"My name is Zayn Malek"
He lowered his weapon and smiled to the side along the sight at her, it was tempting to reach out a hand to help her but he realized that she that she didn't remotely know him and looking down at her from the muzzle of his firearm didn't help. She might be more inclined to trust if he put the weapon down and she learned more about him first. The first wasn't going to happen, the monstrosity in the dining room taught him never to be caught unaware or unarmed but the second he could do for her, "I'm a cop, a policeman. I'm here to help."
There were many questions he wanted to ask her but first he had to secure her and the other girl, Sherry. At the shooting range Valete had confided that she was the mother of two – Genevieve and Sherry, "Where's your sister? You have a sister right? Where is Sherry?"
The girl frowned, "I'm an only child. I don't have a sister. Sherry is my best friend."
"Oh," clearly Valete had embellished for his benefit, he was left to wonder how much of what she told him was true. If he was smart Zayn knew he'd ONLY believe what the legal records told him about her. When Zayn hadn't seen a birth certificate for Sherry Spencer he'd assumed that Devlyn had missed it or forgot to print it out and include it in the file. However clearly Sherry Spencer didn't exist, Genevieve Spencer did and she was his priority now.
"Do you want to come out of there? I've taken a look around, made sure they are all gone," Zayn still wasn't entirely sure what to call the walking corpses but he didn't want to call them undead, walkers, or zombies – even if that was the truth he didn't want to frighten the girl further. Invitingly he outstretched his hand to her, hoping she'd take it. Now that he found her he couldn't leave her here, she had to be evacuated somewhere to REAL safety but in the meantime a police escort was the safest place for a young child in this mess.
Her small body was wedged in amongst the plumbing pipes, it looked cramped and uncomfortable but she looked down as if thinking about safety before comfort.
Smart girl, he thought to himself as he waited for her to come to the conclusion that was most logical. To Genevieve's credit it didn't take her long to realize her best chance was with him. Her hand gripped his firmly as she shakily rose to her feet; her skin was chilled to the touch. It made him want to encase her in warmth, a coat, a hug, anything but he wasn't sure if she'd be comfortable with any of that, he wasn't sure what she thought of him. Most children were taught by their parents to distrust strangers but most parents also taught them that policemen were there to aid.
Clearly the first more than the second, Genevieve's gaze was still tinged with suspicion. Zayn wondered if she'd been raised to distrust law enforcement to protect the company and her mother. Or was he just being paranoid? He probably was but unless you were stupid a person didn't make an enemy out of the global superpower without gaining a healthy dose of cautiousness. Zayn preferred to think of it that way; it was a circular argument as to whether paranoia and being cautious was the same thing. They weren't. Cautiousness was being careful when you had a reason to be and being smart and practical about dealing with it. Paranoia threw all that out the window; you didn't need a reason, only suspicion, and usually dealt with things harshly and poorly. Valete wasn't likely stupid enough to bring incriminating evidence home with her and Genevieve was seven and would never have had exposure to the type of secrets that required silence. If Valete cared about her girl she would've kept her from far away from this as she was able and despite her flaws, from the first time he had met Valete face-to-face he was sure of that – she loved her family.
Genevieve favored her mother in appearance. Her hair was the same dark shade of brown that bordered on black, its gentle waves framing her face and spilling over her shoulders. Her eyes were frost blue that was both chilling and ethereal but there was brightness in their depths. For what she had just seen her gaze was far too steady and he had to admit she was more collected and controlled than any child he'd EVER seen especially at her age, she was an almost perfect replica of her mother. Zayn prayed that this girl would grow up different than her mother who always looked dead inside, as lifeless as a porcelain doll.
It was just one more motivator for him to take Umbrella down. Though he didn't know Genevieve personally he'd been able to piece together enough through observation. He'd come to pity her half-life with her family. Genevieve was loved but not cherished, her base needs were seen to but her emotional ones were neglected. Both of her parents had forever been balancing her between themselves and Umbrella. When her father had died suddenly she'd been given neither time to grieve nor any time to acclimate herself to her new 'stepfather'. Genevieve had never been given her dues, she'd always taken second place to something and she deserved better. That annoyed Zayn more than he wanted to admit - Parents REALLY shouldn't have children unless they were prepared to put them first! Deep down he hoped that their efforts might liberate Genevieve from being tied to a questionable legacy at best and free her to find a true family, one that would make her a priority, their top priority.
"Genevieve..." he sighed quietly, "where are your parents?"
"I don't know," her voice trembled a bit but her tone was matter-of-fact, "my stepfather never says where he's going; he's too busy for me. My mom," she paused, clearly not wanting the first words she said about her to be condemning, "I don't want this to sound bad she normally is very good about calling when she isn't coming but I didn't hear from her for three days until a few hours ago."
Zayn glanced at her blankly, "You've been alone?" Frankly it wouldn't have surprised him if she had. In truth Genevieve shouldn't have had to been used to her mother not 'showing'.
Genevieve's gaze traveled to the woman who'd attacked him, her eyes fixed upon the place where he'd emptied a round between the woman's eyes. Her gaze lacked genuine grief but they held recognition at least. The girl's young eyes were wide as they remained upon that spot until he touched her other hand, covering their chill with the warmth of his palms and drawing her attention back to him. Bad enough she handled a firearm but she'd seen him deliver a kill shot, "No, I was left with Liese until..." she swallowed.
"It's alright," he said, cutting off any further need for explanation from her, he could piece things together. The babysitter had likely gone outside for some reason, gotten ambushed, and then eaten alive by whatever was rampant out there? It sounded crazy but frankly it was the truth if the massacred state of her body was anything to base his assumptions upon. The woman's corpse was covered in deep, gouging bite marks, with none of them the same shape or size. Clearly she'd been ambushed by the cannibalistic mob they'd found roaming about the neighborhood but why had she not returned to safety before they closed in or ran to the house and locked the door...?
With a sickening clarity he realized the babysitter's misfortune. She'd gone outside to see what was happening or perhaps it had been to help another victim but then she'd been attacked. She had ran back to the house and she'd found it barred to her, she'd been locked out by the young girl she'd been watching. By then it was too late for her, she been trapped on the porch where the pack had closed in.
"It's not okay," Genevieve's gaze dropped in shame, clearly she wanted to unburden her conscience but was afraid of what he might think if she did, "I locked the door when they came. They were so close, I was afraid that if she made it back inside they'd come in the house too! I locked her out and listened to her scream while I hid!"
It was like all control she'd held for days suddenly shattered and he was left with a sobbing child. Zayn was only surprised it hadn't happened sooner, this girl had to have monumental control to have kept off hysterics so long at this age. For a moment he stood there blinking blankly, totally unsure of what to do. He'd never had any woman as a permanent fixture in his life and because of that he'd never had a child either. He was no family man and had little experience with children besides what he'd learnt in human resources training. Zayn had barely passed that class, his people skills were not his strong suit and a single class couldn't have prepared him for a single little girl in circumstances such as these.
