THE BARN WAS STIFLING ,thick with the musky scent of all thing unpleasant , & of course , he couldn’t miss the decomposing piles of … whatever they could have been when they were alive . & he thought better than to ask jackie what exactly they were , & he was certain that he wouldn’t have liked the answer . yet the questions remained hung in heavy air . but who were they ? humans ? were they like me ? how’d they get here ?
❝ they’re searching for me . ❞ he comments instead , a heavy swallow going down his throat . it almost burns , & a small irk of panic rises through his chest . whatever it was that resided in him now , he’d forgotten his control of it . the longer he’d stayed in the lab , the more the lab - coats had tried to bring the thing outwards , & each time , they had succeeded . now , he was uncertain of how the thing worked within him now , a part of him was certain that it had a mind of its own . & eveline … .
❝she’s searching for me too . ❞ it’s said in a fearful breath , & he stalls , ❝ & she — she’s searching for you too . ❞ it had been made evident from the black sludge that jackie had been spewing only moments earlier . it was how it all began , before it began to progress on towards the whole consumption of the body . before you became like the bakers .
his stomach still churned by the memory of it all ,—– how he’d clawed against the doors until his fingers began to bleed , & the hollow , evil stares of each family members , & the indescribable stench that rotted through the house . but carson , weren’t you like them as well ? you were a family once , too .
❝ you — shouldn’t have helped me out . it might have been better for me to stay there , i don’t know what will happen now . eveline will find her way to bring us back to her family , & . . then we’ll be a family again . ❞ he sifts through the dampened hay piles , carefully picking his way through the dilapidated plants of rotted wood , and dusts the space next to jackie before crouching down .
he couldn’t go back to that house again . no . he had somehow escaped once , but he would not make it out for the second time . eveline would eat her way through him entirely , & he would only become a mindless creature to play out the role of a brother for her . ❝ but . but thank you . you let me out , because you see me as a human , don’t you ? ❞
“They’re searching for both of us, I know.
Really not helping to keep reminding me, buddy.” She says in a very defeatist tone, setting herself down on the ground beside Carson, legs
crossed like a pretzel in front of her. She rests her chin in the palm of her
hand, sighing through her nostrils. “That little bitch, Eveline – Yeah, and I hope you hear
me talking shit about you, you teeny tiny whore!” She seemed to be screaming at no one, eyes cast off
in the distance, staring at one particularly darkened corner of the barn.
She just knew the freak was spying on them from some far off place – or
maybe she wasn’t far away at all, and was hiding out in the bunker of the barn
ceiling, just waiting to pounce. Paranoia was taking a heavy toll on her
sanity. Her hands were trembling, and she wasn’t sure if that was because of the nerves, the virus
within her, the withdrawal she was experiencing after being off stolen Umbrella
Corp. painkillers for so long… Perhaps a deadly trifecta of all three.
There’s a deep set frown that
only grows the more Carson speaks, and by the end of his worrywart sentiments,
she’s
shaking her head violently, putting her hand on his shoulder to steady him
through her touch. “Listen, let me tell you something. No one, and I mean fucking no one on god’s green earth is ever going to hurt you like you’ve been hurt. I fucking
promise you that. Not Umbrella Corp., not Eveline, not her freakish demonic
zombified slaves – As long as I’m holding on to you, just like this –“ She motions in between
them with her index finger, emphasizing their physical closeness. “Eveline’s gonna need a goddamn
crowbar to pry us apart. We got this, Carson. We. Got. This. Together. You’re more human than any of
the researchers in that lab, who burned and cut you open without a second
glance. I think you’re just as human as anyone; in fact, probably more so. You actually feel things, and that’s more than most so
called people can honestly say in
this day and age.
While she says her
motivational speech, she can hear the warble of her shaky voice. She knows
Carson can still detect the fear, the uncertainty looming in her dark eyes.
But, if they were going to make it out of here alive, or at the very least, sane, they needed to hear something encouraging. She’s quickly started to
realize just how detrimental self-deprecation and hopeless words led to
hopeless thoughts. And the last thing they needed was to show Eveline just how
hopeless they’d become.
She’s quiet for a moment,
listening to the rustling of hay in the background that signified the presence
of rats, or other small critters lurking there in their nests. “Hey,” She can’t help but laugh,
attempting to lighten the mood just a bit, despite the darkness surrounding
them, literally and figuratively. “If I turn into one of those monsters, will you still
promise to call me pretty if I ask? Even spongy, black goo monsters need a
little self confidence booster.” She nudges Carson’s shoulder with hers as she giggles, so much that she
misses a larger, more distinct rustling in the hay, more exaggerated than
before. When she calms herself, she manages to catch it, and her heart is
spinning into overdrive again. So much for a lighthearted moment.
She squints her eyes, trying
to make out something, anything in
the pitch darkness. It seems to be coming in the direction of the decaying
smell, where the bodies were most likely hidden poorly underneath some straw. “Oh fuck…” She whispers,
instinctively grabbing Carson as though she were suddenly his protective
mother. “I hope that’s not an experiment they didn’t put out of its misery all the way…”
As if on cue, a monstrous
growl resonates from behind a bale of hay, as a short, humanoid figure creeps
out and into view. It’s a hideous sight, made even more horrific from the
lack of sufficient light. It’s missing an arm, and seems to be hobbling on a
lame foot, but still,is coming toward Jackie and Carson with deliberate
malice in its moaning and groaning. It’s setting its black eyes directly on
the pair, single arm outstretched as it shuffles closer. It almost looks more pitiful than intimidating, and if one
looks close enough, humanity is not entirely lost from the orbs stuck deep
within the deformed mass that is supposed to pass as its skull.
“Jesus, should we just finish them off?” She turned to look at Carson, biting at her bottom
lip with indecision. “I’m sure we could take them… They look like shit, no pun intended.”