Uroboros: Resident Evil V

Chapter Twenty: The Oil Field

With all of the large tents set up, along with the supply crates stacked up in short piles, this clearing looked more like a Red Cross aid station than the entrance to an oil facility, even though it looked like it had been abandoned a while ago. There were signs on each tent written in both Swahili and English that were labeled as Inprocessing, Evaluation, and Treatment in that order from left to right, with each tent filled with a row of cots along with a desk that might have once had a computer plugged into it.

Every cabinet inside was empty, though, as were the supply crates as if the people working there had been forced to leave in a hurry, but this all confused Chris because Tricell was one of the largest sponsors of the BSAA. In fact, it was the largest pharmaceutical company in the world ever since Umbrella went under, but the confusing part was the question of why an aid station like this would be setup at all if no one knew that an outbreak like this had occurred. Of course with no records left in the filing cabinets, this was a little difficult to answer.

Still, it had to be reported to Headquarters, so the two of them stayed inside one of the large tents in order to stay out of sight in case any of the villagers wandered by while he was on the satellite phone. The good news was that the last cleanup crew that they requested was just finishing up with the giant, although it would take a while to transport the monster somewhere that it could be dealt with… he didn't want to know where such a place was. However, because of how difficult it was proving to quarantine a whole district of Kijuju City, it was going to be some time before another team could be sent to start securing the village.

"You need to tell anyone you send out here to be real careful." The Agent warned, wishing that he had been able to get a few images to transmit. "The situation here isn't like in the city; the villagers have reverted to an almost primitive state, and they're confused easily, but they're strong as hell and they don't go down easy."

Chris decided to leave out the part about the people there speaking only in a bunch of nonsense, and instead went ahead with the rest of the mission report, starting with the fact that between the giant and the villagers, everyone from Delta Team had been killed. He corrected himself once Sheva reminded him that they hadn't found Captain Stone among the bodies or the sacrifices, so… yeah that was weird, where the hell was he? If the villagers had captured him, he would have either been crushed inside that hut or tied up at the bridge, but… did that mean Stone was still alive?

"Let us know if you find Captain Stone." The contact replied once the report was finished. "But don't deviate from your primary objective… it seems that capturing Irving is the only way any progress is going to be made at all."

"The way they talk, you'd think that no one from Headquarters had ever been in the field." The young woman commented as soon as the conversation was over. "We're going to catch Irving, and he's going to pay dearly for what he's done to my people, but… if anyone thinks I'm going to abandon Josh out here, they've got another thing coming."

She was absolutely right, and Chris knew that more than anyone after the hell he and Jill had been put through on the Queen Zenobia just to find evidence against someone. In the end the evidence was found, and the FBC was disbanded, but honestly if O'Brian hadn't resigned from the BSAA after that whole mess was finished, the Agent probably would have punched him right in the face for everything that happened. But, whatever the agenda for any of them was, nothing would be accomplished until they actually entered the oil facility, so the two of them left the tent and started toward the gate after checking that none of the villagers were around.

The iron gate was badly rusted from neglect, but the padlock was destroyed and the chain was on the ground, allowing the Agent to easily push it open so that they could enter the courtyard. This place was a mess of pipelines, pressure valves, and holding tanks, but as the two of them looked around at the grated catwalks and waste bins, it was becoming obvious that no oil had been processed through this place in quite some time. Unfortunately, the ground there was too firm for tracks to be left, like the ones they had followed from Delta Team's airboats, so this search was going to have to be done the old fashioned way.

"All right, check for anything that looks like it's been touched recently." Chris said as they moved past another holding tank. "Bins that aren't as dusty as what's around it, paths that aren't as overgrown as others, anything that points to what parts of the building are used by someone hiding out here."

The facility was gigantic, built to handle an influx of crude oil from drilling sites across a fifty square mile radius, as well as pumping out the results of the first stage of refinement, so it wasn't like they could just pick an entrance and then start searching from room to room. For a while there was nothing to speak of, with all of the equipment having neglected for who even knew how long, and all of the doors locked up so that their latches were coated with rust as well… except for one. One of the doors toward the far end of the facility, had a scratch along the rust as if someone had needed to force it open recently.