Fear petrified him, he was not the kind of person who should be guiding this little girl through this most difficult hour but he knew he couldn't leave her here. He had to convince her to come with him but he couldn't rationalize with her when she was so upset. I have to reassure her, he thought. Clearly she felt bad about what she'd done or she wouldn't have mentioned it to him, which is more than he could say for other adults four or five times her age. Zayn couldn't find it in him to condemn her for acting on fear. It was natural to fear especially at her age but her fear bordered more on terror which made it all the more understandable. No matter how well brought up she was everyone had his or her breaking point. Her tiny hands were trembling in his as her composure unraveled. Any other adult would have done the same if they lacked the means to defend themselves from a threat, they would've ran and hid. For her it was beyond all right that she'd done that, if those things had gotten inside there would have been NO place where she would've been safe from them. Zayn's heart seized at the thought of that, coming in this place to see Genevieve with dead glassy eyes, body smeared with blood and gore. How many children had already suffered that fate? Zayn didn't want to know nor did he want to know if he'd have to shoot a child. He would cross that bridge when it came to that, in the here and now he had to get Genevieve out of here.
Her actions thus far had preserved this place to be her sanctuary until he'd come. With one dead in the dining room and the other dead on the kitchen floor it was clear this place was not safe any more. Regrettably he'd seen to that and because of that he'd have to deny her the stability of her home and take her away from this place for her own good.
No pat on the back or any words would make that okay; she need genuine reassurance which meant lowering the barriers of professionalism and perhaps making this personal for her sake. He bent down to her level and pulled her towards him into a solid embrace. The young girl didn't fight him, she just settled there until the tears ran dry and exhaustion took their place, "It's okay. You did no wrong," his palms rubbed up her arms and came to rest as they cupped her cheeks, his thumbs rubbing softly beneath her eyes wiping away the remnants of her tears.
"Genevieve...I need to come with me, okay? I can't leave you here. Even if you close and lock every door and window they will eventually come, they'll find you, and if you are alone they'll hurt you but if you come with me I promise that they will not because I will protect you."
And he would.
Devlyn was at a loss. He'd started to wonder what had been keeping Zayn when he'd come out of a house with a child. If Zayn had to deal with anything like he had in the other house he dreaded to find out what had happened to the young girl's parents. Were they perhaps too late for Valete after all? He loathed asking but he had to, he had to know if their purpose here was in vain, "Her parents?"
"Gone. Stepdad is nowhere to be found and she doesn't know where to start looking. Mom called a few hours ago but hasn't been heard from since, she could be anywhere."
For the first time Devlyn realized they might have an upper hand when it came to Valete. If she'd called then she still cared about the girl and if they had the girl with them then it could encourage Valete to seek them out herself. No playing games of hide and seek or cat and mouse but there was no hiding that the child posed a problem as well. She'd tie them up and slow them down something they could ill afford. They'd have to keep the child in protective custody but find a place or person to foist her off upon, "We'll have to report this, find a safe place for her."
The girl whined and hid deeper into Zayn's embrace, his hands tightened protectively upon her shoulders, "NO! I promised her that I would protect her," and for once Devlyn found himself on the receiving end of one of Zayn's glares. It shocked him; surely Zayn did not intend to babysit a child in conditions such as these. Zayn couldn't hope to take care of the girl AND be at his back and there was no doubt that he needed his partner now more than ever! The girl was a distraction and she had to go as soon as possible!
"Perhaps I could help with that. I'm only in your way out here. We could backtrack to the station. I'll guard the girl there while you find a way out," Lance trailed off uncertainly. Devlyn's face was contemplative but Zayn's gaze seared and burned. Devlyn hopes for Zayn to be rational plummeted in an instant. One glance at Zayn and he instinctively knew that Lance's suggestion wouldn't work because Zayn wasn't going to let it work. Once Zayn decided something there was no going back, no talking him down or out of it.
Zayn's disdain for this partnership had always been just beneath the surface but it reared its head now, "Oh yes, like you'd be able to protect her when you spent MOST of your career behind a desk clicking and clacking away at a keyboard. You might pass your proficiencies but I'm the best suited to protect her and that is what I intend to do," it left no room for dissent from either of them or no dissent that Zayn would listen to more like.
Devlyn knew that he should take Zayn aside and attempt to coax him to agree with Lance's proposition. It was certainly the most reasonable solution but he wasn't wholly sure he'd succeed and was fairly certain he'd piss off his partner more, "Find anything?"
Devlyn was purposely changing the subject and being purposely vague. He didn't want Zayn pissed off and the girl to know what they were up to. Zayn looked uncomfortable, "I secured the house and found the girl. I didn't get a thorough look around."
Devlyn was stunned, that had been the most important task. Zayn had a youthful vitality that he and Lance no longer had in the field. At the top of his game Zayn could've cleared half of the houses on this block by himself. It was shocking to see him leading along a child and to find out the one house he'd cleared hadn't even been scrutinized for evidence; evidence that was monumentally important for understanding the murders of the last few months, the cold cases from years before, and surviving the here and now.
Lance, ever the mediator realized the mounting emotional tides of Devlyn's disappointment and Zayn's prickly personality was a powder keg that would go off unless the flames were smothered, "I'll do it, if the house has been secured I shouldn't have much trouble gathering the evidence."
"Lance . . ."
"No let me do this, Dev. I can't do as much or as well as you two but at least in this I am able to use my skill set to be useful."
Zayn didn't respond to that, it was likely that he wasn't going to dispute that point. While Lance was gone Devlyn was going to talk to Zayn, he never should've said what he had and he definitely owed Lance an apology. Devlyn needed everyone at their best not at each other's throats. Lance checked his ammunition on his primary and sidearm then hustled towards the house. Devlyn was prepared to turn on Zayn but the girl blindsided him, "Why are you searching our house? That is illegal without a warrant, if you get anything from an illegal search it will inadmissible in court."
Did that girl even KNOW what inadmissible meant?
Devlyn didn't know whether to be shocked that she was using such advanced vocabulary or that she was attempting to school him in his own job. Devlyn bristled a bit, he was not a crooked cop, he played by the rules, a play that had forced him to wait over a decade to get enough to convince a judge to put his head on the chopping block and give him a warrant to just Valete's personal residence. He wanted to defend himself against what she was implying but to rise to her bait was childish. He decided that cold hard evidence was the best way to break her notions, "I have a warrant, would you like to see?"
The girl was shocked, shocked enough to stay her tongue but it was clear she didn't want to see it nor did she want to know why they were after something or someone close to her.
"Dev," Zayn's tone was cautionary, he'd made his point and could produce a warrant upon demand, there was no further need to bully the girl to shock her into silence. In fact, after what happened to her the last few days this was the last thing the girl needed from them. Then a shrill tone split through the night air cleaving their argument in two.
"The phone," the girl uttered aloud, her voice was hoarse with uncertainty. Zayn kept a reassuring hand upon her shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze as Zayn flipped open the phone.
"Officer Zayn Malek, Raccoon City PD."
There was silence on the other line then the voice of a male, his Germanic accent was heavy but understandable, "How did you come by this phone?"
"I picked it up along with a little girl."
"Genevieve," the man's tone sounded relieved but in a selfish way as if his neck was avoiding a noose. It was disturbing that he was less worried about the terrified young girl left behind.
"Yeah, Genevieve," damn that girl's name was a mouthful, smooth and flowing but still too long and complicated for a girl her age, "May I ask whom I am speaking to?"
"Timothy Cain. I work for Umbrella's Operations Department."
"Valete Spencer's husband too."
