Shadowwave: Agreed, i don't see HUNK as a liar.
Chaos0283: Lol indeed, wouldn't be a good idea to shoot HUNK. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
MysticGohan88: Yes, he's a soldier, not a scientist. Hopefully more trust can grow between them, trust is important between two people.
Cloudred1988: we'll have to see if she can continue trusting the mysterious soldier.
Hazel Homicide: Thanks =), and i appreciate the fave.
The Arctic Monkeys Fan: Thank you
Well, i figured it important to get the truth in the air. You can't trust someone if they don't tell the truth, and HUNK dosent strike me as the type who would lie. He may hide something if necessary, but he has more integrity than to lie about it. Relationships are based on mutual trust. HUNK doesn't trust much, it seems to me, but perhaps that will change a little. Anyways, HUNK and Jill have to move out now and resume their journey. hope you like it.
September 30th, 1998, 9:47am, Apartment room 8H
Faint bits of light began to pour through the cracks in the window blinds of the apartment as the sun rose slightly behind the dark stormy clouds now hanging over Raccoon City.
The masked figure sitting on the floor with it's right arm around a second, feminine figures shoulders, turned it's helmeted head away from the locked door across the room and glanced up at the blinds.
Morning..we'd better get going now, HUNK thought to himself. No time like the present.
He looked down at Jill, who lay with her head against him. She had been tossing, shifting and turning uncomfortably at various times since she fell back to sleep for the second time. HUNK could have sworn he heard her mumble a couple of names sadly to herself as well.
HUNK reached the arm that wasn't wrapped around her, over and poked her shoulder a couple times lightly.
Jill was standing in the middle of a dark street, watching as a large black coated figure in the distance trudged slowly up the broken pavement road towards her. A crowd of horrible moaning figures limped slowly behind it. The surrounding colors of the buildings were muddy and hazy to her eyes, completely unrecognizable. A fog seemed to hang over the approaching figures.
Where in the hell am I?, Jill wondered.
She began to move, but found her legs wouldn't respond. She tried again desperately, but remained rooted to the ground. The shadowed figure moved closer, growing mammoth.
Why can't I run?, Her mind screamed fearfully.
Jill reached for the pistols in her shoulder holsters, only to find them empty.
They were there a few seconds ago!
Jill felt herself let out a terrified scream as the Nemesis and zombies came into full view. The Tyrant emitted a low growl that cut through the air, and broke into a running speed towards her.
She struggled again, but her feet remained stuck fast to the pavement.
The hulking monster stopped directly in front of her, throwing out a single mammoth hand and picking her up off the ground effortlessly by the neck.
She struggled to get out of it's grip, but her arms felt too heavy to even rise. There was nothing she could do but stare into that horrible grinning face and inhuman eyes. A large razor sharp shard of glass protruded from it's bloody forehead, blood slowly dripping off of it and onto the pavement.
The crowd of zombies had caught up by then, and stopped behind the Nemesis, their lifeless eyes staring at her as they moaned hungrily.
Jill glanced wildly to the side, away from the horrible rotting creatures and she spotted another familiar figure, leaning against a building.
There was a TMP cradled in it's hands. She stared into it's Opaque pitiless red eye pieces and managed to find her voice.
"HUNK!", She screamed, as an uncomfortable tightening began around her throat. "HELP ME!"
The tall armored figure didn't say a word. It merely cocked it's head slowly to the side.
It's gas mask now looked hideous, twisted and deformed. It was somehow apart of the figures face, rather then a mask. The red eye pieces no longer looked like eye pieces, but rather real impossible eyes that were actually blinking menacingly.
Thick, black liquid was oozing out of the three nozzles on the face and dripping to the pavement below in massive amounts. White maggots writhed and squirmed in the middle of the dark mess covering the sidewalk.
As the Nemesis raised it's hand, a slimy tentacle protruded out of it, squirming wildly. It approached, ever closer towards her face and at the last moment, it stopped in mid air suddenly. HUNK began laughing coldly from where he stood as this happened.
"There are a couple old friends here who wish to say a few words to you, Valentine", HUNK informed her, continuing to laugh inhumanly. "They aren't very happy, to say the least".
A pair of solid figures materialized out of thin air suddenly on either side of him.
Jill gasped as she recognized who they were, despite the state of their decomposing faces.
"Frost?", She asked disbelievingly, glancing at the first familiar face, then to the others. "Brad?".
The rotting, blood soaked corpses of the tall man wearing a dark bandanna on his head and the other meek looking, yellow vested man, stood casually, staring at her hauntingly.
