Catabolism - Part Two: Diplopia

Chapter Three

Chris Redfield did not know what he expected, but it sure was not this. As he stood at the front doors to the research hospital, pocketing his phone, he surveyed the damage with a deepening frown. He pivoted out of the way of the rushing SWAT officers darting in and out, doing their best to keep everything as civilized as possible. Despite the confusion and initial contained chaos, things seemed to be calming down somewhat.

And yet his mind could not seem to settle.

It began when the anonymous tip came through on an untraceable number, alleging that the relatively new medical facility was actually being run by wanted bioterrorist Dr. Eric Elliott. Why the tip was sent to the BSAA directly was not worth stopping to ponder, because they quickly received authorization to pursue the lead. Chris and his team, aided by the local SWAT, were on the scene and raiding the hospital within hours of the call.

The initial panic was to be expected, but what was a surprise was how easily the answers came from the staff when questioned. Most confirmed that the facility dealt in experimental treatments and was run by Dr. Elliott. The helpfulness ran out as each face turned blank or confused when questioned about their knowledge of Dr. Elliott's criminal history. No one seemed to know they had been working for a man who had once worked for Umbrella.

Vexing still was the fact that all stories matched in one particular regard: Dr. Elliott had not been seen in the past twenty-four hours, after entering his office the day before. No one had seen him leave, nor arrive at work that day, no answered emails or picked up calls, and his office door was locked.

It took very little to electronically pick the lock to Dr. Elliott's office, Chris insisting on only two officers as backup; the rest of the team was needed to evacuate the staff and patients from the building, both for their safety and for further questioning. Given the man's history, everything would need to be bagged and tagged as evidence.

Chris gave a single warning through the door, and when no reply came, he kicked the door in, assault rifle leading the way. And then he came to an abrupt halt.

Dr. Elliott was still at his desk, leaning back in his ergonomic chair, grey arms limp against the rests. His eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling, cloudy and filmed over. The single bullet hole between his eyes had long ceased bleeding. The man had been dead for a while.

Proceeding with caution, Chris quickly made a second chilling discovery. There was no weapon present in the room. No gun, and the shot was so precise. Someone else had killed him. Which meant the staff needed to be questioned for a whole new reason. The ripple of shock was palpable, but Chris had the rest of his job to do.

He had combed through the entire facility, checked every room before making the call. What answers he had did not come as easily as he would have liked. Of his two targets, only one was accounted for, and after a brief check-in while passing the lieutenant, he felt safe concluding that no one matching Taliah Strode's description had been among those evacuated. But still, there had been only mild resistance amongst the staff, and the sweep uncovered no horrific experiments. Nothing that could even been considered a bioweapon. An evil, dangerous man was dead, and no one had been injured beyond a scientist stumbling on the stairs. The whole debacle had taken a single hour.

And yet Chris could not stop his mind from racing.

"Chris!"

Blinking back to reality, Chris looked in the direction of the familiar, high-pitched voice, seeing Rebecca Chambers half out of a makeshift triage meant for any of the patients on the premises. When asked if she wanted to tag along on the mission, she damn near threw herself into the van. It took some coaxing, but he finally managed to get her to admit that it was because she wanted to comb through Dr. Elliott's research. Morbid curiosity, she had said. Chris shrugged it off, knowing it was good to have her close for any worst-case, viral outbreak scenarios.