"Well yes I am," he barely finished that sentence before Zayn plowed onward, once he got going he really didn't want to stop. He had this guy on his toes and he wanted to keep pushing him, if he was lucky the guy might snap and divulge something unintentionally.
"Would you care to explain why you or your wife never came to get her? I'm betting that if you are running operations for Umbrella you are privileged and already out of the city so let me cut to the chase when were you planning on getting her out OR were you planning on it all?"
"Of course I was," now his tone turned a tad defensive, "I dispatched men, my finest men to extract her."
Zayn took a good long look around and in the distance, half way up the street he saw a mass of torn up bodies huddled around an SUV with the Umbrella logo emblazoned upon the license plate with identification, "Yeah... I see them, they didn't make it far, and I guess you'll need to redefine your definition of finest won't you."
"I suppose so," the voice was unemotional as he queried further, "Is she safe?"
"The girl? Yeah, she fine, not a scratch or bite on her, she's smart," he chanced a look down at Genevieve; he winked and gave her an encouraging smile which elicited a timid one from her in return. Zayn had made sure to say that loud enough for her to hear, he wanted her to feel good about herself. Not every child would have survived as she had.
"I have a proposition to put to you and I suggest you take it. There is no saving the city from whatever is happening to it-"
"Don't act like you don't know what is going on. If anyone is in a position to glean an understanding of what is going on here its Umbrella," he left it unsaid that if they were at fault for what was going on that they'd know EXACTLY what was going on.
"I don't know what you are implying but like you I want to get her out of there, I'll get you out of there too if you'll escort her to an extraction point. I've got limited resources but Genevieve is very important to some important individuals, the kind of people who pay well for notable services rendered," Zayn didn't doubt it for a moment. He had done some background on the company too. Of the three Umbrella founders only the Spencer line still stood strong. Marcus had never had any progeny at all before vanishing and who knew what happened to the Ashford line. After her mother Valete and her uncle Valean, Genevieve was the undisputed heiress to Umbrella. No doubt Old Man Spencer wanted to keep his company in the family, he'd want his granddaughter safe in case she was the only grandchild he ever got
"Listen to me. I'm not doing this for a reward or the rescue or for you. I am not someone who can be bought! I'm not even doing this for my job. I'm doing this for HER so you better be there or so help me there will be no way you'll come out on top!"
"I understand you perfectly," the guy sounded like he was attempting to be soothing and diplomatic but to Zayn he still sounded like a prick that needed to be cut down, "Raccoon City University, the Rooftop, 2000 Hours."
"Done," Zayn snapped the phone closed to see all eyes on him.
Lance kept his weapon at the ready; the other houses had been a good refresher for the field enough that he felt confident on his own. There was nothing to be gained from either of the bedrooms though he took a look around. In the dining room a desk against the far wall had a laptop, encrypted. Decryption would have to wait but he took it, placing it in a satchel and swinging it around his shoulders. The kitchen and basement were just as unremarkable just as ordinary as the rest of the house and grounds. The garden was the ugliest he'd ever seen, full of green leafy plants barely a foot tall and nothing he recognized. Nevertheless Lance hefted the camera and took detailed images of the property inside and out. Maybe there was something he was missing; something that he would dismiss that the others would not, after all this was their case.
Lance angled back out and backtracked towards the others hoping that while he'd been gone tensions had ebbed and that a decision had been settled upon that would rid them of having to be saddled in the long term with a child. His wish wasn't answered, if anything Devlyn looked more irritated and was shouting at his headstrong partner. The girl, bless her, was stoic, no doubt she was putting on a brave face in spite of her fear. As he approached Devlyn's words could be clearly heard, "Now that we are all here you mind sharing the contents of your conversation with us?"
"A rendezvous for extraction for her," he pointed at Genevieve, "Umbrella wants to extract her."
"And we let them?" Devlyn's tone snapped like a whiplash, it was so unlike him that it drew Zayn's attention, his eyebrows raised in question as if asking him what was wrong with him.
"Who are we to prevent them?"
"It would have been nice to discuss this beforehand."
"What is there to discuss Devlyn? She's a little girl she should be safe well beyond the borders of this city. Who are we to keep her from escaping when she has a perfectly good opportunity right before her?" Zayn rose and walked over to Devlyn, "I believe in our cause to make them pay no matter what but that little girl isn't going to get caught in the middle and be made to pay with them. Hold onto your grudge if you must but remember who the innocent are lest they get caught in your crossfire."
Devlyn paused and for several minutes he was lost to them, Lance hoped that Zayn had said the right thing because otherwise the fighting would only get worse but Devlyn re-surfaced, his wry smile holding a trace of bitterness but not towards Zayn but rather towards himself. Lance recognized the smile as one of self-loathing; the kind of loathing you felt when you realized that you were caught up in a moment of personal weakness. The weakness of emotion where every sensible notion was devoured before it could take root and you were left to find yourself playing the fool.
Devlyn knew that Zayn was right; he had been so caught up in his revenge that he thought only of the opportunities the girl opened up to them and not about what was best for her. It was a good thing that Zayn had been thinking well enough for the both of them. It was a testament to their trust and friendship that Zayn had known just what to say to bring him back to being himself. The ends did not justify the means, the day he believed that was the day he was no better than Umbrella.
No matter what Genevieve's parents had done she was not complacent in their guilt, she didn't deserve to be used or manipulated to bring them to justice. There was no easy way out for him or Zayn, they'd do as they'd always done, they'd bide their time and do their job while waiting for the evidence to fall into place. If he wanted to question Valete he'd have to find her himself, not hold her child hostage to draw her in, "I never thought this day would come but you've grown up, Zayn."
"Yeah I guess I have. Now let's get this little girl out of here."
The rendezvous point was clear on the other side of town and all the main arteries of traffic where clogged with the living fleeing from the undead in addition to their neglected cars and belongings. It made driving impossible but it was impractical to ask Genevieve to walk the whole way. He had to give her credit she was beyond stubborn and did well for the first mile or so but then she started to fatigue and quickly lagged behind. Her shorter strides having to work thrice as fast to catch up to their larger ones. Zayn had to admire her pluck, she really tried to make it on her own, she didn't want to be a nuisance or slow them down so she worked like hell to keep up and never uttered a complaint.
However this wasn't going to be able to turn out like she wanted it to, she couldn't stay with him in the city nor did Zayn want her. No person should be in the city but especially not a child, almost everything was larger than her and since she was so small she'd be an easy picking if ever separated from them and caught while defenseless. Not to mention there was the matter of when they did catch up to Valete. For years, long before he'd taken him as a partner, Devlyn had been fighting his solitary crusade against Umbrella from the shadows. Devlyn knew better than anyone what it meant to bide his time and wait to strike but Zayn knew that Devlyn's control was already fraying at the edges. If he had a chance to take Valete into custody he would do so and without any thought of sparing the child's feelings. No, it was better for her to be gone before Devlyn caught up with her 'dearest mother'.
Valete stepped through the open front door of her home fearing the worse; but a glance at the door revealed that it hadn't been opened from the inside but rather battered in. Valete knelt beside it noticing the imprint of a shoe. It had been kicked in but the question was by whom? Umbrella? From the kitchen she could see a bloodstained hand and leveled her gun towards the floor. Her eyes widened in slight recognition, it was the babysitter Liese.