There had to be over a dozen bleeding bite wounds all over the first apparition, as if they had occurred mere minutes ago. Jill could see the bones and tendons in his neck twitching.
Joseph Frost raised a single mangled arm at Jill, like a judge condemning her to death.
"Why didn't you save me Jill?", His voice asked hauntingly, reminding her. "If you had opened fire instead of just standing there like the sniveling little coward that you are. You could have saved me from them!"
"Frost!", She pleaded, as his words struck her heart like bullets, guilt pouring out of her. Memories of the Cerberi pack feasting on his body flashed through her mind. "I'm so sorry!...I tried.. I...I was so.. You-
"And me, Jill!", Brad interrupted, raising a single bloodied arm as well, pointing accusingly.
A large hole, leaking blood and dribbling bits of Grey matter, went clean through his head and out the back of his skull. Jill could see the brick wall behind him through the hole.
"You didn't even raise your weapons as that thing grabbed me! You stood there with your mouth wide open. twiddling your thumbs and let it kill me", Brad told her angrily. "You let us both die! You never even tried! You murdered us!"
"No! No! I.. I'm sorry! I didn't... you were-
"It's all your fault! It's all your fault!", Frost and Brad chanted together menacingly.
A pained expression covered Jill's face. Tears of grief started to flow our of her eyes and her body was wracked with sobs and spasms.
"What's the matter, Valentine?", HUNK piped up, managing to ask it over his waves of muffled, icy, inhuman laughter. He uncrossed his arms. "You don't have what it takes to survive? I guess that I was wrong about you. You're far too emotional to live".
"Hunk...please don't-
The Nemesis let out a loud demented, bellowing laughter, mixing with HUNK's cold laughter, Jill's high screams and the hordes hungry moaning.
The sound echoed inside her head and eardrums, the pain of it excruciating. The tentacle shot foreword suddenly and tore a hole clean through her forehead and burst out the back, blood soaked and squirming.
Jill's eyes bulged open, and with a surprised gasp, a cold sweat covering her forehead and her heart pounding furiously.
God...oh god..I'm so sorry Frost... Brad... forgive me, she thought sadly.
She looked rapidly around the bare apartment living room, breathing heavily, blinking and slowly remembering where she was. The current state of the city filled her mind. Her vision cleared slowly and she sighed out loud, starting to breath normally. The dark nightmarish realm had disappeared
I should have been able to save them... now I'm out of one nightmare, into another.., she thought to herself bitterly, her chest rising and falling.
Jill became aware that she now felt her bare arms wrapped around a humanoid figure wearing rough warm material, and glanced up to see the familiar helmeted head staring down at her. The figure said nothing. She started slightly in surprise, then focused onto his eyepieces carefully.
The mask was dark and normal looking again, the eyepieces clearly weren't actual eyes anymore. No sickening liquid poured from the nozzles, nor did the mask seem apart of his face. There was only the steady muffled breathing of the air filters. She sighed again and let herself calm down.
"Oh..um..hey", Jill said to him, attempting an unconvincingly aloof tone, clearing her throat. It suddenly occurred to her how dry it felt.
He inclined his head slightly.
"Hello there. You were writhing all morning. I chose not to wake you again. Nightmares, I presume?", HUNK asked neutrally.
Jill closed her eyes.
"Yeah... a really bad one.. I don't want to talk about it thought", She replied quietly, slowly opening her eyes. It suddenly occurred to her how dry her throat felt.
He shrugged his shoulders dispassionately and stared off into the distance.
"I wasn't going to ask. What you choose to do with your pain or what haunts your dreams, is your business", He replied mysteriously.
His tone sounded almost knowing to Jill's ears.
Before she could reply to this, HUNK continued onwards as if nothing had been said.
"Anyways, we need to get out of here now, it's morning now", HUNK informed her quietly in his muffled tone. "The dead factory is all the way across town, and if we remain here much longer, the Nemesis will surely find us".
"We need to find some fresh water on our way", Jill replied, attempting to forget the vivid nightmare and block out the guilt it had brought back. "I haven't had any in more then a day... not sure how long it's been for you, but we'll both need some".
"There are plenty of buildings. We can find some bottled water easily enough on our way through the city", HUNK replied.
Maybe I'll actually get to see what he looks like under that mask after all, Jill thought to herself wryly.
She nodded and sat up slowly, removing her arm from around his shoulder. HUNK did the same, in turn, standing up slowly.
"There's a restaurant in this general area, I believe", Jill replied.
HUNK reached his gloved, bloodstained hand down to help her rise to her feet. She took the hand gratefully and carefully rose.
