Chapter 3: Redfield Kids in Danger!
There is a wild rush for the Jag.
"Where's Bush Street?" I call.
"Take a right on the main road and go down three blocks. You're bound to see it. Hang another right. Our house is 1320, the big black and tan one with roses out front." Jill's word are rushed.
I rush around to the front of the building as they pile into the Jag. When I am sure I am out of their sight, I run. I run like no one else can, save my father. I call it zipping, for want of a better term.
The houses pass by in a blur of colors fading with the light of the day. Some people are outside and some cars are on the road, but I do not mind; this is an emergency. Besides, I know that to them I am just a black blur; a fleeting image that they'll blink at and wonder if they even saw at all. And even if they did recognize me as being human, there's no way they'd get a chance to recognize me. Not that anyone would believe them anyway.
I reach three blocks in just seconds, and hang a right on Bush Street just as Jill instructed. The house numbers flash by in rapid-fire succession--1200...1250...1300...there. 1320.
Yep. Big tan house with black trimming. There are roses out front arranged in a little garden. The door has been left slightly ajar. I zip on in.
A blonde woman not much younger than me, and who looks vaguely familiar, lays sprawled unconscious on the floor at an odd angle. She is not dead--I can hear her heartbeat. For now, she is the least of my concern. Probably the babysitter.
Chris and Jill's kids would be very young and very easy prey.
God, I hate having a father who would think nothing of killing little kids. It makes me ashamed of my last name.
I catch a whiff of the faint poisonous-coppery smell I have smelled before.
I hear noises coming from another room, and in no time I have burst into a bedroom.
The first thing I see is a cute little black-haired girl around three years old. She is to the right of the room and alongside a little bed backing into the wall. Crystal, I presume.
I charge into the room and automatically shove my father aside in my rush to get to her. The plaster of the opposite wall cracks beneath his body--I was not too gentle.
"Crystal! Stay behind me! That man wants to hurt you." I can only pray she understands the importance of this. It's been awhile since I've been around toddlers.
I am in luck--she scurries behind my legs.
That's when I realize Seth is also in the room, and he is in even more trouble.
The little four-year-old--at least I guess him to be around four--is on his hands and knees on the floor looking for something. He is right smack in the middle between me and my father.
He'd be safer playing in traffic.
Dad straightens and laughs. "Well, isn't this interesting?" He rubs his hands together in wicked glee.
Both of us have super-speed, and we could both reach the kid in about the same time. I must admit that I am very worried for poor Seth. If he crawls even a little to close to Dad, he's a goner. My father would break his neck before I could prevent it. However, if I can coax him over to me, he'll be relatively safer.
"Seth, listen to me. You have to come over to me. Now. You're not safe there."
Seth is hesitant. "I lost my little potato bug. I think he's over here somewhere."
Great, I think sarcastically, isn't this the icing on the cake?
Dad grins very widely. I can tell he is enjoying this.
I am desperate. "You'll lose more than that if you don't get over here! Leave the bug. You can get a new one."
The boy is unmoved. He continues to scan the floor, moving slightly to the left. I notice my dad tense up a bit.
"But it's my little friend!" Seth complains, "I have to find him!"
"Stop!" I call, trying not to sound unfriendly, "Do you watch cartoons?"
Seth pauses and sits up, looking straight at me. "Sure."
"Okay then," I announce, happy to give an analogy he can understand, "Well this is kind of like one of your cartoons. I'm the good guy." I point to my father who just can not stop smiling, "He's the bad guy. Understand?"
Seth looks to me, then my father, then back again. "You both look the same to me."
Oh boy.
Dad suddenly points to a lego not five inches from his feet. "There! I saw your bug go under that block! You'd better hurry and get him before he runs away!"
"No wait!" I plead, mustering up a kinder, friendlier tone, "Forget about the bug and I'll get your parents to take you to McDonald's!"
"Really?!"
Seth spins in my direction, suddenly forgetting about the bug.
"And that's not all," I add, hoping to make him move faster, "afterwards we can go shopping for toys. You'd like that, wouldn't you? We could buy you a little house to put bugs in if you want. The kind with the magnifying glasses that make the bugs look bigger? Wouldn't that be neat?”