Her body told it all or all that she needed to know. The various bite wounds was the obvious cause of initial death and its later reanimation. A shot to the temple was the final blow and Valete knew she wouldn't come back, at least not right away. Umbrella would see to it that Raccoon City was less than dust before they'd let Crimson Heads run rampant over the Midwest United States. It was why she didn't want uncertainty when it came to knowing where her daughter was.
She pulled a folded scalpel out of her breast pocket of one of her coats and dug into the shotgun wound, using its point to dig out the remains of the bullet. A 9mm Parabellum round, a standard round that was common enough but Umbrella armed their soldiers with the best. It was likely the mark of the RPD; in an instant Valete decided that they weren't good enough to protect Genevieve. In taking her from this place they might've protected her from the immediate threats that infiltrated her home but that was nothing compared to what was out there in the open.
Valete surged into the adjacent dining room and started as she saw a crimson humanoid laying stomach up on the table. Valete gave the monstrosity a wide berth and opened the bottom drawer of her desk. Valete put the key into the lock and turned it, opening the drawer and emptying it in an instant. Her eyes were fixated on the top of her desk where the laptop was missing. It was entirely possible that someone stole it in the crisis but that was unlikely that people would concentrate on petty theft when fighting for their lives on the street. The last thing she pulled out was a set of combat knives, the largest was a machete and the smallest was a throwing knife. Valete pulled out a thick paring knife that she used for gardening and went out to her garden. She settled into a hasty harvest of the leafy herbs.
The plants were utterly unremarkable unless you knew, as she did, that the ugly stalks were a natural antigen to the deadly virus running rampant throughout the city. If properly grown, harvested, and cultured they were the primary ingredient of the antivirus. On its own, if ingested in a timely manner it could halt the progression of the virus. If the person had a strong immune system it could bolster resistance. It was a shame that she had to cut them early before they reached their full growth, it was a shame she'd not been able to realize her dream of making a vaccine, to make the T virus obsolete in entirety.
Valete knew she would have to try again another day, she would surely be able to grow more off of these and if she couldn't 'she knew they could be applied to good use in this crisis. It was why she couldn't just leave without them; she refused to allow perfectly good plants to be wasted to nothing when the city got nuked. If her garden looked ugly before it looked hideous after her paring and pruning was finished. Her satchel was crammed full to bursting with ammo and the green herbs as she took to the streets.
Truth be told, Valete knew that the trail was cold, whoever took Genevieve left little trace of their passing or at least nothing she could follow. By the end of the block she had nothing to go on at all which left her to decide what she should be doing. Some good, she thought, she didn't have to worry about the infected like others did and she had a bag of herbs that needed to be put to use. The pressing problem was that the human infected were the least of her worries. There were bigger, worst predators out there and she was hardly equipped to deal with them.
Arms and ammunition were about to become a priceless currency too. She needed to get hold of some serious automatic or semi-automatic weapon with a decent amount of ammunition. A handgun would only take her so far, far into what she wasn't yet sure. What was a reasonable objective that could be accomplished in this chaos? Valete wasn't sure but she had to aspire to something. Genevieve was the only thing left to her in life that she cared for but Genevieve was someone that was lost to her at the moment. She could pursue and run around in circles trying to find her beloved child but it would likely result in time and energy wasted - Valete hated the idea of that.
Valete also realized that for the first time she'd have to openly declare an allegiance and make a decision based upon it. Valete had always told herself that her work was important, that it kept everyone safe – it kept the public safe from Umbrella's illegal research and kept Umbrella safe from the public. Umbrella was like a train wreak, once she saw how low or how bad it could go you couldn't possibly look away and feign ignorance no matter how much you wanted to. If she sided with Umbrella, she'd have to discard her conscience and commit herself to purging every shred of evidence and each and every person in Raccoon City. It would protect Umbrella's reputation and her own at the cost of her humanity. The second option was the more difficult, she could save as many as she could but it was something that would be as harsh as it would be rewarding. It would hold Umbrella accountable and it would ruin her. Neither choice was altogether appealing to her but ultimately it was advice from her mother that helped her resolve her internal crisis.
Verena Spencer had told her there was two steps to consider before agreeing to do something, there was two questions to ask yourself: can you do this and do you want to? If the answer to either question was no than you couldn't or wouldn't do something.
Could she silence a city? With chilling realization she knew she knew she had the capability. With a handful of calls she could be extracted and exact a death blow on the entire city. Her Apocalypse Protocol was the blueprint for swiftly silencing any failure on her part to contain an outbreak and frankly Umbrella wouldn't hesitate or bat an eyelash if she made that call but could she make that call? She wasn't sure so the answer to the first question was a maybe? As for the second, did she want to strike the deathblow to the outbreak? Of course she did but she wanted to do it with a clear conscience. It meant she was not going to ally with Umbrella, she was not going to tread the easy path, and she was going to have to make it on her own.
If she was going to wander the city without an escort she needed to be smart about it. Her quiet neighborhood was on the west side of Raccoon City, well out of the downtown area, it was quite a distance from City Hall, the Precinct, and Umbrella headquarters but that is where she was going to go. It seemed like a bad idea to get caught in the downtown area, it was the most highly populated area and if she was smart she'd stay well out of it but she couldn't afford that. She needed what was in the armory and well...she needed to clean out Kaplan's desk.
Devlyn was pushing a brutal pace; Zayn saw this as clear evidence of how badly he wanted to be rid of the girl. She was a hold up, a delay they could ill afford when they needed to be swift and decisive.
"Whoa, Dev, hold up," Zayn glanced back to see Genevieve walking sedately as if utterly worn out, it wouldn't surprise him if in the next few blocks she would have fallen to her feet unable to get up. They were used to the rigors of duty in their line of work, whereas Genevieve, as a child, was not conditioned for such. Zayn picked her up and easily slung her into a seat upon his shoulder, "Can you hold on?"
"Yes," her grip was firm, enough that he had to loosen her grip so it wouldn't constrain his airway enough to distract him. The flashlights attached to their handguns swiveled down the length of Raccoon St, one of the two main thoroughfares running from East Raccoon to West Raccoon. Raccoon St was in the northern part of the City the Hospital and the St Michael's Clock Tower was a few of the landmarks. Ennerdale St. was the southern counterpart to Raccoon St and its defining details was the City Hall and R.P.D. Precinct.
To say that Raccoon St was a 'pile-up' was a grave understatement. Barricades had been set up which explained why the downtown population hadn't overflowed or seeped into the western neighborhoods. To add insult to injury it was impossible to see down the street. Semi trucks, SUVs, and cars were in accidents so bad that the middle was bent and twisted.
Lance gazed down at his computer interface, "Calculating an alternate route. I'm going to assume the main streets are not viable routes to rely on."
Zayn was tempted to tell Lance to shut up, none of this was helping and though Genevieve was trying to appear unaffected she was almost pale as a sheet but a preemptive warning glance from Devlyn said that him starting up his shit wouldn't help either. While Devlyn and Lance discussed the route to be taken Zayn glanced over at the girl deciding the least he could do was distract her, he didn't want her using the wait to focus on what was around her. Raccoon City was going to leave its impact, that was inevitable but he hoped to reduce the impact it would leave upon her.
"I don't want to leave," that declaration instantly shocked him after what she'd witnessed so far.
"What?"
