AN: I skipped the Bravo's leaving and changed the time gap between when the Alpha's get the signal and when they go after them to help me write my version of Zero better. Sorry if the time gap is confusing, but if I tried to write it I would end up starting writing Zero. I can't write two stories at the same time without mixing them up, and I'd get so stressed out that I'd just drop them both.
Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Resident Evil or its characters, despite all attempts to gain the rights to them.
Chapter 1
Jill and the rest of the Alphas were anxiously waiting for Wesker to come back from Chief Irons' office. It had been almost nine hours since the Bravo team had gotten the go-ahead from Irons to check the Arklay Forest for those cannibal murderers, and they still hadn't been able to contact them yet. Their last transmission had been garbled and panicked, saying something about "engine failure" before they lost contact completely.
Everyone, especially Joseph as he had gotten promoted from Bravo to Alpha just under a year ago, had wanted to go after them immediately, but Wesker had told them to wait—although he didn't seem all that happy about it either. After the eighth hour Wesker had gone to get permission from Irons for a rescue—that had been an hour ago, and he still hadn't come back yet. Brad had gone to one of the snack machines twenty minutes after their captain had left, and when he came back he seemed jittery. He told them that he had passed by Irons' office on the way there and had heard a lot of yelling and a metallic bang, and afterwards had unconsciously sat at the other side of the room from Jill with his soda.
Jill sighed at the memory. While she understood that Brad didn't do it on purpose, Jill was still a little hurt by how afraid of her he still was. But it's not just me—he's afraid of all women over age 16, and absolutely terrified of them if they're blonde. Well, at least he's gotten better about it towards me in the past three years—normally when he got jumpy he wouldn't stay in the same room with me.
After another long ten minutes of waiting, Wesker finally came back. "Alright. Brad, Chris, get the chopper warmed up. Jill, you and Barry grab the vests and equipment out of the locker room. Joseph, radio ahead to the police blockade they just set up for clearance. I need to go over a few more things with Irons, and then I'll meet you on the roof. I want to be out of here in five, so let's get moving." As everyone went to off to do what they were assigned, Jill couldn't help the feeling of dread settle in the pit of her stomach. She just hoped that she was wrong and that the Bravos were all right.
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In the helicopter, the anxiety from the office seemed to worsen. Chris was copiloting instead of Joseph since Brad had somehow managed to almost veer them off course at the initial takeoff, despite his claims that he had nothing to do with the leftward tilt. Jill wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.
Due to Chief Irons' art obsession, funds for most departments were cut pretty short, so most if not all the equipment and vehicles in the RPD were as old as the police department was. Other than the Bravo helicopter, most still worked pretty well in most cases, but sometimes they froze up or did weird things that no technical expert could fully explain.
Heck, the copter could've been thrown off balance by a couple rats jumping on the landing gear for all we know. And from the way the helicopter kept leaning toward the left, she was starting to wonder if that really was the case. She'd have to check once they landed.
Joseph was currently sitting in Chris's seat next to her, adjusting his bandana and checking his shotgun for the fifteenth time. Barry and Wesker were sitting across from them, Barry cleaning his Colt Python and Wesker just sitting there. He wore his trademark sunglasses even at night, so it was really hard to tell what he was doing.
After what seemed to be a small eternity, Chris finally found the wreckage of the Bravo's helicopter in a clearing. The landing was just as bad as the takeoff, as just before they reached the ground whatever was riding on the landing gear jumped off and sent everyone jerking to the right.
Once on the ground, everyone except Brad got out of the helicopter and headed for the wreckage, drawing their guns. The outside of the downed helicopter seemed mostly fine, except for the shattered windshield and a small amount of thick black smoke still rising from the control panel inside.
After checking the inside and finding it full of gear, Wesker spoke up. "Everyone spread out and look for clues or signs of a struggle—tracks, shell casings—anything you find, let me know about it. Just don't leave the area"
Starting her search to the right of the downed helicopter, Jill paused momentarily when she realized how quiet it was. There wasn't any chirping, buzzing, or any of the other nightly sounds you would expect this deep in the woods on a warm summer night like this. Pushing away the growing sense of dread that had been nagging at her ever since she had left the RPD, she had just started heading to investigate a flash of metal she thought she saw to her right, when she heard Joseph call from her left "Hey! I think I found something!"
