Childhood
Not much to say about Carrie's childhood. She was a typical little girl, born to a typical family in a small town in the California desert on January 14th, 1974. She was the youngest of four kids and a late child at that, with a good eight years between her and her youngest sibling. She was a normal child, average student, but struggled some with math. Her and her father would spend every evening at the dinner table going over it. She was a fairly good kid, she pushed where she could and obeyed her parents for the most part. Never skipped school, but would often argue with her parents over the stupidest stuff.
There was, however, one defining moment in her life was when two of her cousins came to visit and stay a few weeks. They were both older then her and used that to their advantage. While playing one day when she was about seven years old, her cousins suggested they play hide and seek. Thrilled to be included, Carrie hurried to find a perfect hiding place. That place happened to be in a spare room closet. Inside the closet was a trunk half filled with linens. Thinking she had found the perfect hiding place Carrie hid inside. However, as she sat there in that dark little trunk, she heard the latches click. At first she thought they had found her, but when the top did not open she got curious and tried to open it. It would not budge. You can only imagine what being stuck in that small box with no light did to the poor kids mind. Her mom didn't find her till many hours later. From that time on, the poor girl, and even now woman, needs a some sort of light or she goes into a panic.
She graduated high school, with average grades, nothing to really write home to mom about. She was never popular, considered to be, and hung out with the geeks. Not that it mattered, cause straight out of school the young woman went into the Army Military Police. Here she started to shine a bit more. She proved quickly she was determined, never gave up and could last longer in a run even against the boys. What stood out most, however, was that she seemed to be a natural at the gun range. The girl who wasn't raised around guns had a knack for it. While she always qualified as expert, her only problem was that in rapid firing tests she always dropped one round. Dropping a shot, meaning that she'd miss the target. This was a source of great annoyance for her. No matter how she practiced, no matter how she trained, she always dropped that one shot. Single target shooting was a strong point for her and she even enjoyed it.
Military, a Family and Loss
After graduation, the first base she ended up in was Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. There she met her husband, Chase Richards, also a soldier in the Army. He was an Infantry man, though they were both in the 101st Airborne. It was a short romance that ended with them married before a Justice of the Peace, a month before he was sent to Korea for a year. It was uneventful while he was gone, but not long after he returned after the one year trip, Carrie ended up pregnant with their daughter, Marie. Having a child ended up being rather rough, with both of them in the military. They were facing an awful realization that they might have to give her up to her grandparents. So the end of 1998, Carrie decided for the sake of her daughter to not re-up for anymore time and take the full time roll as mom. While it was in the best interest for the baby, Carrie chafed a bit at this new lifestyle. It was hard to watch her husband continue to be a soldier while she changed diapers and went to Mommy and Me play groups. This didn't mean she didn't love her daughter, in fact she was completely smitten by the small girl.
Her life was drastically changed about mid 2002, when she became a victim of an encounter with an Evolved. They were stationed at Ft Leonard Wood, Missouri and her daughter was getting ready to start Kindergarten that school year. Carrie was driving down the highway towards Rolla, discussing with her daughter her starting school, when the unthinkable happened. If you ask her, her memory is fuzzy, but she saw a man walking across the two lane highway up ahead, stopping on the line. She saw for a brief moment as the man lifted his hands and a few cars ahead of her tumble, nose over tail back at the cars behind them. This started a pile-up and she had no time to react. Her last memory was the impact, the scream of her daughter and then nothing.
She woke up in the hospital, asking about Marie as there was this dread in the pit of her stomach. It's said that mothers know things about their kids, but no one would tell her anything, they would only put her under again. She finally got the truth from the look of her husband's face when she woke up at one point. The sheer heart wrenching grief on his face told her everything she needed to know. Again the staff put her under and part of her hoped she never woke up again. But she did and this time they didn't put her under again. She finally got to really look at her condition, everything hurt. She was a wreak, but luckily most of it was things she would fully recover from. Both of her legs had been broken, as well as some ribs and an arm. She would sport several nasty scars, one being on her back that traveled from her shoulder down across her back and ending at her opposite hip. The doctor said she was lucky to be alive. She had just lost her daughter, she sure didn't feel lucky.