The girl stood stoic and still as a statute but her head turned to gaze in his direction, her eyes piercing enough to rivet him in place, "My mother is still out there, she said she was going to come for me."
Genevieve gave Valete more faith than she was due and she was certainly more loyal. The girl tried to sound secure and resolute but there was the barest trace of uncertainty that was borne from the fact Valete Spencer hadn't always been best about keeping her word. Zayn wasn't going to have this discussion, the girl was young and a civilian there was nothing to argue – she had to go for her own good. The sooner Genevieve learned this fact the better! Zayn shook his head, "It's not safe for you here anymore, we need to get your somewhere where you can be well protected and this isn't it. You need to leave the city."
"You said that YOU would protect me but how can you protect me if you aren't around me? I could go with you and help people too! I promise I'd keep up and stay out of the way like before!"
Zayn wanted to gape at the girl; she probably had more guts and heart than most in the city. Here she had a ticket out of this mess and she wanted to stay behind and help people. This is going to be a uphill battle, he thought, "You can't stay with me all the time Genee-veve," he knew that he had said it wrong, his tongue having difficulty with the vowels of her name, "once you get to safety I can look for your mother."
"It's Genevieve," she corrected, "but won't finding her be quicker if more people are looking for her?"
Zayn couldn't very well say she was wrong because obviously the more who knew to look out the faster it would be to track her down. Genevieve was not going to be a party to this though, how much worse would it be to see her mother questioned and possibly arrested on top of all this. Zayn expelled a heavy breath, "Genevieve, you don't have to be looking for her with us. Your presence is a distraction and if anything would happen to separate us from you, you wouldn't survive on your own. You need to go."
"Do I have to leave already though? Maybe we could find others and they could come too," it was a sweet thought, naïve and optimistic, but clearly whatever rescue was coming for her was meant for ONLY her and maybe a select few. There would be no way to rescue a whole city like she was thinking.
"Veve . . ." the nickname slipped out of his mouth without thinking, "I know you mean well but the extraction is for you specifically. We have to get there on time or we'll miss the helicopter and you might never get out of here, understand?"
"It seems stupid to only take one person out when there is a whole city out there in trouble too."
" . . ." Zayn had to bite his inner cheek to stop himself from actually agreeing with her, at this stage any agreement would only encourage her to dissent and twist things further and further out of control. It was stupid, there should be a fleet of goddamn transports trying to extract people from this city but there wasn't. There was only a single helicopter waiting for a single girl but Zayn couldn't hold that against Genevieve, it wasn't her fault that the welfare of the city was sacrificed to her wellbeing, "You'll be going with a few other people and they're waiting for you, so we need to get going and that'll be the end of it," he said attempting to sound like he meant business.
Zayn turned to Lance and Devlyn, "Do we have a operable route yet?"
"Yeah," Lance replied, he and Devlyn had seemed to be on the verge of finishing a conversation, "we'll take the route through the Zoo then we'll take a left and follow Euston Street across the river and right up to Raccoon University. We'll be able to skirt just along the edge of downtown without being in the thick of it."
Lance suddenly glanced around as though looking for something or someone and Zayn had a sudden surge of panic, Lance asked the thing that suddenly had come to mind, "Where's the girl?"
Zayn raised the muzzle of his gun and allowed the light to spill in a dizzy fashion from one direction to another. In hindsight he never should've taken his eyes off her especially after being told she was going to evacuated whether she wanted to or not. Genevieve was a smart girl and realized that evacuation wasn't going anywhere without her so she took off without them. The problem was he hadn't been bluffing; her chances alone were slim to none - they HAD to find her and quickly. The Raccoon St. barricade and accidents didn't leave her enough room to wiggle through and he didn't see any child fleeing in the direction they came from so his flashlight swiveled into view upon the entrance to the Raccoon City Zoo.
Damn it, Veve, don't let me find you dead, OR worse, like the 'Others'.
Genevieve knew that leave behind the police was a bad idea but she was sick of being put at arm's length or pushed around. Her parents had never listened to her and neither did they; it was all about what they wanted. This was a tragedy and it affected more than just her, she didn't want to be a self-serving coward fleeing to safety while others lingered in danger especially her mother. Raccoon St was in northern part of the city and Umbrella offices were in Central part of the city to the south. That meant going through the Zoo as the others had suggested. Genevieve had known there wouldn't be as good a chance or maybe no chance of sneaking away after the police decided upon a course of action. She had to leave while they were still trying to piece it together. Did she feel bad? Yes, she did, at least she felt bad about Zayn, he'd seen to genuinely care about her well being and she spurned his kindness and likely made him look like a fool for letting her run off. As for the others well the one she barely knew and the other seemed like he could care less about her – two could play that game. Okay so she only felt bad about Zayn...
She kept her passage silent, not wanting to attract the attention of her escort or of more unwelcome things. Genevieve wasn't sure if what was going on would affect the animals too but she didn't want to find out firsthand. If the state of the zoo was anything to go on, she feared the worse. She crept and hid among the debris, the first animal she saw was an elephant if it could be called that anymore.
Flabby, leathery skin and muscled meat hung off its side exposing bone. Bloody bites marred up and down its skin and its ivory tusks where bloodied from having speared something. Was the virus enough to make an herbivore a carnivore? Again, she wasn't interested in finding out so when she felt its heavy footfalls coming in her direction; she shrunk into hiding just in time for its heavy feet, caked in mud and blood to go past her head. After it passed her she just sat there trying to regain the nerve and bravado that made her abandon her protectors. She'd already done that, committed herself to a course of action and she couldn't go back now. If she didn't move she'd not get out of the zoo, she wouldn't find her mother, and she wouldn't be able to get to safety.
In the distance she saw a group of five hyenas picking apart one of the zookeepers, that guy was so far gone she wasn't sure there would be enough of him to get up and walk around. A pride of lions lingered and languished out in the open in the distance but as long as no one started shooting up the zoo they looked content. Like all the animals they bore marks of what was going on, their fur was matted with scratches, bites, blood, and gore but unlike the others the pride of felines looked bloated as though they had gorged. Genevieve didn't doubt it; they were probably the apex predators even like this. Being quiet and small was the only asset she had so she knew she better not waste what good fortune was inherently hers. Genevieve crept carefully forward trying not to feel like she was being watched but she was, by a predator that was large as it slithered small and unnoticed against the dark ground.
Its tongue tasted the air as it slithered forward, venom dripped along the length of its fangs as it anticipated sinking them into the girl's flesh. As it came upon the girl it failed to notice the approaching footsteps of death drawing near, drawing a curved blade as it crossed the distance. The serpent lunched, footsteps swiftly echoed behind it and started the prey. The girl turned in alarm and it hissed angrily as its jaws snapped short of the little girl. She cried out and moved to avoid it, its fangs barely grazing the skin and opening it to the venom.
The girl recoiled as if shocked, the venom burning angrily in her skin like a brand. She attempted to wipe the rest off onto her bag. The snake turned on its attacker, recoiling to snap forward once more but as it did so it saw something fly towards it, it turned to face the incoming threat and the serpent's jaws opening to snap around the backpack. With its maw filled to bursting, it was harmless and its attacker crossed the distance and cut through its neck with a clean slice. The serpent's mouth continued to try to move and contract around the bag. Zayn pulled out his pistol, a single round piercing through the night as it shot the dismembered head of the snake.
