Romania. Star Fire branch medical center.
Chris snapped his eyes open. His retinas still seemed to carry the afterimage of that hellish inferno in Edonia.
He tried to push himself upright, then realized the crushing weight of the trauma was gone entirely.
In its place was a force like molten rock surging through every limb. His muscles were leaner and harder than before. His senses had sharpened to a terrifying degree. He could hear the faint sound of blood flowing through the monitors in the room next door.
"Captain! You're finally awake!" Piers shot to his feet from the bedside, eyes rimmed red.
"Piers..." Chris stared at his own hands, full of power. The memories that had been a chaotic, agonizing blur were now razor-sharp, like they'd been washed in ice water. "What happened to my body?"
"Star Fire's Dawn Type III serum." Piers poured a glass of water and handed it over. "Mr. Cole's people didn't just pull us out of that pile of corpses. The serum forcibly rebuilt your damaged nervous system. Captain, your physical readings are already way beyond normal human range."
Chris was quiet for a moment. He threw the covers off and swung out of bed. The movement was light, explosive.
"Where's Ryan?"
Ten minutes later. The helipad atop the Castle.
Wind whipped snow in gusts. Several Star Fire tiltrotor aircraft in matte black livery were running through final pre-flight warmups. Ryan stood in his signature black coat, leaning against the cabin door, studying an Asian theater map on a tactical tablet.
"Ryan. Jill." Chris's steady voice cut through the wind and snow.
Ryan looked up at the man in front of him. The hollowed-out wreck was gone. The eyes were sharp again. He tossed the tablet to Jill beside him, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Looks like you absorbed the serum well. Figured you'd be out for another two days."
Chris walked up to Ryan, looked him dead in the eye, then snapped to attention and gave a deep, formal bow.
"Ryan. Thank you for saving Piers, and for dragging me out of that hellhole." Chris's voice was rough but rock-solid. "But I still have unfinished business. The woman called Ada Wong killed every one of my men. I need to take her down myself."
"Then you're after the wrong person." Ryan clapped Chris on the shoulder and gestured for him to stand down. "The one who ambushed you in Edonia wasn't Ada Wong."
Chris froze. Beside him, Piers looked equally stunned.
"It was a clone named Carla Radames. A perfect copy that psychopath Simmons created." Jill met Chris's eyes. "She dragged Ada's name through the mud, and now she's planning to unleash something even bigger in Asia. It's not just revenge against Simmons. She wants to burn the whole world down."
Chris clenched his fists. His knuckles cracked. "Carla... Simmons... Asia?"
"Get on board, big guy." Ryan jerked his head toward the cabin behind him. "The real Ada's already headed to Asia to clean house. Since your men died at that fake's hands, I'm taking you to settle the score in person."
Chris didn't hesitate for a second. He and Piers strode into Star Fire's aircraft.
...
United States. Tall Oaks.
The once-thriving college town had become a C-Virus slaughterhouse.
Blue mist drifted through the streets, accompanied by the bone-chilling shrieks of mutants. But behind a barricade on the university's outer perimeter, the atmosphere was absurdly out of place.
Ben Bertolucci had his battered old SLR camera up, hammering the shutter at a police cruiser that a massive mutant had flattened like a tin can a few dozen meters away.
"Ben! Ryan said keep your head down!" Ashley was crouched behind Leon, furiously yanking at the reporter who valued headlines over his own life.
"This is Pulitzer-level footage! I didn't come all this way for nothing!" Ben muttered, giddy with excitement.
Leon sighed. He'd just fought his way out with Vice President Adam Benford, who was still unconscious.
Thanks to Shadow Force's precision airdrop and intercept, Benford had only inhaled a trace amount of the mist. Star Fire's combat medics hit him with a high-potency suppressant and barely kept him alive.
Then a figure came stumbling out of a nearby alley.
A woman in a Secret Service uniform. One arm was injured. She clutched an empty pistol. Three red-eyed zombies staggered after her.
Leon raised his weapon and dropped all three with headshots. The zombies collapsed at her feet.
"Helena?" Leon recognized the agent who was supposed to be running close protection on the Vice President inside the venue. His brow furrowed. "What are you doing out here? Why did the entire security system go down?"
Helena Harper was gasping for breath. When she saw it was Leon, a flash of raw despair and guilt crossed her face. Her knees buckled and she nearly collapsed in front of him.
"Leon... I'm sorry... It was me. I helped Simmons bypass the security protocols." Helena's voice cracked, her fingers white-knuckled on the hem of Leon's jacket. "But I had no choice! That bastard Simmons took my sister Deborah! He used her to make me do it! And now I can't reach him!"
Leon's expression darkened. Behind him, Ashley clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.
"So it was Simmons... You... damn it." Leon gritted his teeth. He'd known the assassination attempt on the Vice President was never going to be simple.
"Leon, please, I'm begging you, help me! The Cathedral! They took Deborah there!" Helena was pleading.
That's when Jason, the Shadow Team squad leader, walked over with his blood-spattered electromagnetic rifle. After the Wilson affair, he and Shen Mei had both joined Star Fire, and his performance had earned him command of one of the Shadow Teams. He glanced down at Helena, then keyed his comm.
"Boss. Found her. Secret Service insider. Coerced by Simmons."
Ryan's voice came through the comm, calm as ever: "Bring her. The Vice President's alive, and a firsthand confession from a Secret Service agent is the perfect nail in Simmons's coffin. As for her sister, split off a Shadow squad to escort you to the Cathedral. Remember, if you can solve it with firepower, don't waste time going hand to hand."
"Copy that." Jason grinned and looked down at Helena. "On your feet, ma'am. Star Fire's taking your case."
...
Africa. D-04 mining zone. The deepest level of TriCell's underground facility.
The lowest circle of hell, and the birthing chamber Wesker had built for his new god.
Inside a massive transparent culture tank, a thick viral concentrate pulsed slowly. Under the lights, it shimmered in an eerie, gorgeous, suffocating dark gold.
Wesker stood before the tank with his hands clasped behind his back. His sunglasses reflected the dark gold glow.
"The perfect sequence from G-001 has completely patched the genetic recombination collapse defect in the Progenitor Virus." Wesker's voice echoed through the cavernous lab, laced with a feverish edge. "Now, once the final fusion with the Mold is complete..."
Excella hurried in on high heels, the sharp click of each step jarring against the dead silence of the lab.
"Albert, the intelligence from Tall Oaks just came in." A thread of unease bled through her composure. "Simmons made his move. The C-Virus spread rate exceeded all projections. But..."
"But Star Fire intervened. Am I right?" Wesker didn't even turn around. He cut her off.
"Yes." Excella bit her lip. "Shadow Force moved too fast. They didn't just keep the Vice President alive. They've started mass-deploying their vaccine outside the quarantine perimeter. The panic Simmons created is turning into a PR win for Star Fire."
Wesker heard her out. A cold, thin smile formed on his lips.
"Stupid politician. Delusional chess player." Wesker slowly raised one hand. Through the heavy blast-proof glass, his fingertip traced the outline of the dark gold solution. "Simmons is nothing but bait to keep Ryan's attention. Let him do whatever he wants. He thinks he's playing America. All he's really doing is buying me time."
Excella looked at the man's back and shivered.
"Let Star Fire keep playing savior." Wesker turned around. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes burned with a lunatic ambition. "By the time Ryan figures it out, Ouroboros will have reached its final form. And then every cure, every weapon, will be nothing but a joke next to this perfect, divine power."
He looked at the dark gold virus, as if he could already hear the gates of a new world crashing open.
[This novel is now COMPLETE. Read the entire series right now on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]