A Cruel, Undead World
~ Chapter 10 ~
Mission Failure
Tervu Infection Outbreak Active for: 0 Years, 0 Months, 3 Weeks, 3 Days, 17:31:59.
God is a cruel son of a bitch.
Not only did Michael nearly cause the death of the only woman he legitimately loved (yes, loved), he now has to deal with this asshole.
Rick Walker walked as if invincible, like nothing could hurt him. That bugged the crap out of Michael. When Rick first arrived, he might have thought he was invincible. His patience with his arrogant manner however was beginning to dwindle to nothing.
Or maybe it was just because it was another handsome young man closer to Jodie's age.
Oh the cruel, undead world.
Rick watched as Jodie slept. She had awaken twice in the past ten hours, each for about ten minutes. He must have known she was bit, even if Maja and Michael silently agreed to say nothing. Looking into the young woman's face, Rick became melancholy, like something was on his mind. Michael tried his best to ignore him, but Maja was becoming irritated quickly.
"What are you staring at?" she snapped. Rick held the gaze a while longer before turning to the younger one.
"This woman has been infected." Michael turned quickly to face him.
"She isn't one of those creatures!"
"If she was she would have ripped your face off by now", Rick agreed snidely. "The virus has mutated inside of her. She will be fine, but I'm sure once this is over, her life will not go smoothly."
"And how the hell would you know?" Michael stepped up to him, the two men mere inches away from each other. Rick did not back down. His voice became quieter.
"Because I have gone through the same thing."
Michael didn't know what to say, so he ended up saying nothing and backing down. Grunting, the slightly older man walked to the nearly empty supply shelves and looked through what remained.
The silence that followed was tense and nearly unbearable, but no one wanted to break it. About thirty minutes passed when the only light source above them began to flicker. The three of them looked at it nervously, and watched as the light finally died, and left them in darkness. Leaving them no choice, they opened the door a crack to illuminate the room a bit. Using a stool sitting beneath the shelves, Michael pulls it under the light and stands on it to remove the light bulb. He sighs and curses his luck.
"The light bulb is dead…we need to replace it."
"Then we will have to go get another one." Rick lifted a CheyTac M-200 Intervention onto his shoulder, and removed a Model 1911 Crosskill variant pistol from a holster and showed it to Michael. "Can you handle a gun?"
"Of course I know how to handle a gun", Michael muttered angrily, and snatched the gun out of his hand. As he turned away, Rick raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
They walked down the narrow hallways, eyes darting in every direction in case of infected.
"I think there are some light bulbs in the room down the hall", Michael told him. Rick nodded, and they continued, but before they could reach it, roars began to rise from nearby. The two stopped, looking around. Rick raised his gun.
"A horde is coming!" Michael raised his gun too. Before long, a huge group of fast-paced zombies were after them. Shots rang out, but they just seemed to keep coming.
Remembering that these monsters had hurt Jodie, anger started to rise in Michael. When the pistol was emptied, Michael discarded it and fought hand to hand.
"You fool! You will be killed!" Rick shouted out, trying his best to fend off Michael and himself. Michael didn't listen, punching one infected doctor in the face. An infected nurse stumbled behind him and held onto his back. As he was trying to throw her off, the zombie he just punched launched himself at Michael's chest with a long, sharp piece of glass. Michael shouted out in pain as Rick tried to reach him. Knowing it was useless, Rick grabbed a flash grenade he had handy, and tossed it in the middle of the crowd. It blinded everything that had eyes long enough for Rick to navigate to Michael and dragged him back down the hallway. By the time the infected figured out what they were doing, Rick had managed to shut the door.
The room was alit only by a small lantern Maja managed to stumble upon while looking for a flashlight. She gasped as Rick lay the bleeding comrade on the ground. As if feeling the tense atmosphere, Jodie's eyes began to open.
Rick managed to get the door barred and then knelt down to examine Michael, and quickly pulled the glass sheet out, earning a scream of agony from the fellow. It didn't take a doctor to tell that the glass had punctured one of his lungs, and he was struggling to breathe. Throwing the glass aside, Rick looked around for something, but knew nothing at this point would help him. Jodie, now fully awake, screamed his name and forced herself to crawl to him. Tears stuck at the corner of her eyes as she looked at the man she barely knew, and they began to fall when he shook his head.