A tiny sob was expelled and Zayn made a beeline for it, scooping Genevieve onto his shoulders and lunging for cover. The shot had alerted the entire zoo and now its worse predators were coming out, prepared to play.
"I'm so sorry," the girl whispered and Zayn's annoyance was forced to heel just slightly. Genevieve had gone through another traumatic ordeal and he couldn't add his anger, his annoyance, or his worry to the slab of shit the girl had to deal with. Too much she had to endure and her mind would snap, break into a million pieces and then where would she be. True that she had walked or waltzed straight into this events, so sure that she'd be okay on her own without them and perhaps this would be a good lesson for her not to run off on her own but no kid, no matter what deserved the kind of nightmares Raccoon City would give her.
"It's okay, Veve," he raised his free hand, entwined it with hers, and gave it a warm encouraging squeeze. A strained but warm smile accompanied it but Zayn doubted that Genevieve could see that, "It's going to be okay."
Zayn knew that where they were hiding wasn't in the open enough to be seen but likewise he knew he had to get his bearings: he had to see what was out there, gun it down, and get them the hell out of this zombie zoo.
Just as he raised his head and his firearm he heard shots, not the loud shot of pistol or assault firearm but the speed of a sniper round whizzing past his head.
Fuck! Snipers!
Zayn heard a loud thump and saw one of the lions lunging in their direction fall. Zayn sprinted forward towards the next available cover wondering who was the one shooting. If it was someone like Devlyn he was cutting it awfully damn close where the round had been close enough to be heard but if it was a friend he shouldn't have to worry about needing cover from behind but shouldn't wasn't good enough. With Genevieve he knew he couldn't trust a sniper would know he was alive or trust that the person behind the rifle was friendly. Umbrella sure as hell didn't like the local law enforcement save for the crooked cops.
Finding cover from both sides was a tall order, try impossible so it was a choice of cover from the sniper or the animals. Zayn chose cover from the sniper and aimed his firearm at the approaching lions. Five shots later, two more were down, a male with his mane drenched and caked with blood and a female, her paws and maw drenched. In the distance he saw a two hundred meter dash had to be made and in the distance he heard the baying and howling of what had to be hyenas. Zayn made a run for it, sprinting the length of the gauntlet, hearing the teasing jeers of animals. A few times he shot but mostly he ran and as he left the zoo behind he slammed the gate closed and locked the gate at the same time hoping that Devlyn and Lance had locked the entrance. The goal had been to rescue Genevieve and made sure no citizen made the same mistake she had. He heard the gates rattle as animals attempted to go through the bars and Genevieve screamed. Zayn leveled his pistol delivering point blank shots in the skulls of the animal's head that were trapped in the gate bar.
"Zayn?" the shaky timbre of her voice delivering her question.
"We're safe for now. We wait for the others now as long as we can."
Their wait wasn't long, Lance came shouldering a long scoped rifle, he seemed out of breath but he smiled, "I guess I still got it."
"You as—"
"Zayn, language." Devlyn warned.
Zayn bit back the rest of his words and lowered his voice as he approached Lance and cuffed him over the head, "You nearly shot me, you ass," but it was hard to keep from being impressed, he never took Lance for a sniper or being good at any firearm.
"The beastie was close to you, it was a difficult shot but you are still standing."
"That's not what you have to worry about, if you had shot the girl I would have murdered you and made it look like an accident
"Come on, boys, we have a long way to go. Stop quarreling, it won't get us OR her anywhere!"
After they left the zoo things settled down considerably, there were fewer amounts of undead in the residential neighborhoods than in the downtown areas and he and Lance were staying far apart and staying silent. It was of course Genevieve who broke the silence and the threadbare tension in the group, "Zayn, how did you become a policeman?"
The question caught him completely off guard, which is likely what she'd been hoping; in hindsight perhaps she had been trying to make things better. Zayn wasn't used to being asked personal questions but it was the end of the world as this girl knew it and she likely had nothing better to do so he decided to humor her, "Well after I finished school I went to an academy for training," he kept a majority of the details out in an effort to keep it simple and he didn't want to bore her. Being a cop required many years of firearm and combat training before an internship and employment as well as extensive knowledge of the laws of countries, states, human rights, and civil rights.
His vague explanation wasn't good enough for her, he should've known, she was much smarter than most kids twice her age, her next question gutting his hope to keep this simple "What kind of training?"
Zayn paused, trying to figure out a way to satisfy her curiosity without overloading her with information, "Mainly on how to protect people."
Another vague answer and again it wasn't enough, "What kind of training protects people?"
Lance grinned, snickering at Zayn being put on the spot and lead on by a kid. Zayn shot Lance a look that said 'I'd like to see YOU do BETTER' but when he realized she was still waiting for a response, "Well, we need to read up a lot on the law and how it works so we know what is illegal and what isn't and we have to do physical training so we're fit and healthy."
"What do you do to stay fit and healthy?"
For every question he answered she had two or three more to take the last questions place.
Zayn, in a sudden burst of inspiration, smirked as he answered, "Well boring stuff like running and lifting weights."
"Running isn't boring, it's like racing home after school," and his plan to dissuade her interest was totally bombed, of course a kid would enjoy activity.
Lance could be heard chuckling again but he attempt to quiet it by pretending the cough, he was amused at Zayn meeting his equal in a seven-year-old girl. Zayn was sorely tempted to flip Lance off but he didn't want to be a poor example to the child. Hot tempered as he was he still had decency to keep his mouth and attitude clean around her. He DIDN'T want to be explaining to Valete where her daughter picked up his bad habits. Lance gave him a look that meant his humor in it was good-natured. Even Devlyn's mouth was slightly curved, amused that his partner could hold his own against men five times the girl's size. Zayn ignored Lance and turned his attention back to the girl, "Do you like running?"
Maybe he could turn the tables on Genevieve and get her to talk about herself rather than asking him about himself.
"Yes, I like swimming better though!"
"Hmmm, swimming is a pretty good sport," not HIS sport of choice, he preferred to work out on a treadmill or practicing kickboxing, but he wanted to keep the focus on her not himself so he kept his mouth shut, "I bet you can swim like a fish."
"I like the water, it feels good and you don't get sweat all over you."
"True but pool water is full of chemicals so you need to take a shower afterwards or you will smell funny."
"Chlorine smells good, its clean smelling like bleach!" it didn't surprise him that she was smart enough to know chemical names and smells, likely Valete had taught the girl to know safe chemicals from hazardous ones too. Zayn was brought back from his musing by Genevieve's next words, "I was just wondering what it would be like to get a job helping people And how!"
Lance and Devlyn both blinked and then averted their gaze from his hastily, both of them thinking the same thing as Zayn did, how he had walked into THAT all by himself. Her words made Zayn realize that it had been the aim of her conversation all the while. It wasn't a child's curiosity or just talking to pass the time, somehow he had managed to endear himself to her that she had it in her head that she wanted to be just like him. The thought amused and scared him and so he hastily tried to retract and backpedal, to get her to think this through, "W-well there's lots of professions that help people, more suitable professions."
