Homeward Bound, Chapter 10 by patricia51
(The Fight)
With his daughter's help Carlos quickly molded the C-4 plastic explosive into three charges, each with a hollow center. Moving swiftly bur surely the duo placed one charge over the massive iron lock and attached the other two where their force would be directed at the hinges on the other side of the door. Detonating cord was run to all three and hurriedly hooked into another fuse igniter.
Everyone moved back and braced themselves. K-Mart had a moment to notice that Sue, who was obviously a real prisoner, covered her husband and two of the children as best she could. She noted with interest that Sam and Claire positioned themselves so they could be in the hopefully surprise attack but also had themselves between the remaining three children and the door.
K-Mart drew her Walther PPK and double checked that it was loaded, chambered and the safety was off. Her Dad had her shotgun and her Mom had borrowed her boot knife. On a sudden impulse she concentrated.
"Get ready Angie," she thought as hard as she could.
"Ouch!" came the mental reply. "No need to shout K-Mart. I'm right at the entrance from the ocean back into the cavern. I'm ready."
Alice checked everyone. They were ready. And just in time. For loud voices and commands came from the other side of the door. There was the sound of a key being inserted in the lock. With that Alice nodded at her husband.
Carlos pulled the ring. This time because the igniter was hooked to det cord the reaction was almost instantaneous. The heavy wooden door blew completely off it hinges. Even before the smoke cleared the six adult survivors broke into a headlong charge with K-Mart hot on their heels.
The wooden splinters the door had been ripped into had caused fearful execution among the Umbrella personnel who had been on the wrong side of the explosion. The guard detail was practically wiped out and the two groups standing slightly farther on had half their number killed or wounded. K-Mart saw both Major Halstead and the undercover agent Morganna still on their feet.
The stunned Umbrella troops attempted to rally. They still outnumbered the survivors by better than four to one even counting the girls. But the attackers were no ordinary men and women. Alice took two down even before she armed herself with more than her daughter's knife. Carlos and Chris cut a swath through the guards, the former slinging K-Mart's shotgun after firing it empty and snatching up a submachine gun from the rapidly stiffening grip of a storm trooper who had no more use for it. Chris had grabbed two pistols, tossing one to Jill and both demonstrating why they had often posted perfect scores long ago on the Raccoon City PD range.
A thunderous roar gave evidence that Sam had retrieved his ten gauge shotgun. The final straw for the Umbrella troops came when Claire opened fire with a belt fed light machine gun she had scooped up, firing it in short, controlled bursts. The kidnappers scattered and fled.
K-Mart had realized quickly that she had no business in the confused fray. Instead, she took cover by the ruined door, intent on protecting Sue and her helpless husband as well as the group of children. This gave her a perfect spot to watch the fight become a rout in record time. It also let her keep an eye out for Angie.
The first Umbrella combatant to break was the fake pirate victim Morganna, with Major Halstead right on her heels as they headed for the sea cave and presumably a boat to escape in. The Major was, of course, screaming orders to the fast shrinking band of troopers to stand fast. Then, in the splendid tradition of how Umbrella executives treated their subordinates in a crisis he promptly tripped Morganna and then ran over her.
K-Mart had come out of the doorway as the fight slowed just in time to witness a terrifying sight. Angie had appeared and was covering Halstead with her Smith and Wesson. Without slowing his flight for a second the Umbrella officer fired from the hip and Angie went down. Screaming her anger K-Mart ran after the fleeing man. She had just about got him in her sights when a figure hurled itself onto Halstead.
Completely berserk, Chris forgot his weapons in his rage. All he wanted was to get his hands on the man who had felled the young woman he already thought of as his daughter. Halstead, who was trained in hand-to-hand combat even though his courage had deserted him the moment things turned against him fought, with the desperation of a cornered rat. His pistol fallen away, he grappled with the enraged former STARS officer and the pair rolled back and forth on top of each other onto the sand of the beach.
Halstead landed several good shots but they seemed to have no effect on Chris. They tore at each other, kicking and punching. Separating, they both staggered to their feet, cut and bleeding. Chris feinted and landed a front snap kick to the Umbrella officer's chest, which sent him staggering back knee deep in the water.