He knew he was going to die. Perhaps because of everything that had happened, he was okay with that fact. Grasping at Rick, his hand caught the neck of his plated-vest and pulled him down so he could hear.
"Make sure…they make it…out of here…that is my…only request…" his voice shuddered and broke several times from the inability to breathe. He was saving his last breath. Pushing him away, Rick stared at the dying man, and nodded. He then turned to Jodie, who held her face in her hands, her entire body shaking with grief. Gently, he reached out and took one of her hands, and she could barely look at him. His face was paling, bleeding out quickly. He didn't have long.
"Live…for me…I…love…you…" his last word was barely audible and his eyes glassed over, the rest of oxygen leaving his body. Jodie blurted out a "No!" and grabbed at his shoulder, shaking him, screaming for him to wake up. Maja cried silently in the corner, and Rick still knelt there in shock.
Jasmine wakes up to see Matt over her, gently washing her forehead and whispering her name. She groans and attempts to sit up, but Matt stops her, forcing her to lay back down.
"Don't move yet. We don't know what the side effects are to this new…ability…" he murmured. Remembering what had happened, she looked down and expected to see a gaping wound in her chest—there was none to be found. Shock must have been evident on her face, for Matt frowned and nodded slowly. "We don't know how you did it, but you were able to heal yourself. It was a slow process, but it began immediately after the blade went in you. I think that bite might have something to do with it."
He gestured at the scar that remained on her shoulder. As if she didn't already feel strange, this new ability made her feel like a monster. She sat up and ignoring Matt's advice, swung her legs over the couch. Looking around, she could guess that they had moved into another abandoned house. This one wasn't as nice as the last, a single floor flat that probably only had one bedroom and bathroom. A bachelor's kind of house. She shrugged the scarred shoulder and stood up, stretching.
"So, what happened to the guy that got me?" she asked. While the man did stab her, she felt as though he didn't do it on purpose, thus not holding too much of a grudge.
As if hearing his name being called, the man from before entered. He was a plain looking guy, white t-shirt, blue jeans, black converse and a black jacket. The only extraordinary feature about the young man was the fact he had the brightest green eyes she has ever seen. Those green eyes blinked a couple of times almost in fear as he sees the now-awake girl.
"Hi…I'm Jake…I'm sorry I stabbed you with my machete…" he mumbled the last part, but she got the gist of it. She gave him a half grin and waved her hand, as if waving it away.
"No big deal…it's not like it killed me." The joke made her twinge a bit on the inside but she ignored it. Jake nodded, his eyes wandering to Matt, who gave an encouraging grin. Taking a big breath, Matt looked from Jake to Jasmine.
"We should get going. It's almost noon-ish and we lost a lot of time waiting for you to rest up. The other two are eager to get back on the road." Jasmine knew the last statement wasn't true; Salmon and Alex thought it would be better if they just stayed put. She figured he said this because he was the one itching to get moving, which was understandable—he still had family to find. Remembering her own family, she nodded and within the next ten minutes, left the safety of the home.
They walked around, leaving the apartments behind again, and reached a small park similar to the Elder Tree Park. This little park had a small man-made stream that went from one side of the park to the other. While the stream was short in length, it was about ten feet deep. Across the stream were different bridges. At the bridge closest to them, they could faintly see a figure through the haze.
"I think somebody's over there…" Matt called out, and hurried his pace. When they got closer, Matt stopped in his tracks. He stared at the woman on the bridge, then ran towards her.
"Katelyn?" the other four stopped short of the bridge as Matt moved on to it.
"Matt, look out!" Jasmine called out. The woman on the bridge wore a beautiful wedding gown, her veil covering her face. Jasmine however could see the blood stains on her sleeves and neck. A growl rose from the girl as she turned to the man that was once her brother.
"Katie, it's me! Matt! Please, no!" he begged, praying she was kidding. She turned to reveal that her nails had turned into long, thick and sharp claws and she shrieked as she jumped on him, pinning him to the ground and stabbing him over and over. Jake was the first to act, taking the machete and swinging it down on one of her arms. She howled as the arm severed from her shoulder. To their horror, a new limb grew back in its place: a sharp, jointed blade shot out of her shoulder. With this new arm, she swiped at Matt, who luckily ducked before his head was cleanly detached. Salmon and Alex came to his rescue, grabbing him from under his arms and dragging him away, for he was too shocked to move. She was not done with them though, for she launched at Jake and knocked him to the ground. Mounting him, she speared at him, but he dodged long enough for Jasmine to push the woman off. With amazing acrobatics she would have never been able to do uninfected, she rolled on the ground and twisted to face them again, snarling and uses her arm to send Jasmine flying backwards. Matt is able to stand now, and he lifts his machete and pocket knife in a menacing but shaky manner.
