A Sanguine Vision (Leon Kennedy x OC) [BOOK 4]

Chapter 6: I Don't

------ Rebecca ------

Flower petals, soft and serene, floating through the air. The hum of a man close by, content, but somehow a melancholy hymn laced itself into the final note.Handcuffs, brittle and cold, biting into her wrists.

The smell of rot so pungent that it gnawed at memories locked away within the deep recesses of her mind.

Rebecca raised her head, blinking, as the room finally came into focus through the throbbing in her skull. White clothed tables adorned with soft pink ribbons lined themselves up before her. Just ahead was a wall of screens, providing the illusion of a bright orchard and peony petal rain. It was like a play, and the chosen setting was some sort of faux wedding ceremony around her.

Yet this must've been a wedding from hell. Zombies snarled around her, strapped to their chairs at the round tables, dribbling gore and rotten saliva onto the tablecloths and the formal attire their withering forms had been shoved into. Each of them was damaged so severely it was a wonder that even a virus managed to keep them active. Every single one of them was badly burned, and many were missing a limb or two. Skin hung from their jaws, exposing what was left of their rotting teeth and blackened tongues. Many were left bald or close to it, a key sign that these corpses had lost their souls a long time ago.

Rebecca glanced down at her own attire, and blanched when she saw the soft ivory lace hugging her body. Someone had changed her, taken off her clothes and put her in something new. The thought of someone's hands running up her body while she was unconscious made her want to hurl.

But she can't dwell on that–she needs to get out of here. Now.

She pushed at the handcuffs, hoping they were somehow loose enough for her to slip out, but no luck. However, the jingle of metal caught the attention of the ghoulish wedding guests. Each of them turned their stained, hollow eyes toward her and began to howl and snarl with delight.

"I've successfully reanimated them, but I haven't quite worked out how to hold back decomposition," A male voice echoed from somewhere behind Rebecca. She struggled against her restraints again as the man's footsteps tracked closer, "But I suppose practice makes perfect."

Arias emerged from her peripheral vision, hands laced behind his back. He was dressed in a white tuxedo, a single pink peony fastened to his chest like a badge, the pretty flower so at odds with his haunting demeanor.

"There's nothing you can do to help them," Rebecca hissed.

Arias tsked, hands uncurling from his back as he got close to a male zombie in a gray suit, the front stained with the remnants of its last meal.

"Miracles are simply the culmination of practice and drive," The zombie seemed to settle as Arias reached out a hand and prodded at a flap of skin on his cheekbone, mushing it back into place. It was then that Rebeccas focused on the numerous staples and crude stitches embedded in the beast's flesh. Once Arias was satisfied with his pet's new look, he said, "If anyone understands that, it's you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rebecca murmured, not wanting to fully meet the man's cruel, predatory gaze. No doubt he had been the one to change her.

"Don't play the fool, my dear," He cooed, "We both know you've manufactured a vaccine to fight my virus."

Arias strode towards her, shoulder back and hollow eye looming over her.

"Dr. Rebecca Chambers, former member of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Unit, Raccoon City survivor, voted most promising young scientist of the year three times....The list goes on." With each word he sauntered closer, "You are quite impressive."