Out of dut-.. love

3

CHRIS

Two weeks. It has been two weeks since the events in China happened. Two weeks and I never stopped trying. HQ still didn't let me go on the rescue mission for Piers. I still had to do his job, handing over reports and other things. Right now I had a meeting with a new members of my team. Including a replacement for Piers' position. I didn't want to go to meet that guy. I knew it wasn't his fault but replacing Piers so soon hurt. They didn't find a body or any traces. Any proof that Piers Nivans was dead. The BSAA was searching over the ruins of the facility, looking for some possible threat and other important things. One of my friends in the searching team promised he will keep his eyes open for Piers.
I was sitting in my office, holding my head in my palms. I was so tired. The nightmares I had. Last night it was a pretty bad one. I saw Piers,all bloody and in pain as he begged me to help him. And when I actually was about to, Haos came in and killed Piers in front of me. And Piers cried as he died in my arms, asking me why I didn't help him. I didn't want to deal with anyone right now but I couldn't postpone the meeting. And later I had a meeting with agent Birkin and Jake Muller. Sherry called me they need to speak to me. I didn't want to deal with Jake's bullshit but there was no use to protest here. If they wanted to talk they will talk. I took a deep breath before leaving my office to see my new team. My bosses were standing there, introducing one by one. And then they stopped before a rather short but bulky guy. Well guy... A boy. Maybe year or two younger than Piers. Piers.. My mind wander towards my soldier. "Redfield." I hummed and looked at my boss before at the boy, taking his stretched hand in my. I then had to spend some time with them, observing them. They were nothing like the man I lost. Jeff, Finn, Marco and the others. They were like a family. They were making fun of each other but they always had each other's back. And there was Piers. This new one, Dave, was nothing like him. Piers had enough respect to put the guys in line. Even tho he was sometimes harsh on them. Especially at Finn. But he cared deeply about every one of them. "Captain?" I hated this. I remembered how I told Piers to call me by my name but the soldier never stopped calling me Captain. "Yes?"
"I heard what happened in China. With your team and with the guy I took place for." I was just staring at him before humming. "It has to be really hard to be back at service after such a tragedy." I knew he meant it well but damn was he getting on my nerves. "Yes I would rather not talk about it." I told him and he gave a somehow nice smile. "I just heard what happened with soldier Nivans. I heard how he saved your life. He must have been so brave." The boy kept talking and I gripped the mug in my hand hard. "Piers was the best between best and he was the true hero. I was lucky to have him in the team." I said before turning over, walking out of that bloody room. These weren't my people. My guys I lost. "Redfield! What was that?!"
"I'm sorry sir but after what happened it's still too soon for me to act like nothing happend. These deaths maybe doesn't bother you but I give a shit. They were my family and Piers is maybe still down there but you refuse to look for him!"
"He is long death by now Redfield. It's been two weeks. No one could survive the virus without turning completely for that long." I knew that it was probably true but what if? Without spending another words on him and left. I drove towards the place where Sherry and Jake wanted to meet. It was a small apartment building, fancy must I say. I called Sherry after I arrived and she let me in. "Hey Chris. How are you doing?"
"I've been better." Was my short reply and I rolled my eyes when I saw Jake smirking at me. "Missing the puppy?"
I even forgot why Jake was calling Piers puppy but I knew how Piers hated it. "What did you want to talk about? I don't really have the mood for chatting, no offense Sherry." Sherry waved it off but Jake pretended to be hurt." I think you will change your mind soon." Sherry said seriously and motioned for me to sit down on the couch. "I know you won't wanna do this but trust me, it will be worth it."
"Get it on with already." I grumbled and Jake snorts before turning his laptop on, inserting a flash drive into it. He opened the file, a video and I immediately recognized it. The underwater facility. "I-I don't wanna watch this. Please." My voice was shaking but Jake pressed play anyway. "The security cameras. You will wanna see the end, sadly I can't really rewind it so.." And here it was. The last moments of me and Piers together. Everything was coming back to me as if it happened just yesterday. "Piers open the goddamn door!"
"Piers no, don't do this!" I felt sick in the stomach as I watched Piers standing there all alone before he killed Haos. Finally. And then he collapsed down on the floor, in the cold water. He cried, he tugged at the mutated arm, trying to rip it off. I pressed a palm over my mouth. "Oh God. Piers.." And then nothing, Piers stopped moving. "Don't worry he just fell asleep." Sherry whispered and touched my knee. The next time Piers woke up, he called for me. "Chris?... Captain?" He had no idea what happened and he cried, asking why did I leave without him before he came to his senses. He tried to sit up but he was too weak. The water was filling up the facility quickly. The video then stopped before Jake opened another one. "This is from two days ago." He said to me before pressing the play button. There he was, my soldier, still alive. Still half human. Still with just his right side mutated. But there was something forming all over his body and I soon recognized what it was. The cocoon we saw around so many mutated. If Piers was strong enough to survive for that long maybe he could survive in that cocoon. "I don't wanna give you false hopes but he might be still alive and maybe Jake's blood could still help him." Sherry gave me a small smile and I stood up. Piers is maybe still alive. As I was about to talk to them more about it, my phone rang. It was from work that I should come to the military hospital right now. And I was asked to bring Jake Muller with me. So we all drove to the hospital where the friend was waiting for me. "What's going on?" I asked the friend from the searching team and he looked at me with wide eyes, his hands shaking. And then we heard a scream. Painful almost agonizing scream. I knew that voice. I looked at my friend and he nodded. "We found him. Well we didn't know it's him but then we opened that cocoon and found his dog tags. Right after we opened it he woke up screaming." I couldn't believe it. Piers was really here. I wanted to go to see him but the doctors that came out of that room stopped me. "Muller come with us we need to give him more of your blood." They took Jake away and me and Sherry came closer to the room Piers was in. And at a second I could see inside through the not completely closed door. There was blood and that mutated parts of his body. "Chris you can't go in right now. It's not pretty." My friend's head peeked through the door. "I saw people hit with bio-terrorism before."
"This isn't what we saw before. We have to ampute the whole arm, peel off the mutated skin and I don't know about his right eye." He closed the door and I heard Piers scream again before he finally collapsed. I guesses by the silence that came after the doctor with Jake's blood ran into the room. And then all the blood drained from my veins as I heard Piers scream one more time. "Captain!!"