Means to an End

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Parker smiled at Chris slightly, patting him on the shoulder. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry too. I was so obsessed with finding Alex... I didn't stop to see the signs. I should have found out Jill was pregnant... Had I known that..." He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "I do blame myself for what happened to her."

Chris never responded to this. As soon as they were inside the building he muttered something about needing to get Parker certified and left the other man to navigate the holding cells alone.
Jessica, it seemed, had been waiting all day and half the night for him. She visibly brightened when he was let into her cell. "Parker!" She gushed, leaping to her feet to throw her arms around him. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

"You fool!" The man shouted, now trying to elbow his way toward Chris and Jill.
"She's saying what they want her to say." Chris muttered, waving Jill aside as she tried again for the device. "It's probably a fake thing to put us off. We don't have time to guess."

Parker made a grab for the man, which was difficult given he wasn't exactly back to full strength. "What is that thing?!" He demanded.
Jill was staring down at the device now, a frown on her face as she thought about how hard she had fought Chris... Simply because Wesker had told her to.

Chris snapped the trigger and the moment he did, he knew it was a mistake. A strange green gas began to fill the air and he was instantly coughing. Rebecca herself had gone very still.
The man Parker was fighting dropped like a stone. Moments later, as the gas wafted into the hallway, so did everyone else. Everyone, that was, except for Chris, Jill, and Parker. Chris didn't have to guess as to the reason.

"Chris..." Jill was backing away from Rebecca slowly. She had obviously seen this gas before. "We need to get Violet..." Of course, Jill wasn't foolish enough to assume their daughter was automatically immune to infection.

Chris was shoving to his feet, looking for Claire and his daughter. He knew Claire would be okay. He'd made sure she'd gotten Alex's blood as well. But Violet. He was running for the room, leaving Parker and Jill to deal with the man closest to them as he stood up. He was no longer alive. But he certainly wasn't dead either.

Jill was shoving Parker out the way. Of course, neither of them were armed, but given that it was injury that had put Parker in the hospital to begin with, she made the decision that she was stronger right then.
Violet was basically alone in the room right then. Claire had passed out on Jill's bed, the crisp white sheets stained deep crimson with her blood.

Rebecca too was stirring, though it wasn't clear whether she was still among the living or becoming a member of the growing number of undead.
"Fuck...fuck..." Chris wheezed, grabbing for the sheets that surrounded his sister. "Kiddo...can you walk?" He asked Violet, not sure he was offering her any kind of comfort.

Violet nodded. "It's an outbreak, isn't it?" The little girl asked calmly. "It's me... I know I caused it..." She whispered, genuinely believing that.

Chris frowned at this. He didn't like that a little girl should blame herself for something like this. "Actually." He said gently. "This was my fault."

"How is it your fault? Your blood isn't bad." Violet whispered, her sapphire eyes shining with tears as she looked up at her father.

"Oh baby." Chris gently laid his sister back down and hugged Violet tight. "You're a Redfield. Your blood isn't any worse than mine and trust me. Redfield blood is the best."

Rebecca dove for Parker, somehow managing to knock them both to the ground. She was shaky and weak but she didn't have any other choice. He'd nearly been bit. "Parker...we have to go...Jill!" She shouted to the other woman. "Tell me you have a weapon!" She'd collapse later. Now was not the time to be weak.

Violet sniffled quietly and shook her head. "Not anymore it isn't. He did something to me... Put a monster in me."

"I'm not going to start lying to you now!" Jill grunted as she kicked back a zombie that was advancing on her. "Get out of here, take Parker somewhere safe!"

Chris pulled his daughter tightly against him. "Don't think about him anymore, baby. He's gone. Momma and Daddy got rid of him. He won't hurt you anymore. No come on. We're gonna save the world again."

"Last time I saw you, you were in the same shape I was." Rebecca snorted, trying to pull Parker to standing. "Like I'm supposed to know... Come on, big guy. You have to tell me where Alex is."

"But he's not gone!" Violet insisted. "He was looking for Alex! And... And..." Violet was close to tears again, but bravely pushed them back down inside. "I ran away like a big baby!"

Jill groaned as a zombie bit into her shoulder, for which she promptly broke its neck. "I'll be right behind you, just go!"
Parker was struggling to stand, but was putting all of his strength into doing so. "Alex... At school..."

"We'll talk about all this later, okay?" Chris said gently, resting a hand on her shoulder as he got to his feet. "Right now I need you to be super brave for me and stay close while we go get Jill...your mom and every one else." That said he picked up his sister again and held her tight against him. "Come on, Violet."

"Oh good." Rebecca breathed, muttering something about Parker's naked backside as she pushed him down the hall. The ICU was crammed with zombies on both sides. This put the whole mansion bit to shame.

