Note: the confusion with the reviews, it's because I removed an extra note from before.
Chapter 9."The end of all things part 1."
There was no time for questions, no time to wonder what's going on? The spread happened way too quickly if this was an accident. Based on the observer could state from experience. Black heavy combat boots echoed off the asphalt of the street. Two figures in the shadow walked in parallel with each other as on tapped the other's back. Both had gasmasks. One with a hood as the other had blonde tied back hair. Dim sapphire hues of light carefully continued onward.
Vector motioned for Bertha to be careful, he could sense that both of them were being watched by creatures in the shadows of the town. In several seconds, Vector stepped back and angled his back to a wall on his left and had his weapon aim down range. Bertha did the same as both directions of the alleyway were covered. The streets and the hissing sounds got louder, four hunters jumped towered the black clad soldiers.
There was a fifth hunter and it walked past the group with a corpse still punctured with its left claw. A small child, just the age of nine with eyes rolled back with a mangled flesh at where the throat should be. The last expression of shock persist and the left arm hung on with close skin while a bone was severed from the rest of the skeleton. Just another causality of the attack.
The creatures looked down at them with their narrowed hungry expressions. One of the hunters started to drool through its bladed teeth. "Come to play?" Bertha raised her rifle while flashes of light pierced through the darkness.
The blast went through its chest and it busted with black blood as the creature laid down lifeless, she leaned forward and jumped to the side avoiding another claw coming her way. Vector stepped in and fired at the closest hunter so it was forced to place its back against a wall while blood erupted from the chest like a geyser. The rest of the hunters decided made their move. The fifth hunter flicked its right claw to discard the corpse to the ground.
She rolled over on her back raising the gun again, her fast-swift aim had caught another hunter with two shots, killing it. Vector used his sub machine gun and started to fire none-stop. He kept his posture leveled and he moved so he won't give the creatures a chance to claw him, while mentally prepared for any charged attack. The light of his gasmask went brighter as a tear drop of blood landed on left lens.
The hunters did not stand a chance. Bertha ejected a magazine and yawned. "The effectiveness has really declined. It's like the hunters are more like wild dogs than wolves." She shook her head.
"I haven't spotted any Alphas." Vector cocked his head while Bertha walked past him.
"On point." Bertha arched her back then prepped her weapon.
"Roger that." Vector followed in formation behind her.
The two walked through the park, to their surprise a large part of the place remained untouched, the perfect place for relaxation. Their assumptions still held true when they discovered on other side were corpses of people and hunters. From a glance, the bodies were slashed and shot; meaning zombies. Two of them were stuck over the steel gate to outside of the park, and another zombie was impaled to a tree. "So it's true, Hunk was here." Bertha leaned in to get a closer look at the handiwork.
This situation didn't make sense, and Vector would bet money that Wesker withheld information. He had no choice but to trust him on where they should go, but he was going to be very careful when it came to depending on Wesker for information and escape plan. "Wesker… you're thoughts?" Bertha asked.
"Sergei is the new de facto leader according to Spectre. Wesker and Sergei are constantly making power plays to each other." Vector aimed down an open space and Bertha walked past him. "Destroy this, hide all of the evidence in order to create a new and refreshing one."
"We could end up dead along with Hunk and Lone Wolf." Bertha replied.
"Affirmative. We're in the middle of a sick game Bertha." Vector cut the conversation short. He crouched next to the steel gate, he could see a strange liquid spread over it. His fingerless gloves allowed the tip of his fingers to touch it carefully and he rubbed with his fingers. It did feel strangely sticky and had a grey color mixed with blood and what it seems to be bloody pieces. "What the hell is this?"
She kneeled down and sweep it with something small in her hand. "For study." Carefully she put the small sample in her pocket and secured it.
The two left the park, trying their best to not be visible to the eyes even though the town seems to be like a ghost town. The large house was right before their eyes. The house where Hunk was signed to be in it and immediately Vector blasted the lock over the gate then sprinted inside to the front door. While Bertha stayed behind watching the area and make sure it was safe.