"How's your leg feeling, Valentine?", HUNK asked, his tone casual.
Jill stretched her arms and took a few careful paces past him. She limped slightly, but otherwise she smiled to herself.
"It feels a lot better now, actually", Jill replied, looking down at the blood stained sweater tied around her leg. "Still a bit sore, but I can move good enough now... thank you".
"Of course. I do good work", HUNK told her immodestly, moving closer. "If there are any monsters in this apartment, we'll need to fight our way through. If not, we need to move with stealth as long as possible."
"Do you have a route planned out to get to this facility?", Jill asked curiously.
HUNK shook his head as he reached for the dark MP-5 laying on the ground beside them.
"No, I was sure you would have one, since you've lived here and know your way around the city", He replied calmly, putting the strap of the weapon over his shoulder.
"Where is this place located?", Jill asked, nodding slightly.
"All I know of The P-12A Incinerator Facility's location is that it lies North-East of the Raccoon Park", HUNK replied.
Jill remembered the desolate looking factory she had passed several times on her way to her apartment.
"I've been by that place, whenever I walked downtown. I thought that it was abandoned, not an Umbrella facility", Jill commented.
HUNK stared at her wordlessly.
"I'm sure you know how much Umbrella's reach has expanded over the years", He replied coolly.
Jill shifted her eyes to the ground.
"Yeah... more then most do, anyway", She replied quietly.
Jill considered all this information to herself for a long moment.
Let's see... we would have to get through the streets... and.. the Saint Michael clock tower downtown to the north, it's close to the Raccoon Park.
"The Clock Tower", She finally informed him, her tone firm. "The best way to that dead factory is by getting to the Clock Tower downtown first, then moving through Raccoon Park".
As she spoke, HUNK walked over to the windows and raised the blinds with one hand and peered out.
"It's going to be raining soon", she heard HUNK's voice comment in response.
Her eyes turned over to the windows, noticing the dark storm clouds hanging in the sky. The opposite apartment building was still burning, thanks to the rocket, and thick sheets of smoke seemed to mix with the clouds.
Well that certainly fits the mood of this city, Jill thought to herself.
"It looks like there's going to be thunder and lightning too", She replied, shaking her head. "The clouds will block out the rest of the sun soon, probably".
She stepped over to the window beside HUNK and together they peered down through the window and to the streets below the apartment building.
Scattered packs of zombies were littering the cracked pavement road of the street, shuffling aimlessly amongst the wreckage. Some merely stood upright, staring at the pavement below their feet. A trio of them were huddled around a corpse, biting into it viciously. Their teeth was stained with blood and it dribbled down the front of their outfits.
A pack of five Cerberi bounded up the street and were soon out of sight. Jill could swear she could make out the figure of a Licker, crawling on the hood of a smashed green car, it's long tongue snapping out and darting back into it's mouth.
HUNK reached up again, closed the window blinds slowly and turned back to to his side, facing Jill.
"Which is the best route to the Clock Tower?", HUNK asked firmly.
"We can go through the back alleys." Jill explained, remembering quickly. "There's a cable car station as well, you know. We can take a cable car to the Clock Tower, since it would get us there a lot faster through the hordes of zombies and scattered debris out there."
"Very well, Valentine. You'll have to lead us the way there", He replied, moving to the door.
The pair of survivors paced across the empty living room and came to a stop at the locked apartment door. HUNK undid the locks quickly and grasped the doorknob.
The door swung wide open, revealing the hallway. They looked around either side of the door, and, spotting nothing, stepped into the hall together.
With a sideways glance at HUNK, Jill nodded, removed the pistols tucked in her brown shoulder straps and started to walk down the hall towards the staircase to the main floor. HUNK removed the TMP from his belt, it's red laser sight flashing on. He held it up in a ready position and followed after her.
The pair of survivors finally reached the main lobby of the apartment building's ground floor, and surveyed the run down room.
The main desk in the center was cluttered in papers and and assorted junk. The floor was a gray cracked cement and the walls an unappealing white. Luckily, the floor was clear of any monsters, just as the rest of the building had been on the way down.
"I'm surprised we didn't run into anything on the way down the floors", Jill commented confusedly, stepping of the final few steps of the staircase.
HUNK stared around the room, eyepieces stopping on the closed main doors, then back at another door on the opposite side. There was a green neon light with the words: Alleyway Exit
"There probably were some monsters", He replied neutrally. "Just not in the area we descended. We didn't look around. Besides, not every building is necessarily infested.. a lot of them are out in the streets. Come on, let's take the more discreet door, if they see us in the open streets, they'll swarm".
