A Star's Descent

Chapter Eleven: Countdown

A Star's Descent

By evolution-500

Disclaimer: House of the Dead and Resident Evil are properties belonging to SEGA and Capcom respectively. I do not own any of these characters.

Chapter Eleven: Countdown

"Is something wrong?"

Rebecca blinked upon hearing the query from Aiken.

"I'm sorry?" she asked.

"You have this look on your face," he explained. "You want to talk about it?"

"It's nothing," she assured. "It's just...well, I was just thinking about Star, that's all."

He gave a short derisive snort.

"What?"

"Sorry, I just can't help but roll my eyes at that name. It just sounds stupid," he replied.

Rebecca scowled.

"Well, a lot of people have funny names," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but 'Star'? Talk about pretentious."

"And what is short for 'Richard'?"

"Hey, for your information, it's a perfectly good name."

Rebecca opened her mouth to make a retort, but stopped upon realizing how childish it seemed.

"Names aside, what's bothering you?" Aiken pressed.

The medic hesitated before answering. For Rebecca, Star inspired a number of contradictory feelings within her. On the one hand, she felt a sense of relief that he fell behind. The way he had fingered the hilts of his weapons repeatedly was making her nervous with anticipation. Even more nerve-wracking was the change that briefly overcame him when Aiken demanded to see his belongings, an unpleasant reminder of how she shouldn't let her guard down. On the other hand, though, there came the stomach-twisting sense of being incomplete and vulnerable. Not only had her group decreased in size, but the albino was now alone and open for any attacker crawling around in the compartment, be it flesh-eating zombie or blood-sucking leech.

"I just...I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of abandoning him like that," she said simply.

"We're not 'abandoning' anyone. He wanted to stay behind," Aiken replied. "When he's ready, he'll catch up. For now, let's just keep our attention focused on shutting down the train. I'm getting sick of this damn place."

Nodding in agreement, Rebecca followed after him. As she approached the door at the end of the corridor, she glanced over her shoulder in Star's direction before turning away.

* * * * *

Passing straight through the various corridors with Aiken, Rebecca studied her surroundings, taking in with sorrow and disgust the myriad and still forms of the passengers.

"My God," she whispered weakly, her lips trembling.

Her coworker made no comment, and it was probably just as well, for how can anyone provide commentary after seeing this tragic sight for themselves?

Room after room, corridor after corridor, bodies greeted their views. Bodies of every age group, gender, and skin tone; all stripped of life and laid out across the car like meat. Seeing them struck a chord deep within Rebecca. Up until now, it had never occurred to her just how truly horrible this situation was. Ever since her encounter with them, Rebecca used the word "zombie" as if it denoted something separate from humanity. To a certain extent, it was true. These creatures were without mercy, without morality, without logic and reason. At the same time, though, it would be thoughtless to forget the fact that they had been people too, people with friends and families, who were friends and families. And that was what had made Rebecca feel both horrified and ashamed; she had never acknowledged them as people. This realization became intensified upon finding the remains of a woman and child near a washroom stall, their bodies littered with bullet holes and shell casings.