Chapter Eight
In the faint light, we made our way through the sewers beneath Raccoon City. Jill's boots clacked on the slippery cement underfoot, the sound echoing out into the distance. The darkness lay ahead of us; the only sound other than our heavy breathing was the splash of filthy water. I pulled my lighter from my pocket and flipped it open, it lit with a spark. We jumped down from the ledge into the putrid smelling sewage below. It was warm and the feel of it soaking into my fatigues made me gag. Something slithered quickly past me in the water.
"What the fuck?" I said, jumping away from the creature.
"Move!" Jill called, already cutting through the water ahead of me. I caught up with her, pushing against the water as it hurried past. I caught a glimpse of another one of the creatures as it snaked by. Suddenly, another leapt from the sewage and secured itself to Jill's arm. She yelled and ripped it from her skin, a stream of blood sprayed out from the wound. Yet another one of the bastards leapt out and this time it collided with my abdomen. Its teeth were like needles as they pierced into me, and I winced at the pain. We had almost made it to the exit, and I couldn't pry the thing off of me. Jill climbed up the next ledge and turned to offer her hand. She saw the snake-like monster and took aim with her pistol, wasting no time to blow it to pieces with a single bullet. I struggled to pull myself from the water, and lay on the cement panting. I felt light-headed, knowing I had lost a lot of blood. Jill pulled me up and guided me to the ladder leading out of the sewers.
Once outside, I found myself standing in one corner of the local cemetery. Jill climbed out from the hole and landed softly on the wet grass. It was raining lightly. Jill's hair darkened from the moisture and lay plastered against her forehead. I put my hand out to sweep it away, and she quickly moved back a step. My hand fell to my side and all at once I collapsed onto the sopping grass. I let out a harsh sigh, coughed and tasted copper on my tongue. Jill grabbed me from behind and dragged me past old sunken tombstones and into a nearby building. She kicked the door open and carried me inside. I noticed a shovel by the fireplace and noted that this was where the supplies for the workers were kept.
"Let me fix that wound for you," Jill mumbled. She sounded on the verge of tears.
"This isn't over. I'm not dying on you, yet." I chuckled.
"Not funny. I can't lose you, Carlos. We're getting the hell out of here. Together." She spoke in a whisper as she bandaged me up once again. I put my hand on her cheek and stared into her wet eyes. She leaned her forehead against mine and sighed. Before I could manage to speak anymore, the structure shook violently and pieces of the ceiling crumbled off onto the floor boards. Jill was thrown onto her side, and I slid further against the wall.
"What is it now?" Jill said furiously.
"Another mutant," Nicholai chimed in as he came from the fire place. I studied the area behind him and noticed that the bricks at the back of the fire place had been smashed in; he must have come from in there. Jill perked up and faced Nicholai, reaching for her gun.
"Silly girl. I'm not here to play with you two." He muttered as he headed for the door.
"This is no game, Nicholai." Jill said angrily. She fumbled to get her pistol out, but was too late. Nicholai had already exited the shack. She sighed in exasperation and turned to me. I smiled at her and pulled myself up. She shook her head.
"You might want to sit this one out." She spoke.
"And let you have all the fun? No way." I joked. I limped to the door, knowing I would be of little use but insisting that I go anyway. Jill reluctantly nodded and led the way back outside. The rain had let up for the time being, but the clouds still covered the moon and I could make out only a few stars gleaming against the black sky. The ground rumbled beneath our feet, and I fell off balance against a tombstone. Jill jumped for me, but I nodded to her that I was all right. The center of the grave yard bulged upward, then sunk in completely, Jill went toppling into the crevice. I tried to reach out a hand to grab her, but I was too late. She rolled along with the dirt and luckily did not get hit by one of the markers.
A large, grotesquely mutated worm emerged from the earth. It opened its mouth to reveal circular sets of pointed teeth that shone in the starlight. It let out a menacing screech and dove back into the soil.
"Damn it!" Jill yelled as she got on her feet. She grabbed the shotgun from where it had been slung on her back and waited for the monster to return. It did, but from behind her. She quickly spun and fired into its face twice before it slithered around her and went back into the earth. I knew that at this rate it would take her a while to defeat the beast, so I readied my assault rifle, taking aim as the creature lurched toward Jill. We both fired into it simultaneously, and it oozed thick, green blood. However, our shots were not enough to kill it. Jill was obviously getting weary of the thing, and I noticed she was standing in a puddle of water from the rain. Nearby stood a street light with power cords hanging down from it. It was leaning, ready to fall at any given moment and the cords would shock anything that encountered the water. I looked to Jill to tell her, but she had seemingly read my mind. She waited in the puddle for the worm, and just as she had hoped it emerged from the puddle. She fired a round into the post, and it fell, the wires hitting the water and sending the worm into violent convulsions. It screeched one last time before deflating entirely into a pool of putrescent green.
Jill circled around the monster and headed for me. I lent her my hand and pulled her up onto solid ground.
"Nice work, Valentine," I said with a wink. She helped me up from where I sat and led the way back into the supply building. I mentioned the fire place, and we cautiously examined it before heading inside through the hole at the back. A dead mercenary lay strew among bits of paper. He had been shot.
"What is this?" I asked aloud. Jill was leafing through a set of papers that were scattered on the table in the center of the small, dark room. Next to the body stood a large communcations device. It was on and functioning, and as I approached it a voice came through.
"All supervisors proceed to the extraction point. Mission aborted."
Jill looked up from the document, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"The supervisors were sent here to observe how well the mercenaries fought under these conditions. They were here to do nothing more than watch and then ensure that Umbrella gets away with all this." She said in a stunned tone. I smashed my fist against the wall, enraged.
"That bastard! All those men died because of him!"
"Because of Umbrella." She said, looking down.
"And that- that thing after you? What is that?" I asked her.
"Umbrella. S.T.A.R.S. was sent to that Mansion in the mountains, just to be observed, as well. And killed off. But we made it, and that wasn't the plan, Carlos. They're trying to get rid of us and cover their asses."
"Well, this isn't over. We won't let them get away with this." I said. I had regained my strength through this anger I now felt. I made a point to fight this through until the end. We were going to get the hell out of the city and make sure the truth came out with us.