Turning her attention away from the metallic shine for the moment, Jill followed the sound of Joseph's voice to the left, the rest of the team doing the same. He was bent over a spot on the ground near a patch of tall grass not even three feet from the tree line. When he got back up, he screamed and dropped what he was holding: a STARS issue Beretta with a chewed-off human hand still holding onto it. Running faster, she didn't hear the growls or see the three dark shapes darting out of the woods until they jumped at Joseph and knocked him down. They looked almost like skinned Rottweilers, their bodies shining with blood and saliva dripping from their jaws. Joseph had half turned before they reached him, so he landed on his back with all of them on top of him trying to tear his throat out.
Chris, Barry, and Wesker, who were closer to Joseph than she was, were attempting to shoot the hell hounds off of him. They had managed to get one off before five others jumped from the woods and attacked them. Having no other choice, they left Joseph, still struggling with the dogs, and made a run for the helicopter, with Jill following close behind.
Unfortunately, a second wave of dogs that jumped out of the woods beside the helicopter reached the chopper first, and Brad had to take off to get away from them. One of the dogs was hanging onto the open doors and almost got inside before Brad sharply jerked it upwards another fifty feet and knocked it off. Chris's shouting for him to come back couldn't reach him anymore as he flew off without them, leaving them alone with the dogs.
Jill's panic-stricken thoughts went back to that metallic shine she saw earlier just as the dogs in front of her turned to them. Without thinking about it, she ran as fast as she could in the direction of where she last saw that glimmer, her confused teammates following.
Getting closer to it, she realized that it was just an overturned military vehicle with the heavily decayed bodies of the officers being eaten by what used to be a fox, its body just as bad as the pursuing dogs, as well as having its intestines hanging out. Turning around at the sound of her footsteps, it growled at her and pounced. Throwing it off her, she barely had time to grab her fallen gun before it pounced again. She thought she'd had it just as a gunshot rang out behind her, hitting it directly in the left eye and knocking it out of the air. Turning around, she saw Chris running toward her and Wesker and Barry not that far behind.
"MOVE!" Wesker screamed just as she heard more growling behind her. Not bothering to see what it was, Jill darted to her right just as another fox pounced into the spot she was in just five seconds earlier. Crashing through the tree line, she lost sight of the rest of the team as she darted through the foliage. Completely lost by this point, she had almost given up hope when she saw a large mansion on her right.
Darting through the massive iron gates and up the front steps, she shouldered open the large oak doors and found herself in a gorgeous front hall. The floors and walls were made of marble, with large arches and two doors leading to other rooms and a strip of carpet from the front doors up the large staircase leading up to a second floor balcony. Other than the large crystal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling and the small table by the staircase, there wasn't much else in the overly large room, making it feel almost empty.
She was just starting to wonder if the rest of her teammates could find the mansion when she heard footsteps behind her. Jill turned in time to see Wesker and Barry came in and slam the doors shut just as the lead dog jumped for them and hit the door with a sickening crack. That's when she realized that Chris wasn't with them.
"Where's Chris?" She asked, hoping that the voice in her head telling her that he was dead was wrong. The looks she had gotten when she'd asked had made her fear the worst, but she wasn't as ready as she thought she was when Barry confirmed them. "The dogs got him. He tripped on a tree root before we got out of the clearing. We tried to help him, but they were on him before we could get to him. I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do."
Jill just stood there while her brain tried to process the situation: they were stuck in an abandon mansion surrounded by mutated dogs—and lone fox—that may or may not be able to break in through the windows; not to mention that both Chris and Joseph were dead and Brad just abandoned them. It was so much like some cheesy horror movie that for a moment she almost started laughing at how cliché this all was. Luckily, she was pulled out of those thoughts and near hysterical laughter by a series of rapid gunshots coming from the room to the left.
I decided to give Brad a better reason to run away, since the fact that he just up and left makes a lot of people hate him. I hope it was still somewhat in character. And sorry about the cliff hanger; I didn't know where else to end it. Now for the fun part of trying to seperate everything into managable chapters. (sigh) This is going to slow me down alot, along with all my schoolwork and current interests being elsewhere at the moment.
Please review. I don't care if it's just to tell me how much I suck, just please review anyway.
