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Chapter Two: Damascus in Nightmare


'That's the Jake Muller I told you. He's Albert Wesker's illegimate son. He's the only person to be compactible with the virus and immune to mutation, just like his father' - Chris Redfield to Jill Valentine


West of Damascus

Compared to Sit Zeinab, the BSAA Alpha Team commanded by Chris Redfield was having a rather hard time battling out the infected on a more civilised city. The infected just seemed to come out of nowhere and it didn't take long before Captain Redfield realized that his team were heavily pinned. Morale was definitely dropping on Team Alpha. Refugees destinated behind a barricade began to panic. Chris's uniform was already bloodied, stains of red coloured his garments.

"Come in, HQ, this is Alpha. We were heavily surrounded and the survivors need evacuation, requesting backup immediately! Goddamnit!" At the end of the connection, Chris valiantly pulled out a headshot on a zombie right across him. He heard no response, other than static sounds at the end of the line, "HQ, do you read me?"

"Chris, we couldn't get through HQ! Connection here is bad!" Like Chris, the Raccoon City survivor Jill Valentine had absolutely no problem dealing with flesh-eating zombies. She meleeed a few on her flank, before providing backup to the rest of the team.

The Alpha Team captain continued to eliminate more and more infected. "This is no good. Our ammo is running low and we have survivors on the back. Pete, see if you can do anything with the connection."

"Roger, captain. I need to bring Kirk and John along with me to the building one o' clock of your direction. We have better chances clearing up there."

"Alright! Do that." When Chris saw that the trio were on their way to the building, he shouted, "Don't panic, men! We just need to hold out until we can get backup from HQ! We have people on our back and they needed our protection."

Chris snarled ferally, "Right now, your objective is to kick the infected asses."


Somewhere around Damascus

A motorcycle was seen speeding up on a very high velocity along the road. Jake commandeered the vehicle and Sherry anxiously looking up on her PDA. One of her arm was wound around Jake's waist.

"I can't get through back to Hunnigan. The connection is just terrible." Sherry pocketed her PDA. Jake chuckled, "Of course there isn't. Deserts like these, you can get nothing other than sunshine and sandstorm. You should have done it on Sit Zeinab."

"Yeah, but that's ok. I'll see if I can get to Chris's location. Maybe we can get through there. Chris had probably done with the infected there." Sherry said. "And thanks for driving like a lunatic. We can get there in no time if this speed keeps up." She could hear his grin through his reply, "No problem."

Jake murmured, "Redfield, huh?"

The rest of the ride was a silent one, neither refused to talk much with the sand stirring up from the bike. And one thing, Jake still drove like a maniac when they were in China, that's for sure. Sherry even wondered where did he learn to drive like that. His dark gray jacket flapped against her all the time.

When the silhouette of a large buildings began to come to view, Sherry pointed at the direction, "There! I see it. Chris's team is there."

"So you're saying that they most probably done, but judging by the smoke and screams, I'm fraid' not."

He closed in to the guarded barricade leading right into Damascus. Jake glanced over to the side-mirror, "Just keep quiet, got it?" Sherry tried to counter, "But I've go-" Too late, Jake had already stopped right in front of the barricade. One of the guards approached them, "Turn around now! The west of Damascus is currently in assault by the infected."

Now Sherry understood what Jake meant when he asked her to keep quiet. She was completely thawed out; they were speaking in Arabic, to which Sherry couldn't understand a word. On the other hand, Jake paused for a moment, before speaking up, "Buddy, my name is Jake Muller."

The guard looked stunned for a moment, before giving out signals to the guards near the barricade. They moved the barricade out of the way, "I'll give exception to you, Mr. Muller. The BSAA isn't doing any good out there."

"Sure, and you won't mind if I bring along a partner?" Jake gestured to Sherry behind him. The guard nodded,"Of course. Good luck, sir."

With that, Jake kicked up his gear and moved along. Sherry looked astounded, "Wow. You could speak in Arabic now? I could only manage to make out two letters. Jake. Muller." Jake chuckled, "Arabic is pretty tough to learn compared to Chinese. Although some Syrians can speak in French too. One good trait of not attending school is, you learn everything yourself."

"And I can see that they let to cross by just saying your name." Sherry said, "Who could have known you gain so much popularity in just months time."

Jake braked a little on a sharp turn, "Once a merc make a name for himself, he can practically go anywhere like a lifetime pass. Especially since there's chaos everywhere in Middle East."


West of Damascus

It took only a couple of minutes and they were already in Damascus. As expected, the city was literally all hell break loose as Jake speed along the highways, avoiding the zombies all the time.

"That guy wasn't kidding, it's friggin' shitstorm out here!" Jake swirled his bike along to avoid an incoming zombie.