"Good idea", Jill acknowledged, and matched his pace over towards the wooden door.
HUNK gripped the door handle and slowly opened the door. They stepped through, moving past the door frame, the metal railing beside them and descending down a few concrete steps.
Jill examined both sides of the long, narrow alley. One end led to the main streets, where the wreckage of various turned over automobiles was visible. while the other end, farthest to them, led to a tall chain link fence sealing off the alley.
The alley was dark, but thankfully still visible. The few bits of sunlight peaking through the dark clouds were unable to brighten it very much.
As their eyes moved up the alley, they both noticed that there was a pair of zombies, standing limply at the dark alleys far end next to the fence, not facing them. HUNK could make out that the taller one was wearing a familiar green U.B.C.S. uniform.
Jill started to raise her pistols, but a gloved hand slapped her arms down quickly.
"No, firing will alert the ones in the streets that were here", HUNK reasoned coldly. "I'll deal with them quietly".
With that, Jill watched as HUNK moved quickly down the alley towards them. The pair of creatures heard the footsteps and turned, starting to pace towards the tall masked figure and moaning hungrily.
The closest one had been a young blond woman with shoulder length hair. She wore a black T-shirt with the logo of some metal band on the front and a pair of ripped dark jeans.
Jill watched as HUNK, without the slightest fear or hesitation, calmly grabbed it by the throat and shoved the blond female zombie to the side of the alley, where its head smacked against the wall and it fell to the pavement with a loud moan.
Next, the former U.B.C.S. trooper attempted to seize the U.S.F.U. Agent by the shoulder, but HUNK dodged to one side at lightning speed, grabbed it's right arm. HUNK jerked it backwards against the creature with such force that the arm snapped cleanly and hung lamely at the creatures side.
Next, HUNK jammed his metal covered elbow into it's gut, stepped behind it, reached his large arm around the monsters neck calmly and in a single motion, broke it's neck, a sickening crunch of bone filling the air.
HUNK turned back to the rising female zombie, its long hair dangling over it's face. Before he could move towards it, Jill was there beside the monster.
She kicked the creature back down to the ground, raised the left heel of her knee high boot and brought it down on the monsters face with full force, several times. It's nose and teeth snapped and broke under the force, blood spilling out of the monster's mouth.
The monster writhed, attempting to grab her boot, but as the next blow struck the creatures neck, it slowly stopped moving. An eerie silence filled the dank air of the alleyway.
"Not bad", HUNK commented to her, glancing down at the body.
"Thanks", She replied, glancing at her boots. "These things are both fashionable and deadly in one".
HUNK quickly repressed a smirk.
The pair of survivors turned back towards the crisscrossing thin metal of the chain link fence.
"We can take this way", Jill informed him, motioning to the fence. "The back alleys are past here. We can go through and keep out of sight from the streets. There are plenty of stores too, we can find one on our way".
As they stopped in front of the fence, She glanced backwards at the first creature HUNK had killed.
It lay flat on its face, It's neck bent at a twisted angle. She examined it's sleeveless green uniform and bulletproof vest, and suddenly noticed the sinisterly familiar, large red symbol standing out on it's back.
Jill stepped away from HUNK and knelt by the fallen creatures side, staring at it's back.
"This thing was originally an Umbrella operative", Jill pointed out, her eyes widening as she examined the Umbrella logo.
HUNK followed her gaze back over to the fallen body and nodded.
"Yes. You heard what was said already between me and Nighthawk, when I was on the Comm back in the apartment. There are at least three U.B.C.S. survivors out there", HUNK informed her.
Jill stood up, crossed her arms and nodded.
"Yes.. I heard. Who are these people?", She asked, motioning to the body. "Was it one of your group?"
HUNK smirked coldly now behind his mask.
"No. The U.B.C.S. is Umbrella's more... visible, military organization.", HUNK muttered. "They are composed mainly of thugs, refugees, mercenary's, criminals and other weaklings. They enjoy calling themselves 'special forces', but most of them haven't seen any real action to begin with."
Jill glanced to her right and examined his gas mask carefully.
"Sounds like some kind of grudge", She commented thoughtfully.
HUNK stared down the alley towards the car littered street at the end of the alley, then back over to her.
"Our two groups don't like each other, obviously", He replied coldly. "They aren't worthy to serve Umbrella. The simple fact that platoons of them weren't able to help the city against the infection in the slightest, shows that. They are pathetic. They've failed their mission, as they always do. I don't."
"Who are these three people we might run into?", Jill asked.
