, each room ransacked. William bit his lip hard. He looked anxiously up at Wesker.
“They tore the place apart in the minutes after you exited.” Wesker’s eyes glittered crimson behind his glasses.
“You saved my life…” William said, comprehending the full magnitude of events for the first time.
“Don’t forget it,” Wesker said softly. “Just as I will not forget the one who has given me this… power.” His hand closed into a fist.
William swallowed, again thinking of indirect means by which he’d come by Wesker’s virus. Wesker’s head tilted, as if somehow reading that indiscretion. The glow of his eyes shone brighter. William set his hands around Wesker’s fist, holding it reverently in his own.
“We shall shape the future together, Albert, you and I. Nothing can hold us back now that we are free of Umbrella.” He looked at Wesker earnestly. That fiery red died down, and William saw a softer amber in its place. “And now I have you in person to protect me. Truly, we will be unstoppable,” he whispered. His lip wobbled, and his eyes filled with emotion, damp gathering there as he let the events of the last day catch up to him. A tear escaped and straggled down his cheek. “You know… I thought I’d killed you. I thought the virus hadn’t worked, and th-that I’d lost you.”
Wesker tutted.
“Do not weep for what never occurred. I was remiss not to inform you, but the circumstances were somewhat extreme.”
William was never going to get over the clinical way his friend spoke. He sniffed, blinking to keep away the threat of more tears. He realised Wesker’s gaze was tracking him, and his brows had furrowed slightly.
“What will stop those tears, William? Would you like to take extra blood samples.”
“O-oh, yes please!” William said, brushing roughly at his eyes. “I-I really want to run them through half a dozen more tests, and I’m so curious to see how a bonded T sample interacts with my completed G.”
Wesker sighed and returned to the operating chair. He gestured for William to stick the needle back in his arm.
“Whatever you wish. Take as much as you desire,” Wesker said, leaning back in the chair. “But no more tears. Your unhappiness irks me and requires eradication.”
“I wonder what that would produce under isopycnic centrifugation…”
“Your tears?”
“No, Albert…”
Wesker gave him the ghost of a smile. It brought a laugh out of William despite everything. Gladness flooded William as he felt tension leave Wesker’s shoulders, and the formidable bioweapon before him relaxed into his care.