He needed to divert this girl's admiration onto others, this wasn't him at all, he wasn't used to being looked up to or admired. Of course he was a cop but he'd only been on the force a few years, trivial compared to veteran heroes like Devlyn. To others he was still too green, too impulsive, and too reckless. To Zayn being scolded and reprimanded was second nature to him, adoration was not, "There are doctors and nurses—"
"But those jobs would be boring because you're stuck inside and you only see and deal with people AFTER they are in trouble. I want to help people BEFORE they get hurt or are in trouble."
Lance whispered to Zayn, "Congratulations, you've made your mark on the world and made an impression on a child."
Zayn couldn't figure out if Lance was being serious or not but he glowered at Lance, his commentary was really NOT needed at the moment. Normally this would be a good thing if it wasn't the wrong sort of impression on a very important child, "Well . . ." he stuttered a bit because he didn't really have a strong argument against hers. The girl was right. There were firemen and paramedics, doctors and nurses but only police were both retroactive and proactive in the scope of their duties. The primary duties were etched into their motto: To Protect and Serve, to protect people in advance and serve as aid if trouble occurred. The other professions were only called in after the fact whereas police protection was more generalized and widespread. Being a doctor or a nurse or a fireman wouldn't be as appealing or have as much of an impact on a child as a police profession would and Zayn knew it. He swallowed, his tone of voice slightly flat, "That's . . . a nice ambition to have."
Zayn didn't mean a word of it; he wasn't sure what to make of having this young girl, who was the heiress to a fortune and a famous pharmaceutical corporation, having the ambition to pursue such a basic and thankless profession. Surely her family wouldn't approve of such ambitions if she decided to carry them to adulthood.
Genevieve didn't catch onto his lack of sincerity, "Yes, I thought so too. If there are more policemen and women to prevent things we might not need so many other people to fix things after the fact," she was WAY too smart for her age, even she had caught onto the fact their profession was short handed and strained. As if she could miss that fact when their inability to handle THIS crisis was plastered so spectacularly across this city in flesh and blood both living and dead.
Zayn found her responses to be accurate and thought provoking. More than once the station had been either heavily understaffed or so swamped with cases that it was almost impossible for the police to handle them all sufficiently and go out on regular patrols. Budget cuts in the force didn't help things either and it wasn't surprising that some people flat out quit the force because they couldn't deal with the constant stressors. The struggles of the police force were obvious, clearly even to smart children, when bad things happened that they were unable to prevent and it was as much as a government problem as it was a police problem, "Maybe you should grow up into a big time businesswoman and give the police lots of funding. God knows we could do with it," he chuckled at his little joke but realized suddenly how quiet it was. Even Genevieve went silent as he surveyed their surroundings.
It was beyond odd, it was strangely silent and there was no sight or sound of infected of any kind. It left him feeling like something was out there, something that had snuffed out everything in this area and left it a barren void. There was a sharp click of weapons and both he and Devlyn turned to face a squad of six, clad in black leather as dark as their souls – they were the Umbrella Special Services.
"Hold your fire!" Command hissed as Karena 'Lupo' Lesproux's ear as she brought her U.S.S. issued rifle, code-named the Ravager up into a firing position. Her finger still ghosted along the trigger even as she lowered the sight. Her squad must've gotten the same orders because their actions mirrored her own. Lupo glanced at police officers and the tiny child on the shoulders of the foreign one. Surely Umbrella Command's blood wasn't running cold at the prospect of ordering the death of a child, how many children had this outbreak murdered? Then she got a good look at the child and gaped, "Is that...?"
"Genevieve, President Spencer's only grandchild and heir. She was, IS, a high profile extraction."
Bertha voiced what was on Lupo's mind, "Then what is she still doing here?"
"Operations Director Cain botched a few of the extractions. Wolf Pack, new orders, see Genevieve Spencer safely to her extraction point. Cain wants them to take her to the Raccoon City University but that is for his convenience and forces them to go through a gauntlet of infected. Likely the girl would not make the journey therefore we are routing an extraction helicopter to extract her from the R.P.D helipad. Then kill the cops and proceed to City Hall."
"Objective Confirmed. Proceeding," Lupo lowered her weapon as much as she was willing to and slowly approached the officers didn't lower their own but rather raised them, "Hold your fire, I'm Karena Lesproux, U.S.S. Delta Team Squad Leader. We mean you no harm," yet, she added internally. These cops were exactly the loose ends Umbrella wanted tied up and she wondered if they knew that the little girl and the mission she posed was all that kept them from being fired upon now, "We've been assigned to extraction security for the girl."
"She already has a ticket out of here," the foreign one said, ever wary and distrusting, "We are to take her to-"
"—The University," Lupo finished, "We know of your arrangement with Operations Director Cain but the U.S.S. has re-routed one of our own copters to land at the R.P.D. helipad. That's a more reasonable objective I'm sure you'll agree."
The foreign one looked relieved indeed, already they were making the calculation of how much easier it would be to get their precious cargo there versus over the river and through the woods of zombified citizens to get her to the University.
"Is that true?" the young, blond one said.
"Yes, that's Genevieve Spencer, it'll be on our heads if she didn't get to safety and we had the opportunity to do something about it."
It wasn't untrue. Cain had already botched up the extraction of Angela Ashford, Sherry Birkin, and now Genevieve. There was no way to tell how many others he'd missed or how his sloppy work would impact the company. Charles Ashford would likely be downright uncooperative, Sherry Birkin would have been valuable for extortion and coercive techniques on Birkin's widow Annette, and Genevieve was worth her weight in gold and more. If she perished along with the rest and Spencer found out the U.S.S. had a chance of rescuing her then they would all pay dearly from the bottom up, no one would escape the fallout of his fury.
"We can see her to the station," the eldest officer said, obviously distrusting them but there was hostility to his tone.
"We can't do that. We've got our orders and they are to see the girl to safety, consider us your escort as much as we're hers."
Devlyn glanced at Zayn, silent knowledge passing between them in an instant, they both knew that they were living on borrowed time, once that little girl was gone they had to get the drop on Delta Squad before they got the drop on them. Devlyn looked to Lance hoping he would catch onto reality as quickly as Zayn had but Lance hadn't, he wasn't in sync and think as instinctively with him as Zayn did. It was the type of bond that could only develop from over time through trust and a measure of experience and common sense.
Lance was intelligence as hell and for a long time the R.P.D. had been able to take advantage of his gifts and shield him from 'active service' but that didn't make him ready to survive the likes of this. Devlyn hoped that Lance would catch on before he found himself dead; the Umbrella operatives were looking at him like they had found fresh meat.
For more than the first time this night Devlyn felt like Lance would never survive this city, this night, these circumstances without him or Zayn. Zayn on the other hand would, he was sure of that. Lance's ineptitude aside he was still an R.P.D. officer, still a brother, an annoying one but you didn't ditch your family because they were troublesome and couldn't see the wolves in the woods. In that moment he made a decision, if it came down to a firefight he had to toss his lot in with Lance. Zayn would be fine and would see the light of day without him, he'd taught Zayn all he knew and in many ways Zayn surpassed his own meager skills.
Alone they might be able to fracture and avoid the Umbrella Specials but only together would they survive the city. Decisions, decisions and he only had until Genevieve's evacuation.
It was with selfish pride that Zayn smirked when Genevieve voiced her preference for him over the Umbrella 'pack'. One of the Umbrella Special Forces had offered to carry her. Genevieve had hastily declined. Perhaps it was because she sensed that he really didn't care about her or maybe she was just unafraid to voice that she didn't like them.
