Chapter 15 - The Calm Before the Storm

"What do you mean, he vanished?" Asked I.

"No one appeared at the extraction point, and we couldn't find anyone at the lab." Came the response through the radio.

"Wait, what about Sherry Birkin?" I inquired.

"About an hour ago, her transmitter was destroyed. We stopped receiving her signal."

"I don't understand... The way was clear."

"Agent Redfield. We can't discard the possibility that..." After a pause, he finished. "They might have betrayed us."

'How dare you! It... It can't be... I won't believe this! Not my Sherry... Not her...' I felt my heart wrench.

I stuffed the radio back in my pocket. 'I have to concentrate. On Jake, on the cure.'

In my head, I heard The Director's voice: "The world is depending on your success."

I had to keep myself together, even though I was trembling, even though I felt a coldness I hadn't felt in years.

Moira didn't say a word. She hadn't heard the full conversation, but I'm sure she figured out what it was about.

"Let's continue." Said I, in a weak voice.

-/-

We had been following the trail of corpses deviating from the main streets. An unusual route, it had to be Jake's, or perhaps... Sherry's trail. I was more tense than usual. Even though Moira was with me. 'How ironic.' I pondered. 'First, I felt safe with Moira, then we grew apart, then after all these years, when I reunite with Sherry, and realise she's the one I want to be with, this happens... Am I cursed? Because I survived that day? Because of all the times I stared death in the face and lived? Sherry... please... don't leave me...'

An explosion in the distance. We made our way towards the sound. Suddenly, Moira spoke: "It's a J'avo. There's one alive ahead."

"We have to check it out." Said I.

The scene was breathtaking. A giant monstrosity, in the form of a tree, swinging its branches like a living thing, hurling cars and stone blocks everywhere. Chaos. But there were soldiers there, fighting it. The tree noticed us and attacked us with one of its branches. Moira evaded to her right and holstered her pistol. From her back, she retrieved a rifle and began her onslaught on the enemy. I evaded forward and kept running towards the only man without a combat suit. He turned to me and confirmed my suspicions, it was Jake.

"Jake!?" I yelled. Half question, half warning. A car had been thrown towards him. He stood there, eyeing the vehicle. The ground around his feet sank down as he grabbed the car with both his hands, stopping its movement. He then jumped in the air holding it above his head, and hurled it towards the giant tree.

When he touched down close to me, he said: "No time to talk now. Let's kill this thing first, ok?"

I looked at him sideways and answered: "Agreed."

-/-

Bullets barely hurt it. It was as if the tree was invincible. We were getting progressively more exhausted, and Moira's rifle ammo had already been depleted. It felt hopeless.

"I have an idea." Said Jake, between heavy breaths. "I just need two grenades."

"The wood's too thick, grenades won't work."

"I'm not gonna launch it just like that. I'm gonna plant it inside him." Said he.

"Him? You mean inside the tree?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's what I meant. So... hand over." He extended his open hand. I handed him two grenades.

With supernatural speed, he avoided all the branches that attacked him. What impressed me the most, however, was his ability to run vertically, up its bole and subsequently cling there, punching the wood with enormous strength.

'Shit!' I realised the plan's flaws. The tree wasn't just gonna let him stay there punching it. I had to do something to stop its branches from attacking Jake.

We managed to hold them back just long enough for Jake to form a hole in its bole, he planted the grenade inside, and jumped off.

We watched ecstatic as it exploded and the tree was engulfed in flames. It emitted a writhing sound as it contorted and perished unto ashes.

And then it happened, before my very eyes, it happened. The ashes twisted in the air like a hurricane, in the middle of it, a carcass of a person, a conscious ghoul, the very soul of the monstrosity, alive. Before I could react, its gusts of wind took hold of me and suspended me in the air. Moira dodged something seemingly invisible, but it didn't take long for the wind to capture her either. The other soldiers were eventually enveloped in it, too.

Jake crouched on the ground and then leapt high, in the direction of the hurricane. His speed was such, that he cut through the air and reached the centre of it, where the ghoul was levitating.

"Shoot, Claire! Shoot him!" I heard a voice. 'Jake's?' I couldn't tell. I was still suspended in the air, but I tried moving my arms and I was successful. I grabbed the magnum from my hip and aimed at the ghoul.

"Wait, Claire! What about Jake?" Shouted Moira.

'Fuck Jake.' Thought I. I pulled the trigger.

The sky exploded. 'Don't tell me...!' For a second, blood droplets poured down like rain. The others fell down one by one. I felt gravity pull me down and I too fell on a puddle of blood. The winds were calm. My mind was racing.