- Chapter 13 -

The Trap

The first sign of returning consciousness was the pain. His head hurt like hell, and it felt like he'd been kicked by a horse. Nonetheless, the pain meant that he was still alive, and Chris was grateful to whatever God was watching that he survived.

Shaking his head, Chris quickly looked around to see Leon, Claire, and Jill were also coming to. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, everyone seemed relatively unharmed.

"Is everybody okay?" Chris asked. Claire groaned and rubbed her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "Just don't ask me anything hard, like my name."

"I've been through worse," Jill said. Leon was fine as well.

With that, the four forced open the doors of the ruined van and struggled their way out, grabbing as many weapons as they could easily carry beforehand.

"Okay, those zombies prove that Neo-Umbrella's here in Edonia," Chris said, taking charge. "That makes things harder, but doesn't change what we gotta do. We need to track down Jake before Wesker and his mooks do."

"So what's the plan?" Leon asked.

"Let's split up," Chris said. "Leon, you and Claire look downtown, see if you can find Jake. Jill, you're with me. We'll sweep the city and find out what Neo-Umbrella's up to." Everyone nodded. "Keep in contact," he continued, tapping his headset. "Okay, move out."

With that, the group dispersed, Chris and Jill heading north, Leon and Claire heading south.

Jake answered HUNK's challenge by punching him in the face again.

HUNK barely flinched (if he did, it was impossible to tell due to his mask), but lashed out with a snap kick to the chest, which Jake narrowly managed to block. HUNK wasn't finished, and landed a backhand blow to the side of Jake's head. Jake barely had time to reel in pain before HUNK stepped forward and grabbed him by the throat with both hands.

"The boss said to bring you in alive, kid," he said as he began to strangle Jake. "Didn't say he wouldn't settle with damaged goods."

Jake was not about to let that happen. He drew back his head and rammed his skull directly into HUNK's masked face. HUNK's own head snapped back, but it was only with a second headbutt from Jake that he let go and staggered back, his mask cracked from the impacts.

"I don't know who the hell you are or who your boss is," Jake said, his fists up in the classic boxer stance, "but I'm not goin' anywhere."

HUNK chuckled. "Funny," he said, his hand at his side. "You must have me confused with someone who was giving you a choice."

His hand came up, clutching a Beretta M92F tranquilizer. Said tranquilizer was aimed right at Jake's chest.

"The tranqs in this gun are strong enough to bring down a horse, kid," he said. "So, are you gonna come quietly, or do I have to put you to sleep?"

Jake never had any time to answer, because at that moment, a metal crossbow bolt flew past him and into HUNK, embedding itself in his right calf. HUNK staggered, hissing in pain, and Jake whirled around to see Ada, a crossbow in her hands. In the heat of the moment, they had both almost forgotten she was even there.

"You bitch!" HUNK snarled, his hand wrapped around the bolt. He was just about to pull it out when Jake darted in and blasted a powerful uppercut to his face. HUNK was actually sent airborne from the force of the punch, and his mask actually split in half from the impact. HUNK slammed into the pavement on his back.

After a few seconds, HUNK pushed himself up with his hands, and Jake and Ada both beheld his unmasked face. What looked back at them was a middle-aged man with black hair, with streaks of gray on the temples, and dark green eyes. HUNK chuckled, managing to grin with bloody and swollen lips.

"You're pretty good, kid," he said, panting. "Guess you are the boss's son after all." Letting out one last chuckle, HUNK's eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.

Jake was confused. This guy had something to do with his deadbeat dad? He turned to Ada.

"Okay, what the frickin' hell is going on here, lady?" he demanded.

"It's a long story," Ada replied. "But now's not the time or the place. We gotta move before any more of those thugs show up."

On that, Jake agreed.

Leon and Claire carefully made their way through the war torn streets of the city, weapons out and eyes open and alert for any sign of danger. Claire looked around at the leveled buildings around them and shuddered.

"God, this place is a wreck," she said, sorrow in her voice. "Terra Save could have a field day with Edonia."

"War is a terrible thing," Leon agreed. "But this country's leaders brought it on themselves. The more they try to push the people down, the more they make them want to rise up. The whole reason this war started to begin with is 'cause of shitty politics."

Claire nodded, resigned. "Let's just find Jake and get the hell outta here." she said.

Leon nodded, but then saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a man dressed in a Neo-Umbrella uniform slip into an old building roughly twenty feet away. He didn't appear to notice them. Leon quickly called Claire's attention to it, and she nodded.

"Let's see what he's up to," she said, and the two followed the man into the building.

When they entered, they found the interior in complete disarray. Storage crates and boxes were strewn all over the place, and the building was in clear disrepair. However, what really shocked Leon and Claire was that the man was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Claire asked. "He couldn't have slipped out so fast, and there's no other way out."

Leon opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment, something grabbed both of them from behind and bashed their heads together. Leon and Claire fell, unconscious before they hit the ground.

Behind them, electricity flickered, and a hooded man, wearing a gas mask with blue lenses, appeared out of nowhere. After a moment, he lifted his left hand to the side of his head and activated his head set.

"This is Vector," he said, his voice filtered through his mask. "I have Agent Kennedy and Redfield's sister."

"Excellent," Wesker said. "You know what to do now."

Author's Note:

Well, Leon and Claire are in deep shit, aren't they?

Please R&R. Until next chapter...