Introductions had been forced and stilted between the two sides. Both squads moved like a well-oiled machines but the tensions between the two sides made it impossible to operate at peak efficiency. In the interest of making things less awkward Lupo had ordered her squad to introduce themselves one at a time. The field scientist had declined to give her REAL name as Lupo had and simply gave them her moniker of 'Four Eyes'; the manner in which she introduced herself set the example that the others followed.
Clearly, he thought, we aren't on a first name basis, surprise, surprise.
Four Eyes looked emotionally detached save for her fascination with the crisis going on, it was almost like this ruined city was some kind of intellectual playground for her. The medic introduced herself as Bertha and with her face completely covered by her gas mask coupled with the 'tools of her trade' and her black leather armor made her look half like a dominatrix and half mad scientist. If one harbored any doubt based on what they saw of Bertha her tone toed the razor's edge between sadism and apathy. Beltway, the demolitions expert was just as impersonal and demonic as his outward appearance looked. Specter, the surveillance expert, wasn't much for words or the eyes. Vector cloaked in his cowl and armed with blades and firearms radiated a predatory grace that made Zayn both wary and respectful of him. Zayn knew that this one was the one to watch, the most dangerous one but the one to confront if he wanted his allies to survive the jaws of the beast.
The only comfort was that the R.P.D. was their turf, a territory where they would have the home team advantage. They knew it and the Umbrella soldiers didn't. It was the only advantage they had so they sure couldn't afford to make the journey a learning experience for the Umbrella operatives.
Genevieve was oddly quiet during the whole experience, which he found strange. It was true that since she'd been found again and promptly told her situation was unchanged she had been giving them the 'silence treatment' but it wasn't until he felt all her weight slump against his back while he was climbing up the main hall's emergency ladder that his worries reached there peak.
Something's wrong, he thought with alarm, panic surging to life.
Behind him he heard Lupo say to the medic, "Something's wrong with the girl. Get up there, I want a debrief by the time I'm up there."
Bertha double-timed it up the ladder behind him in that time he'd already gone ahead and was passing through a door into the next room. It was a Waiting Room; behind a curved oak desk with a computer would normally have sat one receptionist. The waiting room was one that both Devlyn and Zayn were familiar with, it was a waiting room for those needing or wanting to see the Raccoon City Chief Brian Irons. For Zayn it was neither of need or want but rather discipline, he had only sat his ass here when Devlyn had convinced him, for better or worse, put up with Iron's bullshit for the cause. Whereas for more than a few times Devlyn had sat patiently to ask or plead Irons for support, most of the times Devlyn was unsuccessful making all the time he spent waiting wasted. Zayn gently pulled her off his back and laid her gently on the couch.
"You couldn't wait?" her German accent was thick as was her disregard; clearly she was disgusted by the sentimentality he already bestowed upon the child.
"I wanted her to be comfortable," he said defensively, "Can you take off the damn mask?"
Zayn didn't want Genevieve to regain consciousness and see a sinisterly masked individual hanging over her. The medic didn't answer him, she didn't need to it was very clear she found him disruptive. She simply pulled out a needle and reached to plunge it into the girl's arm. Zayn caught her arm and yanked it back. The woman pulled against his grip but he was able to overpower her, "Gentle with her," his tone was a menacing warning.
"Gentleness is not necessary with the unconscious."
"Gentleness is always necessary, especially with children, they aren't as resilient as adults."
"May I do my work now or does my companion have to restrain you?"
"He can try..."
"Your fear permeates even through your bravado. I don't believe in the use of painkillers and sedatives but with one injection I could put you down so far you would never see the light of day again," she finished plunging in the needle and then it flashed a holographic projection of growth, many growths wriggling and writhing, "Holy shit, if she was infected she certainly isn't anymore."
"What are those?" Lupo came forward, pointing the muzzle of the gun at the screen.
"T-viral antibodies, the growth is more than abundant its excessive. If the virus was here, it's completely eradicated and NEVER would have stood a chance."
"What's wrong with her?"
"Venom detected by the scans but I would know without it," she said, raising the girl's wrist and indicating the darkened skin from the graze of the snake's fang, "rapid degradation of skin tissue indicative of necrotic venom. Administering anti-venom to halt and cure it. Good thing the girl went unconscious, otherwise we might've never known and the girl might have had to loss the hand."
Bertha sounded more like she rued the loss of not taking Genevieve's hand than she did about saving her from that, as though a mid-mission amputation was just what was needed to spice things up. The woman was a true sadist...
The remainder of the way, Zayn carried Genevieve cradled against his chest like a baby. He knew that he should be figuring out how he was going to avoid the jaws of the beast but he wouldn't be able to until she was well on her way out of this mess. Lupo took point, opening the door and angled her pistol side to side rapidly as she led the way into the helipad. Devlyn followed and they both fired at the two infected officers. Overhead a chopper's approach could be heard. Lance brought up the rear and Devlyn lingered towards Lance and the door.
Zayn wished he had the luxury of preemptive planning, he was going to be near the chopper and the Umbrella operatives were securing the helipad. Fuck, he thought, getting boxed in by specialist in their chosen fields was not something he wanted to do. Bertha's fingertips lingered along the length of her blade, her mask tilted in his direction Zayn could almost sense she was smiling at him the way a predator smiles as its prey.
Patiently he stepped forward as a few members got out. Two females and a male, one of the females and the male had assault rifles at the ready as they got out followed by a third female's. Her arms were extended out but she retracted them when she saw the graze of fang on the girl's wrist as she approached. In an instant her rifle was trained on Genevieve, as were her compatriots' rifles. Zayn brought her back into the protective fold of his arms and shouted loud enough to be heard over the whirl of the helicopter blades, "She's not bitten!"
"The cop is right," Bertha said, "its venom, an anti-venom was administered but the dispensing an antidote would be better for her."
Even with the vouch from one of their own they kept their weapons trained, "Get those damn guns out of my face and get her out of here or she'll die! Unless YOU want to explain to old man Spencer as to why you went and abandoned his blood HERE in this god forsaken place on a fucking theory or hunch about why she is ill!"
The pilot's voice, coming from the cockpit, was the one who got the others to back down, "Command says to bring her no matter her condition."
To his surprise Genevieve murmured a weak protest and held onto his uniform as tight as she could, "I don't want to go with them, I want to stay with you."
Zayn pressed a kiss to Genevieve's forehead, it was warm, clearly the venom had worked up a temperature, "Veve, you're sick, you need to get out of here and get better," he gently but firmly pried her fingers from his jacket and shrugged it off, wrapping it around her.
"I want you to go with me then."
That brought a small smile to Zayn's face, "Genevieve, I can't do that, I need to find your mother and you need to get better for the both of us. Please," he pleaded with her.
Genevieve's eyes fluttered open, the light in them exhausted and weak, she nodded reluctantly and Zayn went pass the guards and gingerly laid her down, the three returned to sit on the craft as it took off. Once the helicopter was on its way he scarcely had time to turn around before he heard guns loaded and locked on them: on him, on Lance, and on Devlyn. Zayn wanted to look to Devlyn but he knew it would be a mistake so he kept focused on his enemies. Lupo gaze never left them as she delivered the sentence, "Kill them all."