Darkness welcomed him inside, he couldn't hear any sound inside...deathly silent.
"This is Vector, can you hear me sir?" His gun's light pointing at all the scanned all directions for potential threats of the living room and the stairs.
"This is Vector, can you hear me?" He searched for any kind of sign. The corpses with clear cuts to them were more that easy to identify the work of a professional.
Vector went up the stairs with light feet, barely audible to the ears, up the hall he found three bodies over a pool of blood and it seems to trail down to an opened room at the end of the hall.
'So he was here indeed?' He thought to himself.
The office was a complete mess, paperwork was scattered everywhere around a dead body.
Their time was running out, the BSAA will be here soon and this mission will become more trouble than it's worth.
Something on the ground near the shelf caught Vector's attention. "Bertha." He coldly spoke into his radio, it was built into his gasmask. "Get in here hurry.
Boots echoed from the hall as Bertha entered the room. "What's going on?"
"Just come here and I'll show you." He brought his hand down still looking at the thrown picture of a brown-reddish haired young woman. "Why are you here?"
.
.
.
Hunk walked quietly through the hall, careful not to attract anymore creatures toward him, especially now with no ammo. He make his way around to the stairs door. Finally, he know the people responsible of this; he'd expected them to try to message him again, but they apparently were waiting for the moment to report the possibility of his death.
'Yeah, in their dreams.'
The contract is has been preplanned to be terminated by the violations of the conditions. A professional cannot allow such an easy occurrence to just happen. It wasn't like he needed them. He still get calls from many people who hire him even after Raccoon city's destruction. Still though, some mercenaries still live by standards.
Overanxious, Hunk took out his knife to wipe away some of the blood onto his left sleeve. He walked into a new area to see a potential threat but knew he shouldn't exhaust too much of his energy.
Hunk bend over and crawled as quite as possible, once he reached the hall and saw several creatures in the distance. He could hear Claire not too far behind his steps. He heard her breathing which was rather loud, but he didn't want to waste time over a pet peeve. The stairs were right up ahead, just a little more and they could be safe.
For some reason he felt pretty heavy now, sweat drifted down from his forehead like he just washed. At last he reached the other side of the hall and went up the stairs running, the stairs was a bit long like he was going up a tower. He expected to hear Claire blurt one of her jokes, like what a way to exercise or how a person could lose weight, much like that other person he knew.
"Jackass." Hunk said in his mask but it wasn't auditable enough for Claire to hear it.
Still she remind quite, staggering a bit over the wall because of her wound obviously. 'Come on, now is not really the time to think like that.'
Claire came in front of him still silent, she turned the handle and carefully looked at the hallway there. The hall had wood flooring with a carpet for decoration. Other than that, the walls had the usual affairs of pictures of locations and loved ones for the home owner. Hunk grimaced to himself at the sight of hardwood flooring. The unintentional sound that could give away his location and just hearing every creak. It sounded worse than nails to a chalkboard. There was plenty of dim light, enough for them to see some of what was in there, even though the hall was dense with dust.
To their luck nothing was there, Claire sighed in relief and went through. Hunk checked the place and saw the familiar sight of rusted hospital rooms, he is almost outside of this hellhole. He stood in the middle of the path, the red lenses reflecting the walls and the corners, once again something in his gut told him this won't be easy, like another problem is waiting for them somewhere to slow them down even more.
He was about to speak, though Claire kept looking and walking in front of him like he doesn't exist. 'Yeah that's better.'
He stood about four inches taller than Claire so he still had a clear view over her. Claire kept her back somewhat bent and constantly shifted her head to anything remotely suspicious. Hunk let her do the immediate area while he keep his mask upward for something that could make their direct way to them.
Just more dust and bodies.
"Should we hold up in a room?" Claire didn't break her concentration toward their surroundings.
"Negative. I've wasted enough time as it is."