"Good going, Chris." The young woman said, finding the latch unlocked when she tried it. "We would have never found this clue if you didn't know what to look for."

"Yeah… no sweat." He replied, deciding not to tell her who had taught him to do a search when he was a rookie cop. "Push it open quietly… Irving might be in there."

Since the door had been opened recently, the squeaking of its metal hinges was quieter than it would have been if they were the first, allowing the two agents to pass through undetected into a chamber that looked like a factory. There were more holding tanks and pipelines, each with pressure gauges and valves that could be turned in redirect flow, but unlike out in the village, there didn't seem to be anyone around at all. No, wait a second, there was a noise… yeah, there it was again, sounding almost like a grunt of pain that was coming from further inside the building.

Yeah, now that Chris was listening, he could hear the sound of a man grunting as if he had been struck, and a couple seconds later a sharp bam as something was slammed hard onto a metal surface. Reaching for his pistol… but then remembering that the villagers had taken all their weapons, the Agent put his finger to his lips for her to keep quiet as the two of them moved past the pipes and machines, heading toward the sounds that hadn't stopped yet. Hold on, there was another sound as well… a higher pitch one that was almost like… laughter?

"You BSAA goons think you're so tough, don't'cha?" A familiar voice asked form up ahead. "Yeah, you're a bunch'a heroes gonna save the world, ain't that right, tough guy? Well, you ain't lookin' so tough from where I'm standin'."

That voice definitely belonged to Irving, and once the two agents got closer, they were able to peek around a larger holding tank to see that the target was right there… but he wasn't alone. His partner was there, too, the woman in the plague doctor mask, and Sheva had to put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping when the woman slammed her knee into Captain Stone's face, who had been kneeling in front of her. His weapons and armor were gone, and as he fell onto the concrete floor Chris could see that there were cuts and bruises forming all over his face… all while Ricard Irving laughed at him.

"Yeah, real tough, real tough, Josh." The target laughed, aiming a pistol at him. "But lemme ask you this, tough guy… if you'se in the BSAA are supposed to be so tough, then why are you gettin' your ass kicked by a girl, you little bitch?"

"The only bitch here is you, Irving." The Captain spat as he tried to get up. "You act like you are strong, while hiding behind a woman… you are the worst kind of coward."

Josh tried to take a swing at him, causing Irving to yelp like a frightened child while jumping back, but the plague doctor was there to save him once again by catching the Captain's arm and twisting it behind his back. He tried to grab her with his other hand, but the woman kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel down and then restraining him while Irving balled up his fist and punched Josh in the face as hard as he could. The Captain twitched a little from the hit, and then did a sort of coughing laugh while the target tried to hide how sore his hand was now while stepping away.

"You are a coward and a bully, Ricardo Irving." Josh said, spitting his blood on the target's shoes. "And to top it all off, you hit like a crippled old bibi."

As he said those words, the Captain reached up and grabbed the plague doctor, using his weight to sling her forward in an attempt to free himself, and he succeeded in breaking her grip. However, instead of falling onto the floor, the woman gracefully cartwheeled to her feet, only to spin around and kick him right in the mouth, knocking him to his hands and knees. Josh got up as fast as he could, attacking the plague doctor with all of his fighting skill, but as he was struck repeatedly in the face and in the body, it became clear that this woman was out of his league.

Meanwhile, Chris and Sheva were using this fight as cover so that no one would notice them ducking behind every pipe they could while sneaking closer to Irving. The plague doctor was clearly the muscle of this operation, but the target had the gun, and they could use it to make her back off as well once they had him. Looking around for anything that could be used for a weapon, but finding nothing that could actually be useful, the Agent got ready to grab the laughing man, tensing up his muscles and getting ready to choke the little prick to death… but then his vision went white as everything tilted.

Whack! Even though she was still fighting with the Captain, the plague doctor managed to pick up a small piece of pipe after giving him a kick to the stomach, and then toss it accurately enough to strike Chris in the head from across the room, before hip-slinging Josh onto the floor once again. By the time his vision had cleared enough to move, a shocked and angry Irving was pointing his pistol at him and Sheva, and since they were unarmed, there was nothing they could do at the moment except put up their hands.