House of Horrors

Chapter Ten: Home Again

I happily sat in my hospital bed, Scarllete snuggled and asleep in my lap, and Leon beside me, holding me close to his side. I was so happy to have my family back! But, Eveline's fate still rested heavily on my mind, and Leon could tell that something was bothering me.

"Carter? What's wrong?" He asked. I sighed a little.

"You'll think I'm insane." I said, and he laughed a little.

"Babe, nothing you say could ever make me think that, especially after all we've been through together." He said. I laughed a little too, then looked up at him.

"I never knew what the bioweapon was that was keeping me imprisoned in that house. Never saw it. Never spoke to it. I assumed it was a monster of some sort that had taken over the Baker family's minds and kept me trapped there. However, after meeting Ethan, and working together to get out of there, I did soon meet the bioweapon, when I was on the ship with Mia." I said. 

"And? What was it?" Leon prodded, gently. I could already feel the tears forming in my eyes.

"It was a little girl." I said, and his eyes widened.

"Please tell me you're joking!" He said, and I shook my head.

"I wish I was. Once Ethan and I got out of the ship, we found a lab, and it described how they created her, and how she was kept in a lab her whole life. She was obsessed with having a family. All she wanted was a family, Leon. When I looked at her after, all I saw was myself. What I would have been if you hadn't found me. I told Chris this earlier. If you had never rescued me from the Umbrella lab in Racoon City, she wouldn't have been code named 'E-001'. She would have been 'Carter Wesker 2.0'!" I said, and began to cry, holding little Scarllete close to me. Leon hugged me, tightly.

"Oh, babe..." He muttered.

"How could I have destroyed her? I could have saved her! I should have tried to at least!" I sobbed, beginning to go into a panic attack.

"Carter." Leon tried to pull my attention to him, but it wasn't working.

"Do you know what her last words were? The last thing she said to me? 'Why does everyone hate me??' That's what she said! She was a child, Leon! A child!" I cried, breathing fast and hard.

"Carter!" Leon called, and I looked at him. "Deep breaths, Sweetheart, deep breaths." He said, and I followed his breathing pattern, calming down soon. "Carter, it wasn't your fault. You didn't create her. You didn't lock her in a lab. And you certainly weren't the one that turned her into a weapon. Maybe, at one point, before you even knew her, she could have been a normal little girl, but by the time you got to her, she was too far gone. If you and Ethan hadn't destroyed her, than Umbrella would have. There was nothing you could do." He said. I buried my face into his shoulder, and sobbed, mourning Eveline, because she wasn't as lucky as I was. He held me for as long as I cried, and we both held Scarllete. I cherished her now more than ever, after having to see what happened to Eveline. The next day, I was discharged, and I said goodbye to Ethan and Mia, giving them my phone number, and telling them to drop by and visit us one day. We went home, and I became a stay at home mom, and took care of Scarllete, along with her other two siblings, Aspen and Maverick, who came along shortly after my episode with Eveline. I had nightmares about her from time to time, but I dealt with them the same way that I dealt with my other nightmares and went about my life. I fully retired from fighting Bioterrorism, and focused on my family. It was the best decision I ever could have made. Ethan and Mia kept in touch, and soon I had a regular life...well, as regular as my life could get, anyway. And that's all that I ever wanted.