"Please! Don't make me do this!" he pleaded, but she was beyond bargaining. She ran at him once more, so he closed his eyes and swung his machete at her, while at the same time dug his knife deep into her side. She screamed again, but like before, another blade shot out and replaced the other removed limb.
"This isn't working!" Salmon yelled. Matt is knocked back, and is about to be mounted when Jake jumps on her from behind. Twisting violently, she eventually bucks him off, sending him flying onto the bridge. He falls unconscious, and she takes the opportunity and crawls over him. About to stab him, Matt shouted and caught her attention. He grabbed her into a bear hug, and knew what he had to do. With wet eyes, he glanced at Jasmine, who instantly knew what he was going to do; she screamed for him not to do it but he shook his head, silently asking her to not stop him.
With a sob rising from his chest, he held onto his sister tightly, ignoring the pain he felt from her shaking his back in an attempt to get away.
"At least we'll be together…" he whispered, and with the last amount of strength he had, pulled himself over the railing of the bridge—his sister falling into the water with him. Jasmine ran onto the bridge with her new found speed and reached out her hand, but he was already gone, and had disappeared into the watery depths.
Chris Redfield never envisioned himself doing this again.
After Piers' death, he continued to be that caring captain he used to be before Edonia. Though every lost life still scarred him deeply, saving people from this nightmare was still worth his sanity, at least in his mind.
His team had found only a teenage girl and a young boy, no one else. He was starting to think this entire trip was becoming hopeless, and that they should start bombing right away. Then, finally, they heard a shout as they walked down the streets cautiously. Running to the source, they found a woman, huddled in fear inside a car they presumed to be hers while attacked by infected. His team handled the infected as he opened the car door and helped the woman out. She thanked him over and over, but before he could even pull her to safety, the woman gasped and stopped talking. Confused, his instincts took over as the woman collapsed into his arms, and when he looked her over knew instantly she was dead. Something about it reeked of foul play, and he noticed a tiny vial sticking out of her back. About to pull it out, he was suddenly knocked over by a swift kick to the head. Falling over, he looks up to see a woman clad in pink quickly grabbing the vial and begin to run off.
"After her!" he shouted. Looking at the woman again, he noticed her form was beginning to harden into what he knew all too well to be a cocoon. Cursing, he shot it mercilessly before it could transform into something dangerous. He looks up as a shot rang out, and a woman screamed out. Scrambling up, he ran to the woman that had been shot, and glared at one of his rookie men. "I meant stop her, not shoot her!"
He looked at the woman, who was sprawled on the ground, and knelt to her. Gently, he moved her so she lay on her back, and he could see that the bullet had gone through her middle section. He recognized the woman instantly.
"Marcy Carson…I should have known Neo-Umbrella was responsible for this." He growled angrily. She coughed a little, blood spurting out.
"It can't end like this…I have…to complete…my mission…"
"What mission?" he asked, listening intently to see if she knew more about why this happened.
"The virus…the cure…must…find…carriers…" Chris furrowed his brow and stood, knowing there was nothing they could do, and that she had no useful information. He turned to his squad, ready to continue their own mission, when she cried out.
"More will die if they aren't killed! Without the cure…there is…no…hope…" her voice faltered to nothing and her eyes remained open forever. The squad moved out while Chris lingered behind, staring at the woman with the blond and pink hair. Finally, he tore himself away, and left her body to lie like thousands of others in this city.
A/N: Okay! Finished the chapter! So…there were three dead today…I'm sorry to those who lost characters, UntitledObstacle with Matt Elison and MeeMeeCandy777 with Marcy Carson. I promise though, they did not die in vain, and because of their deaths means a more interesting sequel that I hope all of you will enjoy. As a bonus for letting me kill your characters, I also want to tell you both that in the sequel, you will be able to have TWO new characters instead of the original one, if you are interested in staying with us. I hope you will still stick around to see how the story ends!