The familiar face staggered in, his shirt soaked in blood; two visible wounds, one on the left side of his stomach, the other above, near the shoulder joint.
"I've been... shot..." Jase struggle to speak; she glanced at Billy. "Not... by him..." He shook his head, and leaned against the wall. "That son of a bitch... just broke my fucking legs... no- it was that... bastard... Mack..." His body slid down, unable to keep his balance. "Listen... I know..." He coughed. "I know ... who has Ruben..." Her eyes widened.
"He's alive!?" That was her one and only concern. "In what condition!?" He replied with a scorned laugh.
"Better than... anyone in this goddamn... place..." She approached him, and gave Billy a hand gesture, as not to worry.
"Here-" She tossed him a roll of gauze, and handed him some analgesics. "Patch yourself up- and KEEP talking." He complied, his condition far worse than hers.
"He's with that... damn- Wil... bert..." He pulled one bullet out with his fingers, before finding but dim relief through painkillers.
"Dr Nolhan!?" An unexpected feeling surged within her; he let out another jeered laugh.
"That old... bastard... he knew- dammit-" He pulled the other bullet out. "He knew what was... going on... in this hos...pital..." His face creased from pain. With not much time left, she kneeled to his side, and tended to his injuries the best she could. She cared not if he died, but she needed to keep him alive long enough to hear everything he knew.
"What was going on here?" She finished patching him up. "What were they doing with Ruben- with this little girl- right there!?" Her tone sounded desperate, almost like a shout, as she gestured in direction of the glass tube.
"Closing the hospital... was a front..." Keeping the truth from her would serve him no purpose, his life already doomed. "All patients... admitted since... were all people subjected to a new-" He could feel his life fading fast; his body shivered, the freezing temperature adding to his own decreasing blood heat. "To a new strain... of virus..." He reached for his pocket, and pulled out a disk.
"And what about Lucy? Ruben- Raphael and Mika!?" His words were not satisfactory. "What did they have to do with any of this??" He pointed at the disk.
"Everything... everything's- on this..." He handed it to her. "Your friend doctor... Nolhan... he played his game well..." He coughed out blood. "Damn well..." He pulled a cassette out of his jacket. "Ruben's... pos... possible location... is on thi..." His time had come. She stood back up, her eyes darting at the now dead man; she felt both repulsed yet relieved.
"You think he was telling the truth?" Billy got closer.
"Given his condition- he had no reason to lie." She had a point. "I knew him well enough to know that." She stored away the received items.
"We might be able to use those-" He paused. "In that room... the one with the levers... but we need to be careful- whoever that Mack guy is, he's most likely still around here somewhere." She closed her eyes, took in a deep breathe, and gestured for him to lead the way.
They proceeded back to B3 and reached the room. She stopped herself, looking at the door, before refocusing on the pile of bodies. She circled back around, her eyes traveling across, looking for something; she kneeled, and reached out, her hand quivering, as she gently moved one of the heads.
I'm so sorry... Mika... She plucked the earrings off the teenager girl. So sorry... I couldn't save you in time... She reached in deeper, and pulled an arm out from under the clump. Raphael... god- I'm so sorry... She removed a small charm bracelet, as she fought against the sickening feeling; tears running down, her heart feeling as if it was about to burst out. She closed her eyes, and held the remembrances tightly against her chest. A few moments followed.
"Let's go..." She eventually stood up, and gave him a nod. They went in, Billy wasting no time turning one of the computers on.
"Here- this should do it." He took another look around the room. "And this should work for the other one..." He pointed at a nearby cassette deck. She walked to the latter, this recording what she needed most at the moment, desperate for even the slightest ray of light in the seemingly endless hell.
"This is Dr Wilbert Nolhan- July 15 1998-" A familiar voice spoke. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this façade- the things I've seen- things I had to do... Stoneville is becoming a second playground..." She absorbed every word. "I've known from the very beginning, that Umbrella was up to no good- and it's clear as day, that some of its staff operates in hostile competition and a lot of spite... stealing and leaking experiment results and intel on the T-Virus..." She paused, and pulled out her small journal; browsing through the many pages, she eventually turned to a blank one. She scribbled a few things, before resuming the recording. "For the last few weeks, a man - Malcolm Hempton, known as Mack - has secretly been sending candidates for clinical trials, transferring some of our patients to Oaksford Miles Hospital." She paused again. Medical trials in Oaksford Caelum...