Sherry's eyes could barely open with the rushing wind on her eyes, "Chris better be alright. Can you get to their location, Jake?" Jake's bike roared as he stepped hardly on the pedal, "If you're trying to ask me to help those guys, I demand my 50 dollars!"

"I don't have 50 dollars right now! How about I just owe you for now and could you please just get to Chris' team?!"

"Alright then. Let's get ourselves a shortcut!"

Without a warning, Jake rushed through a crashed car as a ramp and plunged right to the streets below. Sherry responded to this tight situation by holding onto him, pressing herself tightly against Jake's back.

He landed roughly on a building, then to another, and they got into lower altitude gradually. At several times they ran into some zombies, only to have Sherry shoot them out of the way.

On one occasion, Sherry checked her PDA, disappointed to find that the connection was nowhere better. Although she was still able to track Chris' team, "They are close-by. About another six kilometers on this direction."

"Can tell. I can hear the gunfire."

On Chris' side, the BSAA Alpha Team gave everything they had to hold their line. Casualties were increasing much to Chris' dismay. He didn't falter though as he still hounded the rest of the infected with zeal. "There weren't supposed to be this much hostiles! What the hell is wrong with the intel?!"

Jill reloaded her Samurai Edge, scrunching her nose, "Don't know. If HQ would have give us the right intel, we woundn't be this underprepared."

Although the infected were much diminished, Chris still worried that they might be not able to hold out much longer soon. Ammo were running scarce but the infected were still closing in in large amount. Chris even considered firing sparingly.

"Captain, this is Pete. We are already halfway there on with the connections. Although the hostiles aren't making friends here; Kirk and John are running low too. See if you can prevent those zombies from entering the building."

Chris held onto his walkie-talkie, "Copy that. Just make it quick." The BSAA then got his reply, "Roger that, Captain. Pete out."

He then connect to Jill's, "Jill, we'll take care of guarding the building. The rest, concentrate on keeping the civilians safe." Jill immediately burst into a sprint to Chris' side, "You know what, Chris. Things never get old. Felt like a deja vu fighting like this."

The remaining military squads were caught off-guard when the sound of a roaring engine came from a roof. Jake landed right in the middle of the crowd and manuevered his bike so that it turned degrees before coming to a sudden stop. Sherry immediately hopped off from the vehicle and aimed her gun at the staggering crowd. "Chris, are you guys okay?"

"Sherry!" Upon hearing the G-virus only host, Chris felt somewhat relieved when he knew that Claire's best friend was safe. He and Jill dashed to them and Chris' face turn into a frown when he noticed Jake, "So, you're the so-called hero."

Jake replied with a stoic look on his face, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Right now, we got a LOT of cleanup to do." Chris agreed, "Okay. Let's see how good you are from what I've heard."

They turned their attention to the hordes and began firing off. Jill somewhat noticed Jake's resemblance to someone when she first saw him. Like the rest, she was also impressed by how fast he dispatched the zombies with CQC. When Jill was on Chris' side, she took the chance to tell him, "That boy's pretty good. Though he looked like someone. You knew him?"

Chris hesitated, but decided to spill it out, "That's the Jake Muller I told you. He's Albert Wesker's illegimate son. He's the only person to be compactible with the virus and immune to mutation, just like his father."

Eyes widen, Jill was somewhat surprised to learn that the person she was fighting alongside was her archnemesis' son, "That's him?" In between the interval of firing off zombies and BOWs, Chris replied, "Yeah. Glad to see he has one major difference with his father. He chose to go against bio-terrorism instead of being one."

"I guess that explains how well he could maul the zombies with only a handgun. And barehands."

Having Jake and Sherry definitely helped in destroying the infected. Jake easily overcame the problem with low ammo with his fist and kicks - and Sherry was smart enough to bring along her newer version of Stun Rod.

But something was amiss. Chris glanced from time to time to Sherry's location, making sure that she was safe. Although she had the ability to fend off the zombies pretty well, but he noticed that Sherry was sweating buckets. What more intriguing, she held her forehead and shook of some sort of pain. Then, he suddenly recalled what Claire once told him.

Long minutes passed and Pete finally annouced, "Sir, the connection is good to go! But you gotta get to higher grounds to get a better line!"

"Good job! Jill, go and contact HQ now, I'll handle this." Chris ordered. Jill nodded and head off "Roger."

Sherry also took the opportunity to try and contact Hunnigan, "Jake, I'll try calling my boss, see if you can cover me." When she heard Jake's "On it.", she too ran off to the back.

That left Jake and Chris, along with several other Alpha Team units. Jake was so focused on taking out the enemy that he didn't noticed Chris was getting closer to his side. When he did, Jake didn't bother to look at him, "So, you survived China, Redfield?"