"One is a rookie merc, young guy named Oliveira.. weakling like the rest. I have a little respect for the boy, even with his limited ability's, though. The second one is Lieutenant Mikhail Victor.. older guy. Man's a soldier, foolish enough to join the U.B.C.S. though. Could have done better", HUNK told her neutrally.
HUNK, looked off into space and said nothing more until finally prompted to do so.
"And the third, Hunk?" Jill asked.
HUNK's gaze returned to her, and Jill had the feeling that if she could see his face, it would be ice cold with hate.
"An older, Russian prick, by the name of Nicholai Ginovaef, a U.B.C.S. sergeant", HUNK said coldly. "We met awhile ago, encountered each other quite a few times, actually".
Jill nodded slowly.
"Sounds like you have it in for him", She commented, her interest piqued. "What's the reason for the bad blood?"
HUNK shook his head.
"I'm not getting into that. All you need to know is that he's a psychopath, whatever else others may believe, simple as that. I simply do my job with no emotion. Umbrella was foolish to bring him into the already incompetent U.B.C.S... In short, they can't be trusted", HUNK finished.
There was a moments pause between them, and HUNK remembered.
"Then again", He said as an after thought, with cold amusement in his tone. "I'm sure you're already having enough trouble trusting me".
Jill felt her lips twitch and form a smile, in spite of herself. She forced it off her face quickly.
"Well, if we run into them, we can always keep an eye on them", Jill replied.
HUNK nodded firmly.
"Yes. That would be the logical thing to do... well, come on, let's get over this fence".
"Right after you".
HUNK clipped the TMP into his belt, raised both hands to the fence and began scaling upwards. When he reached the top, he dropped over the other side, removing his weapon in a flash and scanning the alley beyond the fence.
"You're up, Valentine".
"Let's hope my leg can take this", Jill muttered, tucking away her twin pistols.
She placed her slender bare hands into the chain link fence and began slowly climbing over, careful to mind her right leg. She reached the top, reversed her position and slowly climbed down to join HUNK. Jill removed the weapons again once she reached the pavement.
"There", She commented. "Come on, that restaurant should be somewhere beyond the alley".
HUNK glanced down the long alley stretching before them. It was littered with various bits of rotting garbage from turned over metal trashcans. Several rats scurried around the pavement, squeaking slightly. There was a sharp turn to the right at the end of the alley.
"Hold on, Valentine, I need to update Nighthawk", HUNK told her, raising a gloved hand to his mask.
Jill nodded wordlessly. She folded her arms over her chest and stood at ease, watching him activate the communication device.
"Nighthawk, this is HUNK", He said to the comm. There was a field of static followed by a couple barely audible clicking noises. HUNK's senses caught the sounds and his eyes narrowed behind his mask at the unusual noise and tried again.
"Nighthawk, Come in", He repeated firmly.
Jill listened as the noisy static ended abruptly and a mans familiar voice filled the channel.
"This is Nighthawk", he replied. "Sorry, we've been getting static all morning, I'm not sure why, these things are top of the line".
HUNK nodded.
"There were a couple of suspicious clicking sounds, I'm not sure what it was".
"I'll see if I can look into it later, anyways, what is your status?"
"Valentine and myself are en route to a nearby restaurant", HUNK informed him.
"Valentine, HUNK?", an incredulous voice came back. "As in, Jill Valentine?"
Jill shifted nervously and HUNK didn't miss it out of the corner of his vision.
They probably already know a lot about me, She thought worriedly.
"Affirmative", HUNK replied.
"You're working with a female S.T.A.R.? And Valentine at that? I can't imagine how long your report is going to be after all this. You wouldn't be getting soft, by chance, Mr. Death?", Nighthawk asked, amused.
Mr. Death?, Jill wondered to herself. Why does he call him that?
HUNK cleared his throat coldly.
"Anyways, we're going to get some bottled water first, as the city reservoir is undoubtedly infected", HUNK informed him icily. "Next we're making our way to a cable car.. should speed things up".
"Very well", Nighthawk replied simply.
"We're moving. Agent HUNK out", HUNK finished, turning off the Comm channel.
He turned slowly back to Jill, who quickly shifted her eyes away from his glance, and she rubbed her bare shoulder. There was a brief awkward silence, and her blue eyes glanced over to him. She smiled lightly and uncrossed her arms.
"Let's get going, Hunk. Maybe we can find that restaurant before it starts raining.", Jill said, looking back at him over her shoulder as she began to walk slowly down the alley, past the spilled trash cans. "I'll lead the way".
And their off to the races! lol, thanks for reading the chapter, and reviews are, as always, much appreciated.