Life Finds a Way

Chapter 28

When Clarissa awoke finally the room was nearly completely dark. It was only lit by the screen of the monitor next to the bed she was lying on. It was enough for her to see well enough, but she wished it was completely dark. Minerva had warned her it would be bad when she woke up and she hadn't exaggerated. Her head felt like it was going to split apart; not as bad as her last migraine but still bad enough to make her want to curl in on herself and try to escape back into sleep. It wasn't until she tried to do that exact thing that she noticed she was strapped firmly to the bed with no room to move.

Panic instantly flared within her. Her first thought was that they had finally allowed Hojo to take her after what they found. She knew panic would serve no purpose but couldn't get her heart rate or breathing under control. The thought of being subjected to Hojo's uncensored whims had her struggling against the straps holding her to the bed.

She didn't know how long she struggled but it had to have been several minutes at the very least. It was a sign of how distraught she was over the thoughts of the maniac scientist that when the door finally opened to reveal Tseng, she was relieved. That relief was short lived however as he didn't say anything when he reached the bedside. He only watched her with that evaluating look in his eyes. When he finally spoke, she found it difficult to not start struggling again. "I would like to ask you some questions. I am not sure if you have been conditioned, or if you are an excellent actor, but either way I have ways to get what I need."

Clarissa could feel her skin get clammy at those words. She instantly had visions of torture and between that and her head, her stomach felt like it was going to empty itself at any moment. It took a supreme effort of willpower to keep from getting sick. It mostly came down to the fact that she knew she had no way to not choke if it happened. When she finally got herself under control, she tried to stop him. Her voice was barely more than a whisper. "You don't need to take drastic measures. I will answer any questions you have."

Tseng just gave her a cold look. "The same things you have told Genesis? No, I think we need to dig a little deeper." Tseng had walked to the other side of the bed while he spoke. It was then that Clarissa noticed she was hooked up to the monitor as well as to an IV. When she watched him pull a syringe out of his pocket she almost passed out from fear. She had an idea of what this meant, and it wasn't any better than physical torture. She watched as he emptied the contents of the syringe into her IV. She struggled, even though she knew it was useless, until the lethargy finally overtook her.

Tseng watched as the woman's movements finally stilled then gave it a few more minutes before speaking. "State your name."

There was a pause as Clarissa tried to focus on his face, but she finally answered, her voice in an eerie monotone. "Clarissa Marie Williamson."

Tseng paused at that. He had hoped the serum might have bypassed any conditioning as using a similar method was the normal route to implement behavioral and memory modifications. He didn't let it stop him. It was possible he needed to push a little more for the answers he needed. "How old are you?"

Clarissa's eyes had slid almost closed at this point, but she managed to answer, again in a monotone. "38"

This time Tseng didn't pause in his questioning. "What town did you grow up in?"

"Bayview."

"What are your parent's names?"

"Vera and Robert Williamson."

That answer made Tseng pause again. Those names were very close to her actual parents, but not quite. Her father's name was Ronald, not Robert. It made him wonder if the conditioning was so complete because the facts were so similar. He tabled that thought for later and continued his questioning. His questions stayed in the area of facts, who she knew, where she worked, her line of work. All her answers were the same things she had already told them. Even the questions she had not been previously asked were close, but not quite correct. After more than a half hour of questions like those, he realized this session was most likely not going to produce the results he wanted.