"...Yeah, with the cost of one life. Thanks for keeping Sherry safe too."

Jake held his fire for seconds, before continuing, "Look Redfield, I didn't save her for your sake." he growled. Then he sounded regretful, "...Though, sorry to hear about Nivans. He's a pain in the ass, but still..." he trailed off.

Chris gave out a relieved sigh, somewhat happy to see Jake was right, he was not the same man his father was, "Thanks."


Call it girl power or side effect from viruses, T-virus infected Jill Valentine formed a pact with G-Virus infected Sherry Birkin without a single word of agreement. They acted efficiently covering each other as they ran up the flights of stairs. After all, they had the similar goal, to contact their superiors and get the hell outta here.

"So, that Jake kid..." Jill breathed out then stopped. Sherry heard her hesitation, "Hm? What about him?"

"Aside from his distinctive features with his father, I can't really believe he's Wesker's son." Jill caught her breath when she reached floor 5, still 8 floors to go. The elevator was down, typical. Sherry caught up to her after skipping one step, she exhales loudly, "I've read Wesker's report, their other similarity that I could see is that Jake learns things at a very fast rate. He could speak fluently in Arabic in just months time. Although he said that he got his from his mercenary life, but I don't really believe him."

Jill resumed in climbing the staircase followed closely by Sherry. She recalled an old memory and laughed at a hushed tone, "Ya' know, Sherry. I'm glad he didn't inherit the way his father talks. Although Jake's foul language might be... unpleasant at times, at least he didn't talk like some seventies royal coach driver or something. It's just unbearable."

"Wesker talks like that?"

"Like he knew the whole goddamn dictionary by heart. C'mon, we gotta hurry and get help!"

The rest of the climb was a tiring one. But they reached the top of the building anyway. Sherry leaned herself to the wall beside the door with her gun ready. With a powerful kick, Jill knocked the door wide open and proceeded unloading at the small horde of zombies. Sherry removed herself from cover and aided Jill in the onslaught. All said and done, the women was finally allowed to catch their breaths - for a moment.

Sherry inspected the view from the roof, it was indeed chaos. It was just like Raccoon City. Smokes and flames covered most of the atmophere and buildings. Some highways were severely wrecked. She didn't get the chance to see this much when she was riding with Jake, not when he drive like there was no tomorrow. And she did noticed that the sun was setting down. The view had her shaking and panting. She relished the nightmare she experienced years ago.

She tore her eyes away from the view and groped around her pocket and found her PDA. It was slightly scratch with all the actions she went through, but at least still functional. When light reflected to the screen, Sherry could see that Hunnigan tried to contact her several times herself.

"Director Hunnigan." She breathed, trying to calm herself.

"Oh my god. Finally, Sherry. Are you okay?" Concern was in her voice. Sherry reassured her, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm with Jill now. And I've found out the person we're looking for. Apparently, he is interested in working with us, for a fee."

"Who?"

Sherry shifted her gaze from her PDA to Jill, who was apparently reporting to BSAA. Her gaze soon returned to Hunnigan, "Jake Muller." Hunnigan's eyes widen in amazement, "Jake Muller? He's in Middle East now?"

"Yes, the very Jake Muller. He's as hard headed as ever. He only agree to work with us as of a mercenary and he demanded payment."

Sherry saw that Hunnigan sighed at the other line, "I've guessed. But right now, I need you to get outta there. I'll send an extraction to your location. Is the BSAA on for extractions right now?"

"Almost. But things aren't going really well out here so we need to-" Sherry was interrupted by Jill's angered voice. Her eyes were furious ones when she yelled at her radio, "What do you mean you can't get us extraction until we eliminate all infected? There are people out here waiting for help. We. Need. Extraction. Now."

A short silence, before Jill yelled again, she tried her best to hold back going into blind rage, "Goddammit, HQ. First, you give us the wrong intel. Now, you try to bail us out here?!" Another silence. "Tch. Fine. Once we're done, I'll report back. Jill out." Jill turned off her radio, promptly rubbing her forehead in frustration.

Sherry shoved her PDA awkwardly into her left pocket, "What's wrong?"

Jill didn't reply immediately. Her eyes were closed with uncertainty before she watched Chris and Jake down the building; fighting the C-Virus infectants. "HQ isn't gonna send extraction unless we eradicate all of them." She added, "They said the Syrian goverment refused bombing Damascus as it was one of their major cities. This leaves us the only choice of finishing them off - the hard way."

"That's just horrible!" Sherry gasped in shock. Fist clenched, Jill could almost hit the dry wall with it, "And they said they had already sent help to us. What are we? Expendable? Bah. I'll have to report to Chris." Jill turned around and connect to Chris.