Police Work, The bomb and the Linderman Act
It was a slow recovery, but eventually Carrie was back on her feet and living life again even if it had a hole in it from her loss. Her marriage had never been ideal as there was always that underlying tension between her and her husband, so it was no surprise after her full recovery that they eventually parted way. Her path in life took her back to California and home for a time. She stayed with her mother, her father having passed away some time ago, until she could get on her feet again. She tried to get a job just about in anything, but it was a bite from the LAPD that started her down the road to where she is today. In the academy, she regained faith in herself, found her iron will, grit and determination. While she didn't graduate top of her class, she was in the top five. She rose quickly in the LAPD, as she pretty much just lived her job. She would come home to her little one bedroom apartments to take care of human needs, but all her spare time was at the PD.
When slots in the SWAT team opened up, she was quick to put her name in. They were a busy group with the incidence with strange individuals slowly increasing as well as other crimes. They laughed at her as she was a woman, even though over her time as a street cop she proved over and over again she was tough and determined. While she found no pride in doing it, she got her tryout by using the threat of a discrimination suit. By time she was done, no one was laughing and in fact she was brought on to SWAT. They quickly found a use for her shooting skills she became one of their back up snipers as well as a member of their entry team. She felt like she had found her place, but fate wouldn't let her be.
When the bomb when off in New York is threw the country into chaos. Fearing another explosion on the West Coast, the LA mayor called for all police and National Guard to go on high alert and placed them at various points of importance. While many complained about the lack of day off, Carrie was unphased by it all, continuing to work as she always had taking her assignments as they came.
These assignments go on for a few months until the fateful day when Senetor Petrelli holds the press conference that proves that the Evolved existed. It was a day of realization for Carrie. The day her daughter died plays in her head over and over that day, as she realizes that what she thought was a figment of her imagination was true. She did see that man lift his hands and flip those cars back onto the others. She always thought she was crazy for thinking that, now she had validation. But also with this came a dislike and distrust of anyone evolved. A part of her wants to believe that there is good in everyone, but in truth the world is just shades of gray. People with power are more then likely in her mind to turn, much like a dog. They may seem good and they may act your friend, but they have it in them to use that power against you.
When Linderman Act was signed into effect there was a sense of relief to it. Much like sex offenders, she felt that people deserved to know if one of the freaks was living next door. Even though none of them asked to be that way, she still felt the deserved to be regulated and imprisoned if need be. She wasn't sure she could ever trust any of them, but she also felt if she knew they were there and what they cold do that she would have at least a sense that she has a chance against them. Now while she does feel they can turn, she does think they have one shot at being good citizens. But only one shot, then they should be imprisoned or even dead.
Death and The Company
Late 2008, her team was called in on a domestic dispute gone wrong. The boyfriend had ended up being an Evo, which they didn't know at the time, and was holding his children hostage. They entered the house way too easy and this made Carrie's stomach sick with worry. The children were found in a small bedroom and quickly extracted. Again, it was just too easy, things were bound to go bad… and they did.
What happened next isn't clear in her head. But suddenly, two of the guys in the back went straight up with sickening crunches as their heads hit the ceiling, breaking their necks. The reflex reaction from them as they suddenly lifted, was to fire, unfortunately it was into the rest of the team. And it was chaos from there.
In the end, her team dead, dying or out cold, she was alone to face the mad man with a bullet in her leg. He told her he would find more pleasure in watching her choke to death, then to crush her skull into the ceiling like the first two. In what she thought would be a final act of defiance, she spit in his face and told him to go to hell. As he squeezed her throat, she could feel the prick of the nails in her flesh and the world started to go dark around the edges. Suddenly he seemed to lurched forward as if hit hard by something, making him lose his grip and she fell to the floor gasping for air, with him tumbling after her. When she was able to get to her feet she found two strangers standing over the body of the bad guy. One of them, a woman, said that they could use more people not afraid to stare down an Evo, not to mention they have watched her career since she wiggled her way into a male dominated job as SWAT. Carrie was given a card should she want a change of careers and that they would continue watching her. The card said Primatech Paper, but when she called and met with the agents again she learned the true purpose. She wasn't sure what to think, especially with the possibility of being partnered with an Evolved. She found she was scared of that thought, and walked away.
It has taken her a few months, but she finally decided she wanted more involvement with the apprehension of the Evolved. So she has moved herself all the way across the country to New York to join the Company ranks to help track down, observe evolved and/or either bring them in alive or in a body bag. All her family knows is that she dropped a great career in SWAT to be an outside sales rep for a company called Primatech Paper to be one of their traveling sales agents. While she's not sure about working side by side with evolved agents, will she ever be able to trust her partners? Will she ever be able to get over the past? She is looking forward to making more of a difference and hopefully save other mothers from the heart ache of loosing a child cause of one of them.
