He opened the door that led into the red hallway, lost in thought—and very nearly ran into Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers as they stepped out of the doorway on his right.
Chris’ s face lit up with a broad, beaming grin.
“Barry!”
The younger man stepped forward and embraced him roughly, then backed up, still grinning. “Jesus, it’s good to see you! I was starting to think that me and Rebecca were the last ones alive—where are Jill and Wesker?”
Barry pasted a smile on as he fumbled for an acceptable answer, feeling almost sick with guilt. Lying to Jill hadn’t been easy, but he’d known Chris for years—
• Kathy and the girls, dead—
“Jill and I came after you, but all the doors in that hall were locked—and when we got back to the lobby, the captain was gone. Since then, we’ve been looking for you two and trying to find a way out. . . ” Barry smiled more naturally. “It’s good to see you, too. Both of you.”
At least that much is true.
“So Wesker just disappeared?” Chris asked. Barry nodded, uncomfortable. “Yeah. And we found Ken. One of those ghouls got to him.” Chris sighed. “I saw. Forest and Richard are dead, too.”
Barry felt a wave of sadness and swallowed thickly, suddenly hating Wesker even more. The people Wesker worked for had done this and now they wanted to cover it all up, avoiding responsibility for their actions—
and like it or not, I’m going to help them do it.
Barry took a deep breath and fixed an image of his wife and daughters in his mind’s eye. “Jill found a back door, and we think it could be a way out—ex-cept its got this trick lock, like a puzzle, and we have to get all the pieces together to open it. There are these four metal crests, made out of copper—Jill got one already, and we think the rest are hidden through-out the mansion. . . ”
He trailed off at Chris’s sudden grin as Chris reached into his vest. “Something like this?” Barry stared at the crest that Chris had produced, feeling his heart speed up. “Yeah, that’s one of them! Where’d you find it?”
Rebecca spoke up, smiling shyly. “He had to fight a big snake for it—a really big snake. I think it may have been affected by the accident, though a cross-genus virus . . . those are pretty rare.” Barry reached for the crest as casually as he could manage, frowning. “Accident?”
Chris nodded. “We found some information that suggests there’s some kind of secret research facility here on the estate—and that something they were working on got loose. A virus.”
“One that can apparently infect mammals and reptiles,” Rebecca added. “Not just different species, different families.”
It’s certainly infected mine, Barry thought bleakly. He let his frown deepen, feigning thoughtfulness as he struggled to come up with an excuse to get away. The captain wouldn’t approach him unless he was alone, and he was desperate to get the copper piece into place, to prove that he was still on board, cooperating—and that he’d convinced the rest of the team to help him look. He could feel the seconds ticking away, the metal growing warm beneath his sweating fingers.
“We need to get the feds in on this,” he said finally, “a full investigation, military support, quarantine of the area—“ Chris and Rebecca were both nodding, and again Barry felt nearly overwhelmed by guilt. God, if only they weren’t so trusting—
“—but to do that, we have to find all of these crests. Jill might’ve turned up another one by now, maybe both of them. ... ”
. . . / can only pray . . .
“Do you know where she is?” Chris asked. Barry nodded, thinking fast. “I’m pretty sure, but this place is kind of a maze . . . why don’t you wait in the main hall while I go get her? That way we can organize our search, do a more thorough job—“ He smiled, hoping it looked more convincing than it felt.
“—though if we don’t turn up soon, keep looking for more of those pieces. The back door is at the end of the west wing corridors, first floor.” Chris just stared at him for a moment, and Barry could see the questions forming in his bright gaze, questions that Barry wouldn’t be able to answer: Why split up at all? What about finding the missing cap-tain? How could he be certain that the back door was an escape?
Please, please just do as I say—
“Okay,” Chris said reluctantly. “We’ll wait, but if she’s not where you think she is, come back and get us. We stand a better chance of making it through this place if we stick together.”
Barry nodded, and before Chris could say anything more, he turned and jogged away down the dim hall. He’d seen the hesitation in Chris’s eyes, heard the uncertainty in his voice—and with his final words, Barry had felt himself wanting desperately to warn his friend of Wesker’s betrayal. Leaving was the only way to keep himself from saying something he might regret, something that might get his family killed. As soon as he heard the door back to the balcony close, he picked up speed, taking the corners at a full run. There was a dead zombie near the door that led to the stairs, and Barry leaped over it, the stench falling away as he ducked through the connecting passage. He took the back stairs three at a time as his conscience yammered mercilessly away at him, re-minding him of his treachery.
You’re a liar, Barry, using your friends the way Wesker’s using you, playing on their trust. You could’ve told them what was really going on, let them help you put a stop to it—
Barry shook the thoughts away as he reached the door to the covered walk, slamming the heavy metal aside. He couldn’t risk it, wouldn ‘t—what if Wesker had been nearby, had overheard? The captain had Barry’s family to blackmail him with, but once Chris and the others knew the truth, what was to stop Wesker from just killing them? If he helped Wesker destroy the evidence, the S.T.A.R.S. wouldn’t be able to prove anything, the captain could just let them all walk away—
Barry reached the diagram next to the back door and stopped, staring. Relief flooded through him, cool and sweet. Three of the four openings were filled, the sun, wind, and star crests in place. It was over. He can get to the lab now, call off his people, he doesn ‘t need us anymore! I can go back in and keep the team busy while he does whatever he has to do, the RPD will show eventually and we can forget this ever happened—
He was so elated that he didn’t register the muted footsteps on the stone path behind him, didn’t realize that he wasn’t alone anymore until Wesker’s smooth voice spoke up beside him.
“Why don’t you finish the puzzle, Mr. Burton?” Barry jumped, startled. He glared at Wesker, loath-ing the smug, bland face behind the sunglasses. Wesker smiled, nodding his head at the copper crest in Barry’s hand.
“Yeah, right,” Barry muttered darkly, and slipped the final piece into place. There was a thick metallic sound from inside the door, ka-chink—
• and Wesker walked past him, pushing the door open to reveal a small, well-used tool shed. Barry peered inside, saw the exit at the opposite wall. There was no diagram set next to it, no more crazy puzzles to figure out.
Kathy and the girls were safe.
With a low bow, Wesker motioned for Barry to step inside the shed, still smiling.
“Time’s short, Barry, and there’s still a lot for us to do.”