Halstead regained his balance. But before he could take a single step back to the sand the undead shark lunged from its lurking place. The Umbrella officer didn't even have time to scream before the great jaws closed on him and drug him into the water and out of sight. A few bubbles broke the surface, the water smoothed out and all was placid on the surface again.
Ignoring Halstead's end Chris spun and ran to where Claire was examining Angie with Jill immediately at hand. Alice, Sam and Carlos were inspecting the downed Umbrella soldiers and piling stripped equipment to one side while K-Mart danced back and forth from one foot to another as she hovered over the two women caring for Angie.
Chris dropped to his knees and looked pleadingly at Claire. His shoulders sagged in relief as she smiled.
"Not to worry brother of mine. She was creased by the bullet. She'll have a heckuva headache and maybe a little double vision for a while but she'll be fine." With that Claire gently slipped Angie to Jill, stood up and joined the others. She took K-Mart's hand and led her away, leaving the trio together.
Chris scooted close to the two most important women in his life, even more important than his sister now, dearly though he loved her. Jill smiled through unshed tears and shifted slightly so he could help support Angie, who was now awake. He wrapped one arm around Jill and with a gentle touch that seemed beyond the bulky strength of his body he touched Angie's face.
"How do you feel sweetheart?"
"My head hurts," the teen replied.
"Could have been a lot worse baby," replied her mom.
"Indeed. For a moment there we thought we lost you," Chris admitted.
Jill looked at him. "Sort of lost your temper there didn't you?"
"Well, yes I did."
"What happened?" Angie asked with interest, her eyes showing no sign of the blow to her head.
Jill responded, giving Angie a description of how she had been wounded and the fight between Chris and Halstead, including the end. She pulled no punches but left the description of the Umbrella officer's end without detail other than admitting it was the shark that had finished him. Angie shrugged.
"I didn't like him anyway. He called K-Mart and me brats."
The two adults managed to stifle their laughter. Both hugged the teen girl. Chris looked back and forth at them both.
"I was going to wait until we got home to Alaska to ask but this incident reminded me that we are never sure about tomorrow. So here goes." He took a deep breath. "Jill would you marry me and Angie would you become my daughter as well? I love you both and want us to be a family."
Jill looked at Angie, "What do you think Angela Valentine?"
Angie's eyes were shinning. "Mom, I think I would like very much to be Angela Redfield." She turned slightly, almost managing to suppress the wince from her headache. She wrapped her arms around Chris. "I would love to be your daughter too. I've wanted that for some time now."
"Well," Chris smiled as he enfolded the teen in his arms. "I guess it's all up to you Jill."
"Gee," the dark-haired woman pretended to ponder, "do I have to marry him baby?"
Falling into the spirit Angie grinned. "Normally I would say you could do much better Mom but now-a-days with the lack of available guys I guess you could settle for him."
Chris pretended to groan. "I can see this is going to be something else. Maybe I better run for it while I have a chance."
"Don't you dare," Jill said softly. She leaned over and joined her daughter and future husband in their hug. "The answer is 'Yes'. I've waited long enough for you to ask." She brushed her lips across his.
A throat being cleared brought the trio back to the world around them.
"Not to break this up or anything," Alice said, "but we have got a lot to decide on and I'm not sure how much time we have to decide on it."
"Oh?" asked Jill as the they got to their feet.
"K-Mart told us that she and Angie overheard the late Major Halstead talking about summoning a ship, a ship originally headed to Los Angeles. The purpose of that ship was to pick up Angie and take her to Umbrella HQ in Tokyo. If that ship is headed here we may have a boatload of trouble coming. We need to find out all we can before it gets here. Fortunately," a grim smile broke over her face, "we have someone available to tell us a lot."
"Who?"
"Morganna, aka Linda."
"Why would she talk to us?"
"Because she, like a couple others here, has just experienced what happens to an Umbrella employee once they get in the way of a superior. And she knows that her career there is shot anyway. Inevitably she will be blamed for the debacle here. So let's go see what she can tell us."
(To be continued)
(Ah-HA! Special thanks to two friends here at ff. Harley Quinn Davidson who made the suggestion for the undead shark (definitely belated thanks I know) and WhatHurtsMeMost who listened to my moaning that I couldn't remember who DID make the suggestion and went and found out for me. Without even being asked. You two are both GREAT!)