Chapter 11: Don't Turn Your Back on Fear

"Guns aren't working Chris!" Jill yelled from behind their now destroyed vehicle; the sand-J'avo had destroyed it some time ago.

"Get down! Grenade!" Chris shouted back as he threw a incendiary grenade into the oncoming twister.

No effect.

"Shit! What's it gonna take to kill this son of a bitch!" He shouted again as he emptied another round of ammo.

Every gun they used had been useless, Chris thought hard and fast about this. If he had contact with HQ they could send in a few AC130s, but looking to his satellite phone they were still down. There had to be some way of killing this.

"Chris! What about thermal scope?!"

"I could try! Cover me!" He ran as fast as he could over the sand to get a good distance between him and the sand-J'avo.

Once he had a good view of the entire twister in his sights he changed his Rifles scope and took a glance through it. The heat of the desert really didn't help with the image he was seeing, but he could make out the small outline of the J'avo's head and vulnerable organs that looked like they were glowing.

"This would be so much easier in the cold." He muttered to himself just as he took the first shot to the creatures head.

"The powers back." Jake told Sherry once he'd took a seat next to her.

"That's good... Does that mean Chris is back?"

Jake shook his head, her mouth went into an 'O' shape that made Jake want to smile.

"I bet Claire's pulling her hair out in worry."

"She's with Leon keeping busy. She's strong..." He spoke thinking back to her punching him and coughed, touching his jaw unconsciously. Sherry raised her eyebrow questioning the nervous cough and action.

"Oh no... I'm not telling."

"Fine! I'll just ask Claire when she comes in next." She said smugly.

"Argh, okay. She... punched me."

"She what?!" Sherry exclaimed almost jumping out of bed. Jake nodded and repeated himself whilst nervously scratching his head, then explained her actions.

"Oh... I see." She commented biting her fingers and looking down at her lap. "I'm sorry Jake. I caused all this."

"You didn't. Umbrella did, or The Family whichever - they're all the same these days."

"But Claire..."

"Claire nothing, we settled it. Everything's okay."

She knew the tone of his voice, it made her happy that he wasn't lying and that he was being so kind. But all she could think of was his lips, from their kiss. They were so soft! It was a shame that the Doctor had to come in, she wanted more of him...

"Are you okay? You're not feeling sick are you?"

"No, I feel fine. Why?"

"You've gone red." He frowned not believing her. His concern made her cheeks go an even darker shade of red when he realized she must have been thinking about him, it made him smirk. "Thinking about me again, Supergirl?"

Her eyes widened.

"I... Um... Ja-ake!" She whined with a frown, "Stop being a wise ass."

He laughed at her, she was too cute to comprehend sometimes.

"You'd hate me if I wasn't" He winked, receiving another deep blush from Sherry.

"Thank god they're letting me out today!" Sherry exclaimed once the Doctor brought her the good news; she'd healed almost completely but wasn't allowed to work for a few days, so she and the others had to find a place to stay until further notice.

Chris and Jill still hadn't returned after two full days, and the phone lines were still down, causing Claire to worry all the more. She felt like it was Raccoon all over again.

Leon also worried for their safety but was more concerned that Ada was nearby. He hadn't seen or heard of her since the fight with Simmons, the last text message she'd sent was still saved on his phone.

The US still believed her to be dead, and he dared to talk to Chris about it after the escapade in China. He knew Chris would hunt her down and slap her in chains for something she'd never committed, it was better that the world thought she were dead... But with Sherry and Jake encountering her, it was only a matter of time before the BSAA found out.

"The BSAA have said there's a hotel not far from here." Leon told her when she'd had her needles and cannula removed, "It's protected by BSAA for the moment as seen as they're in the area, so we should be safe there."

Jake and Sherry nodded.

"Shouldn't we wait for Chris and Jill?" Sherry asked with concern, looking from Leon to Claire.

"No, not really. The BSAA would inform them where we're staying once they return."

"If they return you mean." Jake commented with a cold shrug.

Although Jake and Chris had spoken, if only briefly since the Underwater Facility, he still wasn't keen on the soldier.

"They did return." A deep voice spoke from the door making everyone turn.

Chris stood in the doorway with sand, dirt and dried blood covering him with Jill Valentine right behind him looking just the same.

