I want out // RE8 fanfic

06

Time can heal the broken

    I was free for a while, until i wasn't.

Another cold room, dissecting my insides. People in white coats examining the cadou placed within, I knew if they would remove it, i'd be dead. Or maybe, just maybe i'd get to live out the rest of my life as a normal person. But thats hard when you're an experiment to those around you. Of course, Ethan had ties however they weren't as strong as to stop umbrella. My head pounded when i woke up from the invasive surgery, being poked and prodded at apparently wasn't enough however since later i was brought into another room, on the same stretcher.

I assume this is my karma, putting people through the pain and suffering all the while i was jealous of their freedom. I'll never be let loose of being an experiment, ever since bootcamp i wasn't just a man, but something to be used for "the greater good". It hurt, always being a toy for someone to abuse.

More and more days passed in the same labs. I'd recover from the past surgeries just to be met with new ones. No explanations given, only soreness and exhaustion. And then one day, a familiar face arrived. It was Ethan, he had finally shown after all this time of relentless pain. I noticed he walked with Chris past the window in my room, until he met the doorway of which they parted. "Karl..." he mouthed, a gentle voice saying my name in what felt like forever. I shifted on my hospital bed and weakly gave a smirk, "Winters...h-hows rose?" i ask as he walks towards my bedside. He observes me for a while and looks worried over how bad i had looked, "She's good...thank you." He answered and a slight relief lifted off my shoulders, yet i worried over new problem.

    My brows furrow at the thought, "Have- have they done tests? Experiments on you two? I swear-" i began however was shut down by the blonde beside me before i could curse. "No. We're fine, thats why i came...i- ah well...when someone who saved your life is being fucked with in a lab you tend to hope they're doing alright." Ethan says and i just sit in silence, i think for a moment and i feel tears swell against my eyelids. It's been so long since someone even dare cared about me, but here i'm met with this strange man who looked so familiar and distant at the same time. "Ethan, can i trust you? I- i need help." is all i say and his face instantly changes to address my issue. He nods and puts a hand on my shoulder, a thumb rubbing over my collarbone for a mere second before he spoke up. "I'm already on it. They said i could bring you home for a few days since you need to rest from the last surgery anyway but...i never told them where home was. I've got Chris if they start getting nosey about your location."

    The words sent me through such an emotional loop, i barely knew what to do with myself. Was this truly the first time i'd experience freedom? I had lived with my parents under their strict rules and abusive manners, and then the military...and then...Miranda. I'd been under the supervision of a superior for my entire life by now. I'm not sure what i'd even do at this point, I've always wanted a family, I used to have a girlfriend back when it all started...i wonder if thats even possible anymore. I suddenly feel a warmth rolling down my face, tear after tear i notice that i'm crying. Unintentionally and out of my control, but, i'm sobbing as soon as Ethan pulls me into him.

    "You deserve a second chance." he says into my ear and rubs circles into my back as i hic and sob, my thoughts becoming heavy and the room going blurry. "Th-thank you-..." i manage to get out, Ethan pulls away yet hands travel to my shoulders, rubbing them gently before the two hands meet my face and wipe away the tears that were locked inside of me for what feels like eternity. The cold metal of his left hand grazing my scalp, My head rests into the loving grip he holds onto me.

    He smiles at me, reassuringly and soon i'm being whisked away and taken out of the country and into America for the first time in god knows how long. Ethan allows me to stay in his new house, someplace up in northern colorado. The house is an old cabin type, a few miles from the nearest store. As i'm walking in with Ethan as a crutch i look around and just feel at home. It was cozy, a fireplace lit by the babysitter watching rose, another operative i hadn't known. "You're room's over here..." Ethan said as he guided me into a room full of little things i had saved over the years in my own factory. The images of my little creations scattered around the place felt so sentimental, a green box drawing my attention. My army hip flashlight beside the bed and next to my necklaces along with my hat. "You...Kept them. You kept it all..." i started and Ethan sat me down on the bed before pulling out the desk chair and sitting backwards in it to face me. "Chris had to go back eventually to make sure nothing was left, so i asked him to grab a few things while he was there. Everything is gone now though, they lit that shit-hole up." He said with a smile, I took in all his words and then finally let out a laugh, a tearful smile plastered on my face. "I...Ethan...I don't think you know how much it means to me." I say in a weary voice, his eyes soften and his head tilts just a bit leading me to explain myself.

    I take a deep breath to compose myself, but this is all too much. "I uh, I was a soldier." i began, his eyes fixated on me and not speaking so he could easily listen to what i had to say. "My men were dead in the snow, and i had tried to find my way somewhere safe yet it was dark...and i-...she found me. Kept me and put that fucking pest inside of me." i recalled for the millionth time, Ethan only listening as i explained what Miranda had done to me. "i was seventeen. I was....a kid." i begin to trail off, leaving the conversation at that. He looks at me with sweet eyes and it's in that moment i feel so small, yet finally seen.

    We stare at each other for a moment, Ethan collecting his thoughts before saying, "well? what do you want to do now that it's all over?" he asked and i just look down at my hands, fidgeting with them as to distract myself
from my own watery eyes. "i dont know..." i mumble and rub my eyes.

    "you have all the time now to figure it out."