Apparently, Seth does think it would be neat. He looks like the happiest kid in the world as he stands up and starts for me.
"Do I getta go to?" Crystal pipes.
"Of course!" I say, relieved.
"Wait a minute, Seth. I have something for you right now. Do you want to see it?" Dad purrs, and I do not suspect Seth catches the evil undercurrent to his voice.
Seth stops and is about to turn around.
"Don't listen to him! He's lying, he wants to kill you!" I shout.
Dad makes a tsk-tsking noise. "Alan, you have me all wrong." He says, feigning horror at the mere thought of killing a child, "I would never hurt children. I like children."
"I know you better than that!" I spit, "Come on, give me some credit here! I heard what you did to Barry's family."
"Believe me, it was an improvement." Then he says, "Hey kids! Want to see something cool?"
He removes his shades, revealing the red and yellow cat's eyes.
"Cool! Show me how to do that!" Seth marvels, but at the same time there is the thunder of footsteps pouring into the house.
The others must've arrived. Thank God.
Dad is momentarily distracted, and I use the moment to grab Seth and yank him out of harm's way.
Dad arcs both eyebrows. "Well, this certainly stinks. Another time, perhaps." Sunglasses still in hand, he surges forward and leaps right through the glass window just behind me and the kids.
I crouch down and pull them under me, shielding them from the few shards of glass that explode inward instead of outward. Luckily, about 99 percent of the glass shards fall outside the way they are supposed to.
Still, you can never be too careful.
Chris and Jill explode into the room. I can see the relief wash over them when they realize their kids are safe and sound.
I stand. "They're fine. I didn't let him harm them."
"Mommy! Daddy!” I watch with pride as Crystal and Seth rush into the arms of their relieved parents. There is much hugging and holding.
I cross my arms, feeling very pleased with myself for being the cause of so much joy.
When she is done with her kids, Jill turns to me and embraces me in a heartfelt hug; wrapping her arms around me and leaning her face over my right shoulder.
"Thank you." She sobs, her words almost a whisper, "Thank you so much for protecting them. When I think about how close I just came to losing them…"
She trails off, and I know she does not mean to finish. I smell the salt of a tear on her cheek.
It feels a little awkward to be hugged like this, especially in this situation. But Jill soon lets go and turns to her husband.
Chris is both worried and relieved. He gives me a thumbs-up. "Thank you."
Seth tugs oh his father's pant-leg. “Daddy! Uncle Alan said we could go to Mc Donald's! An' shopp'en an' stuff."
Chris cocks an eyebrow. "Uncle Alan?"
I shrug. "Don't look at me. I never said I was their uncle. Though I don't mind the sound of it."
"Yeah, well, they call Alexis their aunt." Jill supplies, "They must really like you. By the way, what's this about Mc Donald's?"
I sigh. "Ok, I was on this side of the room, Wesker on the other." It feels weird to call my father by his name, but I say it that way so Jill and Chris will understand. Besides, I do not want to give them the impression I am very close to my father. "Somehow, Seth ended up between us looking for a bug. He almost followed it to Wesker's feet but I told him that if he came over to me I'd talk you two into Mc Donald's and shopping. He liked that idea better. But you might want to have a talk with him about just how dangerous my father is."
Seth looks to me as if I have just told him he won a million toys. "That other guy was your daddy? Whoa, cool!"
"Actually it's not all it's choked up to be." I admit sourly.
Seth bolts over to me. "Can you bend down a second Uncle Alan?"
I don't see any harm in that. I kneel down to eye level with him, and Crystal scampers over too.
"What?"
I am not prepared when Seth suddenly snatches my shades off my face, exposing my unusual eyes.
"See!" He exclaims proudly, pointing them out--as if they need to be--to his parents.
"He has eyes just like his daddy!"
"They're pretty." Crystal chimes in.
Yikes!
Chris and Jill's own eyes widen.
Seth puts on my shades, and they are ridiculously too big for him.
"Eheh." I squeak. I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do!