Claire shook her head slightly. Hunk didn't pay much attention for her to make another quip… She didn't. A minute later, Claire and Hunk walked at a branching hall into two different paths. Claire raised her hand and Hunk drew his knife for a threat. Claire just moved her had in the direction of a nearby corpse. Hunk had his left gloved hand gesture for her to wait there as he would approach to check it out.
There was a Magnum locked in the cold, stiff fingers of a dead man. The man was face down to the ground while his torso went into the hall, the legs were in the room. Hunk knelt down and checked for pulse, there was none he could feel. Hunk lightly tugged at the hand which held the gun... he was wary of any kind of movement.
Once the fingers released its grip. Hunk checked the weapon. A Smith & Wesson Model 19 revolver. He tested it by pulling the hammer back with his thumb and the cylinder rotated with the hammer. It was in working condition. Hunk checked the cylinder and it contained two bullets while the other four were spent. He carefully removed the empty bullet casings then set them on the floor.
'Better than nothing.' he took a moment to listen, making sure the thing this man was shooting is not here somewhere lurking. He saw Claire pull something from between a pile of stuff, it looked like a large knife. She dusted it off and breathed onto it for more dust to carpet the air. Claire coughed for a moment then waved her hand even though it wouldn't help.
Claire looked back at him, the first time ever since their fight inside that room down stairs. "You know, it is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not." She whispered.
"Excuse me?" Hunk stood back up as he set the revolver in an empty pocket.
"Although in spite of everything, we do make a decent team." Claire tilted her head with a smile. "I won't forget this and you have my word I won't turn you in to the BSAA."
In this moment Hunk frowned under his mask and he had to speak about this... get it out of his system. "That is it. What are you? Why are you like this?" The smile vanished from Claire's face and went into a defeated posture.
"You wanted to murder me, you vowed to follow me around for arrest, and after everything I did. You still came back to help me, mend my wounds and never left me behind even though you got so many chances to leave." He finally stopped and waited for an answer.
Claire heaved a long sigh. "Force of habit, I never leave anyone behind, I'm in no way agree with your golden rule, if I was able to save one life then I did good no matter what, this what makes me human. Teamwork is always good and I still have to question this rule of yours, you say nothing is worth your time, a mission is what really matters to you yet you stick around for your brother and... I don't get it." She stopped wondering if he'll remain calm and continue talking to her, or perhaps creep her out again. Still she was not sure he is that heartless anymore, still terrified her so much of how unpredictable… he was.
Hunk didn't say anything and went walking ahead for her.
Claire used to have a voice in the back of her mind, a way of thinking and instinct kept her on fire. But everything happened to her so far, had made her views change dramatically. Still she kept asking herself the same question.' Why him of all people could have this kind of power to challenge her?'
Hunk just sighed. "There is nothing to add to this, Redfield. We made a deal, I plan to honor it. However, I do not see promises at the same level as deal."
Claire looked up.
"You spoke of not turning me in to the BSAA. It's just a hollow phrase to me." Hunk walked beside Claire.
"I meant what I said." Claire frowned at him.
"Just don't take things too much to heart based on my skepticism." Hunk leaned against a nearby wall. "You meant what you said when we met."
"You're seriously an asshole." Claire clenched a fist.
"That's more like it." Hunk replied while he straightened his mask some.
"The BSAA could use some insight on this." Claire shrugged.
Hunk moved away from the wall. "Not likely. All former-Umbrella employees, we're all guilty by default." Hunk opened his back pocket and looked at Claire. "Not that is matters to me though."
Hunk passed off the revolver to Claire. "Here, finders keepers"
She accepted it and checked the cylinder.
Hunk spoke up again. "We need to keep moving. By now the National Guard and BSAA have mobilized."
"Gotcha." Claire rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath. "Lead the way."
Thank you for reading, I hope you like it so far.
There is more to come stay tuned, longer chapter is coming soon.
Special thanks to my beta reader The95will