Dreams & Fears (part 1)

Steve sat hunched over on a wooden chair. He was back here, again. The dark void in his mind. The void where SHE lingers. Steve knew he was asleep and dreaming but the feeling of this intrusion never felt more real. Steve could feel her presence. Like some sixth sense demanded that she was nearby circling him like a predator ready to strike its prey. Defeatedly Steve spoke up, "What is it you want, Alexia?"

Steve rose his hunched head to look around, hoping that this time, Alexia would reveal herself. He scanned the void around him. The void looked as if it was some sort of fog made of a jet black hue as if it would absorb any light near it and consume it into the void itself. Finally, her ear bleeding posh girly voice spoke, "My, my! You have spoken my name for the first time."

At that moment she was revealed to Steve. The perfect pink lips smiled as her blue eyes gave Steve an almost erotic glare. Her pale skin was hidden behind a white silk robe. Alexia's blonde hair curled past her shoulders. She looked older. More mature. The shape of her body adorned much more curves than what he remembered. She would look almost motherly if she did not have that absurd, child-like grin. Steve gave her a firm glare as he spoke, "You look like a hag."

Alexia gently covered her mouth with her wrist as she giggled at his response. She was still very much, the same brat that killed Steve. That much he could tell. Once she composed herself she gave a nod and spoke, "Much to my dismay, it seems that I have aged with you. Your hibernation has left me to wither and age. My assessment is that my consciousness believes that this is what my body would look like at this age."

Steve blinked and froze. He couldn't even breathe the moment Alexia had said the word, consciousness. He spoke softly, "So... You're real. Like, you're not in my head?"

Again, she giggled, "Of course, I am in your head, silly Steve," her giggle ended abruptly, and she gave Steve an evil smile, "That doesn't mean what you see is not real," Steve's eyes widened as he glared with his glowing eyes. She chose this moment to elaborate, "In case you did not realize, I am the queen of my experiments. Because of my beloved Veronica, I have a collective intelligence to my creations. That includes you, Steve. Before I died I chose to transfer my consciousness to the closest BOW that had my blood. You were on the brink of death when I connected with you, but luckily that old man, Albert Wesker revived you. Therefore..." Alexia leaned her head down to face steve directly and showed the brightest smile, "He revived me."

Steve's angered expression softened to a look of sadness and frustration. Before he could even speak she concluded his thoughts, "Mhm! The simple fact that you are alive means that I am alive." She hugged herself in emotional relief as she spoke, practically moaning the words out, "All these abilities. Your blood. How you can heal. It's all because of me."

Steve tackled here. He pinned her to the ground and slammed her head against it. He gripped her neck and squeezed hard. He just wanted to see Alexia in pain. The look she gave. her grin never wavered as she then nibbled the bottom of her lip as her blue eyes stared at Steve, aroused. A feeling of disgust overwhelmed Steve as he backed away from Alexia. He fell back on his bum and spoke in his defeated tone, once more, "Just, what do you want with me?!"

Alexia broke out into laughter the moment Steve's hand left her neck. His question halted her laughter as she sat straight and looked at Steve, "What do I want? Well, it's a simple request," Alexia shifted herself and started crawling towards Steve, "I want you... To continue living," her hands pressed against Steve's knee and thigh as she got closer and closer, "You, my beloved Steve, are the only thing..." her voice softened and whispered into Steve's ear, "...That will bring me BACK."

Steve's eyes shot open as he laid on his cot. He sat up quickly as he panted heavily. The sweat on his body that saturated his thin blanket told a much more vivid story than what he would admit.

He was in the tunnel, still. The same tunnel they started calling HQ at a small town in Chile. The tunnel was at least ten feet high. It looked to be a scrapped railroad. The ground was flat and had train tracks on it. It took Steve a few days to remove them, but he did. He never thought his workout routine would be removing steel beams off of the ground and moving them off to the side of the tunnel. The group soon re-used the railroad tracks for supports to a table.

Steve had stolen a laptop from one of the people that live in the town. James needed one so he could contact his "reliable sources" about what type of help they needed. Steve was against it, he knew the moment their names would be said in an email, the BSAA would be all over them, so James agreed to use code names for everyone. Steve's code name was Headlights, which everyone found amusing except for Steve of course. Clyde's code name was Hot Head, and James was The Smarts. Billy did not care for the whole situation so he was left out of the emails. Soon after they had called the tunnel their HQ Clyde had left to do mercenary work so that he could provide some sort of income for everyone. All everyone cared about at the time was food and shelter. They had shelter, but the food was a whole different story.

Steve calmed himself down as he removed the wet blanket and hung it over a steel wire that was tethered to both sides of the tunnel. The whole tunnel echoed the sounds of typing from James and the laptop they had stolen. His voice spoke up, "You dreamed of Alexia again?"

Steve stretched calmly as he had completely forgotten the fact that he had told James everything about his visions and memories. He gave a soft nod, "Ya, but now she's being upfront about it. She showed herself to me. Told me that she's alive INSIDE of me."

"It could be a unique case of schizophrenia," James spoke boldly. He clearly did not believe in the idea of a consciousness being transferred to another body. To James' defense, he never met Alexia or dealt with the Veronica Virus.

Steve gave a sigh and spoke with honesty, "I really hope you're right."

James gave a nod as his eyes never left the screen of the laptop. James chose to change the subject, "Clyde should be returning any minute. He left me a message on his phone. The children should have an allowance."

Steve Spoke up and stared at James, "Oh, The prick thinks he's funny, huh?" Steve sat on the ground and began doing sit-ups. He needed his blood pumping a little to keep his stomach calm. it was a weird strategy but it seemed to work for the time being.

As Steve did his morning routine, James continued, "I wouldn't start calling him names, He's going to give you the bigger allowance. He's the one who understands the most how much you need to eat to not end up malnourished."

Steve finished his sit-up and then did his push-ups, "I just need a really high-protein diet and I'll survive just fine."

Billy walked to James and spoke boldly, "You may survive, but these guys are gonna hear you bitch and whine all day and night. Best to keep your stomach full. Otherwise, they will have to buy earplugs."

Steve's focus broke the moment he heard Billy's voice. He glanced over and saw Billy. He wore a leather jacket and had a backpack that was seemingly full. Steve got up and walked over to Billy and gave a snarky comeback, "Nah, man. I was whinin' cus I was trying to convince you to not leave."

"Bold strategy, but I don't think it worked," both of the men gave each other somber grins. Billy glanced at the exit of the tunnel. The exit was tarped over with a blue plastic sheet. It did not keep the moisture out, but it could hold back strong winds.

Steve spoke, "You sure I can't convince you to stay?"

Billy responded, "You sure I can't convince you to come with me?"

Steve shook his head lightly, "If the BSAA actually do know where I'm at, the moment I start traveling, they will take it as an opportunity to get me. If you're in my passe they'll take you too and your court order would be met. I don't want your life on the line just to have me stick with you."

The tarp that blocked the exit, slipped and revealed Clyde as he wore a thin grey jacket and a dark green camping sling that seemed to be sagging past his back. something heavy was inside of it. He looked forward and everyone already had a pistol in their hands pointed at Clyde. Clyde calmly responded with his hands raised and spoke, "You guys on edge? I missed you fucks too!"