At that moment, Sherry's PDA vibrated and she checked it up. Hunnigan had sent her a map with a red dot blinking around the word of 'Madaya'. 'The extraction pretty far off, 31 miles from our location... And the region is pretty mountainous.'

"Jill," Sherry turned towards her current partner, she took a deep breath, "DSO sent me and Jake extractions. It's quite far from here though - 31 miles."

Jill shook her head, "31 miles... It's tough." She continued, "We got civilians here with us. And transportation is going to be a problem. We can't get through most roads..." she trailed off, deep in thoughts. After she was done contemplating, she reloaded her Samurai Edge before making her way to the stairs again, "Sherry, let's go back down and talk this off with Chris."

The blonde-haired felt sorry for BSAA, "Right, I'll ask Jake to tell Chris."


The BSAA Alpha Team Captain wiped the beads of sweat out of his temple in amidst the confusion. Meanwhile, Jake tugged on his sleeve of his jacket, preparing for more. Chris snarled at the incoming hostiles, very upset, very worried, and above all - angry.

"What the lady told you? You seemed moody of all the sudden..." Jake mouthed. Chris's eyebrows narrowed, "We aren't getting a fucking chopper unless we are done with them."

Everyone from Alpha Team made eyes on each other. They were devastated when they had heard their Captain.

"Whatta hell-" Jake felt movements on his thigh and he hastily grabbed his cell phone to his ears, his right hand holding his 909. "About time, Supergirl. Redfield said..."

"Jake, we are getting extraction." She cut him off, gasping for air all the time, "Hunnigan's sending us one. But Jill said there's no way the civilians can reach our point of extraction. The BSAA will only be getting their only if the eliminate all traces of infectants. Tell Chris about this. Now." She ended the call.

Jake grunted, he reluctantly dashed to Chris' side, "Listen, Redfield, Sherry said that her boss is sending her a chopper. But the civies had no way to reach to that point."

"Dammit." Chris kicked the floor aimlessly. Jake sighed, "C'mon. It's not much of them left anyways. We'll just waste them and you can get your bird flying straight to you. Plus, some other boyscouts are coming this way, right?"

Chris released a breath of air, "Right. We still had Middle Eastern Bravo Team headed our way."

"On my mark, men! We are gonna waste these things and get the hell outta here. BSAA Middle East had sent us help and they will be coming shortly!" Chris roared thunderously.

"Aye, aye, Captain!"

"Jake," he switched his glance to the young mercenary, "Once Sherry's down here, I need you to mount your bike, and get Sherry to the extraction point."

Jake stammered, "What?"

"We can handle it from here. Just get Sherry there as fast as you can."

"Why the hell would I listen to you?" Jake growled. He does't like people telling him what to do, specifically Chris Redfield."

"Because..."


Jill deliberately pushed the main door open with her shoulder, heading back into the gore. They shoot their way through back to the duo. The moment Jake caught eyes with Sherry, he grabbed her hand roughly and pulled her to the direction to his previously vacated bike.

"J-Jake!" She resisted, but couldn't fight the enchanced strength of Jake Muller. Jake ignored her, "You need to get the hell outta here."

"But Chris need-" She was cut short by Chris when she heard him shout, "We'll be okay! Just get outta here. ME Bravo Team will be here soon!"

Jake yanked Sherry to the seat, "You've heard the man. Now, let's just get away from this shit."

He looked at Chris direction, who shifted his vision from Sherry to himself. "Thanks." Chris muttered, he was sure that Jake would understand him.

Jake nodded in agreement, he glared at the struggling Sherry, but then his voice was pleading, "Sherry... Please..."

Chris knew Jake had problems with her, "Go now, Sherry!" He shouted.

Sherry was hesitant, but obliged shortly. On a selfish part of her, she wanted to leave as soon as she could too, but she just couldn't bear to leave Chris' team in danger. But seeing that Chris had things in control and his help would be arriving, she finally mounted up the bike and held onto Jake's waist.

Spurring the vehicle to life, Jake eyed at Chris one last time, "Good luck, Redfield."

Chris watched as Jake and Sherry disappeared into the darkness of the alleyway.

A.N: That's it. Chapter 2, peeps. Now just what Chris told Jake that the stone-headed Jake would come in terms with Chris? *winks*

Oh, and did I mention that it was already somewhere at the end of November in this fic? Guess I didn't, sorry about that. I'll write down the exact date for this fic on the next chapter.

And one more thing, this fic focus mainly about Jake and Sherry. So when it comes to pairing off Chris and Jill or Leon and Claire, it will be very minimal. Just in case.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Because I 'damn' sure you will be in the next one. :)