23 September 1998, 10:00 AM, Raccoon City University Lake
Hours later, Eddie sat alone at the edge of the campus lake. The morning sun was warm on his skin, but it could not chase away the cold he felt inside. Not far from him, a crocodile—an absurd anomaly in a Midwestern lake—basked on a mudbank, motionless like a rotting log. A predator at rest. Eddie felt a strange kinship with the creature.
An image flashed in his mind, vivid and nauseating. Annette's face, twisted by fear and pain. The dull sound of her body hitting the wall. His hands had left bruises on her skin. He had hurt her. Not killed her, but terrified her, broken her. He clenched his fist, nails digging into his palm. The strength he now felt was tainted by that shame. I hope we can still be friends… The hope rang hollow, pathetic.
"How the hell do I handle this?" he muttered to himself, his voice a hoarse scrape. "The anger… it's a damn switch I can't find."
The serum worked, but the price was an emotional instability he had not foreseen. A minor flaw, perhaps, but one that could turn him into the very monster he sought to surpass.
Lost in thought, he heard a soft, unexpected female voice behind him.
"Maybe you could try some herbal extracts. Goji berries, or the Schisandra flower. They should help calm the mind."
Eddie spun around. The movement was so fast it blurred. Standing behind him was an ordinary-looking girl, perhaps a student. His instincts, now razor sharp, screamed: Threat.
In less than a second, he was on his feet and on her. He shoved her against a tree trunk, his hand clamped around her throat, lifting her slightly off the ground.
"Ahm!"
The girl's eyes went wide with terror. Her hands clawed at Eddie's wrist, tapping weakly. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak.
As her face began turning bluish, as pure panic filled her eyes, Eddie snapped back. The beast inside him recoiled, leaving the man to face the horror of what he was doing. He released her. She collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping, desperate for air.
He loomed over her, still trembling from the adrenaline. "Tell me your real intention," he growled, his voice still edged with menace. "Why did you say those things?"
"M-my name is Yoko Suzuki," she stammered, her voice raw, terrified. "I'm a computer science student."
"Computer science?" The contradiction was so obvious it helped him focus. "There's no computer science faculty at this university."
"No, I know," she said quickly, shaking her head, her expression confused. "I don't study here. I came to Raccoon City… I don't know why. My intuition told me to come here, to take a look at this place."
Intuition? Eddie studied her. Yoko Suzuki. The name triggered something in his memory, a fragment of a future report Alex had shown him. A list of survivors of the incident yet to come. A civilian who had escaped a hell full of zombies. And, more importantly, a former Umbrella employee, a skilled programmer whose memory had been wiped. Her "intuition" was no coincidence. It was her subconscious trying to reclaim missing pieces.
His demeanor shifted instantly. The rage vanished, replaced by cold calculation and a trace of genuine remorse.
"Uh… sorry," he said, his voice returning to normal, almost gentle. "I've had some problems lately. I can't control my emotions." He held out a hand to help her up. "About the advice you gave me earlier… maybe we can talk about it somewhere more comfortable?"
Yoko hesitated, then took his hand. She was still afraid, but her intuition—the same force that had brought her there—told her he was not evil. Just dangerous.
"Oh, I see. It's fine, I forgive you," she said, nodding with a trembling smile.
They started walking toward the cafeteria. But as they moved, a new sensation prickled Eddie's heightened senses. It wasn't a thought. It was primal awareness. The sound of a footstep out of sync behind them. The faint scent of cheap cologne that didn't belong on campus. The undeniable feeling of eyes fixed on them.
Without a word, he grabbed Yoko's hand and quickened his pace. "Come."
They turned left, then right, weaving through the campus buildings with a speed and certainty that surprised Yoko. Eddie wasn't just walking faster. He moved like a predator on his home ground, using blind corners and narrow passages to disorient the pursuer.
Moments later, once Eddie and Yoko had vanished, a man dressed in black appeared at the corner, panting. He looked around furiously, trying to see where his prey had gone.
They were gone. The man clenched his fists, cursing under his breath. He had lost the target. And he knew his boss would not be pleased.