Violet was close behind her father, meaning he wouldn't notice that all the undead in the building... We're giving the dark haired little girl a rather wide berth.

"He hates me for it..." Parker wheezed as they moved. "But I had no choice... I had to find you!"

Chris was not aware of this. He was busy trying to figure out a way around the steadily growing group of monsters that was keeping him from Jill. He certainly didn't have enough bullets to press forward.
"Jill!" He shouted. "Tell me you're okay!"

"I know." Rebecca whispered, knowing she needed to keep him talking. "You know...I probably shouldn't have tried to call out. I should have just let them taking me. At least you guys wouldn't be in this mess."

Violet was peering around, looking for signs of the woman she had yet to even talk to. "You sure she's here?" She asked uncertainly. Of course, that was before a headless zombie came stumbling down the hallway, his head rolling after him.

"I'd rather be in this mess... Than not have you at all." Parker breathed. "Rebecca... It was hell without you... With you not even knowing who I was."

"Jill..." Chris had paused, watching his lover at work. All at once he was on his back, trying to fight off a rather large male zombie who was snapping his teeth at Chris' face.

"I would have thought it would give you a chance to run a mile in the other direction..." Rebecca paused, tripping up an undead teenage girl that was reaching for them.

Violet was quick to drag her unconscious aunt out of harms way, knowing nothing would harm them while she was close. That done, she bravely went to her father's aid. The little girl jumped on the zombies back, her tiny fingers clawing at its milky eyes.

"Why would I do that? Who runs from love?" Parker asked Rebecca, managing a smile as they sidestepped another of the undead.

"Violet!" Chris cried, now trying to swat his daughter's fingers away from the zombie. "Are you crazy! Get back out of the way!"

Rebecca gave a soft sigh, but she managed to return the smile. "I always heard you were a bit light in the head." She teased him. "Now I know it."

Violet ignored her father. Her small hands were twisting the zombie's head, just as her mother had done. With a strength a girl of her size shouldn't have, she too managed to twist the head directly from the neck, tossing it aside as though it were nothing more than a rather useless football.

"What does it say about you if you stuck with me then?" Parker teased, pausing for a moment, struggling to catch his breathe all of a sudden.

Chris could barely believe what he was seeing. His stomach rolled and it was all he could do to keep his face stony. "Kiddo...Uh...Thanks." He said haltingly, not sure where he wanted to go with his next words.

"Parker...you're pushing yourself." Rebecca sighed, resting a hand on his back. "This will never work...Honey...I need to go find your clothes...You'll have to hide out in this corner until I get back. Okay?"

Chris didn't need to worry about what to say next. Violet had seen the look on his face, heard the fear in his voice. It was Alex all over again, she had just saved her father's life... And he already feared what she was. Silently the little girl shrank away, feeling a fool for thinking she could find acceptance here. Of course... She didn't yet know that her mother was the same kind of 'different' that she was.

"Hide?" Parker pouted. "Like some frail old woman? I'm fine Rebecca... Really..." Trying to prove his point, he attempted to walk forward, only to stumble and fall to his knees beside a lifeless body.

Chris knew in an instant that things hadn't gone the way he'd hoped. Instead of trying to dig himself out of the hole and make it worse he simply picked up his sister and motioned for Violet to follow him.
He was more than a little glad when they happened on Rebecca and Parker. "Becky, I need you to help Claire. She's been shot and I need you to stop the bleeding. I'll help Parker." He said simply.

Violet stood a few feet away, simply staring down at her feet. She knew it hadn't been his intention to make her feel this way, but Chris had deeply hurt his only daughter.
"When did that happen?" Parker wheezed, having not even noticed Claire had gotten shot when they were all trying to break Rebecca out of the elevator.

Rebecca sighed deeply, letting go of Parker to kneel beside Claire. "This isn't really the place to do this." She reminded him.
"It's not like we have another choice. I'm not about to try those surgical wards! Besides, Violet can protect you while we get Parker in something decent."
"Chris, that's a little girl!" Rebecca said, for the first time looking at Violet. "What the hell is she going to do?!"

Violet heard Rebecca's shout, but didn't say anything. She was keeping a watchful gaze up and down the hallway, like some sort of sentinel, existing only to protect.
Parker was also shaking his head. "Where's Jill? And who is Violet anyway?"

"We can talk about that later." Chris sighed, grunting as he pulled Parker back to his feet. "Jill's...probably clearing the way." He added, his voice overly soft. "Rebecca, please. We can't waste any more time. Parker will be fine with me."
"Considering that this is all your fault, he'd better be." Rebecca muttered, now looking up and down the hall for a supply cart.

"Violet... She's a little young even for you, isn't she?" Parker chuckled as he limped along with Chris' help.
"It wasn't Chris' fault." Violet told Rebecca quietly, small fingers holding out a pair of surgical gloves to the elder woman. "It was me."