"CHRIS!" Claire screamed before running over to him, and flinging her arms around him. "You had me worried!"

"Claire... We're fine." He smiled wearily.

"Just a little tired, and beaten." Jill chirped with a smile, flicking her long brown hair that was tangled and congealed with blood from her eyes.

"What happened?"

"We'll talk to you about it later, first we need to get to the Command Centre and report in." Chris said once he'd pried his sister off him.

Claire could only nod and watch as he walked away with Jill, quickly noticing they were holding hands. She smiled to herself, Chris had loved Jill with every ounce of his being, and Jill had also loved him back but they never told each other. Whatever happened out there in the desert had been for the best, obviously.

"We need to get the hotel rooms sorted." Leon muttered from behind her, and then they too set off leaving Jake and Sherry to themselves.

"Looks like the jarhead's made to survive." Jake remarked when silence resumed.

"Chris is a fighter Jake, he always has been."

"Yeah, yeah he's wonderful." He retorted dryly, folding his arms and stretching his legs out.

"You need to talk to him Jake."

"About what?" It took him a few seconds to realise what she meant, "Oh Jesus, not this again."

"It would help you both, you'd finally know the truth about your..." She didn't want to say Wesker and she didn't want to say father either, in the end he did the job for her.

"Father?" He spat with a sarcastic tone, "Sure, let's sit down and talk about dear old pops with the man who killed him."

"Jake, you need to know." Sherry pushed pacifying her voice a little. "Chris had many reasons to do what he did."

"Can we forget about this right now? There are more important-"

"Things at stake?" She butted in, remembering this speech before.

"Yeah."

"Like what?"

"You, Supergirl." His words caught her off guard, he knew it by the look on her face, she was surprised he cared and worried about her. "Yeah that's right, I care about you. Don't look so god damn surprised." He said disgusted and looked away from her.

Sherry kept quiet whatever she said would make things worse, so she slid out of bed for the first time since she was shot and grabbed the new clothes Claire had brought for her and went to change into them.

"What's going on with you two?" Claire asked Sherry in a hushed tone once they'd took a seat at a table in the hotels bar.

"What do you mean?"

"Sherry come off it, back home you never stopped talking about Jake and now your together again he's not left your side."

Sherry blushed deeply, her friend was spot on with where she was going with this. She'd never actually confided in Claire how she felt about Jake in all this time, why? Because it was never relevant... but now?

"You fancy him?" Claire continued to question with a smile.

Sherry shook her head as her blush deepened all the more.

"You love him!?"

"Love who?"

Both Sherry and Claire jumped out their skins when Leon came behind them.

"Nobody!" The two girls chimed together.

"I'm not stupid... I know you're talking about me." He smirked pushing his blonde hair back with one hand, making the two laugh. "The rooms are being cleaned, so they'll inform us when they're done."

They nodded.

"Hey guys." Chris greeted along with Jill as they walked into the small bar holding hands, Leon raised an eyebrow at this receiving an ecstatic smile back from Chris.

"Hey jarhead!" Jake called, "What you and the lady drinkin'?"

Chris sighed letting go of Jill's hand and walked over to the bar, he figured giving Jake a hand with this might help lessen the hatred.

About an hour later a conversation broke out among the group, topic being hotel rooms. The boys were going to pair up and so would the girls.

"Hell no!" Jake protested at the very thought let alone the plan or idea of it. He was to stay in a room with Jarhead and Hero for the next 2 or so days?! 'Everyone's lost their damn minds!' He thought savagely.

"Well how are we supposed to do this?" Jill asked openly, Leon shrugged as he took a gulp of his beer.

"We could pair up in our teams?" Sherry suggested, "Leon and Claire, Jill and Chris, and myself with Jake?" She explained further seen as she'd had no response.

"I'm up for it." Jake seconded straight away, anything was better than a room full of men he wasn't keen on.

"Chris wouldn't mind bunking with me, I'm sure." Jill smiled with a wink.

"Ugh... Claire?" Leon questioned. If he was honest he didn't want to share a room with her, it would be too awkward.

"There is-a- two single rooms." The bar tender spoke up from across the room.

"I could ask for two doubles and two singles?" Leon offered, receiving an eager nod from her. He sighed internally and got to his feet.

UPDATE: 14/01/2014 - Spelling & Grammar